Postscript - Home Again Home Again

The eventual acquisition of a Tiger Beer t-shirt in Singapore's Chinatown finally completes the quintuplet of Asian beer shirts. Rule was, the beer had to be tried, then a shirt could be purchased. Tiger (Singapore), Chang (Thailand), Singha (Thailand), Angkor (Cambodia), Bintang (Indonesia).

There are lots of tailor shops in Thailand. Guys constantly offering to make us new clothes. "What's wrong with the ones we're wearing" we asked more than once, and they only laughed. Apparently that should have been obvious.

There is no good Mexican food in SE Asia. There is, however, a surprising amount of watermelon. Also, I believe I was served pineapple at every meal. French fries are apparently Asia's idea of what Westerners eat. We were offered French fries for breakfast, French fries for lunch, French fries for dinner. French fry salad was one of the weirdest things we were served. Eggs were on every plate, at every meal, on every sandwich, on every hamburger, in the rice, in the soup, in the salad, fried eggs, scrambled eggs, poached eggs, omelets...if I never eat another egg for the rest of my life, I think I'd be OK with that. On the other hand, pineapple fried rice is my new favorite food. Even when it has raisins in it. Six weeks in SE Asia has taught us how dependent we are on bread. Durian? No thanks.










People seem to eat dinner fairly late at night over there. We were often the only people in any given restaurant when we arrived. We felt pretty uncomfortable about it, like maybe they weren't really open yet. But they always greeted us enthusiastically, inviting us to come in, and usually offering us a cold lemon-scented washcloth. Which, by the way is another favorite new thing, and a tradition I plan to start here at home.

Asian music - Celine Dion playing on endless loop at the Tropis Club in Lovina. An Indonesion version of Gloria Gaynor's "I Will Survive" played at a restaurant where we had dinner. Indonesion heavy metal in a jewelry store - the teenage girl working at the shop said she picked it herself. The Scorpions and the Eagles are extremely popular with taxi drivers in Thailand. Lady Gaga was playing on the tv in Borneo - the waitress assured us that Katie Perry is also very popular there. Taxi driver from Siem Reap playing a CD of Cambodian music for four straight hours that sounded like either one extremely long song or the same song over and over. A New Age-y instrumental version of "Beauty and the Beast" at a massage spa in Phuket. A creepy old couple playing everything from Simon & Garfunkel to Peter, Paul & Mary at the hotel restaurant for three nights in Kamala Beach. ABBA was everywhere.











In Cambodia, the boats have eyes... Speaking of boats, I'm not much of a fan. Every story or song I know about boats ends in a shipwreck. Or begins with one, or has one somewhere in the middle. Regardless of this completely rational fear, I did manage to travel on a variety of watercraft during the big adventure, some of which may actually qualify as boats. Although we did lose an engine in the Sunda Straight in the middle of a raging downpour (we got it back again), none of these boats were shipwrecked; or sank, or were cracked up on the rocks, or left us stranded on a desert island, or were capsized by giant whales, or were attacked by pirates, or accidentally found a haunted treasure and turned into zombie ships,or any of the other things that usually happen to boats. And I did not get seasick; not even a little bit; not even once.

What's up with all the crooked or stub-tailed cats? Island in-breeding?

Cambodia: The Land of Scary Stairs and Headless Statues.

Got bitten by a sand fly in Koh Kong. Made a blister on my wrist bigger than the fly. I think it's gonna leave a scar.

"Yes" doesn't always mean "yes". Sometimes it means, "I don't understand you , so I'm just agreeing with whatever you said".

Favorite spelling error: "Chicken Gordon Blue". Saw it on a menu in Bali, in Cambodia and in Thailand.

"Air" is the Malaysian word for water. I think it must have something to do with all the excessive humidity.

Delicate Oregonian skin is successfully preserved via hat, sunglasses, and the copious use of SPF 50 sunscreen. Reapply or fry. Barely a hint of a flip-flop tan line.

Who is Kavik? Do we know you?

We flew all the way to the other side of the planet and met a couple in Borneo from our own hometown!

Plastic water bottles are the scourge of the planet. That being said, we brushed our teeth with bottled water every day for 6 weeks. Clean tap water should not be taken for granted.

Air Asia must have gotten a heckuva deal on Airbus A320's - we rode them all over and they were very nice planes - we enjoyed the safety messages from "Trevor", our recorded Englishman (can you say "bat-trees"?)

Coffee that is "processed" by live civets is surprisingly good.


Scooters are a much more versatile mode of transportation than we imagined. Not particularly safe mind you, but versatile.

Thailand

THAILAND

To quote the teenage girl in a Cambodian restaurant who didn't want to be bothered with us paying our bill, "Yeah, Yeah. OK. I know." We are aware that we've been back home for two weeks now, but we thought we'd go ahead and finish this up, just for a sense of completion.

We flew into Bangkok and right back out again a couple of hours later, on our way to Phuket - an island on the south coast of Thailand. Phuket is a tourist/resort area, noted for nice beaches and a thriving backpacker/tourist culture. There is little or no political demonstrating occurring there and no reports of any violence in that region. We flew in on Air Asia for a reasonable price and then took a fixed-price cab to the Aqua-Marine resort at Kamala Beach. Kamala Beach is just north of Patong beach - the touristy center of the bar scene, etc. Aqua-Marine was pretty quiet, nice pools, but not really good beachside access.

