The island of Java is not the first place that comes to mind when thinking of a tropical vacation, but Bali is. In fact, the latter is part of the former. Java is one of the main islands of Indonesia, an archipelago straddling Southeast Asia, from Malaysia and the Philippines in the north to Papua and Australia in the south. Of all our travels so far, Indonesia has been the biggest revelation. We loved the people, the food and the culture, although there were plenty of challenging moments along the way.