Back to hiking for a living

Now that the cultural sites were out of the way, we had only Gunung Bromo and the Ijen Plateau left in Java. Unfortunately, both required a bit of hiking and we're getting lazier by the moment.

Worse, Bromo required waking up for sunrise. Errrrg. Bromo is the little crater in the picture below. I forget the name of the big mountain in the background, but it is an active volcano that spews a plume of smoke up every 20 minutes or so.

The Ijen crater rises above beautiful forests and coffee plantations. A healthy hike up to the top offers a view over a captive lake and steaming sulfur vents. The hike down to the lake is insanely steep and quite dangerous as intense sulfur clouds pass by now and then, both blinding and suffocating all hikers. We, of course, hiked all the way down and played in the sulfur clouds. I got a little too close once and came as close as I ever have to suffocating. It's actually the incredibly intense burning sensation caused by the sulfur that really does it.
What makes this place so interesting is that it is an active sulfur mine. Miners head up the hill and into the crater where they pick up 150 to 180 pounds of sulfur to carry back up the treacherous crater trail. It is absolutely insane what these guys subject themselves to for $4.
I tried out a miner's load and could barely keep my balance. The sulfur weighed as much as me and much more than the little miner!

A warmer and yummier cup of Java

After Jakarta, we had a great time tooling through the temples and volcanoes of Java. The main cultural center of Yogyakarta is home to matching shrines, one Buddhist and one Hindu. The Hindu temple, Prambanam is a complex off fascinating skyscraper style buildings. At night, the Ramayana story is played out in a ballet style in front of the temples. There's fighting, flying arrows, magic and lots of FIRE when the Monkey god-dude burns the stage down.

Borobodur is the largest Buddhist temple anywhere. Maybe? Too many temples and boasts to keep them all straight. We stayed at the resort on the temple grounds and enjoyed our breakfast while the greenskeepers made it all pretty.
Yogyakarta itself we found pretty interesting and I got a lot of practice on the scooter. There's a cool bird market where you can buy bats, owls, monkeys, mongoose, whatever you like. I decided I really want an owl. They're so cool. We had some really good back-alley food here, too.

Java, no not Starbuck's

There isn't much in Jakarta to be excited about. It's a big, hectic capital city made of some skyscrapers (the haves) but mostly sprawling dirty village (the have nots). Tony Roma's was our only joy. Everything is flown in from the States so it was all scrumptous to us. Of course it cost as much as our flights there. Then we headed inland to Yogyakarta where there are temples abound. We got back onto the back of a motorbike and explored the numerous Buddhist temples nearby including Prambanan and Borobudur. Here we saw the poverty of the people were evident. Men would lay on their becaks (rickshaw style bikes) waiting for any fare to come along. They'll take you across town for half a buck. But there's too many of them so if they don't get anyone then they don't eat. There are women carrying gallons of juice and pots of rice strapped to their back while rambling the streets hoping to make a few cents to live off of. A local told us that the government is hopelessly corrupt and leaves the people to fend for themselves. Those with a bit of land could atleast farm but those without were left to their own devices, thus the high crime in cities. The people are instantly suspicious of any local with money. They didn't even care about the recent Indonesian killed in a university in the States because anyone overseas got there by corrupt means. We found ourselves opting to eat at the street carts just to spread the money around. For 50cents we got some pretty tasty dishes and lots of smiles.
--Mary

Lake Tobah

After the bus adventure, we were just about ready to forget it all and fly home, but after the harrowing 20 hours, we had to give Lake Tobah a chance. Tobah feels like Tahoe to me. It's a big, deep and pretty lake surrounded by mountains and with resorts dotting the shore. Unfortunately for the locals, tourism died hard after all the resorts were built and they now sit occupied mostly by locals. We stayed in a decent place for $5 a night. We only paid that much because it just seemed cruel to negotiate down to the $2 we could have paid. Sumatra is really a beautiful island with some wonderful people. It's a shame that they don't get the tourism they so badly want.We weren't really in the mood to play in the lake like all the locals, so our highlight of Tobah was running a scooter around the countryside to see the villages and tombs in this pocket of local and Christian fusion. For whatever reason, they're big into above ground tombs. Fancy tombs that represent their worldly possessions and let them spend eternity in comfort. But what does have to do with a guy riding a fish?