We spent our first day in Thailand at the local hospital. J had an extremely painful and persistent ear infection that had gotten quite a bit worse since Bali. The morning after flying in, we took a cab to the Patong Hospital and the cab driver, Kim, helped shepherd us through the Thai healthcare system. It took a while, maybe 1.5 hours, but in the end, J saw an otarlaryngologist, who stuffed cotton in her ear, gave her ear drops, pain pills, and an oral antibiotic for her "Swimmer's Ear" and sent us back to the hotel. Grand total, about $35. I'm guessing their doctors don't have a lot of student loans to pay and malpractice insurance is unheard of....

So, there we were on an island, where the main attraction is swimming and snorkeling, and unable to get wet or at least immerse J's ear. In our search for dryland activities, we spent the afternoon at the hotel spa - steambath, bodyscrub, manicure, pedicure, and massage - not a bad way to spend the afternoon. Even D got his nails done! And J hardly made fun of him at all.

The next day we went Elephant "Trekking" - which was cool, the gait was rather rough, perched above the gravel road, up a hill with a pretty nice view. Some good pictures of us on top of "Little Girl" The ride was fairly short, and not really a "trek" into the deep jungle, but this is a way to ride an elephant and hopefully a better life for elephants than the grueling work of logging. The mahout rode on the elephant's head, no seat, no reins, no nothing. We rode on a bench strapped on her back. At the top of the hill, the mahout got down and told J to sit on the elephant's neck, just behind her ears. J rode that way all the way back to the base. It felt very awkward, especially since we were heading down a rather steep hill and there was nothing to hold onto. J has since decided that riding elephants was cool, but she's sticking to horses from now on. Afterward, we took the shuttle to Kamala Beach, and although we couldn't swim, we walked the beach and found a place for lunch just before a drenching rainstorm. We drank dry ginger ale and tried some Thai food. Green papaya salad is a new favorite. Kamala Beach is pretty small and pretty quiet, especially as we approach the off-season.

That evening, we had tickets to go to the Entertainment Extravaganza that is Phuket Fantasea. It was about what we expected, interesting enough to do, the show had it's cool bits, the buffet was "meh", endless shops full of tchotchkeys. Essentially a cross between Disneyland and Las Vegas, with the added benefit of dancing elephants. ( http://www.phuket-fantasea.com/ - terrible flash website )

On the third day, running out of ideas for dry land activities, we went to Phuket Town. Fun things to do there include shopping, telling tuk-tuk drivers we didn't need them, and having lunch at a harbor cafe. We missed out on the weekend evening market. Had we known it was there we would have planned to go later in the day. As it was, we were pretty well shopped out by that time, and headed back to Kamala Beach around the time the evening market was just opening.

Day four was dubbed "head-wetting day". J finally being able to swim, we spent the day at Kamala Beach. The sand there is soft; the water is warm, clean, and crystal clear; and the waves not too rough. We rented beach chairs and an umbrella and spent a few hours alternating between swimming and getting out of the water to re-apply sunscreen. Also saw a man bring his dog to swim in the ocean - the dog would get tired and the man would hold him up and let him rest where the water was about waist deep. Later in the day we went to Wat Chalong, the Big Buddah, and
Promthep Cape to watch the sunset with about a bazillion of our closest friends... Wat Chalong is a very beautiful and ornate temple, with a room full of gilded Buddhas, arranged in concentric circles facing a larger central one. Not sure why they need so many, I guess less isn't always more. The Big Buddah, what can I say except that it was really, really big. And still under construction. There were Buddah body parts lying around all over the place: giant eyes... giant toes... Weird, but the view from the top of the hill was amazing. We could see Wat Chalong from above, and ocean views on three sides of the cape. Then on to the sunset viewing spot. The guide book said "it's not exactly a secret, so get there early to find a spot", and they weren't kidding! There was a thick crowd already when we arrived, but we found a spot on the sea wall to sit and had a fairly decent view of the sun sinking into the sea. The sailboats were also a nice touch. Then we had dinner at the Green Man, a locally famous English style pub, which (as usual for us) - despite heavy advertising - was completely empty when we arrived. A rather odd band started playing upon our arrival. We can't say for sure, but guess they probably stopped when we left, as still no other customers had yet arrived. The female vocalist sang a number of '70's pop songs, with the help of a guitar player, a keyboard player, and a karaoke machine. SE Asia is inexplicably obsessed with ABBA.

