Author Archives: Megan Ballweber

Steaming Cup of Pooh Kopi

It is no accident that Bali, Indonesia is one of the biggest tourist draws of this part of the world. The small island has everything going for it, from the beautiful beaches to the tops of the volcanoes, and everything in between.

We arrived from our flight out of Malaysia a couple hours later than scheduled at 9pm. It took quite a while for us to break through the four layers of airport taxi drivers who charge “set prices” that are at minimum double what a metered taxi would cost, each layer like a barricade at certain distances from the airport. Finally we found a taxi driver willing to use his meter for the 2 miles to Kuta town. It was exactly a third of the price of the cheapest offer we had received from the airport taxis.

That night we found some true Balinese food, which is different from the rest of Indonesia for the simple fact that Balinese people are mostly Hindu, and the majority of Indonesians outside Bali are Muslims. Pork is the major difference. We had a soup at one vendor, followed by barbequed ribs, veggies, and rice at another. The cheapest ribs I’ve seen in my life!

We didn’t plan to spend much time in Kuta since we wanted to see the island’s natural beauty rather than thousands of shops, but we had to check out the beach if nothing else. If you never leave the beach, Kuta is fantastic! White sand extended well beyond our eyesight decorated with turquoise water, surfers and surfer-wannabes, as well as everything you could possibly need sold under the shade of beautiful palm trees.

(Entrance to beach)

With only a month to spend in this vast network of islands, we moved on quickly to Ubud. Ubud was much more our pace, not a mountain town but a bit of the same feel. Not surprisingly, a lot of expats have settled here, and so there are some great vegetarian restaurants mixed in with the local varieties. There are many communities in the area that try to keep their varying cultures alive through tribal dance performances, the tribes taking turns each night of the week with a couple per night. We chose to see a “fire dance” on our first night in town, put on by a small community of a few hundred people. It was said that nearly every adult of the community is in some way involved with the performance. WHOA! The performance blew us away. All the music and sound effects were performed by a group of barely covered men who sat in three rings on the ground around a flaming stand. Most of the characters danced out the story at the center in a style similar to the traditional dancing we saw in Cambodia and Thailand. All but the masked characters were women, even the male roles. The sound effects and narration was done in their language, but luckily we had received a pamphlet beforehand that explained the story, one of a banished prince and his princess and a lusty king who kidnapped the princess.

(Cultural fire dance)

That next day we took a walk through the Monkey Forest on the edge of town, more to see the old temple inside it than the thieving macaque monkeys. They have a reputation. It was a very beautiful walk and the structures were covered in that bright green moss of Hollywood movie sets. After the forest we did something we haven’t done for over six months: we spent time apart for five hours. I was dying to wander completely aimlessly, something you can only do solo. I also knew Bryan would enjoy doing his own thing even though he wouldn’t say so. It was a really nice afternoon for both of us. I bought a big baguette and honey, then found a tiny, secluded rice field on the edge of town where I had a picnic. After that I ventured up a road heading out of town with a few high points and nice views. I enjoyed a delicious “edemame juice”, or fresh soy milk in plain terms. Bryan made a big loop around the roads that bordered the town where he had even better views, and he tried a local soup called Bakso, with meat balls and wontons, served by an old man pushing a little cart of it (we’ve been hooked on Bakso ever since). He finished back at the room doing things I don’t understand on his laptop that he is so happy to have now.

(Looking through a broken wall onto a rice field in Ubud)

We rented a motorbike and headed toward Mt. Batur volcano and lake the next day. Riding along beautiful fruit orchards, we had to stop at a fruit stand. We bought tasty mandarin oranges, passion fruit, and some little purple things that we had never seen before that tasted similar to passion fruit. At our highest point we were at the town of the same name as the volcano, overlooking the topless mountain, lake, lava flow, and a neighboring mountain from behind a beautifully aged temple. We found a nerve rackingly steep and windy road down to the lake, mostly made dangerous by those who drive around blind curves on the wrong side of the road. There was a tiny town next to the lake cozied between fields of jagged, black lava rocks. Being that this was the closest we have been to a volcano, we were in awe. We had a picnic of leftover baguette, honey, and fresh fruit on top of a lava rock with the volcano in front of us and the lake and mountain behind us. It was refreshing!

