Top 10 Best in Southeast Asia

So our trip seems to be coming to an end...a journey estimated to take 7 months has actually taken nearly one full year. During this year we have been to Thailand, Laos, Vietnam, Cambodia, Myanmar, Malaysia (including Malaysian Borneo), and Indonesia. If you have been following our blog, you may know that we have seen and experienced a myriad of diverse, amazing and colorful things, the full extent of which is only known to us. Out of our whole trip, we have managed to make a top 10 list. Believe us, it was hard. It should have been more like a top 80 list, but for some reason people like lists of "10 things" (probably due to the convenience of being able to count on your fingers). So to appeal to the masses, here is a top 10 list, of which at least one entry is from each of the 7 countries we visited.

10 Best Things in Southeast Asia:

#10- Kung Si Waterfalls: (Luang Prabang, Laos) -

One's first impression of these falls is shocking - the brilliant turquoise colors of it's pools. I have never seen this shade in nature before, or since. The next shock is the beauty of the tiered falls, the forest path revealing another and yet another system of falls and pools, each more beautiful than the last. We stop to swim in the chilly waters, a welcome counter to the hot Laos sun, jumping off of high rocks and rope swings with other fun-loving tourists with the same idea as us. We enjoyed these falls so much that we came here on 2 separate days. The second day we had an invigorating hike up to the top of the highest tier, a secluded, foresty world away from the splashy tourists below.

#9- Hiking in Tanah Toraja: (Sulawesi, Indonesia) -

Seeking an escape from the culture of death and funerals that pervades this immensely interesting but often overwhelming cultural community, we trekked valiantly off into the countryside with a hand-drawn map and an eye for adventure. We were not disappointed. Following the network of roads (ranging from broken asphalt to red-clay rutted paths), we stopped to ask directions from nearly everyone we met and actually encountered several older people who don't speak bahasa Indonesia, the national language now taught in all schools. We got lost on a forest trail and saw a butterfly bigger than my two hands together and some of the strangest, most fantastical spiders imaginable. Eventually a family offered to host us for the night and we all sat in their bow-roofed traditional Torajan house and talked over dinner. In the morning we walked past a school where dozens of kids swarmed around us in ecstatic excitement at our mere presence. And there were happy buffalo everywhere.

#8- Taman Negara: (West Malaysia) -

The world's oldest rainforest, 130 million years old, untouched by human destruction, ice ages, and volcanoes. The trees tower over us like skyscrapers, their roots forming huge buttresses grasping mightily into the ground. We took a two day unguided hike into the jungle, over challenging terrain. We spent the night in a hide, and witnessed a rare Malay Tapir foraging in the clearing! Imagine a panda, elephant, and a pig all had one baby, and that's what the Malay tapir looks like. We also saw a huge monitor lizard, a hornbill, bats, and scores of leeches. The ants in this jungle were the size of one joint in my finger. We were soaked, sore and exhausted at the end of this hike, but it was so special to be in this amazing habitat.

#7- Mekong Delta: (southern Vietnam, long ago part of Cambodia) -

This magical river-world captured our hearts. We visited several towns in the magnificent delta of the mighty Mekong River, taking trips on little boats to coconut candy factories and floating markets where locals come on boats loaded up with goods to trade: whole boats with nothing but coconuts, others with so many bananas, and just about every imaginable fruit and vegetable in massive bulk (there goes the onion and raddish boat!). We also went to a beautiful brightly colored temple where hundreds of massive slumbering fruit bats stirred in the setting sun and took flight under the brilliant moon, while a monk chanted and used a lotus to shower water on the praying masses for the Buddhist New Year (in April).

#6- Bako National Park: (Sarawak, Borneo, Malaysia) -

We spent 3 days in this incredible park, it is small, but has 5 different habitats within a few minutes walk of one another. We arrived on the beach, where we saw bearded pigs foraging for buried crabs, and counted 11 species in a single tidal pool 10 feet long. We started our hike passing through a mangrove forest, spotting the crazy looking proboscis monkeys swinging through the trees. Soon the terrain became a lush green jungle, with small streams and waterfalls winding through. Uphill we hiked, and the forest became dryer, and we spotted carnivorous pitcher plants on the ground. On the top of the mountain was a sandy grassland, with even more pitcher plants. On our guided night walk, we saw a flying lemur.

#5- Tiger Temple: (Kachanaburi, Thailand) -

Travis' mom and sister came to explore Thailand with us and we celebrated the occasion by going to a temple and petting tigers! These magnificent creatures are so massive they could knock your head off with a playful pat. Luckily tigers are notorious cat-nappers, sleeping most of the day, and the yellow-clad staff led us by the hand from one beautiful beast to the next in the hot Thai sun. They certainly weren't sedated though, as is sometimes claimed by naysayers, as they were awoken for playtime at sunset and went romping up the valley.

