Tuesday, July 31, 2012
Bittersweet Home
We are home safely, but tired, for sure! It's good to be home, clean, and see Daisy, but sad to be done with our adventure and missing our new friends. Thanks for reading and can't wait to see you soon...here's video to tide you over 'til we do see you!
Saturday, July 28, 2012
Sumatra part 2
On the Volcano, day 13
Lake Toba
Day 14
This morning we met a guide who took Edy and us to Sibayak
Volcano. We hiked straight up for about an hour. As we climbed, the scenery
around us changed from lush jungle to scraggly plants, and finally to grey
volcanic rock. Sibayak Volcano hasn’t erupted for 400 years, but it has many
signs of life. Including hot sulfur smelling gas pouring out of cracks and
holes near the top and hot water spots where water is literally boiling in a
pool on the Volcano. As we reached the top, we were getting pretty close to
several gas leaks and Jeremy said to the guide, “should I take a picture now,
or will we get closer?” She said, “Oh you will get closer”. As we got closer
and closer (!) the force of the hot air rushing from the cracks is so loud it
sounds like a jet plane taking off. Eventually we were literally beside the
cracks and you could hardly talk it was so loud. We could see the florescent
green/yellow sulfur crystals accumulating by the crack and of course it smelled
like rotten eggs. The sky was crystal clear so our views were amazing, but the wind
was wicked. I was more than just a little concerned that I might fly off the
side of the volcano the gusts of wind were so intense! The rocks were all rough
and sharp and many were still formed together in a huge solid piece of hardened
lava. When we finally got to the top, we were surprised to see how big the
crater of the volcano was and that there were so many gas leaks. Our guide told
us that as long as a volcano is venting the inside pressure via these gas
leaks, everything is okay. The people can predict when a volcano will erupt
because they stop leaking a few days before they blow! This news was only
mildly comforting. To see the force of the air coming out of these holes, to
know there is a hollow, hot center of the mountain were standing on, to be
pushed by the wind-to be reminded of how small you are in the face of
nature…The whole experience was slightly terrifying. Luckily, we climbed off
the really steep edge of the top; I started to breath like a normal person.
We hiked out through beautiful bamboo forests, a different
direction than we had climbed before. At the end of our hiking, we stopped at a
place that pipes hot water off the volcano into pools (hot springs). The place
had 7 different pools all with varying temperatures. The hottest pools are
filled right from the pipe off the volcano while the other pools are in contact
with the air for different lengths of time to cool the water. It was so nice;
especially since that was the closest thing we have had to a warm shower in
days.
Lake Toba
Then we drove 4 more hours, and caught a 30-minute ferry
ride to Lake Toba. Lake Toba is the biggest crater lake in the world, and even
I (having been raised on lake Erie and expecting “great” lake-size) was
surprised at how massive the lake it. The initial crater was formed by a volcanic explosion (some estimate it was the largest volcanic explosion ever) several thousand years ago, so the lake is surrounded with the remaining jagged edges of the top of the volcano (which look like mountains..think: BEAUTIFUL). We are staying on the island in the
center of the lake, which is also VERY large. Our driver said it takes a whole
day to drive the perimeter of this lake. We are staying 30 minutes from the
ferry and basically, got to our lodge (were grateful for the intermittent hot water
in the shower), grabbed a quick bite to eat and went to bed. LONG DAY!
Day 14
This morning, we got to sleep in until 7:30am! Then we went
to tour some of the local area and visit the Baytak museum. The Baytak people
are the natives of Indonesia who were cannibals (eating only of male criminals) until
the early 1900s when European missionaries introduced the island to
Christianity. Once converted, the people stopped eating their criminals….but
apparently still eat dogs (cooked of course). They live in these really interesting
looking “long houses” and have a very separate culture than the rest of
Indonesia. We got to see them doing traditional dances and hear about their
customs. What was most surprising was that the rest of Indonesia (the
non-Baytak people) really respects their natives. The Baytak are known
throughout the rest of the country as “Strong and straight” people who have
some of the most important jobs in the country…like being the government’s
lawyers, doctors, etc.
After our cultural morning, we stopped at this random place
and ordered “Grilled fish”. Apparently Lake Toba is known for its excellent
fish. I tell you, this grilled fish was the best thing we’ve had in A LONG
TIME. We literally licked the bones clean….and much to my amazement, it wasn’t
spicy! One of the first meals I’ve eaten all week that didn’t leave my nose
running! *they did serve the fish with ridiculously spicy sauce on the side,
which Jeremy was brave enough to eat. After lunch we came back to our lodge and
went swimming in the lake. There is no shore where we are so we literally had
to jump off the sidewalk (or makeshift diving board) into the lake. How nice to
have an afternoon to just swim and sit outside.
Tonight will be our last night in Indonesia, we leave for
the ferry tomorrow morning at 9am, then a 5+ hour ride back to Medan, and
eventually to a plane to Singapore at 8:30pm tomorrow night. Because we are
ahead of EST, we will actually lose a day returning home and should be home
sometime Monday late morning. We aren’t looking forward to the long trip home,
but we have experienced so much in these past 18 days that it will be good to
have time to savor our experiences and recapture our favorite moments.
Check back Tuesday for some more pictures and a short video to tide you over until we get a chance to see you!
Check back Tuesday for some more pictures and a short video to tide you over until we get a chance to see you!
Thursday, July 26, 2012
Sumatra
Sorry this is a long one...we have been writing as we go, but this is the first we have had access to WiFi.
Sulwesi to Sumatra, day 8
Once we got to their “home” the 5 elephants joined the remaining ones (and the baby) for a swim. They actually go completely underwater! Then we got to clean them and feed them and one of them even gave Jeremy a sloppy kiss! Their trunks are amazing, and they are so dexterous with it, just like an arm with a hand at the end instead of a snout. It was an incredible experience.
We did some more of the straight up/straight down trekking
and then finally arrived at our “campsite”. Expedition Jungle (the group we
booked through) had already sent a cook ahead of us and he had already set up
camp by the river and was furiously cooking when we arrived at 3pm. We swam and
explored around the river and saw several huge monitor-lizards, which is some
cousin of the komodo dragon. They look like small alligators but with a
freakishly long tongue that sticks out all the time like a snake. The lizards
were a little creepy; I might have even told Jeremy “if one of those would have
swam by us while we were swimming I would have died.” Eck!
After our walk we talked Edy into letting us
work the rice field again, American pride you know? So he had a good laugh (so
did Anna I think) about the “American rice farmers.” We thought we were getting
good at it, but on our way out we saw two Indonesian woman planting 4x faster
than we were….we need more practice I guess. Then we took another bucket shower
and packed up and headed to Brastagi, a town at the base of two volcanoes…Mt.
Sibayak, which we will be climbing tomorrow and another volcano, Sinabung. On
our way up and up and out of the low jungle into this cooler higher elevation
by the volcanoes, we passed roughly 30 baboons, known locally as “pig tailed
macaque” because their short tails stick up. In total we have seen 6 six
different kinds of primates since arriving in Indonesia! Currently, we are in a
fancy hotel again, which feels especially extravagant after staying with Anna’s
family-even though it does not have hot water. Now, you are officially up to
date, thanks for enduring this long post.
We will hopefully post again this weekend.
Sulwesi to Sumatra, day 8
We spent most of the day traveling. Who knew getting from
one island to the next in the same country would be so involved! We road a boat
from Lembeh Island back to the mainland. Then this incredibly crazy (female)
Indonesian driver took us on the ride of our lives. We were literally white
knuckled and sweaty from our nerves! 2 hours later we miraculously arrived at
the airport. A word about driving in Sulwesi: the roads are paved and really
nice, there are 4 motorbikes to every car and there seems to be no real
“driving rules” for motor drivers. Sometimes they were helmets, sometimes they
have 3 small children on the back of their motorcycle, sometimes they pass cars
kamikaze style on the right and sometimes on the left (everyone is supposed to
drive in the LEFT lane here). Anyway, you can imagine that these motorcycles
are really the wildcards of driving here. But our lady driver was something
else. At one point she was driving in the middle of the road to pass a
motorcycle while at the same moment another motorcycle was coming at us in the
opposite lane, luckily they both moved to the edge of their sides so we could
go in between them! The worst moment was when we were (briefly) stuck behind a
cement truck on a single lane road, but there were several cars between the
truck and us that were also waiting. The first straight shot of road, our lady
takes off like a bat out of hell…Jeremy and I exchange glances that mean “are
you believing this!?” so she flies by the first 2 cars, passing them in the
wrong lane, she hasn’t even passed the cement truck when another vehicle starts
to come towards us (we are completely in the wrong lane at this point). So our
lady, very nonchalantly, slams on the breaks, gives a few polite beeps and
squeezes back in between the car-to-car traffic in our lane. This kind of move
would have left any number of people yelling and gesturing wildly in America,
but here they all seem to accept each others insane driving habits and just
give these little polite beeps from time to time!? I should note that there
doesn’t seem to be much in the way of standards or directions while driving,
during the entire two hours of driving we passed 2 traffic lights and 3 traffic
signs that were only this “!” …that might have something to do with it.