My Lungs Object

Most of this traveling stuff requires making the best guess you can with whatever limited information is available. Somehow things usually work out. And other times you wonder why you left the comfort of your home as you pick the roach out of your hair at 1am on a pitch dark lurching bus that's already broken down 3 times in the first 6hrs and the engine is LITERALLY held together by a short piece of blue twine. And the only hope you have is that there's only 13 more hours to go. But will we be able to survive the the chain smokers? We estimated that during the 19 hour, 340 mile journey (that's 18mph) between Bukittinggi and Danau Toba in Sumatra the 20 smokers on board lit up 225 cigarrettes. Damn you, Marlboro. Of course none of the windows opened and the aircon wafted out of black holes like the breath of an old asthmatic man climbing up everest. We were in the very last seats with Steve hugging the wall of the toilet. Add that to the warm stench rising up between the seats from the engine below to make a foul olfactory soup. Even then we were better off than the dozen guys that were either passing the night on plastic stools in the aisles, spread across the floor that was dirtier than an Ethiopian refugee camp (or the back of your stove. come on, you know you're afraid to look), or using our backpacks as cushions. Actually that last part didn't look too bad. Somewhere in the dark pits of the mountainous Trans-Sumatran highway the bus stopped and the engine door was thrown open again. They made us give them both our headlamps to work on the engine by flashing their cigarette lighters incessantly at our sleepy eyes. Who goes on an overnight bus trip through the unlit windy roads of the Trans-Sumatran highway on a heap of third world reject parts without a flashlight? At 6am there was a mosque break. At 8am a breakfast break, where we had yet another break of a different sort. We were sleeping the pitstop while everyone had piled off when I woke up and saw smoke billowing down from an electrical fire in the already wheezing air conditioner. Oh well, I guess that means we have time to grab a bite. Another 5 hours of seeing how long I can hold my breath through the mushrooming smoke clouds and we were rolled off the back of the bus onto an empty parking lot. We were two prisoners released from jail, but we had left in such a hurry that we left Steve's flip-flops. Who knows, maybe that too will become part of the engine before their journeys' end.

--Mary

Sumatran School Dayz

Our first solo drive on Indonesia's crazy motorways was to see Lake Maninjau, about 2 hours from home. Once off the main truck roads, driving really isn't so bad. The biggest problem is that the countryside is so incredible that keeping my eyes on the road was really tough. The lake is down in a crater which makes for great views, and a windy windy road. There's a sign at each of the 42 'acknowledged' hairpins letting you know just how far you still have to go. Funny. From up the hill, we had noticed what looked like fisheries all along the lake's edge, so we stopped to check one out. We got permission from some random kid to raft out and walk on one. It's quite a setup, dozens of net tanks filled with thousands of fish. Later, we saw the lucky fish being tossed into clear trashbags half filled with water, just like the goldfish you got from the store as a kid full sized. But these were heading back into town on a flatbed truck for our dinner.Our plan to circumnavigate the lake and be home in time for tea was derailed early on when a couple kids on a scooter pulled up and started chatting. Long story short, it was their turn to capture tourists to bring back to their English school. We really had nothing better to do, so we followed them to a nearby town and let their mates quiz us with stock questions on our age, favorite color and food, job, etc. Mary got the smart ones; I got the 2nd month students who could only read the questions in their notebooks. We eventually escaped to face the harrowing drive UP the crater wall and back to town for dinner.

