Global World

We saw fishermen catching fish.  Women were cleaning and drying fish.  The dried fish were packaged in cardboard boxes and shipped around the world.

It sounds really straight forward.  Except that the fishing community was very remote.  We drove seven hours north to Kota Bangun to catch a motorized canoe to go two more hours to get to the guesthouse in Muara Muntai where we spent the night.  In the morning we rode another three hours on the Mahakam River to get to what was left of Jempang Lake in this dry season.  The boxed fish are put on a motorized canoe, shipped down to Balikpapan to be shipped to the Island of Java for local use or further shipping to the world at large (mainly China).

This place is remote and pretty untraveled.  We've only seen four non-Indonesians in three days in this neighborhood (not surprisingly, they were a Spanish couple from near Bilbao and a young Dutch couple).  And a whole fishing community thrives because of this global trade.

Being global is a good thing.  Here in Indonesia, we know the common Moslem greetings and the call-to-prayer is familiar.

My daughters are in their hotel room "chatting" with friends who are maybe in Zimbabwe, maybe in Canada, maybe in Jordan... (but they asked me the other day how to address a postcard!).  While we were in Phuket, Rob and I great time listening to a local band playing Pink Floyd and Bob Marley.

But being global and connected is not always wanted.  Phuket was full of summer holiday-makers.  Pattaya was full of tours.  Vang Vieng was backpacker heaven.  Except for Laos, we've seen McDonald's and Starbucks in all the cities.  Being off the beaten track in remote East Kalimantan is a welcome change.  I finally feel like I'm traveling...

Nadia