Crossing Flores, Part II

After the night in Ruteng, it was an early morning start for five more hours of jungle mountain driving to Bajawa, Flores. Beautiful, serene scenery, blah blah blah. Is it possible to tire of gazing at beauty? Maybe not. But then again, it didn't stop me from trying to take a nap.

On the way we stopped at a small village, where the local intoxicant, arak, was being brewed. As we have come to expect from the stills in these types of places, it probably would not have passed FDA standards. Still, we purchased a water bottle full of the yellowish stuff, which we were told was thrice-distilled (more than cognac, so it must be better, right?) for drinking later that evening in a delayed birthday celebration.

In Bajawa we found the usual shabby room for dirt cheap and set up a tour of the surrounding villages for the next day. Bajawa is a pretty town, located up in the mountains, so it was quite cool--jeans and long-sleeves were required, and not for the first time was I happy I brought them along. It also rained a bit, which frustrated our driver (he kept gesturing to the sky and shrugging, saying "this not rainy season"). We explored the town on foot, including the pasar (market) and again talked to some locals.

At night we purchased some limes and sprite and attempted to make arak mojitos (minus the lime). Or rather, Maria attempted it. She did a fine job, but the arak was not acceptable at all to Laurent (I guess his refined French palate rejected it) and I was the only one to polish off more than one glass. By which I mean two glasses. We gave the rest to Sigfried.

While we were drinking in the lobby of our hotel, we had some good laughs watching a group of French tourists trying to check in. The hotel was full, but they were insisting they had called ahead to make reservations. Laurent joked, saying that the French are always complaining about something. He has a good sense of humor about French culture...anyway, we sat and watched the drama unfold from across the room as though watching television, occasionally commenting to one another about the ways the 'show' could be improved. At one point Laurent suggested stealing their backpacks. We were laughing quite loud after a while and I don't think the French tourists appreciated it.

Next time, we have a great day in Bajawa and nearly cause an international incident.

Endorsements

A Summer of Gills Gold-Star Endorsement for Travel Yahtzee!
Travel Yahtzee: Maintaining Your Sanity During that 7-hour Layover

Crossing Flores, Part I

After our fun trip to the islands of Komodo and Rinca, it was time to see more of Flores. The next morning (my birthday!) Alison, Maria, Laurent, Esther and I met our driver (I thought his name was Sigfried, but it was only days later I learned it was really Sipri), loaded our bags in the back of a Kijang, and headed off...

The drive across Flores is mountainous and tortuosly windey. It is also stunningly beautiful. The views of rice fields, jungle mountains, and ocean bays are only to be seen to be believed. On each road, there are children all about, and as you pass it is to elated yells of "hello mister!" or "hello tourists!". It makes the time pass quickly, and we spent a lot of time in the car over the next several days. More than once was I glad we didn't take the 'puke bus'.

Our first day we stopped in the village of Ruteng, about four hours from Labuanbajo (but maybe only 30 minutes if we hadn't been driving in the mountains). Along the way there were incredible vistas of spiderweb rice fields (perhaps one day I'll post a pic). Anyway, Ruteng was the village in which I would celebrate my birthday, and it wasn't exactly New York City (but it was slightly better than Alison's Incheon airport). Of course, there was no wine, no steak, no candlelit dinner...but what does it matter? I'm in Indonesia! Anyway, Ruteng is a simple town and there weren't many tourists about, nor tourist facilities for that matter. There were about four guesthouses in town, and most were booked full with Indonesians (at least I assume so, because we only saw two other Westerners the entire evening). We did find rooms, however, in a hotel that looked a bit like a Swiss chalet. It seemed comfortable enough, but later we realized the walls were less than paper-thin--the man in the room next to us was clearly inches from the wall next to our bed, and he snored quite loudly.

But I digress...in Ruteng we wandered the town and talked to the locals. People were so friendly! Lots of locals came up to us to practice their English or just to ask where we were going and what we were up to. In more touristy places this is usually a ruse before the sales pitch, but in Ruteng and throughout Flores it was just genuine kindness and interest, and we really enjoyed talking with everyone who approached us.

