The enchanting, mesmerizing smells of fresh cinnamon, cloves and peppers of the Spice Islands. The ageless lure of stories of pirates on the high seas stealing booty before slaying their prey. The high adventures of head hunters raiding remote villages in deep Borneo. These are the things of boyhood dreams and adventures, read over and over again by the author while growing up in Mid-America. Like adolescent boys perhaps everywhere, the stories unleashed fantasies of swashbuckling intrigue and conquests impossible to imagine outside of the storied world.

James R. Nelon chose to live out some of those early childhood imaginations. In a lull in his executive work life, he took a year off from the corporate world to chase the fantasies and daydreams of his childhood. Venturing into the remotest regions of Indonesia, the author traveled solo into the jungles and mountains of isolated islands and inaccessible villages to visit, stay with, write about and photograph peoples only envisaged. His vivid word descriptions paint a vision of life as it is today in the rain forests and jungles of Indonesia. His dramatic writings are only succeeded by the superb, rich images he captured as a talented photographer, images taken by him while on these adventures.

This book is required reading for arm-chair adventurers who yearn to peel back the foliage of long forgotten lands to see how natives half-way around the world have lived for millennia, undisturbed by the stresses and annoyances of modern chaotic life. These stories are as timeless in their character as the natives who live them. Come join in the pure joy of long-sought adventures spent crossing remote rivers, hiking through far-flung mountains as you read these stories newly found and freshly told.

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Copyright © James R. Nelon

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