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    • Lava rocks 1 – scooters 0

      Posted at 9:58 pm by James, on June 28, 2019

      With the kids under Gozza’s watchful eye, Robin and I had a free pass to spend the day exploring the wilder north of Bali. Without a plan, a clue or even much petrol we set off in the general direction of The North.

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      This part was easy to fix. Street petrol saves the day.

      We decided to head for what we hoped would be a volcano, the point marked “Mt Batur” on the map. After 45 minutes of constant climb, we could feel a chill in the air and were surprised to stumble upon a gateway announcing our arrival at the UNESCO protected Geopark, raising our expectations and spirits.

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      Crater with Mt Batur in the middle (well, with Robin in front)

      This huge crater was formed around 23,000 BC when an explosion of epic proportions blew its top off, leaving a hole about 15 miles across, with a cute little mini volcano right in the middle. Without any ado Robin announced “Let’s ride the crater,” which seemed like a great idea at the time …

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      … until we reached this unworldly landscape

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      … but we got the hang of it … kind off …

      And we were so awestruck by the life in the crater that we just had to make a short movie of the adventure where you will see it is: lava rocks 1, scooters 0. Enjoy!

       

       

       

       

       

       

      | 4 Comments
    • Farewell to Mahi Mahi

      Posted at 9:46 am by James, on May 12, 2019

      The sun is finally setting on our 3 weeks of volunteering, as we say a fond farewell to Tom, Fitri, Pras, Lenard and the rest of the guests who had been our extended family.

      For a volunteering program to work you have to have viable accommodation that us pampered Westerners can hack, and Mahi Mahi far exceeded that necessity and made it a pleasure to be on the program. The owners Jane and Luke have done a marvellous job of engaging with the local community so that at the weekend kids from the village come and play on the lawns and we are greeted in neighbouring villages with a wave. But island life also brings with it a community of animals, so at any time of day there are goats, dogs, lizards, chickens and herds of water buffalo wandering in off the beach to join in the fun … and the yoga given a chance.

      Water buffalo doing volley ball
      Water buffalo doing volley ball
      Goats doing yoga
      Goats doing yoga

      Our time here was made by the efforts of Tom and Pras, and the endless smiling and positivity of Fitri, who joined us on our trips and spoke to the various headmen to get permission for us to do our walks and surveys.

      Tourism on Simeulue is driven by the barrel rolling waves, that cast off long trails of white spray from their tips, and draw dedicated surfers from LA to Sydney. The surfer is however a curious creature: the Australian variety is an extreme sort and one evening 3 of them appeared covered from head to toe in mud from a good ‘ol Auzzie mud wrestle, and proceeded to chase a remarkably agile baby goat around the lawns before throwing themselves into the swimming pool where they found a poor unfortunate toad to kiss. The toad did not seem to mind, and unfortunately for us did not turn into a prince. Most of the other enthusiasts are from the other extreme and love yoga and nature, and great coffee. Perfect.

      Tom was delighted when we arrived as there had been no volunteers staying here for a while; to water down the surf chat, which goes a lot like this …

      “Check out that peak. Ain’t that sick”
      “Yeah man, the left hander is really gnarly, but the right hander is totally sick”
      “Dude, I snapped my last board on the left hander”
      “Ohhh … that is totally gnarly”
      “No worries man, you can borrow one of mine”
      “Dude, that is so sick”

      Life at Mahi Mahi is very tempting if you can take the relentless +30°C heat. There are volunteers who have worked here for 3+ years and, those who are planning to make their life here. When you see the island from the water you can see why; it just looks lush, with rolling hills covered with primary rainforest. For those who are considering a life change and can hack the surfer chat …

      The island of Simeulue etched into the wooden table
      The island of Simeulue etched into the wooden table
      Amazing yoga teacher Jonny, Tom and us
      Amazing yoga teacher Jonny, Tom and us
      Never get tired of that view
      Never get tired of that view
      The girls, with Tom, Rob, Lenard and Jonny
      The girls, with Tom, Rob, Lenard and Jonny
      Mango, 2 x Banana, Dragonfruit
      Mango, 2 x Banana, Dragonfruit
      Goldie had never had it so good
      Goldie had never had it so good
      A badge of honour
      A badge of honour
      Picture perfect island
      Picture perfect island

      These islands were hit hard by the 2004 Boxing Day Tsunami as they were at the epicenter of the quake that changed the shape of the island and the reefs around it. Fitri told us her story … she was young at the time, and the earthquake lasted 15 minutes during which you could not stand properly as the ground was shaking so much. Some of the elders in the village had experienced big quakes before, and called for everyone to climb the hills behind the beach as the tide started to draw back. Within 30 minutes the big wave came that entirely destroyed the village and covered the whole area with sand, flattening the land where the Mahi Mahi resort now sits (it was built in 2010). Fitri and her family lived for the next week by eating berries in the forest, before help and supplies started to come in.

