Wyoming Treats Em Well On Her Birthday

This is Meg checking into the blog world again after a long absence. We already have so many good stories from living in Wyoming that we've decided to keep this blog going for our friends who would like to hear about it all. I'm even working on getting some photos on this. ;-)

Monday was Emily's birthday. We took the day off from settling in and wor

k and just enjoyed being here. We had a breakfast on the porch in the sun where my Dad and I gave Em her birthday present: new cowboy bo

ots. Our friend Kathryn had the most appropriate reply to this news from Em: "Oh hell, we've lost you for good." They are that good looking!

Then I took Em hiking into the Snowy Range Mountains (the range to the west of us), but down low where the snow has already melted. We hiked in along a mountain creek and then headed up for a view. We wandered around on game trails for 6 hours and never saw another human. We did see many wildflowers, expansive views, antelope, deer, a beaver busily building his home and found a huge mule deer antler.

When we got back to the truck we rinsed off in the fresh, cold creek and changed i

nto our dinner clothes. After 45 min drive we were back in Laramie at the sushi restaurant where we met my dad and two long time family friends who Emily knows and enjoys. (Yes, now with 'flash freeze' capability, sushi is tasty this far from the ocean!) At dinner our friends recounted stories of being in protests of the 60s in Wyoming and D.C. After just being in Vietnam and thinking a lotabout this time in history, it was really amazing to hear first hand accounts about this time. My dad was in the army but was stationed in Germany during the war. But then he and my mom were in grad school in Chicago during the famous trail where Bobby Seale was tied and gagged in a federal courtroom. Dave was in the army and was in Vietnam and then was in grad school in Maryland when the Berrigan priests andco. burned the draft cards. Jenny lived here but was in D.C. for a League of Women Voters meeting and they stayed another day for the first half-million march. She learned at a lunch with congressmen in D.C. "not to worry, that everything was under control at the University of Wyoming protests. The National Guard was on its way." Meanwhile, she knew her husband Mike would be at those protests when he wasn't teaching a class.

This history hits home in ways in never did when we learned about it in school. I assume this has to do with being in Vietnam this year and just being older and seeing how the world works from personal experience instead of out of a book. I have a great deal more appreciation for the protest movements of the 60s and 70s these days. We go through life and forget that everyday people have gotten together and done the most amazing things in this world. Powerto the People. I suppose that is where that saying came from.

So all and all, it was a good Wyoming birthday, or so I am told. We ended the day with a soak in the hot tub on the porch. Life is good. And this was the first day that it really hit me why we moved here. ;-)

last day

It is the last day of the trip, and we are back in Hanoi. Fittingly, on the last day, I managed a whole interaction at lunch in Vietnamese. We are wrapping up strong, after taking in so much over so long and weathering the major ups and downs of travel. Yesterday's stop was maybe our favorite of all, visiting the root temple of Thich Naht Hahn in Hue, Vietnam. We had a chance to hear the monks chanting, and talk with one of the brother's who spoke very good English. He knows Thay and several of the monastics at Blue Cliff Monstery in New York, it was really fun to play "do you know..." with a monk all the way across the globe. After the hectic environment of travel and motorbikes and tourism and the grinding poverty and desperation, juxtaposed with scrappy 24/7 industriousness we have seen, it was so wonderful to see the nuns and monks smiling and laughing, working in the garden, doing landscaping, and visiting with lay-friends. We've rested in some nice hotels, are clear of stomach bugs (for the moment) and even have a couple items of clean clothes for the plane. We are ready to come home and start the next major adventure of life, heading out to Wyoming with the truck and the cats, leaving NYC on May 10.

