TravelStream™ news feed for member nprivette on TravelPod's free travel blogs service http://www.travelpod.com/syndication/rss/nprivette en-us Copyright ©2009 TravelPod.com Fri, 20 Mar 2009 03:34:17 -0400 http://www.travelpod.com http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/nprivette/1/1237534260/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/nprivette/1/1237534260/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/nprivette/1/1237534260/tpod.html Fri, 20 Mar 2009 03:34:17 -0400 Nat's Adventures in Asia and beyond.

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Gili Trawangan, Indonesia

I board the plane to Lombok. The english name of where I was going was
very different than the Indonesian name. I had to take a picture of
the sign just to remember what I was looking for. Thankfully, I met an
expat women who was going to the same place as me. I just followed her
around the airport like a lost puppy dog. The flight went well. It
was just over 40 minutes. The great thing about going back to
Surabaya is you land 15 minutes before you took off at Lombok.
(There is an hour time change.) It makes me feel like I am a time
traveler. Once landed in the Lombok airport, I try and find my ride.
Thankfully, I have arranged for the hotel to pick me up and there is a
driver waiting. The airport must of had 1,000 people at it. I asked
the driver and he said people were picking up there friends. There
must have been 30 planes landing there on Friday night because it was
packed.




The driver drove me about 45 minutes-1 hour to the dock and then I
got on a speed boat headed for the island. The trip on the speed boat
was about 15 minutes. They parked the boat in the sand and I just
hopped off. The security guard at the hotel was waiting for me and
showed me my room. It was a very nice room for the 20 dollars that I
had shelled out for it.




I learned very quickly that the Big Gili island main indulgence was
mushrooms. Everywhere had signs for mushrooms. I wonder if the
tourist, who are taking the mushrooms realize that if they are caught.
They will spend the rest of their lives in an Indonesian jail.




My first friends that I met, where two older Dutchman. They talked
about their snorkeling adventures. One of them was a curious fellow,
who saw a turtle poop and wanted to know how it smelled. The brought
the droppings to the surface and preceded to tell me in detail about
the awful smell. That pretty much ended of conversation because how do
you top that?




As, I am sitting on the beach having my snack. One thing, I
notice is the power on the island keeps cycling on and off. I guess
this little island isn't made for all the people it houses. I call it
an early night. However, my sleep isn't that great because of the
dance club next door and the rooster crowing at 4 in the morning. I
realized that farm life is not for me. If I was awoken everyday by a
rooster, I would be a very crabby person.





There are times in life where you want to pause the day and
just enjoy every second of the experience. That would have to sum up
my Saturday morning. I wake up early and eat a scrumptious pineapple
pancake.





I meet my instructor Steph. She is from the UK and came to Gili
Trawangan six years ago. She got certified in diving went back to the
UK and decided life on this little island is what she really wanted.
She told me that during high season, the power goes out for days at a
time. She doesn't have an apartment but a studio with a bathroom and
bedroom. She doesn't keep groceries because of the power outage and
its more expensive to cook for herself than it is to eat at the
stalls. I guess there is something to be said of a island life. What
would you worry about? She probably doesn't have much in the way of
savings, but it would be nice to just got out and swim each day.





I told Steph that I my goal today was to see sea turtles. The only
way to do that was to hop in the pool and be ready to go out on the 10
o'clock dive to sharks point. I told her that although I was excited
to scuba, I wasn't excited to see sharks. I would rather not see
them. According to her my depth would make it a sighting very
unlikely. We went through the various signals in the pool and
practiced the out of air routine. At first, I felt like I couldn't get
enough air but by the end of the session I felt good. So, its 10 am
and we are off to the ocean! There are about 10 of us on a little
boat, each person has their own dive master, even the people that came
together. Most of the dive masters are expats with the exception of
one Indonesian man. We get to out spot and I sit on the back of the
boat and just let gravity does its work to get me in the ocean. The
first thing I see when I go down is a SHARK! I tell Steph that I want
to swim away from the shark and not come down on top of it. We do
that, but once I get on the bottom the shark does a circle around us.
At this point, I have the theme song to Jaws going through my head.
The shark does its revolution and decides we aren't very interesting.
It goes back to its spot and we swim in the opposite direction. The
next aquatic life we see is my turtle. I just hovered around it for a
good 5 minutes. I must have annoyed the big guy because he swam away
from me after the time. The coral wasn't as colorful as I thought, but
the fish were amazing. I saw: Humphead parrot fish, green turtle,
ports bill turtle, clown fish, and tons more tropical fish. I wrote
down all the names if you are interested just email me.





