Leaving ANDC

Erin: Although we only spent a few weeks with the kids of A New Day Cambodia, we got quite attached to them and it was much more difficult than I expected to say goodbye. I definitely shed a few tears as we walked out the gates for the last time. We tried our best to read with them in the afternoons, and some days we held their attention better than others. Oftentimes, we lost the little ones to a game that looked kind of like jacks but was played with tiny plastic animals. They also were quick to figure out that Seth could be easily distracted into playing a game instead of reading…

Seth and I were both laughing on the last day when we broke out the camera and they all grabbed books to pose for pictures. If only they were always so enthusiastic! All joking aside, the kids who did come and read with us on most days definitely made an improvement in terms of their word recognition and pronunciation, so that was very rewarding for us to see.

Meet Roo

Erin: This little guy hangs out near one of the internet cafes by our hostel. At first, I thought he had just wandered into the area by mistake, but we see him at the same place most every day so I think he must be someone’s pet. His spine/tail is kind of twisted, giving him the pot-bellied look you see in the photo, but he doesn’t appear to be in any pain. Although he is only about half the size of an average rooster, he proudly struts his stuff around the patio.

I told Seth I wanted to take Roo home with us, but he jokingly reminded me that trying to bring a chicken from Southeast Asia through Hong Kong (where we have a layover) and then back into the US probably wouldn’t be looked upon too kindly by bird flu scientists. I then proposed crafting a tiny chicken-sized SARS mask for Roo to wear on the plane as a way to ease their fears. Unfortunately, I think we’re just going to have to say goodbye to our little buddy here in Phnom Penh.

The Temples of Angkor

Erin: This post is about three weeks overdue, in large part because I think we’ve both been struggling with how to put into words how incredible these structures are. Seth had been to Siem Reap before and done a one day mad dash around the area, but this was my first time. I generally get “templed out” fairly easily, but the days we spent exploring were a real treat. Some of my highlights were nature reasserting its dominance at Ta Prohm, the intricate carvings and beautiful pink sandstone coloring of Banteay Srei, and the looming faces of Bayon. Without further failed attempts to describe what we saw, I think I’ll just let the photos speak for themselves.

A Toast to Mary McGuire

Erin: These days, we don’t have much need to know what date it is, so while filling out my visa application in the Laos embassy on Monday I was surprised to note that it was the 17th of March, St. Patrick’s Day. How could I have forgotten? It’s always a big celebration with my dad’s side of the family and we have many fun associated traditions (hope you guys all had a great time on the slopes last weekend!). One of these traditions is in memory of my great grandmother Mary McGuire, who every year used to commemorate the day by sitting down at her table with a glass of whiskey and a cigar. As my brothers and cousins and I were growing up, you can imagine some of the looks and comments from teachers when there were class projects about family traditions and we said, “We drink whiskey and smoke cigars!”

Well, it certainly wasn’t the same being halfway around the world without a big group of family around (and also without costumes!), but Seth and I nevertheless managed to find some whiskey and raised our glasses to Mary McGuire. Love to you all! Miss you!

The Trials and Travails of Transport

Erin: The worst part about long-term travel is getting from place to place, especially since Seth and I are trying to travel overland as much as possible instead of taking airplanes. Generally, these days involve totally disrupting our sleeping habits and reducing food and water intake to the absolute bare minimum to avoid doing the pee pee dance (or worse!) in your seat until the driver decides that he wants to take a smoke break several hours down the road. Here’s a little story about our most recent trip from Tonsai to Bangkok and how Paula saved the day…

Towards the end of our stay in Tonsai, Seth and I started discussing how we would make our way to Cambodia, the next stop on our itinerary. Based on the research we had done, we knew that we could either take a train or a bus, and that either would pass right through Bangkok, so we decided to spend a few days there. The train would have been our most comfortable option as it left late in the evening and if you reserved a sleeping berth you could basically just wake up in Bangkok. Unfortunately, the travel agents in Tonsai told us that the sleeping berths were booked for several days and our only option was to take an overnight bus.

