Korea and Japan

A change of plans

From Indonesia we flew to Kuala Lumpur to plan and organize the final portion of our travels. It was nice to return to the same hotel and favorite restaurants that we had frequented during our October visit to Kuala Lumpur. We had decided to head to China before returning to Europe and on the following day went to the Chinese consulate to apply for our visas. Unfortunately, when we arrived we discovered that it was a national holiday (Wesak Day – a celebration of Buddha’s birthday, enlightenment, and death) and the consulate was closed. This meant that we would have to pay more for the visas in order to get them in 2 days or pay the regular fee and wait until the following Monday to pick them up which meant longer in Kuala Lumpur than we really wanted to spend. This logistical glitch led to some reconsidering and investigating of alternatives on the internet and by the end of the day we’d decided to go to Japan, as we’d originally planned before the March 11^th earthquake and tsunami, instead of China. That evening we stumbled upon a huge Wesak parade over in the Chinatown area of town.

Preparations

We spent the next 2 days ironing out the details and buying flight tickets. On Friday we flew to Seoul, Korea and were met at the airport by our wonderful Servas host. “Wait a minute,” you say, “Korea? I thought you were going to Japan!” Yes well, we had managed to find a great guy who has started a business leading bike tours in Japan who was willing to rent us bikes starting in southern Japan (Kyushu) and ending further north in Kyoto. His business is called Japan Biking and you can find him on internet. Given that travel within Japan is pricey and we would be starting in the far south, we decided to fly to Korea and take a ferry over to southern Japan. This plan also allowed us to get a taste of Korea, which turned out to be quite an added bonus.

Seoul

We spent 3 days with our wonderful Seoul hosts and they gave us an amazing introduction to Korean culture, history and food. The food was delicious and there were many vegetarian options. We visited the demilitarized zone/border with North Korea, which was powerful and sad. We drank rice wine and sang karaoke. We went for a walk together with other Servas hosts and had some great views of Seoul. We visited the Imperial Palace, historical houses, a sanitation museum (history of toilets), temples and parks. It was a shame we didn’t have time to visit any of the museums and we left Seoul knowing there was much more to see and do. Thank you Yong Hwan and Young Hee!!

Exploring Gyeong ju and the ferry to Japan

We traveled by bus to Gyeong ju (luckily realizing that we’d bought a ticket to a different destination that had a similar spelling in time to fix the error and get on the correct bus). This was an extremely comfortable bus with big leather seats and lots of space. At first we thought we’d accidentally bought 1^st class tickets but it was in fact the “cheap” bus. We arrived in Gyeong ju around 1:00 which meant there was still time for some sight seeing. We left our bags at the lockers in the bus station, and visited the tourist information booth where the young women inside provided us with an information packed tourist map in English and gave us some advice about where to go first. So we hopped on the local bus and headed out to the Bulguksa temple which is a World Heritage site. Unfortunately the bus had a minor accident (we didn’t even notice until we were standing still for several minutes and then a police man arrived). We waited a while and then finally another bus came along and we could change buses as our driver was still dealing with the police. The temple had many beautiful details and it was a shame to rush through it a bit, but we also wanted to get to the Seokguram temple/grotto before it closed. Luckily we caught the last bus heading up to the temple and were able to walk up to it and back to catch the last bus heading back to town. We retrieved our bags from the bus station and set out to find a place to sleep. This required a bit of searching as our first pick was full, but luckily a hotel around the corner was willing to give us a discounted price making it just as reasonable (and far fancier) as the backpacker hostel would have been. The next morning we explored the town and market and found some souvenirs (metal bowls and chopsticks), camping supplies (giant plastic sheet) and delicious and cheap food in the traditional market as well as some rice rolls to take with us for dinner. We then caught a 3:00 bus to Busan. Arriving an hour later, we found another very helpful tourist information woman and she was able to help us buy mentholated spirits at the pharmacy which we needed for our cooking stove and we’d read that it was difficult to acquire in Japan (which turned out not to be true). A subway ride and then a short walk brought us to the ferry terminal right on time for the 7:00 check in and 7:30 boarding of the ferry. However, once on board and settled into our 2^nd class shared room with fold out mats on the floor we had to wait another 3 hours before the ferry actually departed. A similar situation also existed on the Japanese side, as we docked at 6am but couldn’t leave the ship until 7:30. It seems that the working hours of the land personnel don’t match the actual departure and arrival hours of the ship. 

1^st day in Japan

The tourist information women in Fukuoka were a bit shyer about speaking English than their Korean counterparts and much giggling ensued as one tried to give us directions to the nearest convenience shop where we would find breakfast and an ATM which accepted international cards (most bank ATMs didn’t). Off we went in the pouring rain, as the Japanese rainy season had officially begun several weeks earlier than usual. Luckily it wasn’t cold so getting soaked wasn’t really a problem. From the 7-eleven, we walked on into town to the train station, found out when the next departing train was that would take us south to Izumi (where we would rent the bikes), found a huge book store and bought the motorcycle touring atlas we’d heard was an excellent resource despite being in Japanese, ate lunch and caught the train to Izumi. Izumi is a small town so we weren’t worried about not finding Thomas, our bike rental man. However, finding him wasn’t as easy as we’d expected. We had his address and phone number so our first strategy was to look for a town map (our atlas wasn’t detailed enough for finding a specific address in a small town). This led us to the information desk and ended up engaging the woman who worked there and some other people who I’m not sure worked there but might have been friends or relatives but might also have just been fellow town citizens who happened to be at the train station at that time. Anyway, there was much phone calling (Thomas hadn’t answered his phone when we tried calling him directly as he was busy teaching an English class) and looking at a town map as the tourist information woman and another man tried to find out where Thomas lived. Addresses in Japan are not exactly straight forward as the numbers correspond not to a geographic location but to the order in which the buildings have been built. So even people who have lived in a town for a long time might find it difficult to locate a house just from its numerical address. In the end, they found someone on the phone who knew where Thomas lived, and the woman and man drove us in her car (thoroughly decorated with stuffed animals) to his house! We were, of course, incredibly impressed with this high level of assistance! 

