Cianjur, September 20-27

Homestay and Volunteer

After a night in Bali I began the long trek via bus, ferry and train to Cianjur, Java that wound up taking almost three days, covering 650 miles. On Monday I began the trip via a 5 hour bus ride and short ferry ride to Banyuwangi, Java -- the closest point to Bali in Java. From there I walked to the train station to find out the next train to Surabaya wasn't until 10:15pm, so I had a 7 hour wait there. Unfortunately, there's nothing around the train station so I spent most of the time eating and reading and talking to strangers. I finally boarded the train for what was a 9 hour overnight ride. The train wasn't that comfortable so sleeping was pretty tough. All in all I probably got about 2-3 hours of rest. Once in Surabaya I had an 1.5 layover where I grabbed some breakfast before my next 12 hour train ride to Bandung. This ride was much better as the train was real comfortable (just as good as the Amtrak back home). I was able to sleep a bit on this ride, but also read a ton and enjoyed the beautiful scenery. I arrived in Bandung at 7:30pm where I found a hostel by the train station, grabbed some dinner and went to sleep early. I was up early again the next day for the last leg of the trip to Cianjur: a two hour bus ride. The ride was pretty smooth and on Wednesday afternoon I finally arrived at Yudi's house in Cianjur.

I heard from a few people while traveling about this homestay and volunteer program and I figured it would be a great way to spend my last few days in Indonesia and how right I was. Yudi's home is a small, three bedroom house in a little neighborhood of Cianjur which is a medium sized Muslim town about four hours drive from Jakarta. Yudi's family of four lives here and his Nephew spends a lot of time here as well. The food has been absolutely amazing too. My first meal here was this amazing gado-gado, rice, vegetables and soup for dinner (I've eaten more here than anywhere else). In the morning I woke up to a delicious breakfast, including sweet grilled rice and a popular local dish called bugis. It's a cake with fried brown sugar and roasted coconut in the middle, surrounded by a sticky rice made with mashed suji leaf that gives it a natural green coloring. It's probably the best sweet I've had in SE Asia. After breakfast I went to one of the local Muslim high schools where I spent most of the day going from class to class talking to all the students so they could practice their English. They all asked me hundreds of questions about America, why I came to Indonesia, American traditions, popular music, if I have a girlfriend, etc.

After 5 hours there, and a delicious lunch of Lontong (peanut sauce based curry with vegetables and chicken), I went to a local tea plantation to see the entire process of how tea is made. The best part was probably just walking through the lush hills where in every direction all you could see were tea trees. I was there with one of the locals who work for Yudi, Jamal who is one of the most fun and crazy (in a good way) persons I've met along my journey. We got along really well and pretty much spent the afternoon laughing about the most random things (for example he wants to marry a foreigner born on July 24 (his bday), get married on July 24 and have twins born on July 24). At night I met up with the teacher and some students from the school I previously visited for dinner and hanging out for hours just talking about anything and everything and having a great time.  Later, Jamal and I went into town to check it out and get myself oriented.

The next morning I was up at 7:30 to go to another school. This time it was a Hotel Administration College, and I met with four different classes of approximately 30 students each. Again, I was asked many similar questions as the day before and of course, had about 100 photos taken of me with each of the students. Both schools were definitely happy to have a foreigner come visit their school, as there really aren't any tourists here (thus far I haven't seen any others which is really nice)! It was really a fantastic time going to the schools as I enjoyed being there and it was very obvious the teachers and students did too (anytime I was walking somewhere I had at least 10 people following me). I got back to Yudi's house around 4 and relaxed the rest of the day and night.

Saturday was a nice laid back day, as I think the lack of sleep finally caught up to me and hit me like a brick wall as I was extremely extremely tired. Yudi, Jamal and I just hung around the house and the neighborhood all day which was really nice and something I haven't been able to do once on this trip. It felt like I was living there.

