Aussie to Auckland

Once again, many days have passed without much of an update.  

I'm writing to you from Auckland, New Zealand, where I arrived this afternoon.  An old neighbor from Boston,  a New Zealand native, picked me up from the airport upon my arrival.  Jayne and her three adorable children (Juliet, Harry, and Ollie) greeted me after customs, and we headed to the east side of the city where we met up with another young family and had a picnic dinner while listening to opera in the park.  It's quite a change from the serious  backpacker culture I just left behind in Byron Bay.  Molly will fly in early tomorrow morning and we'll get our bearings here in Auckland before heading south towards Wellington. 

But back to Byron Bay.  First of all, let me say that it was sad to leave Christa behind, but we'll either catch each other somewhere on the south island of New Zealand or in Boston within the next few weeks, so I can't be sad for too long.  But, yes, Byron Bay.  Beautiful Byron.  I may have said that Christa and I decided we weren't much for backpacking after our experience in Brisbane, but it's easy to see why people love it when in Byron.  It's also easy to see why people never want to leave the beach. 

Byron Bay, if you don't know, sits about 2 hours south of Brisbane.  Christa and I wrapped up our time together in Brissy with my friend, Laura Davidoff, and her boyfriend, Rob Boyd.  Laura and Rob showed us some good ol' fashioned Aussie fun on this Australia Day Eve by firing up the barbie and treating us to a great meal, complete with port and chocolates.  The next morning they gave us a nice tour of Brisbane, including a great view from Mt. Coot-tha.  Then they went to their Aussie Day barbie, and we hopped a bus to Byron.  

We found our way to the Arts Factory Lodge, a little communal hostel off the beaten track of the center of town.  We are so glad that we found this place, as it was clean and friendly, colorful and fun.  It's like the resort of backpacker's hostels--pool, cafe, juice bar, volleyball court, internet, laundry, bar and restaurant, didgeridoo lessons, shuttle bus, and a travel booking office.  We made quick friends with a group of Canadians and spent the next few days eating kebabs, sea kayaking, watching tennis, and attempting to hang glide.  I went so far as to book the hang gliding, got up to the launch, was ready to strap in when...the wind changed.  Our new friend Brian from Alberta was able to fly, which was fortunate because it was his idea in the first place.  I joked to a woman we met up there that here we were with this guy that we just met a few days before and now we were literally jumping off a cliff with him.  You learn to trust people quickly when you're traveling around the world.  Unfortunately, when I went to take a video of  Brian's launch, I hit the wrong button on my camera and thought I was recording, so that when I went to stop it, it started.  So much for that.  

Christa and I spent our last night together watching the Nadal v. Verdasco semi-finals of the Australian Open.  I love tennis and I like watching tennis, but this match was above and beyond.  If any of you caught the 5.5 hour, 5 set show down, you know what I mean.  Verdasco, ranked 14th going into this tournament, was literally giving Nadal a run for his money, with three sets ending in tie-breakers (two of them going to Verdasco) but only to end on the heart-breaking note of a double fault.  We were kicked out of the bar we were initially watching it at around 1 AM (because they were closing, not because we were misbehaving), so found ourselves in a migrating pack to the next bar, only to find that it was too crowded to get in.  So we perched ourselves right at the window sill to peer in while a number of others tried to get in a look behind us as well.  

Late to bed, early to rise, early to get to the airport for my 10 AM flight.  On the flight I watched Young At Heart, an amazing documentary about a choir whose average age is 81 and sings the likes of Coldplay, James Brown, and Prince.  Definitely check it out.  It was a bit slow going at first and I was skeptical. But I had heard rave reviews, so I gave it a chance.  I'm so glad I did, though I found myself crying a few times, which is always a bit embarrassing when you have headphones on and no one else around you is watching what you're watching.  If you're a Coldplay fan, or even if you're not, watch this movie for one of the most moving renditions of Fix You that you will find.  It's all within the context of the film, but these singers, while not the most vocally gifted, get to the core of the lyrics in a way that very few pop stars, if any, could pull off.  

I'm sure there is much more to say and many reflections to be had, but it is with a weary mind and jet-lagged body that I say goodnight.  And, as always, thank you for reading.  

More than half way

My apologies for not being as regular with my postings from Oz. Surprisingly it's been a bit harder to access internet here than in SE Asia. By harder I mean more expensive. Also, I find myself with less of a need to feel "connected" while I'm here because things are much more familiar in Australia as you might imagine. So there's less of a need to take a break from it all.

With that said, Christa and I are having a wonderful time. The last time I wrote to you was around 3 in the morning after the inauguration. Since then we had an awesome day trip (apparently "awesome" is a super American word because any time someone imitates an American accent, they always say something like, "That's so awesome, dude!"). We got up around 7 AM to get picked up for a day trip to Cape Tribulation, where the rainforest meets the reef. It got its name because this was where Captain James Cook's "tribulations" began on his trip to Australia in the 18th century. We had a stop at a gorge for a dip, a nature walk through mangroves, and we were also treated to a boat ride in a crocodile river, where we saw one crocodile named Scarface, that is about 6 meters long. He was sunning on the banks of the river, so we got to see him in all his glory.