      In reality the program at Mahi Mahi sits somewhere between volunteering and immersive eco tourism, which was a good balance for the family. The girls had school each morning, so a two hour impact activity in the afternoon was the max for them, and for Charlotte and I an additional few hours in the morning worked well. Through the surveys we completed we saw how fragile the coral reef is to the forecast global temperature rises. We saw that the nests of Green and Leatherback Turtles (whom are both at risk of “extinction in the wild”) are poached by people who have very little, and want to eat their eggs, and how tropical birds and fish that can’t breed in captivity are taken for fish tanks and bird cages across the globe. This certainly had a profound affect on us, and although we aren’t about to chain ourselves to a tree we want to look for a way we can make a difference going forward.

      | 7 Comments
    • Bangkaru or bust

      Posted at 2:10 pm by James, on May 8, 2019

      There are few places left on this planet that are untouched by the human hand. One of these places is Pulau Bankaru, an island at the very Eastern edge of Indonesia. It is said to be cursed;  only a handful of people have cut down a tree there, and all died a horrible death. It is also home to the turtle conservation project that Mahi Mahi funds. Jolly good then, lets go there!

      This adventure has had an emotional build up for the family, as Millie does not like boats. The problem with islands, is that they need boats. The problem with islands in Indonesia is the boats that appear are pretty unexpected, borderline adequate for the job they are doing and the seas are at the whims of a near constant barrage of tropical storms that blow in from the South East. Charlotte in her usual amazing way has coached Millie to confront her fears, and at least get on the damn thing if supplied with copious amounts of sugary snacks.

      We set off to the town of Sinabang, the “big smoke” on the island, and home to around 20,000 island inhabitants. Given that a storm was brewing, we stocked up on ponchos and other travel essentials.

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      Stocking up on travel essentials …

      On the day before our departure our guide Ricky turned up in a bit of a mess. His eyes were bloodshot from being out fishing all night, and he was stressed as one of his family had been hurt in a moped accident. We managed to glean from him that the regular overnight ferry was in dock for repairs, and we would have to take another that crossed further up the coast … this would add a long drive on the mainland to connect to a speedboat that would get us to Bangkaru and push our travel dates further towards a big inbound storm. And another little thing, that due to this change there were no private cabins available for the family to sleep together, so we’d be bunking local. Can’t be that bad, right?

      Our intrepid party of Tom, the amazing volunteering program lead, the lovely Pras, a divemaster who had just arrived at Mahi Mahi to help on the volunteering program and Ricky, the fixer who knows someone somewhere and everywhere set off to catch the overnight ferry. Charlotte, Bella and Millie were dressed in the long shirts and long trousers appropriate for this conservatively Islamic place, and each sucked in a deep breath as we arrived at port and were confronted by a big hulk of a ferry and a swarming mass of overloaded trucks, motorbikes, animals and families waving goodbye to their loved ones. We threw ourselves into the sweltering night; sharpening our elbows and working our way through the crowds and stares to the loading ramp.

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      All aboard! The calm before the storm.

      On the grand scheme of things, we know we are privileged to have any cabin space at all. As we wade through the throngs, the deck has already been marked out by families, laying down mats to sleep on. Ricky guides us through to two cabins just behind the main deck where I say goodbye to the girls and hello to the boys as we split male/female. It turns out the boys lucked out, as we are approximately 2 to a bed … for the girls it started at about 3, and by the end of the night, after the big storm rolled in, they are up to 4 as anyone sleeping on deck had to beg and plead for some kind of shelter.

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      This provides ample opportunity for hilarity, and endless selfies, including the girls actually being woken up for a selfie with their jolly and enthusiastic roomies.

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      A beautiful dawn breaks over the mountains of Sumatra

      Ahead of us lay a 6-hour minivan transfer and a 4-hour speedboat ride, and as the morning slipped away while we waited for the transfer we realised we were not going to make it today. At the same time the weather for the following day was getting worse with rain and high wind forecast. This was about to get gnarly (surfer speak, for very challenging). We plugged the girls into Audible for the transfer, and supplied on demand snackage. The next challenge was to find a hotel for the night and having been turned down from a couple of reasonable looking places, through sheer desperation, we settled for a night at the Island Hotel.