Later, Alison and I left the family behind and went for a private birthday dinner. The restaurant was the usual plastic chairs, cheap Indonesian fare, and checkered plastic tablecloths, but a Bintang beer helped the atmosphere. In the back of the restaurant, the locals were glued to the television set for "Indonesian Idol". I guess it's just as big of a hit here...

After dinner we walked back to the guesthouse, and called it an early night. As we would every night, because Flores shuts down early everywhere...

Next time, we move on to the mountain village of Bajawa, and the weather gets cold for once!

By the way, if anyone would like to see a picture of us scrambling for our lives on Mt. Batur in Bali...

Batik is Ugly and We Don't Want Any

That is all.

Flores, the First Few Days, Part II

A komodo dragon and a Labuanbajo sunset, via the web.

Having met Maria, Laurent, and Esther, and having enjoyed their company at dinner, we agreed to split the costs of an overnight boat trip to Rinca and Komodo (nearby islands) with stop-offs for snorkeling at spots along the way. Maria bartered with the travel 'agent' fiercely and got us a good deal, and the next morning we set off on our trip.

The boat was small and loud, but there was enough room for five people to sit comfortably (with two benches and a table), and the sea breeze felt great in our hair as we headed out of Labuanbajo's bay toward Rinca. After two hours on easy seas, we arrived, and climbed off the boat onto the dry, windy, and hot island--one of only three known homes to the legendary Komodo dragon. The plan was to hike the island for an hour or so (with a guide) in hopes of spotting the beasts.

It didn't take long. In fact, we hadn't even bought our tickets yet and there one sat, right next to the restrooms. It was well camouflaged, even out in the open--I almost didn't see it. Komodo dragons are drawn to the arrival area by the smell of food and humans (who are themselves, on very rare occasions, 'food'), and there turned out to be at least a half-dozen within 50 yards of the arrival area. They are HUGE (8 -10 feet long at times) but lazy, mostly just laying around in the heat, hoping something to eat will present itself. However, the guides informed us they are capable of running 18 kmph, which if my conversion is correct is over 150 miles per hour. But then again, I had no internet access, so that may not be right.

There was something slightly unsatisfying about seeing all the dragons right there at the start, so we went ahead with our hike in an effort to see some more 'wild' dragons. We were lucky and saw three more, as well as some wild water buffalo, deer, and other assorted animal life. We did NOT see a komodo dragon kill a buffalo, which I had been hoping for. What a rip off.

After exploring Rinca, we returned to the boat hungry for lunch (mie goering and fried fish, yum) and then headed out for a snorkeling spot nearer Komodo. Maria and Esther had never snorkeled before, and the Komodo area is known to have some first-rate snorkeling, so Alison and I gave them some pointers and we all jumped in to give it a go. All of us excepting Laurent, that is, who can't swim.

The water was cooooold, but the snorkeling was top-notch, and Alison and I saw a stingray, among tons of other great stuff (coral, cool fish, etc.), before returning to the boat to warm up and eat dinner (mie goering and fried fish again? yum?). We then settled in for an evening of good conversation, and a night on some flimsly mattresses laid on the deck, kept awake by snoring and vicious winds that whipped the tarps above us.

The next day we woke before sunrise to see a huge flock of nocturnal animals called 'flying foxes' return to their tree nests. Flying foxes looked quite a bit like huge bats--I'm not sure they weren't. After a fried banana breakfast, we went to Komodo for more dragon-spotting. At first I thought it would just be more of the same we had seen on Rinca, but it was worth the extra trip. The dragons are more rare there, surprisingly, and they aren't as docile, so when we saw one in the wild we knew we were lucky. One guide said it had been a week since he had spotted one. Also on Komodo were wild boars, cockatoos, and huge spiders. I was happy for taking the overnight trip.

On the way back from Komodo we stopped at a deserted island with beaches of the finest powdered sand for more snorkeling. It was good, but not as great as the previous night's spot. The beaches made the stop memorable, though. Once we had our fill of snork & sand, we ate lunch (mie goering and fish?!? give me a break!), then the trip was over and we returned to Labuanbajo for a night's rest and to prepare for our journey across Flores.