Bumps and grinds of Indonesia

We just finished a really short run through Sumatra (really just Bukittinggi and Lake Tobah) and arrived in Jakarta last night. Tomorrow we fly on to Yogyakarta and get into the heart of the island of Java. We're having a surprisingly good time so far. Here's Indonesia's report card so far:

A Sumatran coffee is great. Motor oil without the edge. I'm lovin' it.
A+ The agrarian countryside is the most beautiful I think I've ever seen. Bright terraced rice paddies wedged between volcanic hills and deep lakes. In some spots, it's a postcard in every direction.
B People are reserved, but friendly. They've suffered from a huge drop in tourism in the last few years, but haven't hassled us or tried to compensate unduly for their economic troubles.
A Travel here is nearly free. Flying is cheaper than taking a bus. Hotel rooms in the resorts hit hardest by the drop in tourism can go for $2 a night. A hotel dinner at same resorts is a whopping $7 for the two of us. Of course, here in Jakarta, we just spent $35 to pig out at Tony Romas. But that doesn't count.
B+ The local food is great. We haven't gone too deep into the cuisine, but like what we've tried so far. And since the country is split between Moslem and Christian, we get bacon and pork. Pork rendang with coconut shavings is my favorite so far. Well, that and the A&W rootbeer float I had today...
A There are no other tourists here. At all. Got the hole country to ourselves.

Not everything passes, though:
F- Road quality is the worst I've ever been on. The Trans-Sumatran Highway is a muddy, windy, bombed out back alley. We made the mistake of doing an overnight ride on it and feel fortunate to have survived.
C- Reliable tourist information is tough to come by. Prices, times, routes, all the stuff you like to know as a tourist gets a different answer from everyone you ask and yet another reality when you get to the truth. Not unheard of, but annoying.

Internet has been hard to come by. Hope to get some photos up soon, but who knows :)

Last minutes in Singapore

Well, our time is up in Singapore. We're doing our last packing tonight and we head for an early morning ferry to Indonesia tomorrow. Gone will be the comforts we've come to expect here: warm showers, toilets, Mrs. Fields and Ben&Jerry and the internet. We expect to be roughing it more often than not for the next couple months, but hope to spend some time on tropical beaches or under the sea. We've even started anti-malarial drugs again. The basic plan is to start at the westernmost tip of Sumatra working our way southeast towards Papau New Guinea until we turn and head north to Borneo.

In the last couple days of internet access, we have managed to get a few things up for you. There are now photo albums posted for the Seychelles and Singapore. I even managed to get a few video clips up from early on in our travels. Hopefully more to come. Take a look for the link at right.

I've eaten in Singapore and can't get up

Coming into Singapore, we planned only to stay long enough to get our bearings and visas for Indonesia. Nothing specific we had heard or read was terribly inspiring. Not bad, just not interesting. But it turns out that Singapore is just the right place for us right now. After not seeing a true world-class city since Istanbul 8 months ago, Singapore hits the spot. San Francisco style shopping for Mary, wireless internet for me and an endless supply and variety of good Asian food for both of us. There's actually a ton of odd American food here too. McD, BK and Carls are represented, but so are some real small timers like Swensons and Ben&Jerries icecream, Mrs. Fields and Famous Amos cookies and even Long John Silvers.
Back home I remember hearing about the cruel caning of an American kid caught chewing gum here. Sounds pretty tyrannical. But this is the cleaning city I've ever seen. Their laws might be a bit annoying if you're not paying attention, but that kid deserved a whack for trying to mess this town up. Even Mary is not afraid to touch the railings in the subway. It's just spotless. And here's why: no smelly durian fruit allowed in the subway.
After a week of comfort, we picked up the visas we wanted for Indonesia and now we must contemplate going back on the road. But before we do, there's time to have fun at the aquarium.