Several companies offered us tickets for 500-600 baht (approximately $16-19) for the 12 hour ride, but we learned from many travelers that the reason those tickets are so cheap is because the cost of the ticket is “subsidized” by thieves on the bus (working with the companies) who root through passengers’ belongings when everyone is asleep. Every single person we talked to who had been on one of these “tourist” buses knew of several people on their bus who found out later they had been robbed. We consider ourselves fairly savvy travelers and thought that we could avoid these problems by keeping our small bags with us and all our valuables hidden on our bodies, but we just couldn’t get comfortable with the idea of knowingly supporting the scam and such dishonest business practices. We also didn’t think we’d get much sleep that night constantly having to be hyper-aware of all our stuff.

Our alternative was to independently make our way to the government bus station in Krabi and book bus tickets there. Once we arrived, we surveyed our options and concluded that the only way we’d get much rest at all was to take a VIP bus (wider seats that recline further, with pillows and blankets, a toilet onboard, snacks, etc.) It was slightly out of our budget, but then I remembered my good friend Paula’s birthday offer to cover an upgrade of our choice. So here’s a big thank you to you, Paula, for the sleep we were able to get that night! As I promised, we took pictures of ourselves thoroughly enjoying the VIP amenities (most importantly, the comfy seat I am modeling above): bottled water, pepsi, mung bean cakes, onboard toilet (use your imagination on that one…on second thought, dont!) pirated movies, and a moist towelette to refresh yourself when you roll in to Bangkok at 3:30 am, the time of the morning which we have lovingly come to describe as “ass o’clock”.

We then split a cab with another guy to the heart of the backpacker area, Khao San Road. There, we learned that if we wanted to check into a hostel right away, we would have to pay for a full night’s accomodation just to get a few more hours of rest. If we waited until 6 am, we would only have to pay for one night’s stay and get the room until check out time the following morning. Now, the fact that we chose to wait until 6 am and save the cash probably sounds completely ridiculous to most of you reading along right now, but I assure you that in our backpacker minds it made total sense. We walked around for a while looking for a place that had availability, and then stalled some more by having a few juices at a cafe, then I camped out with our bags and Seth went to look at a few more places. He found a good deal for us and promptly at 6 am, we checked in and went back to sleep.

Our next adventure is crossing the border into Cambodia, which we’ll attempt to do tomorrow. It’s another 12+ hour adventure, but this time I’m actually nervous about it rather than just thinking about enduring it. Again, there’s a cheap tourist bus that sounds too good to be true and involves several scams: overpaying for your Cambodian visa, being “sold” to a hostel in Siem Reap for the night, and delaying the journey so long that you arrive there late at night and are intimidated into staying at the place that paid to have you delivered to their doorstep regardless of what other reservations you might have made. The independent travel alternative (what we’re attempting) is really not much better and involves fending off a multitude of people who try to cheat you on prices for various forms of transport, pickpocket you, and ask for bribes to process your visa. One you cross into Cambodia, your onward travel choices to Siem Reap include such enticing options as being squished into a pickup truck for several hours or paying a large sum of money to the taxi mafia to be squished into a Toyota Camry share taxi, all along a road that’s in pretty poor condition. There’s an incredible website that details the journey step by step, complete with diagrams and all! We certainly are thankful for travelers who have shared their experiences about these sorts of things. I’m sure we’ll be just fine, but I will certainly breathe a sigh of relief when we check into a hostel in Siem Reap tomorrow night.

Happy Birthday to Me!

Erin: We celebrated my birthday in Ao Nang, a touristy beach area in southwestern Thailand. Coming from Malaysia, it was a bit of a shock to see throngs of westerners parading down the sidewalk in short skirts, tank tops, bikinis, etc with beer in hand. We felt more like we were in Honolulu!

Thailand is the first place we’ve been where it’s high season and it took us a few hours of walking around in the midday heat with our packs to find a place to stay. We had decided to splurge a bit for my birthday and eventually, we discovered a great bungalow on the hillside with a balcony and views of the ocean. It didn’t take long to relax into the pace of life here and we were soon enjoying cold beers and great Thai food.

We spent my birthday rotating between eating delicious food, reading on the beach, swimming, strolling and drinking fruity cocktails (like the Coco Mango ones in the picture above). When Seth asked what I wanted for my birthday, I told him I thought I’d like to get a massage. As afternoon rolled around, I knew it was a sign of a good birthday that I felt so relaxed I didn’t even see the need to get one.

We Pray for You

Erin: After struggling to find food in the hawker stalls in Singapore that didn’t have some sort of hidden pork or fish ingredients (a girl can only eat so many plates of fried rice and fried noodles), I was so happy to discover an all-vegetarian Chinese restaurant in Malaysia. This sign was posted in the stairway leading to the restaurant: note the animals’ funny speech bubbles. They had a yummy lunch buffet and I was also able to get some curry puffs for the train/bus rides ahead.

