DATE: September 15, 2005
New Photos:
Indonesia: Culture, Surf, and Chess
Indonesian Stick Fighting
Climbing a Volcano: Gunung Rinjani
Ko Pha Ngan and Ko Tao
In Malaysia, it's cats. In Indonesia, it's roosters. And in the east coast of Thailand, it's packs of wild beach-dogs. There's always SOMETHING making a racket at odd hours of the night and morning. Organic "Free Range" chicken has a new meaning... your dinner is running under the table!
I last left you in Malacca, the stately Malaysian town. Since then I've shopped in Kuala Lumpur, scurriend through Bali and Lombok islands in Indonesia, and finally ended up back in Thailand. That's the short version.
Petronas (Twin) Towers, Kuala Lumpur
Longer Version:
You'll see a few new faces in the pictures, so I'll solve the mystery right up front. I travelled with a Kiwi bloke named Shea (prn "Shay") for about 6 weeks and an English Gap Year Kid named Dom who happens to be a Harry Potter look-alike, so we just called him Harry. I'm sure he loved it. Indonesia is a good place to have guys along; being a girl solo here would have been a bit more annoying, I think. When you see women going fully clothed into the water, you know things are conservative.
Swimsuit not needed
So what'd we do? We went to Gili Trawangan, an island with no motor vehicles (look out for the picture of the garbage buggy) and very loud roosters that never learned you're only supposed to crow in the morning. Ugh. Overall, it was a nice island, but I was ready for more adventure and a break from the beach. So we went off to climb a 3,726m volcano (Indonesia's second highest) housing a deep blue lake in its crater - Gunung Rinjani.
Gunung Rinjani
The walk lasted 3 days, up and over the mountain, and we all underestimated the climb. Of course, the porters did the whole thing wearing flip-flops (or barefoot)! Unbelievable. Check out the terrain in the pictures and you'll know what I mean. Harry and Shea wanted to kill me for dragging them up the mountain. I'm not kidding, they were actually brainstorming various methods of torture for me as they walked, and this disturbingly seemed to give them renewed strength to continue onward. Hm. Unfortunately Shea didn't make it, but Harry pushed through and we shared some summit time and spectacular views.
Shea and Harry (Dom) plotting to kill
Me and our tiny little guide, with Kiwi Dan in between, on the summit
Token monkey shot
Next was a surfing adventure in Kuta, Lombok. We "learned" from an "instructor" who said such helpful things as: "There's a wave! Go! Go! Go! AHHHHHHHH!!!!" Meanwhile the whole thing crashes down on you and you tumble in a giant, natural washing machine. Funny thing is, that's actually what you do. You see a wave, and dammit you GOOOO!! Hm.
Surf's up!
Following this, our waterlogged selves made it to the artsy town of Ubud, back on Bali Island. We stayed there about a week where I fell in love with chess. We randomly went on a MISSION to find a hand-carved wooden chess set for Shea, who taught me how to play. It took me four weeks to finally beat him. Now I'm addicted and am carrying a chess set with me everywhere, hoping I can find people who play. Maybe I should just stamp "geek" on my forehead? One thing I really like about the game is that it passes all language barriers.
Learning to play chess
Last stop in Indonesia was Legian, Bali. This is near where the Bali bomb went off four years ago. We surfed again (read: got pummelled) and visited a western-style theme park called "Water Bomb" where I felt like I was back in the States or Australia. Lucky for Shea, the "giant swing" next to the bungy jump was closed. The swing was my concession for getting him out of doing the bungy on his birthday. I wonder if the fact that I dragged him up a volcano, got him pummelled by waves, and nearly forced him to jump off a 130ft platform might have something to do with his fleeing home to get a "job" and such silly endeavors... excuses excuses. ;)
Don't ask what I'm thinking here... clearly, I'm not!
After Indonesia, Shea had some extra time and accompanied me back to Thailand for a couple of weeks. We landed on Ko Pha Ngan, the island famed for its "full-moon parties"... which are basically a brilliantly marketed way to get thousands of people to visit the island once a month. We were not there for the full moon (thankfully), so it was a lot quieter than it is reputed to be. Here we were finally able to relax, having been hassled to death by Indonesians for a month. Harry had made his way up earlier as well, so the three of us were reunited once again for a few days.
Ko Tao was the last stop, an island famous for its diving and snorkeling. I went on two dives and on the first there must have been 75 other people in the water. It was ridiculous - of course I didn't see many fish! Not to mention our useless divemaster - one example: he ran out of air before his 2 clients, on a 45 minute dive, and had to use my octopus on our ascent! The snorkeling was phenomenal though, and FREE. I wish I had an underwater camera casing so I could show you. :) Use your imagination. We even came across a shipwreck - SNORKELING!
Now I'm on my own again and heading north. I'd still like to see Chiang Mai but I hear it's flooded at the moment, so I'm once again in Bangkok trying to figure out what's next. Maybe I should go to New Orleans!