(Mount Batur and Agung with lake Danau Batur on Bali)

On our return trip we were stopped by a police road block conveniently designed to catch tourists returning. We had to either pay a $25 fine for not having an international drivers license, or a $5 hush fee. Not feeling too good about it but having read about it online, we paid the hush fee. We soon forgot about that when we stopped for the famous Luwak Kopi (Kopi is coffee in Indonesian), the most expensive type of coffee in the world, at Manik Abian. You may have heard about it, the coffee berries are eaten by the nocturnal Civet, and then the whole beans are picked out of the Civet’s pooh. Yup, pooh coffee. Bryan had to try it (luckily I don’t drink coffee). We were surprised that we first got a tour of the garden where they grew everything they used: two types of coffee, vanilla beans, coconuts, tobacco, ginger, ginseng, cocoa, and endless types of seasonings. COCOA!?!?!? We stopped for Bryan, but I got to have my favorite thing too! We saw how the pooh beans are cleaned, hand roasted over a fire, then ground by hand with a mortar and pestle. We were brought a huge tray of sample coffees, cocoa, and teas for free and options to try other drinks for free. The Luwak Kopi, of course, was not free, but Bryan ordered a cup at the bargain price of $5 and I requested to try the Chili Cocoa. My cocoa, flavored by chilies, cinnamon, and cardamom, was a-maz-ing! Bryan liked the Luwak Kopi, but he didn’t think it tasted any different than any other good quality, bold coffee. Overall the best coffee they brought us was a mix of their regular coffee with coconut cream and vanilla. Even I liked it. Sorry, we didn’t buy any of you the Luwak Kopi, even though $800 a pound may have been a good deal!

(Luwak coffee beans before being processed)

Our next stop was the town of Sengiggi on the island of Lombok, a bus-ferry-bus ride away. We spent a couple relaxing mornings on the nice beach reading and watching distant surfers, followed by relaxing afternoons on the cute porch of our room made secluded by a beautiful garden. The town really didn’t have much to offer, either in tourist attractions or anything for locals. We only found one local place open for cheap lunch and three street vendors in the evenings, all else was western food.

(Bryan and I on the beach getting our photo taken with some Indonesian tourists)

From Sengiggi we were headed farther East only because we heard the SCUBA diving is comparable to the Galapagos Islands in South America, which is often considered the best in the world. We booked our “overland” tickets to Flores island and the town of Lubuan Bajo, the gateway to Komodo island and where the Indian and Pacific oceans collide head-on. The journey lasted 36 hours and began by bus to a ferry from Lombok to Sabawa, followed by a long bus ride at night across most of Sabawa. The last hours of Sabawa got interesting. Large buses couldn’t handle the roads ahead, so about two large busloads of people smashed into one short bus at 3:00am, luggage in a jumble on top. Bryan was molded into an isle no wider than 12 inches with people leaning on him from all directions. Me? I was special. I got the seat next to the driver. Not the one you’re thinking of. A rolled up tarp was placed in the four inches between the driver seat and his door. My butt is more than four inches wide, that’s for sure. I sat at an impossible angle with one leg over the other, hands holding tight to the oh-shit-bar in case the door latch decided not to hold, and one shoulder out the window to give the driver enough maneuver space. Not long into the ride the driver decided he didn’t like the window open and I resorted to folding myself in half. Being that we had no sleep and it was 3am, I was struggling to keep my droopy eyes open while terrified of what might happen to the 50+ lives on board if I fell asleep on the driver. When my feet touched earth again, I laughed! An eight hour ferry ride was the last bit to our destination.

Lubuang Bajo is a small fishing village undergoing a complete transformation to catch up to its recent status as major tourist destination, something it definitely wasn’t seeking out. The town was nothing but construction looming over a tiny bit of old structures. To make matters worse, we happened to arrive at the beginning of Sail Komodo, an event that filled the harbor with expensive sail boats and Naval ships, and a planned visit from the president (luckily after we would be gone). After comparing every dive shop in town and every travel option for where to go next, we traded the opportunity to see the Komodo dragons for one day of three awesome dives. Everything about our time under water was beyond belief! It was more color and variety than I thought possible, with the collision of the two oceans creating conditions that attract a plethora of diverse life. The diving was the most challenging we have done because the currents were strong, whipping us past the scenery like we were on an underwater train ride – only one direction possible, the one it chooses. The things I was most impressed with are the things I don’t have names for: the soft and hard corals of every shape, texture, size, and color; the varieties of small, medium, and large creatures with patterns more intriguing than anything my imagination could design; and the way everything interacted and how obviously dependent every single thing was on everything else. On the first dive we just went straight down and held on, literally, as we watched fish fighting the current and sharks weaving throughout. The largest shark we saw was a grey reef shark, but it was hard to watch the sharks when everything was stunning. On the last dive we were driven by the current until it just stopped, and we were able to go at our own pace and find some of the coolest things we wouldn’t have seen being whipped by, like tiny Nudibranchs and a large but well camouflaged crocodile fish.

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(Shark!)