More preparations

We found Thomas just returning from his teaching lesson and he welcomed us into his house. He and his wife, Yuko, were incredibly hospitable especially considering she was due a week later to give birth and was in the midst of getting her driving license before the baby arrived. So it was not exactly a stress free time for them, but they shared delicious food with us and let us sleep in their spare room, thereby delaying our entry into the camping-in-the-rain life that was to ensue. We spent two nights with them, which gave us time to get ourselves and our bikes organized for 31 days of biking. We packed our bike bags and then sent a box with our backpacks and anything we didn’t think we needed while biking on to the man in Kyoto to whom we’d give the bikes in the end. I spent time copying down the detailed route information that was available on a website called Japan cycling navigator and a book that Thomas owned of the top 10 bike rides in Japan. Thomas gave us a tour of a supermarket so we had an idea of some things we could buy for easy camping food. Of course all this planning and packing took longer than expected and we didn’t actually set out until after lunch on May 28^th. There was a typhoon moving through southern Japan, but western Kyushu was on the edge so this just meant that it was raining as we set out. We asked a passing mailman on motorbike to take a photo of us before we left. Thank you Thomas and Yuko!!

Ill prepared

We were immediately soaking wet and with the wind from biking it was a bit chilly. Thus when we saw a woman waving to us and realized it was Yuko’s mother standing in her shop doorway waving for us to stop, we gladly did. And we even more gladly accepted her gift of filled pastries (what she sold in her shop) and towels, which she wrapped around our necks to help keep us warm. While we didn’t understand the words she was saying (she spoke only in Japanese to us), it was clear that she thought we were terribly ill-prepared for biking in such lousy weather and that we needed to be dressed more warmly. She was rather right. The towels helped a lot and proved to be quite useful throughout the trip. Thank you Yuko’s mom!!

Cultural contrasts

Our goal that day was to bike from Izumi to the island called Nagashima, which is connected to the mainland by bridge. Unfortunately we missed a turn off as the road we were supposed to turn onto had no signs at the intersection and we spent at least an extra hour trying to find the correct road. In the end we figured it out (with the help of some gas station attendants) and made it to the bridge at 6:00. Thomas had told us that there was a Dutch man living on this island and that the people at the local produce shop/traveler’s rest stop might know where he lived. We thought it might be interesting to meet a Dutch person living in Japan and perhaps he would be able to help us find shelter for the night. So we stopped at the shop and I went inside to enquire. Forty five minutes later we left the shop with a hand drawn map in hand of where to find this Dutch fellow. Getting the map had once again involved several phone calls and several people (the store employees, customers, and their friends who were called). The man who drew the map for us had driven down to the store and even offered to drive us to the Dutch man’s house but we declined as we wanted our bikes to also head in that direction. Another half hour down the road, the same man appeared again in his car to check on us and we assured him that we were ok and he told us we were half way there. We arrived in the village as it was starting to get dark, and there once again the map man appeared, this time with his wife in the car with him and the Dutch man in another car behind him. It seems he had taken it upon himself to go to the Dutch man’s house, knock on his door and tell him that friends of his were looking for him. Well, the Dutch man was Dutch and not Japanese and we were not his friends. He was civil enough and he did give us a car escort to the nearest hotel to show us where it was, but not until he had told the departing Japanese man (who up to this point was quite happy to have been able to help us find each other) that we were in fact not his friends. It was an interesting cultural contrast and we were sorry the Japanese man had spent so much time trying to help us (he did know that we didn’t know the Dutch man as I’d told him I didn’t know his name or anything about him other than that he lived on the island). After this we were somewhat more cautious about asking for help knowing that people would go above and beyond our expectations to help us. And while it was disappointing that the Dutch man wasn’t interested in socializing or helping us find cheap or free shelter for the night (the hotel he brought us to was nearly 3x our daily budget – so not an option for us), his reaction was a perfectly acceptable reaction according to western cultural norms. We left the hotel he’d brought us to and cycled a few kilometers further to find the campground marked on our atlas. There we found an unused cabin with a porch under which our tent fit perfectly. Thus we managed to stay dry despite the heavy rains that night.

Biking during the rainy season

In the morning we headed north to the ferry terminal and found that the ferry wouldn’t start running until 14:00 due to the typhoon. While we waited the sun came out and we managed to dry all of our wet clothes and gear. That was quite a relief! Over the course of the 31 days we only got thoroughly soaked 4 times which we felt wasn’t bad considering it was the rainy season. In all cases, the sun came out after a day so we were able to dry off before things became moldy. It did rain a lot at night, but usually we had already set up the tent so that wasn’t a problem. We also managed to find a lot of roofs to pitch our tent under, which was especially nice in the morning if it was still raining.

Camping in Japan

We had read prior to setting out that it is perfectly acceptable to sleep in public spaces and our experience confirmed this. Before leaving Thomas and Yuko, Yuko kindly wrote out a polite letter in Japanese that introduced us and explained that we were looking for a place to put up a tent for the night. We used this on several occasions when we hadn’t been able to locate a place ourselves, and in all cases the person we showed the letter went out of their way to lead us to a spot they thought was acceptable for us to sleep. This often meant driving or even jogging ahead of us as we followed on our bikes. On a few occasions we continued on to find a different spot as we weren’t comfortable sleeping in the bus stop, train station or park with no toilet. Clean public toilets abound in Japan and we were always able to find a camping spot with a toilet nearby. The best spots turned out to be parks with covered picnic areas. Our most unusual sleeping location occurred on one of the days we got soaked while biking, and it was still raining when it was time to set up the tent. I wasn’t interested in sleeping in a swamp and managed to convince Machiel that it was ok for us to sleep in the handicapped toilet cabin. It was spacious and clean. The only down side was that there was a motion detector on the light so every time one of us moved, the light came on. But it was a better night’s sleep than we would have gotten had we slept out in the rain and wind that continued on into the morning.

Our route

So over the course of 31 days we managed to bike approximately 1,500 km (932 miles).

