Hey all. Here is an update from our time in Indonesia. We're in Singapore now where they have the internet but head to the Philippines tomorrow so we may be off the air for a bit. As always we will check back in just as soon as we can. Hope you all had a great Turkey day and we can't wait to see you all real soon. Love Sean and Tash.
As I type we are in a frigidly cold hotel room in Semenyak
Indonesia under a pile of blankets enjoying what a good family friend calls a
“Chris Brown Sunday.” (No, it’s not about domestic violence and bad tattoos)
Basically the goal is to lay around all day watching bad movies and eating
deliciously unhealthy food and it’s the perfect way for us to recharge after a
wild few weeks. So wherever you are, put on your comfiest clothes, throw on a
bad movie (anything from Brendan Frasier will do), dig out some turkey day
leftovers and come along with us through the power of the interweb on a trip to
Indonesia. Frist stop, Gili Trawangan. Gili T is a super laidback little drop
of sand and sun off the coast of Bali. To get there we booked transport from
Bali on a fast boat called the “Sea Marlin Cruiser.” We know this because the
man at the ticket office was very specific on this point. As he sat in his
office literally surrounded by posters for a different boat, he stayed firm.
“Isn’t it that boat?” Tash asks pointing to the posters. “no, Sea Marh-lin
Cruu-zer” producing a crinkled brochure with people rockin out, drinkin beers
on the deck of the Sea Marlin Cruiser, the dude even had a backstory about how
his friend works on the boat. Oky-Doky-smokey, so naturally transport the next
day drops us off in the harbor where we board a completely different boat named
the Marina Skarandi!?! Oh South East Asia, thank you for your Hilarious and
completely unnecessary lies. You are tremendous. Nautical fallacies aside we
arrived on Gili T in the early afternoon were greeted by 15 or 20 horse drawn
rickshaws called “Cimodos” as there is no motorized transport on any of the
Gili Islands. We passed on the transport, taking pity on the tiny horses
because it was super hot, and lugged our bags to our new hostel home a few
hundred yards off the beach. The place was great and featured individual bungalow’s
with fans and mosquito nets and a pool that would be essential in combatting
the midday heat. Gili T, unlike bali, is predominantly Muslim and the periodic
call for prayer that rang out as we sipped drinks poolside was a strange but
pleasant reminder of how far away from everything we really are. The next few
days featured lazy laps down the main drag, stopping at beachfront bars to sip
2 for 1 cocktails and stare at the sea. We rode bikes around the island one day
(individual rather than tandem this time) and then saw our first sea turtle
when we tool a dip to cool off. Each night brought dinner at the night market
(a southeast Asian institution) where a little money gets you a lot of food
along with a heaping helpin of local culture. The first night Tash had some fantastic
fish that you pick and they grill right in front of you, I went with 3 satay
sticks (think mini shishkebab’s) and generously salted and buttered sweet corn
on the cob that may end up being the best thing I eat on this whole trip. The
most exciting event from Gili T came on a walk home from the market one
evening. A group of drunken Bro’s were firing off real deal fireworks from the
beach in front of a bar, a security-ish guys saw this and events played out
thusly:
Drunken Bro: Wooo fireworks, yeah buddy woooooo
Security: Hey dumbass, you’re reining fire down on all those
wooden fishing boats which are ya know….wooden.
Drunken Bro: Sup Brah? (turning away from the water and
towards the club to talk with security)
With that a green firework shoots like a laser just over the
heads of the assembled beach bar crowd, over the dirt road and into a different
bar where a band was playing before…boom. Drunken bro then panics and drops the
roman candle firework shooting device and it pops off like three or four more
shots. Classic. Outside of this excitement our time in Gili T was filled with
days that seem to fly by while also being long and lazy in the way that only
beach days can. On the fourth morning we took a longboat across a small
straight to Gili Air which is a smaller more laid back version of already small
and laid back Gili T. After the horrible travel day ritual of schlepping our
bags, (big one on the back, small one on the front) down the main drag, through
a field with baby cows, we arrived at our hostel dripping in sweat. Our
bungalow was huge and had AC and a fan but confusingly no mosquito nets (maybe
the skeeters are too lazy to bite here). It was huge and clean and a bargain at
$26 a night. On Gili Air our days were built around leisurely laps around the
island (an easy 1.5 hr walk with a few stops), really good snorkeling off the
beach with $2.50 snorkel sets, snacking at beach bars and enjoying the
ubiquitous 2 for 1 happy hour specials (caiprakosa = vodka over ice with cane
sugar, lemon and lime..yum). For lunch we would retreat to the “village” in the
center of the island where cheap prices get cheaper and you get traveler street
cred from stinky dred locked hippies who think restaurants on the main drag
might as well be TGI Fridays. We heard (we heard = tash found after hours of
scouring the internet) about a place called Warang Muslim (warang means
restaurant) We sat at the only table, a picnic bench with the remnants of the
last customers meal strewn about and looked for a waitress. A minute later a
head popped out of the kitchen and asked “chicken?” Hmmmm so yeah I guess
chicken…. And after saying yes we sat in anxious confusion to see what would
come out of the kitchen. Fortunately what came out was a fantastic mix of spicy
shredded chicken, peanuts, rice, veggies, and some kind of powder that tasted
like bacon ($1.50 apiece).Unfortunately, and perhaps unsurprisingly, this meal led to our first
bout of GI distress which I will label the Indonesian sneeze (too much?).
