After days of research for our upcoming trip to Indonesia, I had almost given up. Raja Ampat looked like a diver’s paradise because I couldn’t see much else than pictures of colorful fishes and corals. Raja Ampat is a life-changing experience in more ways than one. Excellent diving spots and beaches aside, it has many small islands that are inhabited by natives living in small villages. Most of them live without modern-day distractions like cell phones and iPods but they are ever so happy and content. Every year thousands of people from all over the world arrived here to see the diversity under the sea; what were non-divers like me, who had only snorkeled twice in much friendlier waters of Thailand before, to do there? It looked rather expensive too. Continue reading →