In the end I was down there for 41 minutes. I felt like it was
just a couple of minutes. I ended my dive watching 3 turtles swim off
together in the distance. It was one of those experiences, where it
just fits. It feels like this is what I am supposed to be doing. :)




We get back to the island. I change and rinse off a little for my
lunch and next adventure. There is one road around the island. I
thought it would nice to spend a couple hours exploring this island.
Most of my pictures come from this exploration. Its amazing for such a
little island how diverse and beautiful the terrain can be. The cool
story from my walk would be passing by two Indonesian men. They said
hello and I said selemat sorrie (good afternoon) in Indonesian. They
were so thankful for my attempt at Indonesian that they shook my hands
and took my pictures. I have always heard that Indonesians appreciate
you trying to talk to them in Bahasa. In Surabaya, no one seems too
thankful. But, I guess a place like Gili islands, which is filled with
tourist. They appreciate the little things! After I finish my walk, I
decide to rent a bike and go to the sunset bar. I rented the bike and
found the bar. I thought sunset would be over at 5:30, I had to return
my bike at 6:30. At 6:00, the sky wasn't looking red yet! This isn't
good! I took a couple of more pictures and ate at an Indian restaurant
for dinner. I wish I took pictures of some of the tables at these
places. Its almost like eating in your own little hut. They have tons
of pillows for you to just relax while listening to the ocean. Life is
hard in south east Asia. Most of the menu has special items. I was
afraid that the specials had some of the magic mushrooms that the
islands advertised. I decided to be safe and eat cheese bread and
peas. I walked around the island and just enjoyed people watching.
The people were composed of dead heads with dreadlocks, drunk
Australians, old dutch men and Indonesians.





The morning starts out with a nice little run around the island.
Even on holiday, I still need to be training for Seattle Rock and Roll
marathon 2009! :) I rent some snorkel equipment and follow a dutch man
to his favorite snorkel spot. I ask a nice Spanish couple to watch my
stuff and I am off for another adventure. There must be a switch in my
brain that happens when I am in the water. I can stay down there and
look at the same coral for 10 minutes and be as content as a clam. I
did get confirmation that my Komodo snorkeling, I did spot a sea
snake. I saw a spotted eel swimming around a coral and they didn't
look anything like my friend off Komodo! I enjoy my last lunch and
pack up to go back to real life. I took the fast boat back to Lombok
to catch my flight. Unlike the first trip, the water is a little
rougher. I got off the boat soaked! You can see before and after
pictures.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/nprivette/1/1232861820/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/nprivette/1/1232861820/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/nprivette/1/1232861820/tpod.html Wed, 04 Feb 2009 22:19:29 -0500 Nat's Adventures in Asia and beyond.

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Komodo, Indonesia

The next morning, I am awoken by someone turning the engine on over my head. I did set my alarm clock but I guess, they thought I needed to wake up earlier. Breakfast was delightful, fried bananas and bread! They showed me the shower device, which is take buckets of "fresh" water and use it in the abnormally small bathroom and wash off with it. I opt for no shower. We are snorkeling later in the day. So, I shouldn't get to smelly.

We arrive to island a little early. The boat charter has no driver and there are no guides in sight. After 15 minutes of waiting the guides do their calls and people come out from the trees. Komodo island is much nicer looking than Rinca. Is it much larger and has the same amount of dragons. I know that the odds of seeing the dragons out in the wild are much less here than Rinca. The hike in wonderful and beautiful. I see cockatoos in the wild, which is really cool in my book. I just enjoy the 5 km hike. The paths are much nicer and its just enjoying.

Back at the guest houses, I finally see dragons. This is where the growling video comes from. I was pretty sure that I was about to be attacked. It turns out that like people, some dragons like their space. The island actually has a gift shop and nice guest houses. I do get roped into buying wooden Komodo dragons. Yay for souvenirs!

The next stop is snorkeling! This is the first time that I have snorkeled or actually swam in the ocean. The surfing lessons don't count as swimming. I am so excited for this and I was not disappointed. I just wish I had a camera. I saw some of the most colorful fish of all shapes and sizes. The coral was amazing. I even saw a sea snake. I thought it was an eel. Until, I described it to the guide, he convinced me that is was a sea snake. After two hours of snorkeling, the boat leaves to go back to Flores. On the four hour trip back, I see dolphins and sea turtles. Life feels pretty good in my world.

We arrive in Flores a little earlier than expected. The guide offers to take us to the cave. But, we both agree that it would be nice to relax. I am staying in a hotel that is owned by two dutch women. They went to the tropical paradise of Flores nine years ago and didn't want to leave. Now, they are both married to Indonesian men. There isn't much to do in Flores. So, I go down the way and get some refreshments and take in the sights. I find out about the party later that night and play with Indonesian kids. They caught me taking pictures of myself and thought it was hilarious. Oh well!

Dinner was excellent at my hotel. I freshen up a bit and go down to the party. The party is for tourist guides. They have just gotten back from a convention in Bali. Ten of them talk about the conference and I wish I sat by the door, so I could escape. No such luck! Once they stopped talking. I was invited to have a second dinner and I knew it would be rude to say no. I ate again. Then the party started. The important thing about Flores is that 60% of the people are catholic. This is the first time that I have seen such a large group of Indonesians drink and dance. It felt like being back in the states. All the Indonesian men asked all the ladies to dance, there were some dutch grandmothers at the party! It was really fun to see! (I understand why dance cards were made. Its hard to say no and sometimes your feet need a break.)

The next morning started bright and early with a tour of the mirror cave. It wasn't too interesting. I did see one of the biggest spiders that I have ever come upon. Ekk! I get back to Surabaya later than expected because of plane troubles. This worries me until I am safely on Surabayan ground. I miss you! Sorry that this report is so late.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/nprivette/1/1232778240/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/nprivette/1/1232778240/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/nprivette/1/1232778240/tpod.html Wed, 28 Jan 2009 01:26:57 -0500 Nat's Adventures in Asia and beyond.