Next time on the summerofgills, our driver "Sigfried" takes us across Flores, and more about 'the family'.

Flores, the First Few Days, Part I

We arrived on Flores on July 19th, I think, to the port town of Labuanbajo. We flew, and it was a prop plane of the kind that would make Jonny & Mike have nightmares for weeks. I could almost hear them emit a girlish shriek from LA as we took a hard one-bounce landing that had all nearby passengers gripping their seats...

The Labuanbajo airport was a sign of Flores to come. The arrivals 'terminal' was one open room, and immediately outside there were goats tied up grazing on the lawn. The town itself is small and quite charming, in a homely sort of way...a beautiful bay, some ramshackle buildings, and gorgeous sunsets. Upon arrival, Alison and I rented a moto (our new favorite pasttime) and checked out the area. One note on that: when we asked the guy at the travel office if moto rental was possible, he said "of course," then proceeded to walk into the street and flag down drivers-by until he had a taker willing to swap his bike for our bucks. No forms necessary. This is not Bali.

After trying to run some errands (and failing to find internet for the first but not nearly last time), we cruised the surrounding area, waving at locals and taking in the view of the bay from above the town. On our mind: how would we get from Labuanbajo on the west coast to Maumere (where we had return travel booked), nearly on the east coast, in just over a week? We wanted to make sure we could see Komodo dragons (a day-trip off Labuanbajo), but the journey across Flores is a long one and we didn't want to have to jam it out too quickly. Also, we had heard horror stories of the buses across the island--long hours on windy roads in packed vans with no AC or ventilation and locals who chain smoke when they aren't puking in your lap. However, hiring a private driver seemed beyond our budget, so there was no real choice...

But when we returned the moto to the rental guy (read: the random guy who gave it to us), as luck would have it we were approached by a family of three who were looking for people to share a car & driver to Maumere. This would reduce our costs by 60% and made private travel possible. As luck would further have it, their time frame was similar to ours. As luck would still further have it, they were a really nice & fun couple and a sweet daughter of 12, and we spent almost nine days with them, becoming fast friends.

Their names are Laurent, Maria and Esther, and they are French & Polish--Laurent from France, now living in Warsaw (Maria is Polish, obviously). We had lots of fun over the next week, but at the time I left off in this entry, we were just getting to know them.

Originally we met for dinner to discuss a plan (and, I think, to feel the others out, to make sure we could get along on a long journey). Having a few laughs and realizing we had many things in common, we agreed not only to split a private car (SUV with three rows of seats) across the island, but to split the costs of an overnight boat to Rinca and Komodo as well...

More details in the next post, as this one is getting quite long...

Alive and Connected

Aaaaaah, sweet sweet internet. Well, we've spent over a week on Flores, an island east of Bali, and to our surprise it was a bit more rustic than we had anticipated. No internet, no hot water, no phones in most towns, no power during the day, no Western-flush toilets, etc. etc. As a result obviously we've been disconnected from the outside world for over a week. It was completely worth it, but I'm happy to be back in touch. Thanks everyone for the birthday wishes...

One More Thing...

When I signed on to this computer, the browser was open to Harry Potter fan-fiction erotica.

Long Overdue Bull Sacrifice Pics (Safe For Work Version)

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Some of the least gory photos I took of the Tana Toraja bull sacrifice. For the really bloody ones, see me after the trip.

Well, I was hoping get even more pictures up today, since we're in Kuta (the big tourist city in Bali) and it seemed like this connection was pretty fast, but the upload is crawling along so I might be stuck with just these. We're way behind on posting pictures, which is unfortunate, because we have some great shots I wanted to get up here. Also now we're heading to Flores (I did manage to update the map already if you want to see where that is) and it's a bit more rustic so we'll be lucky if we can even post at all, much less upload photos. Too bad.

We've spent the last couple of days in Kuta, Bali, basically just killing time until our trip to Flores. It was hard to get a flight, everything was sold out for days. In fact, we got the last two seats available on tomorrow's flight.

