Navel of the World — R. Muir

What could a committed bachelor from San Francisco and a nubile maiden from Jakarta possibly have in common when he moreover is a ‘devout' Atheist and she is a ‘fickle' Muslim, when he is frugal to a fault and she spends rupiah like royalty, when he is forty-five and she is twenty-eight, when all they've exchanged before Yanti Adiputro meets Nathan Bartholomew Payne at Soekarno-Hatta Airport in late 1993 is a handful of letters intended on Yanti's part to practice English and on Nathan's part to cultivate a contact once adding Indonesia to his round-the-world itinerary? The answer is NOT MUCH. How is it then that this unlikely pair shares two adventure-packed months backpacking across Java, Bali, and Sumatra, defying conventions, overlapping cultures, and realigning stars? The answer to that is what Navel of the World is all about.