1/31 - The Benefits of Higher Elevations

Shockingly, I'm in Southeast Asia and I'm not sweating. This is, of course, because I'm several thousand feet above sea level, though I'm not sure exactly how many, in Tanah Ratah, the main town in the Cameron Highlands. The cooler air is great. Last night it was actually too cold, but it was still enjoyable as a contrast from what we've been used to. Sadly though, this place is far from paradisical. (Again I'm using a word which I'm not sure exists, but which sounds right to me.) I had it in my head before we came here that we'd be escaping the horrible urban nightmares that we've been spending time in throughout this trip (with the exception of Singapore, which was great.) Possibly because of that, I pictured that Tanah Ratah, which is where all the budget places to stay are, would consist of a few buildings linked by dirt roads, and surrounded by lush jungle. Well, it is surrounded by jungle, but the roads are most definitely paved and the buildings, of which there are quite a few, are all fairly monstrous. Mostly of the concrete-stained-by-years-of-rain variety, with some British-manor-type places thrown in. The strange thing is that there's construction going on everywhere, especially on the road up, for miles and miles, but also in town, so the whole town feels kind of industrial/functional, and not like the mountain town that I imagined.

The most hideous feature of the town though, is the thing that was marked very plainly in our guidebook map as a "Derelict Construction Site." I'd pictured a lot, perhaps with some concrete slabs in it, that was cleared but then abandoned. In reality, the thing is massive--an entire block of concrete skeleton, built up to about two and a half floors and then abandoned, complete with hundred of pieces of REBAR (that's those reinforcing steel beams that go inside concrete to make it stronger) jutting out of the top. It literally seems to have been abandoned as if during one lunch break everyone was told to take off. The worst part about it, and actually the most interesting (we've taken a number of photos of it) is the giant billboard still standing in front of the place, illustrating what it will look like when finished. It was to be some sort of shopping center, complete with clean-looking cars driving around the outside and pretty brown shingles on the roof (here I'm making up some of the details, but the point remains that the billboard is optimistic.)

The D.C.S. is directly across the street from our hotel, the Hillview Inn. We ended up staying there, for 50 Ringgit a night (about $13) after we decided that we couldn't stand the place down the road, Daniel's Lodge, which at 35 Ringgit offered windowless box rooms. The windowless box room concept actually seems to be very popular wherever there's Chinese influence. Now, I'm not suggesting that there's necessarily a connection, mind you, and I'm sure the Chinese could come up with better if they wanted to, but in Hong Kong and Singapore there was a plentiful supply, and now, here in Malaysia, where there's a surprising amount of Chinese influence (they're said to basically control the economy here) we've found the same sort of thing. Which brings me to our arrival in Kuala Lumpur two days ago, about which I'd like to mention a few things.

A Few Things About Kuala Lumpur:

We read of more "passable" rooms right across from the bus station where we would be getting in from Singapore, which was perfect for us because we were merely stopping over in KL, and catching a bus to the Highlands the following morning. So we went to the most recommended one in the guide, the Pudu Hostel. Inside, the hallways smelled like sour milk and looked like they'd never been swept, and the rooms were--you guessed it--windowless and tiny. The mattresses, on top of everything, were basically just metal springs with a thin veneer of fabric over them. Even I, who can usually sleep anywhere, rejected the thought of a night on one of those. So we were back on to the hot and chaotic street, and let me just say here that if you ever have an opportunity to spend time around the Puduraya bus station, don't. Luckily, there was a place a few doors down that we saw the sign of--the Anuja Hostel--which we skeptically went in to check out. It charged the same amount, about $10, and was run by South Indians and much better overall. It was still a shitty place in the most basic sense, but at least the guys at the desk were genuinely nice, and the room was painted in such vibrant colors (pink and green) that you could forgive it its imperfections. It did have a window, though it was covered over seemingly unnecessarily by large slats on the outside of the building that blocked out 90% of the sunlight. In the end, the air conditioner worked, so we stayed there.

Also, the Puduraya Bus Station itself was pretty incredible. It's set up so that the ground level is where all the buses pull in, and the people wait, buy tickets, etc. on the level above that. There are walkways going down to the buses from there, and all the buses sit there idling, so the effect is that you have a thick haze of bus exhaust throughout the waiting area at all times. And yet, no one else seemed to notice this. They waited on benches with their children, calmly, without the slightest hint of discomfort.

The air in KL wasn't much better actually, and I was actually really disappointed by the place in general, mostly I think because I'd always loved the name, and the idea of going there was always lodged in my mind as a great, exotic thing. So when it was much like some of the nastier Indonesian cities we visited, it called into question all of my potentially romanticized notions about the places we've yet to visit. Admittedly, though, the Petronas Towers, which I think are now the second tallest in the world next to the new one in Taipei, did look quite nice in the distance. When we pass back through there (it may only be one night again, we're not exactly sure) I want to go to that area and see if its any more like what I had in my imagination.