#4- Panya Project: (North Thailand) -

We hard about this project from our good friend Nate who took a permaculture design course here. This is a community run farm with mostly expats, and we had a great time here. Every meal is communal, and the people we met, from America, India, England, Spain, Syria, Thailand, Japan, Belguim, and others were a testament to the beauty and grace of humanity. Every day we had a project, like gardening, working in the food forest, or natural building to keep us occupied, and an ample amount of extracurriculars, like swimming, visiting the neighboring farm's cafe, and therapeutic dance sessions. We really learned a lot about sustainability in our two weeks here.

#3- Bagan Temples: (Bagan, Myanmar) -

Thousands of ancient temples reach for the sky from the farmer's fields of Bagan. We rented bicycles every day and went gallivanting down the road, passing dozens of impressive pointy-topped brick structures in search of the best and the brightest. Buddhist paintings 800 years old remain in pristine condition inside some of the temples, depicting tales of mythical creatures and of the Buddha's life, as explained by local experts. At sunset we'd ascend one of these spectacular structures and look out over the entire valley at the massive array of temples across the countryside----an unimaginable fount of devotion and beauty.

#2- Angkor Temples: (Siem Reap, Cambodia) -

The splendor and majesty of these monuments cannot be described in words. First off, they're big. Second off, there's a lot of them, and they are all different and interesting in their own way. Angkor Wat, that's the star, as the biggest religious monument, and rightly so. Every surface is intricately carved with beautiful dancing nymphs, or historical scenes of war. Its the might, and the detail of the thing that makes it so amazing. Then there's Ta Prom, the forest temple, with huge tree roots growing right down on top of the temples. And the Bayon, with it's 216 giant stone faces staring out at every angle. Feel like you're being watched? These temples are so amazing that we spent 6 days touring them by ourselves, and then when Sarah's parents came to visit we did it all over again, for  3 days this time. And we still didn't see all of them!

#1- Pulau Weh: (Aceh Province, Sumatra, Indonesia) -
It has been aptly described as "The Best Place Ever." This beautiful Indonesian island is home to a wonderful tight-knit community of friendly folks who welcomed us with open arms. We stayed for a full 3 weeks on this magnificent little island (as long as we spent in all of Cambodia, three times as long as we spent in any one place) learning to scuba dive and making incredible friends all the while. We saw sharks, octopuses, rays, eels, lionfish, and all manner and size of spectacular colorful fish to dazzle the eyes and mind (how did they evolve like that?!). Walking up and down the only narrow path that ran along the beach, we always ran into all our wonderful friends and a short trip turned into an all day adventure. How I long to return to these pristine green shores and convene again with the people (and fish) of Pulau Weh.

Top 10 WORST Things in Southeast Asia

Dear friends and well-wishers,

Anyone who has taken a gander at our blog (or can muster minimal imagination based on limited descriptions) might be inclined to believe our trip has been nothing but kicks and laughs all over Asia. While I admit that our year-long vagabond adventures have beaten the stuffing out of working, we have inevitably been hurled  into inconvenient and sometimes downright atrocious situations that can (momentarily at least) cast serious doubts on the potential of humanity as a whole. With so much attention given to the beautiful and fun in our trip, let's examine the horrors.

The 10 Worst Things in S.E.Asia:
 

#10- Drunk Brits:
(especially on Thai islands & near Angkor temples)

The sun never sets on the British empire so these jerkholes think they're entitled to drink 24 hours a day. Call me uncool but I just can't seem to have a good time drinking red bull and vodka out of a bucket while listening to cheesy techno (with no one dancing) on a southern Thai island while watching a glam-punk British guy (who we thought was all right....compared to others present) steal hard liquor from poor Thai people.

#9- Bitter Melon:
(all over Asia, especially in Myanmar)

This disgusting vegetable looks something like a bumpy zucchini but tastes more like medicine. It's vile, bitter flavor invades all that it touches, ruining the tastiest looking of curries. It sometimes hides in your food, pretending to be a normal tasty vegetable and then BAM it hits you in the mouth with it's bitter flavor. Anytime we see this vegetable, or it is served to us in something we say, "OH NO! Bitter Melon!" and push it all onto the side of the plate. There is no method of cooking that I have experienced that can save this vegetable. Why, Southeast Asians, oh why do you love such a gross tasting food item?

#8- Angkor Vendors:
(at every single Angkor temple in Cambodia)

At the foot of the immaculate celestial manifestations in massive ancient stone that are the Angkor Temples lies a deeply impoverished contemporary Cambodia. The [evil free-market crusaders known as the] World Bank estimated the average annual income per person at $750, with 30.1% of Cambodia's population living under the poverty line in 2007 (down from 47% in 1994), compared with neighboring Thailand, which had a poverty rate of 8.1%. With corruption running rampant and little help and few resources in sight, many people take to hawking postcards and cheap bracelets to tourists at the Angkor temples. Everyone will say, "Hello mister!" and hoards of people (including many small children, some too young to talk) will follow us around saying, "You buy something?! No good business today!" which is not surprising considering there are dozens of people at every single temple selling exactly the same thing. You really can't buy something from everyone----there are that many people and they are all fiercely begging you to buy something.

