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

random bits

Ha, ha, ha. I have thwarted my modem, laptop, and Blogger's propensities to lose my writings. I have been jotting down random thoughts about apartment living and Thanksgiving - both topics I have previously started in on, only to lose them before they were posted. Thus, the following is a mish-mash of those thoughts, regurgitated into the safety of Word and cut 'n pasted to here. I thought I would post it before I take off to another secluded-beach weekend with some crazy, young Indonesians. Too much time behind my desk at Deptan; gotta get out of here... Hope everyone has a fun weekend!

Ongoing Blog Thots… Apartment Living (Part 2) and Thanksgiving

Steps to doing the laundry with a manual washer: 1) Make sure the washer dial is on something other than “drain.” 2) Turn on water from spigot to fill washer. 3) Add detergent & clothes. 4) When water to desired level, turn off water from spigot and turn washer timer as much as possible. 5) Close lid. 6) Since timer on washer is broken, start timer again as needed to achieve desired length of wash cycle. 7) When washing is finished, turn dial to “drain.” 8) Wring out half of clothes and place in spinner. 9) Turn spinner timer to whatever makes it start. 10) Since spinner timer is broken, estimate appropriate spin time and turn dial back or unplug machine to stop spinner when indicated. 11) Remove spun clothes and place back in washer. 12) Repeat steps 8 – 11 for other half of washed clothes load. 13) Repeat steps 1 – 12 (without adding detergent in step 3, maybe add softener instead) for rinse cycle. 14) Hang clothes to dry on line, hangers, or rack.

My drinking water comes from a 5 gallon container in a dispenser that has both hot and cold features. One of the best perks of apartment living is the ease of which I can get drinking water! I merely call the number, request a water delivery, and in about 15 minutes a guy will come up and exchange the empty bottle for a full one. He even expertly hoists it up into the dispenser without spilling! And all for just over a dollar. Excellent value – maybe the best in all of Indonesia…

Elevators. Not having lived or worked in a high rise before, I feel that I spend a relevant portion of my day waiting for and riding in elevators. There are 3 elevators in the Taman Rasuna towers. One is a larger service elevator, and it stops at all floors. My building has a “nice” one with (beaten up) wood molding and mirrors. One of the remaining elevators serves only even-numbered floors. The other serves only odd-numbered floors. There is no 13^th floor. A complicating factor in the apartment community is that each tower has a unique combination of floors for access to the central plaza and to the outside world. In some buildings the plaza is accessed via the 4^th floor; in others it is the 5^th. To go outside the complex, one will exit at either the upper ground (UG) or lower ground (LG) floor. Taken all together, it takes a bit of memorizing to get your way around between the plaza, the outside, and the correct elevator to get you where you want to go.

Electricity, aka ‘listrik’. The electricity is metered by a unit in the kitchen. There is a “key” with a microchip in it that provides prepaid credit for the electricity. The meter shows how much credit, in rupiah, is left on the key. To recharge my listrik, I have to remove the key and go down to a weird little office in the parking garage. This office tends to have strange hours and, correspondingly, sometimes long lines. Ramadan was especially frustrating because I thought I had gone early enough to still get in, but, no. It had closed at 2:30. Apparently there are people here who will go fetch ‘listrik’ for you – for a price. I haven’t quite resorted to that yet, but I dislike going to get listrik. I never know if the office will be open or how long the line will be. The garage is hot, and the elevator to the garage is scarily temperamental. I would hate to get stuck in it! Also, my key is touchy. A few days after recharging once, my electricity was off when I got back to my apartment. Apparently there is a trick to making sure the meter is reading the key after recharging. Too bad I didn’t know that before all my food went bad.