We ended up doing it Cairns style that night and stayed up quite late again. We repeated our routine by rising early the next morning to go on another tour--this time to the Great Barrier Reef. Fortunately it was a very relaxing day, because we were rather tired. Throughout the day we went from near comatose to so much energy that Christa was leading the charge on a backflip contest. A bit overcast at first, but when the sun came out, the waters were stunning and crystal clear. We were surprised at the colorings of the reef. I expected bright corals, but the palette was more like that of a Japanese garden. So were the shapes, for that matter. Christa and I had asked just about everyone we met if we needed to be concerned about the jelly-fish. We were ultimately convinced that it was just fine to go in the water. We donned some stylin' lycra stinger suits at first but eventually shed those along with our fears, and enjoyed the waters. Check out facebook for some pictures.

The next morning--very early--we caught a flight to Brisbane, from where I write to you now. We met up with Christa's college friend, Winslow, who recently moved here to play semi-pro soccer for the Logan United Football Club. He showed us around town and got us set up at the hostel he's been staying at. The Yellow Submarine. It was here that Christa and I realized that maybe at our core, we were not true backpackers. We opted for a double room rather than a dorm, and have managed to get through the last two wildly humid nights with the help of none other than some trusty Benedryls. It wouldn't have been so hard to sleep with just the fan except there was always a bit of a raging party happening just outside our window. We checked out this morning and will spend the night at my college friend, Laura Davidoff's, apartment before heading south to Byron Bay tomorrow. We would have seen Laura earlier, but she'd been out of town. Yesterday we got to see Winslow play in his frist pre-season game (0-0) and I headed over to the Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary solo earlier in the day to cuddle with koalas and check out the kangaroos and emus.

Our plan was to head to Byron today, but it seems that the entire town is booked for Australia Day. January 26, 1788 is the day that the first ship of prisoners came to Australia...and this is what they celebrate. When we arrive there, we plan to meet up with a friend of a friend of a friend. No joke. This is the kind of networking that happens when you're backpacking.

Hopefully I will have some time to write to you from Byron Bay before I head to New Zealand on Saturday. The best part of my time here in Australia has been that Christa and I have not had much of a plan at all, and it's turning out to be a really great trip all in all. Though if I were to write a Gilbert-esque account of my trip, instead of Eat Pray Love, it'd probably be something more along the lines of Thinking and Drinking to distinguish the two separate parts of my journey. Australia is definitely less challenging than some of the other spots I've visited, but still a valuable leg of my journey back home.

We are a part of Obama-nation

In 2001, I joined the Washington University Mosaic Whispers, a co-ed a cappella group. I was an uncomfortable Soprano I, singing in a range I hadn't sung before. But they pushed me, and one of the more energetic numbers was Janet Jackson's Rhythm Nation. This tune often comes to mind when I see Obama, for the refrain is, "We are a part of a rhythm nation." It's a logical leap to the title of this entry.

It was just before 2:30 AM here in Cairns, Australia. Christa and I have settled into our hostel which is wildly reminscent of some college fantasy, though the college experience I had was far from this reality. 8 bunks in a co-ed dorm room? Not at Wash U. Nevertheless, we made it a priority to find out where and when we could watch Obama's speech tonight. To those of you that have kept up with this blog since the beginning, you know that I don't get excited about anything more than I get excited about Barack Obama. If you didn't know that, even having followed my blog, now you do.

Christa and I walked into the TV lounge and found three others already tuned into the channel. Figuring they were American, too, we chatted them up. But we were soon to find out that they were from India, the Netherlands, and Norway. We were the token Americans, but they did not give us their good seats. At one point, when the controversial reverand gave his invocation, he mentioned the word "freedom" and the woman from the Netherlands turned to the girl next to her and said, "Ha. Freedom." That certainly made me question their motivation to watch relative to ours, even though I don't agree with the politics of the minister.

A picture of George W. Bush in the foregorund with the Obamas just behind, as the minister recited the "Our Father", reminded me that religion and faith do not belong solely to the Right. That is a significant change among the many others that we will witness in the wake of this day. Something Jim Wallis of Sojourners magazine has been talking about for quite some time, but it is time to reclaim the ideas of faith and religion. Please correct me if I'm wrong.

As Aretha Franklin sang and right before Joe Biden was sworn in, the Scots next to me were making some noise, maybe some vague wise-cracks. I kindly urged them to keep it down and reminded that this was really important to us. He then informed me he had never voted.

I turned to Christa during Joe Biden's swearing in and we both acknowledged that we'd be fast asleep if this were McCain and Palin being sworn in, and we'd likely catch it on YouTube tomorrow or the day after. Thank goodness for not having to make that time.

As the quartet played, the woman in the middle of the three in front of us, the Indian, shared some party mix with us, aplenty with gummy treats that Julie Mancini would have been more than happy to partake in.

At 3:03 AM, Barack Hussein Obama was officially done being sworn in as President of the United States. I should disclose at this point that in the name of staying up long enough to see the speech, Christa and I had befriended some dorm neighbors, from Canada and Scotland, and had gotten a bit festive/been drinking a few. I learned from reading the collection of essays edited by Ira Glass that I'd refered to before (The New Kings of Non-fiction) that the writer should reveal this kind of information in order for the reader to understand the perspective from which its coming.