We began in Izumi, biked through 4 islands off the west coast of Kyushu, biked east across Kyushu via the volcano Mt. Aso, and took a ferry from Oita over to another island, Shikoku. On Shikoku we biked a circular route south down to the southern most point and then back north to Matsoyama (still on the west coast) where we took a ferry to Yanai, Honshu. In Yanai we had our only true (and much needed) rest day staying with wonderful Servas hosts who treated us to amazing food, gave me a “Go” lesson, took us for a visit to a historic bridge, and taught us about Japanese culture. It was amazing how much just one day revived our tired bodies. Thank you Masumi and Tomoyoshi!!  We continued north to Hiroshima and then east to the beginning of a series of 7 bridges that led us back to Shikoku. On Shikoku we biked east along the northeast coast to Takamatsu where we took a ferry to the island, Shodoshima. There we were surprised to find the recommended route I’d gotten off the internet taking us up and over a high mountain with 18% grades. We managed it and saw some monkeys in the process. We then took a ferry to Himeji, Honshu where we visited the historic castle. From there we continued east to Kobe, Osaka, Nara and finally Kyoto. The final 4 days were extremely hot (getting to 35 degrees) which was harder to bike in than the earlier rainy days. We did get quite the bike tans though (complete with white strip on the side of my face where my helmet strap was), which we were rather proud of.

Roadkill

When biking one is much more in tune to road surfaces and roadkill is a part of the daily sensorial experience. Abandoned gloves were by far the most commonly seen roadkill. Luckily they didn’t smell or offend. Then came snakes, most of which were dead, but we did see a few live ones on the roads as well. Other roadkill were regional. So in one area there were many squished red crabs, whose defense mechanism was tragically outdated for modern predators such as cars and bikes. Another area was full of huge bloated frogs. After the rainy days, the thickest and longest black earthworms I’ve ever seen had met their demise.  And a turtle and a mystery mammal that seemed to be a cross between a possum and a badger we saw only once. It was interesting to compare this to New Zealand where we mostly saw mammalian roadkill such as possums and hedgehogs.

Gifts

The beautiful countryside, quiet roads, free camping and interesting architecture made Japan a wonderful country to explore by bike. However, it was the people we met along the way that made our experience really special. Time and time again complete strangers offered us gifts including drinks, food, a frozen towel (to help keep cool), mosquito repellent, Japanese multi-purpose cloths, and pictures taken on a cell phone which were printed out at a convenience store – and then delivered as a surprise further down the road. I was humbled by their generosity and I hope some of this spirit has rubbed off on me!

Culinary notes

In addition, our homestays in Yanai and Chiba (outside Tokyo) gave us insight into Japanese culture (for example, amateur golfers take out “hole in one” insurance in case they get a hole in one and then are obliged to host a large party and distribute expensive gifts to guests) and an opportunity to taste a greater variety of amazing foods. If it weren’t for those homestays, I’m afraid our experience of Japanese food would have been limited to our daily routine of: rice, tofu, and yummy flavor packets containing spices and seaweed for breakfast; convenience store fare of ready cooked rice balls, egg, tofu, vegetables and noodles for lunch; and soba (buckwheat) noodles with assorted vegetables for dinner – hardly doing justice to Japanese cuisine, but economical and easy for us to cook on our little stove.

Garbage

Japan is a very clean country. So either the cute cartoony signs encouraging people not to litter are effective or somebody is cleaning up the roadsides and parks. I suspect, however, that people just don’t litter as much (we did see a bit) as the rest of the world. This is particularly interesting as trashcans are so rare. I believe we found trashcans in only 2 of the many parks we visited. There was, however, no shortage of receptacles for plastic bottles and cans. In fact next to every vending machine one could find them. On some days we carried our garbage with us for quite a while before finally finding a trashcan in which to deposit it. We eventually discovered that convenience stores and supermarkets often had trashcans, though these were often for separated recyclables and we were never quite sure if we were putting our garbage in the correct receptacle or disturbing the recycling efforts. 

Final days in Japan

We spent our last 3 days in Japan in Chiba, near Tokyo, visiting a family whose daughter I’d taught in Amsterdam. They too spoiled us with amazing hospitality and provided us with a very welcome place to begin recovering from the accumulated exhaustion of having been on the road for so long.  A visit to the children’s school, dodge ball practice (the rules are completely different from the dodge ball I know), the imperial palace grounds in Tokyo, the newly tallest building in the world and local sights in Chiba were the perfect final experiences after our intense biking adventure.  Thank you the Okura family! On July 1^st we flew to the United States to visit friends and family before heading on back to Europe and jobs.

Looking back

How to sum up such a year? It was an amazing experience that we feel so lucky to have been able to have, and certainly we saw places that I never expected to get to see. India was the most colorful and there we learned to endure dust, bumps, landslides and the curiosity/business attempts of strangers. Malaysia was fascinating for the mix of cultures living side by side. There we formed a resolve to limit our consumption of rubber and palm oil as these industries have totally destroyed the native forests (and in Indonesia as well). In Thailand we were struck by the politeness their culture fosters. Laos provided us with new reasons to deplore American politics, and we were inspired by the hard work and good humor of the people we witnessed working so hard to eke out subsistence from a landscape still studded with lethal cluster bombs. In Cambodia we were awed by the prowess of civilizations past and wooed by the huge smiles that were bestowed upon us in the rural areas. In Vietnam we were pleased to find it not that difficult after all to get off the tourist track and thus avoid the hassles we’d heard so much about from fellow backpackers. There, we enjoyed the regional variation of boats and experienced Christmas in Asia. New Zealand presented the most varied and consistently impressive nature, and there we learned that camping can lose its appeal after two months. Indonesia is a land of islands and here we visited islands (physical, religious, cultural and metaphorical) inside of islands. Korea was a marvelous surprise and far too short a visit. In Japan we were impressed by engineering, architecture, and a culture of helping others. We also improved our map reading skills and achieved a goal.

Every country was different, but there were also threads that tied them together in an interesting web of connections: religion, wearing pajama style clothing (and sometimes actual pajamas), napping, people displaying great strength and fortitude as they worked, rice cultivation, drying things in the sun, transportation marvels and smiles.

Would I recommend such a trip to others? I’m not so sure. Perhaps if one tries to do half as much in the same amount of time, it wouldn’t be so wearying. I’m not very good at slowing down and taking rest days. It was a long time to be living the nomadic life and, even with some visits with friends and even some family along the way, we had bouts of homesickness. Did our low budget create more stress? Probably, but it also led to some interesting experiences and I wouldn’t have traded our travel on the local buses in India for a driver and air-conditioned car any day. We have certainly come to think of possessions in a different way. Now back home I find myself overwhelmed while sorting through my bags of clothes and wishing I could continue living in an environment where it was socially acceptable to wear the same clothes everyday if one wishes. Though at the same time, I must say it is lovely to wear different clothes than the same ones I’ve been wearing for months. Traveling light, unburdened by possessions is certainly a worthy ideal, which I guess I am only part way to fully embracing.