#7- Toraja Funeral:
(in the verdant countryside of Sulawesi, Indonesia)

I, Sarah, had my doubts as to whether I was going to enjoy this popular tourist activity of attending a traditional Torajan funeral ceremony, as I had heard that it involved the gory sacrifice of gentle water buffaloes. Our tour guide promised that we wouldn't have to see that part, so I agreed. When we arrived, some traditional dancers came out, so I thought that was alright, but then the pigs began to arrive. They carry the poor beasts on wooden poles and leave them  with their feet tied out in the hot sun. The pigs, black in color, were panting like they would die, sometimes squealing in agony, and we learned that sometimes they do die from the heat. Only a few feet away the ground was black with blood and a severed buffalo head lay attached to all of it's tendons, bones and meaty bits. I (Sarah) ran away from this horrible spectacle as quickly as possible. As an animal lover and vegetarian, I couldn't take this torture.

 

#6- Border-Crossing:
(between each and every country but especially between Thailand and Cambodia)

Our least favorite days were always travel days and the worst travel days involve the multi-step bureaucracies of crossing a border. It always makes me think of John Lennon's "Imagine:" "Imagine there's no countries..." If only. In reality we have to undergo a series of papers, applications, payments (and bribes), and sometimes searches to get through. In one particularly terrible border crossing we underwent with Sarah's wonderful and patient parents between Thailand and Cambodia, people repeatedly tried to scam us. They took us to a bad overpriced restaurant and told us to give them $40 for the visa, which we refused because we know the visas cost $20 on arrival but they said it would take so long and the bus would leave us. We calculated that it would be much cheaper to hire a private taxi in that event than to get scammed and insisted they take us to the border, amidst the chaotic hail of misleading Thai demagogues, and managed to pay the normal $20 for the visa. The immigration officers, however, did insist on a 100 baht (admittedly only $3.30) bribe. Phew! What a day!

 

#5- Getting Sick:
(occasionally in nearly every country but especially in Yangon, Myanmar)

We had eaten at this Indian place 3 times before, but on the 4th time it made us horribly sick. Like so disgustingly ill for several days. Think like coming out of both ends violently, and then sleeping for 18 hours. We didn't do much here. To make things worse, there was a live worm in the bathroom, somehow, on the 3rd floor, happily slithering around for days in the wet floor. Not the best thing to see when you are violently ill. All we could do was rest and drink re-hydrating salts. Luckily we only got this sick one time.

#4- Illegal Wildlife Trade:
(everywhere but especially in Vietnam, Laos and Indonesia)

It was rather unfortunate to see a baby sea turtle for sale in a tiny plastic container (of fresh water) in the national aquarium in Jakarta, Indonesia but it was much worse to see people eating sea turtle soup in Sulawesi, Indonesia----unphased by our critiques of such behavior. Sharks are routinely killed for only their fins to make into soup for Chinese weddings (in China and all over S.E.Asia), which demand the rich to provide these endangered animals to show that you value your wedding guests enough to spend the money on them. Traditional medicine all over has people killing endangered bears, tigers, elephants, rhinos, sea horses, monkeys, and the list goes on.

#3- Buses:
(especially in Java, Indonesia)

We took some lovely 24 hour sleeper buses in Vietnam, where you could lay all the way down and sleep in between the driver's furious honking. We took some really ratty buses that broke down repeatedly in Myanmar, which always either departed or arrived in the middle of the night for no apparent reason. But Java wins worst buses. They pack 30 people in a bus built for 12, including people on the roof, who somehow manage to hold on around wild turns and hills. Everyone in Indonesia chain-smokes like an active volcano (an Indonesian role model?) and somehow people will be cold in the breeze and roll up the window even if it's 100 degrees. The worst part though, as if it isn't already bad enough, is that in Java you can't take a direct bus anywhere----you need to transfer every 50km----which forced us on several occasions to take 5+ buses in one day. One day we had to take seven buses in the rain to go only 250km (150 miles). I remember the rain not just in our many transfers but also on many of the buses, into which the rain poured. I can't wait to settle down a minute in Taiwan.

#2- Litter:
(EVERYWHERE (except Malaysia))

On the sides of the roads, in the country, in the city, piles of plastic trash adorn anywhere that a Southeast Asian person touches. The locals seem to have no regard for the beauty of their country and will toss a candy wrapper, a soda can, plastic bag, or whatever they have onto the ground without a thought. We have seen villages where their front yards are COVERED in trash. Do they like living in filth? I guess so. We have seen a little girl taking a big plastic bag of trash out and dump it into the river, to be carried off into the ocean. Even some of the nicest, most generous and smartest Southeast Asians we have met think it's OK to throw plastic trash onto the ground. So infuriating. I can't decide if it's worse when they toss it or set it all aflame, plastic and all.