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Rinca, Indonesia

he trip started out normal enough. I went to the airport and was upgraded to executive class. My seats didn't change. However, I was invited into the executive lounge. I took a seat in the lounge and was just about to get some food and drinks, when they kicked me out because it was closing time. The plane was late. This is due to two factors: 1. the later in the day that you take the plane, the later the plane becomes. 2. Indonesian airlines had 3 crashes in one year, two years ago. European and American travel agents refused to put people on the planes. This helped the Indonesian airlines to start doing safety inspections. (I am thankful for every delay, if it means my airplane is safer.) I get to the hotel late and just try and get some sleep before my big day.
I wake up to a text message from the travel agency asking me if I got the fax from the previous night. No fax had come in for me and no idea of what time they were picking me up. Finally, I got hold of someone and people should be coming to pick me up in 20 minutes. I got picked up about 2 hours later. I was really stressing at this point. I make it to the airport fine. I get on my little propeller plane, that is filled with expats. We fly over the little islands that make up Indonesia. I understand how people could take years discovering the 15,000 different islands. I finally feel like I am in a tropical paradise. I am so excited for this trip!
I get off the plane and we are gathered into the only room of the airport. The doors are chained locked from the inside. All the travel agents/guides are pressing against the window with their signs of people's name. There are great pictures of both these scenarios. I can't believe what I have gotten myself into. At this moment this looks like the shadiest place. Why would the doors be locked? After the second plane lands, they unlock the chain and release us into the guides. My guide is a short young Indonesian guy. He seems nice. But, the first thing he asks me for is my plane ticket home. I know that the airport is strange and you have to verify your ticket the day before or they will cancel your ticket. (Other teachers at my school learned this lesson the hard way.) We drive just down a street and I am amazed of the beauty of Flores Island. You see the pier with the boat and other little islands. The island next to the pier is actually called Monkey Island. No people live on the island just monkeys. How cool is that? (There is a nice picture of that as well.) I board my boat. There are only 5 of us on this wooded boat: myself, another older expat man, my guide, a cook and the driver. There is only one "cabin," which thankfully is offered to me. The other man will be sleeping on the deck with the Indonesians.
The first stop on the agenda is Rinca Island. Rinca Island is about a two hour boat ride from Flores and is the only other island that you can find Komodo dragons. The first thing, they do is serve us a yummy lunch of chicken, fried noodles, stir fried veggies, rice, cucumber and pineapple. I didn't have high expectations for the food. But, the food was great! I am happy as a clam sailing to Rinca Island. I start to feel like I am in a twilight zone. I feel like I am in the middle of a tropical paradise. The currents are so crazy in this part of the sea, that you can see whirlpools and mini waves. I spot some dolphins. Life is good!
After two hours, we get off the boat to Rinca Island. Currently, they are working on the pier and it is in shambles. This does not look good. On the way to the guide station, I see my first Komodo dragon. It is about the size that I expected it looks like a big lizard. The guide explains that the komodo is less than 5 years old. At this time, it does not really occur to me that they get much larger. I have decided to do the 5 km hike and not the 3 km hike. If I am going to hike through dragon infested areas, I want to make sure that I get my money's worth. We pass under the kitchen and that's when the dragons became monsters. Komodo dragons can live for 50-60 years and get to be about 3 meters long. That is bigger than alligators. There under the cabin are the largest reptiles that I have ever seen in real life. Thankfully, it is in the afternoon and they look like they can't be bothered. Komodo dragons' active time is in the morning. They seem to be walking pretty lazily about. The guide explains to me that they can run up 18 km/hour. I have been running in the gym on the treadmill and I only turn the speed up to 13 km/hour. The only thing that saves you from Komodo dragons are climbing up trees. I took note of this fact.
We start the hike and the first wildlife that we see is a wild chicken. Pretty cool! Since it is rainy season, I think the path was wiped out and we are really walking over muddy branches and grass. I am not quite sure there is a path. I only concerned with keeping my eyes out for dragons! When I spot one is a tree! I thought the trees were my only safe spot. Well, it turns out Komodo dragons are cannibals. The young dragons spend their first two years in tress. The guide told me that no one ever sees this and I am really lucky. I can't lie that makes me feel pretty cool. The next dragon we find is mamma dragon. She is guarding her nest. The nests are just holes in the ground. She is laying around 6 holes. I asked the guide if all the holes had eggs in them. Turns out the other holes are diversion holes from the real nest. She will guard each hole equally so that the other animals can't find her eggs. The female dragon lays about 30 eggs and only 8 dragons survive from that. The incubation period for dragons is about 8 to 9 months. (there is a picture of mamma dragon.)
We hike through a swampy area and then finally we start making the climb in the long grass up the hill. I look around and think it looks just like Jurassic Park. It has that wild untouched island feel. I am in awe of it. What makes it feel more authentic is the lack of paths and us winding in and out the grasses. We see 3 or 4 more dragons on rocks. One of them is hiding in the grass! I don't like this fellow on bit. Our only protection is a big stick that is forked on one side. This is supposed to scare away the dragons because the stick tongue is bigger than theirs. I ask the guide if anyone has ever been killed/attacked by animals on the route. He says that three years ago was the last death. But, there was an incident last summer. He says during dry season the animals get crazy with hunger. He tells me of his adventures of being chased by a water buffalo with two American women. He has been bite before. But said not worry about the bites, you just go to Bali and everything will be fine. He takes most of the pictures on this island. I can't bring myself to get very close to the dragons. You can see my fear and nervousness with all of my pictures near dragons.
People are much luckier than the other wildlife for dragon attacks. For small prey like a wild boar and chicken, the dragons will either cut the muscle in the prey's leg with its tail or huge claws. The tail is just as deadly as the claws on the dragon. The tails are huge! Sometimes, the dragon will attack the prey's neck and just hold on to it, until it bleeds to death. If the prey is large like a buffalo, the dragon will attack the buffalo and wait for the buffalo. The poor buffalo probably thinks it has escaped death. When really after three weeks, the buffalo will die from infection because the salvia is rich with bacteria.
There were only two surprises in the hike, the little dragon hiding in the grass and a buffalo hanging out in a water hole. It was a nice 2 ½ hour hike! I couldn't imagine doing it in the summer. It was hot and this is the coolest time of the year. I would guess Rinca is about 10 degrees hotter than Surabaya. We board the boat and ride another two hours to Komodo Island. We have another amazing dinner and just hang out and watch the stars. It was a perfect day!
Rinca island pictures will be posted tonight on shutterfly!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/nprivette/1/1229651460/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/nprivette/1/1229651460/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/nprivette/1/1229651460/tpod.html Thu, 18 Dec 2008 21:48:01 -0500 Nat's Adventures in Asia and beyond.

