December 28, 2013

Observations on Indonesia

While we traversed several different towns, islands, religions, and sub-cultures during our travels through Indonesia, there were several overarching themes I noticed along the way…

Friendly Locals

The people of Bali and Gili Air were amongst the friendliest I’ve met during my travels. Their faces were quick to light up with smiles, and everyone seemed to be genuinely happy to see us. They were as curious to learn about where we were from and how we were enjoying Indonesia as we were curious to learn about them and their culture. We received friendly waves of hello from women in the midst of working the rice fields, men high atop ladders harvesting cloves, schoolchildren passing by on scooters, and teens working behind bakery counters. The people we came across were not shy about making us feel welcome in their beautiful country.

Endless Construction

Everywhere we went, there were sidewalks being constructed, buildings torn down and rebuilt, roads widened by a few inches here and there, and bungalow-style hotels popping up. Construction went on literally all day and all night across the areas we visited in Indonesia. I swear there were instances when we saw a perfectly stable-looking wall one day, only to be torn down overnight and rebuilt by the following afternoon. Walking the sidewalks of Ubud turned out to be tricky as we had to navigate mounds of dirt and avoid gaping holes, all the while trying not to get sideswiped by a passing scooter.

Incessant Buzz of Scooters

Another common sight (and sound) across Bali was that of scooters! It is the main method of transportation for locals, as they are cheap and efficient and roads are so narrow that they get crowded very quickly. I’d describe the roads on Bali as organized chaos. With only one lane in each direction, no traffic signals, and cars sharing the road with scooters darting in and out of traffic (and some loaded with entire families), drivers had to be incredibly aware of what was around them at all times. What impressed me the most was the fact that everyone was so polite and patient- I can only imagine the amount of road rage that would build back in NY! Horns were used regularly, not out of anger, but as a polite notification that someone was about to be passed by mere inches. Regardless of where we were, even in the mountains of Munduk or within the sanctuary of a spa in Ubud, we knew the buzz of a scooter was never too far. While I had some trouble sleeping our first night in Indonesia, the sound quickly became soothing white noise.

The preferred method of transportation for locals

Balinese Hindu Faith

The Balinese are known for their strong Hindu faith and closely knit communities. We passed many homes that had multiple shrines on their small properties dedicated to their ancestors. I don’t think there was a single establishment we saw, be it a hotel, restaurant, or small roadside shop that didn’t have its own shrine. We’d also see offerings everywhere comprised of a palm leaf woven into a small dish filled with small flowers, wrapped candies, even Ritz crackers! Balinese women make these offerings on a daily basis and place them everywhere- at the base of temples and shrines, in front of homes and businesses- it is easy to step on one and not even notice because these small tokens of appreciation for ancestors and spirits are literally everywhere. Meanwhile, each village had multiple temples that served specific purposes, such as one dedicated to the village founders and one dedicated to the spirits that oversee daily life. Family ceremonies seem to happen on a regular basis, and there were several days during our stay in Bali that were described as special days in the religious calendar where the entire village would go to worship at the appropriate village temple. Balinese Hinduism is clearly woven into the fabric of their everyday lives, and it was nice to see that the influx of tourists and western modernities haven’t detracted from this beautiful part of Balinese culture.

Balinese offerings near a waterfall in Munduk

A typical family temple connected to a private home. Each shrine represents different ancestors and gods.

Villagers carrying offerings to the local temple

Lombok Islam Faith

When we left Bali for the Gili Islands off the coast of Lombok, we immediately noticed small signs of the transition from Hindu to Muslim faith. While the island of Bali is almost 100% Hindu, the island of Lombok (and in fact, the rest of Indonesia) in juxtaposition is nearly 100% Muslim. Noontime prayer calls could be heard in the distance on Gili Air, and women with headdresses were a common sight. Gone were the Hindu shrines and temples and the worry of accidentally stepping on an offering.

The Art of Bargaining

We learned during our stay that the price of anything can be negotiated in Indonesia! We bargained for everything from fruit to scarves to taxi boat rides to the fresh catch at dinner. Sellers set prices assuming that customers will bargain; vendors might make a big windfall if naive tourists aren’t aware of this local custom. We were told by various locals that offering 1/3 of the asking price was generally a good place to start. Even locals are accustomed to bargaining for groceries at the family-owned markets; I imagine it gets tiresome having to do this on a daily basis, which is probably why shopping at chain stores with set prices is becoming more commonplace. However, no matter how successful we were at negotiating prices, we often made up for our bargaining skills by leaving a bigger tip. There is satisfaction to be found in bargaining down a price, but there was more satisfaction in leaving a positive economic impact on the lives of people we came across. Throughout my travels, particularly in less-developed countries, I’ve learned that a few extra dollars means a LOT more to the less fortunate than it does to me.

