I am home and have reliable internet connection, hurray! Time to fill you in on the adventures of the last month and a bit.. :)
Today,
Tuesday April 23, I updated more than a month's worth of blog posts! Whew! I hope I never have to do that again, haha.
Monday April 22
Today was the first time I'd made more than minimum wage working in my backyard. Thanks for taking care of me, parents :) Also, I started online training for a new job that starts Monday! SNE
Sunday April 21
Something New Everyday. Back in Canada!! Today I played the new WiiU for the very first time! I also heard an online talk by Ray Comfort, it was good!
Saturday April 20
So.. I've sat on a plane before... and I've sat on a plane for a loooong time before... but I've never been to Turkey before! After 11 hours of flying we had an 8 hour layover and then 11 more hours of flying. We left Malaysia at midnight and arrived in Canada at 7pm. Yay, time travel! We had Indian food for dinner in Toronto with 86% of my immediate family and then drove to London and called it a day... a long day.. :)
Friday April 19
This is my second time leaving Kuala Lumpur.. so it's not something new... But we didn't leave until midnight, so I had all day to explore. We were planning on hitchhiking to a waterfall we'd heard about, so we tried. I'd never hitchhiked before, so that was new, but the guys who pulled over didn't know where the falls were. So instead they brought us to a big Chinese temple which we explored for an hour, and then they came to pick us up again and bring us back! Haha, super nice! We shopped and had more fun, and eventually ended up on the plane heading home.
Thursday April 18
Got on our plane nice and early this morning and paid one last lovely fee to the Indonesian government: 100,000Rp each for using the airport. Goodbye Indonesia, haha! Aaaand we arrived in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Within the first 2 hours of being in Malaysia I saw 5 birds that I had not seen in the wild in 7 weeks of being in Indonesia! We took a train to Putrajaya, met our couchsurfing host, toured the city a bit, and had dinner with the family. SNE.
Wednesday April 17
Today is the first last full day I've had in Indonesia ever!! Haha.
Our friends took us to Rammang-Rammang today, a neat little village one hour outside of Makassar. We took a shallow boat down a little river and discovered a hidden community! The village had cows and rice paddies and everything else that villages have.. and was surrounded by cliffs and caves and the river! Super pretty. Then we went to a nearby "rock garden", a rice paddy with large boulders scattered randomly throughout. Neato.
Later that night we had our first reunion in Indo! Makassar was the first city we'd come back to, and Ika and Nhyla were the only people to see us a week after our first visit.
Tuesday April 16
Due to the delayed bus, we skipped Toraja and went straight back to Makassar. Arrived bright and early, met some new couchsurfers and had a shopping day. That evening we were invited to hang out with the couchsurfing community at a hotel.. and we got tired and it got late.. so we slept over. The first time in our entire trip that we spent the night in a fancy hotel... AND it was free because our friend lived there (everything fully paid by her work). Awesome.
Monday April 15
We caught our bus. We only had to wait 17 hours for it. SNE
The roads were a bit sketchy again today, and for the first time ever I was kicked off the bus (with everyone else) so that it could try to get up a muddy hill and across a skinny bridge without endangering all our lives.
Sunday April 14
Something new everyday. Wow. So today, believe it or not, I entrusted my life to my crazy brother. After another church service all in Indonesian, we jumped on motorbikes for another wonderful adventure. Only today, instead of both of us being passengers, Peter drove and I sat on the back! eek! But (clearly) I survived. Fwew.
Later that night we were to catch our bus to Toraja. We were told 3 buses came by that went that way, the first at 5pm and the rest.. well, after 5pm. So we waited. The first came by at 6:30pm, but only had one seat available, so we waited for the next one. And waited. And waited. And then a shop owner near the bus terminal offered us an outdoor bamboo bed and we fell asleep...
Saturday April 13
Unfortunately we had to leave Luwuk yesterday and jumped on a bus. This morning (4am) we arrived in Tentena and settled in at the house of a friend of friend. This house is right on the lake in Tentena, and by "right on the lake" I mean RIGHT on the lake. I think maybe 1/8 of the house is actually on land, but the rest is on poles suspended over the water.
We wandered around the town and the market and discovered some interesting meat for sale. Huh. I'd heard that it happens, but never before have I seen bat meat for sale!
Friday April 12
Got up early for another snorkeling excursion, but my brother didn't want to join me because his hair was fluffy and nicely shampooed. Silly boy. It's a little intimidating to snorkel alone, especially since I saw venomous snakes last time, but I got a little brave and ventured out on my own. I saw an eel! And then my uncle joined me and we went deeper and saw more things :) Cool!
