Easy Rider

20 October 2013

Year two at school has already been in session for over ten weeks, as we recently had our first term break of this year. Here are some of the highlights from my trip (of course I traveled somewhere, because why not?!). My friend, Kristina, and I flew to Phnom Penh, Cambodia (pronounced as Nom Pen, I’m 90% sure), stayed there two days, and then took a 10-hourish bus ride north to cross the border into southern Laos, where we spent five days, and then back into Cambodia to fly back to Jakarta. I’ve listed some highlights from the trip below.  

 1. Kristina and I both managed to run out of passport pages while on this trip. You may wonder how we didn’t notice that we were running low on pages, but we actually thought the last two pages, labeled “endorsements only,” could be used for our visas. We needed one coming into the Cambodia airport, one to cross into Laos, and then one again to go back into Cambodia to fly out, so that’s three entire pages used just for visas, not to mention the fact that they also still stamped in the passport.  To attempt to prepare for the impending hassle, we tried to get a multiple entry visa for Cambodia, but they wouldn’t give us one in the Phnom Penh airport. In the end, we had no problem crossing the border into Laos, but they would not put the Cambodian visa (the second one) in our passports on the last pages. I reassured Kristina that they actually didn’t care if we crossed the border, but they’ll probably just ask us for some extra money, above and beyond the visa fee. Lone and behold, in addition to the $30 visa fee ($10 of which went straight to the man from our bus company who was “helping” us with the visas processing—Kristina and I had crossed the border into Laos just fine on our own for only $20 when we arrived) we each paid $20 extra and wrote a note on the back of our visa giving them permission to put the visa over something on another page of our passports. We made it across the border, after a bit of nail-biting waiting alongside the road, hoping that we wouldn’t have to make a trip to the nearest U.S. Embassy.

Notice the $40 bribe at the top of the picture?

Kristina took this picture while driving the bike!

2. Riding bicycles around Don Det to Don Khong islands in Laos. It was a nice ride until my tire went flat. Luckily, Kristina’s back tire had pegs…and she so graciously offered to haul me around while I stood on previously mentioned pegs. It was pretty difficult, and I can’t even imagine how much work it was for Kristina, but we managed quite nicely. Our new friend from Germany was also kind enough to drive my bike alongside for most of the way.  That was also the most physical activity we did for the entire week, besides a peaceful, leisurely walk on the dirt path around the island on a different day.

3. The Crazy Gecko, where we stayed on Don Det for the entire time. Not only was there a mosquito net (with no holes) surrounding the bed, but there were two hammocks strung up outside of our room, facing the Mekong River. We spent the vast majority of our time lying in the hammocks simply reading, napping and talking. There was even delicious food at their restaurant. Bonus!

The Crazy Gecko. Our hammocks in the background.

4. Phnom Pehn, Cambodia

a. Indian restaurant in the riverside area. There was absolutely amazing food there, but I have no idea the name of the restaurant…oops.

b. The Killing Fields. Yes, I realize that doesn’t sound like a highlight, and it was very depressing, in fact. Kristina and I rode bicycles out of the city, which was the bright side of the visit there. I did appreciate learning about the Khmer Rouge and horrific genocide that took place in Cambodia from 1975-1979. There were around 3 million Cambodians killed during that time, of the 8 million in the entire country. There was an audio tour that took us around a trail to see the remains of the mass graves while we heard the history and listened to some survivors’ stories. There is also a memorial that was built, and it is filled with skulls of bodies that were found in the mass graves. It was as creepy and sadly moving as it sounds.

"Please don't walk through the mass grave."

c. The U.S. dollar is used in Phnom Penh along with their currency, called Riel; both are actually used interchangeably and together. When we paid for dinner with USD, we got change back mostly in USD, but then the smaller dollars and cents change came back in Riel. I found that interesting.

5. What with all of the time to relax and contemplate the world’s problems, I came to a conclusion of my own. I’ll preface this with the fact that at my school, on the last day of school before our term break, we were given a letter of intent to complete by the end of October (so the school has a rough idea of how many new teachers they’ll have to hire for the next school year). Anyways, I had been debating whether or not to stay for a third year, and AS OF TODAY (that has been changing from week to week lately), I’ve decided not to renew my contract. However, I would like to spend an extended period of time traveling around Indonesia, mainland Asia, Australia and New Zealand after my contract ends in June. It’s just too great of an opportunity to be here and explore that I can’t pass it up.

As John Muir so eloquently put it, “I am losing precious days. I am degenerating into a machine for making money. I am learning nothing in this trivial world of men. I must break away and get out into the mountains to learn the news.”

That quote comes from a news story from the Upworthy news website, which a friend shared with me. Check it out if you’re interested. I really enjoyed it, because, of course it's about traveling. You can find it here at: http://m.good.is/posts/why-biking-7-000-miles-to-patagonia-is-essential-for-creative-living

She's a Man Eater...Komodo Dragons!

1 September 2013 (this is actually true, this time)

After a short three weeks of the new school year, we had two weeks off for the Muslim holiday Idul Fitri (the first two weeks in August). The school couldn’t guarantee we would have our passports back from immigration before the break, so we just planned to stay in Indonesia. We only had three destinations.

1. Bali (2 days): Impossible Beach to relax in the sun and enjoy the ocean. I also bought the Lonely Planet guide to Laos, so I can begin planning my next trip for October.

2. Flores island (8 days):

a. In Labuan Bajo, we chartered a fishing boat to take us on a 3 day/ 2 night trip to Komodo Island and snorkeling in the surrounding waters. This was no tour boat. It was legitimately a fisherman who had never taken tourists, but we were desperate.