Final unsolicited advice

So yes, it was great. But it was also stressful and tiring and not the reveling in the freedom of a work-free year that some may imagine. That said, if there is a place or an experience you’ve been wishing you could do, go do it. Where there is a will, there is definitely a way! Listen to media and others with healthy skepticism. We certainly had enough experiences to learn that it’s impossible to find out what a place or situation really are like without going to see for yourself.

Pictures:
https://picasaweb.google.com/115483161265544236321/KoreaAndJapan?authuser=0&authkey=Gv1sRgCOjNibrEqtWPpwE&feat=directlink

the rest of the Japan photos:

https://picasaweb.google.com/111597636453935426850/July262011?authuser=0&authkey=Gv1sRgCLXv_PXSzeiYFQ&feat=directlink

Indonesia

Here's the narrative describing our time in Indonesia. The pictures are at:

https://picasaweb.google.com/115483161265544236321/Indonesia?authuser=0&authkey=Gv1sRgCPmoiLfg4_aYOw&feat=directlink

and

https://picasaweb.google.com/115483161265544236321/Indonesia02?authuser=0&authkey=Gv1sRgCLKhxIKcvNapmwE&feat=directlink

Given the March 11th earthquake and tsunami in Japan, we decided to change our travel plans and head to Indonesia instead of Japan at the end of our 3 months in New Zealand.

We flew first to Singapore for just a day and a half. The change of climate was quite a shock to our systems and the heat and humidity left us without much energy for exploring. We did manage to take a walk through the shopping mall district down to Chinatown. And in the evening we had a nice walk through the beautiful botanical gardens. We enjoyed lovely company and delicious meals with our hostess - a colleague from Amsterdam.

We then flew to Denpasar, Bali to visit some more Amsterdam colleagues. We had a wonderful few days with them, and it felt great to have some time staying in one place and just resting. On Sunday we went together to visit the temple.


On Wednesday we managed to motivate ourselves to leave their house long enough to go to visit the Green School - an international school located near Ubud - and joined in their regular Wed. afternoon tour. It is quite an amazing campus!

At the end of our time in Bali, we regretted that we hadn't been adventurous enough to rent a motorbike. I think that really is the way to do it as the distances aren't that great, it probably isn't that much more expensive than the public transport, and you would be able to see so much more. My impression of Bali was that the end destinations (tourist spots) weren't that interesting in and of themselves, but that the ceremonies and villages we passed by would have been quite interesting to be able to visit.

Instead we took public transportation. In the area our hosts lived there was remarkably little public transport as everyone seems to have a car or motorbike. So we had to take a taxi to the bus station in Denpasar. There we easily found a bemo (minivan) going north to Candikuning. We had to wait about 45min for the bemo to fill up but it only cost 20,000/person. It was sad to pass by so many people selling Durian along the roadside and not be able to stop and buy one. Though probably if we'd asked the bemo to stop, it would have.

It was pouring rain when we arrived and the first hotel we tried was closed because the owner was going to Denpasar the next day to pray. He did let us wait on his porch for the rain to stop though and even brought us complimentary tea. We walked around and ended up at a nearly empty, huge hotel on the edge of the lake which had hot water and a nice view of the fog over the lake.

In the morning it was still raining and we decided against spending more time in the area. So we took a look at the nearby temple and then hailed down a bemo that was heading north to the coast. Here began the Indonesian chapter of the great “trying to get services for the prices stated in the guide book” or, in other words, “do things the difficult way in order to spend as little as possible” game. We didn't really succeed at first.

The bemo wasn't going all the way to Lovina and it dropped us off in a rather strange place (it seemed like it must have gone closer to the where its route and the road to Lovina diverged). The driver also insisted on 20,000/person when the guide book indicated it should be 8,000. We walked to a very unhappening bus terminal where they wanted 50,000 to take us the few remaining km to Lovina (should have been less than 20,000). We decided to start walking, hoping we'd find some shared public transport along the way. After several empty bemos tried picking us up, we gave in and bargained one down to 30,000. Unfortunately he proceeded to try and drop us off at every hotel we passed (I guess trying to drive as little a distance as possible). We also were harassed by a man on a motorbike who wanted us to stay at his guest house. He followed the bemo on his motorbike and pushed his card into our faces whenever the bemo stopped. As ignoring him and then politely declining didn't work, Machiel took his card and threw it out the opposite window. This earned us curses in English, but he stopped following us. That was the most extreme case of someone trying to get us to stay at their place we've so far experienced on our travels. Later that night when we chatted with the tourists eating next to us, we found out that they had been followed by the same man while riding their own motorbike. They too tried everything to shake him, but he was unshakeable (followed behind them and when they stopped went ahead and waited for them). In the end, they gave up and went to his guest house. I scolded them for giving him positive reinforcement for such annoying behavior.

Lovina was a disappointment. The street we stayed on led to a very dirty and narrow beach. We saw a few interesting boats but there were too many scary looking dogs and we didn't feel comfortable walking along through what were essentially people's houses to explore the beach beyond a few meters. I guess we thought there'd be more of a village/town to explore.

The next day we were more successful with the bemos though. We didn't have to wait long for a partly full one to stop for us and the driver accepted the guide book price. We took it all the way to Gilimanuk (3hrs) where we failed to find the hotel mentioned in the guide book and ended up in a slightly skanky and dirty but very cheap (50,000) hotel which was essentially managed by an Iranian tourist who had stayed there twice previously and always for a week or so at a time. He didn't like living in Iran and returned only occasionally to collect more of his inheritance money before returning to India and Indonesia where he could get visas and live cheaply. The real manager was around sometimes.

Easter morning we were woken up at 4:30am by a very loud, much distorted, and extended amplification of the call to prayer and reading of the Koran by children. At least this helped us get an early start on the day. We took a bemo back to Lalang Luang and found two other tourists to share a boat/snorkeling trip with.  Supposedly we were going out for 4 hours but it ended up being 2 ½ hours (we didn't realize until we were back what the time was), but this was a good thing as we managed to get all the way to Probolinggo on Java that day and if I'd stayed in the water any longer my back would have been seriously sunburned instead of just sunburned. In any event, the snorkeling was AMAZING! The Norwegian guys with us went quite a ways down the coast of the island away from the beach where we started and had a turtle swim with them for a bit. One of them had been there before and seen a shark and baracuda on previous trips. This prompted me to swim with a rock in my hand the entire time which made me feel slightly more secure even though I wasn't sure how a rock would help nor exactly what a baracuda looked like. Typical Jennifer silliness. Unfortunately there was quite a bit of plastic/garbage floating on the surface, which was rather disgusting to swim through, but the color of the water, an underwater cliff and the fish were wonderful.

