Jakarta

August 6, 2026August 6, 2026Leave a comment

Kota Tua

My first morning in Jakarta, I headed out for Kota Tua, the old town where the Dutch originally settled. Before I could get very far, a group of schoolgirls came bouncing up to me to ask questions in English for a class assignment. They were video recording on their phones with fancy sequined microphones held up to better capture my voice. I did my best to answer their basic questions, like “What is your name?” and “Where are you from?”

My first stop was the Wayang Museum, which showcases puppets of all kinds from across Indonesia. There were two whole floors of puppets, and one of the most common puppet shows retells the Ramayana. Upstairs, there was an excellent display explaining the general storyline, and I ended up reading all of it. It turned out to be really helpful once I got to Bali (where Hindu is the most prominent religion) because the Ramayana is embedded in the culture.

puppets used to teach Muslim values, traditional shadow puppet, puppets used to teach about the struggle for Indonesian independence

After that, I randomly followed a sign to what I thought was a museum, but accidentally ended up in a fancy coffee shop. Instead of admitting I’d made a mistake, I decided to get a cold drink and found myself sitting underneath a giant 30-foot dragon on the ceiling. The rest of the coffee shop was filled lots of artifacts from old Jakarta. This is one of my favorite parts of travel, randomly stumbling upon something fascinating that I had no idea existed when I set out in the morning. This little place was probably one of my favorite unexpected finds of the trip.

As I sipped my fancy tropical fruit juice, I looked around the coffee shop, which was an ode to Peranakan culture. Peranakans are descendants of some of the earliest Chinese immigrants to Southeast Asia. The community has long been intertwined with local Malay and Indonesian cultures. The coffee shop was full of antiquities that showcased these early blended cultural traditions, as well as relics from the colonial influence.

After some more random wanderings, I sat down for lunch at the Cafe Batavia. It’s famous because it’s housed in the second oldest building in the Old Town, and many Western celebrities have visited over the years. I thought it was a bit overrated, but I did get to try bir pletok. This traditional Betawi (from the area near Jakarta) drink is made by brewing together ginger, pandan leaves, lemongrass, and sappan wood. Although it wasn’t my favorite drink, I enjoyed the unexpected combination of spices.

I started making my way to my next museum, but was stopped by yet another teacher and her students. These students were younger, more embarrassed, and shyer. I answered their half-whispered questions, and they sent me on my way, this time with a gift bag. I waited until I got all the way back to my hotel room to peek inside the fancy bag. And what did I find inside? A brand-new fancy pink hand towel.

giant dragon, fancy mixed juice, iced bir pletok, and my gifted pink hand towel

Next up was a stop at the Museum of Fine Art and Ceramics, where my favorite pieces were these wonderfully carved wooden statues displayed outside each of the gallery rooms along the outdoor breezeway. They were all relatively modern, but varied widely in style and the amount of detail in their carving. My four favorites are below.

four beautiful wooden carved sculptures – which one is your favorite?

As I was wandering back across the square, I offered to take a photo for a group of older Indonesian Muslim ladies who were clearly on a fun outing together. For the third time that day, they asked me to take a photo with them as well. I leaned over, and the one next to me wrapped her arm around my waist and I swear she reached down and grabbed my butt. Perhaps I should learn to be a little more cautious with my generosity. You never know when offering to take a photo will end with you getting unexpectedly groped by someone’s grandma.

Mangrove Lagoon

Last time I was in Jakarta, I’d put some pins in my Google Map and one of them was for kayaking in the mangroves. I figured I might as well check to see if there were any openings, and there were. The next day, I hauled myself out of bed early and grabbed a taxi. When I got there, our group consisted of a dad and his kid along with a larger family made up of a mom, dad, daughter, and a couple of nieces who had never been kayaking before. The core family had just come back from living in the UK for a couple of years, where the mom had just finished her PhD in pharmacy so she could return home and be a professor at the university.

