Bali Rules!

Okey doke.  So, getting to Bali was a smidge harder than anticipated. We walked to the monorail to the bus to the airport. Phew. Then we waited in line for over an hour to check in.  Why? Because everyone in Malaysia flys with a giant cardboard box with crap taped to the sides, or three. That they haven't paid for. Then, totally relieved that we were done with the experience, we got on the plane and took off. 45 minutes later the captain came on and told us that due to 'an issue with the plane' we were headed back.  Now, it's only a 3 hour flight and we were almost an hour in... which leads me to believe it was probably a doozy of an issue... Anyway, a two hour extra delay later and we got in to Bali at midnight!  Woo.  Then we had to wait in the line to buy a visa, and then a separate line to get them validated. Random.  At the end of this trip I will have some serious words for immigration proceedures, too bad no one cares.

Crazy journey aside, we were picked up by a lovely dude named Madae who ended up being our driver on and off the next few days.  Other than the fact that he tried to give us a tour of Bali at 2 am he's great. We spent a good 8 or 9 hours after that sleeping and spent the next day and a half just chilling out in Ubud.  Ubud, great place to chill out.  A little overfull of middle aged women hoping to be healed like in Eat Pray Love... but otherwise, great.  Bali just has an amazing chilled out feeling, it smells good, there are gorgeous statues everywhere covered in moss, people are friendly.  Generally great. 

Our second night we went to a Kecak dance.  Instead of having a gamelan (Balinese xylaphone-y music) they use a chorus of men in a trancelike state.  The name comes from the noise they primarily make.  It's awesome.  We hardly cared about the dancing, the singing was just soooo cool. That day we also checked out a Balinese spa where for about 17 dollars each we had 1 hour massages over looking a rice paddy followed by tumeric body scrubs and yogurt masks, ending with an exotic flower bath. Life was not bad that day.

The next day we hired Madae to drive us around for a couple of hours through the rice fields and to some temples.  It was gorgeous.   Then we headed back to town because we heard the reason that Ubud is pretty crowded is because it's an auspicious time for cremations (which only happens every few years). People will save up money and do it as a villiage because it involves building these big like papermache/wood/fabric sculptures of cows to do it in and you need offerings and other crazy stuff.  So we heard there was a royal one in town and we wanted to go.  We were told it started at 12... it didn't start until 2... so we got a significant amount of sun.  However, it was really interesting. There was a huge cow (carried by about 20 guys) and then a huge tower (which carries the body), I would say about 25 feet tall.  They process to a cemetary about a km away with bands and yelling and excitement.  Then the cut the top off the cow, took the casket from the tower, then OPENED IT, two dudes hiked up their sarongs climbed in and pulled the body out... I think this is different because this prince just died, I imagine it's different with an older body... but WOAH. Unexpected.  Then they pack it in the cow with offerings from the women of the family.  This was all really interesting, and then they got ready to set it on fire. We were like, oh, a little fire.  Then they started using what was effectively a flame thrower!  That thing went down in about 30 seconds, then all the tourists run before they catch on fire/get covered in dude ashes.

All in all, a really interesting experience.  Then we walked across the street and got burritos for lunch :)

The following day we went to the craft villiages (there are a bunch of villiages south of Ubud that each specialize in something different, wood, gold, silver, stone, etc.) After a talk with our driver about not stopping at the lame factories. We finally went to a reasonably cool wood sculpture place where we bargined a decent deal on one (we even rebargined a smidge when he agreed too readily). We were feeling like our price was a bit high when a tourist walked by proud of his UNBELIEVEABLE price, it was so bad, he was paying over $50 for two tiiiiny buddhas (make note, don't buy a buddha statue in Bali, they are hindu, it's just for tourists).  Then we felt better.

After we went to find a maskmaker that Ariella said was cool.  He was so cool!  He puts on all the masks and acts them out.  We had a great time there and bought a couple.

Later... we braved the Monkey Forest.... We were a little bit nervous about the monkeys (because wild animals get nutty) but we heard it was cool.  There were a TON OF MONKEYS. Also, although they were quick to jump on people (if you make eye contact) or if you have food (they can totally tell) otherwise they left us alone. Until we saw the people I'm gonna call... "the idiots". The idiots brought a stuffed tiger on a string.. I can only assume to taunt wild animals with.  They proceeded to toss it to a monkey, who played with it for a minute, then hugged it and tried to leave.  At which point a tugging battle began with the guy holding the string.  The monkey won, and the string broke.  When the monkey tried to run off, the girl ran after it and tried to grab it.  At which point the monkey went a little crazy, bared it's teeth and hissed (duh.) SHE GRABBED IT ANYWAY. AND THE MONKEY BIT HER.  Again. Duh.

