At Cathedral Rock, Sedona, AZ

At Cathedral Rock, Sedona, AZ

Quote from Into the Wild

If we admit that human life can be ruled by reason, then all possibility of life is destroyed.

Wednesday, July 20, 2011

Ubud- Fire Dance- Videos.


Balinese "Kecak Fire Dance". (pronounced Kay-chak)  Few scenes, over 100 people in this 1.5 hour dance/play depicting stories out of the Hindu "bible" texts.  Story of the great battle of some evil guy and the monkey king's army.  One of the coolest nights we've spent in all our travels.  Culture...who'd have thunk it.
More on Ubud area coming up.








Sunday, July 17, 2011

Ubud, Bali - Indonesia


Bali, Indonesia (2 of 3)....Ubud

Ubud, Bali, Indonesia
After our excursions the last 2 weeks figuring out our visa situations, we've headed north to Ubud. Central Bali's home for culture.  Famous for painting, wood-carving studios, cheap markets, dancing/theatre, yoga, cuisine and the monkey sanctuary.

Ubud is much smaller and has a home-town, slow-paced feel.  There's many tourist but everyone just strolls here.  Ubud's major area is a simple rectangular area you could walk around in about 1.5 hours or so.  Getting around was typically by foot and easily done.  With the help of our Bemo driver, we found a homestay style guesthouse and our new buddy Wayan would be watching over us for a week while we stayed here.  Wayan was the guest-house owner.  A basic room, with queen bed, a wardrobe, basic bathroom with hot water was about $17 a night.  Clean but quaint.  We did have a private balcony with a decent view.
Batur Lake and Volcano.  Majestic sight, we had lunch overlooking this one day.  breath-taking, 1,717 meters above sea level..
We didn't waste much time and headed straight for the monkey sanctuary.  An amazing place.  Tickets were $2 and you could go into this lush area of large trees and landscape where the monkeys roamed freely.  And let me say, there were a Bunch of monkeys.  Sometimes you could get closer to a little one and shake his hand, but had to steer clear of the bigger males, they were not shy to show there teeth and scare you away.  The park had guides that roamed around and just kept an eye on everyone and instructured them on not getting to close and just watching over things for safety.  We thought our nieces Grace and Abbie would have had the time of their life here.  It was very fun.

We wandered the square and market areas and had several beers taking in some good musicians one night.  We did some shopping and picked up some souvenirs for the family in the nearby areas while enjoying the fresh air, breeze and nature.  Things are just so lush and green here.  The temperatures are amazingly perfect.  I'd say low 80's, sunny, slight cool breeze and low humidity right now.  Very much paradise.
Agung Volcano, 40 minutes drive from lake batur, 3,141 meters high.
One day we spent about 6 hours driving around.  Only 1 hour north from Ubud is some of the most spectacular scenary on the planet.  The volcanoes and mountain lakes of Batur and Batur temple overlooking this view are hard to appreciate unless in person.  Wow, what a view. 
Christina at colorful Batur Temple

out strolling the rice fields of Ubud, (grand-dad, father, and son walking home)
We splurged a little too much and picked up some authentic local oil paintings and had a chance to meet the artists themselves.  Great souvenirs to last a lifetime.  Better than Pier One and to say we were there one day looking back at them will be an enjoyable memory always.
buying some art in Ubud, scene of "local market" done by local painter. picture with artist himself.
One of our funnest nights was having a chance to see an authentic Hindu dance/play that we both agreed was one of the best things we've witnessed since we left.  Awesome and worth the $15 tickets :)
We took some video of this and will post it in the next blog.

After 5 days in Ubud, we would have to put this little town way up on the list of best places we've visited.  It's just a great mix of things to do, see, experience and enjoy.  The food is good, prices fair, shopping plentiful, massages cheap and surroundings...welllll....what you'd think of when you hear Bali.   Would love to come back here for another week with more friends.

