Sumatra Swingers

I'm listening to a jungle symphony of monkeys, insects, birdsong, and the rushing river. And I'm gazing at the sunlight illuminating the river pool and the layers of forest canopy one by one as it rises. This jungle is home to orangutans and many other monkeys, tigers and cloud leopards, colorful and drab snakes, orchids, huge towering trees, and so many other living things that I can't even list all the categories! I ponder the good fortune that has placed me here in this incredible spot, with a guide to show me around and do all the hard work of carrying the tent, cooking, etc.

But back to the beginning of the story ... where is this and how did I get here?!

I took a 1-week holiday on the island of Sumatra, just west of Java, during the last full week of January. I flew to Medan and made my way via a shared "public taxi" and small bus (a full day's journey) to Ketambe, a small village on the edge of Leuser National Forest. I stayed at the Pak Mus Guesthouse and found it to be friendly, reasonably priced, and charmingly rustic. I enjoyed eating with the owners, Pak Mus and Mama Mus, and their extended family; they also fed me some snacks of durian and the 2-year old taught me some new words in Indonesian!

I began with a day hike just to see how things went. Right away, in just a few hours, I saw orangutans, lemurs, Thomas Leaf monkeys, a cool giant centipede, and much more. The terrain was only moderately rough. Encouraged by my success, I arranged a 3-day, 2-night jungle trek. After confirming, I talked with some Swedish guys staying in the next cottage, Hans and Tommy. They have lots of experience in the area and don't need a guide for short hikes so they met me at the campsite and let me tag along with them on an afternoon and 2 night hikes, loaning me a strong flashlight as well as their expertise in identifying wildlife in English.

Some of my favorite sights in the jungle were:

• A large green pit viper, carefully coiled along a tree branch
  
• Club moss as high as my shoulder
  
• Butterflies by the hundreds, attracted to the sulphur & salts near a hot spring
  
• A mother and baby orangutan eating fruit in the trees just overhead
  
• Tiny, delicate ferns growing on the stems of shrubs and trees
  
• A long-tailed macaque stealing bananas from a nearby campsite
  

At the end of my trip, I had a touch of "jungle foot" (toe fungus), some blisters on my feet, sore muscles, some photos, many fabulous memories, and a huge smile on my face! I look forward to more jungle experiences in Indonesia.

Going to Gili

Happy New Year! It's between January 1 and Chinese New Year so I'm safe to say that for both holidays, I think. I don't usually make New Years resolutions but I do intend to update my blog a little more often this year ... we'll see how I do at that.

For the Christmas / New Years holiday week, I went to the island of Gili Trawangan (a very small island near Lombok) with my friend and co-worker Emma. It was truly relaxing and lovely. We enjoyed a large variety of foods, laid on the beach, snorkeled, and rented bikes to ride around the island (about a 9 km ride). Although the island is tiny, it's full of restaurants and bars. It has sandy beaches all around with good snorkeling just off the beaches where you can see corals, fish, turtles, rays, and more. There are no motorized vehicles on the island - just foot traffic mixed with bicycles and horse carts.

One of our loveliest evenings was spent watching the sunset from over on the western side of the island.

I especially enjoyed the subsequent appearance of some small fairies who were casting their magical spells of joy on the appreciative crowd as they watched the post-sunset bonfire and fire show.

For the final two days, we avoided the massive crowds and went to Lombok to attend a great New Years eve party at an Indonesian friend's house. It featured fireworks, noisemakers, dancing, swimming, conversation, and more delicious food.

I returned refreshed and ready for a wonderful year ... I know that my adventures will continue, and I hope that yours are also wonderful. Happy New Year / Selamat Tahun Baru!

Taking in Thailand

In late August / early September, my friend Emma and I went to Thailand for 2 weeks holiday, coinciding with the end of Ramadan and the week of Lebaron. (Yes, I know - that was almost 2 months ago and I'm VERY delinquent at keeping up my blog. But hush and don't distract me! I'll try to add some posts soon about some of the other things I've done while I wasn't posting much.)

