My Final Post

"Put it in the books", they say. This day is finally here. A day that seemed years away when looking at it way back in January or Febuary or April. This is the day my adventure comes to a close. I can't describe the kinds of emotions running though me, so many mixed feelings of happiness, sadness, excitement, blah, blah, blah. It's been 147 days, 21 weeks, and maybe I'm just getting old, but the time seemed to whiz by. The days were never short, but when I look back at everything, it seems just a few weeks ago I stepped out of Grandma's apartment into a snow storm trying to hail a cab for the airport, praying my flight wasn't going to be delayed.

This trip was a necessity for me... I needed to do it before I hit the "real world". This wasn't a long vacation or a kid traveling with a backpack on... this was so much more. I've always said that I've learned more from traveling than I have in any classroom, and this trip certainly followed suit. For starters, I learned alot about myself: being placed in all kinds of situations extremely new and foreign to me enabled me to rely on different skills I never knew I had, and/or didn't have and had to acquire. I learned alot about relationships and people: in short, we all speak that same universal language. I learned alot about perpsective: being around so many different people from all over the world really shed different kinds of light on things I knew and didn't know about. And, of course, there are countless other things, however, I'll keep some of them to myself.

I return home feeling quite different about myself. I feel ready, I feel uplifted, I feel things I can't really put into words. To say the least, I return home a much improved version of the Max that left in late January.

I can't believe the kinds of things I've been able to do! I've experience two religions, Buddhism and Hinduism, I've climbed mountains and got lost in volcanoes, seen centuries old temples, swam in some of the world's most beautiful waters, motorbiked throughout countries, and ate foods that don't look anything like food.

I've come to realize that the places I went to were great, the things I saw were special, but if you were to take away the wonderful people I experienced these things with, all of these places just don't mean as much to me. It's the faces, the different lives, the seperate stories that I will carry with me forever. I've met all kinds of people on this journey. Some I travelled with for three weeks, some for three days, some I hung with for three hours, and some I talked to for only three minutes. But everyone touched me in some way, regardless of how long I was with them.

I look forward to the next chapter of my life. While this colorful and memorable chapter comes to a close, it will be one that I'll refer to in future chapters. This is an ongoing journey, and it's shape will soon take new form.

To my family, thank you so much for enabling me and encouraging me to embark on such a special adventure, it obviously could not have been accomplished without the love and support of all of you. To my friends, thanks so much for doing a great job of keeping me in the loop and staying in touch while I've been away, I've come to value our relationships very much since I've been gone. To the people I know through other aspects of my life, thank you for taking the time to read up and shoot me a kind note. And to my new friends... all I can say is, I hope to have touched your lives the way you have touched mine.

So to all of you, as tears fill my eyes while I write, thank you for making these last five months a special piece of my personal history that will accompany me with every year that follows.

I'm coming home, and my heart is full... my heart is full.

Back to Sydney

My final weekend of travels is here. I'm back in Sydney with the exact people I want to be with. My two Aussie friends that I met in Israel, Warren and Jono, and my Texan friend I met in Prague, Jeff. Also, Tim, a guy I did alot of travelling with in Thailand, flew down from Brisbane to hang with me. I'm really glad I'm seeing him before I end this thing, as he is the closest friend I've made in my travels.

Alright folks, Indo was a blast, I left the steps with a smile, and I long to go back to Indonesia for sure, it's such an amazingly diverse place.

Grindin'

I wanted to just chill in Kuta my last couple of days but the biggest swell in two years just hit Ulu Watu, so I had to motor bike down there to check it all out. These waves were absolutely insane, I've never seen anything like it before. The guys that were riding these waves over razor sharp coral have some serious balls.

Yesterday I went back up to Ubud to do some shopping for authentic Balinese stuff. I've been proud of myself that for all the motorbiking I've done this trip, I hadn't had one accident or crashed or anything. Well, I thought too soon. I had to stop short, and I slammed on the front brake, a bad idea. The bike skidded out from under me and I bounced around and around and around the concrete. Luckily, just a bunch of scrapes, but in the worst freakin' places, man. I got a cut on my ass that makes me cry when I lay down. The bike, surprizingly, was okay.