Marshmallows and Pink Dolphins

We'd been having fun eating everything in Singapore, but needed to do something even more touristy. There's a little island called Sentosa (pronounced "Disneyland") attached to downtown that has a bunch of golf courses, resorts and smalltime attractions. There's even a dolphin show and aquarium.
We started with the dolphin show and found out that dolphins in this part of the world can be pink. That's right, pink. We sat in the front row for the show and Mary got picked as a volunteer to play with one. but first, she had to do a hula hoop for us. Great show! We went back for another show a couple days later and I got picked. I can't keep the hoop up for the life of me, but I still got to play with a pink dolphin.

Next we headed for the aquarium, saw the usual, and unusual, fishies and then a dugong. That's a cousin to the manatee. At only 7 years old, Gracie is a bit smaller at just 400 pounds and cuter than a manatee. We think she looks like a big marshmallow.

We wanted to get a little closer so we jumped into the aquarium tank with her! We spent half an hour in the Singapore Underwater World aquarium feeding Gracie the dugong. How cool is that? Well, it was pretty cool. She's soft and spongy as a marsmallow. Surprisingly, her body is as stubbly as me after a couple days of not shaving. And she's cute and playful as a little puppy.

We took turns feeding her sea grass and she chomped away, going up for a breath of air now and then. She has no teeth, so we even let her munch on our fingers a bit. It tickled when she gummed the grass our of our hands.

Part of the fun was watching the tourists pass by in front of us. If you've ever wondered if fish can see you, they can. And they don't like camera flashes.

The truth about the Seychelles

What do you do to break up a long flight between South Africa and Singapore? Have an extended layover in Seychelles, of course! That was actually a tough decision because we didn't want you all to think we're just tooting around the world going from beach to beach. Even if it is true.

The Seychelles actually looks like those glossy spreads with brilliant blue waters and powder white beaches. And not just a few places but all of the islands are idealic. Seriously. We are converted believers and we're both cynical by birth.

We spent time on the 3 main islands of Mahe, La Digue, and Praslin. La Digue was hands down our favorite. It's small enough that you could circumnavigate it in a day by foot. It has a tight knit community with a population of 400 where you feel safe walking in the pitch black of night. La Digue is developed enough for all the comforts like air conditioning and prosciutto but the modes of transportation are bicycle and oxcart. There were countless stretches of beaches that awed us, so many that we often had our own. The massive granite boulders that make up the archipelago provide the islands with a stunning backdrop that is superior to the typical volcanic or coral based ones. In all the major considerations for perfect beaches (i.e. water, sand, weather, scenery) we have to agree with the hype that the Seychelles holds quite a few of the top ten spots in the world. The best part is that this place is so under populated and touristed that you feel like you have it all to yourself.

Oh the days of our lives wasted lounging on the calm crystal waters of the Seychelles, so blue it was like floating in the sky. We miss them so much.

Robben Island

This island was once an exile for lepers but it is infamous in recent history for Nelson Mandela's 18yr imprisonment, among many other political prisoners. For 12yrs they were forced to work at the limestone quarry, pointless menial labor, as a form of punishment. All those years not only blinded their vision from the painful reflection but caused respiratory problems like pneumonia, asthma, and cancer. Mandela can no longer take flash photos nor shed tears as a result. There was a small cave dug into the exposed rock that the prisoners used as a toilet and shade from the sun. In secret they would write on the walls with their fingers to educate the less schooled. This area was the only place the inmates had to socialize as they were kept in separate cells in seclusion for most of the day. It was within these limestone walls that the ideas for an apartheid free South Africa were crafted; the country's first democratic parliament.

In the prison we met our guide, a prisoner from 1977-1982 accused of being a student activist. He was 16 when he was arrested and told the wretched story of his capture at night in his home while his shocked family pleaded with the police. He shared in gruesome detail life behind within those walls including the beatings, brutality, and torture he endured and witnessed during his detention and life on Robben Island. No one can hear his story and not be moved by his tragedy and eventual acceptance. His scars are a tragic souvenir from his life there. We saw the cell that Nelson Mandela spent his 18 years on the island, smaller than the pens the guard dogs each lived in. It is astounding that apartheid was alive and strong up to 1994 and shadows of it still linger all over Africa. For proof one only needs to look at the shanty townships hidden in the outskirts of each city.