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Surabaya, Indonesia

The holidays in Surabaya were a whirlwind celebration. The school held a Christmas potluck dinner on Saturday. I went to the holiday concert on Monday. We had secret Santa exchanges all week. There was caroling before school on Thursday and Friday.

Christmas Party: The school parties are a nice way to get to talk to teachers that I never see. The elementary staff is downstairs and on a whole different schedule. The party is a nice excuse to be able to talk to all of the teachers. There isn't really much to report.

The holiday concert: I wanted to go through the program with you on this one. But, I keep leaving the program behind. So, there is Surabaya Symphony Orchestra who holds an quarterly concert. The concerts are about 4 hours long with 20 different songs by different groups. This was my first time going to the concert. I guess that man running it has a school and donors. The concert starts out with the little kids singing with the orchestra. Then they have the adult choir singing. There was a traditional Chinese orchestra with traditional instruments. I wish I had my camera and took pictures for you! They played two traditional Chinese songs and then played jingle bells. Then my favorite part, there was a four women group singing two songs. It didn't seem like a big deal. They were going to sing unbreak my heart at a Christmas concert. But, who I am to judge if Toni Braxton is christmasy or not.
They were wonderfully horrible. It was so amazing god awful. It turns out if your husband was a donor, you can automatically sing. No need for talent. I know it sounds cruel, but it was so bad. The concert ended on an up swing the sang a powerful song of Messiah's King of kings.


There really isn't much to report. I can't believe that I am coming home this weekend. I can't tell you how much I am looking forward to seeing everyone. Its hard to feel like its the holidays without the cold weather, Christmas music and being surrounded by the people that I love. I can't wait to see you all. I feel so lucky and thankful to be hear. My life the last 5 months has been a whirlwind of adventures and challenges. I can't wait to see what the year 2009 holds for me and you! Leaving here seems weird. I gave Suti her presents and a hug goodbye. These people and this school has made an impact of me. I will have to start the year with my top ten memories of 2008 or something or I will start the year off reporting my hong kong adventure. Thank you for all your kind words and emails. I don't know how I would have gotten to through this experience without your support and love. :)
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/nprivette/1/1228707540/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/nprivette/1/1228707540/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/nprivette/1/1228707540/tpod.html Sun, 14 Dec 2008 03:57:53 -0500 Nat's Adventures in Asia and beyond.

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Siem Reap, Cambodia

Day 3

Day 3 started with another early morning. I arranged with my airport driver to be there at 5 am. My goal was to get to the main Angkor Wat temple for sunrise. This is my third attempt at a sunrise in Asia. The first one was cloudy over Bromo, the second was canceled because of rain and this one had clouds over it as well. One day I will get the beautiful clear sky sunrise. Regardless, it was amazing. I know all the pictures look very similar to one another. I couldn't choose what I liked the best. It was a nice peaceful way to start my morning before the race.

I line up for the race and unlike the Bali marathon this is filled with a lot more expats. I see everyone from dinner the night before, which is nice because I feel apart of a little running community for the day. The run was amazing. It was well organized with various water stops. It was flat and the cheering sections were awesome. All the Cambodians came out to cheer us on. The cambodian children got high fives from most of the runners. It was really cute to see. They were so excited that we were there. I wanted to wait to write this until I had my official time. However, it seems Asia and updated race information do not go together. I think I ran in just under two hours. I have never been on a run where I was running past amazing temples. Not only did I see temples; I also saw monkeys, elephants and boars. It will be hard to match the views in my future marathons. The post race celebration was fun. I got the most painful leg massage, but my legs have never felt so good after a run.