We had heard from other tourists that Phi-Phi Island trip was pretty good, so we looked into it the next day. The Hotel had some tours that were fairly expensive, but we had some other brochures that advertised similar sounding tours at about 1/3 of the price. We enquired at the taxi stand and he knew a guy who knew a guy that he called on a cell phone and set it up . . . . and issued a very official receipt that had no identifying information on it. The next morning, we waited about 45 minutes for our shuttle pickup - we were starting to think we had been scammed. Fortunately, they were just running late, and we were on our way. We were loaded on a big speed-boat and sped out to Maya Beach - where Leonardo Di Caprio had filmed "The Beach" - a movie which we had never seen. It was an impressive beach - beautifully set in a steep-walled cove, clean soft sand, clear green water, but packed with about 30 large speedboats and about 500 tourists milling around - not secluded at all, kind of a circus atmosphere.
Then on to Monkey Beach, where the local Long-Tailed Macaques eat crab and interact with tourists. Then to Phi-Phi Island for lunch - we had to wade in about 200 yards to shore. Back to Monkey Beach for snorkeling - J has really taken to it - D enjoyed it less, but did see the many fishes. Finally, to Kaya (sp?) beach, which was okay, but the swimming was not as good, nor was the snorkeling. Observation: some Europeans seem not to have heeded the message of the last few decades: smoking cigarettes and cultivating a dark dark tan is not the healthiest lifestyle choice. Altogether, it seemed like we spent most of the day riding around in the speedboat watching the eccentric tour guide playing with small children. For dinner, we went down the road just a little bit to a *very* good Thai restaurant where we had Ginger duck, Pineapple Fried Rice, a beef dish (which was very good, but we can't quite remember what it was) , and green papaya salad -again.

On our last day, we decided to check out Patong Beach - described as " a bit of a s***hole" by an Australian - part of the cultural experience, right ? Dropped off at the giant mall, ate lunch at an Irish Pub, then walked through the endless array of tailor shops, souvenir shops, massage spas, and bars & restaurants. We bought a few souvenirs, refused many tuktuk offers, "where you from, boss ?" queries, "massase?" and other commercial activities and made our way down to the beach. We rented chairs, swam in the ocean, did not get clipped by any jetskis, and saw the usual array of curious continental swimwear. The clouds rolled in about 2 O'clock, so we gathered our belongings and head to a nearby spa as the rain pelted us. A long massage seemed like a good way to wait out the storm. We walked back along the beachfront and decided to take up one of the tuktuk guys - they are not metered or flat rate, so we bargained for a price back to Kamala Beach. Kind of fun riding in the back of the little truck with the benches. Tropical climate makes open air transportation perfectly reasonable. Next morning we were off to the airport again and thence to Singapore where (the other)D picked us up, took us to dinner and then back "home"to JB and Pulai Springs.

CAMBODIA PART II - South Coast, Koh Kong, Cardamom Mountains, and the Floating Hotel

4/21/2010

Koh Kong, at Apex "Resort" Hotel . . . they didn't seem to keep the reservation, and so gave us their only remaining room - no AC, so we're going native...the place seems to be full of Thai or Cambodian families on vacation for Khmer New Year. There are lots of little kids in the pool, constantly squealing and yelling until late in the night, then starting again at about 6 am - the energy of youth. The 4 hour taxi ride was the usual - J noted that while these guys are always aggressive drivers ( I think we were passed by maybe two vehicles in four hours but passed others maybe a hundred times ), they get even more aggressive as we get close to the destination. I guess it's a consequence of the contract price versus using a meter. The pay is the same, so may as well optimize the time investment. $75.00 for a driver and the ubiquitous Toyota Camry sedan (ours had no BMW sticker to class it up a bit, but some did).

Just nailed a couple of flying ants in our hot hotel room. Not sure how we're sleeping tonight . . .we have a fan, and bbc world news and animal planet on the TV. We took a quick walk around town, it was a bit rough - approaching Borneo/Sandakan standards of urban squalor. Because of Khmer new year, there were lots of kids in the streets throwing little plastic bags of water at everyone - even tourists - they missed us, but it was kind of fun to deke them out a little. Koh Kong is a gambling and ecotourism destination . . . there is a Casino here as well as some of the largest remaining mangrove in the world.

We're hoping for a tour of the mangroves and Koh Kong Island tomorrow. Our timing seems a bit problematic - most Cambodians are on holiday, so most are not working. Our hotel seems just barely functional. Desk clerk looks about 16, other employees seem to be younger siblings, maybe 12,14 years old. Legacy of the Pol Pot regime, Cambodia is heavily weighted to the younger demographic. Tomorrow, we've been promised a room upgrade with AC. . . . I know, we should embrace the tropical swelter, but it's hovering around 100 F, even at night, with high humidity, so it's hard to sleep....part of the adventure.

Trip to Koh Kong Island - We arranged with a local tour guide company to take us on a couple of tours. First was an small open boat that took us to a remote beach on Koh Kong Island for swimming and snorkeling. There had been a storm the night before, so the water was fairly murky and the snorkeling was underwhelming. We swam in a pretty little lagoon as well, with some little fish and some algae. And hermit crabs. Our guide, Eric, was French, as were the couple from Phnom Penh with their small child. They were very tan, and have been living/working in Phnom Penh at the French Embassy. We had a nice chat over picnic lunch of a chicken/egg sandwich. We mentioned that D & P were living in Johor Bahru and they made a face and said " they must spend a lot of time in Singapore " :). On the way back we stopped for a tour of a fishing village, which was situated between the ocean and the mangrove. No way in or out except by boat.
We pulled up to an extremely scary "dock" made of many small sticks nailed to other small sticks. Then we actually got out of the boat and walked on it. One at a time. Half of the village was watching an action movie at the Cambodian People's Party building, the other half were working and relaxing under their houses in hammocks. Hammocks seem like a really good idea. D's beard seemed to provide some entertainment for the locals. Then back across the sticks to the boat for a quiet cruise through the mangrove. There is a mystifying lack of birds in Cambodia, but we did see a few mud skippers.