Our last night in Ubud we went to another dance show, it was supposed to be at Ubud place but was 'moved across the street' because of rain. They were setting up for something there, but it was not the show, we eventually realized and followed some people up the street.  It was like a km away, uphill in an unfinished temple? Yeah, we made it with like 3 minutes to spare.  The dance was fun though.

Now we're at the Bali Hyatt, and while there is little culture... there is lots of free food!  The hotel is gorgeous and being club level is so fun. We get amazing breakfast and happy hour from 5-7 when we eat enough amazing food that it's usually dinner. Also we told them it's our honeymoon (not technically a lie) so when we checked in they brought us a 'happy honeymoon' cake and took a picture of us in the lobby which they framed for us.  It is adorable. We're really enjoying the end of our Asian adventure (after this its a day and a half in Bangkok then on to Jerusalem!) and can't wait to see my parents soon.

Also, a huuuuge congratulations to my sister for finishing her PhD today!  Way to go Dr. Tuttle.

A Weekend in Kuala Lumpur (written by Mike)

Last Friday we flew from Siem Reap to Kuala Lumpur, or KL as it’s commonly known. KL was, for us, a bit of a whim. A number of the people we’ve met traveling had been through KL – along with Singapore, it’s on the same peninsula as Thailand, making it easy to travel straight up from Singapore to KL into Thailand.

Once we had decided to go to Bali, KL was a no-brainer, as we were going to fly Air Asia, whose hub is in KL. Since we had to fly through there any way, we decided to spend a few days. We’d heard that the food was great, and were excited to see the Petronas Towers – at one point the tallest buildings in the world, I believe. If you’ve seen the movie Entrapment with Sean Connery and Catherine Zeta-Jones, you’d recognize the towers from the climactic scene towards the end.

KL wasn’t quite the city we were expecting (somehow we thought it would feel cleaner and crisper…a bit like Singapore is supposed to be), but it was a really interesting place to visit. KL, for those who don’t know, is the capital of Malaysia – the first Muslim nation that either of us has ever been to. It was fascinating to see the various traditional garbs that women use to cover up, encounter gorgeous mosques, and hear the muezzin’s call for prayer at 4:30pm every day. More than any city we’ve been to in Asia, KL seemed to be a seamless melting pot of Southeast Asian, Chinese, Indian, Muslim, and western cultures (even though I think Malaysia has its social tensions like any other country). In addition to the mosques and other signs of Islam, there is a Little India and a Chinatown…and tons and tons of malls (another thing KL is known for).

We spent more time than we were expecting to at one of the larger malls, Berjaya Times Square. After all, how many malls do you know that have both a movie theater (we saw Eclipse), a food court (I ate seafood laksa), and a giant roller coaster (we didn’t ride it…). This was also the place where we bought our new camera after I unceremoniously dropped the old one on the ground, with the lens open, at the KL Bird Park (which was beautiful, but you’ll just have to take my word for it. Just kidding…we took a number of pictures before the camera’s demise!).

We also got some good touring in, walking to the Petronas towers and exploring the nearby park; going to the top of the KL Tower for a 360 view of the city; checking out Chinatown (pretty lame actually, though I did have some delicious fried noodles); wandering through a really cool street market in Little India (where we saw, and ate, numerous foods that we had never heard of and could not identify); riding the monorail; and visiting Merdeka Square, where Malaysian independence was declared from the UK in the 1950s.

And finally, on the last night, we encountered a giant World Cup street party, as the Spain-Netherlands final was that evening at 2:30am. We opted not to stay out for it, though we did inadvertently follow much of the game by the sounds of the crowds outside our window, and then listened to the second half on ESPN radio. When the cheering finally died down around 5:30am (turns out there are a lot of Spain fans in KL) we grabbed a couple of hours of sleep and tried to prepare ourselves for the relaxation to come in Bali…

Angkor Wat What?!

Ok, let’s just get it out of the way. The Angkor Temple complex is the coolest thing ever. I mean, I was literally speechless when we got to the Bayon Temple (the one with the faces!) Actually, that’s a lie. I just stood there going, “I’m awestruck” until Mike was like, “I get it, now stand in front of one so I can take a picture.”