We went to Kuta because we hadn't seen it yet and because Bali's premier surf sites are nearby, which we didn't get a chance to see last time around. Although Kuta might as well be a western city, it does have its charms, like the killer beaches and cheap beer. Today we rented a moto (which we also did our last day in Ubud, spinning throught the nearby rice fields) and cruised down to Uluwatu temple and surf beach, then headed up to the 'Dreamland' surf spot. It was pretty amazing, watching the top-notch surfers ride some killer waves. Uluwatu looked particularly harrowing, but everyone who had the guts to get out there was tearing it up. I was jealous, so at Dreamland I rented a boogie board and tried to catch a few of the easier waves. It was still too much for my skills, though, and I ended up eating water and scratching my legs & feet up a bit on some rocks. No big deal but I might be done with the surf-related sports. I have too much respect for the ocean.

One other note: driving a moto around Kuta is not the easiest task in the world. A bit stressful. But I handled it well.

We're looking forward to Flores--back to 'off the beaten track.' That's how we like it.

Ubud II: The Long-Awaited Sequel That Mildly Disappoints

So we're back in Ubud, obviously, and today was the big cremation ceremony we'd rearranged our trip to see. In a word: meh.

We stood around for a few hours in the blazing sun, patiently waiting with about 50,000 other people, to essentially see some parade floats get moved down the street by a few hundred Balinese guys. Don't get me wrong: it was a pretty cool thing to witness. It's not everyday you see a Balinese king's cremation ceremony, with huge bull and dragon effigies and 90-foot high casket towers. But after going out of our way to see it, it was a bit of a letdown. There was no 'ceremony' per se, just a loosely organized series of events that we never fully understood. And there was a lot of standing around waiting.

Returning to Ubud's been worth it in the long run, though, because in addition to the ceremony we also ate dinner at a local's house last night. Our friend Made from the kecak dance (see older posts) invited us to his place, and it was really special. He made us his own special chicken sate, and his wife made all kinds of good vegetables, dessert and rice. We hung out talking with his family and then his 9-year-old daughter took us to see her brother at gamelan (music) practice. Getting an authentic taste of Balinese life isn't something we'll soon forget. Even if it was a little uncomfortable at times bridging the language barrier... That Made is a super-nice guy. We plan to buy him a sarong as thanks for all the kindness his family has shown us.

I'll post pictures from the ceremony and dinner at Made's, plus maybe some buffalo sacrifice and Torajan funeral pics, tomorrow. The internet cafe I'm using right now kind of sucks.

Endorsements

A huge Summer of Gills Gold-Star Endorsement for the Wall's brand ice-cream "Feast" bar.
"Feast". The best 27 cents you'll spend once or twice a day.

Tana Toraja Pics 1 & Travel Days

Some photos of our walk through the hills of Tana Toraja: the great views & cave graves.

As long as I'm waiting for the pictures to upload, perhaps I'll write a brief post. A few words on those days spent during the summerofgills that often go overlooked: the travel days.

Travel days are a necessity when you're trying to cram in most of a country in two months. Sure, we may visit Ubud and the Gili Islands and Makassar and Rantepao and Manado, but the time in between is unmentioned and unheralded (for good reason).

Travel days, in a word, suck. They're doable, but not enjoyable. Huge blocks of time are taken up on buses, in airplanes, on boats...or sitting around and waiting for buses, airplanes, and boats. Recently we've spent not one but two whole days waiting for connecting flights at the Makassar airport. Both self-created layovers were in the neighborhood of seven hours. What do you do at the Makassar airport for seven hours? Answer: not much of anything at all. You read. You play travel Yahtzee. You try to sleep but fail. You peruse the bookshop (with a scary collection including Mein Kampf and books on Zionist Holocaust revisionism). You eat bad overpriced nasi goreng. And you stress about what you will do and where you will go when you arrive at your next destination.

That's the other drag of the travel day: showing up and not knowing where you're going to stay. You're lugging around a huge pack, you're prey to every taxi driver and hotel tout on the street, you're usually really hot, and all you want to do is get settled and get the attention away from you. Oftentimes that means settling for the first dump you lay your eyes on that comes with a cheap pricetag. Some places reek of mothballs, others have roosters outside the door that crow at 3 in the morning, others have mattresses so dirty you swear they were rescued from the dump...already twice this trip we've moved from our first guesthouse the very next day.