We love you all and more from the next chapter!
Em and Meg

totally negligent

well, we've totally neglected to keep up the blog because our good friend Jill Krauss flew over here and we've been running around between the Halong Bay, Sapa, Hoi An and the toilet. Yup, we all fell ill to some bug, whether food or water or beer or whatnot, we were quite a crew. The Halong Bay turned out the best of it's weather for us...the cool spooky mist that it is famous for, and then sparkling sun for swimming and kayaking and gazing at the incredible seascape. The Halong Bay is still home to many people living on floating villages, making a living off fishing and selling drinks and snacks to tourists. We were saddened by the pollution, as we have been in many many of the worlds great wondrous places...from the tour boats, from careless tourists, and from the fishing villages themselves...I've thought a lot on this trip about how poverty and repeated war and colonization leave legacies...in governments that are too corrupt to create adequate waste disposal, people that are too busy living hand to mouth to create a system to preserve their surroundings, and the demoralizing effect of having wealthy tourists bargain for a bottle of water from someone on a fishing boat. Yikes...it's been a heavy trip, and we were greatly relieved to realize we don't have to be having "fun" all the time...we are just here to learn about the world and be out in it a bit. We also toured a valley on an island in the Halong Bay that saw a lot of fighting during the "American War" to secure arms imports, and a cave that was used by the Vietnamese army as a hospital. The guide spoke good english and made both Meg and I cry when he talked about influence of the American public's demonstrations in ending the war, and the knowledge that the people of a country are different from the governments of the country. We also looked around at the dense and hilly jungle and thought about Kids younger than us fighting to survive in a place so foreign we are even homesick sitting by the pool. Sigh...it's been an intense time here in Vietnam.
However, we saw a magical sunset, experienced the MOST intense thunderstorm as we slept on the boat (I was terrified the mast would be struck by lightening but Jill and Meg thought it was absolutely amazing.) Halong Bay means "Descending Dragon" and the Dragon descended indeed that night. The next evening we Kayaked though the karst formations, ate vietnamese barbecue, and the moon rose that night full and orange and heavy as we played cards on the porch of our bungalow.

Next we shipped off (yup still thinking about the war) on the overnight sleeper train to the mountains on the border of China, to Sapa...where we had a mixed experience. The absolute top highlight of this segment was the guide we had to take us hiking, she is a Hmong woman a bit younger than us, whose name we pronounced Mo. Surely there was a better pronunciation but this was the best we could do. She doesn't know how old she is, but agreed when being registered as a guide to the approximate age of 27. She is married and has two kids and doesn't read or write, but is one of the smartest and most astute and intuitive people we ever met. We chose not to sign up for a homestay in a village, which is what most people do, because some of the "homestay" situations we saw in other countries were sort of grotesque, treating the native populations as a zoo, where you can stay over and "see how they really live " but you stay in a in a room with other tourists. Mo of course said she wished we had more time because she would take us to her village, it broke all of our hearts a bit that we did not allow more time up there. Sapa itself turned out to be a bit of a "meet the natives" gauntlet with young children pleading with tourists to "buy something from me." Our two day hikes were to close villages that felt overrun by tourist shops, with odd paradoxes of people overspending on trinkets and children who clearly did not have enough to eat and were not being looked after. The scenery, however, was stunning, and getting to spend the day asking Mo personal and cultural questions was tireless. The weather, again, was a miracle and revealed at turns misty peaks, shimmering rice terraces, and stunning panoramas.

We returned to Hanoi again on the overnight train and after breakfast went to the airport to fly down to Hoi An, the aincient town. This is where the wheels started comiong off the wagon...Jill, finally recovered from her Jetlag, caught a head and chest cold. The first night in Hoi An, I woke up with a stomach ache, and threw up three times in the night. Jill and Meg went off to check out the town and I lay about, recovering in the evening just in time to see Meg through the sickest night I have ever seen...sparing you the details but she hardly had a chance to lie down between being sick. In the meantime, Jill encountered GI distress and a worsening head cold. Our plans to see the town and order clothes from the countless tailor shops in the morning, and head to the beach for the rest of the day, were thwarted. We did all manage to buy some great clothes and lounge by the gorgeous pool some, but Jill only made it to the beach one morning before she hopped back on the plane to go home and start Jet lag recovery all over again.

Meg and I have one more full day here, and have no sightseeing ambitions. we want to rest up, enjoy the pool and read, and come home in one piece so we are fresh to see you all and hit the road for part II.

"Hanoi makes NYC seem bucholic"

Meg is rolling out some memorable quotes these days. Hanoi is stunning, full of surprises and not surprisingly, reveles layers and layers every day. Life in Hanoi takes place on the street, compared to other places where all the locals disapear to eat at home with their families, the Vietnamese in Hanoi pull up tiny plastic chairs to tiny plastic tables and order food from stalls that make only one thing. This makes it easy to order of course, and people are thrilled when we try their food and try repeatedly to say "delicious," the word for which is Ngon, but seems unpronounceable to western toungs. Ours, anyway. We learned another word, for "good," "tot" which, when we use the two together we can make ourselves understood. This is handy, because we are seriously eating everything in sight, well...almost, I have not yet braved the organ meats soups. Vietnamese is a tonal language, so and up or down or even or low or high tilt changes the meaning of the word completely. Despite this, we've mastered please, thank you, the numbers 1-7, "how much does it cost" (though I have a really hard time understanding the answer and have resorted to the technique of fanning out my money and letting the person choose the appropriate bills. Not the best technique. All manner of things are traded in the street; sweets, shoes, car parts, animal parts, pirated DVD's, snake wine...(?!) and clothes. We took a brief side trip, we were going to spend a few days in the outlying area, but we liked Hanoi and were eager for something to be familiar for a few days, so we hightailed it back and have two more days here before Jill Krauss joins us and we head off to the famed Halong Bay. On our way back to town we met an older australian couple and a young woman from Montreal, and spent the day with all of them today. It was refreshing to swap stories and trade tips and share a lot of laughs. Meg laughs particularily hard when she gets to tell the story of me somehow dialing an outside line when I was trying to reach the front desk of our hotel (I swear I only pushed 0 and #!) and asking repeatedly, about 10 different ways, if we could flush the toilet paper or if it needed to go in the trash bin, before the patient woman on the other end made it clear that I had dialed a household. "I don't know why you ask me this" she was trying to explain. She laughed very hard when we figured it all out.

