Bali

And finally we reached our long-awaited destination: Bali. How happy we were to see…beds. After muddy jungle treks, dusty volcanos, and a few too many sunrises, it was time to relax. In the black sand beach town of Pemuteran we lounged in chairs, bathed in hotel swimming pools (okay, just me, I had refused to take a cold shower for days) and snorkeled the island’s premier reef. It went so well we even drank arak (Balinese liquor) with our snorkel instructor later in the evening. All in all a great stay…until…Robin’s iPhone met the Bali Sea. It never made a full recovery. RIP.

Next stop, Ubud. My "hippie gourmet" paradise complete with yoga, spas, and shopping. We hit the jackpot with a gorgeous, two-room, second-story guesthouse for a bargain price, complete with 5am crowing roosters. When I think of Ubud I try to recall what I did besides partake in trendy health fads…but my memory is clouded by too much amazing food. I believe we practiced yoga in a fancy barn full of hipsters. And at one point I’m pretty sure a monkey jumped on my head and tried to steal my coconut bacon (a food that may give you more of an idea what Ubud is about…) I obviously fought that monkey off hard.

I’m not going to list off all the divine culinary delights even though I really, really want to…

But let me say, there are unbelievable things you can do with coconut, avocado, cashews and fresh vanilla bean. I crave creativity.

Though all Indonesian coffee is unfiltered, one day I literally drank shit. Will you believe me if I tell you I went out of my way and paid extra to drink coffee beans that had passed through the digestive track of the Luwak rodent? Mmm, flavor…

In case of a lack of tuna, I had been carrying a supply across southeast Asia. When you’re only carrying 15 pounds, you gotta prioritize, ya know? All so Rob and I could have the perfect tuna sandwich on the beach. Tuna day finally happened in Sanur. We collected the essentials: an avocado, a packet of mustard, freshly baked bread, and our preferred Cokes. Pure bliss.

Last stop: Kuta. We procured our autumn tans to the soundtrack of “Hello, massage? Hello, manicure? Hello, ice cream?” Finally, we took to the long board. Our chiseled instructor did not distract us to the point that we were unable to learn to surf. We both stood!

After a month of (too) many different beds, so began the 54 hour journey back to Washington. Bali--Kuala Lumpur, where we slept in the low-cost carrier terminal across café chairs (diva bed, haaay!) KL--Seoul, to pick up my year’s worth of belongings and sleep homelessly in the Korean bathhouse. And lastly, Seoul--DC in a direct albeit 13.5 hour flight. It was the longest leg, but six movies and nearly twice as many glasses of wine made it rather enjoyable.

Then I got off the plane in America……

 This on one side...

...beach on the other.

Photographic proof of multiple monkey attacks in Southeast Asia

Oops...a little off trail...but glad we did.

Heyy little Luwak, wake up and make me some coffee!

The iconic green tea fields of Ubud.

A Hindu island amid a larger Muslim country.

The offerings are impossible not to step on...

Balinese dance performance

So close to Surfing USA...just 54 hours to go...

Last sunset in Bali

Diva bed...lack of sleep already setting in...

Hey, I look like I might be excited to head home!

Java

What started out as entertaining quickly became annoying by the time the 10^th stranger asked us to take pictures. At every major tourist site and many places in between, Indonesians asked us to pose with them, for them, or just stealthily taking our pictures without evening asking at all. It got old quite fast and maintaining a polite demeanor took patience. We just wanted to go about our normal day. (Is there ever really a normal day in Asia?)

Highlights of Java included our trip low for accommodation standards. When the book said “clean” it seemed to be code for “basic,” and more often than not, “unclean.” Hello little cockroach! We’d come too far to be overly bothered by this…

A redeye train took us to Yogyakarta to my favorite of all guesthouses, run by warm Indonesian women serving a mighty fine breakfast on the patio. That combined with laundry service was another rebirth for us. Prambanan Hindu temples and Borobudur Buddhist temples filled our days while good eats occupied our evenings…literally. More often than not our we’d feast on progressive dinners over the course of several restaurants…more compatibility points for Robin and Allie.

From there we were off to the eastern laying volcanoes of Bromo and Ijen. Upon leaving Seoul I anticipated a month of constant heat and humidity. My little raincoat did not leave me prepared for the near freezing temperatures of the volcanic highlands. Was this Indonesia, the country that straddles the equator?? Our daily activities/hikes essentially began in the dead of night (or rather the beginning of night, as was the case with Ijen.) So I’ll write about what I think happened on this trip. The hour made it all too surreal…it was probably all a dream.