For the sake of time, we took an hour and a half flight out of Lubuang Bajo back to Bali instead of the overland journey of two days that would have only saved us $40. Bonus: we had our first experience in a twin engine prop plane. From Bali we took a bus and ferry combo to Java Island where we will work our way Northwest toward Singapore.

(Making our way back to port after a day of diving around Komodo Island)

Like We’ve Never Experienced Before

With just two little spurts of internet access in nine days, I really felt disconnected from the world there for awhile. Funny how we have become so dependent on constant connection!

After leaving Krabi in Southern Thailand, we entered country number six on our list, Malaysia. Getting into Malaysia was the easiest country to enter yet, as the country is in good standing with most of the world and allows U.S. citizens a free 3-month visa. Our bus dropped us off in the City of George Town on the island of Penang. There are two impressively long bridges that connect the island to the mainland and it is so large it doesn’t feel like an island at all. George Town is an old imperial city with cute European architecture and colorful culture galore. The two heaviest cultures in the area are Chinese and Indian, and the town has somewhat distinct “China Town” and “Little India” areas. George Town was also sprinkled with beautiful Chinese clan houses, temples, and Islamic Mosques. Being a very historical area, instead of plaques to provide information, all over town we discovered these really neat wrought-iron artistic depictions on the sides of buildings that told about the area like a comic strip. What a cool way to add character and provide information! While in George Town, we also happened to see the largest number of Ferrari sports cars either of us had seen in our lives combined! We had walked to a ritzy part of town where a brand new shopping center just opened a couple days before. I guess the cars were a show-off, grand opening presentation.

(wrought-iron display)

Our two favorite things to do in George Town: Eat and explore bookstores! The food was incredible. Being that it was (and still is) Ramadan, very little Indian food was available during the day light hours, so we usually hit up the various Chinese vendors for lunch and headed to Little India for a vast array of dinner options. It has been such a long time since we have had access to really good, really cheap street food, so we went all out. We were able to eat more and still work on getting our budget back down after the expensive places in Thailand. I even had the energy to go for morning runs while we were there! We were a tad disappointed after the first used bookstore we found turned out to be pretty expensive ($30 for one used book that sells new in the U.S. for $20), but after a quick internet search we found a smattering of used/new combo stores in a really rundown market building. There were maybe 8 sellers in the place each with a small room stacked floor to ceiling covering every imaginable place and no order. You could barely scoot sideways through the isles. We returned at least three times because there was just so much to peruse!

(Books!)

After missing out on so many good underwater photo opportunities while diving in Koh Tao, we decided to buy an underwater camera. George Town turned out to have a lot of camera shops and our next stop would be another island, so we spent a day comparing prices and online reviews. We settled on a CamOne Infinity which is about the same as a GoPro but cheaper and with a few more built-in options. The picture quality isn’t quite as good as a GoPro, but it was by far our best option since we can dive with it to 40 meters depth.

(taking pictures at Little India with CamOne)

A night bus dropped us off at 5am in Kuala Besut, the jetty access point to the Perhentian Islands, but the ferry speed boat wasn’t leaving until 8:30am. Just as we were getting into a good sleep on a wooden bench like bums, we were awaken at 6am by the singing voices of a couple men over loud speaker – the prayer calls from a couple mosques nearby. I couldn’t help but really enjoy the moment, it was such a foreign experience to us! Sleeping on our bags on a bench with the strange and beautiful sounds blaring over us.

When we arrived to Coral Bay on Pulau Kecil, the small island, I was instantly in awe over the scenery. From the jetty we were looking down at this perfectly turquoise water over patches of coral, a cute and not-too-developed beach in front of us enclosed by rocky sidewalls, and backed by a very green, thick jungle. Paradise! After settling into a little bungalow we spent some time playing with the new camera in the water and getting run off by these mean black fish who would bite our legs if we went too close to their homes, which happened to be every rock or coral mound off the beach! It was only a short walk across the narrow island to Long Beach on the opposite side, the most popular area, so we went to check it out. The beach was quite large with perfect white sand and turquoise water that went on forever. As soon as we got to the water, WHOA! There were no words, only a gasp! I have never seen anything like this place. The white sand continued as far as we could see, which was a really long way because the water was clearer than a swimming pool. I think the pictures tell the story better than I can.