Trip to Waterfall - Next day, picked up by tuktuk at the Apex Hotel and taken down to a larger wooden boat with Eric, our guide. We traveled a couple of hours upriver to the limits of navigation. We disembarked on a large rock, and then clambered over boulders upriver some more. There was some discussion of Chinese dam builders, geologists looking for natural gas, etc. We saw some clear evidence of their activities. As previously noted, there are few birds or other wildlife in this area of Cambodia. Apparently wild birds and their eggs are/were a major food source for the people in hard times, and there have been many hard times. There is now official protection for wildlife in this area, but for those with power and/or money, wild and rare delicacies are still available.

After a rigorous hike, we came to a pleasant swimming area. Being dry season, much of the riverbed is exposed, but there was plenty of nice swimming. Further hiking took us to a large pool with an accessible waterfall. After swimming about halfway across, Eric led us out of the water and up onto a cliff above the pool. He said we should jump off the cliff back into the water, "No problem". But he got back in the way we all got out, so we did the same. No leap of faith for us. We then swam out to the waterfall and started to negotiate the slippery rocks behind, and make our way through the shallow cave under the waterfall. It was quite loud and the water pounded us from above. The handholds were few and it was difficult to gain purchase on the slippery rocks. About a third of the way in, D found it impossible to proceed, so he let go and went through the waterfall into the pool. Fortunately, there were no sharp rocks in that area, and he came up quickly. J was nimble enough to make it all the way across, underneath the waterfall. It was one of the more harrowing experiences of the entire trip. We were much relieved back on dry land to nurse our bruised and scraped knees, feet and hands.

Trip to Floating Hotel- We loved the floating hotel. The Four Rivers Floating Ecolodge is a series of luxury cabin tents built on floating platforms in the Tatai River, in the southern part of Cambodia. The hotel was amazing. It was so quiet there. Asia is an incredibly noisy place. Most places we visited, we could barely hear ourselves think. In our admittedly limited experience with Asia, there had never been anyplace quiet - until we came here. The lack of noise was astonishing. We found ourselves whispering so as not to disturb the silence. And the food there was really very good too. Which was essential in a place like that, because we were basically trapped there for the duration of our stay. There was no place else to go, the boat only made one trip out each day. The excursions, however, could use some work. On our first day there, we went on a hike up a dry river bed, supposedly to some cold springs for swimming. We kept climbing up, up and further up, but the river was dry. there were a few shallow, murky pools near the bottom, but no swimmable springs with clean water. Our guide, Chilli, was really nice and tried hard, but was ultimately, not particularly knowledgeable about the local flora or fauna. He dug up what appeared to be an orchid plant. But when one of the other guests asked what it was, he just said he didn't know, but that he was going to try to grow it at home because he knows it has pretty flowers. J said she thought it was an orchid, and he just said he didn't think so. The next day, we went on what we thought was an excursion into the mangroves, but we never really made it there, and ended up going to another fishing village, like the one we had visited from Koh Kong. All in all, we thought the excursions from this hotel were pretty pointless, as well as expensive.

So now we are sitting in the Phnom Penh airport, having made the four hour drive from Koh Kong to Phnom Penh in two and a half hours (thanks to Mr. Dara's insane taxi service!), we now have a three hour wait before the Air Asia ticket counter even opens... Thank goodness there is free wi-fi available to alleviate our boredom. Now if only there was food. The situation in Bangkok being what it is, and apparently getting worse, we have opted for Phuket instead. Not quite the Thai cultural experience we were hoping for, and we'll be missing out on the nearby Khao Yai National Park as well, which was our last chance to see elephants in the wild. We're still flying through BKK briefly, but thought we'd be able to do and see more without Red Shirts, Yellow Shirts, and the Thai Army troops clogging up the streets. Cut our losses, but still going to Thailand.

Cambodia - Siem Reap - Angkor Temples

Cambodia. Here we are in the Royal Inn Hotel in Phnom Penh, after a 4 hour cab ride from Siem Reap this morning. A bit harrowing, but the roads are better and our driver was less erratic than Boing was in Indonesia. Saw some rural agricultural areas - subsistence living, roadside stands to make a little extra money. The adaptation of transportation technology is very creative - vehicles included two-wheel tractors pulling carts, ox carts, pony carts, bicycles, bicycle rickshaws, scooter-tuktuks, three-wheeled motorcycle tuktuks, a three-wheeled truck loaded with people, scooters carrying two braces of dead chickens to market, a large dead hog on the back of a scooter, a dog in a cage on a scooter, a live chicken in a cage on a scooter, a family of 4 kids and 1 adult on a scooter. Women in sarongs riding scooters side-saddle. All kinds of imaginative payload configurations. Drivers wearing dust/germ masks,but no helmets. Passengers mostly wearing neither. Safety seems a minor concern....

The Temples of Angkor. Their majesty has not been overstated. The sun rises over the five spires of Angkor Wat, the Elephants wait patiently at the gates of Angkor Thom, the Guardian Faces are ever vigilant at the Bayon, the trees at Ta Prohm win the battle of

time,
while the men in the friezes are endlessly engaged in the churning, churning, Churning of the Sea of Milk, and the sun sets over it all at the temple on the hill, Phnom Krom.