Meanwhile, here in the Cameron Highlands, despite the town being a little more depressingly semi-urban than I expected, the air is cool and clean, and there's none of that chaos that we've become so used to throughout the trip. Tomorrow I think we'll try to do some treks in the jungle. They say you should hire a guide because you can get lost, but I'm wary of the whole "guide" concept. I just want to walk around in a place where I can't see a goddamn car or a building. In that sense I think our Indonesia and Malaysia experiences have been a good lesson. In Thailand and Laos I think we'll know to make much more of an effort to get away from the cities and out into the country. The thing is, the further from the "centers" you go, the less information you have about how and where, so in a lot of cases that means risking certain things, such as comfort, security, etc. Of course, that risk is usually the best part about travelling, but it can be difficult to convince youself of that fact sometimes.

Finally, I'd just like to make it known that the bus coming up here (which took about 4.5 hours, the last 1.5 on an endless, winding mountain road) was infested with cockroaches. To be fair, we only saw a few, but they looked young, and I could say with some confidence that they had been born and were being raised right there on that bus, which suggests at least some sort of small-scale community establishment, does it not? But really, I'd never heard of cockroaches on a bus. There were also some caterpillars, but that's strange enough that I didn't feel the need to complain about it. What I really minded was that the seat in front of me was broken and leaning back so far that when I sat there I was essentially trapped (the legroom made me long for the worst airline seat.) So Aubrie moved to another seat which had a broken seatback but where she could lan against the wall, and I took her aisle seat, but after two hours of a man constantly staring at Aubrie in her seat (literally, without taking his eyes off of her) we switched again. Basically it was discomfort all around, but I'll be grateful at least that the driver again wasn't a maniac.

More should be coming soon (yes I know these are sometimes empty promises) on our stay in Singapore, extended by one day because we liked it so much, and on our Indonesian rail experiences.

1/29 - Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Here now in the "muddy confluence" (that is the meaning of KL's name) and it's a frenetic smoggy place, and quite seedy in general. But so far my only basis for judgment is Chinatown, which is known to be the seediest part. We arrived today after a six-hour bus ride, on which several odd things happened and the cabin felt like a meat locker (in degrees) but which I think went fairly smoothly considering we never felt that our lives were in danger. More on Driver #2, who we picked up on the side of the highway in the middle of nowhere, when I have a few hours to update this thing properly. As Randy has noticed, sometimes I post without getting a chance to send out an update notification, so please feel free to check on it randomly to see if my location has changed.

We're leaving for the Cameron Highlands tomorrow, a former hill station of lush jungle, where the average temperature is around 65-70 degrees (Fahrenheit), and tea plantations carpet the hills. A big contrast to today's arrival temperature in KL of 35 degrees Celsius, which is just slightly under 100 Fahrenheit by my quick calculations.

1/25 - Arrival in Singapore

We've arrived in Singapore, and the good news of the moment is that we're in the midst of doing a huge load of laundry. I've never known my clothes to smell quite as bad....

I'm glad to be out of Indonesia. Aubrie is perhaps more so. Is more so one word, as in moreso? I'm suddenly uncertain. In any case, Jakarta was a bad note to end on. I wish we had gotten some photos of the guesthouses on Jalan Jaksa that we looked at, which the guide said were "passable." We were down to very few Rupiah so were looking in the 60,000 Rp range ($7) for the one night we'd be there, and I had no idea any accommodation in the world could be so depressing. They're actually almost indescribable; I don't think I would do them justice. Later on I'll see if Aubrie can come up with an adequate description. But for now, I'll just note that in "Nick's Corner Hostel" each of the rooms that we looked inside emitted an intense odor of what smelled to me like diesel fuel, as if someone had doused the place in some sort of over-zealous cleaning frenzy, but which Aubrie suggested might be really cheap mothballs. It was unreal. Keep in mind that I haven't even gotten into the look of the place- tattered sort-of-pink beds, chrome reflective trim, peeling, chipping paint, etc. Yes, if we were true backpackers would have stayed there, possibly even enjoyed it, "this place is hardcore, man" we would have said, and laughed while drinking heavily. But we don't quite fit that mold, so we walked up the street and paid too much (140,000) for a room that was actually "passable," and then woke up very early and got the hotel to take us to the Soekarno Hatta International for our 8 a.m. flight, in an old SUV, which they called a minibus. Oddly, he drove like a sane person, and the simultaneous sunrise/rainstorm on the way there was pretty nice.

The flight was excellent, and at 1h13m was actually too short. I didn't get a chance to fully test out the "New Regional Business Class" seat on the 777-300. This was also my first time on a -300, which is a big event for me.

Singapore is slightly less hot. More on this place later.

Somewhat New Format

As you can see I've uploaded some photos to the blog, so I've decided to make a change in that only a couple of posts will appear on the main site at a time. This is in an effort to make things a bit easier on those with slow connections. So make sure to check the sidebar for any new posts that you haven't seen yet, and click on them. Thank you.

Also, the photos are semi-thumbnails, so just click on the images if you want to see them bigger, though they won't be much bigger because upload speeds at this internet cafe are abominable, so we had to size them economically.

1/23 - British Expat Mallrats in Yogya

At this internet cafe they play the same few reggae songs over and over again, so putting photos on the blog yesterday and today we've been treated to a lot of it. Along with constant diesel fumes. Where from is anybody's guess. Luckily, earlier, they gave us a brief techno and Michael Jackson interlude, for about ten minutes. It's raining a lot here, on and off, but quite dramatically each time. It is, after all, the rainy season. We weren't aware of this on Bali because every day was sunny and bright, but a guy on the beach informed me that it was only after the big earthquake that the rain stopped. He said it'd been theorized that there was a connection. Interesting, I thought. I guess the earth has righted itself by now. There's flooding in Jakarta, where we're headed tomorrow.

