Trips home and back

Hello, again

Still trying to catch up, and no photos yet. I promise that will be my next online task! Now, where did I leave off?

After 2 intense weeks of canyoneering, shepherding visitors from Rome, clubbing, and crazy field visits, I was ready to pack to come home. Lots of last-minute Christmas shopping needed to be done; I had a whole suitcase to fill up just with oleh-oleh for my family!

The trip home included an intentional layover in Singapore on Friday night. Why? Tango, of course. I got my bags at luggage claim, changed in the nearest bathroom, stashed my stuff in short-term storage, and took off for tango, stopping for coffee along the way. The venue was lovely - comfy seating, salon atmosphere, mood lighting, shoes on display. I spoke with several very interesting and kind tangueros and even managed a few dances. When the milonga ended around 2am, I decided to grab a bite to eat on the street with one of my new tango friends, Benjamin. Around 4am I started to really fade, so I returned to the airport, showered, changed clothes, and waited for my flight. A night of tango sure beats hanging around the airport or a hotel!

The rest of my flights back to Seattle were mostly uneventful. An attractive man sitting behind me from Singapore to Tokyo showed his ugly side by trying to prevent me from tilting my seat back. This is my biggest air travel pet peeve!! Why do people think they have the right to do that to someone? These same people would probably have a fit if someone did it to them! As the seats are made for people taller than myself, the neck cushion hits me in the back of the head, making sitting upright for too long fairly uncomfortable. I MUST tilt my seat back or it makes me miserable! This jerk tried to prevent my tilting action by crossing his athletic legs and bracing against the back of my seat. Being short means I can get my legs on the arms of the seat in front of me and push with all my leg and back muscles. Usually when people try to block my seat like that, I push a bit with my legs and they let go. This jerk fought me the whole way. But I still won. I just didn't feel he deserved any charming to convince him to "let" me tilt my seat back; I just wasn't in the mood. The look of surprise in his eyes at having lost a little of his leg space to an innocent, petite woman was certainly rewarding, though.

At last, I arrived at home in lovely Seattle to my family, friends, and my cat. After 10 more days I had spent Christmas with my family, skied with my brother and friends, went snowshoeing twice, learned how to use an avalanche beacon, went hiking for hours in the snow in tennis shoes, and really enjoyed catching up with everyone. My mom, bro, and I went to the new Olympic Sculpture Park along Seattle's waterfront. The sun was setting over Puget Sound as ferries cruised by. I smelled a passerby's coffee. We were just missing orcas and salmon jumping in the water and bald eagles flying overhead. Remind me again why I left Seattle? It was a fantastic trip home and altogether too short. I spent so much time in the snow I didn't have any energy left for tango. Can you believe it?

My brief visit to California was a bit more stressful. Not wanting to use my Blackberry in the U.S., since it would all be international calls, I had to rely on non-mobile means of communication. Gasp! My flight was late getting in, and the prepaid phone card I picked up at SFO wasn't working too well. I finally arranged to meet with Alisa, from Ohlone Vet Emergency Clinic, for an early dinner. It was great to catch up with Alisa, Clair, Owen, Jake, and the others I managed to fit into my compressed time schedule. I got a few errands run in Davis, leaving enough time for - you guessed it - tango! Saw Chris & Dan's new tango venue - Firehouse 5 Dance - before we made our Wednesday night migration to Cell Space. Yea! It was so great to see everyone and get back on the dance floor. I crashed that night at my sister's SF apartment, although she was still in Seattle. Imagine my shock and dismay to discover that my rental car had been towed the next morning. I was able to sort that out in time to make my flight, but it wasn't a fun way to try to leave when I was already sad to be going in the first place. Maybe that was an omen?

I couldn't waste another layover in Asia, so I had worked out my time in Hong Kong to include a visit with Ed, a friend from England I hadn't seen since vet school. He met me at the airport and took me out for some really good (read: authentic) Chinese food. After much catching up and a little wandering around, I was ready to crash. We had a slow morning the next day before finally getting out to walk around the pet fish market and to take one of the ferries. I can't believe I forgot my camera! So, no views of the HK skyline. Sorry. Guess I'll have to go back and get one another time... Then it was back to the airport, another delayed flight (killed time with a glass of white wine and some pineapple sorbet while listening to live jazz), a nasty non-tango layover in Singapore, and a bewildered, jet-lagged return to steamy Jakarta.