But once you've been through the hours of travel and have a respectable place to lay your head, the fun begins and you realize it was all worth it...

Pulau Bunaken! (That's an island in northern Indonesia)

Ah, an internet cafe, and time for an update. We've recently been on Pulau Bunaken (read the headline), and it was quite isolated...no internet, fresh water shipped in, no power until 6pm, heck even no restaurants or stores to speak of. An island paradise in the truest sense.

Our guest house (Daniel's Homestay) included three meals a day and free water refills in the price. The food was great, the other guests were fun & friendly, and the staff was really on top of things and were very helpful. Also it was a screaming deal compared to the other places to stay on the island, even if the prices were quoted in Euros. I guess it could be a Gill's Gold Star Endorsement, or whatever the hell I called it.

The reason to visit was the diving. Bunaken's coral reefs are world-class (or so we've read). At least it seemed that way from the diving and snorkeling we did! The coral was pristine, widely varied, and colorful, with huge sponges and thousands of fish. Nothing big to see (no sharks, huge rays, etc) but the reef was worth it alone. Other than our time in the water, we read, slept and ate, and that was about it. One night there was a bonfire on the beach, and all the guests hung out with the staff and some other visitors from the island, listening to a makeshift band play traditional favorites and drinking the local palm wine (yum!). It was a very relaxing, enjoyable time and we wished we had one more day...

For right now we're in Manado, where we got a hotel for the night to catch an early morning flight. We're heading back to Ubud. Yep! We're returning, to see a huge cremation ceremony that was all the talk (and activity) of the town when we were there before. We didn't think we could really miss it. I mean, who goes all the way to Indonesia without seeing the biggest funeral in Bali since 1975? That'd be like leaving Thailand two days before Buddhist New Year.

Pictures to come soon, I promise, when we get back to Ubud where the internet was fast enough to handle it.

Web Pictures (Not as Good as Ours) from Tana Toraja

So Long Jonny & Kat, Hello Tana Toraja

First things first, the internet service here is painfully slow, so apologies for the lack of pictures or wacky posts. Also apologies for no posts in a while...

We're no longer in Ubud. I'd have updated the map, but see paragraph one. There's an island north of Bali that's large and sort of shaped like a pi symbol, that's Sulawesi and it's the island we're on right now. We're currently in Rintepao, a city in the south-central part of the island in a region called Tana Toraja.

We left Ubud on Friday, after having our last night in town with Jonny & Kat. Most of the day was spent trying to figure out where and how we were traveling next, but in the evening we did the 'mini-mart march' as Jonny has dubbed it, walking down Monkey Forest Road and stopping at each mini-mart for a fresh can of beer. It's much cheaper than drinking in the bars in Indonesia. The alcohol is expensive here, I think because there are so many Muslims, who don't generally drink. Limited supply.

After the march, we did end up in a bar for one last drink and a shot to say goodbye. Unfortunately, Kat was getting a cold. I hope you're over it, Kat. It was sad to see our friends leave--we've had some great times and made many memories. With lots of stories to tell for years...

But now Alison and I are on our own, which is exciting in its own way. And we really jumped head-first into it...Sulawesi is no where near as established on the tourist circuit. Everything is a bit harder to accomplish, the English isn't as widely spoken, etc. Our flight from Bali arrived in Makassar, a large city in the south. We thought we'd spend a day there...little did we know that it is the Hartford of Indonesia. We checked into a hotel in the downtown area and promptly booked a bus for the next morning to Rintepao.

After a pretty comfortable nine-hour bus ride, we arrived in Tana Toraja. What a wild place! We've had a great time here so far. Our first day we went walking in the mountains through the surrounding villages. The beauty from up in the hills is unparalleled. I'm not sure that we've ever seen anything like it. And to boot, there is a strange animist/Christian culture here with bizarre funeral rituals. We've spent the last two days attending such rituals, and...wow. We've seen cave graves, buffalo fights, extraordinarily bloody buffalo sacrifice, amazing local architecture, and even a coffin pulleyed fifty feet up a bamboo ladder to be put in a cave grave. The scenery is mind-blowing as are the funeral rituals. We've loved it and can't wait to post pictures.