We took a bemo back to Gilimanuk, got our packs and walked down to the ferry to Java. The trip across took about 20 min but it took another ½ hour to wait for a spot to dock. There was a moment of confusion when we tried to find a bemo to the bus station as people were telling us different things, but we managed to find it eventually. At the bus station we got duped, which was rather annoying after having been traveling so long. We just temporarily forgot our rules of bus travel – talk to no one, especially the men trying to talk to you, and buy the ticket on the bus where you can see what other people are paying. As we walked up to the bus a man got off the bus and we assumed he was the ticket seller. Wrong assumption. He told us the price was 70,000/person but when we walked over to a sign that showed destinations and prices, he agreed to sell us a ticket for 46,000/person. This was one of the prices on the board, but it also said 28,000 which he said was the price for the minibus. Unfortunately we ignored the alarm bells telling us that this story didn't make sense as the bus is usually the cheapest and it made more sense that the cheaper fare was the basic bus and the 46,000 the air-con/direct bus. Well, once the bus started the actual ticket seller went around and when he came to us told us that we had an illegal ticket. He wanted us to pay the actual 28,000/person but we refused and he didn't argue. We arrived in Probolinggo at 7pm after 5 ½ hours on a very hot bus of smoking men and off tune guitar player/singers. Luckily there were some lovely women in the bemo who jokingly chided the driver who tried charging us more than the actual 3,000/person and who had fun trying to talk to us in very broken English. It was a long day to say the least.

The next day we took a bemo back to the bus station and found the bemo that would be heading up to Cemoro Lawang (the village next to the Bromo volcano). It was 9:00. We didn't end up leaving until 3:30. In between I read my book, Machiel got a haircut, and we watched the bemo drivers sit around. Around 12 a mother and son arrived which at least reassured us that the bemo did actually go to Cemoro Lawang. At 2:30 two more Indonesians joined us. Then at 3:00 a driver suddenly hopped in and off we went. Well it turned out to be a false start as we only drove down the street to pick up two female American tourists who had bought a Bromo package deal at a tour office. Extreme tourists, wearing tank tops and smoking, they proceeded to drink a beer as we drove back to the bemo stop where we'd been waiting. Twenty minutes later, having finished their beer, they realized that the bemo wasn't going anywhere and started asking questions. They were understandably perplexed having just spent who knows how much money for their tour which included transportation to Bromo and, having taken a night train from Jakarta, they were eager to get to their final destination. In fact they were so eager to get to their destination, they didn't mind spending more money to leave immediately. So bargaining ensued and we ended up with the situation of the Indonesians paying the normal fare they would have paid if the bemo were full and us tourists (a French couple arrived as well) paying 250,000 between us so that we would leave immediately. The actual fare should have been 15,000 per person and if we'd waited another ½ hour the missing 4 seats would have been filled (we found out at dinner that another bemo of tourists came up after us). Having waited so long, we were a bit annoyed to be pressured into paying the tourist price, but we also weren't about to watch the bemo drive away without us.

Cemoro Lawang is an eerie village as it sits right on the edge of a huge volcanic crater. The fog, rain and thick layer of ash that had fallen on the village two days previously (and which was slowly being cleared away) only added to the eerie feeling. It was also cold here and we were glad to have sweaters, socks and hats to put on. We talked to another traveler who convinced us that waking up to see the volcano at sunrise was worth it (everything was in the clouds when we arrived) so we set the alarm for 3:30.

When we awoke, we found the village still enveloped by clouds and we debated going back to sleep. But we rallied and decided it was best to go anyway and hope the skies would clear with the sunrise. As it turned out, the skies cleared as we walked along the dark road and we could see some stars. The way up to the volcano was easy to find as we just had to follow the steady stream of land rovers filled with tourists. We arrived at the viewing platform just as the first clouds began turning pink. It was a spectacular changing light show and we climbed up on to the roof of one of the viewing shelters to get the best view of the volcano and sunrise (which was primarily a bit to the left (north) of the volcano. The light show continued even after most of the tourists had returned to their land rovers. We also enjoyed walking back to our hotel and seeing all the farms we'd passed earlier in the dark. It being 8:00 , we packed up and went and got breakfast at the little warung down the hill where we also ate dinner. We then found the bemos a bit further down the hill and made an agreement with the driver to pay him 15,000/person but not tell the other tourists that that was the price (he charged them 25,000 which they thought was a great deal after having paid 40-70,000 to get up there). The bemo drove back up the hill to pick up all the tourists at one of the hotels before returning to the original waiting spot to pick up the locals who were headed down to market. On the way back to Probolinggo I missed a great photo of 30 or more men sitting alongside the road. They were all wearing the traditional black hats and huddled under their pink or purple sarongs which in this case were being worn like capes/blankets. It was a colorful sight but my initial puzzlement as to why they were all sitting next to the road delayed my “take a picture” instinct and then we were already past. I guess they were waiting to go to the mosque, but that's just a guess.

Back in Probolinggo, we quickly found a bus heading to Surabaya. It was another long (4 hours) hot ride, especially the hour we spent in a huge traffic jam which is a permanent occurrence due to the fact that traffic has to take a detour because the highway has been engulfed in that area by a mud volcano that has been spewing out mud for 5 years (ever since an gas exploration company was looking for gas and tapped into it). 1,000 sq meters of mud is being expelled a day!

The guide book served us well in Surabaya, and it was easy to find the bus that took us downtown to a nice central hotel. This bus was also full of lovely people. One man who started chatting with us was in town to pick up his renewed Dutch visa so he could go back and continue working in Den Helder as a sailor. He paid our bus tickets. Another woman took good care of us and made sure we got out at the right place. We found internet at the Starbucks in the nearby shopping mall. Crossing the street was not as problematic as the guidebook made it sound – provided one used the pedestrian overpasses.