Plumbing Issues

Erin: Not sure what exactly happened here, but the toilet in our car on the slow train through the Malaysian jungle had definitely seen better days. Luckily, the one in the next car was in better condition.

Wooly Willy

Erin: Do you remember that toy called Wooly Willy where you can move the iron shavings around the man’s face and head to create different looks? Sometimes I feel like I’m dating Wooly Willy given Seth’s many different hairstyles and facial hair configurations. Here he is modeling the latest incarnation, the horseshoe with soul patch. To truly appreciate the change in appearance, its best to view the before and after pictures side by side.

Bali, Java and Batam by land, air and sea

Erin: A few posts ago, Seth described our plan to travel from Ubud, Bali to Singapore (also known as 3 hours on a bus, 1 hour on a boat, 13 hours on a bus, 8 hours on a train, 22 hours on a boat, 1 hour on a boat). With a little adjustment to the plans, we survived pretty much unscathed. Here’s how it went:

We set off from Ubud to Denpasar with very little hassle, getting rides on bemos almost immediately. Once we arrived at the bus station, there were several buses leaving for Yogyakarta within the next 30 minutes, so we wandered around asking about prices and amenities. Most were asking 180,000 rupiah (about $19) per person and included snacks, dinner, blankets, reclining seats, and a toilet on board. Much to Seth’s dismay, none included karaoke. One of the buses was willing to drop the price to 160,000 and was leaving right away, so we hopped on that one and settled into comfortable seats in the front row. Just as our bus was pulling out of the station, however, a bus pulled in next to us and on the television screen inside you could see a karaoke program running! It was too late to change buses, so Seth was stuck having to wait for another chance to demonstrate his mad karaoke skillz.

Although it was nice being in the front row of the bus because there was no one to recline their seat into your knees and you were able to see more of the scenery through the large front window, we soon came to realize it was not without its drawbacks: 1) being periodically engulfed in the cigarette smoke of the driver and his assistant (whose job I gathered was to collect ticket payments, hand out snacks, and keep the driver awake); 2) probably going straight through the windshield if we got in a head on collision since there weren’t any seatbelts; 3) being able to personally witness just how close we would come to hitting oncoming vehicles as the driver overtook “slowpokes” on a two lane road at a rate of about 1-2 vehicles per minute for the entire 16 hour bus ride. I’ve been on enough bus rides in developing countries to know that although a lot of the driving appears totally reckless, often times there are informal rules (might makes right is a common one, as is honking to declare ones right of way) that seem to make things go more smoothly than one might expect. That said, I did get a bit nervous when I could see that even some of the Indonesian oncoming drivers were cursing and flashing their lights at our driver.

The picture above was taken on the short ferry between Bali and Java. The ride took about twice as long as it was supposed to because we had to wait for space at the dock. It did give us a great chance to enjoy the sunset though.

It was difficult to stay asleep on the bus because we kept lurching in and out of oncoming traffic through the night and the lights of the oncoming vehicles kept flashing in through the windshield. Our driver also had a habit of honking his very loud horn every time he wanted someone to get out of his way, which was quite often. Nevertheless, we made it to Yogyakarta (often shortened to Yogya) in one piece around 7 am and hopped onto a city bus to get to the area where most of the hostels are located. We’ll write more about our sightseeing time there in another post.

While in Yogya, we tried in vain to figure out our ferry options from Jakarta to Batam, an island just off the coast of Singapore. People only seemed to know about the government-run ferry which departed on Friday and cost around $40 per person to reserve a sleeping berth in a room with 5 other people. Of course, one could choose the cheaper option of purchasing a rattan mat and trying to find space on the floor along with hundreds of other people for the 22 hour trip, but I told Seth I was not going to entertain that option. We heard vague rumors of private ferries that left on the weekends (giving us a few more days to enjoy Yogya), but were never able to confirm that they actually did exist.

Just for kicks, we looked up the prices for flights from Jakarta to Batam and were stunned to find that Air Asia could get us there in one hour for around $25 per person. At first, Seth was very reluctant to take the flight because he has been reading a book about reducing carbon emissions and the author points to air travel as the single biggest contributor from an individual standpoint. We talked about it for several hours and eventually he agreed to take the flight due to the combination of it being cheaper, much shorter, less hassle and that it gave us two extra days in Yogya.