As Obama spoke, it reminded me of my sophomore year in college when I was cramming in some De Toqueville reading and I decided to have a glass of wine to assist. It made everything lucid and crystal clear, though I couldn't remember much of it the next day. I could only remember that it made perfect sense the night before. This was a bit how I felt when Obama spoke--it was all crystal clear and every piece fit perfectly to make perfect sense. I took notes while I watched, much to the suspicion of the Scot next to me, so as not to forget my reactions and the sequence of the evening. As Obama mentioned that we are friends to every nation and we have mutual respect, it was this phrasing that kept me from snapping at the loud mouths next to me as they made more wise-cracks. I couldn't quote them as I was rather focused on the television, but I coudln't imagine, either, making any noise during such a momentous occasion for them and their country. But as they talked, I literally though, "WWOD: What Would Obama Do?" This has been a mantra of mine for a few months now.

At the close, I realized there is no one I would trust more to take on the trials of this country. He fully acknowledges and is more than mindful of what lies ahead, and he is fully equipped to deal with it. But we all need to be behind him.

So, once again, Happy Obama Day! Tomorrow I will head out to the Great Barrier Reef to see another wonder of our great world.

Time flies!

It's been a week since I last wrote. I don't know how that happened!

Cambodia has such a rich history, a conflicted and complicated one that represents the best and the worst of the human condition in the majesty of its temples and the tragedy of its recent history.

I wrote in my journal on January 15 from Phnom Penh, "I wish I could google my thoughts, or press record so I could go back and listen to them later." So many thoughts have gone through my head in the last few weeks, some too personal to share, and others that would take me too many paragraphs to share. I determined last night that, while traveling, my brain is like a rock tumbler from the early nineties. It takes my thoughts and churns and churns them until they're nice and shiny and ready to present. A lot of what you get in this blog, though, are the rough rocks. I went on to write, "Cambodia and its vast range of experiences has left me in a bit of a flurry of reflections and thoughts with not enough time to reflect on what I've seen before the next thing floods my senses; smells, colors, sounds, dust, naked children, horror and magnificence all converge like the confluence of the 3 rivers upon which Phnom Penh lies to create a chaos in my mind and senses and in, I would guess, the lives of the people that live here. Or maybe they just think that things are good now because they're no longer being massacred. I don't know." So that's a little bit of my immediate take on Cambodia.

As I sat at the steps of the stupa at Choeung Ek, or the Killing Fields as we commonly know it, and looked at the monument encasing 9,000 skulls distinerned at that site, I said a prayer, hoping that the famlies of those before me have found comfort over the years and that they may never again know the horrific capabilities of the human hand. And on the eve of the inauguration, I think it appropriate to include this part of the prayer: May the world know what one man is capable of doing, both in terror so to prevent it, and in hope so to promote it.

Our two days in Phnom Penh followed three days of serious temple viewing in Siem Reap, after which, we were Wat-ted out. Our amazing tuk-tuk driver and tour guide for our days there, Ritty, also introduced us to some phenomenal street food, brought us to see Kom Pon Pluk-a floating village on the Tonle Sap lake, and took us to the local market to buy some rice for the orphanage he works at.

As we waited for the bus to Phnom Penh, some Cambodian remix of our family's favorite Shakira song played over the radio. The six hour bus ride found me turning my iPod up to an unreasonable volume to drown out the very loud man on his cell phone. No one else seemed to have a problem, which made me think I had incompatible western sensibilities. The movie playing was one of the more violent displays I've ever seen, featuring a well-coiffed Chinese gangster resembling a young Jet Lee. At one point we almost hit a cow in the road. Viewing the Cambodian countryside, Laura and I began to think that the entire country was rural. That is, until we reached Phnom Penh. When my dad was there over 10 years ago, the streets weren't even paved, but now it is hustling and bustling, with plenty of paved streets and tuk tuk drivers to populate them. But to give you a sense of the comparative landscape, I wrote this in my journal while on the bus:

If I were an artist, I would draw the Balinese landscape with the bright colors of the crayola spectrum, depicting the vibrant kelly-like green of the rice fields, the oranges and pinks of the Hindu offerings, bold reds and golds for the dancers and musicans, and all shades of blue for the water. In contrast, if I were to draw Cambodia, my palette would be limited to the colors I usually avoided in the crayon box when I was a kid. You know the ones I mean. They were always longer and sharper than the rest because you always used those last and if there no other options...The cows would be the grays and beiges and light browns. More gray for the grass-roofed and walled homes. Browns for the rivers, yellows, light browns, and dull greens for the fields, with some accents to depict the afternoon sunlight.

I go on, but you get the picture. Literally. Our hotel the first night in Phnom Penh left MUCH to be desired. One of the beds had a mysteriously damp spot on the sheets, so Laura and I ended up bunking together in the other twin bed. We've become quite close and are highly compatible traveling partners. We moved out the next morning. We treated ourselves to a fabulous place along the river, that if you're ever visiting Phnom Penh, stay at the Quay, but look online for discounts. Fresh juices and a sleek aesthetic, HBO and a rooftop terrace left little to be desired.

