Words by Matt Dursum Photography by Yaron Ptashnik Music goes hand in hand with many life events: romantic courtships, solitary moments, and, of course, adventurous road trips through exciting new landscapes. Music is the catalyst for memories. At least it is for me. I lived in Japan from 2009 to 2013. Not big-city Hello Kitty, sprawling neon signs Japan, no. I was in the boonies. In the small and charming coastal community known as Minami…
Last week I was sitting down at a bar with an acquaintance and over a pint of beer we chatted about life overseas. Simultaneously, we hit each other with a broad yet hard to summarize question, “what are your favorite cities?” I stewed over that question for a little too long and my answers went in circles. Finally, I landed on my top five and rambled off versions of the following reasons. Tokyo I was…
The morning sun filtered through the sleeper car’s blinds as I sprang out of my bed and grabbed my bag. The announcement boomed over the train’s intercom that we had arrived in Kuala Lumpur. I had boarded the overnight train from the southern Thai city of Hat Yai to spend five, gluttonous days in Malaysia’s cosmopolitan capital during the height of Ramadan. Although many of the city’s restaurants will be closed from sun-up to sun-down,…
Clamoring workers on fishing trawlers fill the small harbor at Lembar Port. The metallic sound of industry and boat horns fills the air as the ferry docks. The ferry’s large steel doors fall with a thud as the motorbikes and cars incessantly rev their engines incrementally louder and louder until the whistle is blown to signal their exit from the ship. Roaring into the small town, just a few kilometers south of the island’s capital,…
As the ferry docks in the small port town of Gilimanuk, crowds of motorbikes rev their engines and flood out into the main highway. As you and the other bikes pour out into the road, hot engine exhaust at your heels and kretek (clove cigarette) smoke in your face, your last glimpse of Java is the magnificent view of Mt. Raung; its smoking caldera looming like a shadow over the narrow Bali Strait behind you.…