From Yogya, we took an uneventful express day train to Jakarta. Seth complained about the lack of “awesomeness” on the train, but I was just happy to have a comfortable seat and be able to relax and take in the views.

The next morning, we caught a bus to the airport and checked in for our flight. Although we weren’t checking bags, the agent said I had to check my umbrella because “umbrellas are very dangerous.” We all had a good laugh as he put the baggage tags on my lonely umbrella and sent it down the conveyor belt. While we were waiting for it to come out at the baggage claim after the flight, an Indonesian woman named Jenny came up to Seth and offered to spit a cab to the ferry terminal with us. She was our angel, negotiating with the cab driver and also helping us purchase tickets from Batam to Singapore. For some reason, one-way and return tickets cost the same amount, so we bought return tickets and gave her the half of the ticket we wouldn’t use. As a thank you, she invited us to visit her at her work where they make fish head soup. I have to admit, Seth is a lot more excited about that prospect than I am.

With the exception of the bus ride, the whole journey went much smoother than expected. Singapore immigration didn’t even ask us for proof of onward travel (which is lucky because we don’t have any at this time). To celebrate our successful journey, we bought double scoop ice creams at the mall just above the ferry terminal.

Traveling light

Erin: I had Seth take this picture just before we hailed a bemo to the bus terminal in Denpasar. We’d mailed home the last of our winter clothing and some other miscellaneous items we had acquired along the way and I was so proud of finally getting my belongings down to just my backpack and purse.

The first time I traveled abroad, when I went to Kenya in college, I had a huge backpack full of all sorts of things that I thought I would need, including a 4 1/2 month supply of toothpaste, dental floss, shampoo, etc. I didn’t end up using half of the stuff I brought, and had a difficult time walking long distances with a full pack. One time, I think I actually dislocated my shoulder while hoisting the pack onto it and spent several hours in agony until I happened to roll onto that shoulder in my sleep and was awakened by a pop and relief from the pain.

After learning the hard way on that first trip, and realizing that you can buy pretty much anything you need on the road so there’s no reason to carry more than a few weeks’ supply, my pack has shrunk considerably. Seth and I never have to check our bags at the airport (which was key in the airline voucher adventure) and they don’t get grabbed by touts trying to carry your baggage for a fee or placed on top of buses, where there’s no guarantee that the bags will still be on the roof of the bus upon arrival at your destination. There are definitely trade-offs, like wearing the same six shirts and five pants/shorts/skirts for six months, but we have so much more flexibility and it’s honestly refreshing not to make decisions based on our attachment to “stuff”. When we were moving out of our place in San Francisco, we both lamented how much we had amassed and longed for the day when all we were responsible for was what we carried on our backs. When I think about all the storage boxes we have back home, it’s hard to remember what was so important to keep.

Michael Franti in Bali?

Erin: Apologies for the blurry picture. Michael Franti in Bali. What?!?!?!

A few days before Christmas we were poking through one of the expat newspapers in Ubud and Seth discovered that Michael Franti, one of our favorite musicians from back home, was performing a benefit show for a holistic multicultural school here in Ubud. I couldn’t believe my ears. Every September he puts on a free festival in SF called Power to the Peaceful, and we were really bummed that we missed the last one since we were up to our elbows in moving boxes. His music is a great mix of intelligent, positive lyrics and funky beats that are impossible not to dance to.

He just published a children’s book based on one of his songs, so to start the show he read to all the kids who were gathered in the front row. A translator also read it in Bahasa Indonesia. After that, Michael performed an awesome acoustic set that had everyone jumping and singing along by the end. The energy at his shows is pretty incredible.

To see him here was so weird. Good weird, but still weird. Seth said he felt like he was at the acoustic version of that rave in the final matrix movie, as there was quite an eclectic mix of hippie mamas, ayurvedic practitioners, yogis, batik importers, tourists and locals jamming together in the mud, surrounded by beautiful rice fields. What a gift! The school raised enough money that day to construct a whole new building.

Possum…the other other white meat

Erin: Ever the eco crusader willing to do his part, Seth tries his first bites of possum pie and explains a bit about the invasive species problem in New Zealand.

Cash money, baby!