We ate all our meals and slept on the boat…all five of us in very tight quarters, sleeping on very thin mattresses. It wasn’t the most comfortable situation, but it was such a ridiculous and fun part of the trip (and now we get to joke about it).

b. First stop: Rinca Island to see Komodo Dragons.  We did some snorkeling, afterwards.

Apparently, the guide told us, it’s their mating season. They remind me of a baby crocodile, but very slow-moving. We also learned that their bite is not poisonous, but they have bacteria in their saliva, which will slowly kill their prey after it has been bitten. Then, after it dies, they come back to eat it.

c. Second stop: Komodo Island seemed the same as Rinca, and we saw more dragons. We also did some more snorkeling at Kanawa Island, which happens to be my new favorite place in Indonesia. It was a small, private island with a restaurant and bungalows that are cheap. We spent our second night on the boat, but decided to send the boat and captain back to Komodo Village without dropping us off. We wanted to spend the third day on Kanawa and get a room for the next night. I lay in a hammock for a big chunk of the day, just reading my book and planning my Laos trip. We watched a beautiful sunset and chatted with the other travelers there. It was the most relaxing place I have been, and it was so gorgeous!

d. Back on the mainland (Labuan Bajo) we rented a car and driver to take us east, across the island of Flores. We drove a lot, but eventually made it to Endo (the site of Mt Kelimutu and the tri-colored lakes). Along the way, we stopped to watch a school’s outdoor volleyball tournament, but we didn’t have time to play. On the way back, a few days later, though, we stopped at a soccer match and played volleyball with some kids next to the soccer field (until Scott accidentally hit the ball into a kid’s face and gave him a bloody nose). 

e. We did a sunrise hike up to Mt Kilimutu. The view was amazing, but I was cold, until I started hiking around. Scott has grown up climbing and hiking around his home in the states, so he and I ventured on and off some trails to get closer to the lakes. At the edge of one of the crater lakes, we did rock baseball and rock bowling.

f. It turns out one of the places we went required the park (yes, it’s a national park) to send a park ranger to escort us out of the “dangerous” area. I never felt unsafe, but the ranger’s boss had to talk to us to make sure we understood that they were just trying to keep us safe because they don’t have the resources to evacuate anyone else (they had already had three deaths to deal with this year). We didn’t get into any trouble, other than that, but it totally made the 3-hour hike worth it! We were also convinced that we would have to bribe someone for breaking the rules, but that never happened either.  Kristina also got into trouble as she went off the trail searching for Scott and me.

g. The perk of talking to the Park Ranger ‘boss’ was that he arranged for us to ride in the back of a police truck down the hill (we were definitely done walking after that hike up in the morning). The police truck took us about halfway, and then Kristina, Scott and I caught a ride in a water truck. The driver had actually been a driver in Jakarta for years, so we were talking to him about that. Nicole and Mitch caught a ride in a tourist bus that had dropped off the passengers and turned around to come back to pick us up.

h. On our drive back to Labuan Bajo, we stopped by a roadside distillery where they were making the local moonshine called Arak. It is liquor made from boiling palm nuts. It was absolutely the most disgusting thing I have ever tasted.

3. Lombok (yes, again!)

If you remember, Lombok is where I have gone already twice to go surfing on the weekend. This time, though, we had five days to enjoy all of the beaches and attempt surfing on my own.

a. Surfing was great, as usual! I’ve been upgraded to a shorter board  (not really short, like the good surfers) that’s not soft. There was one point in the lesson, when two waves came at me quickly and took me out. As my board flew in the air, I knew there was a good chance it would come down and hit me, but I couldn’t avoid it. It hit my forehead hard, but luckily did not break my skin. I got out of the water quickly, because I didn’t want to risk getting dizzy in the water. I felt fine after it happened, but there was a huge bump on my head for about an hour, and now I may have a permanent bump on my forehead (it’s still there as I write this, nearly one month later). All of my friends were concerned I had been seriously hurt, but DON’T WORRY (MOM), it is absolutely okay!

See? This is 3 hours after and you can barely see it!

b. The next day, we rented boards and took our motorbikes back to the beach to attempt surfing without an instructor. Turns out, it’s quite difficult for me to read waves and know which one to catch, especially without my instructor yelling directions to me. It was still fun, and it was definitely interesting to drive the motorbike with Nicole on the back along with the surfboard in the attached rack.

c. The rest of the days were spent driving to the other beaches, sitting on the sand reading or sleeping and hanging out with my friends. I really had to rest up and be as relaxed as possible in order to be motivated to go back to Jakarta and school. 

Back to School…to prove to Dad that I’m no fool (Billy Madison)

31 August 2013 (actually)

As most schools in the States have started by now, this is just a quick update about how my school year has been going. We've already had 5 weeks of classes!

The new school year started on 15 July for students. The teachers had to start orientation on the 4^th of July…Happy Independence Day to me. This year I am still in charge of a 4^th grade class (my forms class), and I am teaching Maths to two classes of 3^rd grade and one class of 4^th grade.

I’m finding that the second year, in general, is significantly easier than the first. I feel like I actually know what to expect and what I am doing, or at least supposed to be doing. The 3^rd grade curriculum is new to me, but it actually is great to get to know where my 4^th graders have come from in last year’s curriculum. It’s great to be able to teach the same 4^th grade curriculum again, but this year I have the highest-level class, so they’re smart, motivated and love maths class. I’m having fun incorporating group work and games into my lessons, knowing that they will be able to behave appropriately and have fun at the same time.

