Ubud, Bali

Upon arrival in Bali, Indonesia, we immediately went to Ubud, the island's cultural hub. A famous place, but not overrated in my opinion. One of our favorite things to do here has been to see local dances. The first night we saw a performance which included Pendet Dance, Topeng Tua, Legong Lasem and Barong Waksira.

End of the performance

Our favorite dance is the Kecak or "Monkey Dance." It involves around 40 men chanting and moving in unison, often around a fire. Here it is usually paired with a fire trance afterwards, in which an older man goes into a trance and then walks in the coals from a fire.

Indonesia is a Muslim country, but Bali is the sole island which is Hindu. Religion is at the center of Balinese life. Each traditional family compound has a temple and offerings are put throughout the home daily.

Example of an offering put throughout the home

There are offerings even in the middle of the supermarket

On special days, larger offerings are given at the community temple.

Passing through Bali, there are innumerable temples.

The food in Bali is simply delicious. A favorite is "mie goreng" or fried noodles. The Balinese classic is "nasi campur" which has rice in the middle with side dishes of meat and/or vegetables.

Vegetarian Nasi Campur

We have also had some delicious breakfasts of fresh fruit and banana "jaffle," which is sort of like grilled sandwich with banana in the middle.

Bahasa Indonesia is the national language in Indonesia and every Indonesian can speak it. Balinese is the language of Bali. We first learned how to say "thank you" in Bahasa Indonesian, which is "makasi." But now we have that found that saying the Balinese word, "suksumong," gets a much better reaction. It is consistently met with a smile of surprise.

We went on a bicycle tour one day, which involved many cool stops but only a couple hours of bicycling, nearly all of which was downhill. No complaints though, especially with the heat of the tropics.

Our first stop was breakfast overlooking the largest lake in Bali, Lake Batur, and an active volcano of the same name.

Lake Batur

Mount Batur, which last erupted in the '70's, in black is lava

Next stop was a coffee and tea plantation where we got to sample many different kinds of coffee and tea.

Delicious. And available for purchase, of course

We also had a stop where we learned about the lifecycle of rice.

Stopped for the standard rice terrace shot in Tegallalang, our guide's home village.

Somehow another tourist's peace sign snuck in this photo

The ride was beautiful

Many rice paddies

Stopped to play with a spider

Before the guide convinced me to "put your face for the facebook!"

Stopped for a duck crossing

 At the end of the tour, they dropped us off at Ubud's "Monkey Forest." Having been to a different monkey forest which was way overrated, I was hesitant. Once I saw the temple in the middle of it though, it was totally worth it. Plus the monkeys seemed to be living a relatively good life in this "sanctuary."

Beautiful and very important to the community

Our last activity before leaving Ubud was joining some couchsurfers to go to an annual Kite Festival in Sanur.

Saw the kites coming in, HUGE!

These kites were at least 50 feet or 18 meters long

Had a fantastic time in Ubud, but for now it's time to stay in another part of the island...

Tokyo, Japan

July 18-23 my mom and I had the pleasure of having an extended layover in Tokyo. There were many things that stuck out to us about Tokyo and the Japanese. One is the feeling of safety. For example, while at a food court in the center of town we noticed two women who left their purses unattended at their table while they went to go by their food. The Japanese are also incredibly polite, on the train we saw a man covering his mouth while talking on his cell phone very quietly.  Apparently it is against the rules to talk on your cell phone while on the train. If people are sick, they will wear a facemask to prevent the spread of illness.

Trying Japanese food was as expected--wonderful. I had few problems finding vegetarian food. On the first day, I had someone write down "I'm vegetarian, no meat or fish, thank you" and I would just show this whenever we were at a restaurant and it usually worked, with one exception.

Had many great sushi meals

Delicious lunch while couchsurfing. Yakisoba, salad and eggplant

There are many, many bicycles in the Tokyo area. Since there didn't seem to be many hills, most of the bikes had a single gear. They appeared to not usually be locked. We rarely saw helmets worn, and in the busy areas people rode on the sidewalks. Many bikes had one or two seats for children.


We spent our time couchsurfing with two different local families. The first family we stayed with was a young woman named Chie, her husband and two young daughters, ages six months and two and a half years.

Chie with her husband and older daughter

So welcoming!

While staying with them we had a wonderful lunch with a friend of Chie's and her 11 year old son, Yuta. He was very curious to talk to us and had some questions to ask us for a school project. The questions included: What were your first impressions of Japan?  What is inconvenient about Japan? What is your favorite thing about the US? What is your favorite anime?

In turn we asked Yuta a question: What is your impression of the US? He answered with no hesitation: "Guns."

Us with Yuta, his mom and sister, and Chie's younger daughter

We stayed there for three nights and then moved to our second family. Our hosts were Mick, her husband and two sons, aged 4 and 9. Mick was extremely well traveled and we enjoyed talking with her and her husband about Japan and the US.

Me with Mick and her family

Stayed in a traditional Japanese room at Mick's

Spent the daytime hours exploring. We had a lot of pictures on a camera, but it decided to mysteriously delete them so now we only have the ones taken from my mom's phone.

Bon Festival

Park

At 7-11 we found a Japanese coffee that looked suspiciously like Starbucks, but apparently has been around in Japan for significantly longer than Starbucks.

Very interesting

Five days in Tokyo was short, but intense (being the largest city in the world).


Next up: Bali, Indonesia, and a much slower pace

Inspiration

I invite you all to join me in a journey far away, to pristine beaches, to remote forests, into the homes of kind and wonderful people. I invite you to join me in the mystery of new cultures, unfamiliar rituals, and new relationships. I hope you will accompany me in discovering these new places, and learning about the people that call them home.

Before we depart on this journey so far away, I would like to tell you a bit about my inspiration for traveling, and this journey in particular. There is a certain family that has driven me in this direction, toward the Himalaya. They are Bhutanese refugees, ethnically Nepali, who I met a year and a half ago. I was chosen to be their Family Mentor, to help them integrate into American society. I hope that I have helped them in that goal. The relationship has ended up being a two-way street, with them teaching me much about Nepali culture, a bit of the language, and answering my many questions about their journey that brought them from Bhutan, to Nepal, to Tukwila, Washington.

With them in mind, I've found myself seeking out an opportunity, to spend nine months in a remote, ethnically Nepali village in northern India, at the border of Nepal, Sikkim, and West Bengal. I will be staying with a family, in a village with no electricity, plumbing, or roads.

I prefer a meadering path, so before I make it this small village outside of Darjeeling, I will spend two months wandering, wandering...

I invite you to join me.