Thursday April 11
Today we went to climb and explore Henga-henga waterfall. It was the tallest waterfall I'd seen in Indonesia yet, and in one of the nearby caves I found a bat jaw bone embedded in rock!
Later, we had Indonesian-style, spicy corn-on-the-cob for snack, and pizza for dinner!
Wednesday April 10
OOH WOW, best Something New yet! Today we tried out the snorkel gear at the beach near our house, and boy was it awesome! Less than 50metres from the shore was a whole new world! It was still only a few feet deep, but we saw sea snakes, blue starfish, clown fish and anemones, a plethora of coral varieties, and hundreds of fish! WOW! So awesome!
Tuesday April 9
A couple of new things today. I met a real, live tribesman today! A man from my aunt and uncle's former tribe came to visit. He was just as normal as anyone else, in case you're wondering ;) Also, we tried a new and delicious fruit dish, AND I went to my first Indonesian birthday party!
Monday April 8
Today we visited yet another gorgeous waterfall with the young adults from church. Uber fun! Something new: I saw my first indonesian snake! A little watersnake that we all did well to avoid.....
Then later on, my aunt made delicious chocolate pudding for dessert. I've never had pudding made from scratch before, it's always been from a package. SNE
Sunday April 7
I regret that it took me 40-something days for this to happen, but it finally did, so it's something new. Today I went to church in Indonesia for the first time! I got an Indonesian/English Bible! And I had an interesting lunch experience today too. We had sago.. which is essentially... slime. It's colourless and tasteless, and the local people don't "eat" it, they "swallow" it. It didn't go so well for me. As I choked it down, all I could think of was hagfish slime, thanks a lot Dr. Fudge! Something New Everyday.
http://www.uoguelph.ca/atguelph/05-11-09/featuresslime.shtml
Saturday April 6
Today we did a lot of wonderful things, some of which I'd done before.. but then I met someone who had some pretty fantastic pets. A friend of mine has some pet hermit crabs, but today I met someone who has a large enclosure in his backyard filled with coconut crabs! These crabs are 10-ish inches across, they climb up trees and cut down coconuts, then they crack open the coconuts and eat them! They're jumbo! super cool. Something New Everyday.
Friday April 5
We made it! That boat finally left and finally arrived and we took a 7-hour bus ride and arrived in Luwuk at the home of our Aunt and Uncle! It was the first time they'd had visiters from North America in about 25 years, and the first time (obviously) that I'd visited them! SNE.
Thursday April 4
In order to leave Saroako, we took a car to a ferry, then a bus to a larger boat. That boat was to bring us to another bus which would take us to Luwuk, where our relatives live. All was working well until we reached that last boat, which apparently didn't leave until 2am. So much for trying to arrive in Luwuk tonight! If that transportation experience isn't new enough, this next thing certainly is! Just as I was about to lay down and nap on the boat I was swarmed by a mob of teenage girls! I mean, it's not like I'm Justin Bieber... but they did ask me if I knew him, and where I lived, and my age, and about weather, and a billion other things... and then I taught them how to do Sudokus :) Something New Everyday!
Wednesday April 3
Today our couchsurfing host had a family gathering and he invited us to come along. His Uncle had had a baby and was celebrating with a grand, muslim-style lunch. My brother and I had to borrow muslim-appropriate attire, and the whole affair was quite.. interesting. :) Something New Everyday.
Tuesday April 2
Arrived in Saroako yesterday and settled in. Today, our couchsurfing host took us to the most beautiful place in the world! I've seen Niagara Falls before, and it's big and nice and all, but the waterfalls of Mata Buntu, Saraoko are the most gorgeous cascades in the middle of a jungle paradise, wow! And then, in case that wasn't enough, we spent the afternoon at Saroako's lake and I snorkeled for the first time ever. We saw little, yellow, winged fish and some silver fish and some crabs. SNE.
Monday April 1
Yeah, didn't do anything today.
April fools! Ha... ha.. hum. Actually, it's true. What's new is that I didn't do anything, I completed ignored April Fools day for the first time ever. We were busy travelling and stuff, I don't even think I acknowledged it at all. Weird. SNE
Sunday March 31
Today is Easter, and what I've certainly never done on Easter before is visit lots of grave sites and caves filled with bones. Rantepao is certainly an interesting city with some interesting burial traditions. We joined a pair of tourists and spent the day exploring hills, trees, and caves filled with the dead. A great reminder of the power of Jesus who conquered death!