Barely awake we embarked on a massive jeep convo and across the dusty volcanic plain, along with every other traveler in Indonesia. We were en route to watch the sun rise over Mt. Bromo. Perhaps had we reached the rim by horseback I would have a cheerier memory, but the volcanic dust storm blinded and left us looking like coalminers. By breakfast we’d basically finished the day’s activities. It was onward toward Ijen where I called it a night at 5pm. Literally. Praise the eye mask and melatonin.

Before deeming me insane, there was good reason to wake up at, wait for it, 12:30am. We had a volcano to ascend and a crater to descend to witness the sulfuric blue fire before day break. I had never seen nor heard of anything like it and it only added to the skyrocketing level of surrealism. It ended up being a highlight of the trip and I feel bad for the suckers who slept in to hike Ijen by daylight…but by that point they had no idea what they had missed. One more Javanese sunrise…but we could almost taste Bali!

The Washington Monument of Jakarta...the Obama connection continues...

Breakfast in Yogya.

Missing my deliciously flavored though gritty Indonesian coffee.

Prambanan silhouette 

Prambanan Hindu Temple

On top of Borobudur Buddhist Temple

Posing for pictures...this time in front of one of our own cameras.

Caravanning across the volcano

Doesn't appear as if a dust storm was looming...

Not falling into Bromo

Tree blocking the bridge at 1am...Ijen adventure nearly foiled

Ijen crater

Sumatra

We divided the remaining three weeks among three Indonesian islands: Sumatra, Java, and Bali. This length of time would give us the flexibility to plan along the way and allow for inefficiencies in travel, at least we thought. We left a lot of territory uncharted but throughout the trip we seldom found another traveler keeping our pace.

Had we had any idea where we wanted to go upon landing in the Medan, maybe Indonesia wouldn’t have smacked us so hard in the face. Wake up…we’re not in Malaysia anymore and worlds away from Singapore. Upon being swarmed by cab drivers and tour guides we immediately sensed an increase in attention and how aggressive people were about selling their services. Unaware of what was going on around us, we stayed on-guard, wondering if there were ulterior motives to people so seemingly helpful. It was draining to constantly be questioning the character of everyone we met, unsure if in some unknown way we were getting taken advantage of.

But we were later rewarded at the most beautiful lake I’ve ever visited, Lake Toba. Accommodation and food prices were even cheaper than Malaysia…and put right on our room tab. Cozy chairs to accompany a traditional Batak dance performance. We really needed this moment.

Later on we hiked a volcano in Berstagi and recuperated in the hot springs below. The following day we went off-book to a waterfall crystal blue, thanks to volcanic sulfur and phosphorus. It required a few hours of jungle trekking but reaching it was exhilarating. We couldn’t quite bare the icy cold water, though. Our final morning in Berstagi we woke to a layer of volcanic ash due to an overnight eruption!

In Bukit Lawang we ventured into the jungle in hopes of catching a glimpse of the endangered orangutans. And successful we were! Maybe too successful, as we were soon chased back by an aggressive female. No matter how exhausted you are, when someone yells “Run!” you can always find a little energy to get the heck out.

There were situations when we’d question what the heck we were doing out here in southeast Asia. The majority of the time I kept my cool, but in some uncertain situations I’d glance over to Robin to reassure myself that at least she felt in control of the situation. We paired well in that we never had simultaneous meltdowns!

To round out Sumatran adventures, we returned, ticketless, to the Medan airport in hopes of catching a flight to Java. Though we got one, there was a number of moments we each thought that plane might not make it safely to Jakarta…

After an intense and nerve-wracking first day in Indonesia, we're on the last leg to Toba!

Good morning, Sumatra!

Rebirth

Crater of Sibayak

My secret waterfall!

Sibolangit Waterfall

Bungalow chillin' at the "Isolation Cabin"

My orangutan sister

Singapore

Singapore. There’s nothing like it in Southeast Asia. Futuristic is my favorite adjective. Shiny, modern, upscale, cosmopolitan are also appropriate. It’s also a budget-buster as our 1-day/2-night stopover cost us as much as a week in Malaysia. But we packed in every second of our brief stay.