Meanwhile, the Mallrats, as Aubrie calls them, are quite puzzling. It's a crew of about five or six (possibly more) older English guys who frequent the Ciao cafe in the Malioboro Mall. This is actually the best cafe in town for decent coffee, so I can't totally blame them, but the odd thing is that they're there every day (yes, so are we, but they stay for hours, and we merely for minutes, to read the Jakarta Post and have Iced Coffee.) They all sit around and smoke, talk to each other, and have oddly flirtatious relationships with several young Indonesian women, including the entire wait staff. Most of them speak Bahasa Indonesia. One of them looks very near death, but that's beside the point. So, we wonder, daily--what are they doing there? Why are there British expats, who never leave the mall, in Yogyakarta?

Into Java, Photographs

Girls on Ferry to Java, by A.





On the Banyuwangi to Surabaya Train, by A.








Sosrowijayan Street, Yogyakarta, by A.





Bird Market Near Water Castle, by A.





Before the Downpour in Yogya, by A.





And Last But Not Least, An Indonesian Toilet:

Kuta, Bali Photographs

Stray Dog Near Kedin's Inn II, by A.





The Pool at Kedin's Inn II, by G.





Aubrie in the Pool, by G.





Aubrie on Kuta Beach, by G.





Woman Cutting Me a Mango, by A.






Kuta Beach Sunset, by A.

Hong Kong Photographs

In Central, by Aubrie





Causeway Bay, by A.





Tsim Sha Tsui, by A.





Central at Night, by A.

1/22 - To Jakarta on Monday

Still in Yogyakarta- all trains to Jakarta this weekend were sold out so we had to buy tickets for the one on Monday morning, which gives us under a day in Jakarta, but something tells me that'll be enough. The Argo Lawu, at 180,000 Rp for the roughly 500km trip, will be the most expensive train we've taken by far, so I'm curious to see what it's like. Yesterday when going to buy tickets we got stuck in a very picturesque tropical downpour on the way.

More soon...

Backpacker as Massive Cliche; Tourism as Destruction

I have to say that Java is not growing on me. I did have a pretty nice dinner tonight- chicken with coconut sauce- and tried an avocado and chocolate shake, which was kind of terrible, but fun. If a drink can be fun.

The problems we're having here, I think, lie fundamentally in the concept of tourism. I want so badly not to be just another tourist, milling around like a zombie between batik stores, famous monuments, and restaurants. But it seems as if in places like this, as an outsider, you almost have no choice. The place itself assumes that you want to be the zombie-tourist, as most do, and when you show up with a guidebook and a camera, it only gets worse. I ask: don't they see that I'm not merely taking snapshots, that I am putting effort into composition, seeking out details, the look and feel of the city and not portraits of the "attractions" which have been photographed already so many times!? Okay, so maybe I do photograph the obvious things too, out of some feeling of touristic obligation, but I always attempt to insert an ironic touch in those cases. Like that time that I photographed Aubrie and Michelle in front of the Mona Lisa and framed it so that half of the painting was blocked!....

Here I'd like to note that although the above is written with sarcasm, it's actually a flimsy cover for the fact that I actually think those things. Then again, it's also an indicator of my own distrust (mistrust?) of those feelings, they being somewhat pretentious and arrogant. Okay, I'll stop.

Getting back to the topic of tourism....I think the first major problem with a place that you would want to go to and see is that the place is most likely very much aware of it. And so, you'll tend to have an experience there much like ours when we ventured out into Yogya today- you'll be approached by dozens of people wanting to make money off of you, ranging from the yelling of "transport!" by every third person, to the people who want to know where you're from, where you're going, and would you like any help with getting to the water palace?? and who inevitably isn't just someone looking to help, but in fact a schemer, a seller, a man who wants your money. And the effect of this on us is that we become increasingly callous, increasingly annoyed, ot the point that we trust no one, have no choice but to ignore the people who ask us questions. Furthermore, having had every single person whose services we have used (taxis, etc) try at every turn to overcharge us, rip us off, trick us and even intimidate us, all to get as much money as possible from us, we feel angry, and bitter, and expect the worst. It's easy to see the sort of dynamic this leads to. It's no good for both sides. I don't know whether to blame myself, Indonesia, tourism, economic imbalance...perhaps it's all of those.

The second major problem inherent in tourism is that all those sites that you find yourself wanting to see are most often, if not overcrowded with tourists while you're there, so over-seen, over-photographed, and over-developed-for-the-purposes-of-being-seen that they are rendered, quite ironically, unseeable. All the tourists before and all those to come, all the images made of and guides written about the place, have devalued it to the point of invisibility. You will see the Tourist's Water Castle, and it will be a faint shadow of its actual self, merely a physical likeness of whatever it originally was.

The logical course to follow, therefore, is to go off the beaten path, but this is much easier said than done. What happens if 98% of paths are beaten? Or even 100%?

An Optimistic Note:

Most of what I enjoy about being in a place is just being there, eating there, sleeping there, seeing little things that I would not see at home, and this is still possible wherever I happen to be. So at least that's good.

