After one more night in Hanoi, we boarded a bus headed for Halong Bay. Going against guide book advice, we booked our Halong tour at our guest house. We still are not sure if that was a mistake. While we are happy that we visited Halong Bay, we felt along with most people we ran into or folks we overheard grumbling, that you don't get what you pay for. It was a bit like going to summer camp where you can only engage at certain activities at certain times, and the pictures of the nice bunks that your parents showed you to persuade you to go to camp turn out to be hot and uncomfortable. The big difference is that you are an adult, not a little kid. However, you can't do anything about the situation because the tourism industry is set up so that the blame for any problem can't be traced back to a source. People on our boat trip paid anywhere from 60 dollars to 110 dollars, but the amount people paid had nothing to do with who was allowed to do certain activities and who was not. Two Irish fellas on our boat were shuffled around to multiple different tour groups and even abandoned once. We only know this because they would magically reappear at every new location. As ridiculous as it all was, we had a good time, met some nice people, and saw some beautiful scenery.
The only way to appreciate Halong Bay's warm sea waters and 3,000 karst formations is aboard a Junk, but don't let the name fool you. Junks range in sizes and usually include a dinning room, sunning deck, and individual cabins. We managed to make it aboard our junk, avoiding any "human loss". A common problem when naive tourists wander away from their small groups while they are corralled under a canopy awaiting departure permission. Our guide's name was Twan. A 23 year old thin Vietnamese man who managed to change his stylish outfits at least 3 times a day and maintain the longest finger nails I've ever seen on a man. When he would get stressed out, he would start grooming his eye brows or finger nails, and he always lovingly referred to us as his "dear guests" (even after his "dear guests" began to voice some extreme frustrations). The food served aboard the junk was amazing which almost made up for the over charging of beers. Fresh fish, squid, noodles, and fruit served on the massive wooden tables in the overly ornate dinning room. Two cabins were located on the second deck adjoining the dinning room and the rest were bellow. We felt lucky that we got a big room, but the lucky feelings faded while trying to fall asleep in the sweltering heat under an fan that sounded like a wave runner engine.
The first afternoon, we visited "Surprising Cave" which contained 3 separate caverns growing 'surprisingly' larger as you headed further into the cave. Very quickly, along with the hundreds of other tourists, we were herded out of the cave and toward the kayaks. We paddled through the tree-topped karst formations, through a cave tunnel, and into a cool cove. The breath-taking views were only slightly marred by the tour guides who kept busy by shouting at the tourists who were jumping out of the kayaks to cool down in the water. After 1 hour of kayaking, we were finally allowed to go swimming as the sun set. Leon and a couple other guests jumped from the top deck of the boat while the rest of us opted for the lower second deck. Surprisingly warm, the dip felt well earned. We spent the evening getting tossed with our fellow passengers. Leon and I had thought ahead about the pricey drinks and brought a bottle of rum aboard. We didn't account for the lack of ice throughout SE Asia, so we enjoyed our rum and coke-light luke-warm.
The next day we were shuffled off the boat, into buses, and driven to the "trekking" portion of our adventure. We basically walked up a massive hill, climbed a rusting metal tower, and enjoyed a view of the surrounding forest. A tiny, crazy, little man guided us up the hill. He showed me how to use little bristles to make darts, fed me some random green fruit, fanned us while perching himself on random branches, and posed with me for a picture. He was my favorite part of the trek. When you get to the top of the hill, you step out of the shade and directly into the boiling heat. Leon and I decided to head down early to get back into the shade. Unfortunately, we got a bit lost and managed to find the muddiest way down. Luckily, there was a well at the bottom, so we cleaned up before getting back on the bus.
The next activity on our tour was "Monkey Island". We got our first motor cycle taxi experience as the bus was too full and Leon and I got to ride behind two racing motor cycles. On our way to monkey Island, we passed a floating fishing village where all the little houses are tide together on docks. I wasn't that surprised to see that even the floating village managed to have stray dogs running around. Monkey Island failed to produce more than one aggressive male monkey. We spent our couple hours there just chatting and swimming and watching the more foolish tourists try to provoke monkey. No one was bit, but one guy was smacked. We spent the evening in a mediocre hotel and ate a mediocre dinner. The next morning we bused, boated, and bused again back to Hanoi. we went to sleep early to prepare for our flight the next morning to Dien Bien Phu.
We rode in a small plane for only an hour (avoiding the 16 hour bus journey which we later heard was a knuckle-whitening experience involving cliffs and mud slides). Dien Bien Phu is small town historically known for the last major battle that took place between the French and Vietnamese. We stayed in a quiet guest house and spent the day sight seeing. The hill on which the battle took place has been maintained and the tunnels and trenches rebuilt. Following the tunnels for even a couple minutes in the dark made me panic. Spending days in those tiny tunnels would be unreal. We also visited the war monuments to both the French and Vietnamese. It was another early night for us as we had to catch a 5:30 Am bus to Laos.
Monday, September 7, 2009
Friday, August 21, 2009
Good Morning Vietnam!
After our whirlwind tour of Cambodia, we hopped a 14 hour bus ride towards Vietnam. The length of the ride sounds more painful than it actually was. Everything went smoothly though crossing the boarder into Vietnam has been the most vigours and time consuming yet! Our entire bus was held up for over an hour because one guy set of the medical heat sensors that screen our body tempratures. The swine flu scare adds at least 20 minutes to each point of entry as hoards of people scramble to find pens to fill out the health cards that nobody ever checks. We arrived in Ho Chi Min city (Siagon) a bit late, but got a room complete with air con and satalite TV. TV proves to be one of the biggest money savers as it entertains for free rather than racking up a bar tab(well...that was before we discovered "Fresh Beer": one jug that fills three glasses costs under a dollar). We splurged that night on buy 2 get on free cocktails, made a delightful new friend, and stayed out till 2 am after discovering the little street cafes with cheaper beers.
The next day of sight seeing matched the pace of Saigon. We ate the usual pho breakfast and headed for the Ben Thanh Market. Quite accustomed to people hollaring "You buy something?" as we walk down the street, we weren't ready for people actually grabbing your sweaty arms as you try to navigate through the narrow stalls of the Vietnamese markets. We've found the Vietnamese people to be VERY hands on. Lots of arm stroking, cheek pinching, arms over your unbelieveably sweaty shoulders, and even the occaisional butt spank if you've established at least a 5 minute relationship. After the market, we meandered our way to the Fine Arts museum and the Museum of Ho Shi Minh City. Most of the museums feature a least a couple rooms dedicated to Vietnams fight for independence. A very eye-opening experience for two Americans. The Vietnam War wasn't covered much in the generalized history classes of high-school, especailly not from the Vietnamese perspective. We stopped for a lunch of clams steamed in lemon grass, noodles, and a yummy dessert that consisted of multiple colored jellies, condensed milk and ice cubes. After lunch, we toured the retro-style Reunification palace which has been preserved in it's late 70's form complete with circle couches and padded doors. Our last stop of the day was the War Remnants Muesum. As humbling as the S-21 prision we visited in Cambodia, this museum displays pictures and first hand accounts of the atrocities committed in Vietnam during the late 70s. The stories are heart breaking and the brutality seems unreal. One photo exhibit shows pictures of people born (as recently as 2008) in Veitnam with severe birth defects and a wide range of bizarre diseases. They are people from communities where the U.S. used Agent Orange. On the door leaving the exhibit there is a post citing the U.S. supreme courts denial of the direct link between Agent Orange and the negative side effects that plague 3 million people in Vietnam. It was dated July 2009. We were kicked out of the museum at closing time and walked silently home until we ran into a friend and went for fresh beers to help digest what we learned. Our night ended early in the comforts of our aircon room with Animal Planet on the tube.