That's all I'll post for now...hopefully next time there will be faster service and I can get more detailed. However, we're leaving tonight to head for the far north, which is supposed to have some of the best scuba diving in the world. We may have similarly bad luck with the internet but I do hope to check in again soon.

Animal Safari Pictures

Endorsements

We have to pay for this trip somehow, so I am starting a new feature called, "The Summer of Gills Gold-Star Endorsements". I'm sure that the companies featured will see our endorsements and throw millions of dollars our way. After all, we have a daily readership of almost forty unique visitors.

A big Summer of Gills Gold-Star Endorsement (tm) to Repel 100% Deet insect spray. Repel 100% Deet: Don't Eat After You Put it On.

You Need Transport?

Walking the streets of Ubud as a Westerner, you cannot go more than five meters (can we please just standardize this America?) without being asked if "You Need Transport?" or ""Taxi?". It rarely suffices to answer a polite no as you are then asked "How about tomorrow?" You will be asked on your way into a shop and then thirty seconds later by the very same person on the way out if you need transport. Gas is cheap here by American standards - aproximately 80 cents per liter, but it has also risen sharply in Asia so the cost to take a moto to other parts of Bali is relatively expensive for a group of four. We decided to chart our own course yesterday and rent our own car. Jon, Jason and I all got International Drivers Licenses before leaving home and we hired a Suzuki Jimny for a trek to Animal Safari an hour away in central Bali. We paid $15 for the rental and filled it up with gas to ensure we had no problems. Jon agreed to drive and Jason navigated with a map that had no highway numbers or street names. They also drive on the other side of the road. It was a little harrowing at first, but Jon masterfully got us to the Animal Safari in one piece. It is geared entirely towards tourists and is very expensive by local standards, but we were promised a great time by an Australian woman and her daughter Jon and Kat met so expectations were high. We arrived in the blistering heat in time to see some Sumatran elephants perform and we were all pretty charmed as we all love elephants. They allow you to take a photo with either an orangutan, a baby lion, or a baby tiger. I chose the orangutan as it was the first one and had a very sweet face. It looked so cute with the other tourists, putting it's arms around them, hugging, laying it's head on their shoulders. So sweet. I could not have been more wrong. It had creepishly long fingers and leathery hands, with long arms that it wrapped around my neck. It's sparse orange hair was course and alien-like. I make Kat come over and sit with me so I could pass it off to her. This is often how I feel about children...except they usually wear pants. It took me a while to shake this horrific experience, but petting a nice Sumatran elephant and an air conditioned ride through their African and Indonesian safari proved the whole Animal Safari worthwhile.

What Part of "Climb a Mountain" Don't You Understand?

Our bicycle tour ended around 4:30pm, and like the geniuses we are, we decided to book a hike up Mt. Batur (2nd highest peak in Bali) to see the sunrise.

This is a great idea on paper: a group of friends at the top of a mountain, overlooking all of Bali as the sun rises over the ocean...

In practice, this required getting up a 2am for a car ride to the base of the mountain...keep in mind this is all on about four hours of sleep after a day of bicycling, sometimes uphill, on legs that aren't used to either mountain hiking or bicycling.

Once there, we had to drag our tired bodies out of the van and on to the hiking trail. In the pitch black of night. We had flashlights (don't know why I brought one but it's come in handy a million times) but could only see one step in front of us, focused at all times on the ground and unfortunately not nearly enough on the thousands of stars in the night sky. Which was extraordinary, during the breaks we got (and they turned out to be many).

Poor, poor Jon. All the spicy food we had been eating finally caught up to him, and it was a miserable experience for the man. He was cramping over in pain, chewing Immodium AD like candy, and the hike was only getting progressively more steep. At one point there was no denying it further: he would have to leave an offering on Mt. Batur. In the dark. I do not envy what that man went through...

