Bring Your Own Life Jacket

It's been awhile coming, but here's the final climax of our trip over the New Year holiday. To get to and from Gili Trawangan, you can take a small boat from Lombok or you can take a speed boat from Bali. We chose to go from Bali.

Because there's a big demand for passengers trying to get to the Gili islands from Bali, there are several companies that offer transportation services. Our trip to Gili Trawangan was uneventful, but when we were on our way back, although it was a beautiful day, the seas were really rough.

At one point while we were crossing the approximate 50 miles between the islands, we started hitting some really large swells. For some reason, this French guy (wearing matching flower print shirt and shorts) stood up to talk to his friends. As we hit a huge swell, he immediately fell in his friend's lap, then went flying up in the air and hit the ceiling and then fell down to the floor again. After that the captain slowed down and we got back to Bali uneventfully.

Because the New Year holiday is one of the biggest travel times of the year, we had to take Merpati Nusantara Airlines, which is less reliable than some of the other options. It was delayed about an hour, but then we were on the runway ready to take off. The captain hit the throttle, but then the plane went quiet and we headed back to the terminal for repairs. We waited at the airport for five more hours and they finally had to pile all the passengers and luggage onto two small buses to take us to a hotel promising that the plane would leave at 9 am the next morning. But it didn't. Hill and I were among the lucky ones because we insisted on getting the cell phone number of the manager and we were able to get on the following day's flight, a mere 24 hours delayed. Unfortunately the majority of the other passengers were stuck back at the hotel and left to wait yet another day.

The following Monday, we were back at work and we heard people talking about a boat that sank off the coast of Bali the same afternoon we were crossing. Apparently one of the other fast boat shuttle operators, Lian Senggigi, started taking on water and the boat sank, luggage and all, 700 meters from Bali! It was really lucky that the boat was so close to Bali because many people had to swim to shore or were picked up by local fishermen.

Why does it always rain on me?

If there's one theme in our stories from Indonesia, it must be that things never run perfectly smoothly. That rule was in full effect during our trip to Gili Trawangan.

We stayed at Hotel Vila Ombak; probably the nicest hotel on the island. They had just finished a row of new cottage rooms a month before and we were in one of those. It was a nice place with a good pool and definitely a step above the backpacker dives for $10 a night.



But then it rained. While we were sleeping on our first night, we heard the rain pouring...into our room. It seems in their rush to finish construction, they neglected a few details. By morning, the curtains were dripping water and anything we set close to the walls was soaked.

We moved to the room above us the next night and later figured out why our room had flooded. On the balcony to the upstairs room, several inches of water pooled and drained into the room below. (We noticed that after we moved, a new couple immediately moved in below....'cause that makes a lot more sense than fixing the problem....)

But there's more. Because it was New Year's Eve, the hotel organized a huge party and built a stage over the ocean and several huge tents to cover the seating on the beach. The dinner was compulsory and overpriced, but we figured it would still be fun.

But then it rained. The roof they built started leaking. And then water started pouring through and onto the tables. Tablecloths were soaked and water glasses were being filled by rain, yet the waiters were still bringing people to these tables, saying "Here is your table, sir".

And then the roof collapsed. Not the whole thing, but it collapsed onto the table next to us. We thought about making a run for it, but decided that the rest would hold after they started cutting holes to let water drain through the roof. So we grabbed our umbrella and stood in the buffet line to get their crappy food (we found much better food under one of the other tents after we were already full).

But here's my favorite part. They brought a famous Indonesian DJ to perform, and all the kids who never drink came over from the main island. Because the ferry boats going back didn't return until the morning the party kept going all night. Or at least the music did. Our room's thatch walls didn't block the sound, so it sounded like we were inside a club. At around 2 am, we put in ear plugs and tried to sleep. When the music finally stopped at 9 in the morning, I said to Hillary, "I'm not sure I can go back to sleep now that it's so quiet." Luckily right then, construction started up next door!

Happy New Year!

To celebrate New Year's Eve and to take advantage of a few holidays back to back, we went to a tiny island called Gili Trawangan that's an hour by speed boat from Bali. It was the perfect place to go to get away from Jakarta: the only vehicles allowed on the island are bicycles and horse carts called cidomos. Just to describe how tiny the island is, we were able to bike around the whole thing in about an hour.

We spent five nights there and really had a chance to relax. We lounged on the beach, ate great food and did a couple of scuba dives. The water was the clearest we've seen in Indonesia and the white sand beaches were the perfect place to spend the whole day. We had an amazing trip, but this is Indonesia: there's always adventure in even the simplest of things. More to come later. Enjoy the pictures for now.

The Indonesian Minivan

Sometimes I think one of the biggest limiting factors to even more rapid population growth here is the size of a motorcycle. When you consider that you can buy a small motorcycle for around $700 and it only costs a couple bucks to fill up, it's the obvious transportation option for a family of limited income. But you don't want to have more kids than you can bring with you on your bike or you'll run into other problems. We see four on a bike everyday; we've yet to see more than five. One kid in front of the dad and two squeezed in between him and the mom. A motorcycle really is the Indonesian equivalent of the Minivan.