After the girls figure out how to stay stable in a kayak, off we went on the mangrove adventure. Within minutes of being on the water, there was a reptile swimming nearby. My guide had previously warned me that they were no crocodiles in the water. Sure enough, it was just a monitor lizard, but I’d never seen anything like this. It was mesmerizing to see this creature swim effortlessly at the surface. Around the bend, there was a beautiful heron preening on a rock. I took a picture to identify it later. Although I already knew that herons come in blue and green, this one was a purple heron.

purple heron, me in my kayak, monitor lizard swimming in the mangrove lagoon

On and on we paddled, and it was surreal. This place was only twenty minutes from downtown Jakarta, yet I couldn’t hear any of the traffic. Saleh, the guy who does these tours, is a geologist in the oil industry by profession. He really just doing outdoorsy things. He recently did a 20+ day sea kayaking tour between islands, so we got along great, sharing stories of our adventures.

He then proceeded to show off the mangrove plantation, which was absolutely stunning. Row after row of young mangroves stretched out across the water, slowly becoming part of the ecosystem. The first time they planted them, they died because the water got too high during high tide. Now, they build baskets that sit above the water for the young plants. This allows their roots to grow down into the water and take hold but prevents them from drowning. Different areas had been planted at different times. Some were only a year old, some a few years, and some areas just looked like natural areas because they’d reached maturity.

baskets for baby mangroves, the mangroves after about three months

The company doing this work has held the contract for years, but it was about to expire, and a Chinese company might take over the contract to develop the area. On the way out, the owner of the business came over to talk with me. He was an Indonesian man who met his American wife while she was an exchange student here. He went to school at Penn State, and they’ve lived back and forth between Indonesia and the United States ever since. Of course, this land belongs to the government, but he didn’t want to see it turned into a high rise hotel. He didn’t think the new company would continue his family’s legacy of mangrove restoration and was understandably frustrated by how money and corruption was influencing how these contracts were being awarded.

I had only planned on going kayaking, but somehow ended up learning about mangroves, meeting a whole cast of characters, and learning about local government corruption. Saleh promised to take me out to the ocean the next time I visit, so I can experience “real” sea kayaking. The owner said he’ll text me the next time he visits San Francisco and the pharmacist mom and dad now follow me on Instagram.

Indonesian Food

For the foodies following along, here’s some of what I ate. First photo below was ketupat pecel pincuk, which was basically just vegetables on rice with fried tempeh, slathered over with peanut sauce. Next up is gado-gado, practically the only vegetarian dish on the menu at Cafe Batavia. This is another version of salad with a peanut sauce, this time with some eggs on the side. This dish gets served often in Indonesia and it’s always plated in a different way. Last up was a random hole-in-the-wall joint in Chinatown that always seemed to have a line of people out the door. I finally walked by when there weren’t too many people. It’s a Korean-style salt bread place and that’s basically all they serve along with tea and coffee. They only had a couple of flavors left, so I got a cheesy one to go.

keetupat pecel pincuk, gado-gado from Cafe Batavia, Korean-style cheese salt bread

Fiji – Yasawas Part 2 – Coral Reefs

April 26, 2026May 6, 20261 Comment

Coral Reefs

I slowly made my way down the Yasawas, stopping at a couple resorts along the way back to the main island. It is impossible to capture how stunning it is to swim out from shore and be surrounded by yards of coral reefs in crystal clear waters.

Although corals can grow in a variety of environments, most coral reefs are found between 30°N and 30°S latitudes. Corals are small animals that capture and eat plankton using stinging cells, similar to jellyfish. However, they also host a type of symbiotic plankton called dinoflagellates. These dinoflagellates perform photosynthesis and produce sugars that corals use for energy to grow, build, and survive. In return, corals provide the dinoflagellates with a safe place to live.

A single coral structure contains hundreds of genetically identical individuals living together as a colony. This cooperative structure allows them to sustain themselves and build the protective coral skeleton that shelters the entire colony. Corals require abundant sunlight and nutrient-poor water to thrive. When nutrient levels rise (particularly nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, and iron), algae can flourish, overgrow the coral, and block the sunlight they depend on for survival.

coral reefs stretching forever

The beautiful colors of coral reefs come from the dinoflagellates living within them. When ocean temperatures rise too high, the chloroplasts in these organisms become stressed and release oxygen. This oxygen damages the coral’s cells, and the coral expels the dinoflagellates for behaving badly. This process is known as coral bleaching, and such events are becoming more common as ocean temperatures continue to rise in these regions.