#1- Visas:

For some reason, countries want to restrict tourists from coming in and spending money on their tourist infrastructure. To do this they make you buy this thing called a visa, which as you may know, means you have a certain amount of time to stay in the country. If you overstay, you will be punished, usually monetarily. This is such a big headache for us, costing us precious time and money. For some countries you must apply in advance, and the immigration offices are always so slow and bureaucratic and sometimes we have to wait for 5 days or more. For Indonesia it was especially annoying because to do a "visa run" (leaving a country and re-entering to get a new visa) we had to fly to Malaysia, which was expensive. So visas cost money, you have to plan your trip around them, and they are super annoying to obtain in advance. Our visa for Taiwan cost us 170 dollars each! (It costs $50 for everyone other than U.S. citizens because, they say, the U.S. charges this much for them to get a visa, if they can get one at all.) This has been the number one headache and annoyance for us. Dear Malaysia, thank you so much for the free 90 day on-arrival visa. You are an example to all the Southeast Asian nations (*Cough Indonesia cough*). We live in a globalized community where goods and ideas can travel freely, yet we people are still slaves to the vicious bureaucracy of visas. Alas.

So as you can see from our list, we've had it pretty easy, had a mighty fine time on a whole. To those of you who are considering traveling, too, remember: it's not all fun and gallivanting. To everyone else: well, it is mostly fun and gallivanting. I know some of my friends and family at home have had much more serious tragedies and misfortunes in our absence and I don't mean to make light of them in any way----I'm sorry we haven't been there with you. But lately people have been asking us if we're tired of traveling after almost a full year on the road and the answer is, YES!

We are, of course, still having a great time, currently in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, eating delicious Indian food every meal and visiting our wonderful friends Iga and Mattheus, whom we met in Myanmar. But we are near ecstatic, albeit a bit nervous, to make the leap from vagrancy back to sedentary living in a few days. We're flying to Taiwan on January 7th and have been applying for positions teaching English like it's our job. So expect to hear from us in a month or so when we've settled ourselves in a brand new apartment and convinced a school board that we've mastered our insanely complicated and illogical language well enough to convey it to others!


Much love and best wishes from your newest expat friends!
-Travis and Sarah

Asia With the Ruddies

As you may know, this past month we have had some temporary additions to our wagon train: my wonderful Mom and Dad, AKA Momela and Dadsta, AKA Stan and Libby Ruddie. They packed up their luggage and flew away from the colds of America, and their first stop was the megacity: Tokoyo. You will have to ask them if you want to hear all about this leg of their trip, but thanks to Brenna and Micah they had a wonderful time there. After three days of sushi and expensive train rides, they put away their heavy coats and came to Thailand! Travis and I flew from Manado, Sulawesi to Jakarta, and from there to Bangkok. A journey that had taken us almost a year to complete, we covered that distance within a day. The marvels of modern travel. 

 

Along with Mom and Dad came Uncle Dave, for only 3 days in Bangkok. Determined to show him a good time we set out to bring all that is shiny (temples!), amazing local food (green papaya salad anyone?), and elephants to Uncle Dave for his short time in Thailand. We took him to Wat Pho, to see the enormous gold-plated reclining Buddha, and we looked out over the river at the Ayuthaya style temple Wat Arun, and ended up the evening at the dazzling Grand Palace. I have my suspicions that this last place was the highlight of his day, his comments of "It's so shiny!" gave away his great admiration of the Kingly Abode of Thailand. I am so glad that Uncle Dave came, he was such a fun addition! Alas he had to leave so soon and we continued our adventure without him.

Our next destination was the emerald island of Ko Chang, near the Cambodian border. We checked into our hotel, a lovely place right on the beach, with a pool that disappeared right into the ocean at sunset. I thrive living near the water, being a Scorpio, and the rest of the family enjoyed a little rest and relaxation on this palm fringed island. One day Travis, Mom and I expanded our skill set by taking a Thai cooking class. We learned how to make Pad Thai, Green Curry, Tom Yam soup, and spring rolls! Sorry Mom, your secret is out and everyone will be asking you to cook Thai food for them now. Travis made the best spring rolls, and we nominated him to make them for our parties forever. Having a husband who cooks is an invaluable nonrenewable resource.

One day on Ko Chang Mom and Dad took an elephant ride and Travis and I went diving. On our first dive the visibility was low, but on the second dive it was much higher. The corals here were pretty drab colored but there was an amazing plethora of fish, and we even saw a sea turtle! He was not scared of us, just kinda looked over like "Oh hi guys", then put his head under a peice of coral to sleep. We looked out into the blue, and we saw a huge form coming towards us. Is it a whale? We soon saw that it was a school of 200+ smaller fish, all swimming so close together and in time that it looked like a massive whale from far away. Wow! That night we took a cab to Lonely Beach (not so lonely actually) for dinner, and we were lured into an Italian restaurant by a whole litter of 6 week old puppies. I played with them the whole time we waited for our vegetarian pizza to arrive. What a treat!