This lasted for 2 days but could have been worse and didn’t really slow us down
all that much. The next day we booked an 8 hour snorkel tour for $8.50 apiece
where we got close to a bunch of big loggerhead sea turtles and worked on our
tans. One other highlight for me was playing a game of FIFA on a PS3 with a
Swedish bar owner that we ran into on one of our evening walks. I won with team
USA 1:0, but I’m not sure Tash would put this moment in her top ten. While were
doing lowlights we had some tremendously bad Italian where tash’s pizza crust
had the consistency of a ritz cracker and my pasta sauce was undoubtedly made
with maple syrup. These negatives are only notable because 99% of our time on
Gili Air was so awesome. This would be a place we would rush back to in the
future if it weren’t a million hours away. The island is cheap and the pace was
perfectly relaxed, there was enough to do so you didn’t feel bored but plenty
of ways to do absolutely nothing. The sun was hot and the drinks were cold and
most delicious while watching the sunset perched atop big plush pillows in a
raised bamboo beach hut. In short Gili air is exactly the kind of place that we
came looking for on this trip. After almost overdosing on lethargic comfort we
boarded a 4 day 3 night “cruise” to komodo Island and were reminded that with
every yin must come a yang. By this I mean that we were crammed in with 20
other people on a boat that was Gilligan Island-ish enough to make you
nervously plan your exit in case of emergency. To call the boat Spartan is an
insult to the Spartans. For example I’m almost certain the Spartans had chairs,
we did not, just pure hardwood baby…and I’m not sure you can call a closet with
a hole cut in the floor that drops into the sea a toilet. Also, by luck of the draw
we slept vertically while everyone else slept horizontally so each night was
spent contorting ourselves around dirty feet and snoring heads as the boat
rocked. Oh, and the boat was powered by at least 30 jackhammers. I never saw
them but I am certain that’s the only thing that could produce that level of
noise and vibration…but the paper thing gym mats we slept on were surprisingly
comfortable…I’m totally kidding they were brutal. (deep breath) Whew….So I say
all this stuff to get the negatives out of the way and because this is what
raced through my mind as the S.S. Soon2Sink left the harbor. On reflection this
may have been a crafty Indonesian tour boat strategy…I.E. lead with your
absolute worst impression so that there is nowhere to go but up. Whatever it
was it worked because these four days turned into the highlight of our trip
thus far. Part of it was the awesome scenery, our route was littered with
islands featuring untouched beaches, jungle covered hillsides, jagged cliffs rising
from the sea and sporadic fisherman going about their work. Part of it was all
the animals…eagles and dolphins and komodo’s Oh my! Some was all the super fun
activities like tons of snorkeling, a montain-ish hike with great views, night
swimming with tiny iridescent algae that would glow with every movement (when
you tread water it was like your feet were dancing in fire), a trip to a
waterfall, and of course the Komodo treks. But the thing that made this trip so
special was the people we went with (I can’t see the keyboard through my tears)
seriously though it was an outstanding group and it wouldn’t have been the same
without them. We had 4 British guys on holiday who felt like old friends.
Apparently the “special relationship” between America and England includes a
deep appreciation of bathroom humor. Seriously I could do an entire blog on
poop jokes from the boat…but I’ll spare you cause my mom reads this….Ok maybe
just one. Though I can’t name names one of the boys released a “non-indigenous
brownfish” after misjudging the tide while the boat was docked and it swam
right up next to all of us as we waited to get off and hike. We laughed about
it for days.If you could strap a camera
to these boys and bleep out the curse words you’d have a hit show for sure.
There were three from the Netherlands where the number one export is apparently
awesome English skills followed closely by sick dance moves that were on
display once we hit the club back on land. We had a perpetual traveler from
England who’s fantastic personality almost overcame his looks…almost, lastly
there was the unofficial mayor of our trip, a Canadian who spoke 6 languages,
was super friendly, and was able to translate for all the different groups. All and all a great
crew. We had an awesome four days that were capped by 2 treks where we saw a
bunch of Komodo's. It was wild because they go through this whole speech about
how the dragons just lay in wait, ambush style and that the prey never sees them
coming and then you set off on the hike, nervously starring at every bush and trying
to stay as close to the ranger (who has a big komodo smackin stick) as you can.