We arrived in Bangkok and spent the evening enjoying a change of food and some street shopping in the touristy area where we stayed. The following day, we did a bit of sightseeing including a truly huge Buddha statue, a gemstone workshop, and the Grand Palace. We used a "tuk-tuk" for our sightseeing - a small 3-wheeled vehicle with a motorcycle engine. The tuk-tuk driver got rewards for taking us to some tourist shopping spots - that was okay for the first spot but by the 3rd place which wasn't of real interest we were getting fed up. Our final destination, the Palace, was incredible and well worth visiting so it was all worthwhile.

That evening, we jumped onto an overnight bus to the north. The bus journey was quite an adventure in itself. We began by hiking several blocks, collecting people from different hotels and tourist agencies along the way. When we arrived at a very muddy park, we then waited for about 45 minutes. The bus finally got there and we all piled on board and took off, only to be stopped in traffic for about an hour. Eventually we got through the traffic and thought we were making fine progress. Emma and I had both fallen asleep when we were awoken by a loud bang, and then the bus pulled over. We had blown a tire. After quite a bit of negotiation on the phone and no updates in English for the confused and concerned tourists on board, we resumed our drive - apparently they decided that the double-wheels provided enough support and we didn't need to replace the tire. Okay - back to sleep. As we pulled into the outskirts of Chiang Mai, our intermediate destination, the bus stalled! Fortunately, the driver was able to restart it after a few minutes and we arrived safely at the bus terminal. We got a connection to our minibus and settled into another ride through mountains and beautiful forests, winding up in Pai around mid-day.

Pai is a lovely little town in the mountains, and it's filled with charming restaurants and shops. We met an American friend of a friend there who's opening an admirable school and we were fascinated to learn about her efforts. She steered us to the lovely Ing Doi Guesthouse which was friendly, clean and picturesque, and she joined us the following day for an elephant riding adventure at Thom's Elephant Camp.

After a couple of days in Pai, we went back to Chiang Mai. Emma had previously spent several months there so she was a good tour guide. We continued to enjoy lots of great food and shopping and massage there. We also toured some temples and took a class in cooking Thai food. The temples were lovely, serene and filled with reminders of peace and beauty. Well, except for the throngs of tourists like us, of course. But even with tourists, somehow they managed to leave space for quiet little experiences of meditation and wonder. The cooking class was both delicious and fun, and we left with our own copies of recipe books featuring the dishes we'd made. We stayed in Pai through Sunday so that we could experience the Sunday Market - a street market full of clothing, jewelry, knickknacks, food, performances, and more. Of course, attending a market is just asking to spend money and we both spent more than we'd intended but did manage to keep it in check enough to cram it all into our small traveling bags.

We caught the bus back to Bangkok again and amusingly rode on the exact bus which had stalled and had the flat tire! We were positive because not only did it have the same paintings on the outside, we rode in the same seats with the same broken tray table and other signs. Other than another slow start, we had no problems this time and successfully transferred to a mini-bus to head down south toward the coast. Just 3 hours out of Bangkok, we reached a ferry to the island Koh Samet.

Koh Samet was lovely. The beaches were clean and the water was warm. There were fire shows on the beaches in the evenings, good and affordable massages available in the shade, and a minimum of vendors hawking tourist junk along the sand. We were able to find very good food and drink right on the beach, and could choose between quieter spots and loud music. Our guesthouse, TubTim was in a nice, quiet area. We didn't do a lot of tourist activities but we did take some short walks and also a half-day boat trip with snorkeling and a visit to a fish farm. The snorkeling was nice but not as good as we've done in Indonesia. Perhaps another time we'll try windsurfing or other sports but this time we were lazy.

Overall, I recommend Thailand for anyone wanting to travel. Here are some of the reasons:

• There are a lot of foreign tourists so it's pretty easy to find English-speakers.
  