I sadly said goodye to Laura and spent one night alone in Phnom Penh. Rather, I spent one night along at the Quay. And now I'm in Australia!

I flew into Sydney two days ago and managed to fit in Bondi Beach, the Coogee beach walk, the Opera House, Harbor Bridge, Botanical Gardens, a kebab, and a movie before flying out this morning to Cairns. Christa and I are here with not much of a plan. We quickly learned that this is the off season here in the north, as it's a bit rainy and the lethal jelly fish are at the beaches. I think we'll opt for a glass-bottomed boat tomorrow to view the Great Barrier Reef and celebrate Barack Obama. Speaking of which, we're trying to figure out what time the inauguration will be on here, and it might be at 2:30 AM tonight, which means we will be sure to make it a late-night, festive occasion, which won't be so hard at Gilligan's, the dorm-style hostel we found.

Our rough plan is to work our way south so I can fly out of Brisbane or Sydney to Auckland, New Zealand on the 31st. We'll keep you posted, and, as always, thanks for reading.

Happy Obama Day!

Ubud-alicious

Greetings from Siem Reap, Cambodia!

Laura and I arrived yesterday early morning and have already had two full days of temples, cheap eats, and a floating village. I think that I will wait until the end of our third day here to sum up what's been going on so I can catch up on the rest of our time in Bali. First I'll finish Lovina and then rewind to Ubud.

Our second day in Lovina was a good one. We got up early (around 5 AM) to go on the dolphin watch but soon found out that the water was "no good for dolphins. Come back tomorrow." So we went back to bed and got up a couple hours later to go snorkeling. We drove about an hour and a half west and then took a boat to Menjangan Island, one of Indonesia's national parks. The rest of the people on our boat were diving, but Laura and I spent our day on the white sands of this undeveloped island, watching boatloads of traditionally dressed Balinese come to make their offerings at the temple on the hill, which we were not appropriately dressed to go see. The highlight of our snorkeling was swimming out (once we got past the surprising amount of litter in the water) to the coral shelf. That's where we found schools of fish and a brilliantly colored display of coral that must have gone down at least 20 meters. Hard to say since we were obviously confined to the surface.

I was walking in the shallows to return to shore, Laura about 10 feet in front of me, when I saw a giant snake swim by. I think my brain instinctively knew what it was before I could actually process it. I must have made a bit of a noise because Laura, who is deathly afraid of snakes, said, "What is it?" Again, without really having internalized it yet, it all happened so quickly, I just said, "Keep walking. Just keep walking." She saw the shadow and knew not to question me. A few minutes later there was quite a commotion on one of the boats. When we asked what was going on, they kept saying, "Snake! Snake!" Apparently, the same snake, a python, had managed to get on the boat and now three or four grown men were trying to figure out a way to safely get it into a net. I wish this computer's connection was fast enough that I could upload the photos. At one point, the smallest of the men was in front with a stick, while the others kind of cowered behind him, but stretched enough to get a good look. Eventually they got the snake, at least a meter in length and 3 inches in diameter (hard to say since I didn't get too close), into a net. We're still not sure of the reptile's final fate. Once everyone calmed down and the divers went out for their second dive after lunch, more people came to go to temple, but the only thing Laura and I were worshipping was the sun. And I paid for it. More sunburn, despite my best efforts at keeping up with the SPF.

That evening, we had dinner with two really lovely French women, Nora and Sophie, that we had met on the boat. They both insisted we come see them in Paris sometime. I guess that will have to be my next adventure.

The next morning we made a second attempt at the dolphin watch before getting our bus back to the airport. The boat was able to get past the surf, but then our rutter fell off and we couldn't start the engine back up once we retrieved it. Eventually we got motoring again, but 2 hours later, when we returned to shore, we still hadn't seen any dolphins. Let's just say that the time I spent in the outrigged boat not much wider than my hips with just 3 other people was not the most exciting time I've had this trip.

We got back just in time to catch our bus to the airport and flew to Kuala Lumpur where we spent the night before flying out the next morning to Cambodia.

So, back to Ubud. I probably won't go into as much detail as I would have if I'd written in a timely manner because I don't want to lose you half way through.

Our first stop was to go see the traditional Barong and Kris dance, a play that represents the eternal fight between the good (Barong) and evil (Rangda) spirits. Still not sure what kris is. Elaborate costumes and beautiful Balinese music made this a great way to start the day. From there we stopped at a silversmith where we saw what detail and intensive work goes into making each piece of jewelry. Laura and I bought matching bracelets to remember our trip together. It has three balls on it and we told Mario that the one in the middle represents him with each of us flanking.

A stop at a traditional Balinese house exposed some of the poverty of this beautiful island. We also learned that every family has their own temple in the back. It's all very striking, but a bit difficult when you stop to think that this is where these kind people spend their days, making their offerings, and trying to get by. Later on, when we saw Mario's house, we saw that not everyone lives in grass-roofed homes, but rather quite substantial accomodations.

From there we moved on to the painting cooperative where we saw a range of artwork from traditional Balinese to more modern work, done by people of all ages. Young painters are trained in the ways of flora and faunta paintings, using the bold colors and simple designs that are easy to come by in the art stalls throughout town. It seems like a great place for young people to be able to go when they're not in school and builds skills and confidence.