The post race celebration was fun. It was just nice to talk to my buddies one last time and get a little food. I went back to the hotel and order room service. Let me tell you that 2 eggs, a bread basket, coffee and fresh fruit came out to be just over 5 dollars. How amazing is that? I hope that I am not getting too spoiled over here. :)

After cleaning up, I head out to see more temples. Today, I see Bayon the temple with all the faces and the elephant terrace. These temples each take about an hour to discover. Next, I need to decide do I finish off the temples or do another activity. Since I love Cambodia and the airport tax for residents is being abolished in 2009. (Currently, if you have a kitas is cost 100 dollars each time you leave the country.) I decide that I am coming back and will finish the temples then. :)

The floating village is about an hour tuk tuk drive away. We get stopped once by the police checking if our tuk tuk driver has a valid drivers license. I tried to take a picture but the police man started glaring at me. I decided it wasn't a good idea to upset the local law enforcement. I pay for my boat ticket, since its only me I get a private boat. The boat that was used to tour the floating village looks like it has seen better days. The gas pedal is just a little string on the side on the boat. I know this because I got to drive the boat! :) The village is pretty amazing. All the houses are boat houses. Some of the markets are similar long wooden boats filled with odds and ends. The village has a one room school house which was in session for a fun day. I was able to talk to the teacher and see the kids. It has a restaurant for tourist which houses the fish and crocodile farm. Crocodiles are not eaten in Cambodia just used for the leather. There was a floating basketball court, which I thought was pretty nice. My guide for this tour was an 12 year old boy. He was great!

I finished the floating village and head to the red piano for my world famous Angelia Jolie drink. It was quite tasty. The food and drinks are incredible cheap. Most beers are 50 cents and no entree cost more than 5 dollars. I really want to stay here! This may be my next teaching post! :)

The next day was a traveling day. The airports brought me back down to earth. I spent the whole day frustrated in line. Oh well, I guess its time for real life again! :)
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/nprivette/1/1228699020/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/nprivette/1/1228699020/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/nprivette/1/1228699020/tpod.html Mon, 08 Dec 2008 22:49:00 -0500 Nat's Adventures in Asia and beyond.

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Siem Reap, Cambodia

Day one is pretty boring, if you are low on time I would just skip to the day two. Day one just has cute anecdotes. I start my trip with no problems. I make it to the Surabaya airport on time and ready. Air Asia has open seating, which is no problem except the cattle car is worse in Asia than on southwest. I love this fact about Indonesians, they are a gentle group of people that aren't bounded by clocks and schedules. Americans are told to be patient with their schedules. In airports, these rules do not apply. People are usually collecting their luggage as soon as the wheels hit the ground. I have never seen people in such a rush to get off a plane.
I find a seat by the window and am joined by a mother and her 10 year old son. I must have been the first white person that this boy has seen. At first, he just stares and smiles at me. He tries to ask me some questions in broken English and I try to answer him in my broken bahasa. We are both unsuccessful. The airlines hands out immigration cards to everyone. The family sitting next to me can not fill it out because it is in English. It turns out their passports are all in English as well. I always assumed that I got the English cards and there were cards in Indonesian as well. I helped the mother and boy fill out the cards by pointing at the area on the passport. This little boy according to his passport was 20 years old. I think there was a typo somewhere.
This flight is one an the scarier ones that I have been on. I don't know if its my age or the fact that I know this airlines is second tier. As we hit turbulence, I am on verge of breaking into cold sweats. The little boy next to me is having the time of his life, ah to be young again! I land safely, maybe a little less sound than before. I do the taxi dance in Malaysia. I stand in line to realize that I need a ticket. I can't get a ticket because its inside the security gates. Finally, I have the security officer get me a ticket to my hotel and off I go. By the time I get to the hotel its 11 pm, I still need to shower and have dinner. I need to be at the airport by 5:00 am tomorrow to catch the next leg of my flight. This does not look good, ugh. I have a quick bite to eat across from the hotel's karaoke bar. I think the singing helped me eat faster. The cool thing was that my glass I was drinking out of was from IKEA! I tried to take pictures of it!


Day 2 :)

I am out the door groggily at 5:00 am. The lines at the airport are massive. My flight is at 7 am, I barely make it. For some reason, the foreign passport kiosk in customs have Malaysian passports going to it instead. I start sweating bullets when I am still in line and my gate closes in 5 minutes, thankfully someone is looking out for me and its not Richard Simmons! :) My flight was a tad bit delayed! In line, I meet a Canadian women, who lives in Malaysia. (This will become a theme of the trip, most people I meet are expats.) She invited me to sit with her and her friend on the plane. The two women are going on a mediation retreat in Angkor Wat. Sounds interesting! I talk to them about running the 1/2 marathon and the two British men across the aisle are also running it. We share running stories and how its hard to run in the Asia because of the heat and rain. The women ask me if I want to get some happy pizza with them on Sunday night. At first I agreed, until I learned that happy pizza was hash pizza. I don't think so! I rather have dinner alone sipping my Angelia Jolie drink.

We land in Cambodia and its a breeze. I have my e-visa already, which is perfect because I get to avoid the lines. I go to the taxi station and discover that a taxi for one person is really just a moped. At first I refuse, I have a larger bad where will that go. They tell me that the driver will put it in front and take care of everything. I looked at the people and just agreed, I came here for an adventure. Here I go!

