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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“Welcome to Paradise” --Kyle

1-8 October 2010
Close your eyes. No, open them. No, close them again. Imagine you are on a small tropical island. Imagine turquoise waves breaking on white sand beaches. Imagine your drink of choice in hand. Imagine your favorite Bob Marley song playing somewhere in the distance. If you don’t have a favorite Bob Marley song, now may be the time to adopt one. “…Don’t worry, about a thing, cause every little thing is gonna be alright…”


We spent a week on Gili Trawangan (aka “Gili T”), one of the three “Gili Islands,” sandwiched between Lombok and Bali. In addition to spending a week in paradise, we were able to entice our good friend Kyle to visit for this hedonistic misadventure. The island exceeded all our expectations. We stayed in a three- bedroom villa with marble floors, a private pool, and “house boys” that would come at the ring of a bell. The house was gorgeous and probably the nicest place we will stay in during our ten month journey. Thank you Kyle!

Gili T has successfully melded its inherent beauty with a fun, party-ready atmosphere. It is a tiny island and takes less than three hours to circumnavigate on foot. This makes island exploration easy; until you try to find your way home late at night on the twisting trails that cover the island's interior. We found it best to stick to the coast where the ever present ocean keeps you on track and dreamy eyed with its blue, clear water and neighboring island vistas.

The more tropical islands I visit the more I love them. They offer a slowness and solitude that is sublime. This slow pace is especially evident on places like Gili T where motorized vehicles outlawed, and traffic jams consist of horse carriages and bicycles. There is no need to dodge speeding motor bikes and bemos belching diesel fumes in this small piece of paradise.


Our days were divided between long swims in our villas pool, lounging with cocktails or fresh juice, snorkeling alongside large schools of fish and graceful turtles off the beach, riding our bikes around the island, sitting in restaurants on the beach, dancing and drinking the night away, diving, listening to excellent live reggae, making great new friends, partying like we were 18 years old, and generally enjoying ourselves on a paradise island. We watched the sunset over Bali’s distant Mount Agung in beach bars specifically constructed for wasting away the last moments of daylight-bonfire and Bob Marley included. We ate lightly seared, freshly caught tuna steaks and giant prawns. And even I (the “vegetarian”) admit that these meals were delicious and irresistible.


Sounds exhausting, right?

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“Thunder Struck” in the Sidemen Valley

20-28 September 2010

“It looks like its letting up” Nick repeats for the 3^rd or maybe 10^th time today. It has been raining for almost three days and Nick is pacing from balcony to balcony, across the beautiful hardwood floors of our glass enclosed room overlooking the Sidemen Valley. I am comfortably reading my 13^th book of the trip under a batik quilt, reveling at the novelty of being chilly, and peeking out from time to time to enjoy the view through the open sliding glass doors that comprise two of the four walls of our room. Being marooned here in this villa, tucked serenely in the Sidemen Valley, couldn’t be more relaxing for me or more frustrating for Nick. While I contemplate taking yet another bath in our giant black stone bathtub, Nick exclaims that he must go on a walk before dinner. I accompany him and it actually does not rain for a full thirty minutes, allowing us to enjoy the indescribably green landscape of the now misty and soggy countryside.

After a night of lightning and thunder, we awoke to clearing skies and great expectations for a day outdoors. After breakfast, we put on our running shoes and hit the road for a long run across the rolling green valley. On this and other runs during our stay, we ran up and down hills, through small villages, encountered many friendly children, drying peanuts and cloves, an impromptu roadside cock fight, eight year olds riding motorbikes, disinterested dogs, and a rain swollen river. In the afternoons it usually rained and as such we read, ate lunch, napped, did yoga, waited for the clouds to clear for a good view of Gunung Agung, took additional walks, and used the internet while drinking banana lassi’s. We originally planned to stay here three days, three turned to six, six turned into nine. We love this valley.

The next few days were spent doing much of the same. We soaked up the bright green calm of the terraced rice fields. I repeatedly tried and failed to count the number of terraces visible from our balcony-there are just too many. The intermittent bursts of thunder became almost comical as they repeatedly caused me to scream or for Nick to literally restrain me from jumping out of bed in the middle of the night (some of you may be familiar with my easy to scare nature). One day, in between rain storms, we climbed innumerable slick-as-ice stairs up a nearby ridge to visit a beautiful spire-like temple visible from the valley floor below. After our exhausting hike, we made it back to Sawah Indah (our hotel) just as the rain started to fall, fat raindrops threatened to soak us in the seconds it took to climb the stairs to our patio entrance.