Thanksgiving. Jenni was having a really bad week out in the field, so I suggested that we go to the Four Seasons (her favorite) for dinner Thanksgiving night. The idea was met with ecstatic agreement. The security at the Four Seasons was the most rigorous I have seen at any hotel or office building here, at least comparable to the U.S. Embassy. They had a nice, if small, buffet with turkey, gravy, cranberry sauce, CORNBREAD stuffing (my favorite!), mashed potatoes, and vegetables. The yummy turkey, stuffing, and other fixin’s went nicely with a buttery Napa (read: American) chardonnay. It was a good chance to catch up on tales from the field and Deptan. Our Real Thanksgiving happened on the Saturday after the actual day. After all, the UN does not give us the day off to cook all those yummy foods that make the day special. We were invited to the lovely apartment of a young American couple the 3 FPFs had met. It turned out to be a very international party, with Canada and Israel also represented. I was tasked with making my family’s traditional cornbread stuffing and a cranberry pie that I like. Our hosts provided the turkey and a pumpkin pie. Jenni did the sweet potatoes, which were actually white, and Stacie did two “veggie” casseroles. [I say “veggie” because they contained vegetables but were far from healthy. Only yummy counts on Thanksgiving!] Chasing up stuff for cornbread was a chore, but eventually we found a mix. The stuffing was a bit dry but very satisfactory. Yea! My first time making it. J The pie crust got a bit dark in the oven, but the cranberry filling – made from dried, sweetened cranberries instead of fresh ones the recipe calls for – came out well. Many bottles of wine, lots of calories, and tons of good conversation later, we called it a very successful Thanksgiving.

Ciao! I'll get lots more beach photos to share...
E

Tidak Sama Thanksgiving

Ok, forget it. I just wasted far too much of my evening on a blog that vanished due to my damn sensitive mouse pad. I forgot to stick to the rule of writing in Word and pasting into here. I'll write about my Thanksgiving and trip to Bangkok - again - another time. Maybe this weekend. Sorry.

Hope everyone has a happy Thanksgiving!

Love, E

Kawah Ijen

Wow - I'm blogging again so soon! Guess the torrential rains are good for keeping me in and getting me to do this...

So, as I write, Flickr is uploading the next set of photos: my weekend trip to Kawah Ijen. Having lost a lot of blog work to a poor internet connection, I have decided to write my posts in Word and then copy into my blog page. [Rob – you indicated considering a similar strategy on your MySpace blog. Amen to that!] I guess ya gotta learn the hard way a few times before figuring it out. Seems like I’ve learned A LOT of these kinds of lessons here in Indonesia! LOL My next, as yet untried, trick for making life a little better here is to wash the towels in one load together, without any clothes. I don’t know if that will help at all, but it is worth a try. All of my clothes come out of the laundry absolutely covered in lint. My previous housekeeper loved to wash the mats and rugs, which contributed a huge amount of lint to the lint applicator machine, also known as the clothes washer. Right now I have a black patterned batik that I don’t know what to do with because it has such an incredible amount of lint, both inside and out… There’s an idea for a stocking stuffer – tape roller!

[Note: When I said to ‘buy Synbiotics’ I had been told that we would certainly be switching rapid influenza tests. Now I’m told that since the new test has almost the same sensitivity in local tests as the old one, and the original price quoted for Synbiotics was a one-time very low price – just to get us to try it, like the crack dealer on the corner – we will stick with our old Anigen tests. Do what you want with that info. My field officers all seemed to prefer the Synbiotics because it was faster and easier to read. I won’t make stock recommendations anymore…]

Now down to the real stuff. Two weeks ago I went on a weekend trip to Kawah Ijen (Ijen Crater) in East Java. My guide and companion, Jonathan, had been there several years ago and wanted to go again. He speaks perfect Indonesian, as well as some Javanese and I-don’t-know-what-else, and is an MD, so I figured it would be pretty safe for going off the beaten path. We took a cheap Asia Air flight out of Jakarta to Denpasar, Bali. Asia Air is the Southwest Airlines of Asia – cheap and no assigned seats. They are notorious for delayed and cancelled flights. True to form, our flight was about 2 hours late leaving Jakarta. We arrived uneventfully in Bali, picked up our stiff little Suzuki in Sanur, and then caught a quick dinner - yummy grilled fish at a lovely beachside restaurant - before heading up the west coast of Bali to the ferry.