Saturday March 30
Have you ever neglected to study for an exam and decided to just "wing it"? Well, today's something new is extreme "winging it". We left Makassar and had plans to stay with a friend's parents in Makale city of the Toraja region. While en route I was trying to confirm these plans via text, but this friend was not responding at all. The information she had given us was "go to the market and ask for my mom, everyone knows her, go find her", which seems legit.. except for the fact that the market closes at 6pm and it was 8pm. While still on the bus I was calling our other contacts, looking for an alternative place to stay. Our friends gave us contact info for other friends in the city of Rantepao (also in the Toraja region, about 20min from Makale). As we were nearing Makale, we had to decide whether to stay on the bus or get off and look for our contact. At the very last possible moment we decided to get off and stick with our original plan. We found the closed up market (by now it was 9pm or so) with a few people walking about, asked if they knew our friend's mom, and sure enough, they did and they brought us to her house! Fwew! Success!
Friday March 29
Something New Everyday. Today we went to the beach of Samalona island and had some new beach experiences. The boys both got "stung" by invisible microbes.. which was weird.. but they definitely had selling red marks after we got out. Then we played frisbee for a bit and returned home in time for lunch. In that short-but-fun beach adventure I got very sunburnt! I've never got burned so fast before (and I don't want to again..)
Thursday March 28
This is a chill day, but something new did happen! We found a lovely internet cafe that had excellent milkshakes at wonderful prices. Never before have I purchased and consumed 3 milkshakes in the course of 5 hours.. at about 50 cents each. Wonderful!
Wednesday March 27
WARNING: long post. But it's worth it, there are 2 fun stories :)
Today we fought the system! Life in Indonesia (and other countries too sometimes) is all about bartering, especially for caucasians. So here's a fun story.
We went to a popular tourist attraction called Bantimurung waterfall, none for its caves and butterflies. The price for locals was 15,000 Rp and the price for Tourists 50,000Rp. We argued at the gate and tried to get half price for being students. They made up excuses and didn't budge, so we turned around.... and went for a walk.... and found another way in.. :) The same guy that talked to us at the gate asked how we got in and where our ticket was, etc. We told him we went the other way where no tickets were necessary. Hehe. He tried to explain that tickets were necessary everywhere, but we played "misunderstanding foreigner" and after a little bit of fun on our part and a little bit of frustration on his part, we eventually got a ticket for 25,000Rp each (which is STILL more than locals pay, and STILL racist!). But we had a fun time.
The waterfall wasn't even that exciting, and there weren't many butterflies (because all the locals catch them, mount them, and sell them to tourists). But the caves were pretty cool. And that's another long story. We entered this one creepy cave called Gua Mimpi (Dream Cave) which had sketchy boardwalks which turned into rickety stairs and were followed by more sketchy boardwalks over cold water. My brother didn't want to go far for fear of "dropping his gear", mmhm, right. So I went in alone. I was talking to myself and to all the bats that I could hear screeching around me so I wouldn't freak out, which was fine, 'cause bats are cool. and I wasn't freaking out. But then, while my hand was on the railing and I was cautiously proceeding forward, I saw a very large (like, size-of-my-hand-large) spindly spider on the railing post in front of me. Then I immediately took my hands off the railings, freaked out a little bit, forgot that I was a biologist, neglected to take a photograph, turned around, and went back at 4x the speed I entered.
huh. Never done that before.
Tuesday March 26
Our first full day on the island of Sulawesi! We went to the University with a friend and explored the campus while she worked. I found the Bio department, but more specifically, I found the Zoology room (singular..). First time I'd seen my own faculty in another country!
We also explored an old dutch fort, Rotterdam, and shopped in a popular underground mall area. Cool!
Monday March 25
After 3 days in Bali the guys decided to me there was a 1 hour time difference. I wouldn't have minded so much if they weren't telling me at 5:25am (which I thought was 4:25am) when we planned to catch our taxi to the airport at 5:30am. That was a new and unpleasant experience..
We arrived in Makassar Sulawesi that evening, met our couchsurfing host for that city, and ate a new version of martabok: a classic Makassar version with veggies and egg. SNE
Sunday March 24
Woke up to gorgeous sunlight on a white and black sandy beach with clear blue water. The jellies were gone so we swam and then explored the solidified magma rocks nearby. After breakfast we spent the day hiking the hills to see Hindu temples. We stopped for a new and interesting snack on the way down (frozen/cold juice in a bag) and then got caught in a rain storm. We gave up on trying to stay dry, ransacked a few rambutan trees, sucked the fruit off some cocoa seeds, and eventually made it back to Denpassar, Bali.