After a few days of the beach life, we decided to head inland for some more cultural exploration of the greatest monuments to the Gods in all of Southeast Asia.  Our bus to Siem Reap whisked us away from paradise and plunked us down in a restaurant 1 km from the border of Cambodia, and requested us to give them 1200 Baht (about $40) for the visa fee. We were like "Haha, no way, the visa fee is $20, we have been to Cambodia before" and they said we needed to give them money to make the process go faster "or the bus might leave us behind". But we refused to be scammed. Why should we pay 20 dollars extra for them to do something that we could do ourselves in 10 minutes at the border? The funny thing is, the other tourists on the bus all went along with it, even though we told them it was a scam. We even ended up ahead of some of them in line later at immigration after paying the proper cost, $20, to get our visas at the border.

Our hotel in Siem Reap

The Angkor temples are truly a sight to behold. Or should I say, they are sights to behold. No photos or descriptions can really capture the splendor, grace, and finesse of these temples. The sheer size and weight is amazing, and the carvings are so intricately detailed and well preserved. When you look at these monuments, it's impossible not to imagine them 900 years ago when they were built, with monks performing ceremonies, the ancient Khmer people toiling to build the temples, and the daily life of the ancients. We visited several temples over our 6 days spent in Siem Reap, each one with it's own design and interests. Like Ta Prom, with it's megalithic tree roots coiling around the temples, or Bantey Srei, with it's superfine detailed carvings of Hindu gods. Angkor Wat, of course, is the heavyweight, and we spent the most time here, admiring the beautiful carvings, the might of the temple, and Mom, Travis and I even climbed to the top of the tower and looked out over the grounds. My family was duly impressed by the glory of Angkor.

One of the highlights of this leg of our journey was Tonle Sap Lake, about 45 kilometers South of Siem Reap. This lake is interesting, as for 1/2 of the year (the wet season and afterwards) the borders of the lake extend far beyond where they are in the dry season, when the water makes it's way out into the Mekong River. How can people live in an area where there houses would be underwater for half of the year? Well, human adaptation amazes us again as we drift down the river with Kosal, our tuk-tuk driver for the week, to his homeland. This is an amazing community where during the wet season the only access they have to their homes is via boat. Each house is it's own stilted island, and the village is complete with restaurants, schools, and a temple. We even saw a large rafted pigpen! This atmospheric place is like nowhere else I have ever been, and to make the day complete Kosal took us to his family's home.

Our next destination: Battambang, a French colonial town in Cambodia. Our mode of transportation: river boat. This experience was both incredibly interesting and scenic, as well as harrowing. It started when we got to the port and realized that #1. The seats are made of wood even though the travel agent told us we would have soft seats and #2 there weren't enough seats for everyone, so some people had to sit on the roof of the boat. We managed to stay together and we set off on the journey. The river was beautiful, gliding past villages consisting of houses sitting on rafts, little children waving, and flocks of waterbirds. It began to get a little uncomfortable when we enter a part of the river and some sticks start hitting the side of the boat. The waterway gets smaller and smaller, and soon huge tree limbs were bashing their way along the open-air windows. It was like someone was firing at us. No one could sit by the window, some people were standing up, and all of a sudden, I got hit by a huge tree limb, slingshot into my chest by the window frame. I cried out and my husband and parents were by my side in a moment. I was so angry with the captain for taking us that way, I think he got us lost. I still have fantasies of throwing that guy overboard, seizing control of the boat, and delivering everyone to safety. We got to Battambang a bit worse for the wear, but after relaxing for awhile in our fancy hotel, we all were happy again.

We were only in Battambang for one day, but it was a memorable one. In the morning we went to the bamboo train. Using an old French-built railway, the Cambodians have constructed small platforms with lawn mower motors on them that move down the track. If two trains meet going in opposite directions, one of the trains has to disassemble the platform, wheels and motors to let the other one by. It actually went pretty fast too, past rice fields and timeless village houses. Later that night we went to an arts school to see a circus. We weren't expecting this: a mini-cirque-de-solie  with high energy dancing, live music, graceful contortionists, and amazingly talented balancing acts, but that's what it was. Wow!

So this has been the last three weeks of our life. It has been wonderful having family here to share our adventure with for a little while. Both Travis and I feel lucky that some of our family members came all this way just to visit little old us. It feels good to be loved, and it feels good to see our loved ones. We have been having so much fun but of course we miss all of our friends and family at home. On January 7th we will be traveling to Taiwan to try to find jobs teaching English. It has been a crazy adventure, maybe the craziest of my life. I am so thankful to  everyone who has made this trip possible or probable for me, especially my parents and Travis's too. Stay tuned for more Asian Adventures! Happy New Year, Christmas, and Hannukah everyone!