It wasn’t a particularly exciting drive, and we really wanted to catch the ferry to East Java that night. No line for the ferry when we arrived at 1 or 2 in the morning. It was a strange port: all the expected lines for vehicles but there were maybe 5 docks and each dock was serviced by a different ferry company. I guess they would take turns being loaded with vehicles. It was a strange contrast to the uniformity of Washington State Ferries. Our Suzuki was one of 4 or 5 vehicles on the ferry when we loaded, and we thought that meant waiting until it filled. Fortunately for us and another vehicle of surfers jammed into a VW van, we didn’t wait long before setting sail in the moonlight. It was a beautiful crossing, lasting about an hour. The water was calm, the moonlight shone on the water, and I could see the hills and volcanoes on both Java and Bali. Lovely!

We rolled into Banuwangi at something like 3 am (Bali is 1 hour ahead of Java so we had crossed time zones twice in about 5 hours) and picked the second hotel we saw. As luck would have it, the owners of this small resort on the water in this industrial part of town had taken much pride in their place, and it showed! The AC mostly worked, everything was clean, the guy sprayed for mosquitos when we asked, and there was even hot water! Plus a decent breakfast of nasi goreng (fried rice) with remarkably good coffee. Yes, it was actually filtered. Hallelujah! All for about $15-20. That was a good find for a random hotel at 3am in a port town on East Java.

After our nasi putih breakfast, we piled back in the Suzuki and went off in search of the road to the crater. The map and directions we had turned out to be pretty good, and we drove up toward the clouds. As we went up, the vegetation became very lush. First it was clove and coffee plantations and then jungle. We stopped for photos at a particularly lovely spot, crowded with tree ferns and with gibbons going ‘whoop-whoop-whoop’ in the background. Very cool. We continued up to the trailhead, signed in, paid our fee, and headed up.

Molten sulfur pours out of vents in the crater, near the edge of the acid lake that covers most of the crater bottom. After the sulfur cools and hardens, it is collected by men who toil very hard in a highly toxic environment and then is carried down to the trailhead in baskets across the shoulders. We saw these guys coming down the trail all day. They weigh the loaded baskets near the top and can tell you pretty accurately how much they are carrying. Up to 80kg at a time was what we heard repeatedly. Hello! That is up to 176lbs! Crazy! No wonder the older ones had really rounded shoulders or calluses on them…

Anyway, up the trail we went, running into these porters constantly. They usually make 2 trips per day. If you take their photo, they will expect a few rupiah. But, hey, if I moved over 300lbs of sulfur in a day from a nasty, vapor-filled crater and made next to nothing to do it, I’d try for photo fees, too! As you get maybe 2/3 to ¾ of the way up, there is a weigh station where they weigh the baskets. They also sell sulfur that has been molded into silly shapes, in cake pans, while still hot. Beyond the weigh station there are fewer trees, and you can see the vapor among the clouds – it looks more like smoke and less like cloud. The trail climbs up along the backside of the crater until it emerges at the crater rim.

When I arrived, I was fortunate to catch an immediate glimpse of the turquoise blue lake below, partially revealed through the fumes coming up from the sulfur vents. I waited there for Jonathan and one of the porters who was keeping an eye on us. We crossed part of the rim trail and started our descent. The porter told us the story of a French (?) woman who died a few years before while going down. She fell from the trail and struck her head on a rock; our porter helped carry her body out. The cloud of nasty sulfur dioxide was capricious – here and gone, hiding the lake or, rarely, showing it. About halfway down the steep trail, I just couldn’t take any more of the noxious fumes. My eyes were tearing, my lungs were burning, and so much snot was running down my face that my bangs were getting caught up in it! Enough was enough, so I turned around to get away from it and hike the upper rim trail. Jonathan continued down. He said the fumes were more concentrated as they came out of the vents so you could mostly avoid them. Unless a gust of wind came to blow them on you. In which case maybe you would pass out. He stayed for HOURS, which amazes me. And the workers do it day after day, with a cigarette on their breaks. Yikes. They have installed pipes to direct the molten sulfur and maybe other nasty stuff that comes out from there. The sulfur is blood red (I’m guessing it is an oxide of some sort but will let someone else work out the chemistry!) when it comes out but quickly cools to a transparent yellow and, later, opaque yellow. It pools and, when cool enough, is broken into slabs which are carried down the mountain. Jonathan touched and tasted the acid lake. He even brought some of the water home in a water bottle. Me? I was happy to save my lungs from greater insult and get away with just photos.