December 12, 2013

Eat, Pray, Love: Ubud and Mount Batur, Bali

Ubud is known as the cultural heart of Bali as well as where the protagonist of the book/movie Eat, Pray, Love visits a traditional healer and meets her love. Apparently Ubud has always been on the tourist map, but its popularity exploded following the release of the film. It is on the verge of becoming a small city, yet there are still no traffic signals and the sidewalks and roads are in utter disarray. It couldn’t have been any more different from Munduk with the amount of traffic, number of tourists, and taxi drivers touting, “transport?” We stayed at Tegal Sari, which was a quiet oasis interspersed with rice fields. Our room was on the second story of a private villa with a terrace overlooking the rice harvest. Somehow I got lucky in booking our choice of room only a month ahead, as the hotel has many repeat guests and typically sells out 6 months in advance.

Enjoying the view from our villa

Workers in the rice field behind our villa

Ending a long day of work in the rice field

While in Ubud, we wandered in and out of various temples, enjoyed a typical lunch of babi guling (roasted suckling pig), and went to Cafe Lotus for a traditional Indonesian show. During the show, all of the characters’ lines were sung by a single narrator in the Bahasa Indonesia language set to the tune of live gamelan music, which involves a lot of drums, xylophones, and singing. The plot line had been translated into English in a pamphlet sitting on our table, although trying to decipher the grammar of the translation was more difficult than interpreting the show ourselves. So we just sat back and enjoyed the colorful sights and sounds.

At the traditional Indonesian dance show

The next day (or just a few hours later, really), our trusty driver-turned-friend Wayan picked us up from our hotel at 2 am for an hour-long drive to the base of Mount Batur, the second-tallest volcano on Bali. He handed us over to a local guide, and we donned our headlamps to begin our trek up the mountain. While the hike got pretty steep at times, what made it even more difficult was the loose rock and gravel we had to scramble over in the dark, followed by volcanic sand higher up the mountain that gave way easily. Our guide estimated a 2.5 hour hike, but he clearly underestimated our abilities as we reached the summit 1.5 hours later, well before sunrise. We admired the vast number of stars in the sky, as well as the trail of headlamps snaking their way up the slopes below us. Enterprising locals from the village at the base of Mount Batur have permanent shacks set up at the summit in which they boil hot cups of coffee and tea for hikers shivering from the exposed peak, and I gladly paid a premium for a hot drink to warm me up. Hikers can also indulge in eggs that are cooked over the hot volcanic steam coming out of fissures, although I have to imagine they might taste a bit like rotten eggs due to sulphur from the steam.

Start of sunrise from the top of Mount Batur

The sun starting to peek over Lombok island (where we’d be just a few days later)

When the sun began to rise from the horizon, the island of Lombok to the east of Bali came into view. The sun rose as a perfect orange sphere and lit up what had been complete darkness to us moments before; now we could actually see how far and how high we had climbed. After the sun had fully risen, we began our scramble down the mountain, which took just as long as the climb up since it was so steep and slippery.

It was cold and windy up top!

We parted ways with our guide at the end of the hike and caught one final ride with Wayan back to Ubud. En route to Ubud, we stopped at a coffee plantation for a tasting of their assorted coffees and teas. Indonesia is known for its kopi luwak, which is brewed from beans that are eaten and digested by the luwak animal, which is similar to a mongoose. Coffee farmers once considered luwaks to be pests as they ate away at their coffee crops, until they realized these luwaks were natural experts at picking the best coffee beans. When they roasted and brewed the luwaks droppings, they discovered a particularly distinct, enjoyable flavor from the beans. I paid 5,000 Rupiah (approx. $5US, VERY expensive by Indonesian standards) for a cup of kopi luwak and could best describe the flavor as very “earthy”…

Not a bad view to go along with my morning coffee

As we were driving through a hillside town known for its wood carvings, we pulled over at a random shop and browsed through on our own, deciding on what we wanted to purchase without even knowing prices. It took us a while to get the attention of the shopkeeper since he was in the basement sawing away, but we were eventually able to walk away with some handmade driftwood frames and a mirror. Wayan dropped us off back at our hotel where most guests’ days were just beginning, while we had already been awake for 8 hours. We spent a leisurely afternoon reading in our daybed (Nick) and napping in our four-poster bed (me). Later we indulged in massages and facials at the spa, all for less than the price of a single massage back home.