Sulawesi...

...what an amazing place. Truly. Too spectacular to even begin to describe.

Paradise Found

Picture this: turquoise waters, emerald green islands swaying with coconut trees and dense jungle, clean, white sand beaches with no one on them. Ah the Togeans, perfectly paradisical, but an adventure to reach. After we left Tanah Toraja, it took us three days of buses, minibuses, pickup trucks, and ferry boats to reach these beautiful islands. One of the buses we rode on it was raining inside of the bus. Oh but it was worth it. We met some interesting people along the way, including a Canadian man who works for 9 months a year and travels for three every year for the last 18 years, and he is on a backpacker budget even though he doesn't need to be. We also met a family from the Netherlands who seemed happy to be taking this grueling 3 day voyage to reach these perfect islands.

Once we got to the island we found a bungalow for $10 each including full board, and hung out with our neighbors for a little while. At this resort, Lestari, everyone eats communally and so we all get to talk and socialize. This was one of the best parts about staying on these islands. We had Canadians, Austraians, Germans, English, Spanish, and Indonesian people all represented at the tables here. Every night we ate amazing food and sometimes we got arak, or palm wine to drink for after dinner.

One day we decided to go diving. The dive site was interesting: a sunken B24 US bomber plane from WWII. The ride out to the site was beautiful, as the Togeans are as lovely from far away as they are up close. We passed by sea gypsy villages where the only access they had was by water, with children fishing off of the docks and cats jumping from house to house over the water. The lifestyle there is so different from what I am used to. We dove underwater where the plane was, and we found an interesting underwater world where we were flying above the plane! All around it fish were swimming, including some juvinile batfish, and beautiful corals were growing on the metal. Right on the tip of the machine gun sprouted a burst of vibrant purple coral that was serving as a home for some rainbow-hued fish. A perfect symbol of peace for our tumulous world.  When we arrived back at our island we saw a rainbow, and I slipped into the crystal clear lagoon to look joyously upon this spectacle. It was unreal.

The next day we went on a boat trip with some other people from our guesthouse. We rode for an hour and got to a beautiful uninhabited island, the beach was amazing and only for us! We froliced in the warm, clear tropical waters under the equatorial sun. We donned our snorkels and swam out past feilds of underwater coral to another part of the island. We walked over some sharp volcanic rocks and found a lagoon. In the lagoon were hundreds of jellyfish, but these jellyfish had no stingers, so we swam all around them, poking and playing with them. It was strange, but cool. Like you go on those tours that are like "swim with sharks" or "swim with dolphins" but this one was "swim with jellyfish". Haha. We swam back to the beach and had lunch. The rest of the afternoon we spent in the ocean, having chicken fights and playing frisbee. Sadly, Travis's faithful camera that he has had for our whole trip broke this day by getting salt water inside. RIP Sony Cybershot.

One day we rented snorkels and decided to hike to a beach across the island. With our entheusiastic canine escorts we set off on the trail. The going was lovely, through green jungle peppered with coconut trees, butterflies, and wild mushrooms. Our hopes were high about finding our own private deserted beach to snorkel on. We marched past a big hole filled with water and some little campsites with hundreds of discarded coconut shells nearby. The paths began to branch off and we made sure to remember which ones to take. Soon, however, the paths became too numberous and we decided to head back. We eventually did reach a beautiful white sand beach, it just happened to be the one we started from. We spent the rest of the day marveling at the gorgeous coral fish we found just off the beach in front of our very own hut. In the evening we watched the sun set. After dark we could see so many stars in the sky, and in the water were so many bioluminescent algae! We stomped on the pier and it was an explosion of light as the organisms responded to the movement in the water. 

On our last night we had a birthday party for Randy, an Austrian man who was staying at Lestari. A fruit platter was prepared, a tray of sweets, and the arak was flowing. At midnight, an amazing home-baked cake materialized. We all sang (or stumbled through) "Happy Birthday" for Randy. I must admit I felt a little jealous, as my birthday only a week earlier had been spent on a bus. We all got a peice of cake and began eating. We were all a little toasty by this time, and we were playfully smearing icing on each other's faces. Then someone threw a peice of watermelon, and someone got cake in thier hair. Call me a nerd, but I realized that it was time to leave at this point. Party was over. I ran away as a raging food fight erupted behind me. Travis and I went to the long pier and relaxed away from the rowdy crowd.

Oh Togeans, how did we ever tear ourselves away? These islands are surely one of the most magical places I have ever been, and will only get more magical in my memory, as places like this tend to. We are now on to other wonderful things, such as my parents being here to visit me in Thailand!

Hell Rising

"Then said the king to the servants, Bind him hand and foot, and take him away, and cast him into outer darkness; there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth" (Matthew 22:13).