• It's generally quite a cheap place to travel. It was affordable for Emma and I on our Indonesian salaries, and (aside from the air travel to get there of course) would be very cheap for anyone from America or Europe. For example, a nice meal there might cost about 60-200 baht which is about $2-$7 and our rooms ranged from 300-1000 baht per night which is about $10-$32.
  
• Thailand is mostly Buddhist and the culture is very accepting and easy-going, so the people are respectful and tolerant of tourists with different ways. They appreciate your respect for their traditions but don't wish to impose their views on you.
  
• There are a great variety of activities for all tastes. In addition to the beautiful scenery and the other things I described, there are museums, rafting and trekking, traditional dancing, Thai boxing, and much more.
  
• The food is delicious! There are a lot of curries and spicy-hot salads, but they also have stir-fries and mild dishes, and like Indonesia there are lots of wonderful fresh fruits. Plus it's easy to find decent western food - burgers and sandwiches, pasta, etc. We enjoyed the availability of some of our favorites that we can't find in Sidoarjo!
  
• Good massages are cheap and readily available also. I tried out a variety of massages (Thai, Oil, Foot, Back & Shoulder) as well as using the Doctor Fish a couple of times. There was just one place which was too hard and left me a bit bruised - the rest were all lovely!

Some travel tips if you do go to Thailand:

• Don't drink the water. Like many other places in the world, tap water isn't necessarily safe, especially if your stomach isn't adjusted to the local bacteria.
  
• If you're not from SE Asia, carry some pocket tissues or toilet paper and remember to throw your paper in the bin. Don't flush it.
  
• Wear sunscreen and/or a hat. I've been living near the equator for over a year but I still got a bit burnt on the beach.
  
• Carry a sarong. You'll need to cover your legs and shoulders before going into temples if you're wearing shorts or a camisole top.
  
• Enjoy it and send me a photo!

Around and About

Since the trips to Singapore and Kalimantan that I described in my previous blog entry, I've had many travels so I'll share some highlights from several trips.

Christmas on Madura
At the beginning of my Christmas-New Years week off, I took a car trip with friends to the east end of the nearby island Madura. We visited a couple of beaches and also visited a historic mosque and kraton (palace) in the town of Sumenep. I especially enjoyed the delicately needled "shrimp tamarack" trees by the coast which are unique to that area and to Japan. You can see more photos from this trip at this link on Facebook (even if you don't have a Facebook id).

New Years in Bandung
At the end of that week I travelled by bus to Bandung, a city in West Java. I left my town, Sidoarjo, on Thursday morning and arrived in Bandung on Friday morning, and returned on Sunday evening/Monday morning. I travelled with my friend Nisa and her friend Zhara. Once we got to Bandung, Zhara's 2 cousins took charge of us and were excellent hosts. They took us around to tourist spots, bought our meals, and waited patiently for us. They even enlisted a friend so there were enough motorscooters for all 3 of us. The trip included a volcano with 12 active craters, a hot springs, a wander through a tea plantation, and my first taste of delicious rabbit sate (sate kelinci). Again, you can see more photos from this trip on Facebook at this link.

February on Flores
For the first week of February 2011, I visited the island of Flores with my friend and co-worker John. We were based in the small port town of Labuan Bajo but hired a boat for 3 days and 2 nights of snorkeling and other adventures including visiting the islands of Komodo and Rinca where the Komodo Dragons live, and swimming alongside manta rays in an area where they come to feed. Unfortunately, I don't have an underwater camera so I have no photos to share of my favorite parts of the trip: the incredibly beautiful coral reefs and the immense and graceful mantas. I also took an inland journey with a car and driver to the town of Medun. I packed a lot into the 2-day land trip including the site where the Flores Hobbit was found, some traditional spiderweb ricefields, a cave with interesting stalactites and stalagmites and cave insects, traditional houses, a mountain jungle hike to a waterfall, and some shopping in a traditional market. On the way home, we had an enjoyable half-day layover in Bali. I also managed to lose both my cell phone and my glasses on this trip - I hope that there are some monkeys and dolphins enjoying their new toys!Click here for the rest of my photos from that trip.

