Kuta Beach, the Cancun of Australia

Our first two nights in Bali we stayed in the less touristy town of Seminyak in a semi-private villa. Someone came in the morning to cook us breakfast on the patio by the pool. Awesome!




















We then stayed two nights in Kuta, a beach town that is essentially Cancun, Mexico for Australians. This doesn't make it any more right. I saw a lot of fat, sunburnt Australian tourists in skimpy beachwear (don't they use sunscreen Down Under?) as well as Asians with cornrows. Also not right. We found the beach to be disgustingly full of litter (Trash Beach Bali.) Of note, Kuta is also where the terrorist bombings occurred in 2002, killing over 200 people, mainly tourists. I think their tourist industry--and therefore economy--really suffered from that; and aside from memorials in town, we noticed a lot of metal detectors and security guards around--nothing akin to what we came across in Cairo, but still noticeably present.

We visited Ubud, a town more inland, which is something of an artists colony (I didn't see any great art but we did see some traditional Balinese dancing and lots of step-like rice paddies.) We also drove up into the mountains to Danau Bratan, a lake nestled in the mountains at about 1200m above sea level and home to Pura Ulun Danu Bratan, another Hindu temple, dedicated to Dewi Danu, source of water and fertility to the land and people of Bali. One of the meru (Hindu shrines) has an 11 tier roof dedicated to Brahma, as well as other smaller island shrines. Indonesia as a country is primarily Muslim, but Bali itself is about 90% Hindu. The temple and the surrounding parks were beautiful and peaceful--it seemed to be a popular place for families to spend a weekend afternoon.



Daily Round-up:
Gigantic bats (at least 5lbs, with 2-3 ft wing span) seen: 2 (testicles in tact--extremely disturbing. Sorry, no pics of big bat balls taken.)
Dead animal carcasses seen (sad): 2 four legged creatures, countless fish on the beach
Mosquito bites: 1

Bali: Warming up on the Ring of Fire

Bali is one of the islands that make up Indonesia. It sits along the "Ring of Fire", and area circling the basin of the Pacific Ocean that frequently has earthquakes and volcanic eruptions. Approximately 90% of the world's earthquakes occur along the Ring of Fire.

Luckily, we didn't have any earthquakes or volcanic eruptions during the five days we were there. Instead, we had beautiful weather (around 80F and mostly sunny) and a really great time. As usual, we joined a Taiwanese tour and our tour guide, Little Chen, showed us around. He was a 24 year old Indonesian of Chinese descent and had this weird habit of referring to himself in the third person. He told us that the island of Bali is shaped like a chicken laying an egg (SE island of Nusa Penida=egg).

Our first day we went to Pura Tanah Lot (pura=Balinese temple), one of the most famous Balinese temples and the unofficial symbol of Bali. It sits on its own island just off the west coast. At low tide you can walk across from the mainland and if the waters are low enough, you can take a sip of holy water from the spring beneath the temple. Legend has it that a wandering Hindu priest, Niratha, sailed to Bali from neighboring Java, saw a beam of light and follwed it to the holy spring. He began preaching in the area until an local priest demanded that he leave (no one likes competition.) In response, Niratha sat down and meditated so hard that the rock he was sitting on pushed back into the ocean. The temple is one of the most holy places in Bali and is dedicated to the god of the sea. Only devotees are actually allowed to climb up to the temple. Lowly tourists are relegated to photo ops around the base of the rock. Unfortunately, when we went it was overcast and not yet low tide.

Daily Round-up:

Snake sightings: 1 boa

Monkey sightings: 0

Cow sightings: 10

Scooter sightings: >300

Mosquito bites: 2

Lost in Translation (doggy-style)

Oh look, cute puppy telling us to curb our dogs and pick up after them!

Oh wait, what was that they translated into English about the "Waste Cleaning Act"?

I wasn't aware shit was part of official municipal vernacular.

Here are some disturbing photos of the type of outfits the Taiwanese like to put their pets in:

The re-sightseeing of Taiwan

We arrived safely in Taiwan after a grueling 18+ hour plane ride. Our layover was in Anchorage, Alaska. Unfortunately, we arrived there in the middle of the night so we weren't able to see Russia. Maybe next time.

We basically hit the Taiwanese ground running and have been seeing (or in my case, re-seeing) the sights non-stop since we got here. I don't know about H&M, but I am exhausted. This isn't my usual leisurely eating, shopping and laying about with my relatives. We went to the folk art village again and saw a kung fu demo, wedding procession and photo op with people dressed up as gods. Then we hit up a harbor town for some lunch and visited some temples. We also had a huge dinner with relatives and went back to their place to drink some Macallan scotch and marvel at their fancy toilet with automatic rising seat cover and a control panel with more buttons than my TV remote (sorry, no photos.)



































