5 February – Pak Bara Pier

After two days of airports, flights, vans, and constant movement, Pak Bara Pier felt like the first real breath of the tropics.
The water was not yet transparent, but a deep, beautiful shade of green — the kind of green that tells you the islands are close.

In front of the pier, a stretch of land extended into the sea like a long sandy peninsula, covered in dense greenery, untouched by construction.
Near the shore, floating quietly on the sea, was a house of the Urak Lawoi people — sea nomads whose way of life I deeply admire.

My body was exhausted, and my ears were still aching from the flights, a reminder of how much my body had been in transit.
Yet my heart was wide awake.
For the first time on this journey, I felt it: I was truly in the tropics.Read more