In Indonesia’s Tana Toraja, it is traditionally believed that death is not a sudden, dreaded event, but a gradual process toward Puya, the land of souls or afterlife. When a death occurs, the community comes together at the sound of a gong to do what they can to guide the deceased to their ancestors in the afterlife, which is said to lie to the south of the homeland. Oft times, the funeral does not happen until months after the death as the family waits for all the relatives…
Diving is adventure. Diving is exploration. Diving is going somewhere that few have gone before.
I love exploring. When I look at the map of the world, I am overwhelmed by all the places I’d like to visit, by dreams of seeing things I haven’t seen. Initially when you look at a map, most people immediately focus on the land, the continents, the idea of foreign places around the world and images they’ve seen of these places flash through their head. But take your focus…
Hello friends!
Ever since I was a young lad I’ve been enjoying a monthly fix of National Geographic. My Dad has been collecting every issue since before I was born, so there was always a little window into remote parts of the world on our coffee table. He would read me excerpts to help me understand the strange images that were very different than what I’d seen in my backyard, or even the zoo. When I had a school project that required research he would help me go through …
This is Kawah Ijen: a group of remote volcanoes in East Java, Indonesia. Getting there is not the simplest task: the one road in and out is only really used at night due to safety reasons. However, this isn’t as backward as it sounds when you take into account the road being so narrow that trees are constantly slapping both sides of your vehicle. While it is technically a two-way road, in the day you can’t see oncoming traffic until it’s too late. At night, headlights…