The next day we woke early, enojyed some pho, walked the market, updated the blog, drank some more fresh beer, got ripped off by a fixed meter in a cab, and boarded an over night train to Hoi An via Danang. We booked the top bunk soft sleepers with air con and shared our 4 bed berth with two elderly Vietnamese men. They were very nice, always smiling up at us and throwing Leon's sheet back on him when he kicked it off in his sleep. Unfortunetly, the language barrier limited us to hellos and a hearty handshake goodbye. From the train station, we pushed through the crowd of taxi drivers that wait at every (so far) Vietnamese train station 24 hrs a day descending upon the tourists the second they leave the secured boarding platform. We avoided the severe over charging and caught a shuttle bus toward Hoi An.
We stayed at a lovely hotel (with a pool!) for three days and four nights. Where Siagon was loud and crazy, Hoi An was comparatively cool (in the shade or the pool) and calm. A lot of structures in major cities were destroyed by bombs in the Vietnam War, but luckily Hoi An maintains the beautiful colonial buildings that were built under French rule. The nights in Hoi An are best spent wondering along the river and admiring the old buildings lit up by soft Veitnamese lanterns. I'm not sure if anyone who visits Hoi An manages to leave without a hand-tailored garment. The streets are lined with tailors and all you have to do is bring in a picture of what ever you want, and they will replicate it. We may have got a little carried away with the novelty of hand tailored clothing-the evidence should be arriving on my doorstep in Bellingham within a couple of weeks. We did manage to do some sight seeing between fittings, more like man-handleings by the main seamstress. The old quarter of the city is cut off to cars and motor bikes which makes for great window shopping. Everynight after our afternoon swim we would eat at Cafe 43. Delicious local dishes include: White Rose (amazing little pork wontons dipped in sweet chilli sauce), fish grilled in banana leaf, cao lau (doughy noodles which can ONLY be made in Hoi An as they require water from a specific local well), banh xeo (thin crispy rice paper spring rolls), and of course: fresh beer. We managed to pull ourselves out of town on a 5km bike ride to Cua Dai beach complete with palm trees, white sand, and turquoise water.
After a few days of relaxing, we took the scenic bus ride along the coast and through the hills to Hue. With only an afternoon and a morning to explore, we got down to buisness by getting lost in an effort to enojoy a delicious Japanese meal from a restaruant that trains street kids to work in the hospitality industry. The next day we got up early to bike to the citidel whose walls still encompass most of the city. Biking in Vietnam is...an experience. Slow and Steady wins the race. As motor bikes and cars whiz around you, everyone honks to indicate they are either going to turn or pass you. Sometimes people honk just to let you know they are very close behind you. You take comfort in knowing that at least the big vehilcles (cars and buses) mind the traffic lights. If you want to merge, you stick out your hand and make a motion as if you are fanning the motorcyclclist next to you, and then you just slowly drift over. You must go slow to give the motor bikes time to swerve around you. After awhile, you get the hang of it and trust that everyone else is going to try to avoid hitting you. The citadel was alomst worth the near death experience of biking there. It housed Vietnamese royalty until 1945. In 1968 Hue was the sight of the bloodiest battles of the Tet Offensive. Bombing destroyed a lot of structures and the typhoon that passed through in the 1980s didn't help with rebuilding efforts. Even though many of the buiildings are under reconstruction, the completed temples were very interesting and the grounds were beautiful. We spent a good three hours at the citadel and spent the rest of the morning biking through the modern neighborhoods. At 3:30pm we boarded another overnight train to Hanoi where we are gearing up for our 3 day/2 night tour of Halong Bay.
The next day of sight seeing matched the pace of Saigon. We ate the usual pho breakfast and headed for the Ben Thanh Market. Quite accustomed to people hollaring "You buy something?" as we walk down the street, we weren't ready for people actually grabbing your sweaty arms as you try to navigate through the narrow stalls of the Vietnamese markets. We've found the Vietnamese people to be VERY hands on. Lots of arm stroking, cheek pinching, arms over your unbelieveably sweaty shoulders, and even the occaisional butt spank if you've established at least a 5 minute relationship. After the market, we meandered our way to the Fine Arts museum and the Museum of Ho Shi Minh City. Most of the museums feature a least a couple rooms dedicated to Vietnams fight for independence. A very eye-opening experience for two Americans. The Vietnam War wasn't covered much in the generalized history classes of high-school, especailly not from the Vietnamese perspective. We stopped for a lunch of clams steamed in lemon grass, noodles, and a yummy dessert that consisted of multiple colored jellies, condensed milk and ice cubes. After lunch, we toured the retro-style Reunification palace which has been preserved in it's late 70's form complete with circle couches and padded doors. Our last stop of the day was the War Remnants Muesum. As humbling as the S-21 prision we visited in Cambodia, this museum displays pictures and first hand accounts of the atrocities committed in Vietnam during the late 70s. The stories are heart breaking and the brutality seems unreal. One photo exhibit shows pictures of people born (as recently as 2008) in Veitnam with severe birth defects and a wide range of bizarre diseases. They are people from communities where the U.S. used Agent Orange. On the door leaving the exhibit there is a post citing the U.S. supreme courts denial of the direct link between Agent Orange and the negative side effects that plague 3 million people in Vietnam. It was dated July 2009. We were kicked out of the museum at closing time and walked silently home until we ran into a friend and went for fresh beers to help digest what we learned. Our night ended early in the comforts of our aircon room with Animal Planet on the tube.
The next day we woke early, enojyed some pho, walked the market, updated the blog, drank some more fresh beer, got ripped off by a fixed meter in a cab, and boarded an over night train to Hoi An via Danang. We booked the top bunk soft sleepers with air con and shared our 4 bed berth with two elderly Vietnamese men. They were very nice, always smiling up at us and throwing Leon's sheet back on him when he kicked it off in his sleep. Unfortunetly, the language barrier limited us to hellos and a hearty handshake goodbye. From the train station, we pushed through the crowd of taxi drivers that wait at every (so far) Vietnamese train station 24 hrs a day descending upon the tourists the second they leave the secured boarding platform. We avoided the severe over charging and caught a shuttle bus toward Hoi An.
We stayed at a lovely hotel (with a pool!) for three days and four nights. Where Siagon was loud and crazy, Hoi An was comparatively cool (in the shade or the pool) and calm. A lot of structures in major cities were destroyed by bombs in the Vietnam War, but luckily Hoi An maintains the beautiful colonial buildings that were built under French rule. The nights in Hoi An are best spent wondering along the river and admiring the old buildings lit up by soft Veitnamese lanterns. I'm not sure if anyone who visits Hoi An manages to leave without a hand-tailored garment. The streets are lined with tailors and all you have to do is bring in a picture of what ever you want, and they will replicate it. We may have got a little carried away with the novelty of hand tailored clothing-the evidence should be arriving on my doorstep in Bellingham within a couple of weeks. We did manage to do some sight seeing between fittings, more like man-handleings by the main seamstress. The old quarter of the city is cut off to cars and motor bikes which makes for great window shopping. Everynight after our afternoon swim we would eat at Cafe 43. Delicious local dishes include: White Rose (amazing little pork wontons dipped in sweet chilli sauce), fish grilled in banana leaf, cao lau (doughy noodles which can ONLY be made in Hoi An as they require water from a specific local well), banh xeo (thin crispy rice paper spring rolls), and of course: fresh beer. We managed to pull ourselves out of town on a 5km bike ride to Cua Dai beach complete with palm trees, white sand, and turquoise water.
