First Substack-iversary

Farewell to an eventful year - and a look forward

Leaving Labuan Bajo, Flores on the overnight ferry to South Sulawesi, May 2023

One year ago I published my first Substack post. I didn’t really know where it might lead, but I decided to launch on this platform for a few reasons. First, I felt that I had left an audience hanging over on Medium when I ended a short-lived but fairly widely-read blog early on in the pandemic. I wanted to update everyone on what had happened in the intervening 2.5 years since my wife Holly and I made the decision to move to Lombok permanently, as well as to create a less Covid-centric narrative. That has certainly been the case, and my posts have ended up being heavily skewed toward travel and what I had been studying over the previous couple of years during lockdown: Southeast Asian prehistory and archaeology.

This is my 24th post in that time, and since announcing the Lombok Diaries on social media at the end of 2022 the number of subscribers has grown from zero — I didn’t have an existing email list brought over from another platform — to over 900. Very gratifying, and a huge thank you to everyone who has joined me in this eclectic exploration of Southeast Asia.

The Lombok Diaries will remain free, as I said in my first post, though I still reserve the possibility of adding a paid option if it makes sense. This seems to be working well, so I don’t see a need to change at this point.

What has happened in the past year? So many things. First and foremost, there has been quite a lot of fascinating travel, something that will continue to feature in my future posts. Here’s a quick recap of some of last year’s highlights.

Some of the delicacies at Si Wei Mao Cai in Singapore

In February Holly and I traveled to Singapore and Sarawak, only the third time we had ventured beyond Indonesia since the pandemic began in early 2020. In Singapore we visited the Asian Civilisations Museum, one of my favorites, and I reviewed the Michelin-starred Peranakan restaurant Candlenut, which is well worth a visit. One gem we discovered on that trip that we’ll definitely keep coming back to regularly is Si Wei Mao Cai: an amazing low-key place in Chinatown that has the best Sichuan food I’ve had outside of Chengdu. It’s definitely worth adding to your list of must-visit Singapore spots if you like spicy-numbing mala dishes. Finally, in Sarawak we explored the legacy of James Brooke and the ‘White Rajahs’, saw the wonderful new Borneo Cultures Museum, and visited the extraordinary Niah Caves — on my must-see list for years.

March brought a quick trip to Jakarta, with a return visit to the National Museum after three years. From copious pandemic reading, I knew much more about Indonesian history than I did on my last visit in March 2020, and as a result it was far more interesting. Make sure to take one of the free tours offered by the Indonesian Heritage Society if you haven’t visited before — they will help guide you through the often overwhelming mix of indigenous Austronesian and Papuan cultures, ancient Hindu-Buddhist influences, medieval Majapahits & Sriwijayas, Arab traders and Dutch colonialists that have combined to create the fascinating history of the Indonesian Archipelago.

Sculptures at the National Museum, Jakarta

In April I was focused on preparing for our upcoming expedition across Wallacea and wrapping up several Substack posts that set the stage for what we would be exploring there. We briefly considered a trip to Timor-Leste to see the total solar eclipse on the 20th, but it was too much to fit in.

In May Holly and I finally departed on the expedition. The goal was to travel overland across Wallacea to coincide with the bicentennial of Alfred Russel Wallace’s birth, from its southwesternmost point here on Lombok to the northeasternmost point in North Maluku. It got off to a rocky start on the afternoon of the first day, when we had our first first breakdown due to the Land Cruiser’s 50-year-old engine overheating — something that would plague us all the way to Makassar. The trip was still spectacular, and included a gorgeous ferry ride from eastern Sumbawa to Flores, an overnight ferry from Flores to Bira in South Sulawesi, and ended with the glorious feeling of finally arriving in Makassar despite the ongoing engine issues. At the end of that month, my visit to the extraordinary 45,000-year-old cave art in the Maros karst formations of South Sulawesi was an absolute highlight of the trip.

June and early July brought a short break from the expedition back on Lombok and a visit from my NYC-based daughter, first showing her around our little island during the wonderful dry season we had last year, followed by a quick trip to Singapore before I headed back to Makassar to deal with the jeep. Finally, in early August — with a new engine and an improved cooling system — I set off on the long drive through Sulawesi. Lake Matano, which I covered in my last post, was spectacular. In upcoming posts I’ll be detailing the rest of the trip through this amazing island — probably my favorite place to explore in Indonesia because of its remarkable diversity of landscapes, wildlife, undersea wonders and well-preserved indigenous cultures.

Leaving Ternate, North Maluku in October

October finally saw the completion of my expedition in North Maluku, more than five months after departing from Lombok. After a rest break back at home, Holly and I headed to Cambodia in December for a quick visit to Phnom Penh and Siem Reap — a wonderful end to a fascinating year.

So what’s coming up in 2024? I will definitely be doing more posts on food this year, which is a big part of our lives here in Southeast Asia. I pepper my social media with pictures of the dishes we eat, most of which we’ve cooked ourselves, and get a lot of requests for recipes — I’ll certainly have a few of those. To me food is a way to explore the deep connections between diverse cultures around the world, and I’ve always been fascinated by what it reveals about the history of human trade and settlement. As part of this, I hope to give some updates on our kitchen garden, where we grow many of the things we eat.

Toraja chilies we bought at the market in Rantepao - plants sprouted from their seeds are now growing in our garden on Lombok

This year we’ve got two trips planned so far: one to Thailand in June for a conference, and another later in the year to explore the Banda Islands and the ‘Forgotten Islands’ of southern Maluku. I’ll have posts on both of these, and we’re likely to add at least one more getaway to our calendar as well — stay tuned.

Finally, I want to give you an opportunity to vote on what you’d like to read more of in 2024:

With that as an overview, thank you again for reading in 2023, and I look forward to having you on board as we head into the new year!