dispatches from here » Indonesia

Lost in Pasuruan, Indonesia

ano — Thu, 16 Dec 2010 16:00:16 +0000

Where? Surubaya is the second largest city in Indonesia, a congested, crowded, hot, sweaty mess. It was my gateway to Mount Bromo and the Ijen Plateau, home of Kawah Ijen and a completely bizarre sulfuric acid volcanic lake (pics coming soon). Getting to to Probolinggo, the closest big city to Ijen (and still 6 hours away!) led me through the town of Pasuruan, where I stopped to meander around the night market and get some food.

Driving in Surubaya, one of the larger cities on the Indonesian island of Java, is pretty un-nerving. Lights and lanes are only for decoration, as everyone jockeys for an extra inch of space.

The five minute wait for fresh chicken satay is pure torture, exacerbated by the delicious smell and smoke being flapped into your face. Once they're ready, they're coated in peanut sauce, and packaged with a rice ball in a banana leaf. Perfect! Pasuaran street market, Java, Indonesia

Warungs, informal restuarants/food stands are one of the best places to grab a bite of Indonesian food, with literally hundreds to choose from at this night market.

The menu: rice, noodles, and lots of fried things. All delicious. My ordering strategy? Randomly guessing, which almost always leaves with me delicious food (as long as you have an open mind!)

Fresh cooked food served at this open air warung, where the only seating is a flimsy metal counter with a couple of stools. Pasuaran, Java, Indonesia

Chicken and rice, so basic, so common, but somehow, so irresistably delicious. Pasuaran, Java, Indonesia.

A couple sits for a Friday night date at the neighboring warung, with the romantic atmosphere provided by the metal counter, harsh fluorescent light, and with only a hand-painted sheet separating them from the busy street behind them.

Hard at work overseeing the distribution of all things deep fried. And maybe helpig himself to a few bits here and there.

Delicious deserts line the Pasuaran night market, bustling with activity on a Friday night. I couldn't get enough of this sweet chewy sesame coated deliciousness.

I must have eaten dessert six times that night.

Powering these heavy, slowly decaying, home-made bike taxis takes a lot of work, which explains why they're all parked while their drivers sit around and enjoy the warm evening.

The quiet and chaos of Ubud, Bali

ano — Sun, 14 Nov 2010 00:04:49 +0000

Bali is quiet and relaxing place. And even by those lofty standards, Ubud, the religious and cultural capital of Bali situated in the center of the island, is incredibly mellow. So what better way to take a break from vacation than to spend a few days lounging in Ubud.

But of course, nothing is that simple, not the way I travel. I somehow managed to stumble into the middle of preparations for the annual Spring Full Moon festival. I didn’t exactly understand all of the details of the festival when they were being explained to me, Or course, but at some point hundreds of years of ago some Balinese thieves were trying to steal something of value, which the Gods did not want stolen. So the full moon fell out of the sky and into a nearby tree, illuminating the landscape and revealing their crime. To protect themselves, one of the thieves urinated on the moon (I’m not clever enough to make this up), and extinguished it. Alas, he was too late and they were caught, but in the place of the full moon there was a GIANT drum. Since then, this drum has been enshrined in the temple and every year thousands of people gather to celebrate that event, and the full moon.

At first seeing monkeys run around the temples in Bali is quite exciting. Who doesn't love monkeys? But it quickly becomes routine, and they get bored of protecting their temples from us.

Verdant fields of Ubud, Central Bali, that nearly go on forever.

Balinese religion, a form of Hinduism, which combines theology, animism and ancestor worship, plays an integral role in daily life. Temples are in particularly high density in Ubud, the reilgious center of Bali.

Balinese temples, eerily empty in the mid-afternoon, before the Full Moon Festival

Offerings made to the God and Goddess of fertility in a Balinese Temple in Ubud

Balinese men gather and prepare offerings for the Full Moon Festival, Ubud, Bali

Preparing offerings for the thousands of expected festival participants.

All of the skewers for the satay are lovingly hand carved, one by one. Makes me feel guilty for the 15 pieces of satay I polished off.

Meat preparion on the ground. Oh well, its all gonna be cooked anyway, right?

Making that much satay takes a team, sitting around for hours and telling stories

Thousands gather for the annual Full Moon Festival in Ubud, Bali. Im not sure how, but somehow I stumbled into the middle of the celebration.

After requisite dancing and drumming, the thousands of Balinese men and women parade around the Sacred Drum and Full Moon shrine.

The full moon, making its requisite appearance for the annual spring Full Moon Festival. After all the drumming and parading, everyone sits and stares at the moon.

Sunrise at Gunung Batur

ano — Wed, 06 Oct 2010 22:04:23 +0000

Gunung Batur (Gunung means mountain) sits in the northeastern corner of Bali, one of the many islands that comprise the Indonesian archipelago. It sits at 5,633 feet. What makes it unique is that it is part of a giant double caldera. A caldera is the geologic term for the hole left in the ground after a volcano collapses on itself. The peak of Batur sits in the middle of a double caldera, an outer caldera which is 13km by 10km and a smaller inner caldera. In addition, there is a huge lake in the inner caldera. The caldera was formed about 28,000 years ago, which is a blink in geological time. And above this all, stands the currently active peak of Batur.

There was a mountain, so I had to climb it. And if I’m going to climb it with all my camera gear on my back, I better get to the top by sunrise right? I was staying in Ubud, about 90 minutes south of Gunung Batur.

Its tough to find your way to the base of a mountain 90 minutes away in a poorly signed country. So before I left San Francisco, I had pre-loaded my iPhone with topographic maps of Bali to use with the onboard GPS. I got on my little scooter, 125cc of fury, and used a ball bungee cord (never travel without them!) to strap my iPhone to my scooter handlebars. Voila, touchscreen GPS navigation in the middle of Indonesia.