We went back to the Ubud Inn to pick up our new friend, Ben, who had just arrived. He joined us for a trip to a beautiful rice terrace, the volcano, a scenic lunch, and then to a Hindu temple. The rain stopped just in time for us to make a trip to a local coffee farm where we sampled chocolate coffee, fresh ginger tea, fresh hot cocoa, and the gourmet mongoose poop coffee. Don't be alarmed, we weren't drinking mongoose poop. But as some of you might know, mongoose will snack on the ripest of the coffee beans, but are unable to digest them. Upon excretion, they are harvested and used to make the best brew.

Finally, we made a stop at a wood carving shop where we saw stunning solid wood sculptures, but left our tour guide a bit disappointed when we did not purchase anything. Mario had reassured us that we didn't need to and to not feel pressured. He just wanted us to see all of these things so we could see all that Bali had to offer.

Before heading back, we made one more stop to schedule our beauty treatments with Wayan, the traditional healer featured in Eat, Pray, Love. We soon learned that we had to let go our our western ways of thinking about time and realized that we would not have time for the treatment and rafting, so we bagged the rafting in favor of a cleansing and healing few hours the next morning.

That night we went to see another traditional dance, this time Kecak dancing. Ben had heard about it from a movie he saw called Baraka. About 75 men sit in a circle and do a kind of chanting that is hard to describe. To get a rough sense of it, check out the song Liquid Dance on the Slumdog Millioniare soundtrack. Think of that song as kecak remix. While this is going on, another story is told through dance. This was the story of Rama and Sita from the Ramayana epic. Two more dances featured 2 girls in a trance, and a man dancing ON fire. Not kidding. After dinner, Ben, Laura, and I stayed out pretty late, but that did not stop us from getting up and getting to Wayan's by 11 AM. Again, letting go of our western way of thinking about time, we were not bothered when we had to wait over an hour for Wayan to return.

We started with a medicinal herbal tumeric drink made right in front of us from fresh tumeric. Then, one by one, Wayan performed a body reading on each of us and told us of our vitamin deficiencies and ailments. I went first. My Vitamin E is low, as is my calcium. I worry too much, and I need to cut back on my sweets. Then the palm reading...apparently I am 4th generation reincarnation from my paternal line. On top of that, I will have three part time jobs at once, and 2 marriages. I've decided to take it all with a grain of salt. Mario clarified later that "marriage" could be interpreted loosely. After the palm reading I changed into a sarong, was scrubbed down with beetle leaves (from the tree of the beetle nut), and then had the longest and most intensive spa treatment ever. The three of us were all in the same room, so, again, we had to let go of some of our western ideas, this time about massage and privacy. A couple hours of scrubs, massage, rinses, and mysterious healing practices by Wayan and her apprentices left all of us feeling rather zoned, yet relaxed. We finished it all with a vitamin lunch and a walk home.

I think that pretty much sums it all up. Laura and I are quite hungry, so I'm going to post this without much of a read through, so please forgive any major editing problems (same goes for most of these posts while I'm traveling). If you got this far, thanks, as always, for reading. I'll see you in Phnom Penh.

Loving Lovina

I have much to say about our two days in Ubud, but the keyboard I'm typing on right now is super sticky and I'd rather describe it all when the words can flow more freely (and when I have my notes in front of me). So come back in a few days for that one. But I will say that we had an amazing time in Ubud, and it is one of the few places that I've traveled to in my life that I want to be sure to get back to some day. Don't get me wrong, I've seen some amazing and beautiful places in my time, but there was something about this town that drew me in and I'd love to go back to. Maybe it was Mario. He. Is. The. Best. If you ever find yourself in Bali, please contact me to get his info because he really made our trip for us and he would be "very happy" if we recommended him. We were very sad to see him go, but he said he would call us tomorrow to say goodbye.

This morning he drove us the 3 hours north to Lovina, where we are now. He brought us to a great hotel where we're each paying about $12 a night. Sure, we could probably get something for $5 or $10, but this is a beautiful place a little separated from the main part of town, near the black sand beach, and would easily go for over $100 a night in the States. And except for the rowdy rooster next door to the internet place and the guy singing Leaving On A Jet Plane with his guitar, it's very quiet.

During our drive north, we went up quite a bit in elevation so had some great photo opportunities of the lush landscape. Laura and I were so captivated by the view, we completely failed to see the two guys standing right next to our car each holding a giant bat. I've never seen bats like that before (and hope to never see them in the wild). One of them was quite flexible. I won't go into detail except to say that men in our country would have to remove a rib or two to be able to do what we witnessed this bat doing. We made a stop a little later on to hike down to a pituresque waterfall, and then finished the drive. This part of the island has more roundabouts and wider streets, but the ubiquitous and colorful offerings to the Hindu gods are aplenty here as well. It's beautiful to see women walking the streets in their sarongs and traditional lacy tops with trays of handmade bamboo dishes filled with flowers, incense, and usually (maybe always) a little bit of food.

