Kathmandu Surprise! (Guest Author! Betsy!)

13-16 October
Something must die. Pigs, goats, chickens beware. It is the festival
of Dashain and the goddesses will be appeased. Nick was excited to
see this river of blood (good photos, you know) but I was nervous.
Rachel was too. It’s hard to get blood out of nice shoes.
We went today to Durbar square to witness the sacrificial festivities
but saw only one sacrificed animal and, to our shoes’ delight, no
streams of blood. The buildings, however, were fantastic to look at
in their own right. Beautfully and intricatlly carved wood on the
stupas, brightly painted Shivas and guard dogs, thousands of hindus
flocking to Taleju to do a ceremonial clockwise walk around their
temple. It was magical.


The crowds were overwhelming to me and it was nice to climb the stairs
of a stupa and watch the people walk by and admire the buildings
without the worry of being hit by a motorcycle.


I am so happy to be here and so happy that I was actually able to find
Rachel and Nick. Did you know they were planning to pick me up at the
airport? I thought they said they were. This was comforting to me
since I landed at 10:30 pm. But instead of a reunion I waited an hour
and a half while the airport cleared out and shut down. By midnight I
decided to find my own way to a hotel. Success the next day however
when Rachel and Nick read my email, panicked, and came round to
collect me.

Despite the initial snafu things have been easy-peasy. We’ve been
buying everything we need for the trek, seeing the sights, and
chatting it up. We went to the monkey temple today, a Buddhist
temple. The sky decided to turn to water so all the famed monkeys
went inside and didn’t bother to greet us. The temple was amazing all
the same. The eyes of the Buddha, huge and spanning across the
temple, were enchanting. The top of the temple is painted gold and
the gold paint washes down onto the white round walls below making
beautiful designs, creating a beautiful kind of decay. At the base of
temple are a series of prayer wheels which pilgrims rotate as they
walk the circumference. It occurred to me that I was seeing something
with my own eyes that I’ve only seen in pictures. This made me happy.
I shared this with N and R and they had similar sentiments.

Tomorrow, my birthday, we head out at 5 am to start our Everest Base
Camp trek. The trek is 27 days long! All three of us must be crazy.
Note, we will not have internet access for at least ten days, maybe
you will not hear from N and R for 27 days…and it won’t be because of
something I’ve done.

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Slinging it in Singapore!

9-12 October 2010

If you’ve ever wondered what Singapore is like, head straight to the nearest, nicest, and largest mall you know of and then multiply it by the size of San Francisco. We spent three days wandering the streets of Singapore, through Little India, Chinatown, to the botanic garden, the main shopping district, the riverfront, and the Marina district. It is a beautiful, bright, and clean city. It is so nice and so clean, we could live there in an instant; though we would never chew gum again and would waste days of our lives waiting to cross the street (jaywalking and gum are forbidden). But, I would own so many pairs of shoes! If you like warm weather, are a shopaholic, and love Asian cuisine- Singapore was made for you. It has out-done the US in many ways, and to be honest, it makes us look a little like fakers (or maybe that’s the other way around).

We spent a lot of time “shopping”. Not because we planned to and not even because we actually bought anything, but because we often had no choice but to cross the street via underground mall throughways, and because the cheaper restaurants were always in a mall. Many of the malls are interconnected and we got lost traveling through underground passages that connect one mall to another. It makes me wonder if mall navigation is a required course in school here. One evening, we were lost for 30 minutes just trying to find our way out of a mall made up of five separate towers with the world’s largest fountain at its center. Ugh. I’ve only ever felt that hopeless chopping my way through willow thickets in riparian forest.

Beyond the mall culture…

We stayed in a nice little hostel in Little India and enjoyed watching the preparations for Deepavali – a Hindu festival of light. We were able to get a very organized and clean preview of our upcoming stint in India. One evening after dinner we forced our way thorough ten blocks of thousands of Indian men out celebrating for Deepavali- it was a little overwhelming.