Dance Party!
In mid-February, I organized an EF "Life Club" event - an extra-curricular, just-for-fun chance for the students to practice English outside a traditional classroom setting. We held a Saturday afternoon Dance Party with lots of traditional American line and party dances including the Macarena, the Limbo, the Chicken Dance, Cotton-Eyed Joe, the Hokey Pokey, and the Bunny Hop. It had a bigger enrollment than I'd expected and everyone seemed to have fun. I had a blast!

After this
My Sidoarjo contract ended in late February and I decided to sign up for another year in the same school. My next blog entry, in a week or two, will share some photos from my "contract break" trip back to America, and from the wedding I attended just before leaving.

Singing in the Singapore Rain and Doing the Borneo Bop

Yikes! I have been lazy about blogging for a long time. I guess you can tell that my life has been busy. The following blog was written in mid-December 2010 and has been sitting as a draft waiting to be published. I'll publish this one now and follow up with another in a week or two, summarizing my subsequent travels.

I took 2 big trips in November: one to Singapore and one to Kalimantan (in English, we usually call it Borneo like the Malaysians do).


Singapore:
I went to Singapore for a 4-day weekend to meet my friend Rose. It was a great trip although our time together was a bit brief because she was also taking classes, and because we missed each other on the last day. But at the last minute, some friends of a friend very generously offered me a bed in their spare room so I also got to meet some new friends and enjoy their lovely family and hospitality, as well as their generous help getting around the city.

Singapore is beautiful and a great tourist destination. It's modern, clean, safe, orderly, and filled with flowers and greenery. People line up nicely, obey traffic rules, speak English well, throw their litter in bins, and don't burn garbage. They have a very easy to use bus and subway/train system which is modern, fast, inexpensive, reliable, and convenient. I don't think I waited more than 15 or 20 minutes for a bus, or more than 10 minutes for a train.

The flip side is that there are a lot of rules about everything from jaywalking to chewing gum to where you can carry smelly fruit (durian). And they're serious - they cane people regularly, and they execute violent criminals and even first-time drug offenders. It's also quite expensive.

There are lots of shops and restaurants of every type. If you want something, you can probably find it in Singapore (for a price). Since there's litle industry in Singapore, most things are imported, and the exchange rate for Indonsian Rupiah adds to the problem for me. I came home with a few small things and a couple of books in English but mostly I enjoyed window shopping and people watching.

Singapore has many tourist attractions and I didn't have time to visit them all. One day I visited the Singapore Botanic Gardens and especially enjoyed the section of original rain forest / jungle, the ginger garden, and the orchid garden.

On another day, I went to a Chinese and Japanese garden which included a very interesting turtle and tortoise museum.


Banjarmasin, Baby!

My friend Chris and I took a Monday off and went for a 3-day weekend on the island of Kalimantan as it's called in Indonesian. It's the largest island in Indonesia and actually doesn't belong completely to Indonesia - a big part of it belongs to Malaysia and another small corner is Brunei Darussalam. We went to the city of Banjarmasin, largely because we could get cheap air tickets there.

We walked around the city and saw all the guidebook "points of interest" on Saturday, including a night market and a mosque that appeared to have fallen off a Star Trek set. Banjarmasin is on a river delta so it's surrounded and interwoven with rivers and canals, and it was interesting to see the houses built right over the water on stilts.

On Sunday morning, around sunrise, we took a boat to see the floating market where buyers and sellers of produce meet on the river in little wooden canoes to trade. We had breakfast pancakes cooked right in a canoe for us and they were delicous! Then after a rest, we took another boat trip to Pulau Kembang (Flower Island) to feed some monkeys (macaques). That evening, we went to the cinema and saw the new Harry Potter film.