We're off to Canggu now, so excited to spend 30 days of rest and relaxation, not moving hotels and staying in a great place and becoming a local for a while.  We need this to gear up for the next 6 months.  We'll be hitting the trails hard in China, Nepal, and India next.
locals walking home while we were out strolling the amazing scenery in Ubud.  they thought we looked goofy :)

Wednesday, July 13, 2011

Bali, Indonesia (1 of 3)

Our thoughts are to stay in one place and live for 1 month straight.  We've about reached the half way point for our trip and feel like a "break" from packing up and moving every 3-4 days.  Just some rest, really taking in an area and chilling.

We spent our 1st night in the Kuta area on Bali, about 20 minutes from the airport.  (Keep in mind Bali is an island maybe slightly smaller than KY.)   Kuta is a world-famous party, beginner-surfer, westernized area.  Well driving through it to find a back-packers hotel, we found out immediately why the guide-books warned of how the bad affects of tourism can spread.  Kuta was packed, packed, packed with people, taxis, traffic, shops, McD's, Hardrock Cafe, KFC, growth, malls, developments, etc.  A basic rat-race on steroids.  We knew immediately this was not going to work for us.  We grabbed a Bemo (goofy little mini-bus) and got the hell out of their the very next morning. 
size of a Bemo, basically a suzuki with 4 wheels.  but for about $4, you can get a ride to somewhere almost an hour away.

We chose to try Sanur, about 45 minutes away on the south-eastern coast of Bali to explore and escape to.  Keep in mind, we're looking for a place to rent for 1 month, but we also need to find a way to get our next Visas to China, so gotta fit that in somehow.  Sanur was nice, we found a real friendly, clean, spacious room for cheap about 10 minutes walk from the beach.  We stayed there about 3 days, just exploring around, eating the night food market, walking the beach, but mostly trying to figure out how to obtain China Visas.  We found out we couldn't get a Chinese Visa in Bali---oh noooooo?!@#%>
night snack in Sanur, take an entire loaf of fresh bread, split it 4 times, slather jam and butter in it, toast every side and corner, the douse with sweet milk....ughhh, goodness, get in my belly

So we book a flight to Surabaya, Java to get to the closest China consulate, but have 5 days to kill until our flight.  Next stop Ulu Wata and Padang Padang Beaches on the Southern Tip of Bali.

Now this is what I'm talking about.  Bali at some of it's finest.  What a view.  Ulu Watu is world-famous for it's surf, views, and Ulu Watu temple over-looking the ocean and cliffs.   Padang Padang Beach is 10 minutes away by motorbike and just a beautiful, but small beach to relax and kill a day.
We actually saw a small tornado out on the ocean here as well, it was sucking up the water and was a very impressive sight.  We loved it here.  Had a great handful of days, a good little guest-house, cheap and quiet as well, although cold water shower :(    I couldn't try surfing here, it's a Pros-only type beach, with rock and coral only 5-6 ft under the water, so I could only watch.  It was really awesome to watch them go though, I respect their skills much more now.  Fun to see the sky, ocean and all the green-ness around.
view from Ulu Watu temple.  picture doesn't even do it justice.

Next Stop it appears we have to fly to Surabaya, Indonesia in Java, the island (the size of oklahoma) to the west of Bali.  There's a Chinese Consulate there we were told who could possibly help us, fingers crossed.  So we get a ride back to the airport after 5 days in Ulu Watu area. 

Wow, Surabaya is a big big city.  Grabbed a taxi, headed towards a hotel area and grabbed a room for the night.  Lucky Us, it is the best room we've stayed in our whole trip.  So we're happy about that. A Little boutique style chain hotel.  A bit pricey at $30 per night but we were out of options.  We spent 4 days in Surabaya exploring a bit, taking in the nice malls, movie theatres, eating Java style spicy fried rice and yes Pizza Hut Pan Pizza :)    We were the only westerners we saw the entire 4 days here.  It was a bit odd to say the least.  We really liked Java style food though, delicious & spicey.
After a full day excursion trying to find the China Consulate.  Our taxi driver did not speak English and he got us lost for about 2 hours trying to find the place.  We found out that the Consulate would only give us 20 day visas to China instead of 60 days, and they were 5x the normal price for a US Citizen vs almost all other countries.  About $250 each for 20 days in China.  We were disappointed and perturbed.  We said No Thanks and our entire trip to Surabaya on this quest has proved a bust.  CRAP!
Indonesia, we're not loving you so far :)