Blackback Butterflyfish with corals, Cauliflower Coral, Black-axil Chromises

If the water cools down in time, corals may allow the dinoflagellates to return. However, if the water remains too warm for too long, the corals can become permanently bleached. This is because corals obtain up to 90% of their energy from their symbiotic plankton and often die when that energy source is lost.

Bicolor Blenny, Fiji Tomato Clownfish, Moorish Idol

Coral reefs cover less than 1% of the ocean floor, yet they are among the most important ecosystems in the ocean because they serve as nurseries for many species. They provide shelter and protection where young organisms can hide and grow until they are large enough to fend for themselves.

Orangestripe Triggerfish, Bridled Monocle Bream

Corals are considered to be foundation species, because the entire coral reef ecosystem wouldn’t exist without their skeletons. These animals create an area that allows all these other organisms to thrive.

Blackspotted Puffer, Specklefin Grouper, Longnose Filefish

The corals in these photos are part of a Marine Protected Area. In this case, this means that people cannot fish or remove species from the area. As fish and other organisms mature within the MPA, they gradually move into surrounding waters, where they can help repopulate other regions or become part of the food web for humans and other animals. Marine Protected Areas allow organisms, especially fish, to grow large enough to reproduce and sustain future generations.

Titan Triggerfish, Bushy Feather Star, Oriental Sweetlips

Invertebrates

As always, I went out looking for nudibranchs, and although there weren’t very many, I did manage to find a couple hiding between the corals.

Pustulose Wart Slug, Blue Linckia, Krempf’s Phyllidiopsis

Giants clams of all kinds continue to be my other favorite invertebrate find. The patterns on their mantles are intricately colored and vary dramatically between individuals.

Gigas Giant Clam, Fluted Giant Clam, Gigas Giant Clam

Muck Dive

I had heard rumors of some tiny nudibranchs down in the sandy bottoms, so I signed myself up for a muck dive. This is basically looking through sediment for weird, camouflaged organisms. I didn’t find any nudibranchs unfortunately, but I did see transparent shrimp and this tiny, patterned anemone attached to a blade of seaweed.

Sarasvati Anemone Shrimp, Swimming Anemone, Banana Coral

The most ridiculous muck dive find was a giant yellow sea cucumber that was over two feet long. Sea cucumbers feed on detritus (poop and decaying organic matter) from the ocean floor. They ingest sand, digest the organic material within it, and then get rid of the remaining sand out of their back end. Nearby was evidence of its recent activity, a large mound of sandy poop that was at least a foot across.

Herrmann’s Sea Cucumber (over 2 ft long), giant pile of sea cucumber poop (1 ft across)

Fiji Wonderings

January 13, 2026Leave a comment

Jet-lagged and still coping with time differences, I woke up at 5am to the tapering end of a massive rain storm. I stumbled out of bed, grabbed my headlamp, and pulled my sneakers on to head out on a “mountain” hike. Mountain is truly a bit of an exaggeration for a steep hill located on a small island in the Yasawas of northwestern Fiji. Winding behind the staff quarters, I glanced up to a see a 4-inch spider hovering around her eggs high up in a web stretching from the fence to the building behind it. As I left the property, the hike headed mostly up at an angle that would’ve been challenging on a dry day, but was made even more complicated by the water running through the middle of the path. I eventually just embraced the squishy mud and started making steady progress to the top. Somewhere along the way, I noticed footsteps in the mud, sometimes in a flat shoe, sometimes with toes spread wide. Yet it seemed to be just one person walking due to the gait and placements of the steps.

Through the cover of trees, I walked, stopping briefly to check out a passion flower plant. They all have an outer ring of rounded petals, followed by a ring of slender multi-colored petals sticking straight out. In the scientific literature, these are called corona filaments: corona like the outermost plasma surrounding the sun, filament like the tiny wire that burns so brightly in an incandescent bulb. These skinny petals form a ring around the dangling male anthers, filled with pollen, ready to be brushed away on the back of a visiting bumblebee. The hanging, sticky female stigmas are situated even higher, above the male organs, ready to hold on to pollen from other plants arriving via those same pollinators.

passion flower and passion fruit

I know this plant well since a vine of passion flower grows on my back fence at home. I was confident in my ability to recognize it, but this passion fruit was different. Instead of the round purple fruits that deflate into a squashed balloon when they’re ready to eat, this passion fruit was green and enclosed in a green cage of spiky, sticky protrusions clearly meant to protect. It looked other worldly and yet this was natural armor, created through years of gradual modifications. Whenever I see a new plant, my mind jumps to two questions: Can I eat it? Is it native? ¹ Out there, on the “mountain,” I had no phone service, so I shelved these questions for later and kept walking.