After a few days of relaxing, we took the scenic bus ride along the coast and through the hills to Hue. With only an afternoon and a morning to explore, we got down to buisness by getting lost in an effort to enojoy a delicious Japanese meal from a restaruant that trains street kids to work in the hospitality industry. The next day we got up early to bike to the citidel whose walls still encompass most of the city. Biking in Vietnam is...an experience. Slow and Steady wins the race. As motor bikes and cars whiz around you, everyone honks to indicate they are either going to turn or pass you. Sometimes people honk just to let you know they are very close behind you. You take comfort in knowing that at least the big vehilcles (cars and buses) mind the traffic lights. If you want to merge, you stick out your hand and make a motion as if you are fanning the motorcyclclist next to you, and then you just slowly drift over. You must go slow to give the motor bikes time to swerve around you. After awhile, you get the hang of it and trust that everyone else is going to try to avoid hitting you. The citadel was alomst worth the near death experience of biking there. It housed Vietnamese royalty until 1945. In 1968 Hue was the sight of the bloodiest battles of the Tet Offensive. Bombing destroyed a lot of structures and the typhoon that passed through in the 1980s didn't help with rebuilding efforts. Even though many of the buiildings are under reconstruction, the completed temples were very interesting and the grounds were beautiful. We spent a good three hours at the citadel and spent the rest of the morning biking through the modern neighborhoods. At 3:30pm we boarded another overnight train to Hanoi where we are gearing up for our 3 day/2 night tour of Halong Bay.
Sunday, August 16, 2009
Cambodia
After spending a couple of days in our favorite part of Bangkok, eating at our favorite street stall and relaxing in a nice A/C room the time came to hop a plane to Cambodia.
The flight from Bangkok to Cambodia was short and painless, clocking in at a little over an hour. We arrived in Phnom Penh and got into a taxi and headed off to the little district of guest houses by the lake. The situation with the lake is very interesting. Apparently the lake has been sold to a company that is choosing to fill in the lake, presumably for building something on top of it. So, instead of having a nice brackish lake to look at, instead we had a great view of a giant pipe spewing muddy water and bulldozers. However, there were some definite highlights to the city. Compared to other cities, Phnom Penh is very clean, and the people do not drive like complete maniacs. Also, the automobiles there have the steering wheel on the left side of the car, like we have in the states, where as the rest of the countries we had been to, the steering wheel was on the right side. It is a small insignificant detail, but different that what we had become accustomed to.
While in Phnom Penh, we went to a large temple in the city center. The temple was very cool, and on top of a hill. All around the temple there were little macaques running around and people vending all sorts of goods from food to scarves. There was also an elephant that you could get take pictures with, or take a ride on. We also went to the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum. This was a very humbling experience. Tuol Sleng used to be a secondary school in Phnom Penh, but after the Khmer Rouge took over and completely evacuated the entire city, this school became a detention center known as S-21. The Khmer Rouge was a ruthless dictatorship in Cambodia that ruled from 1975-1979. For those of you familiar with the atrocities of the Khmer Rouge, you will know about the photographs. Throughout the Museum there are photos of the people brought into detention center for interrogation. The photos are very eerie because you know that none of the survived. If they were brought to S-21, it was a veritable death sentence. The photos were of 3 year old kids all the way to 60+ year old men and women. Some of the people clearly had been beaten, and if they weren't mashed up, they had terrified looks on their faces. The "official" count of prisoners at S-21 was about 10,000 but the museum estimates that 20,000 people or more passed through and only 7 survived. This was a very sobering and grounding experience, but necessary to understand the recent history of Cambodia and the people's national psyche. After 2 days in Phnom Penh, it was time to head off to Angkor Wat.
For those of you who don't know, Angkor Wat is the 8th wonder of the world, though it should be the 1st because it is utterly amazing. The temples were built between the 8th and 13th century and display a variety of styles. The temples served as religious centers for both Buddhists and Hindus. Angkor Wat has both Buddha statues and large bas-reliefs that depict different Hindu stories.
Each day we went to see different temples, and rest assured we took hundreds of photos of our experiences there. On our first day we decided to do the Grand Tour. This is the route around the outside of the temples. We saw Banteay Kdei, Pre Rup, East Meabon and Ta Som. The first day we spent about 6 hours walking around and exploring the temples. One of the neat things about Angkor is that tourists are allowed to explore all over the temples. Only a few of them have "restricted" areas where you can not go. This increased our experience there because we had access to so many different parts of temples. You could touch the faces of the bas-reliefs on the walls and feel the texture of the carved pillars.
The second day we opted to wake up very, very early and go and watch the sunrise at Angkor Wat itself. The idea was romantic and cool, but the sun didn't really provide a very memorable rise. However, the same can not be said about Angkor Wat itself. This is the temple that the entire place is named for. Just to clarify, Angkor Wat is a specific temple, but the entire area is called Angkor Wat too. There are many different, separate temples all around the entire area. But I digress...So, Angkor Wat has these amazing spires that rise up, and a labyrinth of halls and rooms. The entire temple is surrounded by a gigantic moat and you walk along this amazing bridge to entire the temple. According to our little guide book, Angkor Wat is the largest religious temple in the world. Angkor also once housed a hall of a thousand Buddha's as well as the amazing bas-reliefs telling the Hindu stories. One thing that I found very interesting about Angkor was the fact that nearly every inch of the temple was adorned with some kind of carving or relief or something decorative, with the exceptions of the steps and most of the ceilings, Another highlight from the second day was Bayon. This is the style of temple that people (I think) typically associate with Angkor Wat. This temple has a bunch of different spires, and each spire has four giant faces carved into it. We were able to climb all the way to the top of this temple and walk around. This was one of the highlights for the our second day. As you drive up to the temple all you see are this giant faces everyhere, and when you get up to the actual temple, you see so much more detail too. Like Angkor, there are reliefs and carvings all over the temple and they are all shadowed by the giant beatifically smiling faces. I can say over and over again how amazing they were, but until you see them with your own eyes, no picture does them justice.
The last day of our trip in Angkor found us at Preah Kahn. This temple is a sort of experiment. The different groups in charge of maintaining and restoring Angkor have deemed Preah Kahn to be left in its original state after being discovered. Though they have done some work there, they have not done nearly as much as at any of the other temples. The roofs that have caved in are not being restored and the the trees growing within the temple are not being removed. For those of you who saw last months cover of National Geographic with the monk at Angkor, it was taken in Preah Kahn, and Jessie and I also got our photo taken there. What makes this temple so unique is the fact that it is not going to be restored. The caretakers have put up supporting beams in certain areas and very few tree have been taken out for safety purposes, but other than that this temple is still in the condition it was when it was discovered. One of the things that distinguishes this temple are the enormous trees growing on the walls and their roots pushing coming down. The picture of the monk on NatGeo truly characterizes what a lot of the trees are doing around the temple. All in all, this temple was in the top 3 experiences of all of Angkor Wat.
I could go on and on for days about Cambodia and Angkor, but it will have to wait for another blog, or another day. Right now we are in Ho Chi Min City aka Saigon and getting ready to hop a train to Danang. We will update again when we get the chance!
