I'm Alive!

I promise! I was away in beautiful Brittish Columbia for a week, and collecting myself over these past few days. I have pictures coming of course - of my trip and of my doilies. Christmas would not be the same without snowflake doilies.

So stay tuned - until about 5:00 Atlantic time when I get my act together.


Until then, please enjoy my my not so strict tradition of Tuesday's with Indonesia and I will share with you my new discoveries.


First of all: Indonesia is a go! I have finally booked my tickets through my grandmother's 'magic' travel agent, who definitly had some kind of sorcery going on to get me these prices. Flying out of Vancouver March 2 (after I train accross Canada) to Bangkok. I have no idea what I'll be doing and where I'll end up in Thailand but my goal is to be in Jakarta two weeks later. I fly out of Jakarta and back to the love of my life April 18th.


I have had to narrow down where I want to be in Indonesia, and I think Sulawesi will be my main destination.
This area includes the Togean Islands. Which among other things include a couple dozen tiny islands to explore, and apparently beautifully deserted beaches.

They also are home to this beast: the coconut crab.

I am attracted to these islands (more than the multiple other islands that have pristine beaches and barely there tourist industry) mostly because they have 'deserted resorts' and volcano islands that I could easily wander around and have some misadventures in.

Finally, I am looking into volunteering somewhere. As I am not too keen on Englishteaching (which tends to be the primary focus of many 'community development' programs...) I have been trying to find environmental organizations to help out. I originally wanted to wwoof but that seems nearly impossible given there is no national wwoofing organization.

But I found the Indonesian Wildlife Rescue (which happily operates out of northern Sulawesi). For a international volunteer program, its actually pretty inexpensive, and they clearly state how they use your donation. It seems like a pretty excellent option - I'll get to look after (aka shoveling shit)some beautiful animals...

Bentu and Is

Spotty the leopard

....Wednesdays with Indonesia?

So I recently found out that Lonely Planet will come out in January with the first book on indonesia since 2007 - my copy. Good think I bought it....

In anycase, I'll probably by this new one so I'll actually know how giant babies, terrorism, and earthquakes have affected prices. I need to know if I can still get by in beach huts for 5$ a night.

This weeks little snippet is filled with my dream islands. The Alor Archipelago. These islands are remote - even farther East than those islands I talked about last week. They are right beside East Timor if you need a better geological reference. They were still headhunting up until the 1950s. Pretty exciting.

In anycase I have a really big interest in Lamalera - the people that surprizingly still hunt whales and even more surprizingly are allowed by all the environmentalists and anti-whaling organizations.

But if everyone hunted whales like this than I imagine a lot more people would be allowed to:




Now I don't really plan to go there and have a go at stabbing a whale. But I just thought this little tid-bit was pretty interesting - and I think I've already fallen in love with the Alor's - even without seeing it.

Although I do understand the problems with Lonely Planet guides - and believe me they are many - I can see that parts of this Indonesian one are very humble. Many times sections actually refer you to 'Mr. Jim' or 'Dive-Master Dave' or any number of famous local personalities that are aparently the best source for information. When hotel/guest house listings mention how 'Baba Yosef' is a really excelelnt chef - it sort of makes a difference. I automatically are more drawn to these places - they seem far more personable than the resorts and 'Hotel Florida's' that seem to be everywhere. I suppose it's all probably different now - but I can dream.

Textophobia and Tuesday's With Indonesia!

Okay okay, Late again!

Tuesday's with Indonesia is brought to you by Komodo Dragons, found on Rinca, Western Flores and of course, Komodo Island.



(landscapes from Komodo)

Nowadays Komodo National Park is considered one of Indonesia's main attractions - I mean who could really pass up the opportunity to visit a dragon. But from the available information the government and park have taken amazing precautions about dragon oriented tourism. Yeah!

I love David Attenborough quite a bit, you know the old grandfather voice-over on every BBC nature documentary that's been made in the past 60 years. That's the man. Way Way Way back when, around the time that Indonesia was still probably thought of as native backwaters, the BBC and Attenborough actually went to Komodo Island. Traveling wasn't quite as easy back then and the "Zoo Quest" series they were filming led Attenborough into a few harrowing situations.

Attenborough tells of danger on the crew's hazardous boat trip with a gun-smuggling captain and the terror of erupting volcanoes. He also depicts for the listener some of the incredible sights he and his team witnessed - breathtaking butterflies, taking tea with Charlie the orang-utan and the the voyage to the little-known island of Komodo to capture the elusive Komodo Dragon. David Attenborough's early adventures are sometimes life-threatening, often hilarious and always totally absorbing.

Excellent. If I end up in these islands - expect to see me galloping around with a herd of Dragons.


