We wish everyone a wonderful and exciting new year. We can’t believe this is our fifth New Year’s celebration on the road (and we are still in Asia). To give you a short glimpse of our adventures in 2011, we’ve put together a video retrospective covering this year’s travels through Malaysia, Thailand, Singapore and Indonesia.

Travelers to Bali who see their trip as the perfect opportunity to get that tattoo they’ve always dreamed of might want to think twice. The Sydney Morning Herald reports that an Australian appears to have “contracted HIV after getting a tattoo in Bali.”

However this particular incident pans out, we have encountered numerous travelers, including one we met in Bali, who have gotten severe infections from tattoos or piercings they have gotten on the road. It still always surprises us that anyone would be looking for discount body art in the developing world, but it seems to be an increasing trend. Take it from the cheapest of cheapos, there are some things you DON’T want a discount on.

Mantas seen from the surface while diving off of Makassar Reef. There are only three in the picture, but our boat was surrounded by dozens of them!!!

It’s another steamy, dreamy equatorial Christmas in 2011, but next year’s picture might look a little different. Season greetings to all our friends, family and fans all around the world. Don’t forget to have some eggnog or gluehwein for us. 🙂

As we settled in for the night on our overnight Komodo cruise, Captain Marasuki passed out four beige blankets and proudly announced with a big smile, “These are good blankets from Russia.” Clearly, he associated Russia with quality bedding. He explained that, on a previous trip to Komodo, Russian tourists had given him these blankets as a gift, claiming they had brought them to Indonesia from Russia.

When I woke up in the morning, I opened my eyes and stared down on an oversized label attached to the blanket. I doubled over laughing and inadvertently woke the others. Oops. Don’t worry, we DID NOT explain to the captain that Emirates was an airlines based in Dubai.

I guess it’s a testament to Komodo’s underwater attractions that it has taken us almost two weeks to visit the world-famous dragons. But now, the time has come… for dragons, megapodes, cockatoos and more.

Known locally as ora, the “Komodo dragons” not only occur on Komodo, but also neighboring Rinca (pronounced reen-cha) and mainland Flores as well as the smaller islands of Gili Motang and Gili Dasami. They are believed to be a relict population of large reptiles that once roamed Indonesia and Australia. The survival of the giant lizard is credited to extreme Continue…

Ten days on Seraya just whet our appetite for more tropical bliss here on Kanawa, a tiny island located between Labuanbajo and Komodo. In addition to lazing on more white-sand beaches, we also came here to do some night dives on the house reef as well as the wall off of neighboring Sebayur Besar.

As with Seraya, Kanawa is not a luxury destination but simple huts on a desert island where you can live out your Gilligan’s Island fantasy with a motley crew of fellow dreamers. In fact, dinner with our little group of travelers here on Kanawa was half the fun (despite the fact that Continue…

Hip, hip, huray! I’m lucky enough to have just celebrated my 100th dive while here in Komodo, considered one of the best dive spots in the world. It is custom for the 100th dive to be done in the nude. Being a free spirit, Continue…

It’s not exactly a secret among experienced divers, but Komodo has some of the best diving in the world. While land-lubbers are more focused on the famous dragons, underwater fans realize that Komodo National Park protects some of the best preserved coral and underwater life on the planet.

Why? As with Nusa Lembongan, deep channels with cold currents from the south seem to be protecting much of the coral from the hot water streams that have ravaged calmer Asian waters to the north. So far bleaching seems to be relatively minimal. Moreover, nature has gifted Komodo with wild ripping Continue…

Years of traveling have taught us never to leave anything edible laying around in a thatched beach hut.

So, clever as we were, we packed all of our food items in a plastic bag and suspended it from the central ceiling beam. Little did we know that Seraya’s rats are quite the acrobats. In the middle of the night, Continue…