That's right, we've fallen from the grace of largely Islamic Indonesia and furiously plummeted to the dark depths of a Christian hell. "New torments and new tormented souls I see around me wherever I move, and howsoever I turn, and wherever I gaze" (Dante's Inferno, Canto VI: Third Circle). Searing heat radiates from above and a furious cacophony engulfs your being in the confused and terrified heat. Shrieks and squeals echo off the nefarious swirling red huts and men with enormous pointed horns dance in frenzied cyclones of unknown ritual. The stench here is overpowering. It is the burning flesh smell of bacon.

Last I checked before we fell through the map into the flaming core of damnation, we arrived in Tanah Toraja, South-Central Sulawesi (the crazy big "K" shaped Indonesian island between Borneo and Papua). Tanah Toraja is a mountainous area where the houses have bowed roofs like a ship (or the horns of a buffalo) and life revolves around death. In the former half of the 20th century the Dutch missionaries introduced Christianity to the local people, who incorporated it into their extant complex animist beliefs and ceremonies. Nowadays much of their old religion is dead and gone but some ceremonies live on, particularly their enormous funeral celebrations, where it seems we fell into that abominable hell realm. 

People will save up their whole lives preparing to die and when they do, their families have a small funeral immediately but then embalm the deceased and plan a massive ceremony, in which they invite friends and family who may have dispersed the world over and they construct a veritable village of open-walled "temporary" bamboo buildings (nearly as solid as many homes, also with the typical corrugated tin up-curved bowed roof). But until they have the big shebang, they don't bury the dead. So families might have their dead grandfather in their living room for as many as 10 years before they get around to burying him. And until he's buried he's not quite considered dead. If you go visit them, you must request permission from the deceased, as your host, to depart.

They believe the dead can take their possessions with them into the afterlife so they spare no expense. Hundreds of people are in attendance, each bringing gifts for the celebration that range from a carton of cigarettes to a whole stable of buffalo. Some have these highly sought-after albino buffalo here that can cost over $8000 each. Then they kill them. Pigs, too; lots. At really rich people's funerals they might sacrifice two dozen buffalo (or more). You can see the remains in vast rows of mounted horns on the front of their traditional houses, painted in swirling tribal designs of red, black and yellow. I can't imagine how they could eat the ridiculous numbers of buffaloes and pigs they ritually slaughter but I hear they put in a mighty effort at the celebratory/memorial feast that can last for days. 

We found the pigs writhing in the baking sun to be horrifying. One pig was so desperate for water that, despite its legs being bound together, it thrashed and flailed over to the decapitated buffalo head and lapped up the bloody mud. Truly horrifying. Though I suppose it's no worse than what goes on in any slaughterhouse in America. Plus, as we discovered trekking around the countryside, the animals here live happy lives in the great outdoors, romping in mudholes in the bucolic rice terraces and generally living the way animals are supposed to, which is far more than can be said for the Nazi-concentration-camp-esque factory farms we Americans (indirectly) use tax-dollars to support (through corn/soy subsidies, although ruminants shouldn't be eating these things in the first place).

The Torajan funeral ceremony is pretty much the most important remaining ceremony in their culture. There used to be far more rituals and practices that have faded into the darkness of Christianity. Until this generation, the Torajan people would cut holes in massive trees to bury their unfortunate dead babies, that their souls may unite with nature and reach for the sky. The people aren't calloused to the suffering they're inflicting through sacrifice either (unlike us typical Westerners), as they gave a lengthy eulogy for the animals to be sacrificed, eliciting tears all around. Sarah didn't was struck with manifest horror at the abominable suffering that pervaded the event, which led to her spontaneous decision to run away crying all the way to our hotel. The Lonely Planet Guidebook (aka "The Bible") aptly says, "It's like walking into a National Geographic Special." They then bury the deceased in special cave-graves, dug out in the rock of cliffsides, with tau-tau (wooden effigy statues) standing guard. Death is very much alive in daily life here as these graves are ubiquitous in this region. 

After all that highly culturally enriching violence we went on an overnight trek (with no guide but on usually clearly discernible village roads) to see some more rural living and generally soak in the beautiful mountainous landscape. Bahasa Indonesia's word for "countryside" may be a bit less romantic "daerah luar kota" (lit.: region outside city) but I fail to see how they couldn't be more inspired by the incredible tableau of mountainside rice terraces dotted with happy buffaloes, white egrits sitting on their backs. 

We got lost briefly whilst braving a vague forest path where we saw the BIGGEST butterfly ever! I kid you not, it was bigger than my two hands put together, thumbs meeting, in the shape of a giant butterfly. We also saw some spiders that fantasy movies would omit due to total unbelievability. One had crazy horns on its back (like everything else Torajan: the buffalo, dancing men, and traditional houses), another was white with black polka-dots on a strangely disc-shaped body with radial spikes, and another was a fearsome symmetrical yellow pattern that screamed VENOMOUS!