Hanoi!

chao ban, hello from Hanoi! We've made it. Much of this whole trip was planned out of a desire to get to Vietnam, and we are here, we have a little over three weeks. It feels oddly familiar and "homey" to be here, maybe because of the time we've spent with the Vietnamese monastics at Blue Cliff, but we both slept about 10 hours last night after downing a bowl of pho and wandering circles around our hotel eating treats on the street and not getting killed by motorbikes, which takes a lot of effort. We have a week before Jill joins us for 2 weeks, and we are going to go on the slow program, taking it all in and not rushing to try to see everything and go everywhere.

Too Many Temples When.....

In a previous post Emily misquoted me a bit. Since we keep laughing about the quote, I thought I would share. We were looking at yet another gorgeous old temple, and in my slightly delirious tourist mode (meaning I've seen too much to take in), I pointed out some old carving to her and apparently I said "Hey Em look, these are some really old somethinurothers."
That about sums it up.

Lost in Laos

Meg reporting in:
Lovely, sleepy, smoggy Laos bends around my mind, creating a general lost feeling I have had since we arrived. Not that we are actually lost, but the far-awayness of this Indochine landscape lends itself to a sense of being hidden in a perpetual Opium cloud. I dont particularly want to be lost here either, but I see how it sucks some people in, especially if one wants to be lost. We are not doing drugs, nor have we seen opiates or their clouds, but still I can't escape the general description of hazy other-worldness that I feel here. Its' mythic image fits, for now.
Adding to that general cloudy feel is the fact that we landed here in the peak of the dry season
which, unbeknownst to us before hand (who needs to read guidebooks?), is the time of the year when the farmers burn the fields (hillsides) to prepare for next years crops (rice, banannas and I'm not sure what else). The smoke has progressively gotten thicker and thicker as our week goes on. Today is our first full day in Luang Prabang, Laos' famed World Heritage city on the Mekong, and eventhough it is 3pm outside it looks like a hazy golden hour of sunset.
The only other time I have witnessed skys like this is the summer of 2000 in Montana when we had those terrible raging forest fires. I was working on the E bar L ranch up the Blackfoot river, and I distinctly recall a vivid day when even at high noon we could not make out the mountains, and barely the sun for all the smoke in the sky. At the time it was one of the spookiest days I ever experienced. But that was also because we were in the mountains and not being able to see them for all the smoke made it particularly unnerving in case a fire was nearby and headed our way. Apparently this is normal for here this time of year.
Yesterday we took a shuttle bus over and through the mountains from the south to Luang Prabang. We were trying to get on a full sized bus, but they were full, so they put us in a van. The van seats 9 comfortably, but could hold 12, so of course we had 12 in it. We had heard this drive is very windy and beautiful. It is both, but in the heart of the burn season it is also a bit depressing and oppressive. We could make out amazing mountain (or limestone shists) peaks through the haze, but sometimes even the close distant view was too hazy to see across. And hillside after hillside was in a slow burn. The only possible original forests we have seen are clinging to the steep cliffs, where people can't go. But even those seem to be missing large diameter timber trees. (I'm out of my knowledge base here.. soo more research is needed before I say anything else). Also we have only been on the one main route North-South in Laos. I hear, and hope, there are protected areas off the main drags.
I'm sincere when I say that was the most intense mountain road I have ever been on. I thought "sure it's windy, but I've lived in the mountains and been over many passes before. It can't be that bad." Well let me tell you, it is! Imagine Teton pass for 6 hours. The drive actually took close to 7 hours. But after the first hour, the remaining 6 hours were constant 'hold on to your seat' type switchbacks.' Up and down, around, up and down-- it seriously never ended. The van barely could chug up some of the passes. I don't think the grade was as steep as Teton pass the whole way, but the tight turns were relentless. There was a little air conditioning, which seemed to stop working uphill, so we resorted to opening the windows. This did create a breeze, but it also meant inhaling hot summer fire smoke for the whole ride.
At one point I dozed off (while still holding the seatback in front of me at all times to keep from crushing the people on either side of me) and in my inbetween dream-world state I was flooded with a happy warm feeling and I realized I was having a sense memory of living in Montana during the fire season when it smelled like smoke constantly for months. And since I have been very homesick for the Rockies and the states on this trip, even the smell of burning Montana made me happy in my dream state.
Our driver did a great job. I did find myself closing my eyes tight on some turns we went into with a lot of speed, like I do on carnival rides that scare me. But he obviously had made that trip many times and knew the speeds it could take. And even though I am getting a little carsick just thinking about it, I have to say that the only thing that could make that trip worse would be to drag it out for another few hours, which is how it would go if our driver did go any slower. We also passed 3 other vans and one truck that were broken down. I say we were glad as ever to make it to Luang Prabang when we did.
I dont claim to know the ins and outs of culture, economics, politics, or the environment here, but I can't help but be disturbed by all the burning. It is so intense. And I know it is a complicated issue that has to do with governments and class and food supply, but seriously I can't see how this is sustainable. I dont think anyone claims it is, but it just really makes certain issues sink in more in me. Before I ramble more about this I need to research. But in short I can say it makes me think a lot about home: how grateful I am to have fresh air much of the time and how it can also change with a drought and fires at any time. Mostly I am so much more grateful to live in a country where at least we have the resources and freedom to address environmental issues and try to create sustainable systems. I dont think we are better people or anything, it just ties in with having enough economic stability to at least look at alternatives. And I know that the U.S. is also a culprit in all of this in more ways than one, even all the way over here. In fact, especially all the way over here. But alas that is too long of an entry already. More soon as we are resting in a place where we have regular computer access. It has been brought to my attention that Emily's blogs tend to hit the high notes, and since I'm not blogging much, we tend not to mention the low points. But soon enough I'll write more about the unglamorous side of world travel.
And, by the way, Luang Prabang is lovely. So far it does seem to be all it is cracked up to be.