The first 60 minutes or so were pretty easy, with GPS and signs, I couldnt go wrong. The last 30 minutes, though, were a different story. First the signs stopped. Then the pavement stopped, and I had muddy dirt roads to deal with, in the dark. Then the roads stopped, and I found myself riding around backyards, farms and fields. I could roughly see the mountain in the moonlight, but I had no idea where to start hiking. You're supposed to hire a guide, and hiking without one is strictly prohibited. Which is of course what I wanted to do. So as I was meandering through someone's backyard at 4am, I came across two teenagers on their way home from some ceremony. After a bit of bargaining, they agreed to take me to one of the trailheads and walk me up part of the mountain. I parked my scooter, dropped a GPS pin so I could find my way back, and set off.

Coming up the mountain was incredibly eerie. Without my head lamp it was dark dark, despite the waxing moon, shrouded in mist coming down the mountain at me. On a volcano behind me, I hear a thunderstorm raging with intermittent lightning lighting up my climb.

Looking across at Lake Batur as dawn creeps up. I still have a few hundred meters of elevation to cover, so I pick up the pace.

Sunrise from the top of Gunung Batur, looking across the inner caldera and Lake Batur, within the volcano. This sunrise was definitely worth getting up at 2am for. And these are the real colors in the real sky, not photoshopped!

The sun rises on Batur, revealing the lush beauty

About 2 hours after sunrise, the fog quickly rolls in, obscuring any potential view.

The fog starts to roll in about 2 hours after sunrise. Not only does it obscure the view of the landscape, it also makes it impossible to find your way back down the mountain with minimal visibility. I guess thats why they make you come with a guide. Lucky for me, I came with my rugged GPS, which recorded a detailed track of my climb up the mountain. All I had to do was follow my own track back, easy as pie!

The outer rim of the caldera is visible in the distance, revealing villages and town inside the caldera.

On my way back to Ubud, Batur is visible behind me. A few hours ago, I was at the top of that pointy bit.

Guinness at the airport

ano — Mon, 20 Sep 2010 03:54:36 +0000

Airport security is tough. Guards, bomb-sniffing dogs, metal detectors, x-ray detectors. At least, thats how it is in the US. In Indonesia, on the other hand, things are a little bit more lax. And even though its a predominantly Muslim nation, apparently someone thought it would be a great idea to put a Guinness vending machine in the airport lobby at Surubaya International Airport. Amazing. Why dont we have these things here?

Vending machine at the Surubaya International Airport serving cold Guinness and miscellaneous juices.

Insert money here. Gladly.

20,000 Indonesian Rupiah for a Guinness?! Well, thats only $2.25, so yes. I will have one.

The fruits of my labor. Cold Guinness as I walk to my gate. Its at this point I realize that my flight leaves soon so I hurry to my gate, bags in tow, stopping every once in a while to take a sip of my beer.

Oh Crap! I have a nearly full beer, and I need to go through airport security. In the US, I would be arrested by Homeland Security on the spot. In Indonesia? The screener had me pass my beer around the metal detector, rest it on the x-ray scanner, and then walk through to pick it up on the other side. Amazing.

Victory! Through airport security with cold beer in hand. And the officer even took a photo of me with my camera.

Off to Nusa Lembongan, Bali

ano — Mon, 12 Apr 2010 20:04:26 +0000

It comes in bunches, I suppose. Its somewhat rare to have even a free weekend during internship, and when they arrive they’re called “golden weekends”. But then comes that one elusive month of vacation, randomly assigned, eagerly awaited, and given in one straight chunk. With no idea when my next trip would be after this one, I made sure to maximize it.

I had no real plans in place except for my flights there and back. I took my packed bag with me to work on the day of departure. It had been an unusually busy week at work but at 7pm I was done and on my way out. I changed into street clothes, dumped my scrubs locker room hamper, left the hospital and headed straight to the airport.

The final itinerary? SFO to Las Vegas (for the weekend), then straight to Bali, then Java, Borneo, Singapore, and back to Vegas for another weekend before heading home to SF the night before I had to go back to work. Pictures and stories to come, as I get to them. Thirty two days of non-stop travel with a camera in hand has left with me way too many pictures to sort through.

Arrived in Bali after a day and half of planes and airports and hopped on a boat for the 45 minute trip to Nusa Lembongan, a small island off the southeast coast. Its relatively under-developed and doesn't have a dock. So we had to jump off the boat and wade ashore, with my camera bag held high over my head hoping for a dry trip. From there I walked a hundred meters up the beach to a little spot called Pondok Baruna and was treated to a room just off the water.

A little bit of afternoon rain, which broke just in time for an excellent sunset. I waded into warm waist deep water for this shot, which was well worth it.

I spent a lot of time scuba diving (lots of underwater photos to come), and with water this warm and clear, visibility was consistently amazing (>30 meters)

Seaweed farming is one of the main sources of income in Lembongan. The seaweed is very sensitive and requires relatively calm waters and consistent temperature and salinity, which are provided by protective reefs.

The seaweed is relatively plentiful, and sells for about 20 cents per pound once dried.

Its easy to walk around the shallows and tide pools, but the smell can be a bit overpowering.

Rising early in the morning to harvest seaweed to avoid the harsh afternoon sun.

Tiny boats meander slowly along the coastline.

Sunrise from Lembongan watching rain drench the Bali mainland ahead.

Sunrise over Dream Beach, Lembongan

A bit of rest on Dream Beach after a long day of scuba diving

The stark contrast between simple dirt streets and elaborate temples all throughout Lembongan

Sunset Beach, Nusa Lembongan, Bali