Family and friends,

It's been a month since we left the States and since then Jon has started wearing a sarong, I've stopped shaving my legs, and together we've become less fazed with cold showers, sleeping with mosquito coils burning and biking through busy city streets where apparently no formal traffic laws exist and the name of the game for all vehicles (ours included) is to always inch forward into any available space.

With our mix-matched clothing selection and guide book in hand, we're beginning to fit the stereotypical image of the Western traveler. That we don't have nose rings, dreadlocks, and huge backpacks, however, does set us apart. Furthermore, that we don't chain smoke, eat magic mushrooms, disco to American music until the wee hours of the morning and drink and smoke up extensively, puts us in a whole new traveler category (I'm in the midst of formulating my theory on Western travelers - who they are, why they travel, why they all seem to smoke - any insights would be appreciated!)

We have said good-bye to Indonesia - our time there was almost insultingly too short but it did give us a taste of its islands, people and issues. One of our big regrets was not being able to visit a Nike sweatshop (in the land of flip-flop wearers, Indonesians are responsible for approx. 95% of Nike shoe manufacturing). In the Jakarta Post, we read that Nike recently closed once of its shops, putting thousands of workers out of a job. Nike remains unscathed though because they work through an Indonesian company, and so when Nike breaks its contract with that company (probably because of cheap slave labor elsewhere), they aren't directly responsible for those workers. Thankfully the workers saw differently and protested in front of the US Embassy in Jakarta. This happened right around the time we were in Jakarta, but because of limited time, we weren't afforded the opportunity of joining them.

Our last stop in Indonesia was in Bukit Lawang, Northern Sumatra where we enjoyed two days of trekking through the jungle, encountering orangutans along the way (seeing a mother and her baby swinging through the vines was an incredible experience!), spending a (cold!) night in a bamboo tent, rafting down the jungle river and enjoying tropical fruit.

As Jon and I have labeled this year of adventure a sabbatical of sorts, I thought it might be nice to share some of what we've been reading and thinking. Because of space, we've put the list of books we're read on the website as well as some reflection pieces on things we've seen or talked about. Lately, we've been doing a lot of discussing about how we should or could process what we've seen. It's hard to see the living conditions of a third world country, especially in comparison to what we have - what do we do about it? Is our purpose as travelers to just observe? How authentic can our experience really be?

Try as we might to fully experience and take in local culture, we can't. For one, the very nature and purpose of our trip separates us from what we seen; as much as we'd like to taste, smell, and feel the people and land, we are bystanders to a certain degree, separated by our money, privilege and past. For another, we do have different definition and expectations of comfort, convenience, and personal space. The ants on the restaurant tables, in our hotel rooms and on our bags bother me. The filthy washrooms with their rancid smells and dirty floors disgust me as do the senseless mounds of garbage that litter the streets and alleys. The crowded, bumpy, dusty bus rides we've taken with their random and unexplainable starting and stopping patterns are difficult for me to enjoy and I can't stomach the amount of people (young and old) I've seen smoking (most likely unaware of the health risks involved), an amount in direct proportion to the number of cigarette ads.

Recognizing feelings like this seems to be the first step, dealing with it and trying to discern if it really matters is another. Perhaps we are a little too obsessed with cleanliness in North America; perhaps the way we live is too removed from the natural world; perhaps we have become way too spoiled with our efficient means of transportation and could stand to wait every now and then. Just some thinking…

So, tomorrow we begin our journey up the south eastern coast in Thailand. Yesterday and today were laundry and errand day in Hat Yai; tomorrow we start a week of solid biking up to the Bangkok area as we try to outwit the monsoon (Thailand has just started its rainy season). We are healthy (eating and sleeping far more than what we usually do back at home!), in good spirits and praising God for His goodness to us. Thank you for all your prayers for us - it means a lot.

Shalom to all,

Deb and Jon

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