That night we stayed with a wonderful Torajan family in their traditional house, under their massive bowed roof, red swirls covering the fascinating building on all sides. We stayed up talking to the 8 adults and some 10 kids that live there and had a wonderful time playing with the animal toys we brought for them. Well they may have a different way of celebrating death, but one thing can certainly be said for the Torajan people: they are beautiful and hospitable.

Gods of the Volcanoes - Bromo

Once again we have found our way to a cold place, even though we are so close to the equator. We left the temperate and colorful Yogyakarta on a tourist bus, shelling out the extra 6 bucks each for the sanity-keeping promise of not having to switch buses more than once. It was worth it, basking in the air conditioning, talking to Dutch and Swedish people as the rice paddies backed by magestic volcanoes rolled away past our window. Keeping with Indonesian cultural traditions though, the bus ride that was meant to take 11 hours actually took 15. When we arrived at 10 PM in the town near Bromo Volcano, we scurried to put on our coats.

We checked in to a budget hotel and went to sleep for 3 hours. Our plan was to go to the famous viewpoint for sunrise. At 2.30 AM our alarm went off, and we dragged ourselves out of bed to hike up a mountain (crazy I know). The landscape was lit by the moon and very peaceful, something I'm not used to in Indonesia. It reminded me of my late night walks with friends when I was younger. I could hide in the darkness, independent and adventurous. We bought some hot tea from a drinks vendor as a cold mist dampened us near the base of the viewpoint.

The hike up was thigh-burning, but short. At the top we were part of a small crowd who had the same idea as us, but most of them had taken a jeep instead of walking like us. The sky began to gray and all at once the sun drew a brilliant red brushstroke in the sky. As it rose, more quickly than you would think, everyone's face was glowing golden and happy and cold. The clouds broke and below us we saw a surreal landscape: The wide, smoking crater of Bromo, a green conical volcano right next to that, and in the distance the tallest peak in Java towering up above it all. All of this was set in a massive sand pit, presumably another gigantic volcano cradling these other three gods.

 The sun burned higher in the sky and we went back to town for lunch (breakfast?). The walk back was amazing, it was like being transported 150 years into the past and into Eastern Europe or something. The green quilt of onion and cabbage feilds were peppered with spindly pine trees, rustic cottages, and little old ladies with bandeu style head scarves tilling the feilds. Later we realized something that added to the beauty and timelessness of this world: there were no power lines. These villagers had no electrical power. There was also an eerie but wonderful lack of plastic trash littering the roads. I saw a man on a cute gaited pony riding down the road and stopped to watch. He offered to rent the pony to me and I agreed.

After lunch we started for the volcano, me on Ponee the pony, and Travis on foot. The flat, open "Sea of Sand" was a fun place to be riding, so open and beautiful, I felt so free on my steed. Ponee was a joy to ride, light to the touch, responsive and happy to be ridden. As we approached Bromo a few men tried to sell us flowers as offerings for the Volcano God. We climbed up the steps (Ponee stayed at the bottom) and I gasped a little as I looked into the pit. The crater was wide and billowing out smoke, and around it the rim undulated with jagged gray peaks and curves. It was like something from Star Wars. I was seized with a fear of falling into the crater that didn't leave me until we were back on the stairs an hour and 1/2 later.

We walked around the rim, way out to the other side. Unsurprisingly the smell of sulphur was thick in the air and seemed to be emenating from the rim and the pit ubiquitously. In some parts the "path" was quite narrow and slippery, although I made sure to orient myself to fall out of the volcano rather than in to it if I lost my footing. It was still rather terrifying. You just never know if you're afraid of volcanoes until you're there sometimes you know? Travis encouraged me on and we reached the top of a high peak on the rim. We were totally alone here except for the beetles, and it felt like we could be the only people in the whole world. Once we got halfway around, I decided I didnt want to go all the way and so we turned back (I know, it sounds ridiculous but to go the same way woud have been harder and more trecherous).

We got back to the stairs and I was finally able to relax a little again. I rode Ponee back to the town, leaving Travis a bit behind, but no matter. I fed Ponne the carrots I had been saving for him and he left with his owner. We ate a well needed lunch and went to the hotel. It felt like it should be the evening but it was really only 2.30 PM, 12 hours after we had left for the viewpoint. We decided to take a quick little nap and didnt wake up until 9 PM. Surprisingly, we fell back asleep at midnight and woke up feeling very nice and refereshed for our travel to Surabaya the next day.

We are now couchsurfing in Surabaya, thanks to www.couchsurfing.org which connect travelers with people who have couches to stay on. Its a great way to meet people from other places and totally rewarding and safe. I reccomend signing up for this site if you haven't already! Our hosts here are so kind, they feed us every day and are even taking us to thier nephew's traditional Indonesian wedding in a few hours. Speaing of which, I'd better go get ready!

On a sad note, my dog died this week. Poor Reuben. If any of you would like to read his eulogy just ask me and I will send it. On a happier note, it is my birthday in 2 days! If you would like to make me happy for my birthday please donate money to the World Wildlife Foundation. You can do that here:

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