Cage Match

We tried to resist the tempation of the Capetown tourist trap of diving with great white sharks, but how could we say no to danger, fear, questionable animal tourism practices or freezing ocean waters?

Capetown is perhaps the most reliable location in the world for seeing great white sharks. There's a large cape fur seal colony 40,000 strong sitting in shallow water just off the coast and the unique combination of their presence and the underwater topography creates an irresistible chum line known as Shark Alley. It is estimated that about 1,000 white sharks a year pass through the area, each staying for just a few days.

But all that really matters is that we decided to brave 54F waters, claustrophobia and fear of animals that eat people to jump into a little cage and get closer to some sharkies.

The cage is a little small and you have to stick your toes and fingers outside to hang on. After a while you realize that the water is really murky partly thanks to the chum you're swimming in.

The boat chums the water and throws big fishheads in to give the sharks something to focus on, but tries not to let the sharks eat any of the bait so they don't learn to associate the boats with feeding. So for a while we just watched the sharks swim up to the bait and then turn away as it was pulled from them.

But these guys are pretty quick and a couple were a bit fiesty and did manage to get teeth into the bait - and that made for some good times as the skipper and the shark fought over the bait.

We had two exciting close encounters while in the cage. The first one was a smaller shark that caught the bait and held on. He was right next to us thrashing around for a minute or so before he finally ran off with the fishhead:

The next fun one was a real excited shark lunging at the bait right next to us and gave the cage a hard enough whack with his tail to knock us down. The video is great - it shows nothing but the camera bouncing around in a sea of bubbles and foam.

At the end of the day, we saw around 6 different sharks ranging from little 8' juveniles to a couple 12'ers and one 13' male (all sizes according to our skipper). Swimming around us, they looked pretty big, but these were all still small compared to the 18 feet they can grow to.

And we still have all our fingers and toes.

Napa, South African Style

Yes, yes, we don't condone this. Don't do this at home. Kiddies look away. Leave it to the professionals...and all that. Now read on.

Our first stop in South Africa was Stellenbosch, their answer to wine country. Armed in a rental car we weaved through the scenic hills covered with rolling vineyards, grand estates, and looming rock mastifs. Imagine Napa valley with the Rocky mountains as the backdrop. Really a gorgeous drive on a sunny day. The wines were largely uninteresting and for my uber sensitive taste buds hardly drinkable. With descriptions like 'asparagus' and 'mint' we didn't get our hopes up. But essence of 'Karoo bush shrub', reminiscence of 'a cigar box' and a taste of 'lead pencil' was over our threshold and we did all we could to not gag too noticeably. We did find some lovely stuff, specifically a Spice Route flagship syrah and a Simonsig white wine infused with lychee. We stopped at a brandy distillery and tasted one of their 15yr old bottles. I think they tried to poison us with Drano. Seriously, people actual like this stuff?!?

Yes, that would be Steve in a right hand drive car on the left side of the road with a sloshing glass of white wine in his hand (Gewurztraminer in case you're curious). Talk about bad things coming in 3s. Oh wait, making a u-turn onto the curb on the wrong side of the road in front of a police car with said drink in hand would make 4.

*editors note to mom and dad, kids and law enforcement types: notice that we are in the parking lot of a winery. This is a staged and posed photo. The keys probably aren't even in the ignition.

Almost off the wagon

It's been a crazy last few weeks as you can see from the posts below. It seems like we rushed through Zimbabwe, Botswana and Namibia. We're now just a day away from Capetown and the end of our African adventure. We'll get a week to relax in Capetown on our own and then we're off to the Seychelles for a couple week vacation before moving on to Asia.
There's way too many photos from all the animal encounters and death defying feats. Hopefully I'll get some time and a good net connection in Capetown to post them.