Friday, May 22, 2009

May 21-22. Mersing. Internet day. Discovered I've had dust on my Canon 5D's image sensor for a few weeks now. Thanks to the high quality monitors here in Malaysia. Also updated all my images and blog. Thanks again to Malaysia's for a good Internet connection.

Melodie`s sandals got stolen presumably by a hotel cleaning person. Walk the ocean road and did a park workout circuit. Grazed at a local night market and tried all the unfamiliar dishes & treats.

Win a free prize if you can find the dust in my unedited pictures!
May 19-20. Bali -> SIN. Took the night plane to Singapore on Lion Air. Only a 2 hour flight but we got a full meal for free. Strange these days. Arrived at 3am. Slept in the airport until 8. Took the MRT train to Little India. Eat some delicious food. After which we found some Internet and got directions to Mersing, Malaysia. The combination of buses and border crossing worked extremely well. After arrival we got a place to stay and some local fare. When we got back to our room we found hundreds of bed bugs all over our stuff and the room. Turns out the owner has been having a little problem. He refunded our room and we moved to a bug free hotel. Luckily we had a balcony to quarantine our bags until we figure out how to de-bug them.
May 15-18. Kuta.
Beach time a plenty. Book reading a many.
Fell deeply in love with the fried treat Martabak Telor.
Witnessed a ceremony which ends in stabbing ones self with a sharpened wood sword. Used slow and unreliable Internet.
Imbibed with some friendly French folks.
Danced better then anyone has punch danced before.
Searched the entire beach for a bookstore with something more intellectual then romance novels. Came up empty handed.
Witnessed possibly the best fire dancers in the world. On the beach for sunset w/drumming.
May 14. Ubud -> Kuta. Uneventful ride it was not. Unlike usual we didn't lose our way. Strait through Denpensar onto Route 1. Not far out on 1 we got pulled over by the local law enforcement. My first thought was the Grateful Dead tune Shakedown Street. "Tell me this town ain't got no heart". Safe in the fact I was doing nothing wrong I stood calm. He demanded my papers. I handed the bikes registration/ownership and my passport. During my trip research I'd learned of a scam the cops use to make extra money. Demand an international licence that not one traveler carries. Sure enough that's what Officer Jerk Face wanted. "If I take you in its 500 Rupiah." "But I'll make you special price 200". Me, "What a nice guy special price". So I told him I only had a couple Dollars worth of Rupiah on me. Which I gave him. Then I started writing all his badge info in my notebook that I always carry. I figured if he gave me more trouble I'd have it. Just in case. Man! did he start getting scared. "Thank you, Thank you, friend, friend, thank you".
So now I can say I've bribed the police. Worth a couple bucks to me!
May 11-13. Ubud. Ubud was such a pleasure the first time we headed back. During our first full day in town we visited the biggest art gallery. The collection to my untrained eye was every good. It entertained for a better part of the day. Most interesting was the history of Bali through its art. Early into the gallery I could feel the rumble of trouble in my tummy...

Woke up the next day getting worse not better. Spent the day in bed popping antibiotics and Imodium AD. Read the better part of a 700 page novel.

Woke up feeling lighter weight and much better. Explored the markets and art vendors more. In retrospect I should have taken pictures of more Bali art. However it was raining and I wasn't 100% yet. Took a late afternoon motto ride in the rice paddies on the twisty roads.
May 10. Amed -> Ubud. Final day for diving. Again we headed to the Liberty wreak. The ship had been torpedoed during WW2 and towed to shore. After an eruption of Gang Agung in the 60's the ship ended up submerged. Now its home to fish and corals. Our guide took us in and out of the ships haul going down to 22 meters.

After our dive we jumped on the motto and headed to Ubud. The drive is scenic with vistas of rice terraces and winding roads through mountain villages. At some point in the day I eat some bad food. More on that later...

Thursday, May 21, 2009

Picture of Indonesia/Bali fully loaded. Had a headache getting them posted. My appologies for doubles and other problems you might find. Unreliable internet and fairly large uploads don't mix well.

Currently in Malaysia, Mersing

Saturday, May 16, 2009

Pictures From Bali have began the slow upload process!

Saturday, May 09, 2009

May 5 - 9. Amed and PADI. Headed for the coast for some fish and salty water. The local mafia has the bungalow prices set to rich diver year round these days. Due to Melodie's keen sense we found the only cheap place and settled in. The only down side to the place is the noise from the locals cock fighting operation. We explored the rocky beaches and cruised the scenic shore line roads. Complete with rice patties and cliff vistas of the ocean.

PADI. Finally its time to get dive certified. What better place then Bali. Fuji? Check out the local dive places. Settled with one under Dutch operation which has the "best" equipment. More on that later. In total its three days diving. I was nervous at first since I've never breathed under water before. However, our instructor was good and we all passed. Got 100% on the test. The PADI videos are like watching a long advertisement with commercials about safety. During our training dives we did pool work and visited one coral reef and the Liberty ship wreak. Both extremely cool!