(Mira Beach)

Even though the water was more pristine at Long Beach, we really did like Coral Bay better for the scenery, the food, and the atmosphere. All over the island we kept spotting monitor lizards, some small at a couple feet and some about four feet long. With such good snorkeling around the island, we decided to forgo the much more expensive SCUBA diving and rented snorkel masks the next day. We took a 25 minute jungle walk along a trail to the small, secluded beach called Mira that claimed to have the best snorkeling on the island. It was fantastic! Along the rocky coast we saw huge needle fish which are still interesting no matter how many we see, parrot fish of all colors and sizes, a squid that changed colors before our eyes, a beautiful little blue-spotted stingray, a huge school of shiny minnow-type fish, and a couple black-tipped sharks! This was the first time I had seen these types of sharks, Bryan had spotted one in Railay. They were just little guys, maybe three to four feet long. After lunch we went back over to Long Beach to see what the snorkeling was like. The white sand really did go on forever! We had to walk south in waist-deep water a long distance from the end of the beach to finally reach some rocks and coral. I was still so impressed with everything we saw. Although we had seen many Parrot fish, the ones on this side were enormous, which is especially cool when it is bright pink, blue, yellow, orange, and purple all in one! I spotted about 4 or 5 Black-Tipped sharks. I could have had great pictures because one of them swam right under me twice! Bryan had the camera, but it didn’t matter because he had taken the SD card out over lunch and forgot to put it back in. Ha ha, so no pictures of that area! That night we tried crab for the first time. It was good but not worth the work for the little bit of meat. They didn’t have very big crabs.

(Clown fish!)

The third day on the island was our 3rd wedding anniversary! We spent most of the day relaxing over tea/coffee while reading our books. We were able to continue the tradition we started while I was in grad school and we were poor: Splitting a cheap meal and a movie! We tried king fish that night (pretty tasty) at a restaurant with a projector and a different movie every night. We didn’t see the end though because a storm came in. Now we don’t know if The Rock kicked ass at the end in Snitch.

(Three years!)

For our final day on the island we took a snorkeling tour with 5 stops. One of our coolest sightings yet was a spotted eel fighting a bunch of fish for a piece of a dead clam on the edge of a coral mound! It was slithering in and out of the coral, hiding for only a second as I got close with the camera before snapping at the fish and slithering its head into the open clam shell. There were some mean teeth on that thing! Bryan pointed out a couple swimming squid to me that were going along at the bottom of a school of fish and blended right in with their tentacles and skirts tucked in. We also had a lot of fun with the playful clownfish here who seemed to pose for the camera! I held out my hand to see what they would do, and one swam into my palm just like it was going to take a seat. On our third stop we putted around a deep pool between the two islands until one boat guide spotted the main attraction, a huge sea turtle swimming along the floor. Everyone from two boats flew into the water at once, frantically kicking each other in faces and stomachs, and Bryan was the first one to take a deep breath and swim down to the turtle’s level. He got a couple good pictures. It was maybe 4 feet in length and just casually swam along under this horde of people until one idiot went down and touched it on the shell. It didn’t stick around too long after that.

(Turtle!)

I have been eagerly awaiting our next Malaysian stop for a long time, Taman Negara National Park. This is the first country we have been in that has real National Parks, not just expensive traps for rich tourists. Not only was it cheap to get into, but we could hike on marked trails on our own, WITHOUT A GUIDE, a service every other country has required and charged hundreds of dollars for. This was also the first time we got to experience real jungle, which actually seems pretty well protected unlike what we have seen elsewhere. Mind you, this is not a large portion of jungle compared to what used to exist (we passed cleared jungle – turned palm plantations all the way to the NP). On the bus ride we made new friends with a couple from Ireland and talked the entire way there, then enjoyed dinner with them as well. We look forward to hopefully seeing them in the U.S. as they are completing their long trip in 2015 before going back to Ireland.