In Other News:

Yogyakarta is hot, and ugly. There's a bird market here that's sad- many beautiful birds, even some rabbits and rodents, looking unhappy in small cages.

Why is it that people drive worse and worse the closer you they are to the equator? It's unreal. The traffic here (and everywhere else in Indonesia) is terrible, and the streets are uncrossable. No one will let you cross. The cars and motorbikes continue in a steady stream all day, and you have no choice but to step in front of them and hope they slow down. Stopping is out of the question. Where do people pick up such bad manners?

Speaking of manners- a crazy man with no teeth approached us today (while waiting to cross a street, no less) and first pointed at Aubrie, laughed wildly, then noticed me, darted my way as I simultaneously started to flee, and flailed his arms so as to slap me, before a policeman noticed and blew his whistle, at which point it was his turn to flee, jumping on a moving bus (a fairly standard maneuver, so you shouldn't be impressed.)

Staying at a nice place now, a bit too much money for us at 120,000 Rp a night (about 13 dollars, or 6.50 each) but completely worth it. It has a non-rotting bathroom and even hot water sometimes. The room itself is beautiful, with a very colonial feel. We aren't sure when we'll leave for Jakarta.

1/19 - Yogyakarta, Having Encountered Deceit and Grown Bitter in East Java

Am in Yogyakarta (pronounced Jogjakarta) in Central Java, or should I say "are in Yogyakarta," I being not alone? You see my English is suffering.

In any case, we are living and retain all of our money and possessions, so I suppose I'm relieved, but the trip out here from Kuta was not fun at all. I was about to call it nightmarish but figured instead that I should reserve that term for more calamitous occasions. The skeletal version:

Guide said bus from Denpasar in Bali to the ferry in the West of Bali at Gilimanuk would cost 10,000 Rp and take 1.5 hours. We got charged 12,500 and the ride took 3.5 hours (we're talking about roughly 110 kilometers here.) The ferry was the one place we didn't get overcharged or ripped off, and though strange, was fine. Young girls talked to us and took endless rounds of photos of us with various combinations of their friends, and the whole thing felt like some sort of high school dance, complete with Christmas lights, a sound system blasting music ("Osaki, Technology by Japan, mp7 player") and hundreds of young people milling around flirting with each other. And at 3300 Rp, we paid the real price. Then we reached the other side, where the guide told us Banyuwangi train station would be 8 km away. Immediately we were approached by seven thousand men with motorbikes. One man had a taxi, and though he wouldn't lower his proposed price of 20,000 Rp to take us to the train station, we relented because we just wanted to get there at that point. We went and stood by the side of the road with him, and waited for the taxi to get there.

Now, there was a brief moment here which was actually pleasant, and which I'd like you to picture for a moment, because after that for 40 hours or so most things we much less pleasant. The sun was just setting, and the mosque across the street was projecting the call to prayer (Java being mostly Muslim, whereas Bali is more Hindu). People milled around, ferries docked and departed. Ahh, east Java, Indonesia! It was a nice few minutes. Then the taxi wasn't arriving. Aubrie's bag was getting heavy. My muscles were holding out, but getting weary. The man said "or you could take bemo, for same price..." in a way that was sort of slimy, as if saying "or you could give me 100,000 more Rupiah." It didn't quite make sense. (A bemo is a tiny van which can have ten people crammed into it but which you can also charter if you pay for the missing other passengers.) Anyway, he assured me there would be no difference between a taxi and that so we agreed, naturally, wanting to get out of there.

The driver was out of his mind. In this tiny yellow van, with the door permanently open and no seatbelts, he took the thing up to top speeds, passing anything and everything he could find to pass, compulsively, like a maniac. Rocks were hitting the sides, almost flying into the door. We drove for a very long time, and arrived at a train station, much to my relief. I had assumed the man's opffer had been code for "or we could rob and kill you, somewhere out there, for the same price..." Except for one thing...well, two things...first, he took us to Kerangasem Station. We said "Is this Banyuwangi Station?" and he assured us, yes. Okay fine, here's 20,000 Rp. He looks at me with fury in his beady little eyes. No, 40! No, 20 for 1, 40 for 2! He looks like he's about ready to knife me as I assure him we were told 20. He stands and stares intently at me for about a minute, then takes off. It wasn't very nice at all, and there we were in the dark at some random train station, which was just a track and a small waiting room with ten thousand lizards and seven million insects in it clustering around the fluorescent lights....

And at this point I have no time left to write about the rest, but I promise I will fill in the rest later. For now, let it suffice to say that the 1st class seats on the overnight train to Surabaya from there were sold out, so we had to go and find a hotel a couple of kilometers away, which though promising turned out to be populated by a) a cockroach infestation, b) rats making ominous noises and scurrying around, c) a rooster who started things up at 3 a.m. with the most unfortunate-sounding noise I've heard from a rooster. After that was the morning train, (from a different station! The bemo guy took us to one up the line further to make us think, what, that he deserved more money? The logic is astounding) on which they charged for blankets and tried to charge twice for all food, then the Surabaya mildew hotel, then several nasty encounters with taxi drivers trying to rip us off, the most recent of which, in Surabaya, slammed the trunk down on two of my fingers as I attempted to get my bag out because, though he had run a meter (we were so happy about it!) and it came to 3300, he insisted on 10,000, which I finally had to give him because he was about to get in a fistfight with me (the fucker, I hope he dies a bloody death).