Took a day off before our last two dives in Amed. Did this Blog update from Amlapura. Now its off to the night market for some food!
May 4-5. Gunung Agung 3142m. The first volcano was so cool that I had to see another. Also I miss hiking! First we attempted to climb the popular side of the mountain from Besakih. Again the fascist guides had a road block set up so you couldn't get around the jerks. Also they wanted a bunch of fees for some temple I have no desire is seeing. Once again its off to the "back" side of the mountain. On the way two people blocked the road and demanded money for the volcano gods and other crap. Then notified the guides that we headed to the mountain. Minutes later a "local" guide would show up on a motor bike trying to talk to us at 80km in hour.

You can drive half way up the hill to a temple. From there some guys ask you if you are hiking. You say no and fill a back pack with water. Him and his buddies eye your bike and grin. From the temple more guides demand you go with them. Then say there is only jungle from here no trail.

Once on the well marked trail its a demanding 2 hour hike to the top. Around noon the clouds roll in and lift only momentarily for the rest of the day. Didn't care about missing the views even though I hear they are great.
May 3-4. Gunung Batur. I couldn't go to Indonesia without seeing some volcanoes. We found accommodation on the creator rim road. Most of the towns moved here after the last eruption covered their homes with lava. We chose to hike the less popular south west. Its slightly lower in elevation and has the most volcanic activities. Finding the trail was difficult. The local fascist guide organization forces everyone to use a guide on the mellow trails for a mere $30 US. "Not unless you carry me up". At risk of motor bike vandalizing and harassment we explored the volcanoes. Our guest house owner helped with some hand drawn maps. I figured we just head to the base of the mountain and go up. This turned out to be a bit steep and a bad idea. "Hotshot country". Melodie is still talking to me so it couldn't have been that bad. Took some pictures and played around the steaming gas vent thingy's at the top.

After the hike we took the bike to the crater lake for a cruise.
April 30 - May 2. Ubud. Largest artist community I've ever seen. Crafts from painting, wood, jewelry and everything else. Lots of really great work and not all of it touristic. Ubud has a history with artist and is a really comfortable place due to that atmosphere. I don't claim to know enough about painting to make quality judgments. However, if I could easily take home some art from my travels this is were I would buy it.

Monkey Forest Sanctuary. Fun to walk around with all the monkeys. Took a few monkey portraits when they took a break from eating and reproducing. Strolled the rice gardens and a few terraced rice paddies.
April 23 - 29. Arrived in Bali. Again no guide book. Took a taxi to the wrong end of town. For us anyways. Expensive hotels and restaurants. Eventually found a home stay for more then we are used to paying. In retrospect sleeping on the beach would have been a better option.

Moved to Kuta/Legion a more youthful and cheap tourist mecca. Well know for its 2002 bombings. Also known for its surf which draws every drunk Aussie who thinks he can surf, Bro/Brah!

Tried my had at surfing. Only broke one fin off when I ran into some guy. I got up on the board a few times. Mostly just tried to not get hit or hit anyone. Very crowded surf and this is low season. Learn some valuable lessons. Replacement fins only cost US $3. Board resin/wax (for your feet on top the board) is why people wear shirts when they surf. Chest hair doesn't count as a shirt. Lessons are a good idea.

Rented motor bike to visit some other beaches and surf spots. Uluwatu - Rocky, reefs and cliffs. Experienced surfer hangout. Even though I was not cool enough to hangout in the surf the area is great.

Where are you going? "Dreamland" Another rocky beach in South Bali. Again great place with less people. Looks like they are in the process of turning it into a mall. If you think the boardwalks in Maryland are bad come to Bali in 10 years.

No visa extensions for us or anyone else. Got plane tickets back to Singapore for "cheap cheap" on one of Indonesia's many safe... airlines. Leave the 19th May. Went to the airport to buy tickets again. Turning out to be cheaper than the internet.

Pura Luhur Ulu Watu. Known for its cliff side temples, eye glass stealing monkeys and Kecak dance. We stayed for the dance which is very touristic. If you've seen the movie Baraka its like that chant. With the sun setting and the temples it was great. Our seats were not good for taking pictures and the scores of rude tourists took away from the actors performances.

Did I mention all the sitting on the beach, sunsets, swimming, fresh fruit and drumming?
April 21 - 23. Jakarta. Arrived late and without the assistance of a Lonely Planet guide book. Found a cab who took us to the cities backpacker ghetto for next to nothing. Spent several days in Jakarta planing our next move and taking in the cities delicious foods.

While in Jakarta I found my favorite street in Asia. No traffic at all, great food vendors and central location. Turns out the president of Indonesia, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, was going out to dinner. Explained the mellow traffic situation and come to think of it all the police.

Regretfully we didn't venture around Jakarta much at all. Back to the beach Bali bound.
April 19-21. Travel days. Long time on a bus. Many sleepless hours and painfully swollen feet. Not a recommended long haul. Arrived in Singapore after the cattle gates and mazes of the Malaysia/Singapore border crossing.
After grazing at some food stalls. The only cheap thing in Singapore. We walked to the Indonesia embassy to get 60 day visas. On arrival the office was closed and would take several days of waiting in Singapore to maybe get visas. Headed to the airport to check on last minute flights to Jakarta. Most likely the cheapest place to fly to from Singapore so we got tickets.