Anyway, we flew to Singapore, then took another flight to
Sumatra and are now an hour closer to you! Sumatra is only 11 hours a head of
Eastern Standard Time. We got picked up by a guide from our Sumatran tour and
taken to this “fancy” hotel, by Indonesian standards. It was the first night we
haven’t slept in a mosquito net and we had a/c! Tomorrow we leave at 9 am to
drive to Tangkahan to stay in the jungle and do some elephant trekking.
Welcome to the Jungle, day 9
We have been hoping that our main guide for our 8 days here
would speak some decent English. We experienced all types of fluency (or lack
there of) with our dive crews and were really hoping to have someone that could
tell us all about what we see. We met Edy this morning in the hotel lobby, after
a breakfast of fried rice and eggs. He is enthusiastic and is really easy to
communicate with! YAY!
We rode in a car 4 hours passing all kinds of palm and
rubber tree plantations. The last hour in the care was unpaved and seriously
rough…we were both a little sick by the end of it. Finally, at the end of the
road we stop at some random and makeshift looking visitor center. Our driver,
whose name is Jiya, says, “its like the Guns-n-Roses song, ‘Welcome to the
Jungle’”! Jeremy in his best (which is bad) Axel Rose impression sings “You
know where you are?” and Edy breaks in with his best Axel Rose impression,
“You’re in the jungle, BABY!” Too funny…apparently, Indonesians love ’80 hair
band music; strangely enough we heard a bunch of in Sulawesi!
We “sign in” and then the driver says he will see us
tomorrow. So we grab (what we now understand to be way too much stuff) our
bags, I have a big pack on, Jeremy has an even bigger pack, and dear sweet Edy
is carrying our awkward small but freakishly heavy pull-along suitcase. We
start winding down some incredibly steep stairs, I am panting and sweating and
thinking to myself “breathe, breathe” when we come out at the shore of this
river, which is maybe 50 ft across. There is no apparent indication of how we
will cross it, just that clearly our destinations is on the other side (which
appears to be more hellish steps…up this time). Anyway, we notice this totally
rickety looking covered raft thing that is floating on the water and these
skinny logs that lead out over the water to this raft. Packs and all, we walk
out over these little logs and get onto the raft. Then the guy “driving” the
raft lets go of a rope and we swing to the other side of the river (where more
skinny pieces of board are waiting for us). These people have rigged this raft
to be anchored to the shore and work on a pulley system of sorts so the raft
just swings back and forth all day as people need to cross the river!
On the other side we climb an obscene amount of steep stairs
with our luggage. We are literally wet from sweating and both breathing hard.
We pass a few structures that, at that point, we would have been happy to stay
at (anywhere that would end this hiking bit). But we keep going and going and I
am grateful to have sneakers on, although our guide is carrying our most
obnoxious piece of luggage and seems to be doing quite well in his plastic flip
flops. We finally arrive at this place which is as Robinson Caruso as anything
I have ever seen. We are in this small, open-air, restaurant with bamboo tables
and chairs and all around is this massive jungle. Turns out this place is on
the side of a cliff overlooking the river we crossed earlier. Way down below we
can hear and see this beautiful clear river going past. It is outrageously beautiful!
They tell us “this is where you eat” (!!!) Then they take us to this great
bungalow that is also on the side of the cliff overlooking the river and
surrounded by the jungle! We have our own little balcony and hammock!
After much deliberation “what are you wearing to ride the
elephant?” “I don’t know, I’ve never ridden an elephant before” we put on what
we believe to be acceptable clothes when riding an elephant and go back to the
beautiful eating place. We try to order 3 different things that are not
available until after 6pm, the waitress tells us that they only have
electricity from 6-11pm each day. So we have fried rice. They also tell us that
if we want to order chicken for dinner, they need 3 hours advanced notice…we
suppose to kill the chicken?!
Eventually we walk down those damn steep stairs again and
wait by where the raft thing was and we see elephants coming up the river
towards us! 5 of them to be exact. We climb onto this holding area and they
walk past and we just jump aboard. Our elephant was Augustine and she was 37
years old! The elephant people have 7 elephants and a 5-month-old baby
elephant. Every other day they do these trekking tours, but otherwise they use
the elephants to patrol the jungle and address “illegal jungle activity” and
poachers. The elephants are native to Sumatra and are smaller than their
African relatives. There are still quite a few wild in the jungle around here,
we saw this mashed down area of the jungle and our guide told us that last week
a wild Sumatran elephant crashed through their camp!
Riding the elephant was surreal, although slightly
uncomfortable as it was like riding a really wide horse. Augustine kept trying
to stop to eat plants and our little elephant driver kept getting off to
encourage her to move forward. Each time he got back on her, he would give her
a command and she would raise her right leg. He stepped on her leg and then
said whatever “higher, higher” is in Bahasa language and she raised her leg
(and him) up until he could jump on board! We spotted all kinds of wild Long
Tailed Macaque monkeys eating in the trees as we walked up the river on the
elephants!
Once we got to their “home” the 5 elephants joined the remaining ones (and the baby) for a swim. They actually go completely underwater! Then we got to clean them and feed them and one of them even gave Jeremy a sloppy kiss! Their trunks are amazing, and they are so dexterous with it, just like an arm with a hand at the end instead of a snout. It was an incredible experience.
We hiked back to camp and our guide said, “put on your
swimsuits and I will show you the waterfall and hot springs”. All day we passed
people in the river, swimming, bathing, and washing their clothes. So we did.
As we were walking back down to the river after changing, we spotted a new kind
of monkey-the Thomas Leaf monkey, which are grey and white and have the most
incredibly human face! Once again we were surrounded by monkeys! The guide said
“they usually don’t let you get that close!” Just another day in the jungle
with random wild monkeys all around! The waterfall was sooo cold and refreshing
and then we swam over to these huge rocks on the side of the river….it started
to smell like sulfur and we knew we were getting close to the hot spring. It
was just this little hot hole in between the big rocks, and poured really warm
water in the river! Then it started to rain….then it became an all out
rainforest down pour. There was this spectacular thunder and lightening and we
could see the river swelling and getting stronger! We raced to dinner in the
rain (having ordered our chicken 3 hours prior) and went to bed in the jungle
in the rain! We are blessed!
In the Jungle, day 10
This morning, I wrote for the blog while Jeremy took some
photographs. Unfortunately, the huge thunderstorm we had last night left the
river raging and brown this morning. We had pineapple pancakes for breakfast
then Edy took us to “butterfly beach” where we saw 10+ different kinds of
butterflies…and there were long tailed macaques in the trees beside us. Then we
took a quick swim, not too long because Edy gets freaked out when the water is
not clear…he says he is afraid of pythons ever since he came across one on a
trail that was eating a deer! Then we packed up, showered and ate lunch before
leaving this part of the jungle. We were mentally preparing ourselves to haul
all our stuff up the winding and steep stairs up and out of the jungle when Edy
casually mentions that we “will take the high bridge out”. So we took a
straight line to a narrow, moving suspension bridge 50ft above the river….SO
MUCH EASIER THAN THE STAIRS! Whew! Then we got into a 4x4 that was waiting for
us and drove for 3 hours on impossibly rutted and terrible dirt roads.