Thats when it happened, I fell in love with Siem Reap. The highway was just finished, everything looks clean and green. The roads don't have many cars on them but have shoulders filled with bikers and tuk-tuks. I guessed it reminded me of the villages in good morning Vietnam, except everyone has more modern clothes. It was beautiful and real, there were no skyscrapers or pizza huts. It felt like I was in Asia.

I picked up the packet without a problem. Already, this marathon is turning out better than Bali. Thankfully, I was able to check into my room at 10 am. I arranged for the hotel to hook me up with a car and driver for the day. The hotel charged me 3x more than what my little moped driver wanted for the day. But, I was still worried about traveling by myself and wanted the safety of 4 doors around me.

My first stop was the silk museum. I still have no idea how I got here, but it was pretty interesting to me. I have never seen silk butterflies or silk worms. It was a learning experience. The tour was about a half hour, the guide was more interested in the fact that I was running the marathon than explaining the silk making progress. It was an interesting place. I am easily impressed with this stuff though! I hope you enjoy the pictures.

My vision for Angkor Wat was completely wrong. I thought it would just be a mass of temples and not alot of green. It was nothing of the sort. The Angkor temple complex spans an hour around and there has to be at least 20 different temples. People need a week to see everything. Obviously, Angkor Wat is the largest and most popular one. I planned to start my day on Sunday with watching the sunrise over it. I decided to go the Banteay Srei, which means citadel of women. It is about a 45 minute drive from Angkor Wat and is often overlooked. Mary Helen highly recommended it. I decided to put it top on my list. The interesting history of this temple was it was one of the few not built by the king, instead it was built by a tutor for the king. Some think that the temple had to be built by ladies because the carvings are so fine and detailed that man could not have done it. It is supposed to possess the finest stone carvings in the world. It was the most amazing thing that I have ever seen. I spent about 90 minutes walking through it. Thats the issue with the temples, they are so vast and so many little things. If you want to see them you need to really spend time walking through them and discovering all the parts.

My next temple spot was Ta Prohm, which stole my heart as well. This temple was left for a hundred years and nature took it over. To get to it, you walk along and path in the jungle/forest. At first, you don't see anything and then you start seeing these huge trees merged with the ruins. It was the most fascinating thing that I have ever seen. The trees were growing in between, on top and sometimes under the temple. I loved the fact that it was backed up into a forest. All you could here were the high pitch sounds of the termites. It felt like secret garden, Jurassic Park and the world without us all combined into one. It felt magical to me. (I know that I am a cheese ball)

The last temple of my day was Bakong. This temple was a little simpler but higher and involved more climbing than the other ones. I tried to take pictures of how steep it was, but they didn't really capture it. It was a nerve wrecking climb but was beautiful on top.

The saddest part of the temples is the children hawkers. These kids are everywhere and you know they have no money. In the guide book, they said to try and give the kids food instead of money. I bought 20 little power bars. Those were gone within minutes of the first temple. The next temple, I gave away my yummy American kit kats. Then I finally bought the souvenirs. I now own 30 bracelets and 2 flutes. I am sucker for the little ones.

The next stop of my adventure is the pre-race celebration. I go to the hotel and freshen up a little. I get to the dinner and tell them there is only one of me. They sit me in the corner at a table for two. I don't think so. I see two Japanese women at a long table, who look bored with each other. So, I ask them if I could sit by them. They agree and the fun begins. They are two awesome ladies that I will see repeatedly as the trip goes on. Two European women and three American guys join the table. One of the guys is from Washington DC and we just talk about the things that we missed the most. All the American guys are living in China. All the expats that I talked to have been living overseas for at least a year. They all love it and understand that this period that I am in is the toughest. It gives me hope. The food is wonderful and very Asian. I got a kick out of the fact that the spaghetti noodles were fried, a very healthy menu. They had Cambodian dancers. It was really a great night. I talked to wonderful people and just enjoyed myself! I even took a tuk-tuk home!



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Siem Reap, Cambodia

Well, let me start this blog with Cambodia is nothing like I expected. I was thinking really dirty and really poor. It has its fair share of hawkers, most of them are children. More on that later. But, this has to be most amazing place that I have ever visited.

My journey starts with an overnight in KUL...I will describe that in detail when I have more than 15 minutes to spare.

Today started with a 4:30 wake up which is 3:30 am Surabaya time. I didn't get to bed till midnight. So, please excuse the typos. Made it to Cambodia was super happy that I did the e-visa. I didn't have to jump through hoops or wait in line. Got an airport taxi which means I was riding on the back of a moped. FUN FUN! My bag was in front of the driver and I was behind. I never thought I would be comfortable with this situation but I really am. I went to the hotel with my marathon packet first. Once again no problems. Found my awesome hotel, which is pricey for Cambodia. But, it makes me feel like a queen in this kingdom.

I ended up getting a driver and car from the hotel. I had an idea of what specific temples that i wanted to do on day one vs. day two. First stop was the silk museum, I don't know how this was the first stop. I think he didn't understand that I needed a new cell phone card. The silk museum was pretty cool though. Will write more about that later...