On another strange note:

I'm pretty sure I have a very mild form of Textophobia - the persistent, abnormal, and unwarranted fear of certain fabrics. I really really really cannot stand touching felt, the fabric on the ceilings of cars, fleece and increasingly cotton.

Lately I've been folding laundry or making my bed and constantly want to clench my teeth, moisturize my hands, and resist the urge to shiver. Although I am not afraid of these fabrics - I definitely don't want to touch them. Strange for someone who is making a quilt, likes to felt, and is currently crocheting with wool.

If you can image nails on a chalkboard, scraping your fork against a plate.... this is what I experience with felt. My mother has told me I didn't even like doing crafts with felt when I was little.

I hope it stops freaking me out, and starts to lessen. What if I can only surround my self with silks in the future!?

Tuesday's With Indonesia

Oops - I'm late!

But I was doing Indonesian related things yesterday, I went to the travel clinic and got an injection for Typhoid. Luckily I've had about a million vaccinations in my life, so thats basically the only one I need (unless you count the shot that costs 165$ x 3 - which is both ridiculous and impossible).

So other than getting shot up, I've been reading about the Nusa Tenggara region in Indonesia. On my never ending quest for finding the perfect deserted island - I've been looking up the tiny Gili islands, and Flores.

The Gili Islands are just west of Lombok (one of the islands east of Bali) and are advertised under things like "No Cars, No Motorbikes, No Problems" - exactly what I thought. They also aparently have a large Irish bar and an authentic sushi restaurant. Excellent things to add to a deserted atoll right?

If I was a diver/surfer these islands would be even better - maybe I'll learn to surf! Mostly I'll be looking forward to eating, relaxing and biking around this island... I can picture myself here:

Next on this list is Flores - one of the larger but less visited islands. The tourist focus is mainly wandering around the traditional villages, sunsets and a volcano named Kelimutu. Although I still have really mixed feelings about traditional villages as 'tourist destinations' I do believe that these villages may be better off then what has happened (and what I avoided) in thailand. I don't plan on actually making this the reason I visit Flores though.

The volcano(s) on Flores tend to have strange colour changing pools that remain a mystery to science. Some older pictures show Kelimutu with a black, a white and a red lake but now they are white, green and blue.

The best part for me about this island is the need to hire a guide to basically see anything. I'd like this. One on one tourism. I'm assuming the guy in the photo above is a guide. I hired a moto and driver in Cambodia and it was great because your guide knows a million interesting places, has crazy stories and there is no set agenda. You get to wander around with someone who speaks the language, is usually super funny and actually wants to get to know you.

There also isn't an agency/corportation taking money - just the guide so hopefully the tourism actually benefits the people more then it does in exploited areas.

I want to go here!

Tuesdays with Indonesia (and Cambodia)

Since I'm really bad at blogging, I'm going to start something: Tuesdays with Indonesia. Hopefully brought to you on every Tuesday, although surely it will be late on more than on occasion.

I hope to talk about the things I am reading about and interested in - which is mainly trying to find some non-polluted, untouristy beach to lay on and also try to find an alternative village to live in. They exist! Apparently the brother of a friend is working in one - and although they haven't heard from him since the earthquake, he is coming home soon - once Sumatra turns the power on.

Anyway today's post is brought to you by

Borobudur Temple, Sumatra

Borobudur is a Buddhist temple, laid out like a complex tantric mandala and comprises something like 60 000 cubic meters of stone which were carved, transported and erected around 800 AD. No easy feat. Its survived the earthquakes, even disappeared for centuries under volcanic ash, and more recently was restored after a group of extremists explored an anti-Soeharto bomb in the middle. It is one of the finest temples in Java according to my guide book and I think I want to see it at sunrise.
Interesting choice considering I really hate trying to wade through people selling me things, and I hate being in the same location as a bunch of old Europeans wearing Tilley Hats. I really really hate Tilley Hats. But this spot is supposed to be very similar and awe inspiring as Ankor Wat in Cambodia - which I really loved.

Here are some pictures from that little trip (Now mind you these aren't the best pictures I have, but those are lost on some archived photo CD somewhere and these just happened to be online):

All around and within the temple complex are entrepreneurial/poverty stricken Cambodians trying to make a living off their small plots and herds of tourists. Most children we met begged us to buy things from them - anything. But these guys were pretty awesome. We played strange made up games with them for a little bit.

Tuk Tuking around the expansive temple complex was cheaper if you squished everyone into one tuk tuk.

This picture is infamous. I sent it into the Study-Abroad program that sent me to Thailand and they put this picture into all of their Thailand brochures. IDIOTS. Although idiots that paid me! Advertising for Thailand with something that is so obviously Cambodia is a little bit sad.

(Speaking of people trying to sell me things: I ended up leaving the temple complex with a million shitty postcards, that really nice scarf around my arms and that straw hat ha!)