This list wasn’t planned or intentional. At least not initially. It was the accidental result of our family’s musings of this crazy adventure. In my need, as a self-professed documentarian (in the personal and written sort of way), I started recording the little things that were important to us.

Knowing that these things are too easily forgotten, we continued to keep a running list of them. It didn’t take long, through conversations and stories, to realize that they give us some of our fiercest memories.

With a long (and continually growing list) this is an abridged form of it. In essence, these are just a few of our favorite things:

Best Fireworks
Timika, Papua

Fireworks are sold on the streets of Timika during Christmas and New Years. This is the stand where we bought our Christmas fireworks, which Chris described as “borderline Armageddon, which almost killed [him] off.”

Of all things, the Doha Airport sells giant tubs of Tang. We would have bought one, but they were too big for our already full pieces of luggage.

Best Hamburger
Somewhere at a roadside cafe on Australia’s Pacific Highway

Ally emphatically carried around the leftover portion of her hamburger for more than 24-hours. She had plans to finish it, but it got too late, and we couldn’t find a garbage can to throw it in. By the next morning, it became our primary mission to get rid of the thing!

Best Villa
Little Hastings Outrigger Resort in Noosa Heads, Australia

Best Milkshake
Benjamin Browns, Singapore

Ally and I went with Stormy, one of our favorite people from jobsite, to Benjamin Browns for milkshakes. This was Ally’s “over-the-top milkshake” – the Old School. Stormy had the Nutella Banana milkshake and I had the Strawberry Shortcake milkshake, which were just as shocking! That’s Stormy in the background giving a big thumbs up.

Best Swimming Pool
Panvaman Hotel and Spa, Chiang Mai, Thailand

Best Hot Chocolate
Wakatipu Hilton Resort and Spa, Queenstown, New Zealand

Kylee and Ally both agree that this is the best hot chocolate that they have ever had.

Best Tuna Tartare
Isle de Pines, New Caledonia

Best Hike
Noosa Heads, Australia

Best Street Food
Beijing, China

A fresh pomegranate juice vendor in Beijing.

Best Quad Bikes
Queenstown, New Zealand

Best Pisang Goreng (fried banana)
Timika Airport, Papua

Best Beach
Tallow’s (squeaky) Beach in Byron Bay, New South Wales

A shadow photograph of Chris, Ally, Kylee and me on our favorite beach.

Best Snorkeling Spot
Ilse de Pines, New Caledonia

Best Coffee
ArcadiA Estate Coffee, Columbia (do yourself a favor an order a bag here).

Best Public Toilet
Port Douglas, Australia

One of many photos from our port-o-potty ambush photography collection. This public toilet was completely automated; patrons don’t need to touch a thing (door, sink, tissue, toilet handle)! It even provides a verbal warning about the amount of time patrons have remaining in the stall before the door automatically opens.

Best Street Music
Byron Bay, Australia

Best Christmas Trees
Rimba Papua Hotel, Timika

The Rimba Papua Hotel creates a new Christmas tree every year out of recycled materials. This tree, from 2014, was made from drinking straws that were in cold, refreshing drinks served to guests when they arrived. Staff members collected the straws for an entire year.

This Christmas tree, from 2015, was made from the remaining bits of the soap bars that were left at the end of each guest’s stay. The soap was melted, colored yellow, and shaped into roses.

It’s not unusual for small anomalies to wield their way into the monotony of mountain living. Like I stated in a previous post, we look forward to them, and, for the most part, appreciate the distraction that they create.

Until now, they have always occurred as single-episode events. Last week was an exception. A couple of events thrust our little family of four in different directions across the map. Earlier last week, Ally and I flew to Singapore for a couple of days, while Chris (and Kylee) stayed in Tembagapura to prepare for a quick trip back to the States. With some luck and careful planning, we were able to meet in Bali and enjoy a quiet evening together before separating, again.

On Friday night, Chris continued his travels to the States, while the girls and I remained in Bali. By midnight tonight (Indonesian time), Chris will be driving toward his final destination of Idaho Falls, and we will be checking-in for our flight back to Timika.

Most roads are nothing more than a means of reaching a destination. Without much thought, they get us from Point A to Point B. There is one exception, roads with an unspoken significance.