There are only two classes of 3^rd grade, and since I teach both, one of them is all of the highest-level students and the other is an interesting mix of students who may be very smart in Maths, but not necessarily in other subjects. There are also about five students who have some behavior/attention issues that I’m learning to deal with. Luckily, for me and the students, they have Nicole as their forms teacher, so she’s slowly whipping the entire class back into shape. There are days (like last Friday) when I taught them for one hour, after which I was completely emotionally and physically exhausted. I’m glad I have them to teach, otherwise it may seem like this teaching thing is easy. They’re a loud, sometimes obnoxious, reminder, that all students deserve consistent and caring teachers in their lives. I hope I can start being meaner to them so that they improve in their Maths skills (which may sound weird to the non-teachers reading this, but that’s what this class honestly needs. Discipline and follow-through. Two things I’ve been working on to improve from last year).

One more thing, I am working with Kristina to teach the Basketall CCA (co-curricular activity) after school. We work with 3^rd and 4^th grade girls for one hour and then 5^th and 6^th grade girls for another hour. It has been fun so far, and it’s pretty funny to watch them improve (ever so slightly) in their passing, dribbling and shooting so far. We both cringe a lot during the two hours, especially when they shoot the ball, but they have so much fun and it’s great to play some basketball again.

Okay, short and sweet, as promised. If you want to know anything else about school or my trips, just send me an email . 

Myanmar…It’s better on top (of the temples)

5 July 2013 (actually) -- pictures aren't working right now, but I'll try again later.

During my “summer” vacation,  I was on an amazing adventure in Myanmar (formerly called Burma). Let’s just say that there was never a dull moment (unless, of course, you consider napping in a canoe while floating down the Inle Lake channels boring).

17 June: Yangon, Myanmar (the current capital city)

1. They drive on the right side of the road. Apparently, in the 1970’s, they were sick of being reminded that they used to be a British colony, so they switched how they drive. Many (most) of the cars, therefore, have the steering wheel on the right side (not the left).

2. The currency is the Kyat (pronounced chot). This inspired us the frequently sing the tune of the song, ‘Shots, Shots, Shots’ when we spent money.

3. There is a very interesting mix of different cultures and people, in general. Apparently, the country used to be a mix of a few different surrounding countries, and when boundaries shifted, the people stayed where they were (that, of course, is a very simplified explanation that may or may not be accurate).

4. We napped in a park in the middle of the day for nearly one and a half hours. It was glorious, and then we were refreshed, at least enough to walk around the Sule Pagoda and visit the Schwedagon Pagoda at sunset.

Schwedagon Pagoda

5. We were all zombies at dinner due to our previous day’s 4 a.m. flight.  But the glimmer of hope to keep us awake was the ridiculous fashion show/ mini concert happening at the end of the restaurant, with a runway and everything. It was simultaneously confusing and entertaining.

6. We stayed at the Motherland Hostel. I would recommend it to anyone traveling to Myanmar. The rooms are good, and more importantly, the staff is super friendly and helpful!

18 June : Exploring Yangon (after a good night’s rest)

1. We walked to the market. I bought a longyi (the traditional sarong-like skirt that most locals wear) as well as a jade bracelet.

2. We walked to the Zoological Gardens where we saw hippos and bears, and even fed sugar cane to the elephants.

3. Walked along the boardwalk on the lake, as we attempted to get to what we thought was a floating temple.  It actually turned out to be the replica of a floating barge that is some sort of a performing arts center.

4. Kristina spotted a field hockey practice going on, so we crossed the street to check it out. Based on their uniforms, we concluded that they are training for the SEA (South East Asia) games that are being hosted by Myanmar.

5. We waited out a rainstorm at a restaurant, drinking a few select beverages.

6. Dinner at a local restaurant with amazing curry!

19 June : To Kinpun and the Golden Rock

1.  Early (7 a.m.) bus for the 4.5 hour journey, including some great music videos and karaoke videos to be enjoyed along the way.

2. The Golden Rock (actual name Kyaiktiyo) is literally a huge rock balancing on the edge of a cliff, which is supposedly held in place by a piece of Buddha’s hair.

20 June : Back up the hill to Golden Rock

1.  We wanted to do some hiking, so we only took the truck halfway up the hill this time. We followed the hiking trail that had been used until they paved the road the whole way up the hill. There were a bunch of chairs with bamboo poles connected, which people used to hire in order to get to the top of the hill to see the Golden Rock without having to walk. Now that there is the road access, there was nobody being carried.

2.   On the other side of the village valley, we spotted stairs climbing up the hill, leading to what we assumed was another temple. So, we climbed back down one side of the hill and back up the 618 stairs (Kristina counted) and go stuck in a downpour at the top.

3.  We each hopped on the back of a motorbike, with our backpacks and all, for a ride to the bus stop to catch our bus to Mandalay. For $23 USD, the bus was amazingly comfortable!

21 June : The Chacos Debacle

1. Our bus arrived in the city at 5:30 a.m…gotta love those overnight buses. Needless to say, we each took a nap before heading out to explore.

2. The Royal Palace. We wandered off the path around the palace (just a little) to explore old plane and train ‘wreckage.’ We crossed a moat filled with dirty, stagnant water using a few questionable bridges. One of which was simply two boards (2x4’s) meeting to rest upon a small rock in the middle of the moat; this does not make a reliable bridge. We all made it across, but then we had to get back across. Kristina was the last coming back, and when the board tipped, it threw her into the water. She grabbed the camera out of her pocket and threw it to me onshore, but then the mud sucked her feet down deep. The only way she made it out, without being stuck in the mud, was to slip her feet out of her Chacos sandals. She hired a motorbike to take her back to the hostel (barefoot) to shower and change clothes while she mourned the loss of her favorite shoes. The camera had gotten a little wet, so she carried it around in a bag of rice for the next three days. I am happy to report that it has been working just fine since the moat incident.

