PHOTOS: Komodo dragons on Rinca, Indonesia / Various lemur species in Madagascar including the Indri which lets out a sound louder than the police sirens!, King Julian variety (the black and white tail), one type of Sifaka in Isalo Natl Park, grasshopper with red wings, yellow frog as big as my thumb, the biggest chameleon the Parsons chameleon. Both Komodo and lemurs are only found in Indonesia and Madagascar, respectively.
Location: Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Date: 6-Aug-2010 1910 local time
I have reached the end of my travels, for now. You and I know that this won't be my last long haul trip. Just too much in my nature. Thing is each time I hit the road I meet more amazing people. It has been awhile since I posted anything here. My last entry was Nov 7 2009. The day before I left for London before heading to the African continent where I spent 6 months. Actually the thing is once you do group travel you become lazy. Your schedule is driven by the group travel or truck as the case was in Africa. SE Asia from Sept to Oct was also group. What a stupid thing. Guess I was just being lazy. You know. Get to a place. Walk around look for a bed. Ya. Too damn tired. I ABSOLUTELY hate group travel, unless, it is the most efficient way to get from one end to the other end of a continent: such was the case from getting from Morocco, down west, central and then to South Africa, and traveling across countries like Congo, the Democratic Rep. of Congo and Angola. The last country I was just at - Indonesia - I felt to exhausted, I had to force myself to keep going. Yeah. 20 months is my limit. It's a shame that I haven't posted more on here. Between Sept '09 to July '10 I have had more insane moments and recorded more out of this world memories, the kind you only get when you travel. Like I said. I was too damn lazy. Then again, I wouldn't have made good friends like Mark and Neddy from the UK, or Gareth, Tom or Ling in Myanmar. That whole African group wasn't really too much my thing. You know. You are around the same people 24/7 for 5.5 months, it's a bit too much. Can't say I made any good friends there. Too clicky, it was. I actually left the truck 2 weeks early to go around South Africa and Swaziland. In 5.5 months I passed through these countries: Gibraltar, Mauritania, Morocco, Ghana, Burkina Faso, Togo, Benin, Nigeria, Cameroon, Gabon, Congo, Democratic Rep. of Congo, Angola, Namibia and South Africa. Then I traveled solo through Swaziland and South Africa finishing in Cape Town, after which, I left for Madagascar, where I ran into some folks off my truck, who were also traveling there. Then I came back to South East Asia where I left to explore Myanmar and Indonesia. I think I like to pick up where I left in Indonesia. Go back to Maumere, overland it to Larantuka, ferry to Lembata to Larawala or whatever that place is called, and go whale hunting with the Lamahalot. Yeah. That's a plan. I have wanted for the longest time see Borobudur and Prambanan temples on Java, climb Mt. Rinjani and see the Komodo dragon. I was very excited to see the dragons. I was more excited to see the lemurs of Madagascar, and meeting King Julian to "move it, move it!" Except the black and white I met in Mada didn't have Eddie Murphy's voice ;) I got to illegally feed some black and white tailed lemurs, and got bit and cleaned by a brown belly lemur, too. Wow. So exciting. Countries less developed really interest me, more developed countries don't. Anyhow, I am now headed back to the USA, I think, pending other circumstances, we will see. Even now in the dry season, I had wanted to go the Perhentian Islands to check out a bit of my backyard in the country where I grew up. I simply don't have the energy to haul a pack on my back and walk from place to place looking for a place to sleep. Nah. Keep that for next time. On this trip, I think travelpod clocked 39 countries. Doesn't seem a lot. This, not including the other countries I have visited previously, must stand in excess of 55, I think. Anyhow, dreaming forwards, my next project will ideally be Trans Mongolia, Trans Siberia, Russia across to the Baltic States, then down Eastern Europe across to Turkey then cross over to Central Asia starting in Azarbaijan across Central Asia to China, and then back down to Malaysia. That is the story of my life...travel...explore...until then, I keep the dream going.
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