who knew crocodile would be my home base?

This, in ALL sincerity, from Meg. We went to a place for dinner last night that was NFT, not for tourists. We ordered three dishes, a meat and mint dish, a papaya salad and, to be adventurous, crocodile. The other dishes we SO spicy we could not eat them, and were scrambling for bites of crocodile and rice. Who knew?!

Vinetiane was fascinating but we left the city to head up the very well travelled route to Luang Prabang, and stopped in Vang Vieng. Without fail, when I am in charge of selecting the place to stay, we walk and walk and walk out of town with our bags, over a bridge, around the bend and the next bend, and I'm thinking, oh god, Meg's going to kill me, that place and that place and that place seem perfectly fine. BUT, it never fails to go as far from town as you can. Out of range of the backpacker bars and tourism offices, we have a little cabin with a porch over a creek, set in gardens, and looking directly out to the famed limestone karsts of northern Laos. The restuaraunt serves (gratefully) westernized Lao food, meaning we can eat it without burning our lips off, and is at the edge of a great loop for cycling and hiking the mountains and villages around us. Tomorrow we hit the rier for kayaking and exploring caves, and then I think this porch merits a (few?) rest days.

Vientiane

Our first 24 hours in Laos and on Mainland SE Asia are treating us well. Planning to do little today after flying all day yesterday, we've had some food, excellent coffee, strolled along the Mekong River (which the chinese appear to be developing) and stumbled upon some amazing temples with saffron-robed monks strolling about. We also found a museum with an incredible collection of Buddha statues, and unable to find it in the guidebook for a while, Meg pointed out some amazing carvings, observing..."look those things are really really old." The climate is MUCH cooler, to our great relief, and we're excited to be here.

refreshed in Jakarta, tomorrow to Laos!

We are in Jakarta right now, enjoying the apartment of a friend of mine whose husband works here for the US embassy. We've done laundry, watched some TV, taken hot showers, and enjoyed flushing the toilet! We're repacked, and fly out tomorrow mid day. Our last stop in Yogyakarta was terrific, it felt nice to be back from the rural areas of Lombok and into a city with it's own verve, art scene, cuisine and some hustle and bustle independent of the tourist dollars. The last two days we visited the Hundu temple site Prambanan, and The Buddhist monument of Borobudor, which was amazing, and one of our favorite stops so far. The monument was built in layers, and as you walk around each layer, stone carved reliefs depict the Buddha's life and teachings. I am in no way doing it any sort of justice here, but can't really. Sometimes there aren't really pictures or words, and even some experiences leave me wondering if I really took it in or if I just saw something and then moved on to something else, but it is days later thinking of walking along the same stones and looking at the same relifs that thousands of monks have come as pilgrimage that I feel what has stayed with me from each experience. That's all for now, more soon! Em