Sunday was more or less my last "real" day in SE Asia (I say real b/c Monday I am traveling 5 hours to Jakarta then flying out on Tuesday) so I wanted to make sure I had a full day of doing something unique to here. Jamal graciously offered to take me to his village which I was really excited about. His village was a 20 minute motorbike ride from Yudi's and of course through vast expanses of rice fields. Upon arriving at his sister's house, I was instantly surrounded by about 10 kids and numerous other screams of "bule" or foreigner in Indonesian. After meeting his sister and his nephew, we walked over to his mother's house where Jamal introduced me to his mom. From there we walked out to the rice fields for some photos and what turned out to be some unexpected manual labor! Four women were working in the rice fields and Jamal asked if I wanted to try. I thought why the hell not, took off my sandals and with the women's approval stepped knee deep into the mud and water. Because it's the beginning of the rainy season most of the rice isn't ready to be harvested and thus is growing in deep water. The work basically consisted of tilling the mud and pulling out weeds with my bare hands -- no machines here. I was extremely impressed as the women I was working next to were at least 60 years old and were day after day working the fields in the heat. I was given the approval by the ladies who said in Sundanese (the local dialect), I would make a great rice farmer -- perhaps a future for me if I can't find other work. I lasted about an hour, or 3 full rice paddies of work, before I began to feel the heat and was finished. I guess I was so caught up in the work that I hadn't noticed the group of villagers who had been watching (and laughing) the entire time! This was certainly a great experience, let alone the amazing views and definitely something I will never forget. Nor will the four ladies I worked with, as they said they have never seen a foreigner in person before, let alone a foreigner working a rice paddy!

After the hard work I was fortunate enough to have a local boy climb a nearby palm tree for me and grab a few fresh coconuts right from the tree for a refreshing drink and snack. Jamal, me and the group of about 10 local boys now following us made our way back into the village to walk around and meet some more people. Everywhere we went people were coming out of their houses to check out the foreigner. Jamal and I were invited into people's homes and offered tea and cookies and who knows what else to snack on that we of course could not refuse. At times I thought maybe I shouldn't eat or drink this or that b/c I had no idea what it was, but I thought hey what the hell I only have a few more days in SE Asia, I may as well go for it! Each house we stopped at presented a new learning experience, 100's of photos from the home owners, numerous marriage proposals and overall amazement at this foreigner in their village. The funniest was either when one pregnant woman said she hopes to have a baby that looks like me, implying that we marry or two women stating that they were extremely jealous of my big nose. Many people tried to guess where I was from, always incorrectly, ranging from India, Pakistan and to Iran (generally b/c of the nose). Throughout our stopovers I learned and saw how tamarind snacks were made, how pure brown sugar is grown and how to effectively grow peanuts and green beans. At around 1:30 we stopped into Jamal's sister's house for lunch of ladak (vegetables with peanut sauce) and I was taught how to make my own peanut sauce which I'm pumped up about. Essentially you just crush peanuts, salt, potato and chili together and add a bit of water. Following lunch we made a few more rounds to other houses and to his friends which was a lot of fun. All in all we spent 7 hours at Jamal's village, which turned out to be one of the best days I've had all trip long.

Cianjur is 100% Muslim and everyone I met here were the friendliest, most welcoming and most accepting people I've probably ever met. I was offered, and accepted, more tea and food than imaginable and the doors to these people's homes were immediately opened for me, even as a perfect stranger (which has been true in most parts of SE Asia). When asked where I was from and when I told them I was American they were grateful to have me in their homes. I will never forget this hospitality and hope that someday I can return the warmth and acceptance in some form or another.

We finally got back to Yudi's home around 5pm where shortly thereafter I had yet another delicious dinner of sate ayam and vegetables. I have to say that as my last "real" day I could not have imagined a single better way to spend it.

On Monday I'm driving with Yudi to Jakarta and on Tuesday flying back to SF.

Yudi and his family

The living room

SMA Negeri 1 School

Hotel Administration College

Tea factory

Jamal and I at the tea plantation

Bugis!!!

The lady to in all blue wanted the baby that looked like me

Hard at work!

A bit muddy

Nice background!