Erin: Although we don’t look it in the photo, we’re thrilled to report that we had our own Chanukkah miracle and are happily homeless tonight. When we added the oil this morning, the van started with no problem. We then drove to town to pick up the buyers and head over to see the mechanic, a great guy named Kim who gave us a very reasonable price for the repairs (and even fixed a broken metal piece of Seth’s backpack that he has been trying to fix forever!)

Side note: thank you so much to everyone who suggested names for the van! We had a lot of laughs reading the comments and testing out the various names. As we drove up the North Island, we’d ask the van what it thought of a particular name and see how it responded. We had so many good names that it was nearly impossible to choose. Finally, we decided that it just wouldn’t be right to arrive in Auckland, our final destination, in a nameless van. About 15 minutes outside of the city, Seth came up with the name Dimples, in honor of the dents on each side. We both chuckled about it, asked the van what she thought (I’ve believed that the van is a she for a long time) and then we finally had a name.

The proud new owners are Andrew, Rebecca and Bevan (not pictured), some really nice folks from Devon, England. They gave us a lift back to the downtown area, where Seth gave Dimples a goodbye hug. We’re definitely sad to leave her and are still adjusting to life without a van (i.e. packing all our crap each morning and hauling it around on our backs). We treated ourselves to a celebratory lunch of tapas at a little cafe, and then booked two tickets on the overnight bus to Wellington, where we’ll be until we catch our flight to Bali on December 16. Seth thought about hitchhiking to Wellington, but it’s raining here and would make for a fairly miserable experience. As he said, we’ll catch up on our posts there and let you know what we’ve been up to!

Happy Birthday, Seth!

Erin: We’re currently in Queenstown, the adventure sports capital of New Zealand. Therefore, seeing as how Seth is turning the big 27, we couldn’t think of any better way to celebrate his birthday in this fine town than by jumping out of an airplane from 15,000 feet (see Mom, I kept my promise that I wouldn’t tell you until I was safe on the ground!). Seth was pondering going bungy jumping, but decided that what he really wanted to do was go skydiving. I’ve wanted to go for many years now, so it didn’t take any convincing on my part. We got out of bed, booked a jump for early afternoon, grabbed a quick bite to eat and soon we were zooming along in the van on the way to the takeoff/landing area. Only in New Zealand does a skydiving operation share space with a field of sheep!

We were told we’d be in the first group to go up, so we didn’t even really have a chance to get nervous waiting around. Our tandem masters greeted us and got us suited up, then before we knew it we were squeezed into a little plane and taking in some spectacular views as we climbed higher and higher. The weather was absolutely perfect and you could see forever. I remember thinking to myself, “Wow, we’re really high already” but then my tandem master showed me his altimeter and we were only at 1,000 feet! I thought my nerves would have started kicking in by this point, but I really felt really at peace and was enjoying the ride up. I did get a few butterflies in my stomach when the first girl and her tandem master jumped out of the plane at 9,000 feet, but that was about it. Once we reached 13,000 feet we had to put on oxygen masks for the remainder of the plane flight because we were so high. Overall, it took about 15 minutes to reach our final elevation.

Seth was the first to jump. Before he and his tandem master scooted to the door, he gave my hand a little kiss and a squeeze, which I thought was very sweet. And then, in a flash, he was gone. My tandem master Cris and I scooted into the doorway, I put my legs out the door of the plane, looped my hands into my harness, leaned my head back against his shoulder, and then we rocked right out of the plane and into freefall!

I remember screaming right as we fell out of the plane and it felt like we were on a rollercoaster for maybe two or three seconds, but then we stopped accelerating and it almost felt like we were weightless for the 60 seconds of freefall (10,000 feet!). I kept cycling through thoughts like “How crazy is it that I’m falling through the air right now!” and “Wow, these views are incredible!” and “Ha! I can feel my cheeks flapping in the wind. I hope I don’t eat a bug!”

Cris pulled our parachute and then everything got very quiet as we slowed down and made some gentle turns and then fast spirals down toward the landing field. My main fear that has held me back from skydiving for so long is that we would crash land and I’d end up never being able to walk or dance again, so I was a little nervous about the landing. I listened to his instructions as we got nearer to the ground and we had a perfectly smooth landing.

It was a totally incredible experience. My only regret is that I almost wish I had been more nervous, because it would have heightened the thrill. I probably got to enjoy the jump a lot more than I otherwise would have though, since I was able to take everything in and not just be freaking out the whole time.