After his stomach settled, he was spent. And it was at about this time that we realized that WE WERE CLIMBING A DAMN MOUNTAIN IN THE DARK. It was very steep; the rocks slipped under our feet, and it just kept getting steeper. Jon was toast. At many points I thought he would turn back, but instead he perservered, a few steps at a time with frequent breaks. I think we were the first group on the mountain, and nearly the last up it.

But we made it! After two grueling hours we reached our goal...one of the lower craters on the mountain, very near the top. A great place to watch the sunrise and a tremendous achievement. We were so proud of Jon for sticking it out--he was clearly suffering the entire way.

But our stupidity does not end there--far from it. Alison, Kat and I decided to push for further glory; to attempt to conquer the summit. I was actually feeling pretty good at that point--the frequent breaks for Jon had kept me fresh and I saw no reason not to shoot for the stars. The last push of the hike to the top peak was pretty intense, but it only took an additional twenty minutes or so, and we watched the sun rise from the top of the mountain (pictures are below)!

Sweet, right? Wrong. To climb back down to Jon, our guide took us around the crater at the top (the crater was formed a hundred years ago or so in a huge eruption). If you're one of those worrying types who doesn't like to think about the risks we put ourselves in on this trip, please read no further...

This was singularly one of the stupidest and perhaps most terrifying things I have ever done. There were points on the crater hike where we were on paths only a foot or two wide, with thousand-foot drop-offs on both sides. At one point, I had to get down and crawl...it was just too scary. At no point did I ever dare to look anywhere but at the path directly in front of me. If I had looked over the edge, panic would have set in. It took all of my inner strength (Alison's too) to get around that crater and back down to Jon. And I have never been happier to be through an ordeal.

But still, we can say we did it. I conquered my fears, stupid as it may have been, and I'm proud of us. It's a life experience not many can say they have duplicated...one of the pictures below is of the crater we hiked around, but Kat has some truly terrifying photos she will post on her blog eventually that will give you more of an idea of just how stupid we were. Those photos are also not for those who are prone to worry. I promise you all, we will never take that kind of a risk again.

Once we reunited with Jon, there was nothing left to do but...hike for another hour-and-a-half down a mountain. Ugh. Boy were we happy to be done. We went straight home and to bed, and the rest of the day was a relaxing one (you're damn right there was massage involved).

Posts to come: we finally make it to the animal safari, and the adventure of driving in Bali

Bicycling & Pictures of Hiking

Picking up in Ubud...

The morning after our VIP Kecak dance experience (with a night out at Ubud's most overpriced bar for one drink--I can pay $8 for a cocktail at home), we scheduled an all (well, mostly) downhill bicycle tour of the surrounding communities.

The tour took off at 7:30am. A bit early for our tastes, but nothing compared to what we did the next day (more on that to come). It was a bit sketchy at first...a half-hour van ride to breakfast at a restaurant with a wonderful view of nearby Mt. Batur (but bad food). Then another fifteen minutes in the van to an agriculture museum of sorts where they showed us the native plants farmed here and let us try the fruits of their labors. One thing of note here: we tried kopi luwak. If you don't know what that is, read the link. Yeah, we drank it. It was good. Not $45 a cup good, as you might pay in the states if you could find it, but good.

But then it was back in the van (are we ever going to ride those bicycles?) to a third location nearby. There the bikes were waiting, finally, and we were on our way. However, the bicycles were in terrible shape...mine kept shifting gears with every pedal (thankfully we were coasting downhill, for the most part) and Jon's blew a tire with a loud bang that made me think someone nearby was setting off fireworks.

It was all worth it, though. The views were gorgeous (no pictures, unfortunately, the camera was still dead at that point. Check Jonny & Kat's blog soon for pics) and along the way all the kids we saw would yell 'hallo!' and come running into the street for high-fives. We also learned a lot about Balinisean culture and rice farming.

After the ride, we had lunch at the tour operator's home. His wife was the most amazing cook! We had all kinds of Bali specialties and it was the best meal we've eaten so far. We left the tour happy for having gone and would recommend the company, Bike Baik, to anyone interested.

The pictures above are for the hiking post which I will write next but will post on top of this one. They are: the view from the top of Mt. Batur pre-dawn; the edge of the crater we hiked around; the group, with our guide, in front of the mountain we climbed (Alison, Kat and I were at the top of that peak on the left!)