Our first adventure in Taman Negara was the famed Canopy Walk. I imagined a solid walkway built high in the trees for spotting and photographing birds and other tree life. Not at all! It was a series of swinging rope bridges linked to small platforms in the trees and as high as 45 meters (147 feet) at some points. It was really pretty cool as we were walking just under the highest canopy level, a view not seen otherwise, but being such a popular attraction we had to rush through and were unable to stop for photos while on the rope portions. Not that we would have seen anything because all wildlife was scared away by the sheer quantity of people. To get that real jungle experience I have been longing for, we decided to spend a night in a hide deep in the park. The hide we chose, Bumbun Kumbang, was 11 km out (6.8 miles), with two trail options. On the way there we took the inner-jungle trail and saw nobody after the first half. It was fairly dry and flat, and we relished the foliage and colorful mushrooms. At one point I spotted a cat print in the trail, pretty fresh but not too big. Maybe the size of a medium dog. During a rest stop we were listening to the sounds around us and heard this szchoooooooooom (like a baseball flying past your head) BANG CRACK! *(#&!#*#%! All kinds of things flew out of my mouth as we took in what had happened. A small stick fell from a very high tree and landed about 6 feet from us and then broke on the log we were sitting on. That was the end to that break! Just before reaching the hide we came to a large creek we needed to cross. As we were pulling our pants up I spotted blood on Bryan’s leg and we realized a leech had had its fill and left him bleeding. Ha ha, little things love to torture him! The hide turned out to be pretty cool, maybe 20 feet off the ground with 12 hard wood bunks inside and a long window and bench overlooking a small semi-clearing in the jungle. There were three Spanish guys there already who didn’t seem to be very experienced in the outdoors. Pretty soon the trees were starting to come alive with sounds and we were getting in place at the hide window. No luck. The guys kept going in and out and were not that quiet. All we saw was a squirrel and fireflies. Just after crawling in bed a downpour began, sadly drowning out all the jungle sounds, and continued all night. I took post again in the morning but never saw anything. We heard from a guide later that the previous night a group stayed up all night with a spotlight and saw an elephant, 2 tapirs, and a spotted leopard. Next time we will bring a big light! For the hike out we took the trail that followed the river, now made muddy by the rain. The trail continuously dipped down and up muddy embankments and difficult inclines, which kept it interesting but exhausting. Thanks to the rain, the leeches were feasting. With me walking ahead of Bryan, I alerted them and then they scored their catch when he passed. Too bad for them he was paranoid and checked every few minutes and managed to get away with zero bites for the day despite maybe a hundred leeches on him! Much better than me, being that I wasn’t as paranoid. I had many fewer on me, but nearly half scored with a total of 9 bites! I also stirred up another surprise for him when I passed a huge scorpion and put it on defense. I didn’t see it among the leaves at the base of a tree, but with its tail up, pinchers open, and looking at Bryan, he didn’t miss it! The body alone was at least 4 inches long not including the tail, and it was a deep turquoise color. Really odd color being that it was on brown leaves but maybe it hides well into the shady green undergrowth. Beautiful! A little while later we heard crashing through the tree tops and after a few moments of straining our necks finally spotted a monkey very high up. Shortly after that we heard something grunting and rooting around the undergrowth not far off the trail but couldn’t see it. We think it may have been a tapir. In the end, we didn’t spot anything big and rare, but I didn’t expect we would. What is important is that I have checked off another item from the Life List – trekking in a real jungle! I am really happy with our experience, and it won’t be the last. Pretty soon we will be in Borneo with more National Parks and jungle treks.

(Jungle hide)

We are now having a quick stay in Kuala Lumpur before heading to the Cameron Highlands where we will get to cool off at a higher altitude. We checked into a cute little guesthouse we chanced upon here, and to our surprise, our new Irish friends we met up North were in the room right next to us. Of all the places to stay in this huge city, we ended up at the same one! This is a pretty cool city so far, but we’ll save that for the next post.

By the way, if you have any suggestions or requests for more/less information or pictures on certain subjects, leave a comment and we will do our best.

Whale of a tale!

“To hell with luck, I will bring luck with me” -Ernest Hemingway, The Old Man and the Sea

Four days in the “Backpackers’ Ghetto” of Bangkok, Khoa San Road, was plenty for us! We did a little more sight seeing, including the Grand Palace, Chinatown, and enjoying a beautifully lit pagoda next to the river at night. We also focused on eating healthier to recover from our diet of grease, caffeine, and sugar while in Myanmar (but it was oh so good)!

Fast forward through a minibus and ferry ride to the beautiful island of Koh Chang, near the border of Thailand and Cambodia. Of the many beaches to choose from, we chose to plant ourselves at Lonely Beach because, well, it was mostly void of resorts. We also expected to find rooms in the $10-15 range. To our surprise, Lonely Beach was so lonely this time of year that we found a private bungalow not far from the water for, wait for it… THREE DOLLARS per night. (No unwanted surprises in the middle of the night either!)

The beach was a short walk from where we were and we went there most mornings, but just at the end of our road was a large wooden deck where we could sit over the rocky coast listening to waves crash and dreamily watch the sunset everyday. We spent a lot of time here, which was actually a restaurant that was closed for the season. One day we stocked up on beer, wine coolers, and snacks and spent most of the day there writing in our journals, reading, and watching all the local dogs who seemed to enjoy the scenery just as much as we did. We didn’t leave until the sun had set. That was a good day!

The Lonely Beach area had a really laid back vibe. There was almost nobody around during the day. As Bryan said, you know it’s slow when the shop owners are all playing BINGO! But at night barefoot hippies came out of nowhere and live music would be playing at one or more restaurants. We spent a day on motorbike exploring the island, including a refreshing waterfall and some fantastic views looking down on beaches. The entire East side of the island is quite “lonely” and undeveloped.

We were really anticipating SCUBA diving at our next stop, the island of Koh Tao which is also in the Gulf of Thailand and Southwest of Koh Chang. And dive we did! Getting there was…fun. 27 hours of jumping from one mode of transportation to the next, back to Bangkok and then South. We should have just swam!