Monday, we took buses east to visit the Cempaca diamond mines. I was very surprised that we could just wander onto the grounds of the mine and walk around unescorted. It was a very casual seeming place. Workers were happy to show us how they were panning for the heavier rocks in the silt and even gave me a few little chunks of pyrite, aka fools gold. We had a snack of some tempeh and tea at a little stall on the grounds and then wandered off again.
Just a bit north of the mines, the town of Martapura has a big market where we did some shopping and got lunch. Although Martapura is known for its gem polishing and jewelry, I didn't buy any jewelry. I did get a piece of Kalimantan's special Batik Sasirangan, or tie dye batik which I later had made into a skirt.

After our shopping, we walked around a bit then caught a bus back to the airport.

Bye, Bye, Borneo. Until next time.

My Lovely Students!

In this edition, I'd like to share a few tidbits about my students and some of the activities I've done recently with them.

Just a bit of background first: I teach 1 to 4 regular classes each day, Monday through Friday, with 6 to 16 students in each. Each of those classes meets twice per week for 80 minutes and I can be assigned up to 8 classes per week plus any extra duties like substituting for teachers who are ill or on holiday. We get a new schedule every 2 weeks although we usually stay with any particular group of students for 6 weeks at a time. The classes come in 3 flavors: High Flyers (ages 6-10), Trailblazers (ages 11-14), and Real English (ages 15-adult).

Halloween: Most western holidays come and go unnoticed here but on the Friday before Halloween, the EF teachers and staff dressed in costume and a few of our students also came in costume. For the younger students, we also had some special activities like coloring and costume contests, and trick or treating to other classrooms. All of the students seemed to know about Halloween already, unlike many of our holidays.

Special Business Student:
For several weeks, I taught a business student who had been laid off from a multinational corporation. She took daily 2-hour classes using a business curriculum and I was one of 3 teachers who shared the teaching rotation. It was interesting to teach one-on-one, and she was a dedicated student who followed up on assignments and improved noticeably during her intensive lessons. She was gracious enough to also arrange a group outing for us with her family. Due to some last minute changes, I was the only one who ended up going. We had a lovely dinner in Surabaya at the spot widely known as serving the best Rawon in town, and then went to an area called G-Walk for some further snacks and looking around. The photo is Rovien and I at "Rawon Setan" with her napping daughter.

Saturday Business Classes:
Besides the private lessons with Rovien, I've taught 3 business classes. Two were in Surabaya some months ago, and one is in mid-class as I write this. I especially enjoy teaching business students. They're more mature and it's easier for us to find common topics of interest & conversation. I find that they're typically more committed students since they understand how much the lessons cost and how important they can be to their careers. They often ask questions and help direct their own learning. Although they're more serious about learning, they still enjoy games and jokes. Also, I feel that my long career in a large multinational company has given me much to share with them.

I hung out with some of my Surabaya students at an EF party quite a while ago, and I recently went on a weekend outing with my current students to the Safari Park in Malang, with a stop on the way back at the Coca-cola bottling plant where one of them works. I've really enjoyed my trips outside class. Animals and parties are great but it was even better just to have a chance to chat with my students and share a bit more of our lives and cultures.

Young Students:
Although I do especially enjoy older students, I have many great younger ones also. I rarely remember to bring my camera to class but occasionally I grab it and take a few photos of a special activity or class. Here are a few favorite moments: young "High Flyers" doing Shopping and Bargaining, playing Hangman, final classes with some "Real English" classes, and Draw the Teacher (an exercise in naming body parts).

Postscript:
We've all been reminded of Indonesia's place in the "Ring of Fire" over the past month with the earthquake and tsunami west of Sumatra, the eruption of Mount Merapi near Jogjakarta where I visited in April, and just this week the increased activity levels from Mount Bromo which is just an hour or so away from me. I send wishes for healing to all those affected by the disasters but I assure my friends and family that I'm currently in no particular danger. Indonesia is thousands of miles across and none of these events has affected my daily life, nor is likely to. If Mount Bromo becomes more active, it's possible that we could catch a bit of dust cloud but it wouldn't be near enough to be a problem - just annoying.