Once back on the crater rim, I went alone along a trail going up toward the end opposite from the vents. It was a bit of a scramble at times, especially coming down off-trail, but it was amazingly beautiful. The valley we came from was visible in the distance, green and soft in contrast to the barren and somewhat stark angles of the crater. The light and shadows dancing along the crater walls and turquoise surface of the lake were mesmerizing. Truly beautiful. For my efforts, I had clean views and clean air. Who could ask for more? My eyes, spirit, and lungs definitely thanked me.

After tooling around on the upper rim trail for a good hour, I headed back to wait for Jonathan at the weigh station. And wait I did. While observing the changing clouds, I got to chat with the guys who work at the weigh station and a few other random local Indonesian tourists who came along. Although not really the helpless female, it was nice to be “looked after” by my new friends. One of them gave Jonathan an earful, when he finally came down, for making me wait so long! Lol. We got a bowl of mie goreng (fried noodles) and then headed back down just as the sun was setting. My silent walk through the forest at sunset was indeed renewing, and we got back to the Suzuki right as it was getting dark.

Our next stop was to get back to the north coast of Bali that night. The ferry was more full this time, but it was another lovely voyage. We headed out toward an area Jonathan remembered as being “touristy,” but it was taking a lot longer to get there than he had anticipated. I had been asking about eating dinner before most places were closed, as it was getting late. It finally took the trump card of “I-will-go-into-hypoglycemic-bitch-mode-soon” at 10pm to get his attention to the matter. Fortunately, I talked him out of the first homestay place we saw. The owners were sleeping on a mat on the floor, and the rooms were horribly grungy, they had hung up nasty towels, and there wasn’t even a sink in the traditional wet mandi bathroom. The sagging mattresses with – no kidding – grime and stuff smeared on the wall around them would have been too much for me. I would have hung up my hammock outside.

Instead, we continued on to randomly find a lovely little place, serving only vegetarian dishes, run by a young couple from Jakarta. They graciously made us nasi goreng and gado-gado, a dish of vegetables made with a peanut sauce. [I think I’ll have stickers printed for my Jeep and backpack that say, “Powered by nasi goreng!”] Then off to rest my tired self. The bathroom was the whole back courtyard of the room: a walled-in courtyard with a sink, a toilet, a showerhead, and a large tub/spa all up against the wall, with tile and loose, smooth rock flooring / landscaping. Ah, ha! Outside shower! But it just wasn’t as nice as the one at the beach house…

The next morning we decided to continue along the north coast, then cut across the middle of Bali to deliver me back to the airport in Denpasar. I really, really wanted a little time at the beach, so we parked along the beach and walked around in an area with some dive hotels. The sand was black. A cute little hotel was right there, so we had some cold juice, took a dip in their pool and then had lunch before leaving. I was dying for a salad, so I had a seafood salad with shrimp, squid, fish, and avocado. It was soooo good, and I didn’t get sick! Bali is about the only place I feel safe enough to have salads here, although Jenni and Stacie seem to do ok… But I digress.