In closing, I'd like to apologize for my wrathful final sentence there, and to assure you that I had no injuries to my fingers, merely bouts of anxiety the whole way to Yogya, and a now solid fear of all taxis and transport in this country.

More soon....

Definitive Guide To Posting Comments

For all of you out there wishing to post a comment but finding the method obscure and unobvious:

First- Never click the little envelope icon at the bottom. The envelope is only for emailing the posting to others. The envelope will not help you.

To post a comment, probably the easiest way is to click on the link to the individual entry, which is right over there under my photo on the right hand side. Whichever entry you wish to comment upon, click it and you will be taken to a page solely devoted to it. At the bottom of all existing comments, if any, you will find "Post A Comment." Click there and it should be straightforward.

If you've just reached the bottom of the entry and don't wish to go find the place in the sidebar where the entry link is, you can just click where it says "5 Comments" or whatever number it is, and that will also take you to the individual entry's page.

Sorry about that, if I had the knowledge and time to design this whole thing myself, I would have made it easier.

Thank you for your continued patronage.

1/16 - Bali Coffee and Cigarettes

The Bali coffee situation is somewhat odd. On all menus you have the option of "Kopi" which is almost always Nescafe instant. Right below it is usually "Kopi Bali" which tends to be about 1000Rp cheaper. So I'd assumed that, in keeping with the world's strangeness, Kopi Bali was actual coffee, and that enough people preferred the Nescafe that it was served at a higher price. Excitedly, I ordered a Kopi Bali the other night and found it to be rather chalky, with a fine sludge at the bottom, much like the Nescafe. Thankfully the most recent cup I had actually tasted okay, though the sludge was still in force. Needless to say, I haven't quite figured out the system.

Meanwhile, the majority of cigarettes smoked in Indonesia are clove cigarettes, called "kretek" for their tendency to crackle and, once in a while, to send burning clove embers leaping out toward the face of the smoker. They're pretty tasty and there's a lot of variety here so Aubrie and I have tried a few. Yesterday I had one, purchased for the design on the pack, and found that it contained a whopping 33mg of tar. For the sake of reference- depending upon where you are, a pack of Marlboro Reds will have around 15mg I believe. My father smokes Japanese Casters which contain 3mg. He should really be quitting though. Dad, I think it's time to quit, low tar or not....

Departing from the main thesis of this entry, I'd like to make note of a certain phenomenon, that being the foreigners who walk around this place who've clearly been here a long time, and have no plans in particular for departure. They are most often shirtless, long-haired, walk lightly and slowly as if their destination doesn't particularly concern them, and tend to look a bit drugged out in that long-term kind of way. Other important characteristics: they eat with their hands, and they wear baggy, non Western-looking cloth trousers. The one I noticed yesterday in one of our favorite food spots, the Warung Indonesia, held a small yellow flower in his hand, which he brought to his nose intermittently, and ordered a fruit shake, in Indonesian of course.

Speaking of Bahasa Indonesia ("bahasa" means "language") I should also make note of the phone call I attempted to make to the Denpasar train reservation number yesterday. I spoke to all three men in the office, all of whom spoke very little English. Aubrie had managed previously to find the departure time for the Banyuwangi-Surabaya train online. So, my question for these guys was whether or not we would need to buy a ticket in advance. Over ten minutes I phrased the question many different ways, and I always got one of three answers: 1) "Yes?" (when it was not a yes or no question, 2) "Banyuwangi to Surabaya, yes", or 3) "Do you speak Indonesian?" The third guy finally hung up on me, which, though I could understand where he was coming from, angered me. Therefore, the whole thing remains a little open-ended. It looks like we'll head to Denpasar tomorrow (the 17th), as we're feeling done with this place, and try to buy a ticket for that evening's departure from Banyuwangi, then, if successful, make our way over there via bus and ferry. If unsuccesful, we'll get tickets for the next evening's departure, and head out to West Bali, spending a night somewhere near the ferry, and completing the journey the next day.

Actually, this was our first real language difficulty. Almost everyone here speaks English, presumably because of all the tourists. I actually saw one Indonesian woman in a store the other day speaking passable Japanese to some tourists from there. I would really like to learn Indonesian at some point. It uses a roman alphabet and the pronunciation is pretty easy and also fun.

Speaking of which, another thing I'd like to work on during this trip is being able to initiate conversation with Japanese tourists in Japanese, who would no doubt find it amusing coming from me, which would in turn no doubt spark some good discussion and give me some practice. I had a golden opportunity to do this last night, and failed to speak. What am I afraid of exactly?, I might ask myself. Initiating conversation has always been a point of hesitation for me though, in any language, if I'm being perfectly honest. Somehow the thought that they are other people with consciousnesses and that I am a person, also with a consciousness, in the same space, asking for their attention, to make me the center of their focus for the time being....it's all just too much.

I'd like to thank all those who have posted comments.