The flight from Bangkok to Cambodia was short and painless, clocking in at a little over an hour. We arrived in Phnom Penh and got into a taxi and headed off to the little district of guest houses by the lake. The situation with the lake is very interesting. Apparently the lake has been sold to a company that is choosing to fill in the lake, presumably for building something on top of it. So, instead of having a nice brackish lake to look at, instead we had a great view of a giant pipe spewing muddy water and bulldozers. However, there were some definite highlights to the city. Compared to other cities, Phnom Penh is very clean, and the people do not drive like complete maniacs. Also, the automobiles there have the steering wheel on the left side of the car, like we have in the states, where as the rest of the countries we had been to, the steering wheel was on the right side. It is a small insignificant detail, but different that what we had become accustomed to.
While in Phnom Penh, we went to a large temple in the city center. The temple was very cool, and on top of a hill. All around the temple there were little macaques running around and people vending all sorts of goods from food to scarves. There was also an elephant that you could get take pictures with, or take a ride on. We also went to the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum. This was a very humbling experience. Tuol Sleng used to be a secondary school in Phnom Penh, but after the Khmer Rouge took over and completely evacuated the entire city, this school became a detention center known as S-21. The Khmer Rouge was a ruthless dictatorship in Cambodia that ruled from 1975-1979. For those of you familiar with the atrocities of the Khmer Rouge, you will know about the photographs. Throughout the Museum there are photos of the people brought into detention center for interrogation. The photos are very eerie because you know that none of the survived. If they were brought to S-21, it was a veritable death sentence. The photos were of 3 year old kids all the way to 60+ year old men and women. Some of the people clearly had been beaten, and if they weren't mashed up, they had terrified looks on their faces. The "official" count of prisoners at S-21 was about 10,000 but the museum estimates that 20,000 people or more passed through and only 7 survived. This was a very sobering and grounding experience, but necessary to understand the recent history of Cambodia and the people's national psyche. After 2 days in Phnom Penh, it was time to head off to Angkor Wat.
For those of you who don't know, Angkor Wat is the 8th wonder of the world, though it should be the 1st because it is utterly amazing. The temples were built between the 8th and 13th century and display a variety of styles. The temples served as religious centers for both Buddhists and Hindus. Angkor Wat has both Buddha statues and large bas-reliefs that depict different Hindu stories.
Each day we went to see different temples, and rest assured we took hundreds of photos of our experiences there. On our first day we decided to do the Grand Tour. This is the route around the outside of the temples. We saw Banteay Kdei, Pre Rup, East Meabon and Ta Som. The first day we spent about 6 hours walking around and exploring the temples. One of the neat things about Angkor is that tourists are allowed to explore all over the temples. Only a few of them have "restricted" areas where you can not go. This increased our experience there because we had access to so many different parts of temples. You could touch the faces of the bas-reliefs on the walls and feel the texture of the carved pillars.
The second day we opted to wake up very, very early and go and watch the sunrise at Angkor Wat itself. The idea was romantic and cool, but the sun didn't really provide a very memorable rise. However, the same can not be said about Angkor Wat itself. This is the temple that the entire place is named for. Just to clarify, Angkor Wat is a specific temple, but the entire area is called Angkor Wat too. There are many different, separate temples all around the entire area. But I digress...So, Angkor Wat has these amazing spires that rise up, and a labyrinth of halls and rooms. The entire temple is surrounded by a gigantic moat and you walk along this amazing bridge to entire the temple. According to our little guide book, Angkor Wat is the largest religious temple in the world. Angkor also once housed a hall of a thousand Buddha's as well as the amazing bas-reliefs telling the Hindu stories. One thing that I found very interesting about Angkor was the fact that nearly every inch of the temple was adorned with some kind of carving or relief or something decorative, with the exceptions of the steps and most of the ceilings, Another highlight from the second day was Bayon. This is the style of temple that people (I think) typically associate with Angkor Wat. This temple has a bunch of different spires, and each spire has four giant faces carved into it. We were able to climb all the way to the top of this temple and walk around. This was one of the highlights for the our second day. As you drive up to the temple all you see are this giant faces everyhere, and when you get up to the actual temple, you see so much more detail too. Like Angkor, there are reliefs and carvings all over the temple and they are all shadowed by the giant beatifically smiling faces. I can say over and over again how amazing they were, but until you see them with your own eyes, no picture does them justice.
The last day of our trip in Angkor found us at Preah Kahn. This temple is a sort of experiment. The different groups in charge of maintaining and restoring Angkor have deemed Preah Kahn to be left in its original state after being discovered. Though they have done some work there, they have not done nearly as much as at any of the other temples. The roofs that have caved in are not being restored and the the trees growing within the temple are not being removed. For those of you who saw last months cover of National Geographic with the monk at Angkor, it was taken in Preah Kahn, and Jessie and I also got our photo taken there. What makes this temple so unique is the fact that it is not going to be restored. The caretakers have put up supporting beams in certain areas and very few tree have been taken out for safety purposes, but other than that this temple is still in the condition it was when it was discovered. One of the things that distinguishes this temple are the enormous trees growing on the walls and their roots pushing coming down. The picture of the monk on NatGeo truly characterizes what a lot of the trees are doing around the temple. All in all, this temple was in the top 3 experiences of all of Angkor Wat.
I could go on and on for days about Cambodia and Angkor, but it will have to wait for another blog, or another day. Right now we are in Ho Chi Min City aka Saigon and getting ready to hop a train to Danang. We will update again when we get the chance!
Penang and Ko Pan-Ngan
The little that we saw of Malaysia was beautiful. George town in Penang is a beautiful colonial town know for the delicious mix of Chinese, Malay, and Indian food. We followed the historical walk that makes George town a Unesco World Heritage Site, checked out some cool Hindu and Buddhist temples, even tried betel nut (a lot of spices rolled up in a leaf that you chew up till it gets mushy and you store in your lip to get a buzz...interesting taste and it makes your spit bright red). To get a full view of the city we took a trolley 800 meters up Penang hill. Little did we know that this excursion would involve holding a Malaysian squirrel at the menagerie and refusing to hold the large snake directly afterword. Though the little ground keeper reassured us the snake wouldn't bite by pressing the snakes mouth against his cheek, we were a little nervous as our hands reeked of snake food (i.e. squirrel).
After a couple days of wondering the city and eating everything in sight, we caught a bus back to Thailand. We were prepared for a relatively uneventful journey until a very drunk (maybe high) kid plopped himself into our mivivan. He was the entertainment for the journey to the boarder as he continued to chug beers (he even gave one to Leon as collateral for borrowing an ipod so he could dance in his seat). He would holler out the window at the Thais vending at stop lights. They would come up to the window to try and sell him something and he would quickly embrace the tiny surprised man and hold him close till it became obvious that the man wanted to get away. There was a period of about five minutes in which he held onto my hand clearly wanting to share his enjoyment of the music in his head phones with someone. When it was time to switch buses, he stumbled out and we never saw him again. Jacque Neils was only in our lives for about 5 hours, but we will never forget him.
The rest of our journey was long and uneventful. For whatever reason, when you want to get from one location to another in Thailand, you will be shuffled into anywhere between 3-5 mini vans and buses, lingering briefly (for no apparent reason) at little offices until your next van shows up to take you about 3 blocks away to wait again. Our final destination made the 14 hours of travel worth it.
We checked into a little bungalow on Ko Pan-Ngan. For 12 dollars a night we had a nice room with a front porch complete with a hammock overlooking the sea. There was a sweet swimming pool and a bar just a few steps away. We ended up relaxing for almost a full week. Sun bathing, swimming, reading, and exploring dried up waterfalls by motor bike. Life is very easy when you have nothing to do. We had to pry ourselves away from this beautiful place as it began to fill up with full moon party people (once a month there is a huge full moon party which means all the quiet little resorts fill up with 18 year old sloppy drunks and the prices sky rocket). We took the most luxurious over night bus back to Bangkok to catch a plane for Cambodia. More is soon to come!