Now we are in Bukit Lawang, the home of the endangered
Sumatran Orangutans. We are in a little guesthouse overlooking a different
river. There was an incredible thunderstorm again tonight. We were eating
dinner at this little place overlooking the river and we had to move tables
further away from the river because the rain was coming in on us! We have seen
so many monkeys climbing on and around other “hotels” that we are keeping our
balcony doors shut so we don’t have any visit us in our sleep! Tomorrow we will
trek through the jungle for “4 or 5 hours”, looking for orangutans and whatever
else we can find.
We packed up our things and separated a small amount to take
with us into the jungle. The items we didn’t need…you know, like our flippers,
we left at the bungalow where we stayed. After breakfast, we started trekking.
Edy told us a few things before heading into the jungle: 1) “it is many steep
up and downs in the jungle” 2) “I am wearing these [ridiculous plastic] shoes
that have no traction (think: jelly-shoe meets a croc) instead of flip flops so
you won’t feel bad in your hiking boots” and finally 3) there is a really mean
orangutan named Mena that has attacked Edy on two separate occasions. Mena is a
legend around here, everyone has heard of her, and everyone is afraid of her.
Almost weekly there is a new report that she has attacked a guide or tourist.
Indonesians tried to take her further into the jungle away from people, and she
broke through her crate/cage twice. When she sees a tranquilizer gun she climbs
high into the trees. So Edy is
actually bringing a “friend” (basically a bodyguard) along just in case we run
into Mena. This friend will carry fruit and other tasty smelling things and if
we see Mena, we will go one way and this guy will tempt her the other
direction. Edy says “its lucky for us, she bit a tourist yesterday and she is
usually happy for a week after an attack.” The name “Mena” strikes such fear
and trembling in the people around here that we are more than just a little
nervous.
Almost immediately into the hike we realize that Edy was
downplaying the “steep up and downs”! We were literally climbing straight up or
rappelling down the mountain on whatever roots or vines we could grab! Did I
mention it was over 85 degrees out? Suffice it to say we were sweating and
breathing hard when we took our second break of the day. About 5 minutes into
our break, we are sitting down eating these lychee-like fruit called rambutans
when Edy stands up all freaked out and says “there is an orangutan, put your
packs on!” and points (this is the 5th orangutan that we’ve seen at this
point). This orangutan is seriously moving fast through the trees and right at
us. Edy yells to his friend “it’s Mena” and to us “run”! Miraculously we were
on as close to a level grounded path as we came across all day…the better to
run from a crazed orangutan. Jeremy said, “Liz, I have never seen you run so
fast!” Anyway, about 3 minutes into our mad-dash in the jungle, our “friend”
(i.e. sacrifice) is long gone with Mena and we seem to be out of her range. We
stopped for lunch about 30 minutes later (Still no sign of our friend) when
finally our friend arrived and explained that he offered Mena bananas in
exchange for his life. Whew!
not Mena, but another oragutang with her baby |
Eventually, Dani, our cooking guy, tells us that dinner is
ready. He has been cooking non-stop since we arrived over a fire with a wok,
occasionally he went to the river to rinse out the wok and start a new dish. So
we sit down by the river and he lays out this ridiculously delicious spread…a
curry vegetable dish, a sweet and sour chicken, and a spicy tofu dish…with rice
of course! We told him that it was the fanciest food we had ever eaten while
hiking. He said “no problem!”. For dessert we had fresh pineapple and peanuts.
What a treat! Before we were chased inside our makeshift tent, we saw some
Thomas Leaf monkeys and said “we hope they don’t come sleep with us…” When we got
into our “tent” which was a 3 sided (huge) plastic bag, stretched out over
bamboo, Dani said he had some tricks to show us. Basically we relived summer
camp glory days all over again with songs, card tricks, and trivia questions-
around the candle. Dani was quite a character! Then we slept on the hardest
ground EVER! We had Indonesian sleeping pads under our sleeping bags, which
were basically like laying on a tissue they were so thin. Although the ground
was hard; we were so tired from our up and downing and the river was such a
nice lullaby that we slept pretty well.
In the Jungle, day 12
We woke up to monkeys all around our tent! We got up and it
was sunny, so we laid the tissue-like sleeping pads down by the river and laid
on our backs watching the monkeys in the trees above us. Dani made us a
delicious omelets/toast breakfast and then we wrapped all of our stuff in
plastic and tubed down the river! Soooo much easier than the up and down
trekking! On our way out in the tube, it was more like white water tubing-Dani
used a long bamboo pole to stop us from careening into huge rocks. He began
singing a song about Bukit Lawang (the place we were) to the tune of Jingle
Bells!
After arrive back where we kept our flippers, we jumped into
the sidecar of a motorbike and rode 15 minutes to a village where we stayed
with an Indonesian family. This family lives in a really nice home, by
Indonesian standards. They have 4 rooms, and rent 2 of them out (one was ours).
The two rooms that they rent out had balconies that overlook rice paddies as
far as the eye could see. The family of 6 shared the smallest, windowless room.
Although the house was big, they had no furniture so we ate and talked on the
floor. After lunch we learned how to grow rice. We got barefoot and climbed
into this rice paddy, which was a field of mud up to my knees. It was actually
kind of pleasant and since you were so far into the mud, and the planting
surface was knee-high; it didn’t require as much bending as planting tomatoes.
It does require a freakish amount of patience and gentleness, as you first dig
up the tiny growing plants from a small patch that works a little bit like an
incubator. Then after gently digging them up (while preserving the roots) you
plant them, 3 or 4 tiny pieces of grass-like stalks at a time…in the mud. Edy
said he was impressed with us as we were planting for an hour. He said, “most
westerners want to see for about 10 minutes, get a photo, and then they are
done.” Of course we were inspired to leave a different impression so we wanted
to keep working but Edy said “no, we will work again tomorrow morning when it
is cooler.” So we took a bucket shower and visited with the family.
The financial situation between Indonesia and America is
more than striking, it is absolutely humbling. We brought coloring books and
crayons for the 3 boys and a small rattle for the baby girl and you would have
thought we had given them an ipad by American standards. The little 5 year old
could not believe he had an entire box of 26 crayons all to himself and he just
kept coloring page after page after page. The mother, Anna, said that they
never had crayons before because they are too expensive. This family owns their
home, but rents the land around them to farm rice. In addition to farming,
Anna’s husband is a guide like Edy when it is high tourist season. They also
have additional income from the room renters. The family of 6 lives on $50 a
week. It seems like even the hardest working people in Indonesia only make just
enough money to scrap by. We probably had more clothes and crap in our
backpacks than this entire family owned. As I said…humbling. We are in
Indonesia during Ramadan, the most sacred holiday in the Muslim faith, which
lasts about a month. During this month, Muslims fast all food and sometimes
even water while the sun is up. So the family gets up early in the morning
(think: 4am) and the mother makes everyone food. They do not eat again until
the sun goes down around 5:30pm. Mothers and small children often do not fast,
which is the case for Anna and her 3 younger children. Her oldest son, who is
12 years old is fasting this Ramadan for the first time. At night before we
went to bed, we heard the local Mosque singing/praying the Koran. Most Mosques
in this area read the Koran out loud since so many villagers cannot read.
The next morning, Anna made us eggs even though her family
eats rice 3 meals a day. We took a walk with Edy to see more rice patties. As
we neared a field where an old woman was working to harvest the rice, she said
“look here, a snake!” and we weren’t quick enough but apparently it was a
cobra. Then Jeremy and Edy had a conversation like this: Jeremy: “I’d like to
see a cobra, these aren’t the spitting kind right?” Edy: “yeah, they spit.”
Jeremy: “but they eat mostly mice and birds, they don’t attack humans, right?”
Edy: “yes, they have been known to attack humans.” Edy must think we are really
special.
Wednesday, July 25, 2012
Safe and well in the Jungle
Hi All!