Going back a bit, we got in to Siem Reap in the mid-afternoon, checked into a rocking hotel (because $25 makes you live like a king) then headed down to town for some Mexican food (that’s right, I said Mexican. Apparently because a lot of Cambodians ended up in Long Beach during/after the Khmer Rouge, and many of them have come back home, they brought back their Californian Mexican kitchen goodness) Anyway, while we were there, this dude comes out of nowhere and goes, “Hey, is your name Mike” (at which point I’m like, where’s your wallet…) but no, it’s our friend Carri’s brother Alex! We knew Alex would be in Cambodia, but neither Stacey (Mike’s sister) or Carri (Alex’s sister and one of Stacey’s best friends) got us the info to get in touch. Thankfully Alex facebook stalked us and found us on the street! It was one a few times we got to run into him and spend a little time, always fun to see a friendly face.

Now, to the good stuff. We engaged the guy who picked us up from the bus for our hotel to be our Angkor driver for 3 days. Little did we know this pretty much made him our personal chariot (it helps that tuk-tuks in Cambodia are like little old timey surreys with cushioned benches). I’m not going to do a crazy long post about our time there but I will give highlights.


Day 1: We started at the Bayon temple. It has 37 pillars with faces pointing the cardinal directions. It is beyond awesome. We also saw a ton of other smaller temples that day, and went to get one more in before lunch (I forget what it is called but it is gorgeous, a former monastery with trees growing out of the ruins) but it started to raaaain. And we thought we would wait… but no, it rained harder… eventually we ran for it, we had one umbrella and I let Mike use it to protect our stuff, but man was I wet. And I thought we were done for the day, but no, Angkor Wat after lunch! Ha. Angkor Wat, while I’m sure diminished by the fact that I squished when I walked, was pretty cool.


Day 2: Sunrise at Angkor Wat! Gorgeous. Then our chariot took us back home for breakfast and a quick nap. Back on the road we did a bunch of lesser temples, which were waaay less touristy, and lots of fun. I should rephrase, it actually wasn’t bad even at the famous ones. You could always get a picture and find a private place, but at the other ones you might be the only ones there, and that is always a fun time to climb on awesome ruins. We took a late lunch in town during which we ran into Alex AND our friend Federico (yay slow boat!), then rested a bit before our chariot picked us up for sunset viewing.


Now sunset viewing at Angkor is a funny thing… because none of the temples are really in a good place for it. So they tell everyone to go to one that looks over a nice piece of jungle, and you can take pictures up there that have Angkor Wat-esque pillars in them. In any event our guide dropped us off about 2 hours early… it was a long wait, but pretty all the same.


Day 3: Phew! Are you tired? We were…but it was still awesome. We were really glad we took three days to do it, we got to see so much. Here’s a funny thing to picture. At all the temples there are spots where the tuk-tuks and tour buses have to park. Behind them are always little shacks with restaurants/trinkets, etc., because no one eeever walks back there the minute a tuk-tuk pulls up about 10 girls/women all ruuuun up and start screaming for you to buy their fruit/scarf/water COOOOLD water ,etc. It is nuts. The less touristy the temple you are at, the more crazy the ladies because fewer people come during the day. The best? Sometimes they ask you name, and if you tell them (and they will tell you theirs) walking in to a temple sounds like this..” Ok, Bebbie?! I will remember you, remember me, call me Susan! You need cold water after you come to me Bebbie… I remember, you come to meeeeeee” Day 3 we went out to Roulos group, an older set to temples to the south, as well as a couple of really interesting but far out ones. It was a nice round up to our experience.


End thoughts? The temples are gorgeous, particularly the ones in the Bayon period/style. Some of the carving is insane, and the complexes are amazing. It does sadden you to think a little about the nature of man, the temples were alternately built by hindu or Buddhist kings and each one would raid the old temples, knock down the deity statues they didn’t like, carve over buddhas, etc. Also sad because all of these temples used to be so much more, and have been raided repeatedly for statues, gold leaf, whatever, particularly during Cambodia’s colonial period and the Khmer Rouge. Still the temples were fantastic and we really loved Siem Reap in general. It was a great 3 days.

Cambodia, Part One (written by Mike)

Well, we’ve fallen a bit behind on the blog. So even though we’re in Bali right now, we’ll use this post and the next to cover Cambodia and the following to cover Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia). Then we'll catch you up on Bali!