On September 23rd, we walked the perimeter of the valley (the first of many such walks) and in the process were able to enjoy the preparations and processions of the bi-annual full moon festival to honor temple guards. We saw young girls and women dressed in lace and batik sarongs, balancing tall pyramids of fruit, beautiful flower arrangements, mirrors, and rattan-woven baskets on their heads while they headed in and out of temples. Later that day, one of the biggest rains in our 28 year old hotel managers memory bulleted through the valley, resulting in landslides and roads sloughing off the hillsides. We watched from our terrace as the neighboring farmers braved the rain and cleared out the drainage systems that keep their terraces from flooding over and sliding down the steep incline. It was likely the hardest sustained (three hours or more) rain Nick and I had ever witnessed. Ah, the tropics!

On another day, we purchased beautiful handmade tiles (about $0.80 apiece) from the same tile maker who makes the beautiful tiles that cover the floors and bathrooms at Sawah Indah. Nick kept me about my senses as I considered buying enough tiles to fill an imaginary kitchen floor in a home we do not own. Talk about the potential for buyer’s remorse.

In the evenings, we drank beer, and arak cocktails, watched the sunset, and anticipated the rain as it moved across the valley. We learned the joys of watching it head straight for us, a million pin pricks in each of the hundreds of terraced rice fields. Watching weather arrive is a strangely fulfilling experience when you have nowhere to go and nothing to do.

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Traipsing the Tourist Trail in Bali

19 September 2010

Since our next destination, the Sideman Valley, is difficult to access via public transportation we took the opportunity to bundle our transport with a visit to a few tourist sites along the way. We first visited Goa Gajah, a Hindu cave complete with intricate carvings and rampant, inelegant tourist development. The approach to the site involves wading through dozens of souvenir stalls trying to sell you the exact same things-sarongs, cold drinks, carvings, jewelry-you name it. At one point, a man dressed in traditional garb attempted to get us to “pray” with him for a price. Why Indonesians allow this type of development and behavior at important and beautiful spiritual sites is lost on us. But I digress- thoroughly harassed and unimpressed by this site we made our way to yet another temple.

Gunung Kawi is a beautiful complex of massive temples carved into rock faces along a river. Braving the persistent rain and trinket vendors (omnipresent, yes they are) we made our way down a series of stone staircases past picturesque rice terraces. It is poetic how this staple of Asian cuisine is grown in such a beautiful system of terraces, canals, and levees harmoniously complementing the steep jungle cloaked hillsides. Rarely does one see such an attractive form of agriculture. After meandering among the temples and rice fields, narrowly dodging a torrential downpour, we made our way to a restaurant overlooking the picturesque Gunung Batur. Sitting down to our overpriced and severely disappointing buffet lunch we stared at a dense bank of clouds, fog, and rain. As we finished lunch, and had endorsed a “better luck (lunch) next time attitude”, the clouds began to part. Over the next few minutes the beauty of the volcano, the clear blue lake below, and the surrounding volcanic landscape revealed itself before the clouds returned.

Most of you are probably familiar with Jack Nicholson’s character in the movie “The Bucket List” and his obsession with the rarest of coffees, kopi luwak. “Kopi luwak,” Nicholson would affectionately exclaim as he poured himself another expensive cup of joe. Late in the movie, he is shocked to learn that kopi luwak makes its way through the digestive tract of a civet, an animal that looks like a cat. Heading down from Gunung Batur, we pulled into one of the many coffee plantations lining the road to sample some Balinese coffee. Walking in toward the café we got our first glimpse of the kopi luwak producing civet, it’s a cute, little, fuzzy cat-like creature who were disappointingly asleep in their cages (they are nocturnal). Okay, ladies and gentlemen, this is where it gets interesting. Kopi luwak is rare and expensive not because of how it is grown, but how it is processed. Enter the aforementioned civets. Each day, these cute little creatures are fed coffee berries (I am not sure whether or not they like coffee or if anyone has bothered to ask them). The coffee berries then pass though their digestive tracts, intact, but are processed in the way only a civet can process them. Excreted out of the civet, the beans are collected, cleaned (hopefully very well), and roasted just like any other coffee bean.