We have written a detailed account of our recent adventures in the Sumatran Jungle...Complete with elephants, long tailed Macaques, Thomas Leaf monkeys, and Orangutans! But we cannot find a place for wifi to post our pre-written info. Just wanted to let you know we are having an amazing time! We just spent the night in the jungle last night and tonight we will stay with an indonesian famiy and do some farming. Internet is rare so dont worry if we dont post again until the weekend. XOXO
We have written a detailed account of our recent adventures in the Sumatran Jungle...Complete with elephants, long tailed Macaques, Thomas Leaf monkeys, and Orangutans! But we cannot find a place for wifi to post our pre-written info. Just wanted to let you know we are having an amazing time! We just spent the night in the jungle last night and tonight we will stay with an indonesian famiy and do some farming. Internet is rare so dont worry if we dont post again until the weekend. XOXO
Friday, July 20, 2012
Rest of Lembeh
Under the Sea…the rest of day5, day 6, and day 7
After relaxing in our hammocks, we headed out for our first
night dive in Lembeh. We anchored the boat in some small port; there were
literally tons of boats all around us! As we descended, the first thing that
stood out to us was all the trash under the water. It is such a shame, there is
litter everywhere here, Indonesian people have a lot of trouble removing their
garbage from the small islands so they have gotten into the habit of just
throwing the trash into the sea. Undeterred by all the litter, the most amazing
animals have used the trash to build habitats for themselves! We saw several
false fire sea urchins that were neon red and purple on the inside, at night
the inside of them glows and their black thorns blend into the night, so
curious fish swim up to see the light and whammo…dinner.
We saw this little green and gold cuttlefish, which was the
size of Jeremy’s finger. It was
“anchored” to a plant that was exactly the same green/gold
color! Cuttlefish are masters at camouflage, we have literally seen them change
texture and color before our eyes. The have these weird tentacle like things in
the front of them..when they get threatened they spread them all out in crazy
directions to intimate the potential predator. We saw another white cuttlefish
that dive and I shined my flashlight on him, and literally within a minute he
was glowing yellow just like the color of the flashlight! It’s really
unbelievable! Our dive guide found this tiny, tiny purple bobtail squid that
was no bigger than a thumbnail! He was just bopping around right in the sand
looking like something right out of a spongebob cartoon. We saw a sea hermit crab, which is
called the “common hermit crab”, but it was anything but common! It had these
fancy “feathers” poking out one side of it and it was all kinds of colors. It
looked like a crab that had gone through a dress up closet! I wasn’t sure what it was so when we
got to the surface I kept trying to explain it…”you know, the crab that looked
so fancy!” We saw a sponge crab the size of a football walking around with
bright orange coral stuck to his back to blend in! It was really a cool dive,
the creatures that you see while muck diving are soooo strange!
Day 6
We did two boat dives in the morning and saw all kinds of
things as always, several eels, these things called ghost pipe fish which
“hang” right beside these sea corals that are black and white and look like a
hairy plant. You guessed it, the ghost pipe is this thin creepy creature that
is as skinny as the plant-coral he lives in and he is hairy and colored exactly
like it! Then we saw this soccerball sized green frogfish, called the “giant
frog fish”. It doesn’t swim like a normal fish, it has 4 strange “legs” that
are a cross between a webbed foot and a fin and he walks on them. But when he
finds a coral that he likes and wants to sit in, he wedges himself in it and stretches
out his little “legs” to stay perched in place! He has a little whitish colored
“string” that comes out of his head and dangles around like a worm. This
“string” attracts other fish to him and then he eats them! They were really
prehistoric looking! We saw sting rays, porcupine fish, a ton of nudi branchs.
Nudi branchs are the most amazing little creatures, they look like the shape of
a slug and they can be sooooo tiny like a fingernail or as big as your arm.
They come in the most outrageous colors, orange with white polka dots, deep
purple with white and black stripes, sleek with pink “feathers” sticking out of
it, they never cease to amaze me! Its like God took out his tiny tiny
paintbrush for each on of these little creatures! Towards the end of the second
dive, Jeremy starts gesturing wildly (which in our underwater language means
“look at this!”) so I swim over to him and he is pointing out some purple
clam-like thing on the underside of a rock. Our dive guide is giving the “good
find!” signal, but I am still not sure what I am looking at. Our guide then
stirs the sand right by this purple clam and whala! The clam becomes the most
brilliant octopus! He “climbed” out of his hole so we could eye him up, then
was happy to quickly retreat again! We got some great video of this to show you
in person! Good find Jeremy!
Lembeh is a Straight, less than a mile wide, so when we are
diving all around us are these beautiful islands of jungle and sharp cliffs.
People are always going by on these impossibly fragile fishing boats! This
place is really something.
My ears have been a little sore, so I passed on the
afternoon dive today, but Jeremy went out. He saw a blue ringed octopus, tons
of lionfish, anemone cleaner shrimp, scorpion fish, and more of those creepy
pipe fish.
Then we rested up for our last day of diving!
Today is our last day of diving in Indonesia. In total we
have done 17 dives here, and the experience has been totally incredible! We
cannot even explain or summarize these experiences very well. The creatures
that our under the sea are really just something that everyone should make it a
point to see…on google, on tv, or in a aquarium. We feel VERY BLESSED to have
gotten to see these creatures in the wild. Today we saw a lot more of the same
kinds of bizarre creatures, but we did see a new type of frogfish…called the
“shaggy frogfish”. Remember this is the weird “fish” who doesn’t swim, he walks
on his little leg-fins. Well the Shaggy one has these….i don’t know what they
are…but they look just the a hairy sheep dog or a rug from the 1970s! The bits
of debris and algae floating along get caught in this “shag” and the fish
almost completely blends into the muck around it! JUST CRAZY! We are sad to be
done diving, but we are looking forward to the next leg of our jungle
adventure, which actually started before we even left Sulawesi! You shouldn’t
dive within 24 hours of flying due to pressure changes, so we booked a little
trip off the island of Lembeh to the mainland to visit national park/nature
preserve. We went with this lovely Scottish couple that we had met at the
“resort”. We took the boat to the mainland, then drove forever through these
intense winding roads. While en route it began to pour rain and we began to
question our deep rooted interest in this little excursion. We arrived at this
little shack where a man charged us $8.50 for a tour and “to see the monkeys”.
We peed in a hole in the ground. All signs pointed to this being a bit of a
sham. We followed these 2 guides (it was just us and this Scottish couple) and
the one guide suddenly gets on his walkie talkie thing and says this way. So we
walk “this way” for a while, all 4 of us are really suspect about what is
happening, when the walkie talkie guy starts walking REALLY FAST saying, “the
monkeys are fast tonight!” We were thinking “what the…?” So we are walking fast
in this incredible, wet jungle; sweat is literally pouring off of us when all
of a sudden we are IN A FAMILY OF 18 BLACK MACAQUE MONKEYS! I mean they were on
the ground all around us! Big ones, little tiny baby ones, they were walking,
sometimes leaping from tree to tree, sometimes stopping to watch us. We just
kept walking with them (they were fast). At one point, I crouched down and
waited, and a middle-sized Macaque came within 2 feet of me and just sat down!
UNREAL! We had no idea we were in for this kind of treat! Then just as suddenly
as we came upon them, they knew it was bedtime and all took to the trees all
around us! What an experience! But we weren’t done….
Then our guides took us for more sweaty fast walking to a
huge fig tree (the trees in this jungle were enormous and jurassic looking!)
and says “the tarsiers lives here". Tarsiers are one of the smallest primates in the world. They look like an overgrown rat with huge eyes and those suction cup
feet. We waited and waited and the guide said “they come out at 5:30pm” and
sure enough, right on the dot the whole family starts climbing out of the holes
in the tree! We saw five of them…they were 3 feet from us! WILD!
So then we returned and after the windy road back and the
boat ride, we could have slept through dinner if we were so hungry!
Wednesday, July 18, 2012
Lembeh...Day 5
Under the Sea….Day 5
Well everyone told us that muck diving was totally wild and
completely mind-boggling…which is exactly how we have experienced it so far!
The visibility is not good, like 12 feet, and there is trash and muck and lots
of black sand…but the creatures that grow and live here are beyond your imagination!
Instead of being overwhelmed by the color and splendor of a reef all around,
diving in Lembeh is like a scavenger hunt, where we savor each discovery! It is
a much more relaxed pace underwater.
