April 7, 2026
Monday April 6th is another travel day for us on our destination to remote Raja Ampat. We started the day at 5am to make our 7am flight from Denpasar, Bali to Sultan Hasanuddin Airport in South Sulawesi for our brief layover to connect with our flight onto Sorong, Indonesia.
This cat was the most interesting artwork in Sultan Hasanuddin Airport but they did play a rather loud impossing Indonesian Raya at 10 am where everything stopped and people stood. The anthem is to foster nationalism, patriotism and unity, encouraging citizens to pause their activities to honor the nation's history and values.
We arrived in Sorong around 6:30 pm, checked into Aston hotel, got some dinner on their rooftop and had an early night. We had some time to walk the neighborhood this morning before leaving for the Ferry. This is the land of motor scooters! The kids were out in abundance headed to school and all want to pose for photos with big smiles and hi's!!
Fun day in the waters of Tioman Island, Malaysia snorkeling with friends. Life is good! It was nothing fancy, a boat & captain, who spoke minimal English and barely interacted with us, for roughly 7 hours. We started the outing spotting a group of dolphins and was quickly at anchor drop 1 of 6. The distances between the 6 snorkel spots was minimal, which gave us lots of time in the water (at least 45 minutes, at each spot) with an added stop for a lunch break at local restaurants. Even the restaurants were fast and efficient, definitely used to catering to the boat crowd.
Wishing everyone a Happy 4th of July! Here on the Odyssey we celebrated in the SE Asia Sea on our way to Tioman Island, Malaysia . We have such a talented and dedicated group of residents here, they put together a fun hour of things to celebrate and embrace a lot of what we collectively love about the USA. Even our residents from other countries - Canada, England, Australia, New Zealand, Ireland, Germany , etc. joined in the fun! ( I lent my flag below for decorations)
Vihara Avalokiteshvara Graha or Guan Yin Temple is near 500 Lohan, so we also toured the grounds of this large Temple complex. It's dedicated to the Goddess of Mercy and is one the tallest brass statues of her in SE Asia. She is just over 55' tall, coated in 22 carat gold and is surrounded by scenic dragon fruit plantations. The tile work is intricate and textured with great details. The whole place is very tranquil and calming for meditation and prayer.