Randy, we'll be in Thailand on Feb. 4th, but hopefully with no remaining Rupiah. It's about 40 Baht to the US Dollar though, so there's another small math exercise, if you were looking for one. The forcefields are holding up strong, but are they meant to also hold up against stomach bugs, or would that have been a different exercise? Aubrie seems to have caught one today. For those feeling out of the loop- Michelle Fiordaliso gave us anti-harm protective fields before our respective departures from the NY Metro Area.

Kurt, we have no music players with us. I almost brough an iPod but decided I'd be too stressed out about damaging and/or losing it. So far though, I've been alright without any portable music. I'll report back after the upcoming long train journeys, however, and I may feel differently then. Oh, and Kuta is a town in South Bali.

Brad, thanks for the kind words....

I want to load a few photos on here but it'll depend on the upload speed of these comptuers, which I've just been informed is rather pathetic. So maybe we'll get some photos on here, and maybe you'll have to wait until I reach Singapore on the 25th. And the Hong Kong memoirs- still pending.

Speak to you next from Java, unless we get stranded somewhere else.

1/14 - Bali, Indonesia Entry #1

We're in Kuta, on the Indonesian island of Bali. I haven't had a chance to update the weblog as much as I had wanted so far, but not to worry! I've been keeping detailed notes on my experiences in a notebook. I should note that it's an unnerving sensation to be on the clock while using the internet. It always takes me a while to get used to it, when I find myself without my own laptop and internet connection. My anxiety at being charged by the minute leads to a sense of urgency, making it difficult to concentrate on blogging, which happens to be a completely unfounded feeling considering how inexpensive this place is. Indonesia is truly cheap, and I have to admit that I like the feeling of carrying around over a million Rupiah. Aubrie and I just ordered two ice teas and a mango lassi and it came to 8000 Rupiah, about 90 cents US. Our room at the Kedin's Inn II (far superior to Kedin's Inn I of course) is costing us 85,000 per night, which ends up being about $4.75 each. When I load some photos on here (hopefully soon) you'll get a better sense of what good value this is. It's a place of about twenty rooms surrounding a pool area thick with lush tropical plants and trees. Would easily go for over a hundred a night elsewhere, except for the fact that the bathroom is completely out of phase with the rest of the place, looking more like something out of the hostel in Hong Kong that we just came from. More on that will come hopefully within minutes (possibly a couple of days) when I put in a couple of retrospective posts devoted to the brief but invigorating Hong Kong experience. The hotel also includes a free breakfast, which, although meager, is rather tasty. I've had the Banana Jafle two mornings in a row now and plan to have it the rest of the time. It's basically bread fried in butter with slimy bananas in the middle. A butter and banana sandwich, I suppose.

If I had to make one complaint, it might be that food portions are not so huge in general. But this is no problem because one can order two entrees for the price of an eighth of an entree in New York. Today I had a delicious lunch of chicken satay (chicken on sticks with peanut sauce) and nasi kampur, which is basically rice and whatever they have around (tofu, chicken, onions, tomatoes, tempe), all fried up together in a really great sauce, though it was a bit on the spicy side. It all came to about 18,000 Rp. I trust you're familiar with the math at this point so I won't convert it to US Dollars. If you for some reason want to covert it with algebra, based on a previous conversion, the equation would be: X = (18000 * .90) / 8000. I make no claims as to the exact exchange rate involved here....

There are very few Americans here. In fact, I haven't seen a single one on the island. This I pretty much expected, but it's interesting to note. It's all Australians and Europeans, with some Japanese thrown in.

We were discussing this morning whether or not we should extend our stay here. The staff seem to be perfectly happy without any projected check-out date from us, as well as no money paid in advance. This is in keeping with their general habit of steering clear of us at all times. So, it's open-ended, and I like the freedom of that. The only thing is that we have a flight to catch in Jakarta, going to Singapore, on the morning of the 25th. So, adding nights here means sacrificing nights in Yogyakarta or Jakarta. The flight can be changed, but I don't know if we're up to dealing with the knock-on effect that would have to all other plans potentially.

In any case, it's very cheap here, there's plenty to eat, and the hotel is relaxing and comfortable, so it's going to be hard to strap on our packs and head out into the baking hot sun to find our way to Java. This will most likely happen, however, on the 17th or 18th. The problem is that we've had trouble getting information about the timing of the trains on Java. Basically, the trip out of here will involve a bus to Gilimanuk in west Bali, then a ferry across to Ketapang in Java, all of which will probably take three or four hours. At Ketapang, we need to catch a train to Surabaya. We know that there are trains that do this route, but we have no idea what time they leave, so it may mean that we get stranded in Ketapang for a night enroute. I asked a woman at a travel agency down the street about train schedules and she said "it's very difficult, try in Denpasar." Fair enough, I guess. It looks like it'll be an adventure. A hot, sweaty, frustrating one most likely, but how can I complain?

So, a few extra notes on the Kuta experience before I head off to check out the sunset from the beach:

Kuta, as some of you might know, is the tourist/party/surfer-central of Bali, and so, as you might expect, it's crowded with tourists, littered with tacky clothing and copied DVD stores, and generally busy and fairly un-authentic. Or would that be in-authentic? No hyphen as well, probably. But back to the point...somehow, despite these things, the island has such a nice feeling to it, and the people even as they try to sell you things are so friendly, that I don't feel an intense need to rush out of here. I'm not sure what it is, but I'm already planning my trip back to this island.