We saw this incredibly rare fish today
called a Ambon scorpion fish-we met people who came from England just to try to
lay eyes on one of these! They are sort of hairy and look exactly like a little
clump of seaweed..with eyes! We saw a coconut octopus and they we saw it being
attacked and eaten by a flounder! We saw 3 swimming spotted sting rays; we saw
a black and white banded sea snake, a demon scorpion fish, and loads of
lionfish. So many little weird and wonderful creatures that our guide started
writing them down on this underwater tablet because we had no idea what we were
seeing! We saw 2 long armed octopuses, a school of razor fish, which “stand”
straight up in the water…down close to the sand so they look like a group of
plants not fish. My absolute favorite thing I have ever seen underwater is a flamboyant
cuttlefish. Today I saw it for the first time and we saw 2 of them! Google it,
I am sure I cannot fully explain these things. They are no bigger than the palm
of my hand, and they look EXACTLY like the dirt and sand all around them, but
if you stir the water near them (which our dive guide did) they turn these
outrageous colors and actually shift back and forth in colors in front of your
eyes! It is almost like they have a band of color moving over them, one second
they are brown, then white, then, yellow, then purple! It is truly a miracle to
witness this color change! They change colors to freak out potential predators.
I just cannot even begin to explain the astounding way that they rotate colors!
Seriously, google it. We did two dives this morning and plan to do a night dive
tonight.
Our “Resorts”
The places we have been staying at are called Two Fish
Divers and are run by a British couple. Almost 100% of their employees
(including all the dive masters and handlers) are Indonesian and they really
couldn’t be more helpful. They took the entire boat, and a crew out just for
the 2 of us to do our dawn dive in Bunaken. While diving, we have always only
had one guide and us…which is so nice! There is no crowding and our guides have
this uncanny ability to spot even the most camouflaged creatures! Half of the
things we have seen so far in Lembeh we would have never noticed on our own.
We eat in an open air pavilion which can be very
exciting…the pavilion here in Lembeh is cathedral like (maybe 20 ft high), last
night during dinner a gecko fell from the ceiling and landed right in
Jeremy’s water glass...he didn't try to sell us any insurance, because he's busy training for the Olympic high dive! The food has been really great, although pretty spicy; I
leave most meals with my nose running from the heat (although I am a total
weenie about spicy). We have some kind of rice and noodles with every meal. For
protein we have fish, chicken, pork, or tofu. There is always fresh fruit and
veggies. We are not planning on having much of either one in Sumatra, so it is
nice to get to eat them here. For breakfast they make us eggs to order….we have
ordered “tomato omelets” which is a fried egg with a (whole) slice of tomato in
it. We have not seen any cheese yet. For dinner, they give us dessert of some
kind, last night it was coconut custard, which tasted great but had a weirdly
crunchy texture (from the fresh coconut). We eat community style with the other
divers. Each place has less than 20 guests. So far we have only met one other
American.
This afternoon (currently), Jeremy and I are relaxing in hammocks
outside our room. We are sharing a fresh pinapple, carrot, and orange smoothie.
Today is the first afternoon that it has not poured rain, we are grateful to be
outside in the cool ocean breeze. The weather continues to be hot, but not
nearly as humid as Bunaken.
We will try to post some photos later.
Tuesday, July 17, 2012
Bunaken to Lembeh...day 4
Under the Sea…day 4
Today we got up at 5:30am and did a dawn dive for our last
morning in Bunaken. As we road to the dive site from the boat you could see the
sun rising over the water behind huge volcanic islands all around! We saw a
turtle before we ever suited up! This morning’s dive was a dift dive, meaning
that we just floated along with the current. We saw a turtle, a black with
white spotted moray eel, a blue spotted sting ray (which are brown all over
with quarter size bright blue spots on its back), and 15+ barracuda. The
barracuda were pretty big, like 3-4 feet long. We were surrounded by thousands
of red tooth trigger fish that have electric blue tails…they were all around us
in the blue and then suddenly ALL the fish started swimming sooo close to the
reef that they looked like a black blanket over the coral…thousands of them!
And we realized that there were barracuda all around which is why all the fish
got so close to the coral! Then we said goodbye to the incredible coral and
returned to the “resort”.
After a quick breakfast and some brief packing, we threw our
bags out by the boat and borrowed our dive master’s motorbike to take a fast
tour of the island. We got some great video footage of the local village (which
is not uploading for some reason). No one on the island of Bunaken has cars, so
every walks or dives motorbikes. It was really fun to take a little mini-tour.
Then back to the resort, we jumped on the boat and headed to the mainland of
North Sulwesi. Then we drove for 2 hours across North Sulwesi and caught
another ferry to Lembeh for the muck diving part of our trip. We were so tired
from all our adventures that we took a 3 hour nap after lunch and are now
heading to dinner. We somehow got our room upgraded to a “Standard room” from
the “budget room” that we ordered…which means we have own our bathroom, a
ceiling fan (!), and real sheets! It’s the small things in life you know…
Tomorrow we will do 2-3 dives in Lembeh and try to check
back with you! Hope you are all well in North America!
Monday, July 16, 2012
Bunaken Day 3
Under the Sea…Day 3
This morning we did two more incredible dives…we saw 3 sea
turtles, a pygmy sea horse that was bright yellow and only the size of my pinky
fingernail….it is actually a miracle anyone even spotted it! We saw a black
moray eel that was opening and closing its mouth so wide that we could see its bright
white teeth. We saw an electric pink leaf fish that has a fin running up its
back that is twice as large as its body (which looks like a large leaf), a 2 ft
long crocodile fish that blends into the sand. We saw whole schools of trigger
fish, damsel fish, some unidentified large silver fish, so many schools of tiny
tiny fish that move as though they have one mind. The coral is so wild, today I
spotted some that looked almost exactly like little broccoli heads! Some of the
corals are soft and move with the current, others are sharp and jagged. Some
form enormous tunnels that we could fit inside…almost like a barrel! We swam
into, up through, and out of a cavern of coral which was incredible. There are moments when you stop
searching so narrowly at the space in front of you and just look up….and see
hundreds of fish, and these indescribable silhouettes of the coral cliff
outlined by the surface of the ocean so far above. In fact, Jeremy and I have
devised a way of communicating with each other under the water…one of the things
we “say” to each other is LOOK AROUND!
On our way back to the island, it was low tide so we had to
anchor the boat 50 yards from the beach. The water is crystal clear and from
the boat, one of the Indonesian guides spotted a bright yellow frog fish, which
are really strange looking, so I leaped out of the boat (after asking) and
walked over to him to get this picture. Meanwhile Jeremy jumps out of the boat
right after and nearly steps on a baby striped sea snake! WHOA POISONOUS! We were only in
like 2.5 feet of water! The visibility in shallow water wasn’t as great today
because of all the rain last night…but we managed to snap a shot of the snake,
although the picture doesn’t quite capture the bright blue and black bands that
circle this snake. One of the Indonesian guides had hopped out at that time and
he was all kinds of nervous that we were all gathered around this snake.
Supposedly they are very docile but extremely lethal. We snapped a photo and
moved on!
This afternoon we went right out front of our resort and
snorkeled, again the visibility wasn’t fantastic but the fish and coral
definitely were! We saw a HUGE lion fish which have all kinds of spines
sticking out of it (like a mane) and they are poisonous. The lionfish’s spines
confuse their prey so they can get really close without the prey fish knowing
it is about to become dinner.
I think I got some great photos, but no time to upload right now. Hopefully tomorrow we'll add some more.
Sunday, July 15, 2012
Bunaken Day 2
Under the Sea…..Day 2
How can we begin to tell you about the underwater kingdom
here…the corals, the colors, the crazy strange creatures. Our two dives this
morning were cliff-drift dives, meaning we followed the current as we passed this
enormous wall of corals. When the current changed, we just went a little
shallower or deeper and switched direction. On occasion the current is so
strong that it shoots you forward, you don’t have to swim at all….it must be
somewhere in the ballpark of what it feels like to fly.
The reefs are so alive here that you could spend an entire
dive in one spot and still be overstimulated. “In the blue” (which is the deep
blue abyss all around the reef) was hundreds of schools of fish….. schools of
trigger fish with electric blue tails, schools of pyramid butterfly fish that
are bright orange with a white diamond, little silver fish, and some so far off
in the distance you could only make out their silhouettes. On the second dive
we saw 8 (!) sea turtles! One was so close to me, I could have kissed it! To
see a sea turtle gracefully swimming right at you…its front legs slowly,
methodically going up and down…its huge-dinosaur head and intelligent brown,
almost cat-like eyes looking right at you. It was moving. Then we “happened
upon” the most enormous turtle I have ever seen…5 feet long and 3 feet
wide…just hanging out on a little ledge of the reef..eating coral.