When we take a minute to think about and reflect on the roads that we’ve traveled, it doesn’t take long to identify one that triggers an emotional reaction. Perhaps, a narrow, winding canyon road that slowly appears through a thick canopy of towering trees. Or, a long, dusty gravel road that runs through a sea of golden wheat. No matter where it starts, or where it ends, there’s an underlying connection to it that makes our heart beat just a little bit faster.

Until moving to Tembagapura, the roads that Chris took to and from work were, for the most part, unremarkable. Here, he follows a 6km gravel road, with grades up to 25%, in four-low. It takes him 30-35 minutes to drive from door to door, with spectacular views all around him. It’s a road that leaves an indelible mark on everyone who drives it.

Chris recently mounted his GoPro on the dashboard of his Toyota and recorded his morning commute. The video was recorded in time-lapse mode, so the thirty-minute drive is shortened to a one minute and fifty-two second video. The road takes him from Hidden Valley, down two-thousand feet to Tembagapura, back up two-thousand feet to Zaagkam Tunnel, along a road cut from a cliff, and ends at his office, OB 4.

I’ll be back in two weeks to post more pictures and stories of our family’s adventures in Indonesia (and beyond)!

Completely isolated from the pandemonium, chaos, and hectic nature of the holiday season, Christmas in Tembagapura gave us the opportunity to focus on the little things. We played Frisbee with our neighbors in the hot morning sun, had a few games of Sequence after brunch, and spent the afternoon dodging rainstorms to relax in Christmas hammocks strung across the river that runs behind our house. After the sun fell and settled behind the mountains, we bid farewell to another memorable Christmas by setting off a small, but very impressive display of Timikan fireworks. It couldn’t get any simpler than that.

Bob Hope once said, “When we recall Christmas past, we usually find that the simplest things — not the great occasions — give off the greatest glow of happiness.” His words take on an even greater meaning in a small, isolated jungle town in the middle of the Papuan rainforest. We are grateful for the happiness that we found from a simple Christmas in Tembagapura!

Annual Rose Family Trivia

Strangest Travel Companion
While traveling through the Sydney Airport last Christmas, we bumped into a real-life Fairy Godmother. Covered from head-to-toe in sequins, jewels, glitter, baubles, beads, and bells, she caught the attention of everyone around her, including airport security.

Sydney’s Fairy Godmother went through the security line directly in front of us. I asked her if she was dressed up for a reason and she replied by saying that she wasn’t dressed up.

Two security guards and a Fairy Godmother. They followed her to the ladies bathroom (where she spent 30 minutes), and then on to her gate. As far as we know, she boarded her plane and flew to Brisbane.

Dodgiest Drive
We have had some pretty scary taxi rides during our travels, but nothing that compares to our first taxi ride in Makassar. The driver had no regard or concern for our safety as he sped down streets, weaved in and out of traffic, and drove within an inch of vehicles in front of us (including a gas freighter). By the time we arrived at the hotel, we were overwhelmed with relief and a strange kind of happiness.

Funniest Moment
A UFO in the Balinese night sky briefly startled us. When we first spotted it, it looked like it was moments away from landing in the hotel’s swimming pool. However, it didn’t take long for us to realize that it was a lighted crane in a construction zone on the other side of the wall.

The Bali Lights

Most Disliked Food Item
No matter how it’s prepared, we are hopelessly sick and tired of chicken.

Most Appreciated Food Item
One of Chris’s colleagues from Phoenix brought in a few dozen packages of Kool-Aid for the girls during his last visit to jobsite. It’s surprising how much joy and contentment a pitcher of ice-cold tropical punch flavored Kool-Aid can bring to the face of two girls and their friends.

Wildest Flight Plan
Our flight route from Doha, Qatar, to Venice, Italy, took us over the full south to north length of Iran.

Even in poor lighting, you can see the apprehension and uneasiness in Chris’s eyes. We just kept our fingers crossed, hoping that no mechanical or weather related problems would force us to land in Tehran.

Best Lesson Learned
Don’t tempt the vacation gods! During our trip to Europe, we missed cold weather, heavy rains, flooding, and a cruise ship fire, all by a single day. Every time we averted disaster, Chris would say, “The vacation gods love us!” Even in Bali, when we were stuck for three days, he continued to say, “The vacation gods love us!” After that, the vacation gods stopped smiling and sent us to Makassar!

The gift of love. 
The gift of peace. 
The gift of happiness. 
May all of these be yours at Christmas!