The temples are outstanding and worthy of the UNESCO Heritage Site Status. We toured the Angkor Thom complex the first day in Siem Reap. Bayon - big faces, Baphuon, by the Elephant Terrace and the Terrace of the Leper King. Afterwards, we made a stop at Ta Prohm where the trees still grow out of the temple walls. It was blazing hot out there, around 100 F and sunny. . . we're drinking lots of water, and seeking shade and AC in the late

afternoons. The second day in Siem Reap, we woke up at 4:30 am and went out to see the sunrise at Angkor Wat - it's a bit of a touristy cliche, but it was pretty cool to see the orange/red sunrise behind the five spires of the biggest of the temples and the world's largest religious structure.
The carved stone is endless...."bas-relief" if I recall my Art History properly. After sunrise we went to Preah Khan, Preah Neak Pean, took a short tethered balloon trip for a grand view of Angkor Wat and then finally to far away Banteay Srei with it's particularly fine stone carvings. At Preah Khan, a man started following us around talking to us and showing us things, then when we were done, he wanted money his "tour". Doug tried to give him a dollar, and he made an indignant face and laughed. He told us that people usually give him $10. We gave him $5 and told him next time to tell people he was selling his service and not to just follow people around and expect them to pay.

The next day, we went on a boat trip out to Tonle Sap Lake to the floating village. The water is very low because it is dry season here. The boats are designed with propellers on long shafts that drag over the mud to operate in very low water, but still got stuck a bit. There was a bit of a traffic jam at certain points and the occasional gunning of the engines to get unstuck created sprays of mud and water - talk about sediment. Once out on the lake, we could see the Viet Nam side, a floating school, a floating water treatment plant (built by USAID), and there was a crocodile pit
at the inevitable souvenir shop/cafe. A woman in a boat pulled up to the dock at the restaurant, with a very young child (maybe 2 yrs old), sent the kid up onto the dock to ask all the tourists for money, "dolla, dolla, dolla" was about all she said. Our tuk-tuk driver told us they were Vietnamese. We asked how he knew, and he said, "They are begging for money. Cambodians don't do that." Really? All those kids at the temples asking for a dollar were Vietnamese? Well, I guess maybe he's right, sort of. The temple urchins were all trying to sell us something - a bracelet, a flute, a small origami bird - not just begging.

Later that day, Roti (tuk-tuk driver) took us to the base of a tall hill/mountain that we laboriously climbed in the heat of the late afternoon. The temple at the top, Phnom Krom

includes a currently operating temple, as well as ancient ruins that are reasonably impressive at sunset with the golden light. From the top, we could just barely discern Angkor Wat and a couple of other temples in the distance.

On our way to the South coast of Cambodia, we wound up in Phnom Penh for day 3 of the multi-day Khmer New Year celebration... Most of what we wanted to see here is closed for the holiday. We won't get to see the Royal Palace & Silver Pagoda after all. The museums are open, but torture, genocide and the Killing Fields are just too disturbing to see on display. Besides, the suffering here is obvious to anyone whose eyes are open. We went to Wat Phnom instead and then had lunch at a socially responsible cafe, "Cafe Yejj", which employs, trains, and benefits underprivileged Cambodian women. Later, we had dinner and fruity drinks at the hotel restaurant, thankful for the French influence on Cambodian cuisine. We have really been missing bread.

Anak Krakatau and Life in Bali

We left Johor Bahru on the 1st of April. D drove us into Singapore, where we went to the Botanic Garden, thence to the airport for our flight to Jakarta. Did a little shopping as well - Singapore seems known for that activity. Milestones of the day - successfully negotiated a bargain price with a shopkeeper on Arab Street. Three pashminas for $22 (Singapore)! Also successfully walked away from a woman who wouldn't stop showing me things I wasn't interested in.

Thence to Jakarta - which has a reputation as not very tourist friendly. We waited about two hours in line for immigration/customs, then a "helpful" man grabbed our luggage cart and took off to his buddy's gypsy cab - no meter, a bit grungy, cost about double the normal rate. We were kind of frightened. Much like Sandakan, I can't really recommend Jakarta as a place to go, except that is where the closest airport is to where we really wanted to be - Krakatoa. Our impression: Jakarta is an ugly, dirty, smelly city, filled with garbage, crumbling buildings and terrible traffic. Our hotel was in a pretty dodgy section of town, and we were just staying overnight before heading out early. Good thing too, as we were a little afraid to leave our hotel room. "Boing" picked us up very early, so as to beat the traffic. His driving was remarkable - remarkably scary! We took a piece of video showing the car dodging trucks, potholes, scooters, dogs, chickens, etc.