UNBELIEVABLE! I could watch them all day long. We saw some out in the blue too.
These were the first sea turtles that Jeremy has ever seen in person. He cannot
come up with words that capture his experience. He does note that the diversity
of corals…some stretching 6 feet across that were the highlight of his
day.
A Break from Under the Sea
After we returned from our morning dives, we had this
outrageous thunderstorm and RAIN. I had booked an hour massage with an
Indonesian woman for right after lunch (conveniently during the thunderstorm).
No question, this was the best $10 I ever spent! I have been seriously
considering how to bring her home with me! Then we took a nap and I went on a
night dive. Jeremy was a little waterlogged and needed some land time, so he
did his photography stuff while I went out in the boat.
Night Dive
I have only ever done two other night dives…both in
Australia. If diving on a reef during the day is like being in another world,
then diving on a reef at night is like being in another galaxy! We each had our
own flashlights, otherwise everything is pitch black and all kinds of creatures
come out. You might expect that it is hard to see…because it is so dark, which
is true, but in some ways it is easier to see. The light from the flashlight
reflects more accurately the colors of the corals and fish. What looks mostly
grayish to the naked eye, might actually be rich with color that is washed out
by the lack of light. So during underwater diving, everything is dark except
the beam of the flashlight which shows a ridiculously colorful world!
We had barely decended from the boat and we spotted an
octopus! It started out a light blue color as it moved across the sand. The
head seems to be gliding along while the legs just keep folding up under it. It
“walked” its way to a rough piece of white coral and magically the octopus turned
white and prickly…JUST EXACTLY LIKE THE CORAL! If it had already been on the
coral when we got down there, we probably would never have seen it! We saw
another huge sea turtle, cuttle fish, and all kinds of crabs. (9 turtles in one
day….TURTLE POWER! J) One crab was like the size of a cereal box and had
a bunch of coral attached to it’s back for camoflague! If it hadn’t been
moving, who knows if we would have seen it! We saw a bunch of shrimp, sea
cucumbers, scorpion fish, and creepy worms! And who knows what critters we
missed along the way! On our way back to the island, there was so much
bioluminescents in the water that we stirred up by our boat passing through
that the wake on either side of the boat was literally glowing! It looked like
there were blue fireflies in the water all around us! What a cool experience!
Last night we had the most impressive thunderstorm…it
literally woke us up and just POURED for hours! This morning, everything is
lush and wet and the sun is out! We are headed to breakfast before our morning dives (this is our last full day in Bunaken). We don’t
have many underwater pictures from day 2 as we were 60 ft underwater most of
the day and our camera only works to 40ft.
THIS IS WHERE WE SLEEP
THIS IS WHERE WE SLEEP
Saturday, July 14, 2012
Bunaken, Day 1
Under The Sea
So we slept 10ish hours and woke up around 6:45am. The
weather here is warm, but not as hot as we expected. It is, however, EXTREMELY
humid….so much so that everything feels slightly damp. We do have a nice fan in
our room… which comes in handy when the bath towels feel wet before we used
them. We just stand in front of
the fan until we are dry. So after breakfast at 7am, we got our wetsuits, and
dive equipment and waded through a mangrove forest to get to our boat (it was
low tide so the boat couldn’t come any closer to shore).
THE ISLAND OF BUNAKEN
Our first and second dives were on two separate cliff reefs. Diving here is like all incredible things in nature….try as I might words just cannot begin to convey the majesty! We saw all kinds of coral: fire red, electric blue, lime green, pink, purple, black, completely transparent…some of it was spiny and branch-like, some of it was soft like a flower. We saw so many tubular corals; it was like a freaky science experiment gone haywire! The fish were so diverse…big strange fish, and tiny fish with
ONE OF THE MANY TRIGGER FISH WE SAW
impossibly complex patterns. We saw polka dots, vertical stripes, zigzag lines, camouflage, half purple-half orange, and everything in between! Between the corals and the fish, we were overwhelmed! To name some specifics, we saw: clown fish, box fish, blow fish, barracuda, trigger fish of all sizes and colors, trumpet fish, batfish, sweep lips, lionfish, anemone crabs and shrimp, clams as big as a backpack, blue spotted sting rays, several kinds of starfish, nudi branchs, and so much more.
THE ISLAND OF BUNAKEN
Our first and second dives were on two separate cliff reefs. Diving here is like all incredible things in nature….try as I might words just cannot begin to convey the majesty! We saw all kinds of coral: fire red, electric blue, lime green, pink, purple, black, completely transparent…some of it was spiny and branch-like, some of it was soft like a flower. We saw so many tubular corals; it was like a freaky science experiment gone haywire! The fish were so diverse…big strange fish, and tiny fish with
ONE OF THE MANY TRIGGER FISH WE SAW
impossibly complex patterns. We saw polka dots, vertical stripes, zigzag lines, camouflage, half purple-half orange, and everything in between! Between the corals and the fish, we were overwhelmed! To name some specifics, we saw: clown fish, box fish, blow fish, barracuda, trigger fish of all sizes and colors, trumpet fish, batfish, sweep lips, lionfish, anemone crabs and shrimp, clams as big as a backpack, blue spotted sting rays, several kinds of starfish, nudi branchs, and so much more.
After our first two dives, we came back to the “resort” and
had lunch. Then there was this intense rain that sounded awesome against our
tin roof….so we took a nap (diving isn’t a passive sport remember!) We set our
alarm and woke up in time to squeeze in an extra dive (we have signed up for 2
a day). This dive left a 5pm, and was called the “mandarin dive.” Mandarin are
this crazy fish, approximately two inches, that only comes out at dusk. They
have the most incredible skin! Bright blue and orange in this
JUST FINISHED OUR 1ST DIVE
intricate design… although we only saw 3 of them, we felt really lucky to have a sighting….but that was only the beginning of our dive. We saw a scorpion fish, which are those totally bizarre fish that is so camouflage and looks so much like a rock that 9 out of 10 times you would likely swim right by it…..if you didn’t have a brilliant Indonesian man pointing it out to you! We saw a sea turtle, a frogfish, and 15 angelfish. It was really neat getting to see the
MANDARIN FISH
change of day to night underwater. We ended our dive using flashlights to see! Jeremy sums up his first day of indo diving as “mind-boggling and ridiculously amazing”.
JUST FINISHED OUR 1ST DIVE
intricate design… although we only saw 3 of them, we felt really lucky to have a sighting….but that was only the beginning of our dive. We saw a scorpion fish, which are those totally bizarre fish that is so camouflage and looks so much like a rock that 9 out of 10 times you would likely swim right by it…..if you didn’t have a brilliant Indonesian man pointing it out to you! We saw a sea turtle, a frogfish, and 15 angelfish. It was really neat getting to see the
MANDARIN FISH
change of day to night underwater. We ended our dive using flashlights to see! Jeremy sums up his first day of indo diving as “mind-boggling and ridiculously amazing”.
We just showered from our Mandarin dive and are heading to dinner. Tomorrow agenda looks like 2 more morning dives, an Indonesia massage for me in the afternoon while Jeremy takes photos, snorkeling off the front of the resort on the “house reef” (if we are up for it) and then a night dive. Hope you are all well!
CAN SPOT THE SCORPION FISH?
PS. These are all from our silly underwater camera....so far we are super impressed!