Our amazing driver/tour guide/friend, Wayan

A dog and monkey taunting each other just outside the Monkey Forest in Ubud

While I enjoyed our stay in Ubud, it was a bit too overrun with tourists, backpackers, and traffic for me. It was nice to have a private villa in the Tegal Sari compound to escape from the hectic scene outside our gates. However, Ubud is in a great location for access to exploring the Jatiluwih rice terraces and climbing Mount Batur.

November 28, 2013

Bali: Jatiluwih Rice Terraces

During the few days we had in Bali, we made sure to visit the Jatiluwih rice terraces, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. We bored of the paved tourist pathway quickly and wandered deeper into the rice terraces, greeting some of the friendly farmers hello. Approximately 30% of Bali’s land is dedicated to rice cultivation, and I have to imagine Jatiluwih makes for some of the most scenic terraces on the island. The terraces seemed to stretch as far as we could see in different shades of green and gold. The sound of the irrigation system aided by the natural pull of gravity was so soothing. It amazes me to think about how the centuries-old irrigation channels are so simple yet so genius. Here are some shots from our short but rewarding visit.

November 24, 2013

Central Mountains of Bali: Munduk

We took the first flight out of Singapore to Denpasar Airport in Bali and were greeted by our driver, Wayan. I had discovered Wayan through a random Google search without any referrals or reviews, and we got very lucky as we ended up using him as our tour guide, driver, and concierge during our entire stay in Bali. The airport seemed to be undergoing a renovation and expansion, which we quickly learned seems to be an ongoing theme across Bali. We headed out on the traffic-clogged streets of Denpasar and drove up the coast past the towns of Kuta and Seminyak, known for their mixture of fancy resorts, surfer bungalows, and party scenes. To break up the 2+ hour drive to our destination of Munduk, a small mountain retreat town in the central mountains, we made a few stops along the way.

First meal in Bali, overlooking rice terraces

Our first stop was for lunch at a restaurant overlooking some beautiful rice terraces. While the restaurant obviously catered towards tourists, the buffet lunch was a great introduction to Indonesian food and I got my first taste of their famous sticky black rice pudding. We then continued up the winding road through the hills past many small towns, temples, shrines, and warungs (roadside food stands). Our next stop was at Lake Bratan and the Pura Ulun Danu Bratan temple. It was just the first of several temples we would visit during our stay in Bali. After a few more quick stops at a local market to buy some of my favorite tropical fruits and at a scenic viewpoint overlooking twin mountain lakes, we arrived at our lodging in Munduk.

Lake Bratan Temple (Pura Ulun Danu Bratan)

Traditional masks at a local market near Munduk

Twin lakes of Danau Buyan and Danau Tamblingan

Panoramic shot of our homestay and the view from the terrace

We stayed at Aditya Homestay, which turned out to be more of a proper hotel than I expected. While the family lives on the property in their own house, there are separate structures for guest rooms, a restaurant veranda, and a terrace, all surrounding a central courtyard and all with incredible views of the misty mountains, emerald rice terraces, and beautiful sunsets. The staff was so sweet and helpful and was always smiling. The restaurant served delicious Indonesian food, and we ended up having all our meals there over our two-day stay.

The next day, we went on a hike to nearby waterfalls- Melanting and Laangan. We traversed coffee and clove plantations where workers were busy harvesting huge sacks of cloves. They scaled rickety-looking homemade bamboo ladders with such dexterity a good 30-40 feet above ground. We passed many small homes in the valley where enterprising residents set up small stands to sell local spices to hikers. I picked up some vanilla bean pods for a fraction of the cost back home and can’t wait to try them in some baking!

Admiring Laangan Waterfall

There’s a man harvesting cloves atop the homemade bamboo ladder if you look closely!

Local schoolboys (on the way back from art class I hope??)

In the afternoon, we ventured out on another hike into the nearby rice terraces. Unfortunately, due to lack of signage and difficulty determining if a path was considered a “road” by Munduk standards or merely a footpath leading to a private home, we got lost immediately and never made it to our intended destination. However, I was happy to just go on a walk deep into the village and say hello to all the locals that peered at us with curiosity.

Munduk was such a beautiful and relaxing place to begin our week in Indonesia. I could understand why the Dutch built mountain retreats there during the colonial period. Although at first I found it comical that Balinese referred to the “cool” 85-degree temperatures in Munduk, I soon concurred with the description as we traveled onto Ubud and the Gili Islands. It was also nice to get an authentic glimpse into a Balinese village without the distraction of too many tourists unlike places we visited later in our trip. There wasn’t a single ATM in town, and the closest one was 30 minutes away. It’s a good thing the hotel, including meals and drinks for two, worked out to be $60/day. Sometimes it amazes me what US dollars can buy in less-developed countries, and it makes me feel all the more fortunate for what I have.