Break time

Nothing like a fresh coconut after some hard work

They followed me throughout the day

The women in red wanted a nose like mine

Labuanbajo -> Bajawa -> Kelimutu -> Bali, September 13-19

The Long Trek Across Flores


Following the great two days at Komodo Island and Rinca, I said farewell to the Catalans as they were off to Bali and I planned to stick around for 3 more nights do some diving. I had heard that Komodo National Park was a great place for diving, although it is notorious for extremely strong currents. I also decided that it was time for me to take the next step in diving certification and get my advanced certification. After shopping around town for a good dive operator I decided to go with Komodo Divers, which turned out to be a great choice. Upon speaking to them they asked me if I wanted to go on a night dive in 20 minutes and I decided why not. Although the dive was just in the harbor we did see a lot of neat things, albeit amongst the garbage -- including tons of crabs, shrimp, baby cuttle fish, lion fish, and a weird eel/sea snake looking thing. The night dive lasted about an hour an I was officially on my way to becoming advanced.

The next morning I was up at 6:30 (which would be the start of  a week straight of being up before 7) to head to the boat for the days dives. The dive sites in Komodo National park are a minimum two hour boat ride, so you pretty much spend all day out at sea. Our first dive of the day was at Batu Balong for my fish identification dive. The dive was amazing, one of my top five dives of all time. I saw the largest schools of the biggest fish I've ever seen! Also saw white tip sharks, turtles, and a sea snake. The coral was stunning too, with every inch of rock covered by coral, sponges or the like. For the afternoon dive we went to Manta Point, but unfortunately didn't see any Manta's. This was my drift dive for my advanced certification and what a perfect place to do it. With the strong current we drifted about 2 miles!

On Tuesday, I awoke again at 6:30 to head out diving. The first stop was Castle Rock, probably the most famous dive site in Komodo National Park. It was a great spot -- essentially a rock pinnacle in the middle of the ocean. It's nice because at the rock there isn't much current but everything gets pushed towards it, so as the dive master said "sit back and enjoy the show"! Again we saw sharks, but also huge schools of travally, tuna and barracuda. The second dive of the day was nothing special as it was my final test before becoming advanced: underwater navigation. I passed the natural navigation and compass navigation tests and was now officially advanced certified!

Wednesday was my last dive and it was no let down. Our first dive was Tatawa Kecil, a rare stop for divers here because of the currents, which I found out first hand. Tatawa Kecil lays right at the heart of the meeting point of the Flores Sea from the north and the Indian Ocean from the south, so it's no wonder there are strong currents. This turned out to be the most difficult dive I've ever done, as was the case for everyone else including the dive instructors. You had currents going in all directions (including up and down) at all times. At one point I saw a fish get flipped upside down and thought to myself "if the animals living here can't survive, how are humans?" It was hard to take note of anything around you as you were fighting the current the entire time in hopes of avoiding being swept out to sea. Fortunately, we all made it. My last dive was back to Batu Balong for another stunning show; including white tip sharks, one of the largest pufferfish I've ever seen and a sea snake that we watched hunt for over ten minutes. It was certainly a great place to do my last dive in SE Asia. Komodo Divers were a great operation, who I would recommend to anyone. The dive master was  a late-20's British guy and it happened to be that his friends from England were in town doing their dive master training from him. Essentially, the four of us hung out all day on the boat then would get back to town and go out for dinner and/or drinks. It was great fun.

On Wednesday the 15th I was up by 7:30 for the beginning of a long trek across Flores to Kelimutu (some 15 hours by bus). Flores is quite undeveloped compared to other parts of Indonesia, so there's only one road across the country which, for those of you familiar, is like the road out to Stinson Beach except narrower and longer. Since I didn't want to do all 15 hours at once, I did the first 7 hours and got out at Bajawa to break up the cross-island trip. On the bus I met an English guy (John) and a French girl (Delphine) who I spent the next few days with. In Bajawa the three of us arranged a day trip for Thursday to traditional villages and to natural hot springs. The villages were okay but included a two hour hike which was nice and the hot springs were exceptional. It's essentially a river that passes over an underground lava flow which heats the water to about 102 degrees -- you could even see the bubbling of heat. A perfect natural hot tub which we hung out at for hours.