Saturday March 23
Today we planned to set up camp on a beach, have a night swim in the ocean, and go visit temples in the morning. When we stepped in the water someone got stung and then we noticed tiny glowing jellyfish coming up with every wave! Cool!
Friday March 22
After leaving Java we arrived in Bali and met up with a Canadian couchsurfer! That night we went to my first ever lights-flashing-music-pounding beach party. Lots of new.
Thursday March 21
Today I got brave and ventured out on my own while Peter was getting his VISA renewed. I had a frustrating experience getting lost and finally giving in to the becak drivers (bicycle with a cart attached. the drivers sit at the side of the road or follow you down the road [loudly] offering transport) who then tried to rip me off. Eventually I made it to the BIRD MARKET which was super cool and filled with exotic birds, reptiles, civets, and more! It was a little bit not so cool though, because the living conditions of these animals was not prime.. but an interesting experience nonetheless.
Wednesday March 20
Something New Everyday. Today we wandered Yogyakarta city and saw a demonstration on how to make traditional Batik artwork. The process involves a series of alternating steps, where wax is added to fabric to cover and preserve the colour beneath, and the rest of the fabric is dyed. The second-to-end product shows the darkest paint over the entire canvas with paint and wax layers underneath. That is then boiled and all the wax comes off, revealing a colourful painting! If that didn't make any sense... see what wikipedia has to say!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Batik
Tuesday March 19
Huh. SNE. Today we intended to see a famous temple, took a one hour bus to get there, and right at the gate we changed our minds. Never done that before.
The reason is because the local ticket costs 30,000Rp (about $3) per person, but "tourists" had to check in at a separate desk where the price was 190,000Rp (about $19) per person. While in Canada that may be a decent price for a famous attraction, we did not feel the need to support racism here. So we didn't go in.
Monday March 18
In case that boat experience wasn't thrilling enough, we arrived 4 hours late, missed our bus, and decided to walk to the train station because we had time. That is, we arrived in Jakarta at midnight, waited 2 hours and then walked 2 hours through the city with our huge backpacks. That whole experience was certainly new, and to top it off, we caught a legit chuggachuggachugga train to Yogyakarta. I've never been on a REAL train before! ;)
Sunday March 17
so... we caught our boat late last night.. and today.. um.
Something New Everyday. This is the first time I'd spent my entire day on a boat. yippee...
Saturday March 16
While waiting for evening when our next boat leaves, we decided to bake a cake! Only.. we didn't have an oven. Today was the first time I'd pulled together assorted ingredients and baked a cake in a toaster oven! Good work guys :)
Friday March 15
Went to Koba city to meet up with Sen again today, and we saw her family's business. They run a dentistry/fake-teeth-making business, with a variety store store front and a turtle farm out back. I saw two wild-come-captive pigs and lots of spiny shoftshell turtles. That was certainly new!
Thursday March 14
Something New Everyday. Today Edi took us to his family's Palm farm. Tonnes of palm trees whose fruits are harvested to make oil. Never seen that before! I also saw 4 tourquoise bee eater birds today and a barn owl, cool!
Wednesday March 13
We switched couchsurfers today and went to stay with Edi on the other side of the island. I met an Indonesian-speaking bird, and saw an active Tin mine for the first time ever!
https://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=10151562338428879¬if_t=video_processed
Tuesday March 12
Lots of new today. Today was the first time I'd visited a Chinese Confucious Temple (the one we saw in Medan was Buddist), first time I'd played Chinese chess, and the first Indonesian beach I'd been to! At the beach we drank straight coconut juice with a straw, classic... but kinda gross actually. And THEN, I learned how to ride a motorcycle. SNE
Monday March 11
We made it to Bangka island yesterday afternoon, and today we wandered around town. I saw my first Indonesian lizards: 2 skinks! coool! Also, we tried some new food: Ketoprak, a peanut-sauce-covered traditional yum! SNE
Sunday March 10
Early this morning was the conclusion of our long, long trip to the harbour in Palembang, and what a conclusion it was. We ended up on the most unusual bus ever, this little bus had a disco ball and flashing lights, loud banging music, and a flashy music video playing up front. Definitely never had that before. What was funnier still, was that every person in that bus was sitting statue-still, completely ignoring the party around them ;)
Saturday March 9
I was worried that by spending an entire day on a bus I would miss out of something new, but fear not, it happened anyway! In the middle of our 10 hour bus ride from Sungai Penuh to Jambi we stopped for lunch in a small village. There I saw some cute kids with their pet chicks... only.. their pet chicks were BLUE! huh? They were dyed I guess.. but still, first time I'd seen blue chicks!