sadiket ca ca

my most useful indonesian phrase yet, "a little spicy." Indonesia continues to confound and blow us away. in Bali, the Balinese speak, well, Balinese, are devoutly Hindu, and have their own customs and dress and ways. On Lombok, the Sasak people are agreeably Mulsim loosely on tomp of aincient tradition and beliefs. They speak Sasak and Sasak food seems dominated by chilies. We we are now in Java, in Yogyakarta, where people are Muslim, of varying degrees, Hindu, Christian, Buddhist, and speak Javanese, and of course, the young national language, Indonesian.

Yogya is cosmopolitan, busy but not overcrowded, arty, old and wonderful. Our first night we stumbled upon a night organized by a gay youth group promoting awareness of the gay and trans population, which is significantly marginalized and invisible. We missed much of the performances but saw an art exhibit which was really amazing.

Today we mostly walked around eating things from street carts and then went to a Batik studio to watch the process and learn about the art.

More soon!

Moving on...

All packed up and ready to head to Yogyakarta...sad farewells to our friends here! The family that ran our homestay, Minh, Jum and their 2 year old son who kept asking for us after we brought him a lollypop, could not have been nicer and more helpful. Even when we asked them to remove an enormous spider from our bathroom, knocked on their door concerned about the tsunami, and were pretty unsettled by the small earthquake off the Bali Sea preceding the big one in Japan. It woke me up but Meg slept right through. Minh even loaned us her own helmets because we didn't want to drive the scooters without them.

We are also sad to say goodbye to Rasta, the best surf teacher ever, who told us all about when surfing came to his small fishing village and how life has changed, mostly for the better, for all involved. The price of fish and seaweed is higher for all the tourist restaurants, the village has concrete homes now and better water, and local kids have a trade running surf boats and teaching surfing. The local kids were amazing, they could see a swell coming where none of us could, and effortlessly paddle to exactly the right spot and glide up to their feet. We got a great shot of Joe, our favorite and sweetest boatman EVER, surfing a beautiful wave.

It's far to come, but lots to recommend Kuta Lombok.
emily

Sampa Jumpa Nanti Lombok!

See you soon Lombok!
That's the best of my Indonesian, aside from hello, goodbye, thank you, good morning, good night, and "two please" We are leaving Lombok Monday morning to head to Yogyakarta, not Jakarta, as the travel agent seemed to think. After a day or so of negotiating, he booked us on to Yogya, as I will now say, to avoid confusion.

Lombok was great, the swell slowed down and I have had some really nice sun-up and sunset sessions on waves too small for the hotshots to bother with, and we've become familiar faces in this small town. Local specialties of seafood curries, chili sauces and fried noodles have fed us well, and the Bintang beer is icy. But we're ready to move on to explore a new city and the ancient temple sites of Borobudor and Prambanan.

Some random thoughts and memories from here...I did NOT report earlier that we've rented a scooter and have been driving around on roads that are more like mountain biking than open highways, past incredible rural scenery and sweeping ocean views. The kids get very excited and come running out the give high fives or shout "what is your name!" or "where are you from!" Sort of terrifying at first but after you give a high five and get by and haven't caused an accident, very fun. The indonesians have possibly the biggest smiles I've seen anywhere, and love to discuss the US, Particulrily Barack Obama "He live in Jakarta!" and for the under 15 female set, Justin Beber...who is that anyway? I'm assuming a pop star by his swooning local fans. I was climbing out of the water with my board the other day and was swarmed by a crew of 10-15 pre-adolescent girls who were at the water for the day on Sunday from their village. They laughed and giggled at me a lot, and took their pictures with me. Many people who do not live on the coast near the surf or diving areas have seen few tourists. They asked where I was from and then shrieked about Justin Beber and swooned. Cute.

Also, a brief note on Ants. We have seen many varieties of Ants on our travels. Alone and I have a whole new appreciation for thier role in our world. They are very industrious and responsible for dealing with large amounts of waste. Sadly, not plastic waste, which is everywhere. Really, everywhere. We are learning that the globe is MUCH lager than we could previously conceive, (a ferry from Bali to Lombok took 4 hours!) and MUCH more populated than we had thought, and everyone, on a daily basis, generates plastic garbage of frightening proportions. The governments, of course, do trash management in frighteningly low proportion, and burning, piling or ignoring trash is common. We are trying to minimize our impact by refilling water bottles at the guest house and declining straws and plastic bags.

