Book review: The Naked Traveler-2

“I can get a glimpse of the world through Trinity’s Indonesia eyes. I may have been to many of these places before, but The Naked Traveler takes me there by a whole new route – Tony Wheeler, Lonely Planet

If the guy from Lonely Planet could endorse this Indonesia’s best seller travel book, then this book worth a review, for you guys out there who opt Backpacker is your traveling style. But what did ‘whole new route’ Tony Wheeler really talking about? Let’s find out more.

It all began with her travel addiction ever since she was a little child, with the whole family having the same ‘hobby’. When most of Indonesian childs were rewarded with a new clothes, candies,bike or toys after they did good at school for example, she got a Jalan jalan or sightseeing to a new place from her parents. She did not realise she would be a travel junkie and her addiction could take her around the world, and signing her best seller travel book.

In 2005, she started her first travel blog www.naked-traveler.com where others still had not even been familiar with a blog, so we could say she is the travel blogger pioneer in the country. Although her blog is in Indonesian, many readers overseas who understand the language could still adore this most visited travel blog (and she does speak english,guys..). Her blog often reveals another side of traveling, sometimes the topic is controversial, often silly or could be a trigger for a harsh comment from some people who think the issued brought was a bit sensitive. Such as : How dirty the public toilet in most major cities in China is. One narrow minded reader had interpreted the blog post as “an insensitive issue to all chinese ethnic group”, which was obviously taken totally wrong!

euh..some privacy,please?

Following her successful TNT-1, now on the sequel, TNT-2, she wanted to share with all of her readers that traveling is not solely about how nice and comfortable it would and should be, or how magnificent the scenery of one place is, not also about a grande architecture or the white pristine beach. But she took the post-journey as the laughing and memorable moment when it comes to : flight delay (long ones!), unfriendly local people, a shoestring travel budget.

For Trinity, there’s no such thing as a great or ugly destination, they are just different-that’s all. Thus she never put a high expectation toward one place, this means she’d be OK when she arrived at one place so called in Puerto Rico, just to see a banana field which she could easily find anywhere in the neighborhood in Indonesia, her beloved country.

Staying away from a touristy place is one backpacker like her will most definitely does, but read her story about “A Touristy Night in the desert” where she found herself with other 200 tourists gathered in a tent under the stars of Dubai, were offered a buffet dinner complete with wine (this is an arabic country!), and had to witness a not so interesting belly dancing of a fat rusian girl who looked like she didn’t practice enough..

She has tried, met, seen, tasted, encountered, and experienced almost everything one world traveler could ever wish for : Nudist beach in Sydney : checked. Visiting the ‘fanciest cemetry’ in Santa Cruz-Manila, A Sex museum in Amsterdam, the spookiest museum in Phnom Penh : done. Getting proposed to get married to an african ethnic everytime she meets this ethnic group anywhere in the world (who took her as “Queen Latifah”-their idol) who seemed think that her ‘physical appearance” is their dream woman type. A pot party in the middle of a shrimp farm in Palawan Island, Philippine, where she did this weird 3 rituals while hanging out with the locals-circling to smoke a pot in a row + a glurp of brandy+a sip of ice lemon tea!…

She also knows who’s the fattest people in the world, the ‘easiest’ and most flirtatious men on earth. And she did all her journey with laugh out loud, jokes, sillines, audacious, and a very open mind. In our country, Indonesia, a woman solo traveler with backpacker travel style is not very common, to say crazy..:)

But beside her hilarious stories during her trips, Trinity also writes about travel tips and ideas, for example : how to use your free time during traveling, because for her traveling is not just about going places, or visiting a destination. Sometimes, the art of doing nothing could still apply in her travel days.

You wanna know the naked truth about traveling the world in backpacker style, get The Naked Traveler 1 & 2 now!…It’s an order! :p

– Trinity – Naked Traveler blog
– Follow Trinity on Twitter
– Trinity on Facebook