It's fantastically hot here, as some of you might also be aware of. I can't imagine what places away from the ocean are going to feel like. But, surprisingly, only a few mosquitoes here and there. This is very good news.

This also happens to be my first time south of the Equator. I had some delicious port wine and gruyere cheese on the flight down in celebration of the fact.

There's a small green anole who seems to live behind the mirror in our room, coming out every once in a while to move around the wall. The lizard is actually brown, but Aubrie informs me that its proper name is "green anole" and that it has the ability to change color, so labelling it brown would be inaccurate.

I love being around tropical plants and trees- it renews my wonder at the world and gives me energy.

Will be coming back to you very soon with reviews of both of our Cathay Pacific flights so far, as well as a Hong Kong recap, with in-depth reporting on the First Class Lounge in Chek Lap Kok airport! Until then...

Some Introspection On the Night Before Departure

I've had a couple of comments so far requesting a more in-depth account of my feelings regarding this trip as I prepare to head off. I'll admit that my strengths lie principally in making detailed lists, and that taking a close look at my emotional state and subsequently writing about it is daunting to say the least. But since this a travel journal, I'm willing to make an attempt at it....

Actually I very recently had a definable emotion- that being excitement- when I saw that if you type in "Southeast Asia Trip" on Yahoo Search I'm the 5th result on there. Alas, Google doesn't give me this same honor. I'm nowhere to be found on there, even if you add "2005" to the search terms. Seeing as I haven't met a person in the past two years who doesn't use Google exclusively, this is quite a letdown. The definable emotion has therefore changed as I type, to faded excitement, and perhaps slight disappointment. Oh Google algorithms, if you're out there scanning this piece of text, please, consider moving me to at least page 2....

In a way, the concept of "search" fits nicely with this post. I'll admit now that it was unintentional.

Anticipating this trip (getting down to it finally) I'm all of the obvious things- wary, anxious, obsessive (is that an emotion?), excited, exuberant- and at this point, the night before I leave, the anticipation level is high. It's always a little strange to be going from one place to another...the day or two leading up to your departure is so consumed by awareness of the impending departure that they aren't quite like real days. The one who'll be travelling in this case is caught between the place he is and the place he's going (as far as it exists in his head), and the result is a state of mind that's not fully connected with any one thing. I wonder if this is, at least partially, a response by the consciousness to the ease and speed of air travel?

This trip evolved somewhat organically, beginning when I wanted to spend some miles and fly on Cathay Pacific, then developing as I made every attempt to maximize those miles. Suddenly I had a massive trip planned, and since that time (sometime in early Autumn 2004) it's remained a concept, somewhere off in the future, requiring a good deal of planning and detail-oriented pre-conception. As such, it's remained primarily rooted in my mind as that concept, essentially not more than the string of words which I used to describe it to people. Now, suddenly, it's apparent to me that I'll really be in these places, walking through them, eating and sleeping in them, finding myself placed in solid reality at all moments, for a fairly long time. I'll be in alien realities- successive and continuously alien in different ways- for long enough that I won't have any foreseeable escape should I find them unpleasant. I'll be carrying a heavy pack, probably not washing my clothes very often, unable to speak the language, taking malaria pills, and spending money daily while worrying about not spending too much. This is all fairly standard, and nothing surprising.

What I find interesting about it though is that at the moment, sitting in the comfort of this kitchen in Japan, using wireless internet and drinking Calpis, all of these things I'm writing about sound great. I can't wait for the changing realities and the fact that every day may be unpredictable and different from anything I've done before. The potential for unpleasantness itself is even exciting, and I guess this stems from the fact that comfort and predictability can be fairly uninspiring. Of course, I'm also aware of what it's like to travel in countries like these, and I'm expecting moments of intense frustration, deep fatigue, and the depression that can result from first getting to a new place, among other things. I'm worried about all of that, and I'm worried about the logistics of the whole thing. I want everything to go as planned, and I know that it most definitely won't. At the same time, I suppose that the whole point is for things not to go as planned. I also want things to be unexpected, new, and surprising, as much as this prospect pains my more logical side. Essentially, my biggest concern right now about the trip is whether or not I'll be able to effectively manage my frustration level so that I don't have a breakdown each time I'm disappointed by how things are turning out. I have a bad temper, as some may already know (and if you don't know it's because I tend to hide it from public view when I can), and one of the biggest things I'm hoping for over the next couple of months is that I'll be able to manage it, especially considering the fact that I'm travelling with someone else, and my mood and ability to handle things will most certainly affect her whole experience, and vice versa. So if I had to name one part of myself that I want to work on during the trip, it would be this, and undoubtedly this will be the perfect time to really see if I can conquer some of my bad anger-habits.

Overall, though it's somewhat disappointing to be so obvious, I want to experience as much as possible, and steer as far away from the usual "tourist" way of doing so. I want to eat delicious food, take cool photographs and video, see tropical plants and animals, pick up words in other languages, and maintain a good balance between feeling as far from normalcy as possible and not losing my mind.

If you have any comments, feel free to post them below where it says "Comments." Just click there and it'll take you where you can then click on "Post A Comment" and type whatever you wish. I don't mind having them emailed to me, but I like the idea of reactions being there with the post.