That's all for now! One more day of surf, and a big surf competition with people from all over Indonesia tomorrow.

the gay question

So many people asked before we left how we thought the gay/ambiguous gender situation would play out, and I thought the report warranted a blog entry. In the Philippines we noticed several evidently butchy ladies, and out and proud "lady boys" as the local term goes. We happened to be on an island where that is particularily ok, and exchanged cultural differences with Yan Yan, the self-procalimed ladyboy who was in charge of cleaning our room. She wanted to know which one of us is the lesbian, apparently in the Philippines the more gender bending one of the couple is "gay" or "lesbian" while the gender typical one is just man or woman. On our way to Malaysia we opened the guide book and found out that it is illegal to be gay in Malaysia, so we planned to downplay the situation significantly. Not like we're super "public-y" anyway, but....Only to find SO many gay and lesbian Malaysians, rainbow belts, a visible trans population, and a gay man in a store who smiled a lot at us and then rode off on his scooter, waving and calling out "WELCOME TO MALAYISA!" Also LOTS of gay tourists in Malaysian Borneo. Here in Indonesia, the situation only gets more interesting. We are pretty much mistaken for boys everywhere we go, which is fine by us, or Meg is mistaken for a boy, also fine by us. Then the kids get up close and shriek with laughter, "I thought you was boy but you girl!!" They are so busy laughing that being gay never seems to come up! Also fine by us. Then, one guy at a surf spot was really nice, we talked a lot about Barack Obama (very popular here!) and then he asked if we were married. We decided to try it out, and said we were married to each other. He had no idea what we were trying to say, and extolled the virtues of marrying Indonesian men. huh....ok...we just listened and nodded and drank the coconuts he had opened for us. The Europeans pick us out as gay right away and that's nice, they treat us like a couple...right now we have friends from Spain, Sardinia and Germany in our homestay, a very nice bunch. We share meals and play cards and go surfing together. So far none of the people in our lodgings have asked about our relationship, leading us to conclude that they know and don't care, or just don't think about it, or just give their guests privacy. Next week we go to Yogyakarta on Java, then Jakarta for 2 days, then to Cambodia and Vietnam. More to report then!!

Lombok!

we left Bali's business and have landed a world away right next door in Lombok. Different languages, religions, dress, food and infrastructure make this a whole new adventure after just a 4 hour ferry ride. My favorite thing aout traveling is tapping into the world wide net of human goodness, the locals here and the other travellers we've met are so kind and generous. There is just the right amount of development and enough tourism here...enugh to have one organic cafe overlooking the bay, but only one. Enough surfboards for rent that you can get what you want, but only about 4 shacks, enough tourists that the locals have created some good business around surfing and food but not nearly enough to wash out the local flavor, and enough interest that there are boats to hire to take you to the break but few enough that it costs $3 for the day. Enough traffic that there are littl signs pointing to varius beaches, but not so much that there are water buffaloes and cows along the side of the road. I'm still mostly paddling around and trying to stay alive and out of people's way, and save enough energy to get back in the boat, which is a tricky thing, but the locals all offer advice and a push into a wave. Meg is getting the feel of the water and this promises to be a great couple weeks.

Ogoh Ogoh and Day of Silence

Hello! The night before last was the big celebration of the Balinese New Year, which is a little difficult to describe. Each temple built a huge puppet, symbolizing various things that we didn't understand, and carried it in a parade full of drums and xylophones and singing, I think to scare away evil spirits. It was an amazing thing to see. The next day for 24 hours, all of Bali was silent, and no lights on at night, which was amazing. some tourists (!) next door to us had thier porch light on, which was super annoying to us, and then some men came along with flashlights and politely told them to turn it off. The whole place was dark dark! This morning we left early to see the elephant caves, following our guidebook map. we walked and walked looking for what was on the map a trail through the fields, and is no a resort. :( We hailed a cab and were rewarded by visiting this holy Hindu site and old Buddhist hermitage with carvings and fountains and a lotus pond before the rush. amazing.

Tomorrow morning we are headed off to Lombok for 2 weeks of surfing and (hopefully) reduced stimulation. we need a vacation from our vacation before we can take in any more art or culture.

Bali!