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      A bit of a fixer upper … Fortunately the chap having a smoke had checked out.

      Through luck the girls room remained fairly mosquito free, though unluckily the mozzies chowed down on tasty Rob (thanks, mate). At first light we locked and loaded onto a couple of motorickshaws to go meet The Captain, and start our journey to Bangkaru as soon as possible as the wind and waves were picking up.

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      All wrapped up and good to go … see ya later.

      When we got to the boat it turned out not to be quite the speedboat of dreams, but nonetheless a solid and remarkably buoyant looking craft to cross a few hundred km of open sea in. The Captain also did not wear a life jacket, which is confidence inspiring, right? However, The Captain did not like our odds of getting to Bangkaru as it sits unprotected on the eastern edge, and hence the swell here is bigger, so we’d scratch that plan and go to Pulau Tailana where we were planning to go after Bangkaru. As we left port, the rain started, so we donned our ponchos and buckled down for the ride. As we have seen at other hard parts of the trip; like when we had nowhere to sleep in the insect infested jungle, or when we were thrown off the river taxi in Brazil to fend for ourselves in an unknown town, it really brings the best out in the girls. Despite Millie not liking boats, she remained smiling the whole way through and kept us entertained, while Charlotte and I gripped onto our seats ‘till our knuckles went white.

      After a 5-hour roller coaster ride, with the boat taking in water from all sides, and much to The Captain’s relief we arrived at the picture perfect island of Tailana where Mr Mahi and his family live. If you ever need to run away from life, and are accepting of simple living, then look no further.

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      For the next few days we battened down the hatches as the storm raged on. A sign of the turbulent seas is that a number of local fishing boats were moored up for shelter inside the island’s reef … well, either that or they were keen to catch a glimpse of Charlotte in the outdoor shower by the mooring point. So we kept a beady eye on them as our barometer of calm seas as without a change our hopes of getting to Bangkaru to see the turtle protection project were likely to be dashed.

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      After the storm. The beautiful island of Tailana, home to Mr Mahi and his family.

      It was great to have Pras on the adventure with us, as using his conservation skills, we tried out a number of techniques for surveying the reef at Tailana, with the hope of finding an approach that other volunteers could follow. We had a lot of fun, and drank a lot of saltwater, getting to grips with the pesky CoralWatch laminated colour charts that gauge coral bleaching.

      Bellafish in action
      Bellafish in action
      Anyone remember how to snorkel?
      Anyone remember how to snorkel?
      The CoralWatch kit
      The CoralWatch kit

      Happily, the reef at Tailana was not bleached, so the water here had likely not reached the temperature at which the coral polyps expel the algae that lives inside their tissues, making the coral turn white. Pras’ dive computer registered the temp at 30°C, so there’s a couple of degrees to play with here.

      As the days slipped by the reality slowly dawned that we were not going to make it to Bangkaru, as the expectation was that the waves would still be too big to land the boat on the beach. This was a genuine disappointment for the family as we had chosen to volunteer here predominately for the turtle conservation, and although we were happy that by joining the program we were providing financial support, we thought it would have had a bigger impact on the kids; and frankly it would be AWESOME to see a big mamma turtle come and lay her eggs. Our emotions flipped from anger to annoyance to acceptance, which is a bit ridiculous, but all who know us know that Charlotte and James do not like to fail! For the family as a whole it was a good lesson about how to deal with disappointment, keep our chins up, and make the most of whatever we are blessed to have.

      Fortunately our way home was much smoother, literally and figuratively, with glassy seas and blue skies we speedboated back to port in half the time it took to get out in the storm. On our way we passed the home of the Bajau tribe, who are semi-nomadic seafaring people. Their hulking tri-meran boats jostled together at the foot of the makeshift village, who’s rusty tin roofed houses clung precariously to the land, desperate not to fall into the sea.

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      Bajau fishing boat relaxing in the calm waters.

      We had a last moment of entertainment as we motored around the headland into the river estuary, to approach the port. The Captain was finally defeated in siphoning the last drips from each of the boat’s petrol tanks, as the engine spluttered to a thirsty halt within sight of the port. Again, the girls were very cool about this, especially Millie, who does not like boats (was this adventure was therapy or torture!?!). Charlotte and I were relieved that we ran out here, in the relative shelter of the estuary, rather than out in the swell. A few animated phone calls later, and The Captain has got one of his mates in a fishing boat to mount a rescue.