Since I've been back, things are mostly back to the same old routines. However, one night I went out for seafood, Indonesian street style, with friends. The area is called Benhil, and my friends knew just the place to go and when to get there in time to get seats. We piled our plates high with green-lipped mussels, fish, prawns, and crab. Quite the night, I'll tell you.

Then, this past weekend, Stacie and I went to Bali for her birthday. This time we chose to spend nearly all our time in Ubud, Bali's center for yoga, New Age spirituality, and all things generally healthy. On our drive up from the airport, which was arranged by our lodging in Ubud, we met up with my Bali tango friends so I could have a final fitting of my new tango shoes. It was so exciting to finally have the shoes in hand and to be out of Jakarta for another lovely Bali experience.

We stayed at Murni's Houses, a collection of traditional-style buildings near the edge of town. The House, the building where we stayed, had screened windows, ceiling fans, lots of geckos on the walls, and traditional decor. It was perfect. The bathrooms were those open-air, landscaped Balinese bathrooms I like so much. Can't argue with an outside shower fringed by orchids! We got up early the next morning to go to yoga at the Yoga Barn. After a little confusion in figuring out where we were supposed to be, we entered the tranquility of this lovely open air yoga studio overlooking rice paddies. I hadn't done yoga in a few weeks. Well, ok, a few months! So 4 hours in one day was a bit daunting. Bridget, who was putting on this one-day anasara yoga workshop for Bali Spirit, was fantastic. It was hard work, and it was hot, but by the end of the morning session I felt really good. Perfect timing for a brunch of very yummy greens and salads, served by Kafe. We spent some time shopping before going back for another 2-hour session. After the second go, I felt really energized, although my body was very tired.

For dinner, we had signed on as Australia Day celebrants, again at Kafe. It was a great way to unwind, eat some good lamb and yummy pavlova, and to meet people. We met a woman from Bali (dog) Adoption & Rehabilitation Centre, or BARC, who convinced us to come out and have a look the next day. After our Australia Day festivities, we made our way to the Jazz Club for some good live music. I made sure to take a little Advil before bed, knowing it would be hard to get up the next morning. At breakfast I met a really nice American couple who were staying in Ubud for several days after being involved in a motorcycle accident. At least they had helmets on! Then it was off to BARC. The dogs were everywhere, and the shelter is struggling, as many do, with very limited staffing and resources. Most of their medications were donated and, hence, expired. We did our best to toss out the worst of the lot, although they have a long way to go to building up a respectable pharmacy for themselves. We hope to provide them with some protocols for deworming, treating mange, etc. and a list of commonly-used medications and their indications.

Our next stop was for lunch at, again, Kafe. It's just so yummy! Then we went to a spa for a much-needed rubdown. I partook of a massage, hot stone, and oil-dripping treatment that was to help realign my chakra. As I lay there being massaged by 2 people at once, the weather stormed over the rice paddies right outside. The sound of falling rain and thunder was vigorously punctuated by a couple of very determined frogs. Although they were a bit too loud and persistent at times, it was interesting to listen to them change rhythm and play off each other. A froggie jam session. After my fantastic massage and oil treatment, I was scrubbed down with fragrant spices. I walked out of the treatment room smelling like a spice vendor in a market somewhere, relaxed and radiant with pleasure. We stayed in that night, having dinner delivered from - where else? - Kafe. Stacie had another go at yoga the next morning while I decided to sleep in just a little longer and then linger over breakfast with my new friends.

We had our same driver take us down to Ku De Ta, near Seminyak. This place is legendary, especially for watching the sunset with a cocktail in hand. After a late lunch there, Stacie laid out in the sun, holding for us two spots for the appointed sunset hour. It is a beautiful venue, full of beautiful people, serving lovely food, playing cool tunes, and pouring very smooth drinks. A must-see for the well-heeled visiting Bali. The people-watching is great. I especially enjoyed watching the reactions of the foreign women sunbathing topless on the beach as Indonesian uniformed sailors walked by. One soldier even pulled out his camera. The women didn't mind if other foreigners stared at their bare breasts but clumsily hid themselves while the sailors were around. If you're gonna hang them out there for all to see, get over yourselves and stop acting embarrassed when everyone notices!

