Travel off the beaten track and experience

I’d been in Ubud just a few days when I was viciously attacked by monkeys. It was an incident that had me in tears, lost me a bottle of Sprite and reluctant to ever return to Monkey Forest.  It just wasn’t safe. Monkey Forest is, as you would expect, a large forest filled with monkeys. There are over 300 of them and after spending five minutes there I had deduced that all 300 are evil. Tamed by the presence of humans over the last 20 years, these monkeys will do anything to get their hands on any food you may be carrying. It’s not uncommon to see them jumping and climbing over tourists, and they’ve been known to get very aggressive – stealing earrings, food and cameras. Despite the aggression, if you manage to keep your distance, make sure not to carry anything valuable, and definitely don’t bring any food (don’t try and hide it either – they WILL find it!) into the forest then you’ll be able to somewhat safely hang out with the ...

I haven’t ridden a bike in more than ten years. I made a promise to myself that I would never allow myself to get on one ever again. I couldn’t do it. I wouldn’t do it. Not after The Incident. It was 4pm on 10th April 2002. I was cycling home from school. It was an unexpectedly warm day for this time of year in England and I quickly worked up a sweat, stopping by the side of the road to remove my jacket. Carefully resting it over my handlebars, I set off home. Smiling as the sun beat down on my back, I allowed my mind to wander, thinking of all the homework I had to do, daydreaming of the three hundred ice creams that would be waiting for me… And then it happened. Somehow, my jacket managed to slip from my handlebars, falling onto my front wheel, forcing it backwards towards the brakes and causing the wheel to stop instantly. I was thrown over the handlebars into the road and from that moment forward, I decided I would never ride again. It was just too da...

Interested? PIN NOW, read later! I am Sebastian Jacobitz, a Photographer from Berlin, and although Berlin can be a very exciting place, I decided to escape the cold weather to enjoy the warmer weather of Southeast Asia.  While traveling in Southeast Asia for more than 3 months, I visited Thailand, Vietnam, and Indonesia, focusing most of my time in the Indonesia jungle near  Mount Ijen in Java. I want to share my unique experience of living near Mount Ijen, Indonesia. Hopefully, I can motivate you to travel for a longer time  than your typical 2-week vacation, and make my case for why a homestay is one of the best places to stay in Indonesia . Traveling is a great way to spend personal days off, but most jobs only allow a couple weeks of vacation a year. If you are going to a foreign country, this time constraint only allows you to scratch the surface of its culture and people. No matter how much time you invest in the planning for a trip beforehand, it simply is...