We felt compelled to partake in “a piece of history” and walked ourselves to the 1940’s inspired “Long Bar” at the beautiful Raffles Hotel to order a Singapore Sling, where it was first created. At Long Bar, they whip up these red elixirs en masse, and to be honest the drink was super syrupy, sweet, and not all that great -not to mention the 25 Singaporean dollar price tag. Syrup aside, we enjoyed the upscale atmosphere of the bar and ate peanuts to our hearts content, tossing the shells on the fancy tiled floor as we snacked.

We took advantage of one of Singapore’s national pastimes: Going to the movies. In pure Singaporean fashion, we saw two movies “Eat, Pray, Love” and “Dinner with Schmucks”. At least the seats in a movie theater are cushier than in a baseball stadium. Movie piracy is rampant here and at our second movie they confiscated Nick’s new camera (he must look like a pirate) but returned it to us after we watched the film.

One afternoon we took the very clean subway (the MRT) to the Singapore botanic gardens and wandered through that exquisite place, marveling at the large ponds, tracks of rainforest, sculptures, waterfalls, and plant collections.

We ate beautiful meals in mall food courts – a delicious and cheap way to sample the diversity of Asian cuisine here in Singapore, where a single entrée can run upwards of $20. We were especially fond of sharing a pastry from one of the bakeries that features Asian and European inspired pastry delights. Sweet sesame croissants, pandan (a unique spice that is a cross between coconut and green tea) chocolate cake, red bean pancakes, and almond croissants, to name a few. Mmmm.

Even leaving Singapore was a pleasure. At Changi International Airport, directly after checking ourselves through security (usually a frustrating and annoying task) we were greeted by live piano music. I felt like I was in the Nordstrom shoe section. As we sought to spend our remaining 14 Singapore dollars, a sign for a butterfly garden, a free movie, and, of course, more shops steered us along. The airport also has a gym and a swimming pool. We felt the airport was a little over the top…but who can complain?

We were not looking forward to a hellish flight, Singapore to Delhi, Delhi to Kathmandu, with a layover from 2:30am until 6:30am in the Delhi airport. To our surprise, the newly built or renovated Delhi airport (likely for the 2010 Commonwealth Games) was an easy place to spend a few hours. And we got to people watch as members the Kenyan Olympic team roamed the airport, heading home after competing in the ongoing games. Of course, in pure Indian fashion, our flight was delayed by two hours.

We arrived in Kathmandu tired but happy to be greeted by Santaman, our guide for our upcoming trek to Everest Base Camp. As he placed marigold lais around our necks we felt refreshed and ready to experience the busy city of Kathmandu. We will enjoy the sights and smells of Kathmandu and the arrival of our good friend Betsy for a few days before walking 27 days for a view of the roof of the world.

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Best’s and Worst’s of Indonesia, arguably the world’s most spectacular country

Admittedly, calling Indonesia the most spectacular country is quite bold. We visited four islands (not counting the ones in Komodo National Park) out of 17,000+ islands in this remarkable archipelago, and are awestruck by its diversity. Java, Flores, Bali, and Gili Trawangan are all so different that they might as well constitute four countries in and of themselves. Between these islands differences in culture, way and pace of life, religion, food, landscape, and natural beauty are striking and easily noticeable. We have constantly found ourselves thinking about the other 16,996+ islands we didn’t have a chance to visit. One could easily spend years exploring Indonesia and barely scratch the surface. It is hard to imagine another country with such splendid diversity.

That said, travel in Indonesia is not without its frustrations. The constant touting, bargaining, hard-selling, and the feeling of being ripped off made us want to pull our hair out from time to time. At various instances, each of us became so frustrated that we felt like we didn’t have the will to continue traveling. At other times we were so overwhelmed by the generosity of the Indonesian people and intensity of the natural beauty that we wanted to move there. Perhaps, it is this bittersweet element that makes Indonesia such an enchanting travel destination. We know that we will soon forget the challenges and we will be left with only shining memories of this nation of islands.

Leaving Indonesia marks a real transition in our journey. We have now been on the road for a little over three months (seven more to go), and, following a brief stop in Singapore, we will leave Southeast Asia. Over the next few months we will explore India and Nepal. First on the agenda is a month-long trek in the Everest Region. I have been fantasizing about hiking in the Himalayas for more than 10 years now. In a way, visiting the Nepal Himalaya as part of this trip is like fulfilling a dream within a dream.