We arrived in Cambodia on my birthday. After a six-hour bus ride from Saigon, and a border crossing that was mayhem on the Vietnam side (there are no lines – people just go right up to the immigration officials’ desks and try to put their passports at the top of the stack) and easy-as-pie on the Cambodia side, we pulled into Phnom Penh. Like Saigon, we had been told that Phnom Penh is a seedy dump. And no doubt, the “backpacker ghetto” probably is. But we stayed along the Mekong riverfront, which was actually quite beautiful. After more than three weeks in Vietnam, which is fairly devoid of religion, it was great to once again see elaborately decorated wats (temples) and monks in those bright orange robes walking down the street. My only complaint about Phnom Penh was that the riverside was chock full of tuk-tuk (motorbike taxi) drivers, so about every two steps we were asked if we wanted a tuk-tuk. Even though you get this to a certain extent everywhere in Southeast Asia, it was particularly intense in Cambodia.

We spent most of the first day wandering the riverfront. For lunch I had a fish amok, one of the Cambodian specialties – sort of a steamed fish in a clay dish (or, often, in banana leaves) with lemongrass, curry, and other Cambodian spices. Delicious! Though I do have to admit, the culinary highlight of the day was the cheeseburger at the California 2 Guesthouse where we were staying. Hands down the best burger we’ve had since New Zealand. Along with a large Angkor beer and a World Cup match, it was the perfect way to celebrate my birthday.

The following day we hired a tuk-tuk driver and did an obligatory trip to the Choeung Ek killing fields, where tens of thousands of people were brutally murdered by the Khmer Rouge regime during a 3.5-year period in the 1970s (we went to only one of the thousands of killing fields that existed). I was a bit resistant to go at first, but as Debbie noted, it’s sort of like going to Poland and not seeing a concentration camp. It’s not the most pleasant way to spend an afternoon, but the discomfort is part of how you pay your respects.

Two things struck me at the killing fields. The first is that the Khmer Rouge were, for some reason, very keen on hiding their massive killing spree from the public. Of course, many of their former leaders have spent the years since denying that this even took place at all, so perhaps it was to guard against future indictment. But it strikes me that if you’re going to employ murder on such a grand scale, no matter what you do it’s going to be hard to hide. I would also have thought that the fear that such killing could engender would be a powerful tool for the regime. But they went to some pretty gruesome lengths to keep it quiet, choosing a site near a remote town – and not using guns to do any of the killing, as they would be too loud. Instead (and pardon the graphic nature) they beat people to death with hoes. And in the case of babies, they swung them against a tree until their skulls cracked.

Another thing that struck me was to learn that the U.S. bombing of Cambodia played a major role in leading to the rise of the Khmer Rouge, as rural Cambodians were angry that the Cambodian president had given the U.S. permission to decimate the countryside in an attempt to flush out the Viet Cong. So the Khmer Rouge grew up around this rural power base, and when they entered Phnom Penh in 1975, they were originally welcomed as saviors. That probably lasted less than one day, until they ordered all the people out of Phnom Penh so they could begin their program of deurbanization of the country.

After the killing fields we went to the Tuol Sleng prison, a former high school, where most political prisoners under the Khmer Rouge were held and tortured before being brought to the killing fields. Here we learned that the surviving leaders of the Khmer Rouge are only now being brought to justice for their crimes. It surprised me that Cambodia, which isn’t the most politically progressive country, would actually care about redressing past injustices. I guess it’s a pretty big stain on the national conscience though, and even regressive governments can recognize the need for justice and expiation. Finally, I was even more surprised to learn that because Vietnam invaded Cambodia and set up a government to replace the Khmer Rouge (in 1979), the U.N. refused to recognize the government and continued to seat a Khmer Rouge delegate until well into the 1990s!

One more cheeseburger at the California 2 and Rafael Nadal’s Wimbeldon victory later (we’ve gotten pretty into watching tennis!), we were off to bed and then on to Siem Reap in the morning.

Phnom Penh waterfront

Don't worry, we're totally fine

We've just had a bad blogging moment. Sorry!  Busy week and a half with Cambodia (only 6 days and 3 of them at the Ankor temples) then three days in Kuala Lumpur which including a camera death...and seeing Twilight Saga: Eclipse! (so we're not totally culturally off the map) and now we are in Bali... which is amazing... but with spotty internet access.  So from this cafe I tell you, feel not unloved.  We're cooking up some amazing backposts for you and when we get online in the next day or two...geez, you'll be overwhelmed.

Mike's Birthday Present to America

You may have noticed that there were no pictures of Mike on the last blog post. That's because he wanted to wait a few days to reveal his new look. Happy Fourth of July, everyone!

Just kidding! Here's his actual new look:

Okay, okay...that's not it either. Here you go:

 No, no, no...I would never let him walk around like that. So, drumroll please...here is the new, the improved, the 17-year-old-reminiscent version of Mike Berkowitz:

 

Yes, that's my husband...a man of extremes. Back to real blogging in the next few days...but for now, those of you who were worried about the beard can sleep soundly!