The dragons themselves are spooky with coal black eyes and forked snake tongue’s.
They seemed lazy and we got real close to them but its always in the back of
your mind that it could spring to life and take a chunk out of you. The biggest
one we saw was easily 8 or 9 feet from teeth to tail. The rangers made it clear
that you would need powerful antibiotics to survive a bite….and then they made
it clear that they did not have these antibiotics…who needs em? Way to not
overthink things south east Asia. When we docked on the 4th night
you had the option of staying on the boat for one last night in the harbor but
everyone opted for a real bed, a shower and some A.C. Our hostel was sweet and
the shower was one of the best iv’e taken in a while, plus the place had three
puppies for me to play with. We went out as a group and saw a ridiculous sunset
from a rooftop bar (best of the trip by a mile). Dinner was delicious Italian
at a place where the chef added a lot of extra a’s to his words. “Do you like-a
de spaah-ghetti?” It was fantastic. The next day brought a flight back to bali
and a few days to rest, recharge and think about our time in Indonesia. We met
up with the British boys for drinks on the beach one night, but otherwise we
took it slow, caught up on walking dead reruns, tried not to go too much
further over budget and prepped for our next adventure.
Bintang is the best/cheapest beer in indonesia
Tash and I at a low table
I work out
Refrigerate fish?!? Whatchu talkin about Willis?
Same for meat.
The fruit market
Rice Paddies
"Auntie Pusba" from our cooking class
Monkey and baby in monkey forrest
"I'm Not Scared"
Baby monkey in the monkey temple
Is this not a statue of me? Check out the power Brows
What R U lookin at Pig?
The "love shack"
Same
Coat rack in the love shack
Me and tish after conquering a volcano
Sunrise on a volcano
LIZZARDS!
Me with the mosquito net in our first room
The whole boat trip crew snorking
The "toilet" on the boat
A puppy I found - Dogs on bolgs
Finished product from the cooking class
Another monkey from the temple
The BBQ at the sweet rib joint
me getting my hair cut
sattay sticks at the night market
Fish at the market
that's one way to keep the BBQ goin
tish snorklin'
baby turtles
Me before the first haircut of the trip
Tash at the cooking class
a soup we made
P. Chicchis Kitten corner
Me with a kitten
A fish I caught
Tash's dinner on the BBQ at the night market
King of all cats
Sleepy cat- P. Chicchi's cat corner
"Meow what are you lookin at?" P. Chicci's cat corner
Flowers at the market for the hindu daily offering
Ganesh at our hostel
More hindu statues- they were everywhere
Fish I the pond outside of our massage place
Snorkeling off the beach in Gili Air
Now with tish
A horse drawn Rickshaw
A Manhattan at the rib joint
Do you think tash likes the ribs?
The most flattering picture I could find of our friend "fred" from the boat.
Two Dutch dancers
More dutch dance action
Watch the hands Gary
Beautiful Sunset post boat trip
Now with tish
And me
It just kept going
And going
A sting ray we found snorkeling
Me and tish lookin good
random beauty from the boat trip
don't worry this one wasn't real
me and tish
more random beauty
playing "spoons" a super fun and super competitive game. We'll play soon
a dragon on the move
me with a dragon, I'm the one in front
A parrot fish we found snorkling
me and this with a dragon
a big ole' dragon
me and tish again.
two dragons
sleepy dragon
me and the boat crew on top of a mountain
we were pretty far up
then we found nemo
our boat friends
Nocturnal oceanic submersion
that tippy top part is where we slept
the map of our tour
Tish with a cat friend
me and tish at sunset
now with drinks
a big ole' spider. Maybe that's why there were no mosquitos
a bar pool we found
baby turtles
livin the good life
I like ICE CREAM
Island Boats
A sea turtle
Same
Me and tish at dinner
Me beating a Swede at his own game
A totally original product
the secret to sleeping on a boat
Me in a waterfall on the boat trip
Who doesn't want to hear some good old "rock and Loll?" Maybe they will play my favorite "Jimmy Sundrix" song.
Me and 2 of the British boys
Some crouching tiger action on a mountain
Me swimming with a sea turtle
now some baby turts
getting robbed at the monkey temple
the view from the sunset bar
now from a mountain
now some Komodo action
same
same
the view from the volcano
Well that's all for now folks, hope you all had a great Turkey day and we'll see you all real soon. Love Tash and Sean
yo Deiters-
ReplyDeletekeep up the madden approved weirdness.
Merry Christmas
b