Friday, July 13, 2012
Greetings from Indonesia
After a 7 hour flight to Frankfurt Germany, we had a 2 hour
layover. Then we got right back onto the same plane, which Jeremy referred to
as “home” for 11 more hours, finally arriving in Singapore 23 hours after
leaving JFK. We waiting in
Singapore airport for 2 hours (I was careful not to spit or chew gum) and then
flew 3 hours to Manado, a city in North Sulwesi. We met our guy at the airport
and waited another hour and half for a guy from Denmark to arrive (he was going
with us). We drove 40 minutes through the city of Manado, until we reached the
port and got on this small wooden boat…and waited another hour. Finally we left
and road in the boat for 45 minutes until we arrived at the Island of Bunaken
(pronounce boo NA ken)….OUR FINAL DESTINATION! Total travel time from JFK until
we reached Bunaken was 32 hours. We are now officially 12 hours ahead of
Eastern Standard Time! I have to mention that Singapore Air was the best
airline we have ever traveled on! They served us 3 meals per flight, gave free
alcohol, and had unlimited movies, games, tv shows, and music in the screen in
front of each seat. We flew on an A380-800, which is the “worlds largest
passenger aircraft” with 2 floors and 471 seats! When our legs got numb for sitting
so long, we got up and went up and down the stairs a few times!
Right now, I am laying under our mosquito net, with my legs
blessedly straight. Jeremy is taking a much needed shower. We are definitely a
little weary from all the traveling…and the waiting. At 7pm our time (in an
hour) we will go grab dinner in the “Restaurant” and then head right to bed.
The diving starts tomorrow at 8am so we need to get some rest. Earlier this
evening, ss our boat pulled into the island, and we got closer to shore, the
water was so clear that we could see like a hundred star fish; red, orange,
bright blue, and pink right off the side of the boat! Once we were shin-knee
deep, we literally got out of the boat and walked to shore in the water! Going
under the surface tomorrow is going to be soooo incredible! XOXO from
Indo!
Friday, July 6, 2012
Why Indonesia and Agenda
Upon hearing that we are going to Indonesia, most people’s initial response has been: “Why Indonesia?” So we thought we would kick off our blog off by answering that very question.
THE LONG ANSWER
Our plan to do a big international trip this summer was hatched sometime early last year. We love to travel, and save up to try to do a big-travel trip every few years. There are so many places that we would love to see and experience so we had a bit of a challenge figuring out where to go. We developed a destination narrowing criteria which included: 1. a place we both want to go 2. a place just this side of adventurous/exotic-the kind of place that if we did not go now in the prime of our health and the height of our what-the-hell-attitude, we would likely never visit. And so our list was narrowed to: Indonesia, South Africa/Namibia, or Western Australia (we did the Eastern side in 2003). All three places fit the criteria for #1, but only Indonesia really felt like a place that we would never be adventurous...(read: foolish) enough to go visit in the future.
We first became interested in Indonesia while watching Planet Earth, a BBC series on relatively unknown places, creatures, and happenings in the world. The series featured a brief clip about the underwater world all around Indonesia. Indonesian waters has the highest concentration of marine diversity in the world. Some individual Indonesian reefs contain as many fish as the entire Caribbean Sea. After our interest was piqued, we looking into the country a little more…and found out this: “With over 17,000 tropical and often deserted islands straddling the equator, and with the Indian Ocean to the east and Pacific Ocean to the west, Indonesia has the longest coastline of any country in the world. There are officially 17,508 islands of which 6,000 are inhabited. With almost 240 million people, it is the fourth most populous country in the world — after China, India, and the USA — and by far the largest in Southeast Asia. Indonesia also has the largest Muslim population in the world. Most of the country's islands are mountainous, some so high as to be snow capped, with volcanoes running like a backbone through the country. Laying on the western rim of the Ring of Fire Indonesia has more than 400 volcanoes, of which 130 are considered active (the most for any country in the world), as well as many undersea volcanoes. It's this volcanic ash that gives the Indonesian soil its rich fertility, spawning such an amazing diversity of flora and fauna including the world's biggest flower the rafflesia and the mighty Komodo dragon.”
So we decided to go to Indonesia. However, once we actually got to planning the Indonesian Trip of our dreams, we were stunned at the cost. The flight alone is exactly what you would expect to pay if you were flying Singapore Air through 4 cities until you reach the other side of the world---a small, remote island of Indonesia. While we loved the idea of our Indonesian Adventure, we really didn’t love the idea of how much it would cost. So eventually we reluctantly settled on the idea of going to one of our other destinations.....Although no matter how great Australia and South Africa sounded, they still always felt like our second choice.
Not long after giving up our Indonesian dream we mentioned to my mom about why our plans for Indonesia fell through and my mom, (who has almost had a stroke at the sight of a snake, who likes her kids to be far from home about as much as she likes a root canal, and who lays awake at night worrying about the kind of adventures that we volunteer for) said “that is ridiculous!” She went on to talk us into doing this trip of a lifetime because now is the time, and we might always regret it, and we have the rest of our lives to be reasonable and work (hopefully) etc.
THE SHORT ANSWER
So basically the answer to the question of “Why Indonesia” is because my mom said “Why not Indonesia?”*
*She has since learned about the animals, insects, health, and natural disasters in Indonesia and her enthusiasm has taken a marginal hit.
WHERE IS IT?
If you are anything like myself and were wondering, "where the heck is Indonesia?"...it is lucky for both of us that I married a geography teacher. Watch the video below (or click here for a clearer version) to see Jeremy explain where in the world Indonesia is located:
THE AGENDA
Our goals were:
-have as an authentic of an Indonesian experience as possible in 2+ weeks (i.e. experience the culture, nature, and variety of Indonesia as much as possible)
-See the underwater miracles around Indonesia
-Be a little stretched
So we each planned an 8 night itinerary….while taking each other into consideration (i.e. Jeremy will not have to live on a boat for 7 days, and Liz will not have to bushwack her way in the jungle without being chaperoned by a local Indonesian who knows how to keep people alive in the jungle)
LIZ'S ITINERARY (from July 13-21)
Fly (via JFK, Frankfurt, and Singapore) to the Indonesian Island of Sulawesi ("Strangely shaped, this island houses a diversity of societies and some spectacular scenery, Toraja culture, rich flora and fauna, world class diving sites").
We will be spending the first four days on the Island of Bunaken (off the northern tip of North Sulawesi) where we will be scuba diving around some of the most incredible Indonesian reefs. We are planning to do a night dive here at some point.
Then we are spending the remaining four days on the island of Lembeh (east off the northern tip of Sulawesi) and again diving. While in Lembeh we will be doing Muck diving in the Lembeh Straight (called "the best muck diving site in the world"). "Muck diving gets its name from the sediment that lies beneath most dives: A normally muddy or "mucky" environment. [In our case it will be a black volcanic sand background.] The muck is the perfect habitat for unusual, exotic and juvenile organisms that make their homes in the sediment that compose a muck dive. Creatures like colorful nudibranchs, anglerfish, shrimp, blue-ringed octopus, and rare pygmy seahorses." We are also hoping to do night diving in Lembeh. Then we fly on to Jeremy's Itinerary.
JEREMY'S ITINERARY (from July 21-29)
When Jeremy thinks of Indonesia, he said he thinks of rain forests, volcanoes, and orangutans. Indonesia is the only country in the world where you can see all three, so he wanted to do something that included each. After some research, it turns out that out of those 17,000 islands Sumatra is only one where you can experience the three. So we leave North Sulawesi and fly to Sumatra (via another quick stop in Singapore). Sumatra - "Wild and rugged, the 6th largest island in the world has a great natural and cultural wealth with more than 40 million inhabitants. Habitat to many endangered species such as tigers, rhinos, elephants, and orangutans."
July 21: flight gets in a night...sleep at a hotel in city of Medan in Northern Sumatra.
July 22: Journey 4 hours direct to Tangkahan in the morning in time for elephant trek at 2pm.
July 23: Visit butterfly beach in the morning and relax and swim in the river. Journey 2 hours to Bukit Lawang in the afternoon.
July 24: Visit an orangutan feeding platform in the morning. Continue on trekking and spotting wildlife afterwards. The guide will teach you about the flora and fauna of Gunung Leuser National Park. In the mid to late afternoon the guide will select a suitable spot next to the river to set up camp. Help out with fishing for dinner or learn some jungle skills from the guides.
July 25: After breakfast river tube or trek back to the village from the camp. Go to a rural Indonesian family's home and help out with some farming activities in the afternoon and stay for the night
July 26: Help out with more farming activities etc. Journey 4-5 hours direct to Brastagi in the afternoon
July 27: An early start to climb to the summit of Sibayak volcano. (Approx 4 hours ascent and descent). Visit the hot springs on the descent. Continue for another 4 hours journey to Lake Toba. Visit Spiso Piso waterfall along the way and take in impressive views of the lake. Lake side accommodation on Samosir island.