We continued along the hot, dry north coast before turning south to cut across Bali’s middle. Things became much more lush as we climbed up and up. There were beautiful little villages and paddy fields all along the hillsides. The flowers and vegetation is so lovely! A small sign said ‘waterfall’ with an arrow, so we stopped. About that time a vigorous downpour started. I managed to keep my camera and Blackberry dry for the walk to the waterfall and back but couldn’t get much in the way of pictures. Amazingly, there was a bathroom at the bottom of the trail, with toilet paper! Ya gotta love that about Bali – they have toilet paper in so many places. We got back in the car and proceeded to drive up and over the top of the hills, passing by two popular lakes almost completely obscured by mist. We stopped for fuel at a town at one end of one of the lakes. That’s where I saw the pig truck. Balinese eat pork, unlike their Muslim friends on Java. These were adult pigs in round, cylindrical baskets, some stacked on each other, in the back of a pickup, presumably going to market. Poor piggies – they looked awfully confused and uncomfortable.

There was a brief stop at the Water Palace near Ubud, where a festival was being prepared for the next day. We caught a shred of the dress rehearsal for the festivities but then had to take off again. After stopping in Seminyak for Jonathan to check email, we continued on to Nusa Dua for another seafood dinner. It was right near where I had eaten in Jimbaran with Stacie & Jenni but wasn’t quite the same spot. Then on a flight – delayed by >1 hour – back to Jakarta. After unpacking and packing again, I got to bed far too close to the time I was to get up.

The next day I had to leave at 7am for a meeting in Anyer, Banten Province, Java. The resort hotel was quite nice; and, during the week it was very quiet. Anyer is about 2 hours from Jakarta and so a popular weekend destination. We had the hotel and beach to ourselves. I swam before our meetings both mornings. The water was calm and warm-ish and wonderful. When not running the AC, I could hear the ocean from my room. Unfortunately, there was no ocean view from the conference room. After 3 days of meetings, we took the bus back to Jakarta. The bus driver made a very poor choice in routes, and instead of the 2 hours it should have taken us to get back, it took 4. Two of those hours were just while stuck in Jakarta traffic. Although it was a chartered bus, it was becoming a 3^rd-world-bus-ride-from-hell. No bathroom and no one stops for breaks while stuck in Jakarta traffic. For the first two hours I obligingly sat next to a PDS/R officer who snored. My MP3 player is a saving grace, but even it couldn’t save me from the blaring of Indonesian comedy that started when we hit the Jakarta traffic. I really think I damaged my hearing between the blaring DVD and the shrieking hilarity of surrounding companions. I moved to the back where I didn’t lose further hearing but froze for 2 hours of AC overkill. To top it off, my Bucky neck pillow vanished in the chaos of unloading. Would have liked it for the flight back to Seattle… :(

So, it was back to Jakarta. I spent last week at PDS/R training in Bandung. Good chance to see some of my officers from Bandung and Bogor – some of whom I had met on my field visit previously. But staying alone in the hotel, eating boring Indonesian food, got old quickly. I had lunch a few times with our translators and joked around with the master trainers, but it wasn’t very exciting. Yes, I did get up and sing at the “cultural” evening. Yes, I was sober. Yes, it was terribly painful. No, I won’t do it again, if I can help it!

Ok, I am 4 photos away from being done uploading. Time to brush my teeth and head to bed. I had a couple hours of tango classes today, followed by the gym, so my dogs are tired. This weekend I am off to Bangkok to visit a friend from the Kili climb last year. Yea! A familiar face! Not Jakarta!

Take care all,

Love, E

short hiatus / Bali cont.

Hello, hello

Well, yes, I have not been on here in a while. It feels like sooo long ago that I was in lovely Bali! Right now I am sitting in a hotel room, on a wet night in Bandung. I am here to observe the PDS/R refresher training going on this week. Absent the companionship of my fellow FPFs, I brought lots of DVDs and reading material. The translators and I plan to go out tomorrow, maybe with the master trainers in tow. Lots of factory outlets here, but I'm hoping to find stuff suitable for Christmas shopping. Instead of being high up on the hill, as I was the only other time I stayed here, we are down in the main part of the city.