After partaking of the Ku De Ta sunset ritual, we packed up and headed off on our final mission in Bali: tango shoes. Just around the corner from Ku De Ta was a building called The Sunset Restaurant, which doubles as a dance studio. It was there that I met up with Iris and other Bali tangueros, to pick up my new shoes and take them for a turn on the floor. The venue has regular Latin dance events and seemed a very comfortable place to be. My new shoes - cherry red patent leather - fit like a glove. And it just so happens that in Jakarta, a new tango venue is opening this weekend...

It was with sadness that we have left lush, luxe Bali for the grunge of Jakarta. We're already planning our next trip back.

E

Catching Up in the New Year - Part 2

The week following canyoneering was one of the busiest I’ve had since coming here. I shepherded around two visitors from Rome who had come to talk about a project we were arranging together. The 24-hour Starbuck’s – the ONLY place to get coffee at a reasonable hour of the morning (more on that later) – was my savior. Although I was always on the go to get to meeting after meeting after meeting, it was an exhilarating change after being chained to my desk for so long. I met Darren Collins at the Wildlife Conservation Society office in Bogor, who is on leave as head of Seattle’s Woodland Park Zoo. It just so happened that he had known, and lived right around the corner from, my grandmother. He also knew some of my vet school classmates. A small world, indeed. We visited two live bird markets early in the morning, chatted with folks at a somewhat furtive U.S. Navy laboratory, met with a Jakarta higher-up, and spent loads of time in the car and in traffic. A busy, but successful, week.

By Friday, I was tired and ready to let loose. Cue Armin Van Buren, DJ Magazine’s “World’s #1 DJ.” At Thanksgiving, we had all decided that the next get-together was to see / hear him mix, DJ, perform, or whatever you want to call it. So, off to The Stadium we went. Fortunately, our dear expat friends are experienced club-goers and, thus, excellent guides to the scene in Jakarta. Armin started at 2am and continued until just after 6am. A long but very, very fun night. The most fun I’d had in far too long.

I spent the rest of the weekend recovering before heading off to Bandung for yet another meeting. I find it amazing that Indonesians continued a meeting until 11pm on a Sunday night, but, unfortunately, I was there to witness it. I was without the requisite batik shirt, so, naturally, I received a lecture on dressing appropriately. That meeting couldn’t end soon enough, because I was to head out into the field from there. A quick change of plans had me delaying my field visit by a day to travel to Tangerang, the site of 2 recent – and several prior – human cases of avian influenza. The government veterinary lab was going to collect samples and had, for the first time, offered FAO a chance to tag along. Off I went. We went out to collect samples from around the homes and workplaces of two suspected cases, one of whom had already died. While out in the field, a text message came through confirming disease in the second case. He died later that week. Then it was a mad rush for me to get 5 hours to the site of my field visit for the next day. The rest of the week was spent madly getting from field visit site to field visit site. But, ah, the field is a vastly better place to be than behind my desk.

In Bandung, we were informed that they wanted to take us to a site 4 hours from the office. Lucky field officers would get to ride with us instead of doubled up on the motorbikes. As we climbed our way through lovely hillsides planted with strawberries, I was informed that our visit site was on a tea plantation. Hallelujah! God smiled upon me that day. I have always wanted to visit a tea plantation. I had never dreamed my job as a veterinarian would take me there. The drive turned out to be only 2.5 hours. The dense darkness of the jungle was sliced open to reveal misty hillsides reflecting light from the tops of tea plants. The plantations were certainly a bit sterile in comparison to the richness of the jungle. Yet still beautiful, as the ridges dropped away from us and the clouds swirled. I was told that on a clear day the view stretches all the way to the ocean. Maybe to the north coast of Java? Anyway, the workers on the plantation had been raising chickens when an outbreak of AI struck last spring. All the birds were culled, and we were to see if they were raising chickens again. We discussed with the plantation manager, over a wonderful cup of tea (without sugar!), who said the plantation had banned the workers from raising chickens and was encouraging them to raise rabbits for consumption. On our way out, he sent us with oleh-oleh – plunder from our visit away - in the form of exquisite tea, which is only sold to the export market.