Be well and remember those who are affected by these problems.

An Expedition to Madura: Bulls and Batik!

In late October, I went to the island of Madura for the weekend with a mixed group of EF teachers and staff plus various friends - 3 carloads of us. Our main goal was to see the annual bull races but of course we did some other stuff along the way.

Lighthouse: We left on a Saturday afternoon and drove across the Suramadu bridge. After stopping for a lovely meal of Nasi Campur (rice with various mixed accompaniments) at Hamid's house, we went to a nearby lighthouse to climb up and admire the views. We wound our way up but I'm sad to report that after the 12th floor, the stairs turned to a ladder and I decided not to challenge my fear of heights that day. So I took a few photos from the windows there and let the others finish climbing to tell me what I'd missed out on. (They said it was worth the climb and that there were stairs again after that one ladder. Oh well.)

Down at the base, the dusk was falling and painting everything in ever changing shades which began as pastel blues and violets and slowly faded to indigo. The sound and scent of the sea was calming and serene.

As the group emerged, some of us took a few photos together before heading off into the night. Our drive was fairly long but we snacked, laughed, and napped our way toward the village of Pamekasan where we would spend the night.

STMJ: After arriving and getting everyone arranged in hotel rooms, a few of us wandered around looking for a late snack. We settled in an STMJ stand. STMJ stands for Susu Telur Madu dan Jahe (translated: Milk, Egg, Honey and Ginger). It's a traditional Indonesian drink which is served warm. It's delicious, tasting a bit like eggnog, and is reputed to warm you and give you energy. Although I have my doubts about the healthiness of lots of honey, sugar, and half-raw egg yolk, it made a tasty treat.

Batik Market:
In the morning, we had breakfast at street stands and watched a parade go by. I tried out the nasi pecel. It's one of my favorite light meals in Indonesia - rice with vegetables and a nice peanut sauce, usually with some other stuff like tempeh, crackers, and maybe a fried egg. I found the Maduran pecel was a bit sweeter and less spicy than what I usually eat in Sidoarjo.

On our way to the bull races, we stopped at the batik market. Those who know me may wonder whether I will now have to pay a fortune in shipping to get all my new fabric home! Yes, I did have some trouble keeping myself from buying a LOT of these beautiful handmade fabrics that are an Indonesian specialty but I managed to contain my enthusiasm a bit and come away with just 1 new batik blouse and a few pieces of batik fabric. I'm planning to have one of the fabric pieces (the one I'm holding in the photo) made into a shirt or dress once I find a pattern I like.


Bull Races: Finally we arrived at the arena for the bull races, or Karapan Sapi. This is a long-standing tradition in Madura.

Throughout the months of September and October, small local and regional races are held all over Madura. The winners of all these smaller races meet for a final championship competition in Pamekasan, which is what we were watching. The bulls are raced while they're still fairly young because larger animals are too heavy and slow. They're chosen carefully, fed on special diets, and trained several times per week. They race in pairs with a yoke and a small wooden platform dragging between them for the driver to perch on. During the racing, the bulls can be treated pretty roughly.

The field is about 100 meters long and it takes only 10-15 seconds for the bulls to run down it so there's a loooooong wait in the hot sun and then a short moment of excitement. During the race, the driver's perch looks bounces wildly up and down as the bulls careen down the field. It looks very dangerous. In addition to the driver's whipping, there are teams of young people chasing behind the bulls yelling and shaking cans full of rocks and nails to scare the bulls and make them run faster. At the end of the field, there are people milling about and trying to head off the bulls so they slow down and trot off the field rather than crashing through the end wall. I would not want to be one of them!

Because of our status as white people, we and our friends were allowed to go onto the racing field at the starting end and watch from there for a while. The bulls ran right past us on each side when they began the races.


Saying Goodbye: Here's a shot of our assembled group just after we ate a late Sunday lunch and then split into different cars going different directions to take people home. It was another great trip!