Yesterday we came to Taipei and we went to my dad's temple to pay our respects and then up to the town of DanShui to see the shops and walk along the boardwalk. Taiwan is a country of street food and the stalls range from cuttlefish on a stick (gross) to these hot red bean filled cakes and the best of the best, the scallion pancake cart. It's the stuff dreams are made of.























Today we went to the Palace Musuem for a little culture and then to Taipei 101, the tallest building in the world. It is 508 meters tall and has the fastest (1010 m/s) elevators at a cost of $2.5 million per elevator. We had to admit it was quite a smooth ride up. Taipei 101 also has the world's largest passive wind damper, a 660 metric ton steel pendulum that sways to offset movements in the building caused by strong gusts. Thus their big marketing ploy/mascot is the Damper Baby. In fact, they have 4 different damper baby characters, each with its own charming personality traits.

Return to the Motherland--with Guests

I'm heading to Taiwan again, this time accompanied by my friends H & M. They will be spending a few days with the family before journeying to Thailand and Cambodia while I will be heading down to Bali for my requisite Asian beach time.

It will be strange to be in Taiwan with guests. If you've read any of my previous Taiwan posts, I mainly just eat, shop and watch TV with my family when I'm there. Oh yes, and I get sick. (But we won't discuss that.) I don't think any of that will fly with two visitors who have never been to Taiwan before and only have 4 days to explore. Unfortunately, Taiwan isn't a mecca of tourism by any means. I think the main things that people go to are the Palace Museum and the night markets. And Taipei 101, the tallest building in the world, at least until the Burj Dubai is completed. We'll let Taiwan have some glory for a little while longer...

Passport Crisis!

I'm going back to the Motherland in less than 3 weeks. Since I'll be accompanied by some first time visitors (more on that later), I decided to peruse the online travel guides to think of some good Taiwanese sights to see. I came across entry requirements for Taiwan. Having gone there innumerable times, I knew I didn't need a visa. However, what I do need is a passport that is valid for at least 6 months. I leave on January 10th. My passport expires exactly 4 months later.

aside: it peeves me that the expiration date is May 2009 yet I can't really use my passport since most countries require the 6 month validity.

It's a crap shoot--Taiwanese immigration might be lax and wave me through. Or they could be hard asses and make me purchase a $130 landing visa (to be paid in cash, New Taiwan Dollars) and give me a difficult time in the process. No doubt this would all occur in Chinese and I would only understand about 40% of the conversation. There would probably be tears.

My other option is to get a rush renewal of my passport here on native U.S. soil, in my first language, in currency I have. Also for $130. The thing is, the process has to be initiated within 14 days of your travel date and no earlier. I have to make an appointment with the State Department office in New York, give them my documents and money, and they will miraculously produce a new passport for me before I have to leave the country. The nice man on the State Department helpline assured me that I'd be able to 1. get the appointment and 2. get my passport in time for my departure.

I am anxiously waiting until December 27th to call and make my appointment.

Passport crisis solved!

I have to say, getting a rush renewal of a passport was totally painless. The process of scheduling an appointment via telephone, showing up, waiting for your number to be called, handing in your stuff and picking up your passport 2 days later was remarkably civilized. I even remarked to the passport lady that it was so much calmer than the DMV. She laughed and said they hear that all the time.

One last note about Vancouver (2010)

The 2010 Olympics are going to be held in Vancouver. There's no way you could avoid that fact walking through the city as Olympic merchandise is EVERYWHERE. There a big countdown clock in the middle of the city too. 500 and some days to go!

Having said that, I gave into the hype and bought some of the overpriced stuffed mascots for the kids. The mascots are a little bizarre--are they always so? I remember the '88 Seoul Olympics and they just had tigers dressed in traditional Korean clothing. No franken-mascots or anything...

From left to right:

Sumi: the "animal spirit" who lives in the mountains of British Columbia. He wears the hat of an orca whale, flies with wings of the thunderbird and runs on the legs of the black bear. Kinda weird, right? Sumi is the mascot for the 2010 Para-Olympics. This one was the least favorite of the kids.

Quatchi: He is my personal favorite. A young sasquatch who comes from the mysterious forests of Cananda. He aspires to be a hockey player (position: goalie).

Miga: A young sea bear--part killer whale, part bear (WTF?!)--who lives in the ocean with her family pod. She likes to snowboard and eat salmon.