All the dive companies seemed to be pretty comparable in price, so we chose Big Blue because they gave us the cheapest hotel rate. I can’t describe how happy we were with this company! First of all, they were very environmentally conscious, which was a relief after what we experienced and saw in Vietnam while diving. Our dive masters all took the time before each dive to go over a picture book of species they expected we might see in each area, and after each dive went through the book again to review what we did see. Because of this I learned more than ever about the marine life. Some of the interesting species we saw were box fish, shrimp, large groupers, eels, stingrays, angel fish, needle fish, and barracudas. On two of our dives we explored artificially sunk, small Naval ships.

On our first dive we were incredibly lucky to see a Whale Shark! It was casually roaming through a big crowd of divers, curiously attracted to the bubbles. I had a good view of another diver swimming alongside it and estimated it at 9-11 feet in length. Not huge but not small. It was so beautiful. Whale sharks are not man-eating, so I found it humorous when it kept following one guy’s leg with it’s mouth open just inches from him! At one point it came within 6 feet of me, I’m so lucky!

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(photo credit big blue diving)

We had planned our very first night dive for our third day in Koh Tao, but I was sick so Bryan went without me. That jerk had to come back all giddy and tell me how awesome it was! He said it felt really cool to be in total pitch black with only a small beam of light from a flashlight. It was easy to feel lost and confused, and he could see how many people would freak out. It was just his dive master and him so he was able to really enjoy every moment. The highlight was that he had his very first sea turtle sighting! He estimated 4 foot long or so.

The next day I was determined not to miss a full day diving trip we had signed up for to a far off location that none of the other diving companies go to. It was an incredibly interesting day!

There were just four of us in our little group, including our dive master, but several fellow groups were nearby. Right off the bat we saw a small sea turtle on our first dive. My first sea turtle sighting, check! That Bryan saw two in two days was pretty small odds. We followed it for awhile as it explored but eventually lost it. As we were totally engrossed in our immediate surroundings we turned a corner and BAM! Right in front of us was a boat wreck. Completely unexpected! As we’re exploring the debris scattered about (a fan, broken wood, computer parts, mattress, rice cookers) I couldn’t help but notice there was absolutely no algae growth and few fish swimming through it. It looked pretty recent. It was a big, wooden fishing boat and the mast was just barely under the top of the water. The hull was smashed near the front and the entire boat rocked back and forth as the waves crashed into the rock pinnacle nearby. It was scary seeing someone’s personal belongings scattered about knowing that person’s livelihood was probably ruined. I glanced through the cabin a little but hesitated when I thought of opening the windows to look in more. I was a little worried I might find a body, so I swam on. We pointed out the boat to our fellow divers. Once back on our boat everyone was shocked and laughing in total surprise that we just discovered a new wreck. It was a first for everyone, including all the professionals! We soon found out a couple of the guys had looked farther into the cabin, and they found what I had feared. Judging by the body and the wreck, it probably happened within a few days or so of us finding it. We can only speculate on what exactly happened.

We almost can’t believe it ourselves, but at the end of our second dive we saw our second Whale Shark! The chances of seeing one within the four days we dove are pretty small, the chances of seeing two are really slim! This one looked to be larger than the first, but it wasn’t interested in us and didn’t hang around to be sure. Just us four saw it that day, so the others were jealous and we got a lot of crap! Our last dive of the day wasn’t too exciting, but Bryan spotted another first for us – Bigfin Reef Squid – it looked like a UFO hovering over the sand. We followed it for awhile before it turned around and sped off like a bolt of lightning.

Unfortunately we don’t yet have a camera that we can dive with so we sadly don’t have photos of these incredible memories to add to the album, but we’re keeping an eye out for other divers’ photos from the same trips.

Myanmar Part 1: Sad to Bagan

Are you ready for this? It has been nearly a month since our last post and we’ve been itching to tell you all about our experiences! We’re splitting it into two posts to give you a break and have split the photos by locations. If you only have time to look at some of the photos, definitely check out Bagan and Inle Lake.

Part 1: Bangkok, Yangon, Bagan
Part 2: Mandalay, Inle Lake, Yangon, Bangkok

Before flying to Myanmar, we spent a few days in Bangkok. What seems to be the beginning of some crazy overnight bus schedules we have submitted ourselves to, we arrived in Bangkok a little before 5 a.m. In a state of bleariness and confusion we managed to catch one city bus, a subway train, and finally a sky train to our hotel.

Our visit to Bangkok was especially exciting because we got to meet up with a friend of mine, Gaby, from graduate school whom I hadn’t seen for a couple years. Gaby was great in giving us some places to check out before we could meet up. Aside from some religious sites, we were introduced to what had to be countless city blocks of multistory buildings filled with shopping of every kind. The amount, variety, and quality of shopping was truly impressive. There were stores for everyone. Bryan was super excited for the five story building of everything IT.