What to do, what to do.....
We said screw it, we're gonna make this great and figure it out.  We flew back to Bali and booked a lush hotel right on the beach in Kuta, until we could find a long-term place.  We're gonna enjoy this if it hair-lips the governor.  The hotel was great and I got a chance to try surfing several days (I suck by the way, it's hard). 
proof it's hard to surf.  not sure I have a picture of me successfully riding a wave all the way out :)

We also took in a local water park, slides, rides, etc. and had a grand time there.  We rented a motorbike and took off looking for a long-term rental house/etc.  After a half day of driving around, asking, taking down numbers to call, we found the place.  In Canggu about 30-40 minutes from Kuta on the South-West coast. 
YEAHHHH!  great price, lots of amenities, we're pumped.  We wanted to visit Ubud, a famous cultural city/area first before settling in to the long-stay but went ahead and book the stay that would be coming up.
We are going to have to extend our visas another 30 days for Bali, since we've spent almost 15 days on the visa quest and some exploring.  We stayed in Kuta 5 more days while our visas were being processed and made the most of it and the fine hotel.
my lovely bride Christina, happy enjoying a Bali sunset, ain't she a doll! :)
Now, off to Ubud and central Bali for 1 week to take in some culture, nature, and art.  Then, finally, back to Canggu where we'll be spending one entire month in a long-stay studio apartment.  More to come.

Monday, July 11, 2011

Malaka, Malaysia

Malaka, Malaysia
Town Center, Malaka

Thanks Kuala Lumpur for another great comfortable bus ride! We really appreciate them when they’re not rough and crappy. We arrived in Malaka only 3 hours later from KL, and grabbed a quick taxi to take us to……duh duh duh duhhh…yep… China Town area of Malaka. It was the weekend and although a small town was really quite packed with local tourist making a weekend there, so it took some more searching to find a guesthouse, but 2 hours later, we snagged another solid bargin for $14 and settled in. Complete with hot water and aircon and 1 bad tv station 
There’s not a whole lot to Malaka really, it’s a nice little touristic town (at least in the China Town Touristic area) on the south-western coast of Malaysia. Probably at once an important port city. Keep in mind, when I say “nice, little town”, we’re talking about a town that has 400,000 people in it. The populations are so dense in cities here, it’s hard to adjust to just how many people live in this great big world. It’s a misconception we had ourselves and it easily reminds you daily why there are 7 billion people in the world now (a mere 300 million in the US), and what crammed will feel like if it continues. The taxi driver even commented how it was just a quiet small town. Well it’s twice as large as Evansville and 8 times the size of Owensboro.
adult tri-cycles for hire to tour around the city (these were so colorful and some had their own little soundsystems, hilarious)

Malaka was our planned jumping off city to get into Sumatra, Indonesia, but we decided to instead fly to Bali as the boat ticket to Sumatra was half the price of an airline ticket anyway. Indonesia is about the width, east to west as the US, so it’s a lot of land to cover and not just gonna be a quick 3 hour bus ride to get to the next city, it’ll be a 14 hr trip we’re afraid. So we just settled in Malaka for 3 short days, figuring out our next plan of attack and exploring some of China town’s night markets, food, the reconstructed churches, and a really enjoyable evening stroll through a Saturday Evening block party.
Christina getting her block party street grub on, fresh vegetable tofu burrito w/ caramalized turnip, was actually pretty darn good

The block party was a bunch of food stalls, people selling stuff, families eating, a farmers market, etc…Kind of felt like the fall festival in Evansville, just a lot smaller. We really had fun eating a dinner of snacks from different booths, sampling new items, and still finding room for a traditional bag of kettle corn and a cold sugar cane squeezed iced beverage…yummy.
unusual triple scoop cone of icecream, although the purple scoop flavor was un-identfiable :)

Well....
We bus back to KL and catch our flight to Bali as we grab new 30 day visas in Indonesia and are excited to see some of the world’s most renowned surf beaches, volcano lakes and countryside and do some serious Chillinnnn.
Christina adds a new patch to her pack. 6 down, lots more to go.