I thought I would take advantage of this time to catch up on photo uploads and on blogging. So much has happened in the past few weeks! I am trying to upload my Bali photos right now, but it looks like it could possibly take all night. I have become very familiar with the slow internet connection provided by my cellular modem. It has made life interesting and, frankly, frustrating. I was able to talk to my parents on Skype last night for the first time in weeks. I also gave a virtual lecture to Washington State University shortly after returning from Bali. As my internet connection would support neither WSU's virtual lecture system nor a call via Skype, they called me on my Blackberry. The phone on their end was hung up to the microphone with bandage stockinette. I guess given all our technology, some things just never change!

After my tango night in Seminyak, we spent the next day reclining on the beach. I was talked into making another trip to crowded Kuta for surfing, of all things. I am proud to say that, 12 years after I last tried surfing, I was able to get up on my rented long board on the first try. The water at Kuta was lovely, but there were tons of other surfers and swimmers to watch out for. I seem to be at an awkward stage in my surfing where I want to start catching waves at the break but am still on a long board, which is hard to get out that far. Not feeling in the mood for too much roughing up, I didn't spend a ton of time in the surf. We caught the famous sunset and then made our merry way to Jimbaran - home of beachside seafood. Just past the Four Seasons, there is a marketplace of fresh seafood restaurants, clearly identified from the vast plumes of smoke rising from the grills. You pick one, choose your seafood, and they throw it right on the grill for you, cooked over coconut husks. We opted for a kilo each of clams, 2 kilos of prawns, and 3 large crabs. Once chosen, we were escorted to a lovely, candlelit table down at the water's edge. A constellation of other candles on tables and villa lights in the distance, as well as stars above, makes for a magical scene. A cold beer and fresh grilled seafood, eaten within reach of the surf, must be one of life's best pleasures!

For our last day in Bali, we opted to check out Ubud, up in the hills. We were sidetracked at the Bali Orchid Garden. (Yes, that was my doing!) The garden was well laid-out and had some lovely orchids, although I was a bit disappointed in the variety of species. What made the stop more remarkable was the opportunity to try kopi luak, aka 'poop coffee.' The beans have been ingested and passed by civet cats - also the apparent reservoirs of SARS virus. The coffee is quite expensive - I bought grounds enough for one serving for $7. The three of us decided to share one brewed cup for about $4. I really liked it! To me, the kopi luak was very complex and rich, but not at all bitter. Also sampled some really interesting and good honey, as well as orchid massage oil. We were able to buy orchid seedlings in a bottle for Dale. Apparently the seedlings can be exported, as is, without a permit...

Next stop was the Elephant Cave. There is a lovely grove with a cave, sacred to the Balinese Hindus in the Ubud area. We walked around to see the cave, which isn't very deep but is said to be in a rock that looks like an elephant. Our next stop was the ever-popular Dirty Duck Cafe. It was very busy, but we had a lovely view of the rice paddies and grazing ducks while waiting for what turned out to be a really good meal. Only enough time remained for a little shopping. Lots more to see in Ubud and Bali in general.

It was a hard landing to come back to Jakarta after our delicious week in Bali. Lots more time at Deptan, although I now actually have my own desk. It's the simple things, really, that give me enough to keep going. I went to the pet fish market with Dale and bought two really funky-looking goldfish. They appear really bloated and bounce around like ping pong balls when they try to feed at the top. They lasted 2 weeks before, unfortunately, dying this past weekend. :( I'm sorry I didn't get photos before they were gone. It was nice to have something living to talk to in my apartment, even if they were stupid fish! If I try again to have fish, which is difficult with all my travel, I will wait until after Christmas...

So, that's the rest of my first trip to Bali. The weekend after I returned, I went to East Java to climb Ijen Crater with another friend. My next blog will be reveal all; spectacular photos available too - when I have hours to spend uploading!

Cheers,
Edie