(Tons of technology!)

The skytrain in this part of the city was raised high above the streets and had a nice walkway below the train. It was refreshing to not have to dodge traffic and street vendors while walking this section, and it provided some good views. On our second day in Bangkok we were determined to get some skyscraper views of the city. We decided to ask at the front desk of one skyscraper. This was the Central World Tower, connected to one of the largest and most upscale shopping centers. To our surprise we were able to go up for free, where there happened to be an outdoor cafe that circled the top of the tower. On our way up we passed through an area where Forbes Magazine was holding a conference. If only we had the formal wear to blend in! The views from the top were fantastic and the wind was refreshing. I can’t say Bryan was very fond of the glass railings and glass stairway!

(Megan on top of Central World Tower)

The day before heading out Gaby first took us out to lunch and ordered for us. We shared from three Thai dishes that we had never tried: a spicy soup, a salad of sauteed vegetables, and some type of fish. They were all excellent! She then took us to the Vimanmek Palace, the largest teak wood building in the world, which was used by kings in the early 1900s. Some of the smaller buildings were filled with pottery and jewelry from excavation sites in the country and with photographs taken by the current King Bhumibol Adulyadej as his hobby. Later we took a ferry to Asiatique, a historic pier and boardwalk with cute shops, nice restaurants, and a huge ferris wheel. We had an upscale dinner near the water where Gaby again ordered for us: green curry, pad thai, another type of sauteed salad, and a pastry appetizer. Once the sun had set and we were about to burst from so much good food, we hopped on the ferris wheel and enjoyed some beautiful nighttime city views. Thanks so much Gaby for such a fun day and for introducing us to new foods! We hope we will get to spend some more time with Gaby after she settles into her new job.

(Megan and Gaby)

The flight to Yangon, Myanmar from Bangkok only took an hour and getting into the country was totally painless. We weren’t sure what to expect since there has been so much recent change within the country and government. We had received our Visas while we were in Cambodia and had done quite a bit of research about the do’s and don’ts, while we also paid close attention to the current events. Myanmar seemed to be in the international news every day, both good and bad. In the North/Northwest part of the country, serious religious clashes and a cyclone had been in the news a lot. We didn’t expect to see any of the violence since it was further out in smaller villages. In the more positive news, Myanmar’s economic situation is changing so rapidly that outside investment is blowing up, infrastructure is getting new attention, and hotel prices are skyrocketing from the influx of tourism. We are so happy that we got to experience the country now, before it completely changes and before the tourism industry really catches up with it. Even upon arrival locals were very excited to see us, as there still are not many western tourists visiting. The friendliness of the locals was beyond comprehension. We experienced something new in these people: complete honesty. Everyone there was eager to help you and business didn’t price gouge.

Three years ago a couple of our friends went to Myanmar, made all the stops that we did, and it seems had quite different experiences in some ways. While we could get internet sometimes, albeit not reliable and not fast, our friends never had it; and as we were chatting over the internet from a Western-style cafe in Yangon, they had never seen a Western-style restaurant of any type in the city.

Our first stop in Yangon was to see the reclining Buddha. We were almost to the top of the stairs when an old man came up and introduced himself as the teacher at the monastery there. He eagerly offered to give us a little tour of the monastery buildings. Grasping an opportunity, we gladly followed. As he took us into the oldest building (little more than a wood shack now filled with old junk), he explained how it used to be used. If I remember correctly it was over 100 years old. A student of his joined us for the rest of the tour. They showed us the current sleeping quarters and classroom for the monks, we walked through a dark building where monks were currently studying by light from the windows, and we went into the meditation building where, if there were any unpracticed meditators in the crowd, we surely disturbed them as the teacher directed me to take photos. All through the tour the pair were openly talking down on the Myanmar government, something, they explained, they couldn’t have done a year ago without fear of retribution.

In the last few months we have been lucky enough to meet some incredibly strong people who have been through terrible times and were willing to talk about their experiences. This teacher, now in his 70s, sadly lost his entire family in 2008 from Cyclone Nargis, the largest in Burma history. The military government refused international aid for several days, adding to the death toll. The government’s official death toll is less than 150,000 but the people believe it was closer to half a million. At that time he had been a public school teacher, but after that he no longer wanted to work for the corrupt government and felt he could do the most good at the monastery. The student told us his teacher still has terrible nightmares sometimes, but through meditation and teaching he finds peace and happiness.

(Us and the Professor)

Two hours later our spur of the moment tour was ending and we were finally seeing the enormous reclining Buddha. We didn’t get the chance to ask them why this particular Buddha was wearing blue eyeshadow and lipstick.

