Archive for category: Indonesia

Little boy aged five maybe 4, in my room talking to me in chirpy Indonesian like he thinks I can speak the language. Seconds of sounds rushing like knee noo, car-cool as he gestures to the fluffy white dog toy – red ribbon around neck – that I hand to him. Neighbours and visiting family all wander thru to chat, to see the balway – the white visitor – in this community where communal life is the only-way, in this room in this house in Sarong, Papua, outer-most Indonesia.

When it rained it rained and everybody was flooded out by the rain-river sweeping along the length of the boat’s deck. Huge waterfalls and surges. Monsoonal. Luckily our luggage was on a bench at our table, otherwise my computer would be history. Families on mats on the steel deck had to evacuate their things off the floor before everything was wet, then stand for hours, or crouch, huddled with others until the deck dried off and they could get back to sleep again. Three times the nights were sodden.

To Fakfak (pronounced fuck fuck!) – it was a 12 hour boat trip from Sorong, on our way south to here, Marauke, in southern Papua.