It's hard to make out how big a wave is through a picture, but just look at how small the surfer is compared to the wave he is riding (click on the picture to enlarge it). The other picture is from Padang Padang Beach, another storied surf spot just north of Ulu's.

Ulu Watu, World Famous Waves

Winding down my Indonesian adventure, I jumped off Lombok and arrived in Bali's world famous surf region, Ulu Watu, located in the very south. It took 13 hours to get here from Lombok... a three hour public bus ride (getting on and off three times) to the Lombok harbour, a five hour ferry ride, a two hour bus ride to the Bali capital, an hour bus ride a little further south, and then when there were no more buses running down to Ulu Watu I hitch hiked another hour.

I had no idea Indonesia was such a surf hub. I always thought it was Hawaii and some other random places, but Indo is a surfing mecca, the world's best coming from all over to sample southern Bali's famous spot, Ulu Watu (Ulu's to the surfers). All the big surf companies have houses out here and sponsor events, people like Rip Curl and Billabong. These waves are way outta my league, but I'm having fun just watching these guys drop in on monsters.

I've gotten really big into the surf culture since I've been out here. I've learned all about waves, how to read them, how to understand where they get their power from, how to estimate swell (the wind levels that make a wave big), how to pick out the right board... it's really interesting. I get asked questions like, "So where's your home break, bruh?" (What is the name of the surf break in my hometown). "I don't have one", I have no choice but to respond. Although I feel a bit out of place riding my motorbike without a board strapped to the side, I do enjoy being in this area. It's no joke around here... bed at 10, up at 6, hittin' waves all day. These are some of the world's best waves.

Southern Lombok

Hey lads and ladies! Sorry if I made some of you nervous with my absence of posts lately. I just got done visiting the southern part of Lombok, an island about 50 miles east of Bali. The area barely had running water. I did a nice motorbike tour, hopping beach to beach across the southern region of a town also called Kuta, but on Lombok island.

The beaches in Thailand were amazing, but they have all been found. These beaches in southern Lombok have perfecto white sand, with waters so clear you could snorkel without goggles... and there's nothing on them... no people, no hotels, no nothin'! It was like a dream come true. Lombok is a very underdeveloped island, especially in the south. But there was just beach after beach with jaw dropping characteristics all day long, and I had all of them to myself. I swam naked for an hour in broad daylight with no one to bother me. What more could ya want?

Unfortunately, this region will not remain like this for long. A Dubai based company just poured $800 million into the area to build a Ritz Carlton right on the beach picture below, and extending it three beaches down. Construction will begin in April and should be finished in a decade. Although I am sad at the thought of this magically untouched group of beaches being built upon, I am really happy that I was able to answer my question of whether or not there are still world class beaches not yet bitten by the development bug. And the answer is yes.

Gettin' Silly in Gili

Still hanging out here in Gili Trawangan. The beaches just keep me here like a magnet. I am not much of a snorkeler, but there is alot of stuff to see under these waters. I went with a big group of people I've been hanging out with, and it was really cool, there were all kinds of turtles as big as tires just swimming around. Definitely a first for me.

Sorry I haven't been able to put up pictures on Webshots. The computers here are way too slow. But when I get back to Sydney I'll put them all up. These Bali and Indonesia photos are some of the most colorful and cultural of the entire trip.

Gili Trawangan

I just got done with a 13 hour travel day... I feel like I'm back in North Thailand. I went out all night in Kuta, walked back into my home stay at 5:15, packed by stuff, jumped on a 6 a.m. bus for three hours to north eastern Bali, took a five hour boat to an island called Lombok, took two hour-plus bus rides to the north, then finished it off with one more hour on a boat to Gili Trawangan, where I am right now.

The island is about 25 city blocks in length and about 4 avenues wide. It took me an hour to take a lap around the place. But now I'm back to that fresh white sand and turquoise waters that make me want to freeze time. The island has electricity... sometimes, and I'm surprised I can even connect on a computer.

I ran into two girls I hung out with three months ago in an island in Thailand. Its so cool having all these run-ins.