Moments before the fateful fall...

22 June : The World’s Largest (uncracked) Bell!

1. We rented motorbikes! I only rode on the back with Andrew in order to help with the navigating and keeping track of Kristina behind us.

2. We were stopped at a police check-point and asked for our “license. international license.” After a brief moment of panic, Andrew and Kristina handed over their U.S. driver’s licenses (with which the response was, “Thank You. Enjoy Myanmar.”) and we were on our way with a big sigh!

3. Mingun (town). We were on a mission to see the world’s largest uncracked bell. I know, so impressive! After a couple hours of driving, we made it there. A local asked us if we wanted to see another temple, so we followed her around for awhile. She took us through a village, and Kristina mentioned the Tanakah that we had seen on everyone’s faces (the natural sunblock). She offered to get us some, so we stopped by a woman’s house where she mixed it for us (she ground the piece of wood on a stone tablet, mixed it with water to form a paste and then painted our faces with it).

4. We asked our “guide” to teach us how to Beetle Nut. It’s a type of tobacco mixed with a small amount of coconut milk and wrapped in a leaf. You just pop the entire chunk of leaf in your mouth and start chewing. It was quite bitter, and I got a headache, which I assume was from the nicotine. Before you’re finished with the Beetle Nut, you do NOT swallow your spit, so we had extremely red spit to show off, which the ground is already covered in from the locals chewing/spitting the Beetle Nut.

5. Our other mission for the motorbike trip was to find U Bein Bridge, the world’s longest Teak (a type of tree/wood) bridge. After a couple of wrong turns, and a lot of asking directions, we walked across and back the entire length of the bridge.

6. We took the train to Bagan that night for $10 USD. There were no covered windows, so the train car was filled with bugs, most interestingly many dragon flys. It was a very bumpy ride, but I still attempted to sleep sitting in my seat without my mouth falling open and being invaded by flying insects.

23 June : Biking in Bagan

1. Bagan has Mt Popa, which is a temple on top of a rock (it reminded me of Devil’s Tower in the states, except there is a Buddhist temple at the top).

2. Kristina and I rode on the top of the pickup truck, holding onto the racks of course, on the way back to Bagan, to enjoy the views.

24 June : (Happy Birthday to my sister!) Fun fact: This was my favorite place in Myanmar!

1. We rented bicycles for 1500 Kyats (about $1.50) for the entire day.

2. We spent the entire day riding around to different temples in a valley full of temples outside of the city. Literally, there are temples as far as you can see. It was absolutely amazing. The best part was that we could stop anywhere we wanted to, and I had fun climbing up on many of the temples.

3. Kristina bought me some Mandalay rum (to support to local economy, of course).

25 June : Relax in Bagan

1. We chartered a boat to take us to a cave and some nearby temples. We drank tea at a monastery where they showed us the deep, dark parts of the cave for meditation.

2. Late bus to Kalaw

26-28 June : Kalaw trek to Inle Lake

1. We did a 3-day trek to Inle Lake with a group of 11 of us (includes 2 guides: Paol and Puri).

Farming!

2. First day we walked about 6 hours. We ate and slept in a local village.

3. Second day we walked about 7 hours and then slept at a monastery.

4. Third day we walked about 5 hours and arrived at the southern side of the lake.

Boat ride to Nyang Shwe (town) after our trek

I think we're ruining the scenery :)

5. In total, our guides told us we walked a total of 65 km (about 40 miles) over three days! My feet and legs were sore, to say the least. We walked through all of the farmland. They grow everything from peaches and corn, to carrots and pineapple.

                                                                 

29 June : Nyang Shwe (the town by the lake)

1. We rented bicycles to go to the Hot Springs, which were temporarily closed for renovations. Luckily, we stopped nearby for lunch and a local woman showed us their local set-up to the hot spring. There was no regulation on the temperature, so it was too hot too even put my feet in. It was still cool to see the pools and have that woman so nicely show us the other hot springs for free.

2. We biked to the Red Mountain Estates Winery on the other side of town. We took a short tour of the facilities, had a wine tasting, and then shared a bottle of wine. Bought some wine to take back to Jakarta (we made it all the way to Malaysia, but then they would not let it as a carry-on because it wasn’t duty-free. I ended up packing it in my backpack wrapped in clothes and towels. One bottle survived, but one soaked my clothes; luckily it cost only $10).

So artsy, la.

3. We chatted with two American teachers from Boston who were on summer vacation.

30 June : Boat Trip on the lake

1. We spent the whole day riding in a boat around the lake.

2. We first went early to a local market. We saw traditional weaving. I bought a headband that is pretty sweet. We witnessed cigar making and boat/canoe building. We watched jewelry making at a silversmith. We went to the ‘jumping cat monastery’, but the cats weren’t performing because it was not high season for tourists.

3. We rode the boat back through the floating gardens (there are floating villages also, but they’re actually on stilts, not like Water World) where there were so many floating tomato plants I couldn’t handle it. I didn’t eat any, but it was tempting with all of the ‘rejects’ floating by in the water.

4. We also drove by many traditional fishermen who stand at the front of their small boat and wrap one leg around a paddle to move while they collect their nets using their hands.

1 July : Canoe trip on lake

1. I sent a few postcards back home, but I haven’t heard if they’ve made it there, yet.

2. We rented a canoe, and it turned out to be owned and operated by a 60-year old woman. We felt bad at first for having her paddle us around, but then we all took turns helping her paddle and Andrew went back to his days in Crew to help her most.