You see all kinds of crazy transportation here. During rush hour, we can see people riding on top of the train that goes near our apartment. I can't blame them too much since the alternative is being packed like sardines.

You also see amazing innovation for moving the goods that you're trying to sell. There's the boy who rides in front of the embassy with teapots tied to the back of his bicycle to the guy who attaches a massive amount of freshly cut rice to the back of his bike.

And then there's this guy:

44 turns

We ended our trip in Sumatra with a vacation for a few days in Bukittinggi, which is a cute semi-resort town way up in the mountains in northern Sumatra. The town is small enough that we could walk most of it, although we rented a motorbike to get around. We finally felt like Indonesians zipping through the streets. Although, compared to them we were very tame on the bike, with good reason. Sometimes I really think they are just asking to get hurt!

The first picture is the mayor's house which we could see from our hotel balcony. Many of the buildings in this area of Sumatra have roofs which are styled this way, after water-buffalo horns.
We took our motorbike about an hour to the west to reach a volcanic crater lake, which was absolutely gorgeous. Here was the view from the top of the crater: Then, to get down to the lake, it was a series of 44 hairpin curves. There was a sign at each curve that told you which number you were at, so you knew how many turns were left to get to the bottom (or the top). There were a ton of random monkeys along these curves; they liked to sit on the guardrail posts, or play in the middle of the road - only getting out of the way at the very last second! Here is a typical scene by the lake, with a guy working the rice paddies. We also saw a local with a monkey on a chain, who he "employs" to climb up trees and get the best coconuts. I never knew people did that until I saw it.

Lost In Translation 2

If you have seen "Lost in Translation", then I don't even need to explain this picture of one of the TV interviews John did. You can just imagine for yourself....

102.7 FM

Our next stop was the city of Palembang, only 11 short hours away by night train. Of course, over here we can afford the "executive class" train seats - the best of the best. Well, the best of the rest anyway. Really, the cockroaches didn't bother us too much - we made sure to put our socks on before trying to sleep. The broken windows? We came prepared with ear plugs! It was basically like coach class on a plane, except for the constant stopping.....and starting.....and stopping.... and starting the whole ride due to mud on the tracks! Needless to say 11 hours on a plane actually sounded nice after that trip!

We did a radio interview to get the word out in Palembang about the Diversity Visa program. While John did most of the interview, the radio host kept asking me questions on-air, so I got to be on the radio speaking Indonesian as well!

After the show we did the requisite photos with all the radio station staff, which involved every possible combination of people and poses, with each person's camera, cell-phone camera, etc. That can sometimes take awhile......

TV star?

John recently had to do a whirlwind work tour around the island of Sumatra. I decided to go with him on the trip so we could explore together. The main purpose of the trip was to get the word out to the public on the Diversity Visa Lottery. The Diversity Visa is an annual lottery through which nationals of countries which the U.S. considers to be under-represented through other immigration channels can apply for an immigrant visa (legal permanent residence) in the U.S. We covered five cities in one week, so needless to say we were busy.

The majority of Indonesians don't know about or don't understand how the program works. John did TV and radio interviews, as well as meetings with governors and university students to spread the word. One very important thing he wanted to get across is that it is free to apply for the chance to win a green card. For most Indonesians, the opportunity to live and work in the US would give them a much better standard of living that what they have in Indonesia. That said, not everyone is interested in that chance.

The first city we stopped in was Bandarlampung, which is on the southern end of Sumatra. One of the things he had to do that day was go to a TV station and do a talk show interview. The TV station was quite far up in the mountains, but the further away from the city we got the more we wondered what the station would be like. Finally, we turned up a dirt road and came upon it:

John did a great job as the whole interview was in Indonesian. Here are some pics of John and the host of the show, along with the camera guys.

Afterward, he was interviewed quite a bit more outside. Everyone wanted to get him on camera and have him speak about the program, and we know the information reached a lot of people this way.

Mom and Dad - World Travelers

My mom and dad recently made the long trip to Indonesia to visit. They flew the twenty something hours in coach, and then had to wait two hours in line at immigration in Bali with all the other tourists. And the Indonesians sometimes wonder why more tourists don't come here...

After that, we had a great and relaxing time. We went to the beautiful islands of Bali and Lombok and stayed in awesome private villas. We spent our days relaxing by the pool or beach, taking naps, eating and doing some limited sightseeing.

My dad and I played Nirwana Golf Course in Bali, which is one of the top rated courses in all of Asia. It was a beautiful course, but it kicked our butts. We had caddies who would do a good job fetching our stray balls, but we still lost around a dozen.

After Lombok, we brought my parents to the Big Durian, Jakarta, to show them what life is normally like for us. It's not all fun and games here as my dad realized when he got a cough from all the pollution we deal with on a daily basis. They really enjoyed getting to see where we lived and to see what Indonesia is like. Without a doubt, it was the trip of a lifetime for them and I know they're not too disappointed that Lisbon is significantly closer to home.

Marine Ball

We attended our second Marine Ball in Jakarta last night, celebrating their 233rd birthday. As always, they are a lot of fun. This year there was an Indonesian band, which made the dancing that much better. Here are some pics from the night.