Pig Pics for PAlison's Post

More posts soon to come (tomorrow?)
about our bicycle tour and our hike of Mt. Batur!

Ode to a Pig

One of our favorite experiences so far has been feasting on a local Balinese favorite - Babi Guleng or suckling pig. The best place to get it in all of Bali is in the center of Ubud at a place called Ibu Oka. Call it the 'Yuca's' of Ubud. Small place, always crowded, and fantastic food that many have tried and few can replicate. That's all they make. According to a local guy from our hotel, "I know I make it exactly the same way at home...exactly, but never as good". Expectations of this meal were pretty high. We had seen the place profiled on "Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations", a culinary adventure/travel show we all love. We had planned to get there when they opened at 11am, but ended up there around noon, and the place was swarming - tourists, locals, and dogs awaiting any scrap that would fall. We took off our sandals and sat down at the low community style tables with a group of Japanese tourists. We ordered the Spesial and waited with extreme anticipation for the plates to arrive...I have read that they serve 400 plates a day and go through 4 pigs to comply with demand. We were literally steps away from where the pig had been carried in from its secret cooking location to the open-air restaurant and was being sliced by little Indonesian women wielding super sharp knives (I saw her cut thru the rib bones like butter). Our patience was rewarded and our plates arrived with steaming strips of white meat pork, ribs, blood sausage, fried cracklings, and rice - all doused in their special sauce of chiles, mandarin oranges, onions, greens, and who knows what else. It was a greasy pork-fat delight! The blood sausage was suprisingly spicy and delicious with a texture slightly softer than its meatier Jimmy Dean counterpart. It was actually quite good and I could see myself getting used to it if it were regularly offered. The white meat and ribs were fantastic, each bite balancing the taste of sweet mandarin orange with the pounds of chile per square inch. The cracklings were salty and fried deliciousness--you could deep-fry a napkin in pork fat and I will devour it. We all left completely full and totally satisfied. We loved it so much that we went back the next day. Jon ate there again today (3rd time) and was told best time to get there is when they open at 11am to get the first cuts of the freshly roasted pig. Tomorrow we'll be outside waiting for them to open.
Thanks to Kat for being the only vegetarian I know who would be willing to sit with us while we feasted like pigs ourselves.

Ubud is Ufun

So we're still rockin' it out in Ubud, which has been the source of some real trip highlights so far.

A couple of days ago I think I reported we were headed for an animal safari and the sacred monkey forest. Close but no animal safari. We were told there was a free shuttle there and we waited around for a while, but that was a bust. So rather than pay a taxi guy a bunch of money, we just walked down the street to the monkey forest.

It was a good time-ish. The monkeys (and there are plenty of them) are quite used to being fed overpriced bananas, and they can get a bit, um...aggressive about their meals. The key is to get rid of your bananas as fast as possible so you don't get mauled (although as a picture above illustrates, some of them can be friendly. Also if anyone knows of a good monkey tick remedy, please send me an email). Anyway, the monkey forest was cool in the literal sense because it is so shady, and although Kat claims she was 'attacked' by a monkey, we got out of there without incident and had fun.

After that it was off to get ready to see a kecak dance we had purchased tickets for from a rice farmer (we met him on the walk the day before). The farmer's name was Made, and he said he had a part in the show...

Alison and I got ready by getting an hour's cheap massage at a nearby spa ($7.50), grabbed a quick dinner, and it was off to the show. We were treated like V.I.P's! First we knew the guy taking tickets--we had talked with him the day before at the tourist information center. Then we watched the show, saw our friend Made perform the role of grandfather, and afterwards walked up to him to say hi. He was so excited to see us, pulled us aside, made sure we got pictures taken with him in costume (Jonny & Kat have those, our camera ran out of batteries) and even took us backstage. It was a really neat experience. We plan to blow up the picture of us with him and give him a copy, if we can find him in his rice field again...

The kecak dance was fun, too. For those of you not familiar, here's a youtube clip that's kind of what we saw (I can't hear audio but I hope you can, that's a big part of it):



It was a great day. With more to come!