After a couple days of wondering the city and eating everything in sight, we caught a bus back to Thailand. We were prepared for a relatively uneventful journey until a very drunk (maybe high) kid plopped himself into our mivivan. He was the entertainment for the journey to the boarder as he continued to chug beers (he even gave one to Leon as collateral for borrowing an ipod so he could dance in his seat). He would holler out the window at the Thais vending at stop lights. They would come up to the window to try and sell him something and he would quickly embrace the tiny surprised man and hold him close till it became obvious that the man wanted to get away. There was a period of about five minutes in which he held onto my hand clearly wanting to share his enjoyment of the music in his head phones with someone. When it was time to switch buses, he stumbled out and we never saw him again. Jacque Neils was only in our lives for about 5 hours, but we will never forget him.
The rest of our journey was long and uneventful. For whatever reason, when you want to get from one location to another in Thailand, you will be shuffled into anywhere between 3-5 mini vans and buses, lingering briefly (for no apparent reason) at little offices until your next van shows up to take you about 3 blocks away to wait again. Our final destination made the 14 hours of travel worth it.
We checked into a little bungalow on Ko Pan-Ngan. For 12 dollars a night we had a nice room with a front porch complete with a hammock overlooking the sea. There was a sweet swimming pool and a bar just a few steps away. We ended up relaxing for almost a full week. Sun bathing, swimming, reading, and exploring dried up waterfalls by motor bike. Life is very easy when you have nothing to do. We had to pry ourselves away from this beautiful place as it began to fill up with full moon party people (once a month there is a huge full moon party which means all the quiet little resorts fill up with 18 year old sloppy drunks and the prices sky rocket). We took the most luxurious over night bus back to Bangkok to catch a plane for Cambodia. More is soon to come!
Wednesday, July 29, 2009
Sumatra Part 2
The last leg of our Indonesian adventure was incredible. After a long day of travel and hassles from Danu Toba to Medan, we arrived in Bukit Lawang. We decided to follow a delightful man named Amri into town by becak (a motor cycle with a tiny side car meant for two Indonesians or 1 and 1/2 Westerners). We checked into the fist place we saw (always a mistake...this one lacked a toilet seat and housed giant cockroaches), eager to eat and enjoy a cold Bintang. We spent the evening talking to Amri and opted to do a 2 day and 1 night trek into the jungle with him.
Some advice for choosing a jungle guide: Never choose anyone who pressures you, and make sure they have a sense of humor. If they invite you to their home to meet their wife and kids, you can probably trust them. Choose older individuals who appear to be in great shape (this usually means they've been trekking for a long time and still trek fairly often...they will most likely put you to shame as they race up the mountains at 41 years old and you huff and puff at 25). Choose someone born in the area you will be trekking; the longer they've lived in the area the more informed they are and chance are they care deeply for the place they live.
We spent the next day exploring the village. A rather small village, Bukit Lawang is surrounded by the Taman Nasional Gunung Leuser (national park), and rubber tree plantations. The village is cut in half by a river and connected by 2 swinging cable bridges ( ones seems much much sturdier than the other). We walked though the jungle trying to locate a place to use the internet. Not 6 meters into the trees, we were approached by a group of Macaques who stared for a second and got back to wrestling and grooming each other. The internet place was located in a childrens home, a place built to help support children who were effected by the massive flood that destroyed Bukit Lawang in 2003 killing more than 200 people. The internet wasn't working (due to lack of electricity, not at all uncommon) so we trekked onto the bat caves. We had to wake up the little 90 year- old- looking man to pay him and entrance fee and descended into a musty dark cave using old ladders and without a flash light. Exciting, but we couldn't see much due to our being unprepared without a torch.
That afternoon we headed to the orangutang feeding center. To cross the river, you squat in a tiny canoe and the locals just push you to the other side. While waiting for the park ranger, two orangs showed up by the river side to drink! They seemed unafraid of the people who were really close. I was standing on the opposite bank grumbling to myself that I couldn't be as close as those other people when a little organg came plodding out of the forest and walked right by me. I could have reached down my hand and pet his head. He sat about 1 meter away posing for pictures as he ate a whole rack of bananas. For the formal feeding, you hike up a steep hill to a platform. We hiked up with 2 other couples and while we were there, two orangs showed up to drink the milk and eat the bananas provided by the rangers. The orangs that come to the feedings are being rehabilitated back into the wild. Many come to the park as orphans who's mother was killed or as animals rescued from trade. Seeing them up close was amazing and got us very excited for the trek the next day. We reunited that night with our fantastic dutch friends Rose and Peter, enjoyed some cold beers, and called it a night to prepare for the morning.
Our trek into the jungle was amazing. Amri our guide was funny, knowledgeable, and respectful. We spent the day exploring the jungle. Unlike climbing up a volcano, in the jungle you go up very steep hills follow the ridges descend back to the river only to head right back up again. We saw another band of Macaques, and possibly the back side of a Thomas Leaf Monkey. Amri showed us how rubber was harvested, found clove trees for us to smell, fed us delicious rambutons, mangosteens, passion fruit, and tricked us into eating "jungle ice cream" which is really a bark that tastes like quinine (a natural remedy against malaria). All in all, we spotted 7 orangs. They are amazing to watch move through the trees. In fact, they get really close to you though they never touch the ground. We even got to see a mother with her little tiny baby. Seeing the little baby reminds you of how closely apes are related to human.
We ended our sweaty 7 hour trek on the bank of a refreshing river. The guides carried all our stuff across as we all jumped in and played in the water like little kids for the next hour. The dinner we had that night was incredible. Curried veggies, sweet chicken, potato cakes, and tea. The five star jungle hotel wasn't too shabby. A lean-to made of a stick frame and black tarps with one side completely open so you could see the fire flies at night. For fun, Amri challenged us with some riddles and introduced some new games that we can't wait to play late night in Bellingham. Sneak Preview: "This is a cup" "A what?"" A cup" "A what?" "A cup" "Oh, a cup" :)
We slept like orang babies that night (well, leon and I did) and woke to egg sandwichs and tea. The morning trek was a bit more difficult. It involved leeches, bush whacking, and a steep slippery slope. Our reward: floating back along the river in giant inner tubes. You sit in giant tubes with netted centers all tied together with your guides at the front and back navigating with long sticks so you don't crash into the rocky banks. It was the perfect way to end a sweaty jungle adventure. We arrived into Bukit Lawang, cleaned ourselves up, and watched a monsoon roll into town. Electricity went in and out that night so we said our goodbyes to our friends and went to bed early.
Caught the bus the Medan the next morning, but as exhausted as we were, we spent the day hiding from the noisy city in our expensive air conditioned hotel room. The next day we caught a ferry to Penang. It was perhaps the most frightening ferry ride I've ever had in my life. Thankfully there were not many people on board so we could lay down as the boat bounced along the choppy waters. My stomach felt like we were on a never ending roller coaster ride. If Penang wasn't so beautiful and delicious, that ferry ride would have left us miserable. So, here we sit in hot Malaysia trying to decide when to hit the beaches in southern Thailand....soon, I hope!