The most popular site in Yangon is Shwedagon Pagoda, an incredible, enormous temple built on a hill and lit so bright at night it could probably be seen from Mars. We have seen a lot of pagodas throughout Southeast Asia, but there is nothing else like this one! Grand, covered stairways lead a very long way to the hilltop where the giant pagoda is surrounded by many smaller, similar structures. The place was huge and the Buddhas were never ending. We made it just as the sun was setting and the lights were beginning to illuminate the gold structure. It was absolutely beautiful.

(Shwedagon Pagoda)

We arrived to the town of Nyuang U just North of Bagan at 4am. As usual, a mass of “taxi” drivers were waiting for us at the bus station to take us to a hotel, but instead of seeing taxis and motorbikes, we were greeted with horses and buggies. Completely adorable! After some haggling we hopped on a buggy and were carted around to a few hotels until we found the cheapest one with an opening. I forgot that horses are Bryan’s worst allergy. Oops! He recovered a little while later and we decided no more buggies. After a short nap we were up for the second time that morning and pedaling out of town on some sad looking bicycles.

Bagan is… Phenomenal! The majority of the hype is centered around “Old Bagan” which was a walled fortress, and as you move away from Old Bagan you are greeted with temples, pagodas, and stupas of all sizes and shapes. The largest and most popular are closest to Old Bagan, with over 2,000 in total spread out over the plains. That first day we rode our bikes through dirt and sand to get to some of the temples that are least visited. For most of the day we saw nobody except the random sleeping salesman who would maybe wake up and offer us trinkets when we approached a temple. Most of these temples were in ruin, which made them all the more fun to explore. We climbed crumbling, dark stairways that felt like hidden passageways and stairways so steep and narrow we had to use our hands. The scenery took my breath away. You could see miles of perfect palm trees complementing old red ruins in every direction. After exploring the more popular temples, we decided we were much more impressed by those that were farther out. Most of the popular ones had been “restored” at some point where much more damage was done than good, and all but the bottom levels were closed off. There were a couple of the closer temples in which access to the higher levels was still allowed, and these were very popular for sunrise and sunset photos.

(Sunset over Bagan)

We attempted two nights of sunset viewing and two mornings of sunrise. The ride took about 30 minutes from our hotel to the popular viewing temples. We only got clear skies for one of each, but we enjoyed all four attempts as the dark night/early morning bike rides were very peaceful (and much cooler) and clouds or no clouds, there is nothing like that view.

On another note, we’ve got a story that will make your skin crawl. We had our first run-in with bedbugs in Bagan! We stayed three nights at that “cheap” $14 hotel (which is twice what we are used to paying for cleaner hotels, thanks to the tourist boom in Myanmar). The first night, no problems. Shortly after turning out the lights the second night, Bryan felt something on his leg so I flipped on the light and we found a bedbug. EEK! A quick search turned up no more so we hoped it was a fluke. On the third night, 15 minutes after laying down I felt something bigger on my arm so I flipped on the light – I wish I could describe this better – THE ROOM WAS FILLED WITH WINGED TERMITES! WTF? The spot I was just laying on the bed – covered. The floor – covered. The air – totally infested. It seems they were spawning from their nest in the walls to start another colony like ants do. I ran down to get an employee who immediately told us the light attracted them. No dude! The light was OFF when they arrived! He didn’t get it. They swept the room (pretty sure they didn’t own a vacuum) and left. Little translucent wings covered everything, and as Bryan started picking the dead and wings off the bed, he started finding bedbugs. A lot. He lifted the corner of the mattress and tons that were waiting for the right moment went running from the light. UUuuuggggghhhhh! We stood paralyzed for a few moments staring at the bed and trying to decide what to do next. The termites were gone as quickly as they came, but the bedbugs weren’t going away. We decided to keep the light on and see if that kept them at bay. Five minutes later Bryan felt a few under his leg. He was too close to the wall and his shadow provided enough darkness that they came out. So then we curled up together in the middle of the mattress as far from the walls as we could get. Throughout the night I awoke frantic several times, immediately searching the bed for any evidence of the bugs. It worked. Not once did I see another bedbug with the light on. But that’s not the end of the story. In the morning we left the room to get breakfast, naturally turning off the light. I went back first to finish packing my bag for the bus ride to Mandalay. As soon as the door swung open, all I could do was step back and resign. The room was again infested with flying termites, but this time it was double the previous amount. An employee got most of our stuff out and we finished packing in the hallway. I was brushing little wings and termites off my back for awhile, and they still show up in our bags sometimes.

(Whats left of some of the flying termites)

We’re a bit more diligent about checking the mattresses now!