Stop 2, the women's temple. This will have its own blog entry. Its the women's temple because it is so detailed that only a women could have done it. It was made for Sheba, spelling? Had to be the best, it was further away most people miss it.

Stop 3, steep stair temple. It was cool to be so high up tour guides don't recommend going because people have fallen down the steps to their deaths.

Stop 4, Jurassic park and world without us temple....Trees were growing through the temples. It was amazing.

Headed to carbo load dinner.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/nprivette/1/1228357440/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/nprivette/1/1228357440/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/nprivette/1/1228357440/tpod.html Thu, 04 Dec 2008 02:12:19 -0500 Nat's Adventures in Asia and beyond.

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Surabaya, Java, Indonesia

Let me start to blog with saying this, I can't believe its December and tomorrow I leave to go to Cambodia. I never would have thought that I would travel to Cambodia. I feel so lucky to have this chance. Its funny traveling over here. Its not always as simple as getting on a plane and finding a hotel. First, you have double check the visa requirements. Some places have interesting requirements. For instance, Burma requires 3 years of bank statements. Cambodia just wanted a picture and twenty dollars. I can do that. My visa was really cool because it said the Kingdom of Cambodia. In a one week span, I have been to a ball and now will be traveling to a kingdom. How cool is that?

Another thing, I needed to investigate was malaria. It turns this area has a small amount. The recommendation is not worry about it. You just need to wear long sleeves and pants. Umm, I am not going to run in long sleeves and pants. So, I am taking the pills. Fun, fun! No weird reactions, which is good. Just interesting that a place I am traveling has malaria.

This week, I have actually had a social life. Last night, I went out for surprise birthday celebration and Thursday night is ladies night! :) I will be taking it easy friday night. I fly into Kuala Lumpur. I imagine that room service and a good nights rest will be all I want. But, who knows? My flight the next morning is at 7:00 am and I land at 8:00 am. I imagine there is a time change that I don't know about. The first thing on my agenda is to pick up the race packet. Then I will head to Angkor Wat to explore the temples. These temples are supposed to be amazing. But, you need to stay on the path because the site still possesses mines. Isn't that strange? The marathon that I will be running has a special category for amputees. Doesn't that break your heart?

Saturday night, there is a carbo loading dinner. I will be running the 1/2 marathon early Sunday morning. My three day weekend should be just long enough to take in the sights of Siem Reap with Angkor Wat and eat at the red piano. This restaurant was featured in Tomb Raider. I hear that they have a drink called the Angelina Jolie. It should be a good trip. It looks like I will be traveling solo, which is fine. Mom and dad, I will text you the whole time!

Here is more information on Angkor Wat: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angkor_Wat

Happy Weekend!
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Surabaya, Java, Indonesia

On Friday, the expatriate women's association of Surabaya held their annual christmas ball at the Sheraton. I had planned to go to this event since I first knew about it. Firstly, who can say no to a ball. I didn't worry about the dress or anything because its southeast asia and who really cares what I wear. Thankfully, one of the fellow science teachers said I could borrow a dress from her. I got back to my house with a pile of dresses from her and there were even more dresses on my couch from another teacher. She had laid out some shoes as well. I felt like these women were my fairy godmothers before the big ball. All I was missing was prince charming, I hear that he will be around for new years. :)
I tried on countless dresses. My choices came down to between a beautiful black beaded one with a strappy back or a very tropical flowery one. It had bright flowers on the upper sheer layer and then the bottom layer was orange sequins. I loved it and thought it would be so appropriate for my christmas celebration in south east asia. I do not know how many times in my life that I will be able to get away with wearing a dress like that.

The only person that I knew that was going to be at the ball was my boss Larry. Most of the other teachers felt like the ball was just too expensive to go to. Thankfully, the head of the elementary school and his wife was there as well. They were very excited to see me and really made me feel welcomed by introducing me to various people. All the expats are awesome, I guess this is true for expatriate communities everywhere. Its nice having people understand what you are going through.
We started the ball listening to a three piece band in the recreation area. We were served appetizers with wine. I ate pieces of duck out of a ice cream cone, very classy. I mingled with various people. The ages of the people are still quite older than me. But let me say how nice everyone was! We finally get a chance to enter the ballroom and it is beautiful. The ceiling is draped in material and the tables have beautiful centerpieces. Check out shutterfly for the pictures. Dinner was wonderful the first plate was filled with little finger foods: chicken on a bamboo stick, tuna and a little salad. Dinner itself was a steak and yummy potatoes. I loved the potatoes so much that I exchanged my steak for them. They were salty small roasted potatoes. YUM!
I sat at table wtih my boss and various other strangers. Thankfully, the one other women of the table sat by me. She was a very interesting indonesian women, who was very pregnant. She looked like she could have had her baby any minute. We made small talk, the one embarassing thing that I did was someone asked me how long that I have been in Surabaya. I responded, 4 months and 4 days. That was probably not the best thing to say with my boss sitting right next to me. Everyone teased me about it and thankfully we moved on to converstation topics. During the night, I learned that the three biggest expat groups were cigarettes, embassies, and a dutch shoemaker company.
They gave away door prizes and then the dancing began. Firstly, I love to dance. Secondly, I haven't danced since I have been here. Thirdly, I am not a good dancer, most times I look very dorky. However at the EWAS ball, I was not alone in my dorkiness or love for dancing. I danced with some mothers of my students all night. I mean I didn't leave till 2. I had so much fun! I never thought going to a ball, where I didn't know anyone, would be such a good time. It made me feel lucky. People helped me get dress and let me borrow everything from lipstick to dresses to jewelry. The expat community is just filled with wonderful people. It feels like a treat to talk to each one of them, especially because most of them are european.