Thursday, July 7, 2011

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia (Pics)

Catching Up....Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Ok, so I've been super lazy lately and took a break from blogging. Time to catch up a bit. We're actually in Bali, Indonesia but I need to get up to speed. So over the next week, I'll get it up to current. Here we go.

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Ahhh Kuala Lumpur, hello again advanced civilization. Greetings intricate city planners and engineers. Kuala Lumpur or KL is a massive city, sprawling, tidy, fairly organized, about as clean as you can ask for a city this size. We were transited into KL via bus from Tanah Rata, and it was nice to start off with the comfiest seats, clean, good air con, smoothest riding bus we’ve experienced in 3.5 months….by far. We hopped off at the bus station (like a well run airport), and trotted 15 minutes on foot around the corner to an area of KL, affectionately called “China Town”. It appears about every city has a China Town, and its where the travelers can find, cheap accommodation, cheap food, knock-off shopping, and the likes. We found a hotel, a bit pricey at $17 per night, but with air-con and a great hot-water shower, and situated right in the middle of everything, it was hard to pass up.
We figured our the LRT (public monorail system) easily, as it was, easy to follow, (thanks again city planners). We made our way to several stops over the next 4 days and explored only a portion of KL but easily the typical tourist highlights. We visited the Planetarium, the Mouse Deer Park and public lake areas, the Bird Aviary, the impressive Islamic Museum of arts, the famed Petronas Towers, the ritzy Petronas Tower shopping mall, and the 4th largest communications tower in the world, pigging out at a rolling sushi buffet, and most areas of China Town. We stayed pretty busy each day walking and exploring.
One of the highlights was definitely just seeing the Petronas Towers, both in day and again at night. The stainless steel behemoth is just plain cool to see, particularly lit up at night, pictures only do it partial justice. The mall inside and beneath it was a high fashion ritzy dream world. Mostly shops we couldn’t afford to even step inside to look  You name the brand, and they were in there.
I’d say our second favorite was the open air Tropical Bird Aviary. It was the size of a city park and was “netted in”, so the birds were actually free to fly around certain areas and some free to interact up next to you. The raptors and owls and ostriches were caged in, but most all others were free, flying around. It was our first chance to really see such tropical birds up close and we got the chance to watch them feed the eagles. Christina even participated in a small silly bird show where parrots and other birds did tricks etc. Christina got to hold up a stick with a piece of meat on it and they whistled in an eagle and it flew in from afar and snagged it right out of her hands in flight, very cool. She was the star of the show 
Third on the list was probably a combination of the Islamic Museum (it was well appointed and just beautiful historical pieces), as well as pigging out at the sushi buffet twice, and downing some more amazing Indian food at one of the local eateries. We just can’t seem to get enough Rotti and Naan, Dahl and Indian spiced curries, chicken and Indian tea. Mmmmmm.
KL was the first time we felt we were really back in the “western world”. They had a fantastic airport, transit system, fantastic bus stations that were nicer than most airports we’ve been in, and the city was well planned and developments everywhere. The communications tower was no doubt high up and allowed for striking 360 views over the entire cityscape, but it was a bit pricey for a ticket up and back down @ $20 each. Given the exchange rates, that’s a pretty high cost for the trip, but we did it anyway.
We’re out of time and need to be moving on, KL was worth a 3-4 day visit to explore, but at last, it’s still a big big city and time for us to find a beach or a quiet fun town elsewhere. Off we go.

Next Stop Malaka, only 3 hours away.