It’s been over a month since my last post and while I’d like to give you some plausible excuse as to why I haven’t written such as not having an internet connection or I’ve broken my fingers, the reality is that I’ve struggled to get myself to sit down and write, much less process my photographs. The past few months have also been an adjustment and I think I’m starting to wrap my head around this new lifestyle. I did however make a commitment when I left that I would write, take photographs, and update this site regularly and frankly, I haven’t.

While I haven’t written much since I left the states, traveling through Thailand and Indonesia has been interesting and eye-opening to say the least. Since November, I’ve spent 2 weeks diving in Pulau Weh on the northern tip of Sumatra, trekked and observed orangutans in central Sumatra, visited cultural sites such as Borobudur and Prambanan in Java, explored the temples as well as the nightclubs in Bali, and most recently spent 11 days diving in a world famous marine park: Raja Ampat.

I’ve also been lucky enough to have met, and hopefully develop a few long lasting friendships with some amazing people from around the world like the Thai/Swiss couple, Bo and Peter, who rescued me outside Ao Nang, Darma, the Park Ranger and Orangutan protector in Bukit Lawang, Martin, the Dutch surfer, who explored temples and braved hoards of teenage fans with me in Java, and Chris, the British SCUBA journalist, who’s been incredibly welcoming, introducing me to many of his friends and allowing me to take advantage of some of his superb diving connections.

Simply put, I’ve been fortunate to have a number of wonderful experiences and I’m eager to tell you about them, so moving forward I will recommit myself to writing on a regular basis as well as start showing some of the photos I’ve taken while traveling. I’ll be starting tomorrow with a short series about my trip to Raja Ampat and will continue to write regularly as I travel. I’ll also be interjecting these experiences over the past few months with my current writings to get caught up on what’s been happening.

It might be a bit confusing in the short term to know where I am and even though I tend to write in the present tense, I will let you know when it happened. You can also look up in the top right of every page under “Where is Brooks?” and this, along with the map, will let you where I currently am.

Thanks again for following along and let’s get this ball rolling again!