Our next stop after the tea plantation was a crater, Kawah Putih, or White Crater, filled with the same bluish waters I saw in Kawah Ijen. This crater is much more accessible and very popular, due to its appearance in an Indonesian movie. We walked up from the parking lot along the trail into the crater, and I kept seeing these mature Indonesian women, all dressed to the nines. It seemed an odd place for these ladies to be so dressed up. Turns out they were taking photos for a wedding. I got my photo with them, too, in all their glamour. After the crater we stopped for lunch at a pleasant little warung, just before a downpour hit. It was there I tasted my new favorite Indonesian food – ayam pepes. Pepes is a style of slow cooking where the food is wrapped in a banana leaf and cooked with leaves, I’m told, of laurel and some other seasonings, for hours. I couldn’t believe I’d been missing out on pepes this whole time. It is amazing! [I have since tried mushrooms and 2 kinds of fish (ikan) cooked pepes style. They were tasty, yes, but not quite as good as that first taste of chicken…] On our way back to the dinas office, to drop the officers off, we continued through a good downpour. That part of Bandung has many more carriage horses than I see in most places. Their drivers have fashioned raincoats for the horses to wear in the rain. It was a bit of a trick to get a photo of them, but I finally did. Will try to get it posted soon. All in all, a fantastic day in the field. Certainly no comparison to being chained to my desk in Jakarta!

Since Bandung is known for outlet shopping, my translator and I made sure to do our share before heading back to Jakarta. What else? Shoes and bags. Oh, and dress shirts that aren’t batik. The weekend after my field visit was time to finish my Christmas shopping.

Christmas stories and tales of my return to come…

Love and hugs to all! E

Catching Up in the New Year - Part 1

So, yes, I have been horribly remiss in keeping my blog updated. Really, I am sorry, loyal readers. In the 2 weeks after my last post, I was terribly busy, then I went home for the holidays, and now I’m trying to catch up after my return.

Excuses aside, it has been a very eventful past month and a half. In my last post I mentioned that I would have another exciting beach getaway. It was wonderful! I went with the same group as before, FunTrips2Volcano, to the southeastern corner of West Java. After driving in a packed mini bus all night, we arrived at a beach in Cilacap for breakfast. Nasi goreng, of course! The area was fairly industrial, probably the least appealing beach I have visited in Indonesia. But the light on the water was beautiful. After eating, we toured the ruins of a Dutch colonial fort that have been somewhat transformed in order to make them more appealing to local tourists. Somehow the addition of large dinosaur statues to the scene, with an oil refinery just over the fenceline, seemed a bit ironic. The remaining parts of the fortress were lovely. Unfortunately the gaudy additions to the area detracted from my historical experience.

After the fortress, we drove a bit down the road to hop into a boat that would take us through the mangrove swamps. There was a fish market and a few other interesting sights at the loading dock, not the least of which was a bigger “party boat” with the words “ECONOMY CLASS” on the side. We piled into our covered outboard boat (actually a platform built over 2 separate canoe hulls) and took off. The next couple of hours were spent lounging on the boat and watching the mangroves go by. We alighted in a small village to grab lunch to go. While eating in the boat – noodles, squid, stewed veggies, the usual stuff – we were headed to yet another secluded beach. To land on the beach we needed to transfer to a more traditional outrigger canoe. A short hop over a spit of land, and the beach was ours. It was a gloriously sunny day, and the surf was strong. Before the beach was tracked up by enthusiastic beach-goer prints, I found two lines of tracks from a very large lizard – maybe a monitor? Took photos since I had never seen such large lizard tracks, especially on a beach. Lots of shells to look through and waves to play in! There was a rip tide right where we were playing, so I wore a life vest. No, not especially comfortable or attractive. But with the sketchy currents in that area and no Coast Guard post in sight, I thought it best to play things safe. (I’m sure my dad, Mr. Safety Conscious, is glad to hear this…)