Laura and I are scheduled to go on a dolphin watch first thing in the morning and then to spend the rest of the day snorkeling on a little island off the north coast that is also a national part. Budi, the owner of the Suma Hotel where we are staying, has arranged everything, and we feel we are in good hands. We had to pay him up front (as is typical in this part of the world, it seems), but were short on cash. Two of his employees took us on our first motor bike ride (with helmets) to the ATM where I found that my bank seems to have shut me down since I made the mistake of not telling them I was traveling. Note to self: always call the bank. I will call them tonight and hopefully get it squared away by tomorrow. As Mario would say, "No problem."

That's all for now. Tune in later for stories about traditional dancing, Wayan the healer, mongoose poop coffee, and other Balinese adventures.

Thank you for reading!

P.S. Our resident musician has moved on to Sweet Child Of Mine.

Bali Hai, Bali-wood, Bali very very good

I realized in my last entry I completely failed to mention that the night before we left Phi Phi, the five of us went to a muay thai match, or thai boxing. They were offering free buckets (what I'm guessing to be pretty foul tasting buckets of alcohol) to anyone who volunteered to fight. I considered it for a second given the great story it would give me, but then after reflecting for just a second on many failed pillow fights with my brother as a child, I decided against it. The scene was less than appealing, but something worth checking out if you get a chance to see locals fight and not some drunken frat boys who thought it would be a good idea to impress the ladies.

After I last left you, Laura and I got on a ferry back to Phuket for the night before flying to Bali. We stayed at the very pleasant but unfortunately named Golddiger's Resort in Nai Yang, one of the northwest beaches of Phuket. This place had more of the friendly Thai hospitality and smiles we were told to expect but seemed to be lacking in Phi Phi. The resort is run by a Swedish man and has a lovely pool, a good menu, and breezy and clean rooms, though a bit sterile in aesthetic. I highly recommend staying there if you are passing through the Phuket area any time soon and need a place near the airport.

Given our traveling troubles from before, Laura and I had decided to change our connecting flight from Kuala Lumpur to Bali so if there were any delays, we wouldn't have a problem. When we arrived at the airport, we found out that the the later flight that we had already paid the change fee for had been canceled and we were back on our original flight. At that point there was nothing we could do about it except hope for the best.

As we made our descent into Malaysia, I noticed that the familiar greenery one often sees flying into most airports (or most I'd been to) was different than what I was used to seeing. The usual deciduous and evergreens were replaced with endless palms. It was really quite cool to see. So as not to bore you with logistical details, our connection went smoothly and soon enough we were on our flight to Bali. One thing we did notice as a marked difference between Thailand and Malaysia was the Islamic influence in Malaysia, so much so that one of our female pilots was donning a head scarf.

Around 9:00 PM, we found our way to the Sayang Maha Mertha Hotel in Legian Beach just north of Kuta. Kuta is known for its ridiculous party scene and is overrun with underaged drunken Australians and was also the site of the club bombing in 2002. Needless to say, we stayed away from the club scene, but did venture out to meet up with a friend of a friend who had just landed in the Kuta area the day before. In a bit of a comedy of errors, Laura and I ended up at Ben's hotel to leave him a note at the same time, we later found out, that he was at our hotel trying to find us and thus leaving us a note. We connected with him eventually around midnight which, I should add, is the latest I've been up this whole trip even counting New Year's. We stayed up for a few more hours and Ben will be meeting up with us here in Ubud tomorrow.

Ubud! We got on a bus this morning for the hour-long ride to Ubud. For those of you that have read Eat, Pray, Love (which, by now I'm guessing, you've all figured out is the book whose author I was referring to in earlier entries), you'll remember Ubud as the site of Elizabeth Gilbert's visit to Bali in the third part of her personal journey. In her email to me before I left, she recommended we stay at the Ubud Inn and be sure to ask for Mario. Those of you that have read the book will also remember Mario as the man that brought Liz to the medicine man, Ketut Liyer, and was helpful in many other ways.

The bus driver dropped us off at Monkey Forest road and we walked by a myriad of colorful stalls selling batik fabrics, bags, dresses, necklaces, and various figurines. I should also add that on our drive we passed through a town with endless rows of Buddhist and Hindu statues by which I was so captivated that by the time I realized I might want to take a picture of all of them, they had passed me by. But back to town...after turning down many many offers for "transport" and "taxi" we finally found the Ubud Inn but not until after we passed the Monkey Forest itself. We have yet to go inside, but there are enough monkeys hanging out in the street and making lots of noise in the trees for you to know that there are, in fact, monkeys in the aptly named Monkey Forest.

Laura and I settled in to our lovely room on the beautiful grounds of the Ubud Inn. The Ubud Inn is exactly the kind of place you want to stay when you think of staying in Bali. Beautiful gardens, a refreshing pool, a friendly staff, spacious rooms with balconies, and nice lighting. There is nothing to complain about. Mario was not in when we arrived, so Laura and I decided to cool off in the pool and clean up. As it was close to 3:00 and we hadn't eaten lunch, we headed back to the street when we were greeted and welcomed by yet another friendly staff member. When I asked him his name, sure enough it was Mario. I told him that we had come to the Ubud Inn just to find him because Elizabeth Gilbert had told us to and he could not have been more delighted. He excused himself from the people he had been talking to and eagerly tended to us to make sure that we were all taken care of. He said that many many people come to see the "medicine man and the medicine woman. But very few people come to see Mario." I said, "Well, we are here to see Mario!" I think he is literally the nicest person I have ever met in my life. Tomorrow he will take us all around the area: to the artist colony, the mountain and the rice terraces, a temple, a local living compound, and probably to his personal home for us to meet his son. And something about a place where good and evil fight, but sometimes good wins and sometimes bad wins, so this will go on until eternity. I suspect I will find out more about that tomorrow.