The next day, the guidebook wasn't as helpful. We decided to go down to the harbor with our bags before heading back to the bus station to continue on to Yogjakarta. The guide book's description of where the large wooden schooners were anchored was vague and we ended up at the wrong harbor and the rickshaw driver who insisted he knew where to take us, in fact didn't. We did, however, find a man selling durian by the side of the road. It was quite tasty, though a whole durian shared between two people is quite a rich meal.

The ride to Yogyakarta took 9 hours, but luckily the bus was AC and the seats actually had some leg room.

Unfortunately, it was so hot here that the next day we only managed to walk to the Sultan's palace (where we got to see a gamelon performance) and back to a lovely vegetarian restaurant connected with a project to help street children (Milas Restaurant) before collapsing at our hotel for the rest of the day.

The next day we took the public bus to Borobodur and walked the 5 min. from the bus station to the temple. Again, it was incredibly hot and humid so we walked quite slowly around the impressive, but not quite as impressive as we'd expected, temple. Several Indonesian tourists asked to take photos with us. I was sorry we didn't have energy to rent bikes and explore the area as supposedly there are some interesting villages in the area.

The next day we caught the 9am train to Jakarta – economy class. It was a 7 ½ hour ride through some lovely rice field countryside. A fellow passenger who noticed how much we disliked that our neighbor was smoking, spoke to him and he did his smoking elsewhere for the remainder of the trip. We were entertained by the food and knickknack hawkers and were even tempted to buy the batik patterned band-aids. I still marvel that they sell tofu as a regular snack.

Jakarta has a busway system with enclosed bus stops and a bus only lane on the roads. This turned out to be a great way to get around the city though not taking the local trains meant we missed the spectacle of extremely overcrowded local trains (even more than in India) which we later saw on the news while watching TV in Sumatra.

We debated going to visit a bird sanctuary north of Jakarta, but decided instead to head directly to Sumatra. In Indonesia one can't buy flight tickets online with a credit card less than 48 hours before departure so we went to a travel agent to arrange the tickets (same price as the online price) for the next day. With a day for sightseeing we decided to go explore what was once Dutch/VOC Batavia. Unfortunately it was May 1st and after waiting in the busway stop for longer than seemed normal we realized that a huge procession of people with flags were headed our way and were occupying the entire street. Not wanting to be so close to such a large political demonstration (though there was no indication it would be anything but peaceful), we left the busway and took a taxi instead. First we went to the puppet museum which while small, housed some beautiful and interesting puppets. I was sorry we didn't get to see a live performance. We had lunch in a renovated shipping warehouse (most of the old Dutch buildings have been left to ruin) and then visited the maritime museum. There were quite a few interesting boats though it was sad to see them and the building deteriorating. Then we walked to the nearby port where we finally got to see the wood schooners we'd looked for in Surabaya.

The next day we caught a 7am flight to Medan. While it felt a shame to skip over so much of Sumatra, it just would have taken us too long to make the journey by land and we'd told Ratna, our wwoofing host, that we would arrive around May 1st. In Medan we found our way from the tiny airport to a road that bemos went down and caught a bemo to the bus station. Once again, though the bemo deposited us a little ways away from our actual destination, we found our way and arrived just in time to catch a departing bus to Lake Toba. Unfortunately in the haste of catching the bus, Machiel forgot to get his pen back from the ticket seller who'd sold us the tickets. Even with our few possessions this year (or maybe because we have so few) it is still hard not to be sad when we lose something. Though we've actually done quite a good job of keeping track of our things and mostly what has been left behind were items that had worn out. This brings me to the topic of how little wear and tear most things are made to withstand these days. It has been interesting to see how quickly some things wear out if you use them every day. But I digress! The bus ride was quite a crowded affair and the bus manager even directed people to sit in the small baggage space just behind the last seats. The man next to me actually asked if I minded if he smoked and while he obviously was disappointed I said yes, refrained from smoking until I later moved to a less crowded area of the bus. The only stop during the 5hr ride was next to a cake stop. After watching everyone else get off the bus and buy cakes, I finally decided we should too (my decision making capabilities must have been damaged by the hot bumpy ride). But just as I neared the counter, the bus driver gestured that the bus was going to leave. I made a look like, “I'll hurry so can I please get some cakes?” and he came over gesturing that he liked a specific bun. When he repeated the “me – bun” gesture, I understood he was “asking” me to buy him the bun. I obliged. They were good cakes, especially since we hadn't eaten any lunch.

When we arrived in Parapat/Ajibata we found a ferry to the huge island Samosir (the size of Singapore) where we were going to stay for a week. There is only one boat a day to the village Silimalombu where we'd be staying and we'd missed that. However, there were boats to towns 10km away and we planned on taking a minibus from there to the village. Unfortunately, when we arrived in Tomok, we found that there were only motorcyclists willing to take us to Silimalombu. Not wanting to take a motorbike and it being too late to walk the 10km before it got dark, we decided to walk 4km to Tuk Tuk, sleep there, and then catch the direct boat to Silimalombu the following day. This turned out to be a great decision as the hotel we found in Tuk Tuk was cheap (60,000) , spacious and with hot water and good food. This village was once a big tourist destination, with raging full moon parties. But then Thailand became the place for that sort of vacation and now Tuk Tuk is a lovely laid back quiet spot.

The next morning we took the boat back to Ajibata and waited around until 2:00 when the little local boat left to go to Silimalombu. While it took a lot longer to get to our final destination this way, it was nice to have had a relaxed night in Tuk Tuk and the multiple boat rides were cheaper than if we'd taken the motorcycle taxis in the first place.

We spent 8 days at Ratna's house along with two other volunteers who were there longer term. Her house consisted of 4 bedrooms (so we had a room to ourselves) and a large living room area in one building and several attached additions which contained the bathroom (we learned to live without toilet paper), kitchen (with window directly out to the pig pen which made throwing out the garbage very easy), dining room (with TV upon which we watched Indonesian soaps every night during dinner – I got hooked on one), her mother's room, her employee's room (handyman/farm help), and a storage room. Her mother was the third wife of the local king, and while he died when Ratna was only 4, he had made sure that each of his wives had separate properties so she had quite a large area of land that she is in the process of cultivating and defending from the tenacious jungle plants. While the land technically belongs to her brothers, she is the one making the decisions about how to use it. She is well educated and previously lived in Jakarta working for TNT. She's a wonderfully spirited woman, strong, independent, loving to laugh, but very serious when working.