Here's Andrew doing some work while Kristina and I nap

3. Kristina and I laid down and fell asleep peacefully. We were only awoken when she gave up flower necklaces she had made.

4. We spent 2  ½ hours in the canoe slowly floating around the back canals of the lake, past the locals doing dishes and showering in the canal (don’t worry, they wear a sarong when they shower).

5. We each got a massage for about $4 each, including tea and crackers.

6. After sharing another bottle of wine, we ate dinner at a Nepalese restaurant where I found the best food (curry) in the town.

2 July : short trek back to Red Mountain Estates

1. We trekked up to get a great view of the lake.

Tanakah!

2. We walked into a cave. When I stood up, putting my hands above me so as to not hit my head, I didn’t realize the ceiling was covered in bats. Luckily, we did not disturb any.
3. Our highschool-age guide had two friends with him, so they could learn how to become guides. They were nice enough to help show us how to use the jar of Tanakah (sun block). It actually kept me from sweating (so much) and no sunburn!

4. We took another overnight bus back to Yangon to catch our flight back to Jakarta.

My most favorite trip, so far, while I've been living here. I'm sure it helps that I had such amazing travel companions named Kristina and Andrew!

Getting Up Is Easy, Staying Up Is Hard

Highlights from my weekend trip to Lombok (an island near Bali, Indonesia). Sorry about not having any pictures. I will try to add some soon :) 

1. Relaxing weekend away from Jakarta.

2. Absolutely breathtaking scenery of blue water and green trees! 

3. Surfing lesson. I was so much more successful than I ever thought I would be. I could stand up fairly well, which just meant I went further on the wave, which lead to my having to paddle back out even further. Needless to say, I was exhausted quickly. I also have some great bruises on my arms from my tired, paddling arms hitting my board. I was not injured while surfing, but almost. At one point, Nicole and I somehow crossed paths, which caused me to jump off my board, over her, so that I wouldn’t crash into her. Later, Kristina was taken out by a wave and her board came after me and hit me on the top of the head (good thing my head is so hard). Lastly, I accidentally hit Kristina in the face, with my hand, while I was paddling out (which I told her was the payback from her board hitting me earlier). Last, but certainly not least, I drank more than my share of ocean water.

4. Renting motorbikes. Something I was convinced I would NEVER do, simply because I have heard so many horror stories of injuries and warnings against tourists renting motorbikes. Well, I did it, and Nicole even rode with me because she refused to drive her own. We drove to two different beaches and just hung out for the day, before our evening flight. Driving the motorbike was extremely easy, and much less intimidating than any of the Jakarta traffic.

5. Our ride to the airport was fantastically exciting/terrifying. Since I was the timekeeper for the day, using my cell phone, we ended up getting back from the beach one hour later than we had planned (Jakarta time, which is what’s set on my phone, is one hour earlier). The people who had set up our weekend for us, basically, got us to the airport in less than 20 minutes, just in time to check in when our flight was supposed to board. We quickly learned that all you need to do, while driving, is to honk your horn in order to make it okay to speed around anyone or anything on the road (at least that’s what our driver did on the way to the airport).

6. All in all, another successful weekend (easy when I don’t think about school for more than 5 minutes of it). I can’t believe I hadn’t known about Lombok sooner than now. I am already planning my next trip back. I will take anyone who comes to visit me!

Malaysia, Truly Asia

Over the last term break, yes, it was yet another week of vacation, I know, boo hoo. Anywho, my friends and I went to Malaysia, which actually was our third choice. Once again, darn, we just had to go to Malaysia instead of the Philippines or Cambodia. So, here are the highlights from the last week of March.

1. Kuala Lumpur

The capital city of Malaysia. We were only there for less than 8 hours Friday night. All we did was fly in, take a bus to our hostel, sleep and then take an early bus headed for our destination far away from the city. We were very hungry when we arrived, so we did venture out quickly for sustenance a little after midnight when we finally made it to our hostel. We were near the China Town area of the city, and we had some good noodles with kind of strange sauce on them, but they did the job.

2. Cameron Highlands

This was our destination after KL. It was a short 4-hour bus ride that cost us each around $10. We stayed in a town called Tanah Rata. Kristina found us an amazing place to stay, and we couldn’t have asked for a more fantastic introduction to the area. The owner of the hostel, Jay, took us on a short driving tour of the main places to go, see, and where to eat before she dropped us off. There was even a book full of laminated maps of the surrounding trails in the area. These were logical, self-explanatory maps that really helped us to not have to hire guide.

On Saturday afternoon, we were ready for a nice, short hike. Jay recommended Trail 10, so we went off to find our way. After a detour of walking the wrong way, ending up at an entirely wrong trail, we finally figured out which way to go, and we made it to the trail we had intended to hike. We ended in the neighboring town where there was a strawberry farm as well as a night market, both of which we checked out. We were rewarded by absolutely delicious Indian food at the restaurant Jay had recommended. It was such good food that we ate there at least once each day that we were there.

Day 2 in the Cameron Highlands involved an intensely long hike (we literally hike all day). We hiked up to the top of Gunung Brincheng. On our way down the “other” side of the hill/mountain, we were following our map, headed to the Boh Tea Plantation visitors’ centre. This is when we were actually walking through the amazingly green, vast tea plantation. Unfortunately, we took a wrong turn and ended up on a 1-hour detour through a farm. Once we got back on the right track, it started raining. Not light, singing in the rain, This was downpour, cats and dogs, tropical rain. We didn’t have much of anything to take shelter under, so we just walked in it.  We made it to the plantation, tried to dry a little while enjoying some tea (even though I am not much of a tea drinker). Our plan to take a taxi from the plantation did not work, due to the rain, so we ended up walking along the road, toward the town, hoping to catch a ride from someone. Eventually, we hopped in a big truck that dropped us off at the next town, which was not where we were staying. This lead us to hitchhike a second time (don’t freak out, Mom). Looks fun, doesn’t it? We also met a guy from the Netherlands on holiday, in our same situation, so he came along for the adventure.