On Friday we were back on the public bus from Bajawa to Moni to head up to Mt. Kelimutu. The drive was just as rough, squeezing 23 people and 2 chickens into a minivan (the girl in front was throwing up b/c of the curvy road). Moni was a beautiful small town with the guesthouse overlooking rice fields and rolling hills lined with palm trees. The main attraction here is Mt. Kelimutu, which contains three crater lakes of varying color. The colors tend to change due to chemical reactions of many minerals in the lake triggered by volcanic gas activity. Kelimutu is considered sacred to local people and it is believed that spirits come to Kelimutu when people die. Which lake the spirit would enter depends on the age and character of the person when alive. Jon, Delphine and I were up at 4am for the ride to the top for sunrise. At the top we could see all three lakes for a truly unbelievable view. Tiwu Ata Mbupu (Lake of Old People) was black, Tiwu Nuwa Muri Koo Fai (Lake of Young Men and Maidens) was a rich turquoise and Tiwu Ata Polo (Bewitched or Enchanted Lake) was coffee brown. The lakes looked like they were filled with paint! We spent 3 hours basking at the amazing amazing scenery before heading back down via a 8 mile hike. On the way down we met an old local guy who showed us a few shortcuts through villages. We stopped at his village as well to meet his family and to share a cup of delicious tea -- sure beat driving down! Along the way we did come across some local farmer yelling at us in the local dialect but we were quick to move on.

Once back to Moni we were on the bus again to complete the cross island trip. In Maumere I said bye to John and Delphine and made out for the airline offices in hopes of getting a flight the next day for Bali. I was lucky enough to find one departing at 6am for Denpasar. I was up at 4 the next morning to catch the flight and to begin my 10 day airplane, bus and train ride up to Jakarta to catch my SF bound flight on the 28th.

Traditional Village

To keep the bad spirits away

I'll never forget this van ride across Flores...what you can't see
are the chickens or the girl puking in the front

Hoping the clouds would break at Kelimutu

Lake of Young Men and Maidens

Looks like paint

Two of the lakes share a crater wall

View from the airplane of Komodo National Park...
Flores to Denpasar

My natural hat for our hike down Kelimutu

Labuanbajo, Flores, September 8-12

Komodo and Rinca Islands


The flight from Denpasar to Labuanbajo was a quick 1.5 hours with some great views. To be honest I was a bit nervous for this flight as I've heard some horror stories but thankfully everything went smoothly. During the flight I met these 4 people from Barcelona who I quickly befriended and spent the next few days with. Upon arriving in Labuanbajo the five of us instantly began searching for trips to the famous Komodo and Rinca islands. Because it was the end of Ramadhan it was more difficult than usual, however, we did find a boat for our desired 2 day/1 night trip.

The next morning at 8:30 we set sail for what was to be a fun and unforgettable trip. We set sail for two hours where we arrived at Komodo Island for our first view of the dragons. Before taking more than 10 steps on the island we came across our first dragon sighting. I'm not sure I've ever been as impressed by the size of an animal before -- the largest one we saw was 7.5ft long and weighed about 195lbs. I knew Komodo Dragons were big, but when you see them in person my jaw dropped! We agreed upon a guided two hour trek across Komodo. Before getting far into our walk we came across about 5 dragons near the ranger station. The dragons are mostly calm, as coldblooded animals they were just basking in the sun, but due to their sheer size you didn't want to get to close to them. They also have the ability to kill and eat deer, goat and even numerous water buffalo (as was proven by the numerous skulls you see along the walk) due to the venomous bacteria that is part of their saliva. The venom won't kill a goat instantly, but give it a few hours and you'll see it's effects. We came across a total of about 10 dragons on the hike, which also included some spectacular views of the Flores Sea. The landscape reminded me of the Serengetti, as it was pretty dry and barren expect a speckling of palm trees and brown grass.

After the two hour trek we boarded the boat and made our first snorkeling stop at Pink Beach. The site was amazing with numerous coral, turtles and giant fish of all families. About an hour later we dropped anchor for the evening. I should mention how delicious the food was on the boat. Unfortunately, the sleeping situation wasn't quite as good as the food as we all slept out on the deck of the boat, but it was only one night so no worries. The next morning we were up by 6am and began the long ride to Rinca island. Along the way we spotted a pod of dolphins before we stopped for another snorkel, which wasn't nearly as good as the Pink Beach.

Rinca is another island loaded with Komodo Dragons. Similar to Komodo, we went for a two hour hike that included numerous deer, water buffalo, cockatoo, and other bird sightings and of course the mighty Komodo Dragons which I now consider one of my favorite animals. After the hike we were back on the boat for the 4.5 hour ride back to Labuanbajo (including another snorkel stop). I should note that since it was the end of Ramadhan, there was a large "party" on a random island near where we stopped for a snorkel which was pretty funny to see. 