Saying goodbye to Indonesia, we hope you enjoy these stats and a few of our highlights and lowlights.

By the numbers

Days in Indonesia: 56

National Parks/Natural Areas Visited: 5

World Heritage Sites Visited: 4

Stomach Illnesses: 1 (a bug caught Rachel on OUR LAST DAY)

Flights: 2

Train Rides: 0

Boat Trips: 4

Bus/Shared Taxi Rides: 18

Average $ Spent per Day (excluding flights): $82

Cheapest Hotel Room: $15 a night (at 4 places along the way)

Cheapest Dinner (for 2): $5.40 (at Hotel Silverin in Bajawa, Flores)

Photos Taken: 4,253 (an average of 76/day-yikes!)

Best’s

Best Day

Nick: Seeing our first Komodo dragons then snorkeling over the absolutely pristine coral at Pink Beach. All of this was topped off by watching a splendid sunset on top of our boat.

Rachel: The day we walked around the Sidemen Valley and came home just in time stay dry and enjoy a huge thunderstorm from our balcony

Best City/Town

Nick: Sidemen Valley, Bali (I want to live there someday)

Rachel: Sidemen Valley, Bali

Best National Park

Nick: Komodo National Park

Rachel: Komodo National Park (Bromo is a close 2^nd)

Best Meal

Nick: Tomato, garlic, chili pasta we cooked for ourselves in Ubud (I just loved cooking for the 1^st time in more than 2 months)

Rachel: The first time I had Gado-Gado in Java- boiled vegetables, tofu, tempeh, and a boiled egg all smothered with gingery peanut sauce, and of course rice crackers on the side!!!

Best Wildlife Experience

Nick: Stalking Komodo dragons and then being pursued by said dragons while taking photos (Snorkeling in Komodo National Park is a close second)

Rachel: Watching a large turtle sleep on a dive in Gili T

Best View

Nick: Bromo National Park from Gunung Penanjakan (the best view of my life, so far)

Rachel: Sunrise over Bromo National Park from Gunung Penanjakan (tied for best view with the Fitz Roy Range in El Chalten, Argentina)

Best Surprise

Nick: Trekking to Belaragi Village, Flores (runner-up: Sidemen Valley, Bali)

Rachel: How good the food is in Indonesia

Best Hotel/Hostel

Nick: Sawah Indah, Sidemen Valley, Bali

Rachel: tied between Sawah Indah in Sidemen Valley and our villa on Gili T

Place to which we’d most like to return

Nick: Bromo National Park in Java

Rachel: Sidemen Valley, Bali

Most Fun

Nick: Partying on Gili T with Kyle

Rachel: Ditto, Kyle put the fun in Indonesia!!

Worst’s

Worst City/Town

Nick: Labuan Bajo, Flores (oppressively hot and humid with prolific trash everywhere and the stench of rotting fish mixed with the smell of garbage)

Rachel: Labuan Bajo, Flores; rotting fish and trash leave a lasting impression

Worst Meal

Nick: Fruit Salad in Maumere, Flores (you’re probably thinking, how bad fruit salad can be? The answer is, pretty bad when it is heavily salted and seasoned with white pepper.)

Rachel: Dinner at Arabika at the Ijen Plateau. Just exactly how does it take one and a half hours to make noodle soup from a package (think Ramen)?

Biggest Waste of Money

Nick: The trek to Belaragi was a pretty poor value for the S

Rachel: $5 I paid for an offering basket that should have been $0.50, my bargaining sense was absent at that moment.

Most Disappointing Moment

Nick: Our boat for the Komodo National Park trip

Rachel: Three minutes into a shower and the water turned black with mud. Hidayah Homestay, Moni, Flores

Worst Hotel/Hostel:

Nick: Hotel Bintang Wisata, Bajawa, Flores

Rachel: Hotel Bintang Wisata, Bajawa, Flores (I think there was a mouse living in the mattress)

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