Day 3: We took another hike this day, on a loop around the jungle. No guide required again; just a map and a little faith that we were going the right way, most of the time.

3. Penang

We took another 4-hour bus trip from the Cameron Highlands to Penang. Kristina told us the only two reasons for this stop were the food and hiking Penang Hill. We tackled the first on the afternoon we arrived. It was the most intense, obnoxiously steep hike ever! For the first half, we were following a trail in the woods, part of which followed stairs ending at a small gathering of men who regularly hike the hill. The few who passed us while hiking were nice enough to encourage us along the way. We made it up to the top after hiking for about 2 hours. The last half of the trail was just walking on the steep, blacktop road. When we finally made it to the top, I was so sweaty that I could wring out all of my clothes and produce a small waterfall. Luckily, that was not the only way to the top, so we hitched a ride on the ‘monorail’ train down the side of the hill (and, by the way, “hill” is a bit of a misnomer). To reward our hard work of the day, we went to “Glutton Street” filled with a bunch of local food stalls. We each bought a different type of food and brought it back to the table to share. It was all very delicious, although I don’t remember, at this point, exactly what I ate.

4. Langkawi

For the last leg of our journey, we took a short flight to the beach (we could’ve taken a 3-hour ferry ride, but we opted for more time at the beach, instead). We had a bit of a surprise with the hotel, considering it was not in the ‘happening’ area, and not even near the beach. We took care of that by leaving to find two rooms across the street from the beach. That night, we ate at a Mexican restaurant simply so we could drink a margarita. Then, we proceeded to walk along the beach, where we found a bunch of people hanging out around a bonfire. That soon turned into people jumping over the fire and the crowd cheering. I did not find it amusing. Interestingly enough, the LIMA air show (apparently it’s kind of a big deal) was happening at the airport. The day after we arrived, we heard and saw the planes flying over while we swam and lay on the beach. The second day at the beach, I stayed in the water too long, got sunburn and retreated to the shade for the rest of the day. Kristina and Nicole rented a jet ski. On the last day, Kristina, Danna and I rented kayaks and paddled around the shore for a couple of hours. It was relaxing and the first time I had ever been in a kayak. It was more tiring than I had realized it would be, but it was a good break from ‘sunning’ on the beach for too long. There is also a sky bridge that we visited one afternoon for sunset. Unfortunately, it was closed for maintenance (fine by me). But we still rode a cable car to the top of the hill. See below for what we didn't get the chance to walk on.

…and then it made everything wet

In the nearly ten years I have owned a cell phone, I have never lost, damaged or broken one. Now, unfortunately, that great streak has been broken. It happened while my friends and I were at the beach for a short weekend get-away from Jakarta. Here’s the story.

Even though we only had a regular weekend, no holiday and no extra days off school, my friends and I decided to head to the beach on Friday night until Sunday night. We all definitely were in a state of near-meltdown due to school, well, at least I was. We heard about a place called Peluban Ratu, which can be anywhere from a 3 to 6-hour car ride south from Jakarta, depending on traffic. Another teacher and her husband had gone to this beach about a month ago for the Chinese New Year long weekend, so they recommended us a place to stay. We left our apartment on Friday night around 17 00 hours (I am currently teaching time to my 4^th grade students using the 24-hour clock and I really don’t like having to write a.m./p.m.) and made it to the hotel around 22 00 hours. We were stuck in a pretty rotten Friday night Jakarta ‘macet’ (that’s Indonesian for traffic jam), but we made it with the driver who we had hired. The owner of the hotel at the beach offered to send one of his workers to pick us up and take us back on Sunday, which was convenient, because it saved us from having to find a driver on our own.

The best part of the hotel is that it is directly on the beach, so we heard and saw the waves crashing outside our window all night. After we ate dinner at the hotel’s restaurant (the ‘western’ food was okay, but nothing impressive, and I didn’t feel like spending $15 USD on the “good” steak…we asked for the local menu the rest of the weekend), we went to our hotel rooms and fell asleep to the sounds of the ocean. It was glorious!

Saturday morning, we ventured down the beach to find a place to lay on the sand in the sun. We walked as far as we could, then stopped to take pictures on some rocks and take in the view and ocean. We put our bags near the edge of the sand, where we thought they were safe. After about 5 minutes, one, yes it only took one, huge wave came all the way up to our bags and swept everything away. I was close enough to grab my bag as it floated by me and got caught in some rocks. I then realized I had my phone in my wallet…oops. I thought maybe that would have protected it in some way, until I opened my wallet to find my phone sitting in a pool of water in the pocket. I quickly realized that I was very glad I hadn’t had my camera, ipod or kindle in the bag! Everyone else gathered their things that had also been caught in the rocks. Luckily, everyone had their cameras in their hands, and the only casualty, besides my phone was one of Danna’s flip-flops. As it turns out, there is the legend of the Sea Goddess in this area and she does not like when people wear green. Danna and I had previously read about this, but we didn’t even make the connection that it was in this particular area, so no one realized it was a bad omen that Danna was wearing a green tank top J So, that was the exciting way to start the day. We gave up finding a place on the beach so we could take our wet everything back to the hotel to dry, and the beach was kind of littered with garbage. It didn’t even compare to the amazing beaches in Bali, but it was sand, sun and relaxation for a couple of days anyway.

