Tripping Out Alone

The adventure to Pontianak and Desa Saham was a culmination of three people's inspiration, previous experience and imagination.. Caleb had lived in Desa Saham, a Dayak village 17 years previously as a representative of Canada Youth. I had read Richard Lloyd Parry's What Young Men do and was drawn to visit the area he described, including the city of Ponitanak, Pahauman and the Dyak villages he described. Robi had been just six months previously and was keen to do further work with WAHLI to bring positive promotion through cultural links to the area. We ended up returning in June with 16 students..the adventure was written up for two magazine stories. One about Pontianak and the other about the Dayak Tribes..

Midway through a year that has been a roller coaster of changes and shifts I am back in Thailand, catching my breath in the metropolis. Here on Sesame Street, where I find myself ever more at home, I have everything I need and know where it is. And I am blissfully tripping out alone. The last trips have not been alone, sixteen students, two colleagues and three other companions were with me for the trip to Borneo and the Dayak Longhouse, and two colleagues joined me on the first trip, and this is not a philosophical blog I dont need to get in to what constitutes 'alone' or for that matter 'tripping out'..