When we first arrived she gave us a tour of the land and laughingly talked about how it was hard work all the time here. That first afternoon we hauled water plants that had drifted into her cove out of the water to add to the rapidly growing compost pile she's created.

The next morning we woke up at 6 ready to get to work...but Ratna was out collecting the fish she'd caught in her nets (her most consistent income as she sells the fish) and the other volunteers were still asleep. So we waited. By 8 the other volunteers had woken up and we ate breakfast (instant oatmeal). Ratna returned from fishing and got ready to go to teach a group of 4-5 year olds Indonesian (they speak Barak at home). The other volunteers showed us how to clean the net that Ratna had pulled in. Cleaning the net was the most consistent of our jobs during the week and while I got a bit faster at it, it still took about 2 hours (3 when I did it myself) to rid the net of bits of plastic, little water plants and thick green slime. Ratna returned around 11 and we helped her prepare lunch. After lunch everyone took a two hour nap as it was too hot to go work outside and Ratna and her mother had already been up since 4. Finally at 3:00 Ratna told us we were going to go work clearning the weeds away from chilli plants (also income for her) and baby trees. It was a bit tricky finding the chilli plants among the weeds sometimes, but satisfying to clear away the thick weeds. The next day, the backs of my legs were quite sore though from bending over so long. It started to rain eventually, so we returned to the house, walking down through the huge mango trees (another source of income for her) and picking up the dropped ones to feast on once we were back at the house. Even though mangoes are not usually in season at this time, this year the trees were still producing which was lucky for us! Around 6pm we helped to prepare dinner, ate and then everyone retired to their rooms except her mother who continued watching the soaps. Lunches and dinners varied everyday but there was always white rice, a vegetable of some kind and fish cooked in sambal (a chilli, onion, garlic paste - that Ratna promised she was making the less spicy version of, but which still was quite spicy). We got to taste some other Indonesian dishes as well and one day she had her neighbor come to help make a special coconut noodle dish.

The days passed rather slowly and it was sometimes frustrating not having clear directions of how we could be of use. Machiel managed to find some projects around the house like fixing a part of the ceiling that was falling in to the dining room. One morning I went to the school with Ratna and learned some Indonesian color words that she was teaching the kids. Machiel also started the project of building an enclosure for the water buffalo, but this also was frustrating as the available tools weren't what he was used to and cutting the cinnamon trunk into poles took several hours and resulted in some impressive blisters. On Sunday I went to church with Ratna which included some beautiful singing. I also took a long walk to pick up some of the trash along the roadside.

All in all it was a beautiful location and a wonderful opportunity to gain some insight into Indonesian culture, eat home cooked food and get to know an interesting woman, but after 8 days we were ready to be back on our own.

We took the bus back to Medan. However, it was a different bus company and it dropped us off at a different station. Luckily it wasn't far from the station we originally departed from, so we walked back and found the man who had Machiel's pen. He was a bit disappointed to part with the pen but he could see it meant a lot to Machiel to have it back.

The next day we took a bemo to yet a different bus station to get a bus to Bukit Lawang - a village next to a national park that used to contain an orangutan rehabilitation center and which still is home for many orangutans. However, when we arrived at the bus station we were told there were no more buses that day going to Bukit Lawang. A sign on a wall showed a schedule with buses departing all day, and the man telling us this was also trying to sell us a ticket in a private minibus, so we were skeptical. We took a seat by the bus stand and decided to wait and see what happened. After a bit, an American guy came by and told us he and his mother had been waiting for an hour and hadn't seen any buses and had finally agreed to take the private minibus. We thanked him for the information and told him we'd wait a bit longer. In fact, about 10 minutes after he left, a bus started up and we departed. But we didn't get very far. Just a bit down the road we stopped by the side of the road and waited another hour for more passengers. Then a few km down the road there was a loud bang and we stopped for another hour to change the tire that had blown out. So the bus wasn't the quickest way to get to Bukit Lawang, but we did eventually arrive.

Bukit Lawang was beautiful and much cooler than Medan. In the morning we went to the national park to attend the feeding they hold twice a day. This practice was originally in place to help support the newly released orangutans and it is continued for the tourists but also to provide additional nutrition for the pregnant and nursing females. They only give out bananas and milk which supposedly is a less interesting meal than what they can find in the forest, so it doesn't replace their interest in foraging for food for themselves. And in fact it was the mother orangutans that came to get the food. We saw one young female and 3 mothers, each with a baby. We spent the remainder of the day resting in the hammocks. That evening we watched an orangutan sitting in a tree eating fruit nearby the hotel.

The next day we were all set to leave and we walked back to the bus station, but once again we were told there were no more big buses going to Medan. Yet there were several buses parked in the station. We waited around for about an hour to see if any buses would start up and in the interim decided that it was just too hot to go back to Medan and that it was better to wait in Bukit Lawang another day (it was the 14th and our flight to Kuala Lumpur from Medan wasn't until the 16th). So we walked back into the village and spent the rest of the day trying to decide if we should go for a walk or not. In the end it started pouring rain so we didn't. Very loud music (it was Saturday night) from one of the nearby hotels lasted into the wee hours of the morning so it wasn't a great night's sleep and I wondered what the monkeys thought about the racket which must be a regular weekend occurrence.

The next day we managed to leave Bukit Lawang, though we had to give in and take a minibus (not a private one, but a "fill it with as many people as possible" one) as all the buses from the previous day were mysteriously gone. I'm not entirely sure why we were being so stubborn about taking a big bus instead of the minibuses except that we didn't like being told there weren't any buses when clearly there were. We were glad we had come to Bukit Lawang before the weekend though as we saw busload after busload arriving with day trippers from Medan who were coming to enjoy the river and cooler air for the day. We were happy to have gotten to experience it in more serene conditions.

We spent the night in Medan and the next day managed to go to a local market for last minute souvenirs and the post office before heading to the airport. When we went through customs at the airport we had the unpleasant surprise that we had overstayed our 30 day visa by 1 day. This oversight on our part (forgot that May had 31 days instead of 30 so staying April 16-May 16 was 31 instead of 30 days) was especially annoying as we had been ready to leave earlier and had essentially been killing time for a day and a half. Other than the surprise and the $20 fine each (the original visa cost $25), it was a smooth flight to Kuala Lumpur and we enjoyed returning to familiar ground (we even went back to the same hotel we stayed in in October).

