In 1995 I went to Jakarta for my brothers wedding. I had taken a month off so that after the wedding I could travel around the Pacific Rim. Upon arriving in Jakarta I was horrified by the squalor and the frannetic pace of everthing going on around me. Sitting in the front seat of my brothers future father in laws car I was terrified at the way people drive. A credit card would not fit through the space between us and the oncoming trafic. We stopped in what can only be concidered a slum by our standards and I got out of the car to have a cigerette ( yeah I know it is a filthy habit.) I was immediately surrounded by a throng of kids. Not knowng what was going on I was a little afraid. My brother came out, laughing, and said they were just surprised to see a white man in their neighborhood. He said they were just asking what I was doing there and where I was from. The smiles on their faces were beautifull. How could children living in conditions like these be so happy?
I spent the next couple of days, staying at my Brothers new families place. It was in a different place but I had the same impression as the other. I would have a hard time living as these people did. Yet the inescapable truth was the people I was around seemed happier than any I have known here in Southern California. And believe me I have met some extremely wealthy people.
After the wedding I went to Bali with a friend who has been living on Lombok 4 months a year to surf. We only stayed one night, then caught a plane to Lombok wher he planned on staying and I left him to go onto my final destination.
Gili Trawangan.
You take a little boat across a sort of channel past a few other tiny Gili islands. Trawangan is a tiny backpacker island that takes less than an hour to walk around. This is a stunning island with the clearest water I had seen since living in Hawaii. Beautiful fish and and a lush mountain guarantee that you will relax and the local life ensures that you will have a great time. on top of that my private bungalow on the beach was 10 dollars a night. Surprisingly that was high for the island because it was one of the nicer places. And it was quite nice.
Each night you start out by choosing where you will have dinner. There are about 10 restaraunts but the way you choose where to eat is to figure out what movie you want to watch. Each place has a bootleg video of a current movie. After dinner every place but one will close and all of the backpackers and locals congregate there, drink heavily and dance all night. I met the most fasinating people on that Island and keep in contact to this day.
After about 5 days on the island I returned by ferry to Bali. I checked into a new hotel with hot water and A/C. Unbelivably that was only $20 a night. But because it was more of a tourists hotel the people were much less fun. The nightlife also has a much different feel to it. I went to a club called the Sari Club, had my wallet stolen out side but was able to buy it back, and proceeded to drink heavily with a couple of huge Australian cops. What a amazing time that was.
Imagine my horror when last year the Sari Club was bombed and over 200 people were killed.
I spent the next few weeks travelling through Singapore, Thailand and Hong Kong. Thailand was the most beautifull place I have ever been and Singapore may have been the most uptight. But the thing about the whole trip was what I learned.
While I complain as much as the next guy about the things I lack people in these countries, who sometimes don't even have solid walls on their homes, are happier than I have ever been.
My question to anyone who responds, if any one does, is why can't we be happy with what we have? Ambition is good but what makes some of us think that we have life so hard? When a child lives in squalor, but runs around laughing, why am I upset that my car is 8 years old?