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      Cheers mate! Getting a tow back to port. So close, but yet so far.

      The adventure overall was challenging, exciting and rewarding, and huge credit to Tom, Pras and Ricky who attempt these missions in a place where you never know what spanner is going to be thrown into the works. We got closer to what real life is like for many an Indonesian through the ferry experience, and saw again that in the face of adversity the girls are at their best.

      | 9 Comments
    • Schools in for summer

      Posted at 1:22 pm by James, on April 30, 2019

      Thank goodness for Rob. At the end of the resort is a purpose built classroom, built to provide education to the local community about sustainability and nature; as well as to have some fun and make stuff. Charlotte and I have a bit of a thing about standing up at the front, and leading a classroom … I very much hope we could do it, but I think it is something we are frightened of. Whether that’s because of being under the spotlight, having the high likelihood of the kids going nuts and climbing the walls, or wondering if we can even talk with the class.

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      Rob, leading the way, while Charlotte frenetically looks up words on Google Translate.

      So thank goodness we have Rob with us, who across the various lessons at nature school showed that he is both a brilliant natural talent and a well trained ninja adept in the many arts of classroom engagement.

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      Pras gets involved with painting beach plastic creations

       

       

       

      | 5 Comments
    • Beach clean and plastic factory

      Posted at 12:49 pm by James, on April 29, 2019

      There is nothing that highlights the rapid growth in Indonesia than the amount of rubbish lying around in the streets, outside the perimeter of houses and on bits of common land. Everyone takes pride in their home, but on this island there seems to be little by way of organised rubbish collection. This would be fine if everyone continued to eat traditional dishes but the wide variety of plastic wrapped snackage, often with individually wrapped portions has created an explosion of litter.

      One of the easiest things to do while we are here is to grab a sack and wander down the beach to see what the tide has bought up. This is one of those jobs that is much more fun to do in a group, so we wander off hunting lonely flip flops, plastic bags of all descriptions, pot noodle pots and our favourite for upcycling … plastic bottle tops.

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      Beach cleans are popular the world over, and they show us visibly that the oceans have oodles of plastic in them. The thing that struck us about it, is that the rubbish we collect is so hard to do anything with. It’s often filled with sand, full of some unknown substance or made of something that defies doing anything with like styrofoam.

      Luckily inside the nature school there is a basic but functional plastic factory, where the tension built as the smell of freshly baked plastic filled the air, then some frustration as we wrestled to open the impossible moulds and eventual hallelujah if a workable clipboard popped out.

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      The plastic factory, though rudimentary, will hopefully spark some ingenuity amongst the locals who attend the school. Already there are moulds for making surf combs, used to apply wax to your pride and joy, which can be made and sold to the resident surfer community.

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      Jackson Pollock, eat your heart out.

      | 2 Comments
    • Foraging walk

      Posted at 9:16 am by James, on April 27, 2019

      The amazing Fitree and Tom got ahead of things, and agreed with the village “headman” that we could go on this walk. In the past, there has been trouble as some of the guests were baring too much flesh for this conservative culture to take, resulting in a ban. It’s good to see that through talking and by showing respect, the grievance was forgotten and access granted.

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      This island is blessed with some good flat land that can be used for agriculture, and we took in our first views of rice paddies that are so kind on the eye, so compelling that we just had to grab a groupie (with Tom and Pras, Fitree, and Rumi and Ariana).

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      Then on to work up a sweat foraging for the new shoots of a particular fern …

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      … before cooling off with a roll in the mud …

       

      … and back to our hosts Jane and Luke’s house to make a delicious curry.

      We pluck out the fresh shoots …
      ..to be turned by Fitree ..
      … into a delicious curry.

      | 3 Comments
    • Community Gardening

      Posted at 8:36 am by James, on April 26, 2019

      Our first assignment, as fresh blooded volunteers, was to work in the community garden that both provides food to the hungry surfers and a education to kids who attend the nature school. We donned the factor 50, sun hats and our greenest fingers to give a hand to Astriel, who curates this pretty garden.

      Astriel had saved up some long bean seedlings and tomato plants for us to plant, and selected some of the delightfully stinky compost made from all organic waste from our plates.

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      All was going to plan, until Millie (aka Emily) went bright red and nearly expired, Charlotte fainted on standing up and I started seeing stars. “How can anyone do anything in this heat?” was our resounding cry.

      Never one for the conventional, Rob put his best teaching practise to use, to cajole the little Year 1 year seedlings into line.