We have seen kopi luwak (kopi = coffee, luwak = civet) on the menu several times during our travels in Indonesia. Previously, given its exorbitant price (as much as $12 per cup), we didn’t give trying kopi luwak much thought. Sitting down at the café we were shocked at the price of civet coffee-just $3 (they are like drug dealers trying to get you hooked on the good stuff at an introductory price)! Faced with its affordability we now had to make a big decision. Do really want to try coffee that has been shot out the back end of a civet with God knows what else? After a short period of deliberation, we ordered “Dua (two) kopi luwak.” With great suspense we eagerly awaited the world’s rarest coffee. Staring at our pots of kopi luwak we looked into each other’s eyes, took the plunge, and poured our first cups. It smells a lot like, well, coffee. It tastes like a really strong cup of French Roast with rich, earthy, smoky overtones. Kopi luwak tastes nothing like civet shit…or does it?

The coffee plantation proceeded to then stuff us full of their other products including “female” coffee (you botanists out there can go ahead and debate the difference between male and female coffee), ginseng coffee, hot chocolate, ginger tea, and lemongrass tea. Thoroughly caffeinated, we then wandered around the plantation’s gift shop. In a prominent location we spied their display of kopi luwak. A small sachet of coffee a la civet clocks in at nearly $35 for just a few ounces. While this is a bargain compared to the $50/cup you can expect to pay back home, I think we will stick to plain old Balinese coffee.

We arrived at our destination to the amusement of our driver who was incredulous at the name of our hotel, Lihat Sawah, which literally means “See Ricefield”. Relaxing here in the Sideman Valley, it has now rained for 30 hours straight. Last night, with the after effects of kopi luwak cursing through my body I could barely sleep. I lay awake watching the flashes of lightning and, from time to time, reflecting on the world’s rarest cup of coffee.

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Uber-relaxed in Ubud

12-17 September
We arrived back in Bali from Flores and almost immediately got into an argument with some taxi drivers. To be honest, we were not excited to be back in Bali. Our four days in beautiful Sanur a few weeks ago made us weary of touts and budget busting prices. Weary is actually a word we have started to use more often than we should.

We made our way to Ubud from the airport (about a 1.5 hour drive) and lucked out at Shanti Homestay with a beautiful bungalow with attached kitchen for about $25 a night! Attached kitchen!! I write this post from our back garden patio where we just enjoyed lunch and a coffee. After two and a half months of eating out, we were thrilled to have the opportunity to self-cater and cook some meals of our own. In addition, our hosts cook us the best breakfasts, usually a scramble or pineapple pancake with a large plate of fruit, we have had on the entire trip. After one night we decided to stay a week.


Ubud is a pleasant town and has more shops than even the most dedicated shopper could handle. There are also some beautiful countryside walks to enjoy, a forest full of monkeys, and plenty of transit touts to avoid on the streets. We spent the first few days literally wondering through the hillside enjoying the never-ending rice fields and river canyon views. We've exchanged books in used bookstores, Nick cooked us some delicious pasta, I've bought more jewelry than I should, and I enjoyed a great yoga class.

The highlight for both of us was a Kecak performance -monkey chant dance - we attended in one of the local temples. Kecak is hard to explain, but it sounds to us like the word "kecak" (pronounced "kechack") repeated over and over by sections of performers at different tones, at different speeds, in whispers, and in screams. The leaders of the group yell loudly to change the speed or intonation of the sound. All the while the performers are sitting cross-legged in a circle and swaying side to side, back and forth, hands up, hands down, laying down, etc. etc. etc. This seems like chaos, but it is expertly performed and is something that we will never forget. This particular performance molded kecak and the ramayana story together. At the end of the performance a man came out and danced wildly through a pile of burning coconuts, kicking husks this way and that, some practically landing on tourists laps. This was quite amusing.

We will spend a few more relaxing days in Ubud - more hiking and yoga - before heading northsouth to the Sideman Valley and then north to Lovina. We have lost our weariness and have fallen in love with Bali after all.

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