July 28: Island tour around Samosir Island. Of special interest in this area are the small museum and cultural center at Simanindo and a local Batak king's residence at Ambarita. Also take the opportunity to visit a traditional Batak Toba house, a traditional dance, traditional tombs and a sarong maker. It's also possible to visit the local market or just kick back and swim and relax by the lake. (The car and driver will be at your disposal for the duration of your stay in Lake Toba so you can decide how much or how little you want to do)
July 29: Depart in the morning from Samosir Island. Arrive into Medan and after a rest take a tour around the city. (Visit the big mosque / Sultan’s palace / Hindu temple and Sumatra museum)...fly home via Singapore...returning to the United States on 7/30.
THE LONG ANSWER
Our plan to do a big international trip this summer was hatched sometime early last year. We love to travel, and save up to try to do a big-travel trip every few years. There are so many places that we would love to see and experience so we had a bit of a challenge figuring out where to go. We developed a destination narrowing criteria which included: 1. a place we both want to go 2. a place just this side of adventurous/exotic-the kind of place that if we did not go now in the prime of our health and the height of our what-the-hell-attitude, we would likely never visit. And so our list was narrowed to: Indonesia, South Africa/Namibia, or Western Australia (we did the Eastern side in 2003). All three places fit the criteria for #1, but only Indonesia really felt like a place that we would never be adventurous...(read: foolish) enough to go visit in the future.
We first became interested in Indonesia while watching Planet Earth, a BBC series on relatively unknown places, creatures, and happenings in the world. The series featured a brief clip about the underwater world all around Indonesia. Indonesian waters has the highest concentration of marine diversity in the world. Some individual Indonesian reefs contain as many fish as the entire Caribbean Sea. After our interest was piqued, we looking into the country a little more…and found out this: “With over 17,000 tropical and often deserted islands straddling the equator, and with the Indian Ocean to the east and Pacific Ocean to the west, Indonesia has the longest coastline of any country in the world. There are officially 17,508 islands of which 6,000 are inhabited. With almost 240 million people, it is the fourth most populous country in the world — after China, India, and the USA — and by far the largest in Southeast Asia. Indonesia also has the largest Muslim population in the world. Most of the country's islands are mountainous, some so high as to be snow capped, with volcanoes running like a backbone through the country. Laying on the western rim of the Ring of Fire Indonesia has more than 400 volcanoes, of which 130 are considered active (the most for any country in the world), as well as many undersea volcanoes. It's this volcanic ash that gives the Indonesian soil its rich fertility, spawning such an amazing diversity of flora and fauna including the world's biggest flower the rafflesia and the mighty Komodo dragon.”
So we decided to go to Indonesia. However, once we actually got to planning the Indonesian Trip of our dreams, we were stunned at the cost. The flight alone is exactly what you would expect to pay if you were flying Singapore Air through 4 cities until you reach the other side of the world---a small, remote island of Indonesia. While we loved the idea of our Indonesian Adventure, we really didn’t love the idea of how much it would cost. So eventually we reluctantly settled on the idea of going to one of our other destinations.....Although no matter how great Australia and South Africa sounded, they still always felt like our second choice.
Not long after giving up our Indonesian dream we mentioned to my mom about why our plans for Indonesia fell through and my mom, (who has almost had a stroke at the sight of a snake, who likes her kids to be far from home about as much as she likes a root canal, and who lays awake at night worrying about the kind of adventures that we volunteer for) said “that is ridiculous!” She went on to talk us into doing this trip of a lifetime because now is the time, and we might always regret it, and we have the rest of our lives to be reasonable and work (hopefully) etc.
THE SHORT ANSWER
So basically the answer to the question of “Why Indonesia” is because my mom said “Why not Indonesia?”*
*She has since learned about the animals, insects, health, and natural disasters in Indonesia and her enthusiasm has taken a marginal hit.
WHERE IS IT?
If you are anything like myself and were wondering, "where the heck is Indonesia?"...it is lucky for both of us that I married a geography teacher. Watch the video below (or click here for a clearer version) to see Jeremy explain where in the world Indonesia is located:
THE AGENDA
Our goals were:
-have as an authentic of an Indonesian experience as possible in 2+ weeks (i.e. experience the culture, nature, and variety of Indonesia as much as possible)
-See the underwater miracles around Indonesia
-Be a little stretched
So we each planned an 8 night itinerary….while taking each other into consideration (i.e. Jeremy will not have to live on a boat for 7 days, and Liz will not have to bushwack her way in the jungle without being chaperoned by a local Indonesian who knows how to keep people alive in the jungle)
LIZ'S ITINERARY (from July 13-21)
Fly (via JFK, Frankfurt, and Singapore) to the Indonesian Island of Sulawesi ("Strangely shaped, this island houses a diversity of societies and some spectacular scenery, Toraja culture, rich flora and fauna, world class diving sites").
We will be spending the first four days on the Island of Bunaken (off the northern tip of North Sulawesi) where we will be scuba diving around some of the most incredible Indonesian reefs. We are planning to do a night dive here at some point.
Then we are spending the remaining four days on the island of Lembeh (east off the northern tip of Sulawesi) and again diving. While in Lembeh we will be doing Muck diving in the Lembeh Straight (called "the best muck diving site in the world"). "Muck diving gets its name from the sediment that lies beneath most dives: A normally muddy or "mucky" environment. [In our case it will be a black volcanic sand background.] The muck is the perfect habitat for unusual, exotic and juvenile organisms that make their homes in the sediment that compose a muck dive. Creatures like colorful nudibranchs, anglerfish, shrimp, blue-ringed octopus, and rare pygmy seahorses." We are also hoping to do night diving in Lembeh. Then we fly on to Jeremy's Itinerary.
JEREMY'S ITINERARY (from July 21-29)
When Jeremy thinks of Indonesia, he said he thinks of rain forests, volcanoes, and orangutans. Indonesia is the only country in the world where you can see all three, so he wanted to do something that included each. After some research, it turns out that out of those 17,000 islands Sumatra is only one where you can experience the three. So we leave North Sulawesi and fly to Sumatra (via another quick stop in Singapore). Sumatra - "Wild and rugged, the 6th largest island in the world has a great natural and cultural wealth with more than 40 million inhabitants. Habitat to many endangered species such as tigers, rhinos, elephants, and orangutans."
July 21: flight gets in a night...sleep at a hotel in city of Medan in Northern Sumatra.
July 22: Journey 4 hours direct to Tangkahan in the morning in time for elephant trek at 2pm.
July 23: Visit butterfly beach in the morning and relax and swim in the river. Journey 2 hours to Bukit Lawang in the afternoon.
July 24: Visit an orangutan feeding platform in the morning. Continue on trekking and spotting wildlife afterwards. The guide will teach you about the flora and fauna of Gunung Leuser National Park. In the mid to late afternoon the guide will select a suitable spot next to the river to set up camp. Help out with fishing for dinner or learn some jungle skills from the guides.
July 25: After breakfast river tube or trek back to the village from the camp. Go to a rural Indonesian family's home and help out with some farming activities in the afternoon and stay for the night
July 26: Help out with more farming activities etc. Journey 4-5 hours direct to Brastagi in the afternoon
July 27: An early start to climb to the summit of Sibayak volcano. (Approx 4 hours ascent and descent). Visit the hot springs on the descent. Continue for another 4 hours journey to Lake Toba. Visit Spiso Piso waterfall along the way and take in impressive views of the lake. Lake side accommodation on Samosir island.
July 28: Island tour around Samosir Island. Of special interest in this area are the small museum and cultural center at Simanindo and a local Batak king's residence at Ambarita. Also take the opportunity to visit a traditional Batak Toba house, a traditional dance, traditional tombs and a sarong maker. It's also possible to visit the local market or just kick back and swim and relax by the lake. (The car and driver will be at your disposal for the duration of your stay in Lake Toba so you can decide how much or how little you want to do)
July 29: Depart in the morning from Samosir Island. Arrive into Medan and after a rest take a tour around the city. (Visit the big mosque / Sultan’s palace / Hindu temple and Sumatra museum)...fly home via Singapore...returning to the United States on 7/30.
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