Some advice for choosing a jungle guide: Never choose anyone who pressures you, and make sure they have a sense of humor. If they invite you to their home to meet their wife and kids, you can probably trust them. Choose older individuals who appear to be in great shape (this usually means they've been trekking for a long time and still trek fairly often...they will most likely put you to shame as they race up the mountains at 41 years old and you huff and puff at 25). Choose someone born in the area you will be trekking; the longer they've lived in the area the more informed they are and chance are they care deeply for the place they live.
We spent the next day exploring the village. A rather small village, Bukit Lawang is surrounded by the Taman Nasional Gunung Leuser (national park), and rubber tree plantations. The village is cut in half by a river and connected by 2 swinging cable bridges ( ones seems much much sturdier than the other). We walked though the jungle trying to locate a place to use the internet. Not 6 meters into the trees, we were approached by a group of Macaques who stared for a second and got back to wrestling and grooming each other. The internet place was located in a childrens home, a place built to help support children who were effected by the massive flood that destroyed Bukit Lawang in 2003 killing more than 200 people. The internet wasn't working (due to lack of electricity, not at all uncommon) so we trekked onto the bat caves. We had to wake up the little 90 year- old- looking man to pay him and entrance fee and descended into a musty dark cave using old ladders and without a flash light. Exciting, but we couldn't see much due to our being unprepared without a torch.
That afternoon we headed to the orangutang feeding center. To cross the river, you squat in a tiny canoe and the locals just push you to the other side. While waiting for the park ranger, two orangs showed up by the river side to drink! They seemed unafraid of the people who were really close. I was standing on the opposite bank grumbling to myself that I couldn't be as close as those other people when a little organg came plodding out of the forest and walked right by me. I could have reached down my hand and pet his head. He sat about 1 meter away posing for pictures as he ate a whole rack of bananas. For the formal feeding, you hike up a steep hill to a platform. We hiked up with 2 other couples and while we were there, two orangs showed up to drink the milk and eat the bananas provided by the rangers. The orangs that come to the feedings are being rehabilitated back into the wild. Many come to the park as orphans who's mother was killed or as animals rescued from trade. Seeing them up close was amazing and got us very excited for the trek the next day. We reunited that night with our fantastic dutch friends Rose and Peter, enjoyed some cold beers, and called it a night to prepare for the morning.
Our trek into the jungle was amazing. Amri our guide was funny, knowledgeable, and respectful. We spent the day exploring the jungle. Unlike climbing up a volcano, in the jungle you go up very steep hills follow the ridges descend back to the river only to head right back up again. We saw another band of Macaques, and possibly the back side of a Thomas Leaf Monkey. Amri showed us how rubber was harvested, found clove trees for us to smell, fed us delicious rambutons, mangosteens, passion fruit, and tricked us into eating "jungle ice cream" which is really a bark that tastes like quinine (a natural remedy against malaria). All in all, we spotted 7 orangs. They are amazing to watch move through the trees. In fact, they get really close to you though they never touch the ground. We even got to see a mother with her little tiny baby. Seeing the little baby reminds you of how closely apes are related to human.
We ended our sweaty 7 hour trek on the bank of a refreshing river. The guides carried all our stuff across as we all jumped in and played in the water like little kids for the next hour. The dinner we had that night was incredible. Curried veggies, sweet chicken, potato cakes, and tea. The five star jungle hotel wasn't too shabby. A lean-to made of a stick frame and black tarps with one side completely open so you could see the fire flies at night. For fun, Amri challenged us with some riddles and introduced some new games that we can't wait to play late night in Bellingham. Sneak Preview: "This is a cup" "A what?"" A cup" "A what?" "A cup" "Oh, a cup" :)
We slept like orang babies that night (well, leon and I did) and woke to egg sandwichs and tea. The morning trek was a bit more difficult. It involved leeches, bush whacking, and a steep slippery slope. Our reward: floating back along the river in giant inner tubes. You sit in giant tubes with netted centers all tied together with your guides at the front and back navigating with long sticks so you don't crash into the rocky banks. It was the perfect way to end a sweaty jungle adventure. We arrived into Bukit Lawang, cleaned ourselves up, and watched a monsoon roll into town. Electricity went in and out that night so we said our goodbyes to our friends and went to bed early.
Caught the bus the Medan the next morning, but as exhausted as we were, we spent the day hiding from the noisy city in our expensive air conditioned hotel room. The next day we caught a ferry to Penang. It was perhaps the most frightening ferry ride I've ever had in my life. Thankfully there were not many people on board so we could lay down as the boat bounced along the choppy waters. My stomach felt like we were on a never ending roller coaster ride. If Penang wasn't so beautiful and delicious, that ferry ride would have left us miserable. So, here we sit in hot Malaysia trying to decide when to hit the beaches in southern Thailand....soon, I hope!
Sumatra Pt. 1
Ok, folks its time for the run down on Sumatra!!! Oh, where to start, well we flew into Padang, where we randomly saw a friend from Bali. His name is Opi, and he taught me how to surf. Opi also introduced to us to some of his family who were SOOOO sweet and nice and it was an awesome experience. Well the next day we saw him and he gave a personal tour of Padang and the outlaying areas. We went on a very hot and cramped van ride to a waterfall outside of the city. I am not kidding when I say that there were 20 adults and 3 children in one of the opelets (public transport). Imagine a VW vanagon with 3 rows of bench seating, and filled to the brim with people. The waterfall was great and there was a group of locals who showed us to the top, it was very fun. After the trek to the waterfall we spent a couple of hours swimming in one of the pools to cool ourselves off. After another hot, but less cramped ride back to town we ate some delicious food and headed off to "Padang Festival". This was a small festival with vendors and different performances on different stages. Being the rock stars that we are, or should I say, being the rock star that Jessie is, she got invited on stage to introduce herself and do a little dance with one of the performers. Don't worry I got photographic evidence to prove it!
After Padang we left for Danu (Lake) Maninjau. We took a slightly less cramped public bus to Bukitingi and then caught a "chicken bus" to Lake M. On the way there you come down 44 hair pin turns, where macaques lined the roads, and motorcycles passed daringly around blind corners. However, Lake M. was great because it was not at all like Padang. We stayed at an incredibly nice homestay called Arlen, where we made some fantastic new friends and relaxed. The staff at Arlen were so great and really made us feel like family for the few days we were there. In Lake M. we also rented a scooter and rode all around the lake, which was formed by a crater many, many years ago. We ate lots of great food and enjoyed a few Bintangs (Indonesias best beer!) read books and swam, it was the ideal place to wash off the craziness of Padang. While in Lake M. we made two really awesome friends, Peter and Rose and we decided to take the trip to Danu Toba together.
Oh, the trip to Lake Toba will forever be in my memory as one of the worst rides ever. The trip was doomed from the start when only a half hour in, on of the bags that was poorly secured to the roof of the vehicle flew off and hit another car going the opposite direction. This truly was an omen of how the trip was going to be. After a lot of discussion we all decided to stick with the mini van and continue to Lake Toba. All of the gear, except Jessie's bag and mine went inside the vehicle, while I made sure that our stuff was not going to go flying off in the middle of night while we were asleep. Well, little did we know, there was going to absolutely no sleeping on this trip. The roads in Sumatra vary from really nice smooth two lane roads, to super bumpy gravel roads in the middle of the jungle. Not too mention that we had 3 people in the back and the middle seats of the mini van, so our legs were perpetually cramped. Mini vans in Indonesia are meant to fit Indonesians who are for the most part not as tall as Westerners, so we all cozyied up with one another and toughed it out. And this is not an exaggeration, there were parts of the road that had been destroyed by a landslide a few years ago, and they still have not been repaired. Some of the roads in the jungle are one lane, one and a half at best, but vehicles come from both directions. We had a couple of late night close calls, and no one was able to sleep. Finally around dawn the next day, as our driver was falling asleep at the wheel, the roads got better and running on a fumes we arrived in Parapat to head off to Samosir Island, aka Lake Toba.