It doesn't feel real right now. I just got my visa for the Kingdom of Cambodia and it made things feel like I am just living in a fairy tale. Hope all of your thanksgiving were awesome. Please send details! My next adventure will be cambodia. Wish me luck, it looks like I should take Malaria medication for it. So, keep your fingers cross that I don't have any crazy dreams or what not.

Let me tell you that I can't wait to go home in a couple of weeks. I feel like just going home is like christmas morning. I can't wait to see everyone.
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Solo, Java, Indonesia

The next leg of journey begins off schedule. I was supposed to return from Merapi at 1:00 pm, since I did not get the sunrise I get back at 9ish. Thankfully, the other teachers haven't left for sightseeing and they are so kind and offer me a bed to sleep in for a couple of hours. At noon, I am schedule to meet up with Chris at a restaurant called Via Via. I guess they have these restaurants all over the world. They offer classes and tours of the particular area you are visiting. I fell in love with this place because it has notebooks from notable locations in Indonesia; these notebooks are written in by fellow travelers. There is a wealth of different types of stories and in different languages. I spend an hour reading the stories and feel truly blessed to be able to read about these adventures. These notebooks remind why I am so obsessed with my blog and such. I personally love reading these stories on there tattered pages. It makes feel like I get a glimpse into someone else's dreams and wishes. It makes me feel like dreams and adventures are possible. People take risk and travel across the world to just experience it. Some people love this experience and others do not. It also reminds me that I am neither the first nor the last to take this crazy journey. Reading these notebooks make me indescribable happy. I guess that I hope that this blog is read someday and it warms someone's heart. When it comes down to it, I do feel lucky. I do feel like I am living a fantasy, however my fantasy is rooted in reality and it comes with bad days and loneliness. But the days don't compare to the days that I feel so lucky and am absorbing this new world around me. Chris meets me before I become to absorb and we are headed to Solo, Indonesia for the next leg of the adventure.
I wish I could tell you about the car ride to Solo. However, I was so sleep deprived that I made Chris take a 20 dollar taxi for an hour and half ride, just so I could sleep. The sleep was wonderful and by the time we got out of the car I felt refreshed and recharged. Solo maybe one of my favorite places so far. It is much quieter than the other towns I have seen. There are not a lot of tourists that travel here; I wish I could tell you why. However, the fact that it doesn't have a lot of tourist means there aren't a lot of hawkers. You can walk around and be left alone, which is nice. Bali did not have this effect. Solo is the first Indonesian city with sidewalks and crosswalks! This amazes me. Although, I have to admit at times it does not take much. We look for a hotel and the place we find is incredibly cheap, a room with air conditioning is just under $10 a night. However, my room didn't have sheets, a working air condition, toilet paper or towels. I can live without towels but I can not live without a top sheet nor can I live without toilet paper. I decide not to stay here and found a hotel with a room that was just under $20 dollars a night. It had a comforter and air conditioning. The toilet situation wasn't much better. I had to fill up a bucket of water every time I wanted to flush the toilet. Oh well, you get what you pay for!

Dinner was pretty crazy. We ate at a little hole in the wall. I ordered a cheese and garlic jaffle, which I thought was an Indonesian waffle. Nope, I ordered a garlic sandwich. The garlic was so strong that some bites burnt my mouth. I could taste the garlic the next day, it was pretty wild.

I spend most of the time just discovering the streets. Like Bali, Solo is made up of alleyways. These alleys are filled with awesome little shops. Most of the shops are batik shops. Solo is wonderful because its just a cleaner city than I am used to. I spend most of the time just wandering through the city, happy as a clam. One draw back to having no tourist is having no western bathrooms. But, you deal with that like always. My butt was very happy to be home back on a regular toilet that I could flush.
After spending way too much time shopping, we tried to visit the two palaces. There is a king's palace and a prince's palace. We may have or may not have found the king's palace. I think we found the mosque that nonmuslims were not allowed to walk into. Although, all the people we asked assured us that we were at the palace, I am not convinced. Leaving the first palace, we realized that we should probably take a taxi to the next one. That way, we know that we have made it to the correct location. There are no taxis so we had to take a cart bicycle trip. There is a cute video of that if you can see it. I tipped the man quite a lot for carting Chris and I around the city. We are not the same dimensions as most Indonesian. The second palace was awesome there are many museums in this area and this actually looked like a museum. The most interesting thing I learned was about the batik colors. Green is supposed to ward off frustration. Purple is supposed to discourages bad thoughts. Red is supposed to get rid of evil spirits. White keeps hunger away. I love this stuff. I mean to write it down. But, I am always afraid I will look like the biggest dork doing that. We only had a day in Solo. So, there wasn't too much to report. I hope you enjoy the pictures. Shutterfly has been updated as well!
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