The Primitive in Me

After faking it as an English teacher in Japan and amassing a sinful amount of money, my wife and I embarked on a 13-month odyssey around the world in 1994/1995. This was before the dawn of the Internet, mobile phones, iPods, digital cameras, laptops, and GPS. Back then, you didn't even need a reservation. Travel was spontaneous, allowing you to extend your stay if you liked a place, or leave if you didn't. Cancellations didn't restrict your plans; there was no Booking.com or Airbnb. What follows are the hilarious encounters and adventures at the ends of the earth, travelling to unknown destinations, using unconventional local transport, and getting there on a whim and a dare. This was raw, challenging travel to sometimes barely accessible places like Borneo. We started with just one goal: to climb to Everest Base Camp. Everything else was on the fly, based on word of mouth from other travellers, or impulsive desires-and we got into a lot of trouble travelling by any means through Bali, Lombok, Komodo, Sulawesi, Java, Sumatra, India, Tibet, Thailand, Vietnam, Nepal and many other distant lands.