When I said "thank you" to him in his language, he said, "Oh! Tomorrow we will only speak Indonesian then!" This, of course, was followed by a huge smile and a great laugh. The day after tomorrow, he is arranging for us to go white water rafting and then to have a full beauty treatment from Wayan, a friend of Ms. Gilbert's. He said that Ketut Liyer's place has gotten very commercial and while they used to go and make an offering and a donation, now it costs 300,000 rupiah (about $30 USD) to get your palm read, so maybe it was not worth our money. I have decided to fully trust Mario and do whatever it is that he tells me to do for my stay in Ubud. So we had lunch where he directed us and I had a crispy duck and a fresh mango shake. I miss my coconut shakes from Phi Phi, but fresh mango will certainly do.

We spent the evening checking out some of the local shops and stalls, where everyone wants to sell you something for good luck or for a little less if you take it right now instead of coming back tomorrow. On top of that, everyone wants to know where we are from and if we are sisters. Much more inquisitive than the people we encountered in Thailand. Also, we've noticed much more catcalling/unwated attention here than in Thailand (were there was none). I think we'll be just fine though, especially with Mario by our side.

Bye Bye Phi Phi

Laura and I are about to head to the ferry to go back to the mainland, where we will spend a night at the unfortunately named Golddigger's Resort in Phuket and then head out tomorrow for Bali. We'll spend our first night in the party town of Kuta, as it's near the airport, and then head up to Ubud as per Elizabeth Gilbert's suggestion, and stay at the Ubud Inn. We plan on living it up Eat, Pray, Love style for a few days and giving our over sunned backs a rest before heading back to the beach, perhaps on the northern coast of the island.

Our day around the undeveloped Ko Phi Phi Leh proved to be another beautiful one. Our longboat driver, Chai, brought us to a few different bays, including the "ludicrously popular" (Lonely Planet) Maya Bay. We ended up not staying there for too long, but enjoyed the snorkeling in one of the neighboring coves. We saw some electrically beautiful fish amidst the limestone cliffs and coral. On our way back to Phi Phi Don, we stopped at Monkey Beach where tourists were causing a bit of a feeding frenzy with bananas, chips, and white bread that they fed to the monkeys. Our guide called them "sea monkeys" so that's the best I can do to identify them, but they were, for the most part, mild mannered, minus the one that looked a bit disgruntled when I went to take his picture and I realized through the screen on my digital camera that he might charge me if I didn't step away. Step away I did.

The next day we all decided to take an unexpectedly strenuous hike to the middle of the eastern part of the island up to the Phi Phi Viewpoint. We learned up there that the island used to have much more extensive vegetation covering before the tsunami. However, the vista that captured both Loh Dalum Bay to the north and Ton Sai Bay to the south was still quite breathtaking.

There we met a man named Paul from England and his Finnish wife, Anina (sometimes goes by Annie). Paul visits the island frequently to dive, though hadn't been back since 2006. Before that he'd been many times, including December 2004 when the tsunami ravaged the island. He was in his first floor hotel room at the time when both walls "exploded" around him and water rushed in. His first thought was that the floor of his guest house had fall out from under him, thus landing him in some sort of sewer. He realized that wasn't the case when he found himself with his forehead pressed against the concrete ceiling of his room and the water rising up to his chin. He was able to latch his fingers into some sort of groove and held on until the water receded a few minutes later.

Paul was outside when he heard verbal warnings of "another wave" coming. He thought it best to resume his position as the water rose again, this time a little higher. By his account, he had just enough room to breathe, though said that his life literally flashed before his eyes and he was sure he was going to die. By the time the third wave came, he had made it to the roof of a nearby building. He was evacuated the next day to Krabi Province, but lost some friends, local and farang (foreign), although he traveled alone. He said he returns to Phi Phi to seek closure, and this was the first time that his new bride was able to come with him. We talked to the couple for a bit longer and then parted ways.

We took a wrong turn at some point on our mildly treacherous hike down through the jungle to the eastern shore of the island. We were planning on going to that side of the island, but we ended up much farther north than we had originally anticipated. When the path finally lead us to sand, we had arrived on Ran Tee beach, a choppy departure from the still bays of the main land strip where we were staying and of Ko Phi Phi Leh. After enjoying a quiet few hours and a pleasant Thai lunch, we got a taxi boat to take us back around to Ton Sai Bay.

This morning we packed up and said goodbye to Alex, Becky, and Laurie as they head to Ko Lanta and we head back to Phuket. I have booked my ticket from Cambodia to Australia for a couple weeks from now, but in the mean time and really looking forward to our time in Bali and then Cambodia. Laura and I are trying to stay stress free as we realize we are avoiding various disasters like the devastating fire in a Bangkok club and an earthquake in Jakarta. Not to worry...we are staying very alert and out of nightclubs.