Ooops, trying to actually write in this post. We're in Bali, and after a day or so of terrible homesickness and disorientation we are settling in. During a nap on the first day I was half asleep and trying to figure out if we had taken a boat to Bali and what time to catch the bus back to Borneo. I think the first few days in a new place we need to move slowly and just expect to feel really homesick and out of it.
We're jut wes of Ubud, having been overwhelmed by the scene in town, we walked and walked and went up a million stairs following some signs, and found some accommodations up on a hill where there are no motos or cars. We have a two story place with kitchen and a terrace overlooking the rice fields, for less than we were paying in town. Yesterday we went to see Pura Kawi, a holy temple and ancient burial site, as well as the Water Temple, where we placed our hands in water that Balinese make pilgrimages to bathe in natural springs and purify their spiritual practice. Some westerners got in the pools but we were too shy, it seemed intrusive and kitchy. Then we went to see some elephants! We were too cheap to pay the $65 to ride them, but we talked a long time with the handlers, and touched and talked to the elephants and the snuck us on for a ride anyway. The elephants were retired from the Sumatran Logging industry, and each elephant has been with their handler for over 10 years.

Tonight is a huge celebration of the Hindu New Year, and we're going to sleep with the sound of drums each night as people are practicing and preparing for the parade tonight. Tomorrow is the day of silence when all Balinese stay home silently to convince the evil spirits that Bali is deserted. We're stocked up on food and looking forward to reading and lying low on our patio.
Much love!!

Bali!

We're in Bali, Indonesia!

Kayaking in RainForest, Fairy Caves, Orangutans! Oh my, oh my...

This is Meg and it's my first blogging attempt. There's nothing like a few adventures to shake the travel homesickness out of me. We have had a couple of amazing days.
Yesterday we went to an oragutan rehab wildlife center where they live in a protected wild area and saw four Orangutans. They are amazing-- the way they swing through the tree tops. And then we went Kayaking through gorgeous rainforest. It rained and rained and rained so hard for the last two hours on the river, but it was beautiful and warm. We swam in waterfalls, kayaked under fresh rain water running over rock ledges into the river, saw all kinds of flora and fuana, and mountains in steamy mist from the cool rain hitting the hot forest. At one point Emily with big eyes said "This is the best day of my life!" I have to put it in the top ten as well. ;-)

Then today the wonderful owner of the guest house we are staying at in Kuching (Fairview guest house) drove us out to see some caves. The aptly named Fairy Cave defies explanation. It is entirely other worldly-- light streaming in feeding ferns and rhododendron-looking plants growing on the rocks, highlighting the staglamites and diamond shiney drops of water streaming in. It's an enormous cavern-- time and space change perspective while in there. The air hangs thick and cool and impossibly still. Looking across the cave Em looked entirely too small for how close she was. I had vertigo several times climbing up the steps or looking up at the rounded, twisting rock formations hanging from the top. The air is mystical-- one can imagine fairies or hobbits actually live there. It is out of an animation type movie like Lord of the Rings. And we were the ONLY people there! It is maintainted (we are not about to go spulunking!)-- there were flights and flights of wet slimy cement steps, and evidence of incense offerings made by the locals. There is myth that it is home to a fairy that makes wishes come true, started by a woman who prayed to there for a baby and then got pregnant. I got a few pictures, but my battery died once we got into the main part. Which actually fit how unimaginable the place is-- you can't capture it in words or pictures. Em said it perfectly once we emerged back from the cave: "A place like this rearranges your insides."
We have just seen a tiny speck of Borneo-- and all of it very accesable, and it is amazing. This line keeps popping into my head after seeing yet another amazing sight here: The Gods really cut loose in Borneo.
I feel so lucky to be able to see even this small part of it.

This is Emily, Meg did the best we could at describing this place, to be in Borneo for me is to repeat a few times a day "i've never seen anything like that!" Accentuated by the evening prayer floating down the river from the mosques at sunset, and the warmth of the locals, this is a real treat.

food!

I can't believe I have yet to dedicate a blog entry entirely to FOOD. Foodies take note: Kuching Borneo is a worthy destination for the food alone. The noodle shops of course, are plentiful. I have yet to discern the difference between Malaysian noodles, Chinese noodles and Indonesian noodles, but it is easy enough to get presented with a bowl of hot noodles, with vegetables and or meat and little dishes of sauce to go along. Last night we went to a chinese barbecue place, and sought assistance from a local who ordered for us: sauteed local fiddlehead ferns, roast pork, and bean curd with vegetables. The night before, I had a halibut encased in an egg situation that was salty/sweet/crispy and so unusual and delicious. Every tourist we see excitedly asks "have you eaten here or there yet" and there is no way we will have time to fully explore all the eating choices. ok, this entry won't be entirely about food. Yesterday we took a hike to see the world's largest blooming flower, the Rafflesia flower, that grows for 9 months and then blooms for 5 days. Interestingly, it smells like rotten meat. Yum! They said this is to attract flies that help it to germinate other seeds. We then continued hiking up a steep trail in the steamy rainforest and were rewarded for the sweat-fest with a most amazing waterfall and swimming hole. I just can't imagine that we were in such a wild place in the day, and then eating bbq and then strolling on the river sipping a bubble tea, but that is the crazy mix of Borneo. Today is a bit of a rest and business day, did laundry, booked our next leg of the trip to Bali (!) and bought me a new pair of glasses as mine decided to peel the coating off the outside. Going to check out some Taoist temples this afternoon as the heat breaks, and then...more eating!
Love, Us

Kuching!