When we arrived in Carita, we met our guide, Sam, who helped us and all our stuff onto the boat and introduced us to the skipper and the crewman. "He's a young skipper, but he's a good skipper", we were told. He looked about fifteen. But we got there and back safely, in spite of losing one engine and leaving in the middle of a thunderstorm. As we approached Krakatau - the proper spelling, "Krakatoa" was a journalistic misprint from the 1883 eruption that just stuck - we could see a plume of smoke rising from the top. The volcano had erupted six times the night before we got there, but she was taking that day off. There was smoke, but no fire. A little disappointing, but that's the way it goes. First stop, Panjang Island (called Lang Island, by the Dutch), where we went hiking through the jungle to an old Japanese bunker from World War II. Sam split open a coconut he found nearby and we all tried the "milk" and the "meat". I (Jennifer) tried it only out of politeness, as I generally despise all things coconut, and was surprised that I didn't want to spit it out again. But that's about as much as I'll admit. I won't say I liked it, just that I didn't hate it. Then we went snorkeling. Clear water, lots of little fishies. A great way to cool off after the super sweaty hike. "Jenn-ee-fir, come here!" I heard from under water. When I got there Sam was yelling "Eelfish! Eelfish! Mor-Eye Eelfish!" I stuck my face back in the water, and saw it, a moray eel, in our usual parlance. Sam promptly tied a string around a prawn and tried to catch it. Unsuccessfully. Then on to the main attraction, Anak Krakatau - Son of Krakatau - the new cinder cone that grows up to 6" per day. Over 12oo feet in less than 100 years. That's amazing. The blink of an eye, geologically. We were allowed to hike only up to the lower summit, not all the way to the peak. The wind was so strong up there that I felt if I let go of the ground, I'd blow away. I don't know that I've ever felt wind quite like that before. Being a brand new piece of land, it shows the colonization process very well. The three vegetation zones were clearly visible. Big trees and thick jungle at, the lowest level, near the beach. Smaller shrubs and plants on the lower slopes. Then only scattered small plants. Vegetation finally disappearing altogether, with only barren rock from about midway up the lower summit. We then camped on the nearby island of Rakata, a remnant of the original Krakatoa. When the torrential rainstorm began at about 3:30 am, we discovered that the tent leaked like a sieve, and ended up sleeping with our umbrella open inside the tent. We, and some of our gear got a bit damp. Given the inclemency of the weather, we opted to skip the morning trek and snorkel portion of the program. Afterwards we met with Roman, from JavaRhino Ecotours, who told us about their efforts to promote EcoTourism on Java. He asked if there was anything they could do to improve the experience, to which we replied, "Get a remote for the volcano!" But, alas, our Mother Earth does not perform on command. To quote the movie we saw at the Mount St. Helens Observatory, "That's just the way volcanoes are".

On the way back to Jakarta, stopped by the remains of the old lighthouse, wiped out by the Tsunami in 1883, and it's replacement, built in 1885. It was way high, but we climbed all the way to the top. Back the Hotel Batavia, Doug ordered a Heineken, then when he ordered another, the waiter disapprovingly agreed to "one more" - alcohol was a little more difficult to obtain there. Leaving Jakarta and heading to the airport for our flight to Bali, we took a much nicer cab for less than half the cost of the gypsy cab. D & P were already in Bali and waiting for us when we arrived at the airport. We were picked up by a van and driven to the Hotel Villa Sonia in Ubud, which was quite nice. Clean, posh, and quiet.

Went downtown, ate some dinner, and went to see traditional Balinese dancing performance near the Royal Palace. Interesting - the eye movements are a part of the dance, and quite pronounced. Next day, shopping in the Market and the little shops. Went to a Spa for a traditional Balinese massage - very relaxing and quite affordable in Bali...it's a must do here.

J and P went to do more shopping, but D and D walked down to the famous Monkey Forest. Many long-tailed Macaques in residence. It was fun to watch the people that bought bananas being accosted by the Monkeys (it turns out monkeys really do like bananas). We chose not to encourage that behavior, but took a few pictures of the two varieties of Primates interacting.

We observed a lot of interesting scooter technology and culture on Bali. Often helmetless, passing left and right, once saw a man with three small children all on one scooter. Very large payloads are carried on the scooters. Very few bicycles being used....they celebrate the traditional Indonesian bicycle, but you see very few people riding them.

Oh, the hawkers - constantly accosting you to buy buy buy. Gets pretty tiring, of course, but it's how they make their living. "Looks are free" was one refrain heard many times. "Rain price", "morning price", "afternoon price" were some others. We asked which was cheapest, but they just laughed at us without giving an answer. I (J) got a little freaked out when they started to get really aggressive, touching and grabbing my arm and standing in front of me and not letting me leave. I finally had to actually physically push one woman out of the way. They will really not take "no" for an answer. We had a hard time even enjoying the beach, due to the incessant, pushy hawkers, who accosted us the second we exited the hotel gates, and followed us around everywhere we went. They kept asking us what we wanted, and I swore the next time I heard that, I would answer "for you to leave me alone!"

All in all, Krakatoa was more the adventure part of the trip, Bali was very much more tourist-oriented and very relaxing. We're back in JB now, planning, preparing, blogging, downloading photos, etc. We fly out tonight for Cambodia. We're keeping our eyes on the situation in Thailand - demonstrations/riots in Bangkok have been a bit rough - so we're evaluating alternative travel scenarios - Panang or Laos or Vietnam seem like possible alternatives. Suggestions? We'll see how things are going in Bangkok by the 22nd of April. Thanks for all the comments and emails, it's good to hear from you. A. put the Corn Dog on Skype for us yesterday !

Back from Borneo

Back from the exotic land of Borneo. Flew into Sandakan Thursday afternoon, visited the Sepilok Orangutan Center, Turtle Island (Selingan) on Friday, and spent a couple of nights/days near Bilit at the Kinabatangan Nature Lodge. Not much WiFi. Ran into a few backpackers and other travelers along the way. We traveled all the way to Borneo, and the only other Americans we met were from Corvallis!

