Carol and I flew to Indonesia and Australia in the weeks around Thanksgiving for our first visit with family who live outside Jakarta. Flight 1: Three hours to Los Angeles. Flight 2: 16 hours to Hong Kong. There, we took a quick train ride into the City to log some steps and have breakfast at the Four Seasons. Then, Flight 3 (six hours) for Indonesia.

During our week with family, we visited a safari park, enjoyed local food, hiked to a waterfall, and fished. The safari park was unlike any we’ve visited. Few cages and few fences. After driving through the Jurassic Park-like doors into the tiger section, one particularly angry looking tiger came face to face with our driver. As we slowly drove through the tiger section, we began hearing thumping sounds. Were we running over a tiger? No. This same tiger was just trying to tear off the bumper. He almost succeeded. Park officials told us that between the bear, lion, and tiger sections, incidents like ours happen 8-10 times per month! 

A little later, we entered the Reptile area. Again, no cages and no safety glass. Just a gravel path and lots of trees. So where were the reptiles? The pythons were curled around narrow tree limbs maybe eight feet above our heads. Nice.

On the lighter side, Carol did get to feed giraffes and kangaroos and hold baby wallabies. 

Our next adventure was hiking to the base of an incredible 60-story waterfall. Halfway there, we were required to put on motorcycle helmets. Why? Because last year, a tourist was killed by a rock that came flying over the waterfall. Wonderful. I guess that explains the sign nearby offering to sell us accidental death insurance. 

To start our second week, we took Flight 4 (one hour) to Bali and stayed in two amazing beachfront resorts. The first, in a more urban part of Bali, was only $50 per night. This truly was a 4- or 5-star resort, but everything generally is inexpensive in Indonesia. One restaurant meal for four was just $30US. We spent our remaining two Bali nights at the Hilton resort, which is in a much lusher and more Westernized part of the island. At only $150US per night, the Hilton is an amazing 10-story, beachfront property with six pools. As you’d expect, Bali is blessed with several beautiful beaches. Thanksgiving morning, my wife and I were sipping out of coconuts on one!

Like all resorts in that part of Bali, the Hilton has a slight monkey problem. Around dusk each day, spider monkeys descend from the hills and invade the property looking for food that guests leave on their balconies and patios. At least six walked across the patio of our relative’s room. Some perched on the hotel roof. There was nothing more jaw-dropping than watching our relative’s video of spider monkey scaling down our 10-story hotel. At least, they don’t bother the guests. That’s as long as you don’t smile at them. We were told they interpret that as a sign of aggression.

Carol and I said good-bye to our relatives Thanksgiving afternoon and headed to Flight 5 (five hours overnight) to Sydney. There, we visited the iconic Opera House and the world-class Taronga Zoo, where cages and fences were in ample supply! That said, Carol’s highlight was the ‘koala experience’ where she was inches away from some very active koalas. Friday night, we greatly enjoyed Sydney’s vibrant restaurant scene around the harbor.

On Saturday, we boarded a 5 p.m. 14-hour, non-stop flight and landed in Dallas at 3p.m. Saturday. Kind of surreal. 

An amazing 15-day trip of a lifetime. Final note: When you read it takes one day per time zone to recover from jet lag, believe it!