Lake Toba was our reward for the horrendous 15 hour ride. We took a slow ferry to a very cheap guesthouse and again relaxed for 4 days. Samosir Island, which is surrounded by Lake Toba is the largest island on an island in the world. The lake was created by, and I am paraphrasing here, "the largest volcanic explosion in history". Whether this is true or not I am not sure, but its a little tidbit that I read on the back of a menu at a restaurant. With that said, Lake Toba was by far my most favorite place in Sumatra. The accomodation was very, very cheap and there were so many cafes and restaurants that you could eat 3 meals a day a different places for a week or more!! Often our food cost as much as our room, which was only like 50,000 rupiah (about 5$ US). Our room had a fantastic view of the lake and we were only 50 feet from the water. We spent afternoons reading on the balcony, swimming when we finally got too hot and drinking ice cold Bintangs before dinner. We also went on a fantastic bike ride, and would have ventured further but our bike seats were extremely uncomfortable (probably due to our nice cushy bike seats back in B'ham). We stopped at some stone ruins and replied "halo" to nearly every child that said "halo mister!". After a few fantastic and unforgettable days on Lake Toba, we finally decided to move on to Bukit Luwang....
Jessie will update you on this part of our adventure....
A few funny observations about Sumatra:
1. The buses seem to comprise of father son teams. The father drives while the son hollers at people on the street telling them where the bus goes. The son also collects money from people on the bus and calls out the father when they need to stop and let some one off. The also make sure that the buses are completely full and by full I mean absolutely no room left for people to even stand.
2. The music. Now this one gets two sub-catagories:
a. Karoke is huge on the buses. They play music videos with the lyrics on the screen like
they do at Karoke nights. This is the point in the trip where I put on the head phones and
listen to the ipod.
b. Teenage singers. This consists of 1-3 young adolescent boys coming on to your bus and
and singing songs for the people sitting down. I have no idea what they were singing, but
people like it enough and give usually give them some rupiah. They get on the bus for a few
kilometers and then get off, or they come on when the bus stops somewhere to pick up
more passengers. Again, I usually put on the head phones.
3. Indonesians drive like madmen! They are constantly beeping at other drivers, bikers and
pedestrians. Drivers are on the horn as much as the gas.
After Padang we left for Danu (Lake) Maninjau. We took a slightly less cramped public bus to Bukitingi and then caught a "chicken bus" to Lake M. On the way there you come down 44 hair pin turns, where macaques lined the roads, and motorcycles passed daringly around blind corners. However, Lake M. was great because it was not at all like Padang. We stayed at an incredibly nice homestay called Arlen, where we made some fantastic new friends and relaxed. The staff at Arlen were so great and really made us feel like family for the few days we were there. In Lake M. we also rented a scooter and rode all around the lake, which was formed by a crater many, many years ago. We ate lots of great food and enjoyed a few Bintangs (Indonesias best beer!) read books and swam, it was the ideal place to wash off the craziness of Padang. While in Lake M. we made two really awesome friends, Peter and Rose and we decided to take the trip to Danu Toba together.
Oh, the trip to Lake Toba will forever be in my memory as one of the worst rides ever. The trip was doomed from the start when only a half hour in, on of the bags that was poorly secured to the roof of the vehicle flew off and hit another car going the opposite direction. This truly was an omen of how the trip was going to be. After a lot of discussion we all decided to stick with the mini van and continue to Lake Toba. All of the gear, except Jessie's bag and mine went inside the vehicle, while I made sure that our stuff was not going to go flying off in the middle of night while we were asleep. Well, little did we know, there was going to absolutely no sleeping on this trip. The roads in Sumatra vary from really nice smooth two lane roads, to super bumpy gravel roads in the middle of the jungle. Not too mention that we had 3 people in the back and the middle seats of the mini van, so our legs were perpetually cramped. Mini vans in Indonesia are meant to fit Indonesians who are for the most part not as tall as Westerners, so we all cozyied up with one another and toughed it out. And this is not an exaggeration, there were parts of the road that had been destroyed by a landslide a few years ago, and they still have not been repaired. Some of the roads in the jungle are one lane, one and a half at best, but vehicles come from both directions. We had a couple of late night close calls, and no one was able to sleep. Finally around dawn the next day, as our driver was falling asleep at the wheel, the roads got better and running on a fumes we arrived in Parapat to head off to Samosir Island, aka Lake Toba.
Lake Toba was our reward for the horrendous 15 hour ride. We took a slow ferry to a very cheap guesthouse and again relaxed for 4 days. Samosir Island, which is surrounded by Lake Toba is the largest island on an island in the world. The lake was created by, and I am paraphrasing here, "the largest volcanic explosion in history". Whether this is true or not I am not sure, but its a little tidbit that I read on the back of a menu at a restaurant. With that said, Lake Toba was by far my most favorite place in Sumatra. The accomodation was very, very cheap and there were so many cafes and restaurants that you could eat 3 meals a day a different places for a week or more!! Often our food cost as much as our room, which was only like 50,000 rupiah (about 5$ US). Our room had a fantastic view of the lake and we were only 50 feet from the water. We spent afternoons reading on the balcony, swimming when we finally got too hot and drinking ice cold Bintangs before dinner. We also went on a fantastic bike ride, and would have ventured further but our bike seats were extremely uncomfortable (probably due to our nice cushy bike seats back in B'ham). We stopped at some stone ruins and replied "halo" to nearly every child that said "halo mister!". After a few fantastic and unforgettable days on Lake Toba, we finally decided to move on to Bukit Luwang....
Jessie will update you on this part of our adventure....
A few funny observations about Sumatra:
1. The buses seem to comprise of father son teams. The father drives while the son hollers at people on the street telling them where the bus goes. The son also collects money from people on the bus and calls out the father when they need to stop and let some one off. The also make sure that the buses are completely full and by full I mean absolutely no room left for people to even stand.
2. The music. Now this one gets two sub-catagories:
a. Karoke is huge on the buses. They play music videos with the lyrics on the screen like
they do at Karoke nights. This is the point in the trip where I put on the head phones and
listen to the ipod.
b. Teenage singers. This consists of 1-3 young adolescent boys coming on to your bus and
and singing songs for the people sitting down. I have no idea what they were singing, but
people like it enough and give usually give them some rupiah. They get on the bus for a few
kilometers and then get off, or they come on when the bus stops somewhere to pick up
more passengers. Again, I usually put on the head phones.
3. Indonesians drive like madmen! They are constantly beeping at other drivers, bikers and
pedestrians. Drivers are on the horn as much as the gas.
Monday, July 13, 2009
Lombok
We find ourselves back in Bali today preparing for our morning flight to Padang Sumatra tomorrow morning. We arrived yesterday exhausted from a 5 hour ludicrous ferry ride (looking back, I'm pretty sure the ferry driver was trying to do donuts in the sea) and should-have-been-1-hr-turned-into-4 bus ride. Our amazing days on the island ofLombok heavily out weigh the pain of leaving.