We ventured out and about to find dinner later, after laying out next to the salt water pool at our hotel. We didn’t find any promising restaurants, but we climbed some stairs on the side of a hill and ended up finding a rock meditation chair on the edge of the rock cliff and some great views. We ended up walking along the beach back to our hotel to eat at the restaurant again. The owner, a Canadian who had also lived in Texas, who now lives in Indonesia (he said he came here for a week and it turned into 20 years) talked to us for a little while to tell us there would be karaoke later.  We skipped the singing, but we ended up playing euchre, which I hadn’t played in way too long. As we headed back to our room for the night, we noticed a bonfire on the beach, and two guys at the next table asked if we wanted to join them at the bonfire. Nicole and I were going to check it out anyway, so we wandered over there (it was just outside the gate to the beach from our hotel). It turns out these guys and a big group of their friends had ridden their bikes (motorcycles) from Jakarta for the weekend. They talked to us for awhile, quite a few spoke English, and explained they were cooking some fish, squid and baby shark, so that is why they built the fire. We talked with them for probably an hour, but I left before the food was prepared, so I still haven’t eaten any baby shark…darn.

On Sunday, Nicole and I walked down the beach and just sat in the sand for an hour. We were smart enough to take nothing with us this time, but there was no “bastard wave” that got us wet (that’s what Danna called the wave on Saturday).  One guy asked if he could have his picture with us, but we were only wearing our swimsuits and felt awkward, so we declined. Soon after that, another man loitered next to us for a few minutes and then finally started talking to us. We acted like we didn’t understand his English or Indonesian, and then I started talking to Nicole in Spanish, which she didn’t understand. It caused a short game of charades with the man, but then we ignored him and he went away. Now that I wrote that it makes us sound really mean, but we just wanted to sit and relax by the ocean without being interrupted and asked questions.  We planned to have the driver take us back to Jakarta by 13 00 hours, so we ate lunch at the hotel before leaving. The ride back seemed longer, and more terrifying than the ride on Friday night, mostly because I was awake the entire time and it was daylight. We were driving through some scary mountain-roads, and we were at the mercy of the typical Indonesian driving of passing cars around corners and basic “crazy” driving (at least that’s what it seems to us, because we don’t understand the rules of the road, if there even are any). Anyways, we made it back safe and sound in about five hours.

I am so glad we got out of Jakarta for the weekend.  It was well worth the long car ride, despite my phone drowning. 

Yogyakarta: a city that is fit to prosper.

It was recently the Chinese New Year, which meant we had a day off school (again). So, for the three-day weekend, my friends and I stayed in Indonesia on the island of Java (where we live) but traveled to Yogyakarta (pronounced as if it is spelled with j’s instead of y’s, and it is a long ‘o’, and it’s called Jogja, for short).  It was a jam-packed weekend, yet relaxing at the same time. We left straight from school on Friday, the 8^th to catch our hour-long flight.  As I learned from Wikipedia, Jogja is the capital city of the Yogyakarta Special Region in Java. It is well known as the centre of classical Javanese fine art and culture such as batik (a type of dyeing that is done using a specific technique with wax on cloth), ballet, drama, music, poetry and puppet shows. It also used to be the capital city during the Indonesian National Revolution from 1945 to 1949. Another interesting fact, thanks again to Wikipedia, is that yogya means ‘suitable, fit, proper’, and karta means ‘prosperous, flourishing’. Therefore, Yogyakarta is “a city that is fit to prosper.” 

So, here is what we did for the three days we were there. Friday night we walked out to the main road, from our hostel, to find a place for dinner and buy some snacks for breakfast. The driver we hired for Saturday picked us up at 4 a.m. to drive us to Borobudur. According to the pamphlet I got there, it is the largest Buddhist temple in the world. Here’s what it has: six square platforms topped by three circular platforms, 2,672 relief panels and 504 Buddha statues. The main dome, in the center of the top platform is surrounded by 72 Buddha statues, each seated inside a perforated stupa (the things that look like bells). Apparently, it is Indonesia’s single most visited tourist attraction, which explains the ridiculous number of people. Let me explain.

We had hoped to do a sunrise tour, but after much confusion at the entrance gate due to the language barrier, our lack of patience, and mostly the fact that we had not hired a guide for the tour, we just had to wait until 6 when they actually opened. It was basically deserted at that point, which we should have taken advantage of, in hindsight.  To show respect to Buddha, you’re supposed to circumnavigate the temple three times before entering the top tier from the east entrance.  Well, I don’t need to tempt fate by disrespecting Buddha, so we took our time walking around the different levels, slowly making our way towards the top tier. Unfortunately, it being a Saturday, there came to be a huge number of students with school study tours. Basically, we were surrounded by a ton of people who wanted to have their picture taken with us ‘bules’ (that’s Indonesian for ‘white person’).  It was fine when it happened the first few times, and we even talked to some students whose English exam final was to talk to people in English, and then we had to sign a paper and grade them.  I think I may be in at least twenty pictures with strangers (that’s not counting how many other times that has happened since I moved here in June). It got real old, real fast! We took some pictures of the Buddha statues, and tried to enjoy the view, but then we pretty much ran out of there.  The highlight of that was the fact that we used our KITAS (our Indonesian i.d. card) to get us in for the much cheaper price instead of paying as international visitors.