I passed the one other person who climbed the mountain before me that morning. He was wearing flip flops and the footprints from the start of the hike started to make sense. When he got to the muddy part of the hill, he took off his sandals when they got stuck and tried a barefoot approach. He nodded a hello and I did the same, silently acknowledging the strange and awkward fellowship of two random people who felt the need to rise before the sun was up in order to solo climb a ridiculously muddy hill during a break in a downpour. No words were necessary, this was not the time to disturb his serenity or mine. I followed the trail towards the open ocean to the north, which was rapidly appearing in my view along the edge of the hillside.

view towards the northern end of Nacula Island

As I squatted to rest and embrace the view, I noticed the reddish brownish rock beneath my feet. Volcanic in origin, probably basalt, formed underwater and then brought up to the surface. I had more questions: How did these volcanic islands pop out of the Indian Ocean? Were they formed from hot spots or is this on the edge of a subduction zone? How long ago did this happen? ² Curiosity is a restless creature. Once you open the gate, it carries you off with no promise of where you’ll end up.

The view over the north side of the island was stunning. The sun had risen during my hike, but it was hidden behind the clouds. The path forward looked like a solid descent to the ocean on the north side, and I wasn’t in the mood to climb back up, so I turned around and started hiking back. On the way, I saw a millipede crossing my path. Or was it a centipede? Was it poisonous? Is it centipedes or millipedes that are poisonous? I wasn’t sure what I was looking at, so I snapped a photo to identify on iNaturalist later. ³

Before I reached the steep hill back down to the hotel, I came across a hala tree which was identifiable because of its bumpy faintly-pineapple shaped fruit. They’re very common throughout the Pacific Islands because they grow in rough soil and salty environments. On a previous trip to Hawaiʻi, I’d learned that Polynesians used to weave the leaves into giant canoe sails. These were the sails that took early explorers thousands of miles across the ocean.

basalt, Rusty Millipede, hala fruit

Sometimes I just have to laugh. I had gone on this hike to clear my mind and relax. By the time I returned to the hotel, I had ten more questions that I wanted answers for. But that’s also the beautiful part of staying curious about the natural world, it keeps me present in the world around me. All the questions are both grounding and expansive, somehow at the same time. When I make a new friend, it takes an investment of time, energy and care before the other person trusts me. Meeting a place is very similar, and slowly, little by little (with a little help from the internet), it reveals its secrets.

Footnotes

The type of passionflower in Fiji I saw is known as Passiflora foetida, the stinking passionflower. While waiting for the sun to go down for my night scuba, my scuba guide confirmed it is edible, but not during the season that I was visiting. This species is not native to Fiji, but is native to the southwestern United States, parts of the Caribbean, Central America and South America. ↩︎
The Yasawa Islands formed about 8 million years ago as part of a volcanic island arc. They developed above a subduction zone, where one tectonic plate was forced under another. As the descending plate sank into the mantle, it released water and other fluids, which lowered the melting point of the overlying mantle. This caused partial melting and generated magma that rose through the crust and erupted first on the seafloor and later above sea level, building the islands. ↩︎
It was a Rusty Millipede (Trigoniulus corallinus). ↩︎

West Coast Trail

March 9, 20251 Comment

In August 2023, I hiked the West Coast Trail on Vancouver Island. It’s probably my favorite backpacking trail to date and I would do it again in a heartbeat.

So many folks on the trail were surprised when I told them I was doing the trail solo and how that took a lot of courage. But what I think it really takes is trust – trust in yourself and your abilities (both physical and mental) and also trust in other people you meet on the trail. I gained a whole trail family as well as a bunch of bruises and blisters (yellow jackets are evil and so are my boots) but I couldn’t be happier. Forever grateful for this healing journey and thankful to the Huu-ay-aht, Ditidaht and Pacheedaht First Nations who continue to steward this land.