To sum it up, Indonesia has some beautiful spots and lovely people. However, we found the heat and humidity draining and in our experience it was the most challenging country to backpack through at local prices. And while the big smiles that accompanied all communications/interactions were often genuine, there were also times that they felt insincere. With tofu and tempeh readily available, eating vegetarian was easy and delicious. It was interesting to have an opportunity to experience three of the islands and get a taste for their differences and commonalities.And there are many more islands we didn't get to...

New Zealand

It took me 4 days to tell the story of our trip through Vietnam and that was only 2 ½ weeks of traveling. How will I manage the story of 3 months in New Zealand?? Be forwarned that I took more than 3000 photos and have only managed to narrow them down to 1307 for your viewing pleasure. My apologies for not being more selective!

Thank you to all the friends and SERVAS hosts who gave us an occasional change of scene from the camping/living out of a car life and who shared such great stories, food and company with us! I haven't named these people out of respect for their privacy but wish for them to know how much they added to our experience in New Zealand!

We started with a lovely week on Waiheke island (off the Auckland coast) visiting Machiel's friend Andrew and his family. Then we headed back over to Auckland to find a car to buy for our journey. The Auckland race course hosts a used car market every Sunday and that is where we found our 1989 Toyota Corolla for 1800 NZD. It was a stressful experience competing with other buyers and buying a car without having it checked by a mechanic first. However, it was a great relief to leave the market with a car, knowing we could begin our journey the next day. Oh, but first we had to figure out how to drive on the left side of the road! For several weeks we found ourselves turning on the windshield wipers when we meant to turn on the turning signal and we had to check ourselves that we were turning into the correct lane at intersections.

We left Auckland on Monday morning and drove south stopping for lunch at a shore bird reserve. Unfortunately there had been much rain the past few days, so we decided against wading out to the bird blind and headed further south to a campground near Rotorua (lake Rerewhakaaitu).

Pied stilts

Black swan and ducks

Pukeko

The following day we tried to find free access to the thermal activity in the area and found most of it was well enclosed with high fences and expensive entry fees. We did, however, see some fun boiling mud.

Continuing south we explored a geothermal power plant and Huka Falls just north of Taupo with its amazing turquoise water storming through a narrow gorge. We camped at a nearby free campground called Reid Farm.

The next day, trying to take the most direct route marked on the map, we plunged into the back roads of New Zealand (gravel, winding and sometimes with steep drop-offs). While driving 30-40km/hr for about 25 km made for a long drive, we enjoyed the scenic route through farm land. Back on the sealed roads we headed on to Te Kuti, taking a small detour along the way to see the world's largest Totara tree. We had lunch in Te Kuti and then headed north to Waitomo. Here we went on several small walks to see double arches and waterfalls. After dinner we went back into one of the trails and saw the amazing glow worms illuminated like a star filled night. We then drove another 2 hours north to camp near Kawhia on the west coast. It was a long day!

upside down photo - sorry

Giant oyster fossil

Glow worms

I'm afraid I don't have time right now to tell all the stories so it'll have to be minimal labels for now....

Kawhia

Hot water springs at the low tide shore line

Whaling boat

Driving south to New Plymouth along the coast. An example of the many one lane bridges we encountered all over the country.

We never got used to the 100 km/hr speed limit on even the narrowest and windiest of roads.

Plentiful public toilets in this country!

Terns

Many tunnels in this area were dug by hand.

Check out the furniture.

Many layers - along the New Plymouth beach.

Cricket pitch in New Plymouth.

Mt. Taranaki/Egmont making a brief appearance out of the clouds.

Downtown New Plymouth

New Zealand pigeon

Marvelous fernhouse at botanical gardens

Len Lye's wind wand

Historic corrugated steel building

Completing a maize maze with our wonderful New Plymouth hosts.

High levels of iron ore in the beach sand!

Tawhiti museum - one man's hobby has grown into a huge collection of hand made, life sized models and artifacts depicting life in New Zealand's past.

On the way south to Wellington.

Wellington just for a night

Ferry to Picton, South Island

Can you see the house?

Picton

Driving south along the east coast down to Kaikoura.

Salt works

I thought I was ordering onion ringS and was surprised to only get one!

Two important farming developments - the ATV and a hardier sheep dog breed.

Exploring the Kaikoura head

These hills once were Maori forts (pa).

Whale bone fence post next to old house.

Amaryllis growing out of the ground!

Comorants are called shags here.

Driving further south towards Christchurch.

Irony

Exploring the Banks Peninsula.

Steep narrow road - passing another car of crazy sightseers was tricky!

Canterbury museum - Christchurch

This dollhouse exhibit was purposefully not tidied up after the first big Christchurch earthquake.

Driving west to Mt. Cook - MacKenzie country.

Lake Tekapo

Enroute to nearby lake Alexandria to camp for the night.

Driving to Mt. Cook the next day.

Female Paradise Shell duck

Mt Cook emerging from the clouds - yeah!

Kea

Next day Machiel woke up for sunrise.

Heading back to the east coast.

Views behind us.

Elephant rocks

Oamaru

Yellow-eyed penguin

More Oamaru

Walk along Moeraki beach.

Heading south to Dunedin.

Spoonbills on Otago peninsula.

Albatross!

Filling up water bottles in Dunedin.

Purakauni Bay (near Owaka).

Someone left a bag made out of kelp hanging on the tree.

Curio Bay -  remains of a Jurassic petrified forest

I woke up at sunrise to try and spot Hector Dolphins and sure enough they appeared : ) - no photos though.

Clouds set in by the time we packed up and headed south.

Southern most point in New Zealand.

I've run out of space again...

Go to the following link for a slide show of more of the New Zealand photos:

https://picasaweb.google.com/109401434648434957732/NewZealand2?authkey=Gv1sRgCKzXr4uugKWnFQ&feat=directlink

And for the last "few":

https://picasaweb.google.com/115483161265544236321/NewZealand3?authkey=Gv1sRgCIq83fTT8PKcLw&feat=directlink

If you want to see the photos that are posted on this blog also on Picasa go to:

https://picasaweb.google.com/109419923324325655641/GlobalWandering2?authkey=Gv1sRgCOWyqpCqqKezYw&feat=directlink

(New Zealand photos are at the end of the albulm)

And now we're in Indonesia where it is way more humid and hot than we've henceforth experienced, but we look forward to volunteering in Northern Sumatra next week - ecovillagesamosir.blogspot.com/p/place.html