Goodnight Saigon: Vietnam Wrap-Up

It's hard to believe it, but we're wrapping up more than three weeks in Vietnam tomorrow! It's been a really interesting place to visit. Debbie keeps saying she's glad we came here, and I keep saying that I don't regret it. I'm sure after we leave I'll come around to being glad!

Today was a perfect way to end our Vietnam trip. We spent the day in Saigon (official name Ho Chi Minh City, but no one calls it that...except officials) doing the Lonely Planet walking tour, which took us by some beautiful French colonial architecture (which it turns out we're big fans of...one of the reasons we loved Luang Prabang so much); fantastic food spots (Pho 2000, where Bill Clinton ate when we visited Vietnam in 2000...there are lots of pictures of him on the wall; Fanny, a delicious ice cream parlor where Debbie had ice cream shaped like sushi; and a Vietnamese restaurant where we had fresh spring rolls, chicken thigh with sticky rice, and sauteed spinach with garlic); and three museums: the Ho Chi Minh City Museum (okay), the Reunification Palace (a real highlight...North Vietnamese tanks busted through the gates here and arrested the South Vietnamese President in 1975 to finally end the Vietnam War), and the War Remnants Museum (which reminds you all over again that the war was a morally questionable catastrophe). We finished off the day on the rooftop bar of the Saigon Sheraton, which had an amazing view of the city...and ridiculously expensive drinks. Seriously, will we ever get used to paying more than $2 for a drink again?

Part of what made today so wonderful is that it gave us a bit of what we'd been missing the last two weeks -- namely, historical context. Don't get me wrong: hanging out at beautiful beaches and in the mountains has been really fun, and a good pace for this part of our journey. But in a country with such a complex recent history, we'd felt the absence of museums & what not in the places we'd visited. But somehow each country we've been to manages to find a way to round things off in the end, and Vietnam was no exception.

A couple of funny observations about Vietnam:

1. There are certain things you can find anywhere in the world. So far these include Oreos, Pringles and Mentos.

2. Laughing Cow Cheese is THE dominant cheese in Vietnam. It is everywhere. And if you are getting a 'cheese' something...9 out of 10 times, it's Laughing Cow.

3. You think that squat toilets are crazy, but then you see people from Southeast Asia squat. They do it all the time, in the city, on the side of the road, wherevs, not to go to the bathroom, just to hang out, like where an American would sit on the ground, or stand with their hands on their hips, they squat, and it's an amazing almost on the ground elbows in their hip joints thing.

4. What Debbie likes to call 'The Asian male half-up'. When men in Asia (excepting Japan) get hot (and lets face it, it's almost always hot) they tuck their shirt up right under their breast bone, like it's cool to run around in a half shirt. Women are expected to stay covered. Jerks. (ed: Debbie wrote that).

One more observation before we list our Vietnam roses & thorns: we think people's perspective on Hanoi and Saigon is totally determined by which city they visit first. Everyone we've met has hated one or the other city, and we think that's because no matter where you're coming from, Vietnam is going to feel jarring and overwhelming when you first arrive (epitomized by the motorbikes). But like most things, you get used to it after awhile. So at first we had a rough go in Hanoi, but even by the time we returned to Hanoi from Halong Bay we were able to enjoy it. And Saigon turned out to be quite a nice city (it helps that we had beautiful weather today even though there was a 75-90% chance of rain between 7am and 7pm!), despite warnings to the contrary.

Without further adieu, our roses & thorns VC edition:

Roses:

Uncle Ho's preserved body

The Vietnamese love of fresh herbs

Reunification Palace

Halong Bay

Mui Ne sunrise (at the white sand dunes) and sand slides!

Hue imperial palace

Louisiane beach resort in Nha Trang

Nha Trang lobster lady

KOTO restaurant in Hanoi (good food & good cause!)

Vietnamese iced coffee (very strong and sweetened with condensed milk...delicious!)

Hanoi Elegance Hotel

Pho, fresh spring rolls

Hoi An old city (& lanterns)

Tailored clothes!

Thorns:

Halong Bay tour

Trying to walk in the Hanoi Old Quarter

Ghetto train ride from Hue to Danang

Cat Ba Island (and the unsafe elements of the Cat Ba hike of doom)

Giant cockroaches at our hotel in Hoi An

Grabby vendors & touts

foreigner prices/treatment (how come the bus drops you at home and me at a resort 5 km out of town?)

Motorbikes on the sidewalk (can't a guy stop to scratch his leg without worrying for his life?!)

And now... some pictures!