Next on the agenda, we asked our driver to take us to Kemongan, a local pottery village. We walked up and down the street, looking in the shops at the handicrafts and interesting pieces of arts and crafts. Danna found a didgeridoo for only $3, and I found a great painting of Buddha for $5!

Then, we were off the Prambanan, the largest Hindu temple in Indonesia, as well as one of the largest in Southeast Asia. This was much more enjoyable than Borobodur for the simple fact that it was significantly less crowded. There was one of the temples that has been found to be “relatively safe” for visitors, so hard hats must be worn to go in.

We ate at a restaurant on our way back to the parking lot, and we plotted where to go next, since we had our driver until 10 pm. The only other place that we thought of going, depending on the time we had left with the driver, was Mt. Merapi. Well, it turns out this isn’t just any volcano, it happens to be Indonesia’s most active volcano, having most recently erupted in 2010. We paid the entrance fee to drive in, and then our driver parked and let us out. We just went wandering by walking up a road up the side of the hill. We had no idea where to go or what we would find, but that’s the best part of the adventure. We just planned to be back to the car before it got dark, so that gave us a little over one hour of exploring. It turns out we made a good decision, and when we veered off the paved road to a dirt road, we stumbled upon the lava flow path from the last eruption. It was amazing, terrifying, and I felt humbled by the volcano.  We took some pictures, and then we headed back to the car.

Our next, important stop was finding Amanda’s Brownies. We had discovered these brownies in Bandung, and they are delicious! We bought two boxes to share; one for dessert later and the other for breakfast in the morning. Our last stop for the night was dinner at a restaurant recommended by a friend. She told us to get an order of the local chicken to share, because it is prepared differently than in Jakarta. That recipe did not disappoint, and I would say it was the best chicken I have had in Indonesia. I was only grossed out a little when I realized that the entire chicken was on the plate, including the head and neck.  Our driver got us back to our hostel at 9:55 pm, and we paid him the ridiculously small amount of 600 000 Rupiah for eighteen hours of driving us around (that only ended up being around $15 USD per person).

On Sunday, we walked around the city of Jogja. I was in charge of the map, and we had about four places that we knew we wanted to see at some point in the day. With my mad navigating and map-reading skills, we made it to all of them. The funny part about it, though, was that it did not happen in the order or ease with which I was planning. We made it to a local market easily enough, but it was super crowded and none of us were looking for anything in particular, so we walked around, browsed quickly, and were off to our next destination. On our way to the Sultan’s Palace (yes, this province has its own sultan), we stopped to buy water and got to talking with a worker in the store. He told us the traditional dancing and singing that usually takes place in the palace was going to happen later than scheduled due to some important ambassador or someone visiting. He recommended we check out the National Art Group instead, since it’s only open on the weekend. We were warned about scams where people take you to art galleries and try to sell you the traditional batik cloths, so I was a bit skeptical. He gave us general directions, but we only found it with the help of a local man who was walking on his way home from his job as an overnight nurse at a hospital. He lead us there and was very helpful and friendly. It turns out it was not a scam, and we even got to watch two artists as they worked on their pieces. The basic of batik involves dipping a small, pointed tool into hot wax and covering the designs on the cloth, by either filling in spaces or making dots. Then, the cloth is dyed and the wax is removed. I bought some very beautiful pieces that I am very excited to show off someday as they hang on the wall in my house.  We returned to the palace, and it turned out we had, unfortunately, missed the traditional dance.  We wandered around the outdoor areas of the palace and were eventually headed to the exit when a man came over to us and told us he would show us traditional puppet making. This will probably sound shady, but we followed him, and I am glad we did. We learned that they use buffalo skin as leather for making the traditional puppets. We watched as he explained the different parts of the body and each meaning, as well as the intricate painting. All in all, it takes about two weeks to complete one puppet, start to finish.  We had some “street food” for lunch, which we bought from a woman whose cart was set up under a pavilion next to the street. It was just rice, green beans, and a fried egg on top, all for about 70 cents. 

Once our bellies were full, we hopped in two bacek (a bike taxi, a pedal bike, that is) on our way to the Bird Market. It is exactly what you would imagine a bird market to be. There were a BUNCH of birds in cages, hanging around, from colorful parrots to plain pigeons. It was strange, and I don’t understand the fascination or interest with all of the birds, but it was fun to see.  We felt guilty making an older man pedal us back to the center of the city, but it would have been a long, hot 2 km return hike, not really knowing our way, so we decided to take a bacek again. Since we had been searching for Taman Sari (Water Castle) since leaving the palace, we simply asked to be taken there. As it turns out, we had eaten our lunch basically at the base of the ruins of the water castle. I found out that it was the place (or at least part of it was) used for bathing by the concubines (basically a mistress) as they waited for the sultan to choose one (thanks to Wikipedia, again).

Sunday night we saw an outdoor ballet performance of the traditional Ramayana and Shinta story. It’s basically a Romeo and Juliet story, but one character is Buddhist while the other is Hindu. It was interesting, had beautiful traditional live music, and it made me ‘more cultured,’ as my dad would say.

On Monday, we went back to the Sultan’s palace to see the traditional singing. We walked out the southern exit, to find the Southern Square. There are two Banyan trees where the story is that if you can walk from the edge of the square blindfolded and end up walking between the trees, then it’s a sign of good luck.  Of course, we all had to try: Kristina nailed it, Nicole had a little help from the man who rented us the blindfold, I needed a little more help from the man (I take that as a sign that I’ll have good luck in life as long as I have a little help from my friends), and Danna almost ran into the tree.  She tried a second time, and then asked if that meant she would have bad luck or just neutral luck. We bought more brownies on our way back to our hostel. That was about all we had time for, before heading back to the airport.