Sandakan was mostly destroyed in WWII, so the town was rebuilt just after the war. It is badly in need of improvement - infrastructure is crumbling already. I can't recommend Sandakan itself as a destination, but if you want to go to Turtle Island, Sepilok or on the Kinabatangan River cruises, it's the place you have to start. The broken sidewalks and the "Free Smells" were notable. We generally find Malaysian cuisine "passable" so far - eggs at almost every meal, and once we had french fry salad - unique Bornean cuisine.

A visit to the Sepilok Orangutan Center was great. Very well set up to move large numbers of tourists out into the jungle where one can see the rangers feeding the orangs. Saw two juveniles and one older/larger one. They arrived at the feeding platform by climbing headfirst down the zipline, and swinging like apes on a vine. The youngsters had to be coaxed up onto the platform by the rangers, and didn't really eat their suppers, just played around. The larger one refused to let go of the smaller one, the smaller one seemed a little annoyed by the incessant attention. It brought back some childhood memories of siblings!

Turtle Island (6.17374,118.06012) was fantastic. We didn't think we were going to get to go, as we had no reservation and were told it was sold out. But it was our lucky day. Our very personable guide, Jonathan, picked us up and took us by boat, about 45 minutes to Selingan Island. The Green Sea Turtles and the Hawksbill Turtles usually come at night, crawling up the beach to lay their eggs in the sand. We were hanging out at the swim/snorkel beach on the West side of the island when Jennifer spotted a Green Sea Turtle going up the beach in the bright light of day. The turtle took her time getting up the steep hill to the tree line, stopping several times to rest along the way. Once she made it to the top, she spent about half an hour digging one hole, before deciding she didn't like it. She tried to move to a new spot, but seemed a little confused, and headed into the brush, where she became stuck. She eventually got turned around and spent a long time digging a new hole, but the rangers came and sent her back to the sea before she laid any eggs. The hot sun is bad for the turtles, as they can easily become overheated in their dark shells and die from heat stroke. That's why they usually wait until dark before coming out of the water.

The official tour was in the evening. We hung out in the restaurant until Jonathan came running in and announced "Turtle Time!". We ran out to the beach, where a ranger allowed us to watch a Green Sea Turtle laying eggs. She was in a trance-like state and was oblivious to our presence. Because they don't want the tourists to interfere with the process, they strictly limit the interaction. She layed 62 eggs, which the ranger gathered into a bucket. We then followed him over to a hatchery area, where they were carefully buried. Suprisingly, the temperature of the sand has a large effect on the gender of the hatchlings. Our eggs were buried without shadecloth above, so they will likely be female turtles. Final activity, about 9:30 pm, was watching a release of wee baby turtles to the sea. They had a whole basket of maybe 30-40 babies. They release them, and they scurried down the beach to the water. Having this human intervention in the process increases the survival rate of eggs and babies significantly, from about 1% to about 3% - still low, but substantially increased. So we got to bed by 10:00 pm, didn't stay up drinking as we needed to get up at 6:00 am to catch the boat back. We were up at 6 almost every day of the trip.

Kinabatangan Nature Lodge (5.49563,118.20531) was a couple of hours by bus, along the two-lane roads of maybe Alaskan level of quality - a bit bumpy, and the side road into the village of Bilit was under construction and a bit dicey after a rainstorm on the way out. The Malaysian driving style is "agressive" to say the least. Not too many motosikals in Borneo, but lots of palm oil and other trucks, which were all passed by the "bas", sometimes with very little margin of safety. We actually passed by a bad accident in which a large "lorry" had veered off the road into someone's house. The houses are built very close to the road, on stilts so as to be level with the road. Not really much in the way of setbacks. Endless miles of palm oil plantations, with a few presses/mills along the road. Much of the natural jungle has been cleared and planted with the palm oil trees. The palm oil is used for many things, and lately, for biofuel. The preserved habitat is along some rivers and at higher elevation.

We arrived about 3:30 pm, had our little orientation, and then went immediately out for the afternoon river cruise. The river cruises are a great way to see wildlife - they often come to the river at certain times of the day, and it's an easy way to get into the wild areas. We saw an Orangutan and her baby up in a tree within the first ten minutes. It's rare to see them in the wild, so it was a very lucky sighting. Also saw Long-tailed Macaques, Proboscis Monkeys, a Crocodile, Oriental Darter, Hornbill, Crested Serpent Eagle, and some very nice Sunset pictures. Before dinner, we went to our cabin and changed clothes. A bright spotlight on the cabin attracted a swarm of these unpleasant, big, green beetles and there were about 5 or 6 inside already. They flew around and buzzed about our heads. When we opened the door with the light still on, about 20-30 more of them flew into the room. The staff was quite helpful and removed all but a couple while we were at dinner. So it goes in the tropics - the cabin was quite pervious - it's suprising there weren't more interlopers.

After dinner, we went on a night walk through the jungle where the guide shines a powerful light at animals in the brush. At first, there were just small critters - spiders, millipedes, a frog, a woodpecker, butterfly, daddy long-legs, and then, at the end, we saw the extremely rare Western Tarsier, a small, nocturnal primate, with big eyes. The guide said he'd only seen one twice in 6 years working there - so it was our Lucky Day again.