When Singapore decided to rain on us, we naturally decided to go to the botanical gardens. With the experience firmly behind me, I can easily say it was worth it. I can only imagine it on a sunny day. The more I travel the harder it is to “impress” me but the orchid garden was exquisite!

Like Malaysia, Singapore is a blend of culture, so lunch time took us to Little India for the south Asian spices that never fail us. We also stopped at a nearby mosque; after all the calls to prayer that had been waking us up throughout out travels it was only proper that we visit the source. City trekking also brought us to Chinatown to see the authentically questionable tooth of the Buddha. And also to a hipster pie shop, so I’d say we probably covered all the cultural bases.

Good thing dinner at the hawker stalls was cheap because we emptied our wallets throughout the rest of the evening. First to Raffles Hotel, where you can drink the original Singapore Sling for only $27. Fortunately we made up for it with the unlimited free peanuts, the shells of which we discarded on the floor. We had to dig deep into our pockets again to ride the Singapore Flyer observation wheel, but who knows the next time we’d be back in Singapore! And lastly to the rooftop bar of the Marina Bay Sands, an extravagant hotel…with a fish on top? Was it that I had just spent a week in a country of much more limited means that being here made me feel so uncomfortable? This is when I realized that this was not a lifestyle I long for. A little friendliness went a long way when we were granted access to the Infinity Pool, the edge of which dramatically dropped off into the Singapore skyline. A lack of swimsuit could not prevent me from wading in…

We walked more in Singapore than any other day in the trip, maybe in my life. We wore ourselves out and completely forgot our last site, the Merlion Statue.

Singapore's Botanical Gardens

Orchid mania

Mosque

Chinatown shrines

The ORIGINAL Singapore Sling at Raffles Hotel

Flying over Singapore!

Marina Bay Sands...

Infinity Pool!

Malaysia

Malaysia, our first taste of Southeast Asia. And what a delicious country it was. Malay, Chinese, and Indian cuisines filled the bellies of two food appreciating travelers. We became street food connoisseurs, always splitting every dish to maximize taste bud stimulation. Ten course meals at prices unthinkable in America. Spoons and forks were plentiful, but knives in Malaysia? Ha, yeah right. I loved being immersed in a food culture so heavily influenced by coconut, peanut, lemongrass flavors. And tropical fruit, I’ll never get enough, minus the durian. In Malaysia I finally realized that every culture has discovered how battering and deep-frying makes anything taste even better. I can't think of a disappointing meal but the highlights included grilled fish, coconut milk curries, tom yam soup, kaya (coconut egg jam), char kway teow (fried flat noodles) cendol (coconut cream shaved ice)...on and on...

Our week in Malaysia consisted of a nonstop day in Kuala Lumpur, a trip to the refreshingly chilly Cameron Highlands, beach time in Palau Pangkor, and a food fest in Penang. I knew I wasn’t in Korea anymore by the diversity of skin color and women in headscarves.

Malaysian rainy season seemed to have escaped our pre-trip research. No matter how sunny the morning seemed we quickly learned to always pack our raincoat. Though the downpours were not the most welcome, we never let them slow us down.

In Malaysia, English is widely spoken. English translations made acquiring a few basic Malaysian vocabulary words, mainly food related, rather easy. “MalEnglish” words also helped us navigate this new country, such as teksi (taxi)and coklat (chocolate). All the Malaysians we met were incredibly friendly and helpful and we rarely had issue communicating. We felt safe wherever we went.

“Travel is a state of mind” was my mantra for the trip. I sought to savor my own unique experience instead of succumbing to the pressures and temptations of seeing, doing, eating, and photographing everything. But it was only with moderate success; I wanted as much as I could get. Only a few days in we found that while the busy days left us utterly exhausted, the relaxed days left our minds a little too idle. Finding the right balance would take a little practice.

Malaysia was a great introduction to Southeast Asia. Little did we know how our experience would intensify in Indonesia. In the Cameron Highlands we learned to always ask to see a room before we pay. (In Indonesia we would learn that that Malaysian room was actually quite nice…)

Batu Caves in Kuala Lumpur

Another subway doing it right...

Petronas Towers of Kuala Lumpur

Tea fields in Cameron Highlands

We're not the only ones who don't like durian fruit...

My favorite plate will always be a banana leaf!

Relaxation in Palau Pangkor

Hundreds of little Buddha's covering a temple's wall

Ice Kacing. Kidney beans and root beer...in the same dessert? Never again.