We left the Gili Islands by a long boat ferry ride into Bangsal harbor. Public transportation in Indoesia is always exciting. We usually make a couple friends, hear some good stories, suffer a bit of mortion sickness, and frequently unload from the boats shin deep in water with our bags held high over our head. We hoped into the first Bemo ( atansport van) after a bit of haggling and settled in for the couple hour ride into Senaru. We traveld up the coast and into the interior of the island. Rice paddies, tobacco plants, grey macaques, and little shops selling petrol and snacks line the roads. People stare and smile as you go by and the little kids always yell "HALO!!" We arrived in one piece to Emys home stay ( I say one piece because driving in Indonesia is a skill and an art involving small lanes, a million scooters, and a 'might-is-right' right of way). We were greeted by Hardy, a middle aged Lombok man in a fancy clean hat who speaks a couple of key phrases in many languages. We spent that day exploring the waterfalls in Senaru with a group of French, Canadian, and Danish people. The first waterfall was beautiful, but the second looked like a scene from a movie.
To get there you need a guide (non english speaking of course) to lead you along the irrigation channel, bring you over the railingless bridge with foot wide gaps and cross the river a couple of times. As you approach the waterfall, you carefully navigate your bare feet along slippery rocks. You can hear the roar of the water from away back and the air is full of the mist spraying out of the outfall pool. the waterfall comes pouring out of the forest 80 feet overhead. we stored our stuff in a little alcove or rocks and swam through the crystal clear waterfall pool. The water is sofresh that you can open your eyes under water and see pretty clearly. It was breath taking.
That night we arranged for our trekk upMt. Rinjani. We stared around 10 am the next morning running a bit late as all the porters and guides had to vote in the preseidential election before we left. We spent the next 7 hours climbing straight up. I'm not joking. When you hike up a volcanoe there is no other direction than up. You feel like a huge wuss when you are dripping with sweat, out of breath, and your barefoot porter is carrying all of your food and camping equipment, chain smoking ciggerettes, and grinning fromear to ear. Luckily, we made it to the top in time for the sunset over the Gili islands. You are currently only allowed to climb to the crator rim because the volcanoe inside the crator is active and the gases coming from it are dangerous. At night, you can see lava glowing and creeping down the sides. We spent a very sleepless night on the rim of the volcanoe. Not only is the volcanoe rumbling and grumbling like a thunderstorm, but the wind was literaly blowing the tent so that the side of the wall could hit our noses as we braced ourselves against the ground. At one point, the rain fly was ripped off completly by the wind which allowed us to watch the moon travel across the sky making room for the sun. We would be hiking down the next morning on maybe one hour of sleep. Luckily, working with gravity takes less energy than working against it. We walk, ran, raced, jumped, and slipped down the mountain in about 3.5 hours, and took our first chance to hop on a bus for the beach.
We arrived on Kuta, Lombok ( much different than Kuta on Bali), showered, ate, and went to sleep. We we woke up the next morning after 12 slid hours of rest, neither of us could walk properly. It felt like we had alternated between hour long wall sits and hour long horse back rides for a day. We did nothing but lay around on the completely deserted beach and play rummy. We did manage to move ourselves to eat lunch with our super cool friend Dana who was also sore as she had climbed the mountain as well. The next couple days were spent recooperating and exploring Kuta by scooter. For all the hotels being completely booked, we were pretty much the only foreigners on any of the beaches. The water was beautiful emerald green and the landscape was interesting with karst formations and mangrove like trees gowing out of the sea. Unfortunetly, we had to leave to return to the crazy Kuta on Bali. Now, we are going to go enjoy some ice cold Bin Tang and say good bye to Bali.
A little side note: the supposedly "water proof" camera that leon bought before we left turned out not to be "sea proof". Luckliy, the nice folks we hiked with said they would send us their pics of rinjani. So, we broke down and bought a cheap digital camera today. All in all, this means we should have pictures coming!
We left the Gili Islands by a long boat ferry ride into Bangsal harbor. Public transportation in Indoesia is always exciting. We usually make a couple friends, hear some good stories, suffer a bit of mortion sickness, and frequently unload from the boats shin deep in water with our bags held high over our head. We hoped into the first Bemo ( atansport van) after a bit of haggling and settled in for the couple hour ride into Senaru. We traveld up the coast and into the interior of the island. Rice paddies, tobacco plants, grey macaques, and little shops selling petrol and snacks line the roads. People stare and smile as you go by and the little kids always yell "HALO!!" We arrived in one piece to Emys home stay ( I say one piece because driving in Indonesia is a skill and an art involving small lanes, a million scooters, and a 'might-is-right' right of way). We were greeted by Hardy, a middle aged Lombok man in a fancy clean hat who speaks a couple of key phrases in many languages. We spent that day exploring the waterfalls in Senaru with a group of French, Canadian, and Danish people. The first waterfall was beautiful, but the second looked like a scene from a movie.
To get there you need a guide (non english speaking of course) to lead you along the irrigation channel, bring you over the railingless bridge with foot wide gaps and cross the river a couple of times. As you approach the waterfall, you carefully navigate your bare feet along slippery rocks. You can hear the roar of the water from away back and the air is full of the mist spraying out of the outfall pool. the waterfall comes pouring out of the forest 80 feet overhead. we stored our stuff in a little alcove or rocks and swam through the crystal clear waterfall pool. The water is sofresh that you can open your eyes under water and see pretty clearly. It was breath taking.
That night we arranged for our trekk upMt. Rinjani. We stared around 10 am the next morning running a bit late as all the porters and guides had to vote in the preseidential election before we left. We spent the next 7 hours climbing straight up. I'm not joking. When you hike up a volcanoe there is no other direction than up. You feel like a huge wuss when you are dripping with sweat, out of breath, and your barefoot porter is carrying all of your food and camping equipment, chain smoking ciggerettes, and grinning fromear to ear. Luckily, we made it to the top in time for the sunset over the Gili islands. You are currently only allowed to climb to the crator rim because the volcanoe inside the crator is active and the gases coming from it are dangerous. At night, you can see lava glowing and creeping down the sides. We spent a very sleepless night on the rim of the volcanoe. Not only is the volcanoe rumbling and grumbling like a thunderstorm, but the wind was literaly blowing the tent so that the side of the wall could hit our noses as we braced ourselves against the ground. At one point, the rain fly was ripped off completly by the wind which allowed us to watch the moon travel across the sky making room for the sun. We would be hiking down the next morning on maybe one hour of sleep. Luckily, working with gravity takes less energy than working against it. We walk, ran, raced, jumped, and slipped down the mountain in about 3.5 hours, and took our first chance to hop on a bus for the beach.
We arrived on Kuta, Lombok ( much different than Kuta on Bali), showered, ate, and went to sleep. We we woke up the next morning after 12 slid hours of rest, neither of us could walk properly. It felt like we had alternated between hour long wall sits and hour long horse back rides for a day. We did nothing but lay around on the completely deserted beach and play rummy. We did manage to move ourselves to eat lunch with our super cool friend Dana who was also sore as she had climbed the mountain as well. The next couple days were spent recooperating and exploring Kuta by scooter. For all the hotels being completely booked, we were pretty much the only foreigners on any of the beaches. The water was beautiful emerald green and the landscape was interesting with karst formations and mangrove like trees gowing out of the sea. Unfortunetly, we had to leave to return to the crazy Kuta on Bali. Now, we are going to go enjoy some ice cold Bin Tang and say good bye to Bali.
A little side note: the supposedly "water proof" camera that leon bought before we left turned out not to be "sea proof". Luckliy, the nice folks we hiked with said they would send us their pics of rinjani. So, we broke down and bought a cheap digital camera today. All in all, this means we should have pictures coming!
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