Two Days Left in Japan - Equipment List

Will be leaving in less than two days. Amber (my sister) is flying back to England on the 8th, so I'll be leaving early in the morning with her, to help her navigate Japan Rail. We're taking a 7:21 a.m. train, connecting in Tokyo Station to the Narita Express, which gets in to the airport just before 11. She'll be going through around 11:30 and my flight to Hong Kong doesn't leave until 6:30 p.m. Aubrie's flight from New York gets in at about 3:30 so that leaves me with about four hours to kill by myself. I was thinking about doing some planespotting from the observation deck (where they even have little gaps in the fence for your camera lens), but it might be difficult as I'll be going down without a coat (which I won't need where I'm going) and it could be a little chilly in Tokyo. Luckily because these flights are in business class (using frequent flyer miles) I get to sit in the lounge if I tire of the in-airport mall. The lounges in Tokyo aren't anything special (I can choose from the Cathay, BA, or AA ones thanks to the oneworld Alliance), but they're good as a quiet place to read and have free drinks.

I just packed everything together to see if it would all fit, and my pack weighs 34 pounds (about 15 kg). The pack is an 85 liter Lowe Alpine Contour III. I'm happy about it because it looks nice, but I took it out on a twenty-minute dog walk and it held up pretty well in terms of performance as well. I had some minor mid-back pain but I'm assuming that's unavoidable, especially when I'm not used to it. Of note- it was also surprisingly comfortable when running....

Because I hope this site will be useful not only to people wanting to know what I'm up to, but also to anyone who's planning a similar trip, or thinking about it, I'll give a quick listing of what I'm bringing with me:

Sony PC350 Video Camera
Contax SL300R Digital Still Camera
2 AC Adapters
USB Cable
10 miniDV tapes
2 128MB SD Cards (hope to get some bigger ones if they're cheap in Hong Kong)

8 T-Shirts
6 Pairs Underwear
1 Pair Jeans
1 Pair Blue Khakis
1 Pair Black North Face Tech-Pants (whose legs zip off to become shorts so I can look cool)
1 Pair Khaki Shorts
2 Linen Shirts
1 Green Long-Sleeve T-Shirt
1 North Face Vaporwick Base Layer Shirt
1 Polo Shirt
2 Pairs Flip-Flops (couldn't decide between black and red so bringing both)
4 Pairs Socks
1 Pair NB Shoes
1 Bathing Suit

Aquis Super-Absorbent Towel
Various Toiletries, including: Dr. Bronner's Soap, Bactine, Anti-fungal cream, Hydrocortizone, 79 tablets Doxycycline (malaria), 30 tablets Cipro, etc etc
North Face Mohawk daypack
Opinel Knife
Sunglasses
Small Moleskine Journal
Small Moleskine Address Book
Travel Alarm Clock (which lights up blue)
Travel Plug Adapters
JAL Eyeshades
JAL Earplugs
Two Pens
Nylon Laundry Bag (to go over the pack and protect it when it's checked in the cargo hold)
Muji Passport/Document Holder, containing: passport, immunization records, international drivers license, credit cards, etc

One or two books
Lonely Planet: Southeast Asia on a Shoestring
Lonely Planet: Southeast Asia Phrasebook
Rough Guide: Laos
Rough Guide: Thailand
Time Out Hong Kong
(these will be divided between Aubrie and I for carrying)

My position on guidebooks is that Lonely Planets tend to be a bit better, but I like the cover design and matte finish of Rough Guides, so I end up alternating. Also, we've only bought country-specific books for the two countries we'll be spending the most time in and the city which isn't covered in the Southeast Asia book, in the interest of keeping the weight down.

One thing I still have to work out is rain protection. I've been told to line my bag with heavy duty trash bags, but this seems like it'll be a hassle when packing and unpacking. I'm considering buying a large, cheap poncho-type thing and placing it over the bag when necessary.

To anyone reading: please let me know if there's anything else you'd like to hear about the preparation part of the trip. I'll talk to you next from Hong Kong, most likely.

The Rough Itinerary

At the bottom of the entry is a MAP displaying our route.

8 January -
Fly Tokyo to Hong Kong, stay five nights

12 January -
Fly to Bali, Indonesia, stay four nights

16 January -
Take trains heading west through Java, ending up at Jakarta, Indonesia

25 January -
Fly Jakarta to Singapore, stay three nights

28 January -
Head north to Peninsular Malaysia (Kuala Lumpur, Cameron Highlands) - back down to Singapore to catch the next flight

4 February -
Fly Singapore to Bangkok, stay for two days while get a Laos visa and a train ticket

6 February -
Overnight train to Nong Khai, Thailand

7 February -
Cross the border into Laos, stay a few nights in Vientiane, the capital

10 February (a vaguely defined month) -
Head up through Northern Laos towards the Lao border town of Huay Xai, cross back into Thailand, then make our way south through Chiang Mai to Bangkok

11 March -
Fly to Cork, Ireland, stay seven days

19 March -
Two-night stopover in England

21 March -
Two-night stopover in Dubai, UAE on the way back to Thailand

24 March -
Back in Bangkok, maybe head to Ko Samet for some beach-time

29 March -
Return to Tokyo via Hong Kong

The Map View (Red=overland/Blue=flight):