After enough sun and more than enough of Budi’s jumping photos, we hopped back on the outrigger canoe and went back to the village for a shower and cold drink. There was the traditional handout of books and toys to local children, while I snuck bits of food to an imprisoned monkey (maybe a marmoset?). Yes, to those of you who know I’m not particularly fond of monkeys, I was nice to a monkey, and I have the photos to prove it. I felt bad for the poor thing, and it didn’t attempt to bite or throw feces at me. So I could certainly hand over some oranges and dried bananas. We spent that night in a hotel (!) at Batu Karas, a known surfing beach. Our hotel was a little way down the road from the main beach, but clean. Other hotels were across the road from the beach. The beach sand was very fine and black – I could run it through my hands all day. Breakfast was, of course, nasi goreng, served on the beach. A few trip participants went for a ride on the “banana boat” while I gave a very brief surf lesson. The beach has a very gentle and consistent left-hand break, perfect for a novice goofy-footer such as myself. Unik, who is relatively new to the ocean and had never ridden waves in any form, was thrilled when I put her on the board, aimed her toward shore, and helped her catch her first wave. It’s not every day you get to make someone else’s day. Yea! Although we don’t have a set date yet, I hope to have a girls’ surf weekend back at Batu Karas in the near future…

After an hour in the surf, we loaded up again. This time we went in toward the forest for a caving and canyoneering adventure. After rendezvousing with our local guides, we (all 20 of us) hopped into a pickup truck filled with people, life vests, and innertubes. We headed up into the jungle, with a few of the larger guys hopping off the back when the road became too steep for the overloaded truck. We finally stopped far up on a ridge, donned our life vests, and went down the steep side of the hill down to the river below. Just a short walk down from where the trail ended at the river was the large opening to a limestone cavern. Full of bats. And guano. One of the local guides advised taking off our sandals. As this advice was correct for the last cave I went into with this tour group, I obeyed. Big mistake. The guano wasn’t that deep, and the rocks were sharp. All of my public health sensibilities were shrieking – I was sure to pick up some horrible nameless disease either through the cave air or guano injected into my tender feet. Later, the same guide who told me to take off my water shoes then told me I should have worn shoes. All while he is clomping around in rubber boots. Thaaaaanks! There was another opening at the back of the cave in the ceiling that provided a lovely soft light. The bats congregated back there and circled nervously with our presence. A neat thing to see. Something to remember until I was sure to die of a horrible tropical disease. Thank goodness I have been vaccinated for rabies!

I was very ready to jump into the river after being in the cave. I couldn’t rinse off fast enough. So, when they sent an innertube tied to a very long guide rope down the river and told us to jump in, I jumped. Unfortunately, they hadn’t told us which way to go in the current around the first rock, and I was swept right across a barely-covered boulder. Not 5 minutes after we started, I was bruised and bleeding from multiple sites. It was only then I realized that the only person in the whole group who had a helmet was our fearless leader, Budi. Leo, our epidemiologist from FAO, was also on the trip. The looks between us told me we were thinking the same thing, that this excursion down the river could end up very, very badly. We had a long way to go and many inexperienced people. Flashbacks of my last rafting trip – taking on class 4+ rapids in the water instead of the boat – surfaced with a chill.

Fortunately, things got better from that point on. The river traveled down a narrow canyon carved out of limestone. The canyon walls and cliffs surrounding us were unusual and beautiful. We saw trees, sunlight, and amazing butterflies. At one point, we were walking over the tops of large boulders under a long, misty shower of water running off the cliff edge above. It was one of the most beautiful spots (although a tropical cliché) I have ever seen. I could have stood for an hour watching drips fall straight down toward my face, yet not striking me. A bit like the stars going by in ‘warp speed’ in a movie. As we became more comfortable with our staff and the river, the mood lightened somewhat and laughter could be heard echoing from the canyon walls. We reached the end of our time in the water a few hours later, at a huge archway of limestone. Several outboards awaited us. The part of the river below the arch is what most tourists see – nothing as lovely as what we had just been through. Although the trees, birds, butterflies, and flowers were lovely, the water was sluggish, the river wide, and the best part of our experience over. Happy, tired, and wet, we were treated to a wonderful traditional Indonesian feast to recharge our batteries. Hot tea, scrumptious tempeh, chicken (with bones thrown to the cats), rice, veggies, tofu, fried fish, fruit, and I-don’t-remember-what-else really hit the spot. A tropical deluge made us feel that much more cozy back on land, and I was ready for a good nap in the mini bus.

It was sooooo hard to come back to Jakarta…

A few of the photos from this trip have been posted; I'll work on getting more of them up. Downloading photos takes HOURS and is frequently interrupted by a loss of connection to the server. Please be patient with me! More updates to come. E