We are in Kuching, in Sarawak, Malaysia, Borneo. Would love to write how amazing of a time we are having but frankly, we're both a bit culture shocked and homesick and disoriented. It feels like the compass needle in my gut is flipping around very confused about which way to point and why I am so far from home. However, walking along the river in the evening and interacting with the locals who are out enjoying thier city helps! Malay is easy to learn and people love it when you can use a few words. We had breakfast in a very busy kedai kopi (coffee shop, which means noodles, noodle soups, satay, fish, and roti, as well as coffee with sweetened condensed milk) where the waiter was very happy to help out two confused westerners. We were the only westerners in this very busy place, and got a lot of smiles. Kuching is an amazing mix of Jungle in the city, cosmopolitan city in the rainforest, Chinese, indigenous, and Malay peoples of Buddhist, Muslim, animist and Hindu Faiths. The city is along a river, and easy to navigate. Coffee, noodles and water costs about 3 dollars, and people here are very proud of their country and of Borneo. After we get our feet under us a bit, we'll head off to see orangutans, do some hiking and kayaking, and visit some temples and mosques. This morning after the breakfast we visited the weekend market with countless rows of vegetables, meats and fish, as well as snacks! from nearby farmers and indigenous families. Okay, okay, we're having a good time! haven't figured out how to post photos yet though. soon soon!

Next up: Borneo!

Hey everyone, the Philippines leg is coming to a close, one more day tomorrow and then off to Borneo via Singapore. The Philippines has been great, some surfing, some snorkeling, lots of resting and recovering from the whole packing and flying over here efforts. Other highlights include a fighting cock trading deal on the public bus, the kindness and gentle nature of the Filipinos, the local version of Ceviche, Kinalau, and a (vague) sense of some of the tribal cultures of each of the 7,000 islands despite a long history of colonization and military presence. It's pretty windy so the surf is far from perfect, but beautiful waters and no wetsuits. I had a surf teacher for two sessions and thanked him at the end for pushing me into some waves, only to learn he hadn't been, I'd been catching some! A major breakthrough. We have an overnight layover in Singapore and I personally am really looking forward to spending the night in the airport. They have a spa and sleeper lounge chairs, as well as great food, it will be far nicer than any hotel we can afford!

We're looking forward to getting away from surfer culture and exploring Kuching, how often is there a NY Times article in the travel section about some exotic place and you're going to the area anyway in 2 weeks? If you missed the article it here it is:
http://travel.nytimes.com/2011/01/23/travel/23borneo.html
I'm so excited that we get to take advantage of the article before everyone books trips there next year.

Will try to post some pics tomorrow. Love you and miss you all!

Happy Lunar New Year!

We really enjoyed sharing the Lunar New Year at Blue Cliff Monastery with the monastics and layfriends, it was a perfect breather before we set off on our flight tonight! Here are some pictures of the Meditation hall all dressed up for the festivities.

All finished up in NYC!

Well, packing never goes smoothly and it's been a kerfuffle getting ourselves together to leave, but we are off tomorrow to Blue Cliff Monastery (www.bluecliffmonastery.org) to celebrate the Lunar New Year and slow down and take it all in before we fly off on Feb 8th.

Meg finished her biggest and greatest work yet, and I am shamelessly bragging and showing off her work in our first post here, check out the Rosenthal Ranch Series under furniture on her website:
www.slowelk.com

We've had such an amazing experience saying goodbye to everyone, thank you for all your love and support and help getting us packed and out the door. It was so great I thought maybe we'd stay another year and then have a lot of goodbye parties and dinners again next winter...but Meg said that's not a good idea.

We love you and miss you already and look forward to lots of fun rendezvous and adventures in the years to come.

Emily (and Meg)

a blog!

though we are not the "blogging" types, we are touched that so many of you wanted to know what we'd be up to and see some pics along the way, and we can't deprive you all of living vicariously through our good fortune to travel so long, so we created a blog! When you think of us and wonder what we're up to, you can find us here and see if we've checked in and posted anything. We're both finished with work, meg completed a huge carpentry job AND fit it through the client's front door, and I have referred, ended with and said goodbye to about 30 patients. Ironically, during my last day, I dropped my blackberry in the toilet at work, spirit guides are so subtle! We'll be packing and organizing for a week, and continuing to enjoy all your great company.