First spotting!

Tongue comes out when looking for food

7.5ft. long - 195lbs.

The Catalans!

Komodo Island

Look at the claws!

Lunch time

Taking in the sun

View from Rinca

Rinca Island

Our boat

End of Ramadhan party at desolate island in the middle of the ocean

Look out now

Night at sea

 

 

Ubud, Bali, September 4-7

Back to Bali!

After a long bus ride from Java to Denpasar, almost 12 hours, I arrived in Ubud around 6am with little sleep. Despite how early it was, Ubud quickly reminded me of how much I love Bali and how much I missed it since leaving in March (as I'm writing this entry a ceremony is passing by on the street). The streets were lined only with Indonesians so I thought this would be a nice few days without other tourists. However, later in the day I was to find out how wrong I was as the streets were lined with tourists everywhere! The first day here I slept for half the day (I hadn't really slept in two days with the early morning for Bromo and the overnight bus ride) and in the afternoon explored the streets. I also made my way to the Antonio Blanco museum, a Spanish Renaissance artist who lived in Ubud. The work was okay but the grounds of his studio were really nice. After an hour or so there, I made my way to Bu Oka for some delicious Babi Guling (Balinese for suckling pig) a delicious Ubud specialty.

From there I went to the tourist information center to buy a ticket to the night bamboo gamelan show. Ubud is the arts center of Bali so everyday there are performances going on. Ubud is also full of artist galleries, museums, and on every street corner various temples. Since I was pretty soar from the bus, I decided to get a massage for $5 which, admittedly felt really good. A few minutes before 7 I arrived at the Palace for the gamelan performance only to be told that I was an hour late. I looked at my clock and showed the man it was only 6:55 with him correcting me and saying it was actually 7:55. I was quick to learn there's an hour difference between Java and Bali and thus had been one hour behind everyone for the entire day! I was fortunate to catch another show that night "The Legong of Mahabrata Epic." The dancing was spectacular as was the music which I tended to focus more on. I was amazed how at some points during the show the man would have the woman sitting on his shoulders while both were dancing with perfect form and their backs straight as an arrow. It reminded me of how amazing the arts here in Bali are!! After the performance I made my way to one of the local bars to catch some live music and met 2 Germans and a Belgian.

Babi Guling!! So delicious

Best music in the world

After a pretty good night's sleep and some intense rain, I decided to rent a bicycle for the day (for $3). This was a great decision because it let me get out from the main touristy area and into the real heartland of Bali. Before getting too far out from the town, I stopped at the Neka Museum to see some modern Balinese and Indonesian art. From there I was back on the bike and over the rolling hills and through the countless rice paddies that dot this part of Bali. It was really spectacular as you're surrounded by lush, green rice fields and palm trees as far as the eye can see. The bike ride was about 4 hours including a stop at this tiny warung for some delicious gado-gado. I wound up sitting there for over an hour as I was the only one there and the scenery was breathtaking. I then headed back to Ubud to relax in the late afternoon and some delicious food next door. I wound up sharing a table with this French couple and a German girl who were really awesome and we plan to meet later tonight.

My favorite painting at Neka

Not a bad view from the bike

Temples everywhere...

Tuesday was my last full day in Ubud, and possibly Bali, so I decided to just walk around town to soak everything in. I made lots of stops at different galleries and just meandered, or as they say here, jalan jalan, along the rice paddies and palm trees. Coincidentally I met these three Canadian girls doing the same and we all decided to walk to this cafe located in the middle of the rice paddies that one of them had heard of. We wound up hanging out there for almost three hours talking amongst the beautiful view. I also had one of the best fruit shakes ever: banana, mango, orange!! Afterward I went to meet the French couple and German girl for dinner -- the previous night we had pre-ordered more Babi Guling for our last night in Ubud.

Tomorrow I am off to Flores for about two weeks to do some more scuba diving and see the Komodo Dragons. Flores is pretty remote, it's closest to East Timor, so The Jungle Book may be on hiatus for a few weeks, but we'll see.

Banana, orange, mango