The busiest part of Munduk town

Spectacular sunset colors in Munduk

November 21, 2013

24 Hours in Singapore

24 hours may seem like too short of a time to tackle such a big city/country, but I was able to plan out an uber efficient walking tour to all of the major sights we were interested in- and it all revolved around food, of course. We stayed at the Ibis Bencoolen Hotel, midway between Little India and the Colonial District. After arriving past midnight, we woke up early the next morning and went down the block for a traditional Singaporean breakfast at Ya Kuya. Ya Kuya is a chain throughout the city that serves variations on toast schmeared with a sweet condensed milk spread. Probably not the healthiest breakfast, but we needed sustenance to get through the day (at least that was my excuse at the time ).

Following breakfast, we walked to Little India and bypassed all the small storefronts on Serangoon Road touting anything from tropical fruit to colorful saris. Inspired by an episode of Anthony Bourdain, we headed into the overstuffed megastore that is Mustafa Center. With 8 floors crammed with anything you could ever dream of buying, we obviously went directly to the “snacks and chocolate” floor. It was a maze of aisles overflowing with groceries representative of the multi-ethnic culture of Singapore. Green tea kit kats from Japan, durian-flavored candy from Thailand, and blackcurrant gummies from the UK were my biggest scores there.

Front of the Raffles Hotel

We next walked to the Raffles Hotel, home of the Long Bar and creator of the Singapore Sling cocktail, for a quick tour of the colonial courtyards. We then continued towards the river, following the same route as the F1 drivers who had just raced throughout the city the previous weekend. We passed the Fullerton Hotel, another beautiful colonial-style building downtown. Then it was time for a drink at the rooftop bar of the Fullerton Bay Hotel with views of the skyscrapers in the business district as well as the Marina Bay Sands complex across the bay.

Marina Bay Sands

Our appetites were building from all the walking, so we continued our tour towards Chinatown, home to many hawker centers. A hawker center is essentially an open air food court with dozens of small family-run stands cooking up all sorts of Singaporean specialties. We decided to follow the locals’ lead and sample stands with the longest lines. This led to a delicious (and supercheap!) lunch of oyster omelette, rice served with steamed chicken, spicy shrimp spring rolls, iced barley tea, and sugarcane juice. We finished with a dessert of shaved ice with an assortment of beans, lotus seed, and snow fungus. This may seem a bit strange to the western palate, but I grew up on traditional Asian desserts made with sweet beans and love to take advantage whenever I see them on menus. I’m not embarrassed to admit we made a subsequent stop at McDonald’s and ordered the Asian take on a McFlurry, mixed with matcha green tea Oreos! If this flavor makes its way to the U.S., I’m in trouble.

Nick blending right in line with the locals

Hawker fare: Hainanese chicken rice, oyster omelette

Matcha green tea McFlurry

After walking 7-8 miles in the sweltering heat and humidity, we decided to indulge in a cab ride to Marina Bay Sands, a casino/hotel/shopping mall/botanical garden/luxury condo complex. With the incredible selection of renowned restaurants to choose from (I wanted to eat at every.single.one.), we had our first course at Din Tai Fung, a Michelin-starred Taiwanese restaurant specializing in soup dumplings. The second course was at Mario Batali’s Pizzeria Mozza, an LA-based restaurant I’ve been dying to try. Who knew that I’d end up traveling all the way to Singapore to eat pizza from LA?! We ended the night with a beautiful view of the Singapore skyline from the rooftop bar of Marina Bay Sands, where drinks are pricey but totally worth the view.

View from Marina Bay Sands Hotel rooftop

Singapore nightscape

While Singapore had a lot of nice features- an easily accessible gateway city to Asia, very clean/safe/modern, and an interesting blend of Chinese/Indian/Malay cultures- overall the city was too westernized for me. Only in the hawker centers did I truly feel like I was in an Asian capital. While I’m definitely glad I visited, 24 hours was just enough time to explore the city.

November 17, 2013 Image

Welcome!

Welcome! Hello, and welcome to my blog! I’d love to share with you my neverending quest to seek my next adventure, near or far. I have a passion for travel, the outdoors, exploring other cultures, and food- and above all, sharing these interests and discoveries with my family and friends.

This photo was taken in Acadia National Park, Maine, during Labor Day weekend 2013. It’s the intersection of what I perceive to be the ultimate combination- mountains, ocean, and a hike up to an incredible view.

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