See you in Bali!

Happy New Year!

By now I think everyone in the world has rung in the new year. We are twelve hours ahead of Boston and another 3 ahead of Portland. Funny to think I was eating a late lunch in 2009 around the same time my friends on the west coast were drinking champagne and kissing strangers to celebrate a new beginning.

We are on Ko Phi Phi, or Kho Phi Phi, or Phi Phi Island (or Pee Pee Island as it's sometimes spelled here). Whatever you want to call it, I'll call it beautiful! A rose by any other name... Ko Phi Phi is actually two separate islands, Ko Phi Phi Don and the neighboring and uninhabited island, Ko Phi Phi Leh. The later was the filming location for Leonard DiCaprio's The Beach (1999? 2000?). It's one of those places that you see on screen and say, "Where is that!? That's where I want to be!" Of course it was not without some excitement that we made it here.

Jaran, our tuk-tuk driver in Chiang Mai arrived to the Siri Guesthouse to pick us up as planned. He was even a little early. We had printed up our boarding passes ahead of time. See, Air Asia doesn't do connecting flights; They only do single legs that you book separately. So we had a tight connection in Bangkok, and if we hadn't checked in ahead of time, we were going to have go out and then come back in through security to check in. We only had 50 minutes scheduled, so knew this wasn't a possibility. We tried printing our boarding passes, I should say, because of course the computer was only printing out Laura's and not mine. Luckily, when we got to the airport, because we had already checked in, the woman at the ticket counter gave us all of our boarding passes. Phew!

We got to the gate and were ready to board when...you guessed it...DELAYED!! That meant that our connection was going to be even tighter. We eventually boarded, but frankly, we were only going to have about 5 minutes between flights, if that. Flight took off, landed a little early, all was okay. I got off the plane to get on the bus that would shuttle us to the gate and then we figured we'd just book it to the next gate. Oh wait! The shuttle bus is going to take us right to arrivals? That meant it was going to dump us out past security and we'd have to go back through security. Good thing Laura was more on top of all of this than I was, since I was already on the shuttle bus. "Annie! Get off the bus!" I scrambled off the bus and the lead stewardess was saying something in Thai over her walkie talkie as Laura and I and a few others trying to make the flight to Phuket were waiting to see what was going on. A separate van pulled up a few seconds later and we piled in. Laura and I were the only two already with our boarding passes, so it looked like we were going to be able to board the plane. The van literally shuttled us from one plane to the next down the tarmac. We never even set foot in the Bangkok airport. The stewardess at the next flight checked our boarding pass and passports and let us board the plane. The other Phuket passengers who had been on our flight from Chiang Mai were not so lucky since they hadn't the foresight to check in online. Something tells me this would not have gone over so well in the U.S. Definitely not at SFO if you're trying to get to Tokyo on a tight connection...

On the plane we met up with Laura's friend, Alex Hammond (a planned meeting), and her mom, Laurie, and sister, Becky. They had just come from a few days in the northern part of the country, near Nan Province, where they spent time with some friends in one of the hill tribe villages. The flight to Phuket was without much excitement. We got the Hammonds' luggage (of which there was much, as they had acquired some goods in Bangkok and the village), and chartered a taxi to take us to our hotel, The Taste of Phuket. When we arrived, all of the power in the neighborhood was out, so we had a few cold beers across the street and found a restaurant that was serving food from their gas stove by candlelight. Needless to say, our air conditioning and hotel lights weren't working, and so we got ready for bed also by candlelight, took a couple of benedryl, and slept through the night.

In the morning we got the same taxi to come get us and take us to the pier where we got on the Phi Phi Cruiser for a ferry ride that was going to be anywhere from 1.5 hours to 3 hours. Ours was more of a 3 hour tour, but it flew by as we were both entertained and distracted (and a little grossed out) by the flying fish and the amorous display of a European couple sitting across from us. It was the later that grossed us out, not the flying fish. The flying fish looked like little golden snitches (a la Harry Potter) skimming the top of the water and then disappearing again--as elusive as the golden snitch, I suppose.

And so here we find ourselves on this beautiful island with no cars and beautiful beaches. Our hotel provided a buffet dinner to celebrate the new year. Some traditional Thai dancing and a singer singing the likes of John Denver and the Eagles with a Thai accent provided the entertainment for the evening. I went to bed before midnight only to be woken up by the sound of fireworks at 11:59 (by my watch).

Yesterday we made a little bit of a trek east towards Long Beach, which is a less crowded and much more swimmable (sp?) beach than the one we had gone to the day we arrived. Despite my best efforts at keeping up with the sunscreen, I got completely sunburned and today will be snorkeling with a t-shirt on (and better sunscreen). The most expensive thing I have bought so far on my trip was the $11 bottle of aloe.

Well, the rain seems to have subsided for now, so we will get ready for our long boat trip to Ko Phi Phi Leh's Maya Bay and other scenic stops.

Happy 2009! Now we can begin the countdown to 1.20.09!