      Mr Nice Teacher
      Have you been skipping growing?
      Oi you little scrotbag …

      Though we know in our hearts that this is arguably not the best use of Charlotte and my time, it was good to work as a family, and learn about how to garden together. It transpired that over the next few days the girls has been discussing between themselves about “What really is the point. Mum and Dad?,” so we explained that the garden provides some food to the resort, reducing costs, and that money from the resort funds the turtle conservation program on Bangkaru. The girls nodded … they got this.

       

      | 3 Comments
    • Visit to coconut oil factory

      Posted at 7:34 am by James, on April 24, 2019

      As part of the volunteer program we went nuttie for pure, organic, virgin coconut oil at a visit to the coconut oil processing factory here on the island. This 3-year old labour of love by Luke and Jane, the proprietors of Mahi Mahi, is a model for economically viable impact development. The idea is to use an environmentally friendly crop (in this case coconut) to produce a premium organic product that provides ongoing employment, and education about sustainability to the wider net of families involved. At the moment there are 80 people working at the factory itself, which likely makes the factory the biggest wage and tax paying organisation here.

      What 2.5 tonnes of coconuts looks like
      What 2.5 tonnes of coconuts looks like
      New arrivals. Can't use old fertilizer bags for organic produce.
      New arrivals. Can’t use old fertilizer bags for organic produce.

      By working with a large number of smallholder farmers, the message and economic benefit spreads further so that at this time at least 800 families are touched buy the project.

      Terrifying machine used to take shells off. Deshelling takes about 10s.
      First pass to desiccate the pulp. Two more times before ready to make oil.

      The big pressure in Sumatra is the large agro companies who wish to turn over pristine rainforest to palm oil production. The hope is that by establishing an economically viable alternative the pressure and lobbying can be resisted to keep Simeulue’s rainforest intact. Coconut trees grow on the crappy land by the coast, avoiding a chainsaw slash fest, and they don’t absorb ground water like palm oil which causes havoc on small islands, as they can leave nothing you’d want to drink.

      To make this product economically viable and pay fair wages it needs to be premium: huge credit to Lush who both provided seed funding and buy the wholesale end product to put in their soaps, and to consumers who enjoy the product via the Āluān brand. There was a moment of celebration for Jane and Luke as at a conference in Bali on Saturday, Richard Branson selfied with a bottle of their virgin coconut oil.

      How is the world doing on deforestation? Well … looking into this shows what a complicated question that is. If you care most about the impact on life on this planet, then loss of high biodiversity, primary rainforest, is key; if your lens is on global warming then arguably loss of tree cover is the top ticket. In Indonesia rainforest was removed to plant commodity crops like palm oil, which absorb carbon too; however Brazil is big on clear cutting for ranching which is a bad carbon trade.

      The world as a whole has made real progress in reducing the rate at which tree cover is lost, from a high in 2002, to a low in 2009. Things have been creeping up again, with 2017 the second worst year on record; largely due to huge forest fires, which is no surprise as it was one of the hottest years on record.

      Indonesia had a better year in 2017, having reduced its annual increase in deforestation in Sumatra by 60% in which this project will have paid its part.

      For a sense of scale: Wales is 2.0 million hectares (Mha)

      In the meantime, if you want to use products that use Responsibly Sourced Palm Oil (RSPO) you can use the WWF’s Palm Oil Scorecard, that rates manufacturers. Avoiding palm oil is hard, as it appears as it may appear as vegetable oil in food ingredients lists, which is basically in everything.

      I tried to pickup a KitKat, and was met by these faces ….

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      So looks like I have to “take a break” ’till 2020, by which time Nestlé have signed up to using RSPO globally.

      | 4 Comments
    • Getting worthy in Sumatra

      Posted at 2:09 pm by James, on April 22, 2019

      Despite feeling ready to move on from Japan, arriving in “real” Asia was a shock to the system. The cool, calm efficiency of Japan was replaced by the humid, frenzy of humanity of Kuala Lumpur where we spent a night, before arriving in the 5th most populous country on the planet, Indonesia. Indonesia is our final host country, and we were bound for the remote province of Aceh in Northern Sumatra. Quite how we ended up here was a bit of a chance, and largely down to the presence of Tom, the amazing volunteer who works with owners Jane and Luke on the sustainable development program linked with Mahi Mahi resort.