The next morning, at 6:00 am, we did another river cruise down the river the other direction and saw more Macaques, Proboscis, Birds, Stork-billed Kingfisher, Oriental Darter, Blue Throated Bee Eater, Intermediate Egret, Brahminy Kite, Monitor Lizard, Black Baza Eagle

After breakfast, took a 3 hour hike out to an oxbow lake, working up quite a sweat. Saw more in the way of plant life, although there was less information about the flora. The very impressive Strangling Fig and the "Delinea"(sp?) with it's pretty paper bark. The Liana Vine, a Ficus with red flowers, a thorny vine, an arrow-shaped leaf plant, and many pretty fern-like plants. At the Oxbow Lake, we saw swarms of Butterflies, Intermediate Egrets, a Purple Heron, other birds, and Centipedes, which are poisonous, as opposed to Millipedes.

Afternoons are nap time, too hot to hike, and the animals are not as visible. Took a shower and a nap.

Late afternoon, another evening river cruise up river to the confluence of a tributary (5.46000,118.25218). - saw a group of Small-clawed Otters first thing, and, of course, more Monkeys, including Pig-tailed Macaques - a new species, Monitor Lizard, and many Birds - including Storm Stork. And another Cool Tropical Sunset.

Another night hike through the Jungle. Hard to take pictures in the dark, but we saw Tree frogs, a small sleeping song bird, a Rufus-backed Kingfisher,and not much else.

Early morning on the river - Monkeys,monkeys,monkeys, an Otter in a hurry, running down the river bank, Water Hen, Krocodil, Purple Heron (Procul Harum?), Black & White Hornbill, Storm Stork, and the big sighting - a Bornean Gibbon, swinging about in a large tree (our Lucky Day continued).

Now we're back in Johor Bahru, to rest, relax, launder, shower, and get ready our next stop - Krakatoa and Bali.

Knocking about Johor Bahru

Early this morning, we walked around the golf course just before sunrise, looking for monitor lizards - didn't see any, but took this cool sunrise picture of the hotel and the treeline at sunrise.

Yesterday was shopping day. Went to a couple of malls in JB - older Asian style has lots of small shops and small hallways. Western style had big atriums and familiar chain brand stores. Had lunch at the food court. The proprietor was quite gregarious and would sing a little song as an advertisement to eat there. "Meat on a stick" - mine was chicken, not into the baby octupus, thanks.

D. does a wonderful job jockeying around the road system. The U-turn system and the flyovers, motosikals whizzing past. Kind of like a video game, with more dire consequences for mistakes.

I got a haircut at the mall - 38 MYR - did a good job, all scissors, no clippers. We chatted about music - my hairdresser recommends Kuala Lumpur as a place to see music in Malaysia. I ended up just buying a sun hat in the golf shop here at Pulai Springs - there really isn't an REI equivalent nearby. Oh, and we bought maps - always a good information, and a cool souvenir as well.

Tomorrow is go to Borneo day.

Mad Dogs and Oregonians in the Noonday Sun

Spent the hottest part of yesterday at a nearby National Park taking pictures of Macaques, Mud-skipper, and the southern-most tip of mainland Asia. Then we went to 'Jusco' and bought a few groceries and got some Malaysian Ringgits from the cash machine. Tropical thunderstorm in the late afternoon. Turns out I really like Bundaberg Ginger Beer. Had great French supper at a local restaurant, with a local expat friend of of D & P's. Good food, good wine, but I fell asleep in the car on the way home - we were pretty tired from the jet lag. Sunscreen preserves our pasty whiteness. Mission today - haircut for me, and Jennifer - buy a hat !

Arrived in Malaysia

Okay, so it's Monday morning here, had 4 hours of sleep, shower and coffee. Trying to move to local time - it's fifteen hours later than Oregon. The flight was long - 10 hours from Seattle to Tokyo, about 13 minutes on the ground, and then 7 hours from Tokyo to Singapore. . . nice not to be on an airplane. It was about 25 hours door to door - flying is really just the most expedient way to get places, but not the most pleasant. David picked us up at the terminal about 1:30 am and drove us back to the Pulai Springs Resort - their home while in Malaysia and our home base for the trip. We walked around the resort and saw the grounds - very nice pavilion with tall roof with ornament and fancy wooden screens and carving, very nice swimming pool with dark blue tile. I think we're going to go see monkeys somewhere this afternoon.

Day 1 - We're off !

Ana is giving us a ride to the airport in about an hour. About three months of preparation for the trip. The web certainly facilitated the process. As did having David and Pam there already as the experienced ones. Also want to thank all those who have been and given us tidbits about their experiences. Everyone seems to have a little story - and we love stories. Going to miss the Corn Dog, Cedar, and Nicky, not sure if they'll miss us, but we are excellent servants to the animals. Enjoying our last morning at home for a while - started getting a bit giddy two days ago. We'll let you know how the extremely long plane ride goes.

Only 1 day to go before the Really Big Trip

Thought we'd try doing a blog for the trip so you that care to visit the web site can keep up with and see some photos from our Travels. This is a practice entry. This picture was taken before Christmas, Jennifer is on top of the Whiteside Marquee ! We'll see how well we do...sort of depends on how much free wifi we really run into and how much we care to schlepp the netbook along on our travels. We have the best of intentions.