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      The trolley train arrives in Indonesia

      When we left the UK in July 2018 we intentionally left the last 3 months of the trip open and devoid of our characteristic obsessive planning. Charlotte and I feel exceptionally lucky that we have been able to have this year away with the girls. We are also acutely aware that our girls are growing up in a world of North London privilege that far exceeded that of our own upbringings, and this travel was hoped to expose them to the real world. As the trip went on we realised that in the way we were travelling we were pretty sheltered from real life, so we investigated volunteering as a family as a way to get closer to the sharp edge of life. Of course we think our kids are AMAZING, it turns out that most volunteer organisations beg to differ, and that it is surprisingly hard to find somewhere where you can volunteer with under 16s. To this end, we were excited and happy to find the development work at Mahi Mahi, which is balanced between volunteering and eco-tourism that really works for a family.

      Mahi Mahi is a surf resort cum sustainable development outpost on the sunset facing coast of the island of Simeulue (pronounced Sim-eh-loo, rather surprisingly). The island’s 80,000 residents, are settled entirely on the coast; with a family/village/tribal legacy that has created 5 different languages on this island alone. Mahi mahi is the primary funder of a turtle conservation project on a nearby uninhabited island that uses rangers to protect the nests from the pre-existing 100% poaching/predation. It is also an outpost of education about nature, and a pioneer of establishing sustainable business in a country whose population has doubled to 260m in the last 30 years, thereby pressuring its valuable rainforest and marine resources.

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      As volunteers we bunk in basic accommodation made up of reused huts donated after the 2004 tsunami. These are remarkably workable, though fiendishly hot at night, so the four of us get a bit of a sweat on as we bunk down together. Fortunately for Rob, he is spared the pleasure of being our roomie, and has his own room a few huts down. As thunderstorms abound at this time of year it makes planning volunteering work rigidly particularly hard, so we are forcing ourselves to chill out, take things as they come and embrace the pace of island life.

      A curve ball for family Monico is that Sumatra is conservatively Islamic, with a topping of Sharia Law. This is a struggle for the girls, as the requirement is to cover up to below the knee and the elbow to go out of the perimeter of the resort. This would be fine to do in England, but here it has been 32°C in the day with a heavy mist of humidity hanging over the sea. Me, being a man, am struggling anyway, and have taken up sweating for England as my chosen pastime. Charlotte in particular, as well as me and the girls have feminist issues as the men don’t have to cover up to nearly the same extent. This all said, clearly conservative Islam is a hugely successful framework for the social fabric, and the populate continues to expand calmly here, with more new places of worship under construction (mosques are popping up like they are going out of fashion) than anywhere we know of.

      This place is also our first encounter with that particularly chilled species of human: the surfer. There are amateurs and pros, the main difference seems to be that pros spend a lot more time on their hair (we’re talking bulk discount on blonde highlights), and a lot more time on their phones … the fans won’t wait. There is a lot to like about surfers really. For those who have the bug it is tantamount to a religion, with riding the peak here while connecting with nature a moment of nirvana. For the rest of us mere mortals we are just happy that they love great coffee and healthy food, to which Jane and Luke who run Mahi Mahi have tended to amazingly despite the resort being located at the edge of the known world.

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      So we say a hearty “Halo” to Indonesia, our home for the last 3 months of the trip, and roll up our sleeves (but not too far girls) to get involved.

      | 9 Comments
    • The Japan bits we missed!

      Posted at 5:01 pm by James, on April 17, 2019

      Nestled amongst the Cat, Owl, Otter and Mameshiba cafes is arguably the cutest cafe of all … the HEDGEHOG CAFE. Simon took Bella and Millie out on for an adorable afternoon of feeding worms to these little guys. Awwwwww…..

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      Once you are in so deep with the animal cafes, where you you go from here? Fortunately we tracked down a pack of Pugs at a rare cafe on the outskirts of Kyoto. Due to the love of their owner, a striking Japanese lady who the dogs mob the moment she enters the room, the cafe is only open a few days a month so we made a special trip back to Kyoto for this Pugtastic experience.

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      Spot the pug!

      To ring the changes I took the girls out for an afternoon of daddy-daycare. As with most things in Japan, bikes here have a gadget in them; in this case a tidy little electric motor that launches your sit-up-and-beg granny bike to 25 km/h in the blink of an eye. After collecting our bikes we wizzed along the pavements (hold your horses … this is not breaking the rules!), and onto the bank of the river. The place in the picture below is where the Kamo River that runs through Kyoto splits in two. In a splash of Japanese creativity there are concrete blocks shaped as turtles spanning the river, and you can just see Bella and Millie on the far side having jumped on the opportunity.

      stepping stones- electric bike

      | 0 Comments
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