Overloaded Senses

When you hear or read people’s experience of their trip in India, they would describe how their senses experience different things that are foreign. The eyes, the ears, the smell, all senses are identifying new things and trying to get used to them. At some point your senses are overloaded. It could be a good thing or bad thing, totally depends on your reaction.

I didn’t really experience that. Maybe because I was more informed. I was looking forward to going there for quite some time. Even years before I make real plan I love watching documentaries or travel shows on India, about the culture, the food, people’s experience there. Unfortunately I didn’t grow any interest in watching Bollywood movies. Anyway, my eyes were somewhat trained after watching documentaries, my taste buds are familiar with the food (though I won’t pretend to know all Indian food, because of course I can only eat what they have to offer here).

So while I was there, as much as I try to immerse myself with the culture, I don’t think I got the real 100% Indian experience. I didn’t really mingle with the locals, go to their house to have even a day to live as an Indian. I didn’t have that luxury.

Nevertheless, I was happy being a tourist for a month. From the small chats with the locals who were willing to converse and could converse in English I got bits and pieces of what people do. A nice guy I met in Chennai explained how a woman would start their day. She would take a shower, smoke her hair with the incense and after she will prepare breakfast for the family. In my ears it sounded impractical, but culture is culture, and in my imagination I could see this woman doing it out of love. Just beautiful.

The one thing that I think my body was working hard to adjust to the new habit was my tummy. Change of diet can be challenging, but I tried as much as I can to balance it. With minimum fiber intake I made sure I have an apple in the mornings and other fruits like banana, orange or juice during the day. Glad I could find lassi anywhere and milk, even in small portion on chai. I never was a big fan of chai. Give me tea and milk on separate cups and I’ll drink both. LOL. But that doesn’t work like that in India. On good days I could find tea, on better days they can add some ginger. It’s good tho to be able to find any chai stall on the street, especially during winter in India.

Back to my diet. Without intending to lose any weight, I knew I was losing some, at least 2-3 kgs. Quite surprising considering most of the foods were starch. Naan, roti, chapatti, mixed with curry with some tiny cut veggies. And I never say no to street food. I was curious. I wanted to taste them all those namkeen. My favorite was still samosa, and I get to met my second favorite, which was panipuri, and belpuri became number 3. Aahh… I could survive the day just eating those, with a glass of fresh mixed juice.

By the end of the trip and almost back to motherland I could only imagine one thing that I was craving for. No, not meat (tho I missed having a juicy beef steak or pork). Being in India for a month was kind of a test, and I think I could become vegetarian quite easily, tho it’s not gonna happen. I love meat. LOL. So the last few days I was there I thought about the first meal I’d like to have, and that would be of a big bowl of freshly sautéed veggies. It could be a mix of 3-4 veggies, carrot, beans, cauliflower, broccoli, bean sprouts, anything. Just the idea of having veggies could actually made me drool!! Yep, that was how much I missed it, crunchy tasty veggies. And it happened. Heaven. God bless farmers! :)

The Bucket List.

The term "bucket list" was coined by a movie of an odd old buddies, Morgan Freeman and Jack Nicholson. It told the story of pursuing to do the stuff that you've been dreaming of doing in your life. So people start listing things to do, the desires of the heart, best before you die.

Seems this generation has travel as a big thing. Including me. I love traveling. If money isn’t a requirement and the job isn’t something that provide that luxury I’d be on the road all the time. Or maybe not. After a full month traveling (which is the longest I’ve been), I kinda missed my bed, and tired of the packing-unpacking, especially tired of wearing the same 8 clothes and 4 pairs of pants again and again.

The list I got to cross out this time was INDIA. 

Aahhhh India… where do I begin?

It started with a chat with a friend of mine, from one topic to another we came to a decision to travel to India together, for a month. We picked the month, and the next meeting we bought our tickets. We had a few months to prepare and book the rest of the journey. The fun of choosing places to visit, stuff to do, it was just exciting, seeing your dream started to materialized.

Come November, we were all ready and prepared and excited! Accommodations were booked, inland transportation also. We decided to fly for any train trip that exceeds 12 hrs. It’s just a waste of time. Booking train was challenging as we’re abroad, no local number which was required. Good thing my friend has a good Indian friend there and was willing to help us with the booking, and we could repay her when we’re there. Awesooomme! That’s the benefit of having friends in places we want to go. :)

In the whole month we visited 11 cities, countless historical places such as palaces, religious places,and  many other interesting places. We trailed from the south, Chennai, up to Hyderabad, up again to Rajasthan and ended up in Delhi. Like a friend of mine said, while visiting a country it’s always good to visit the capital city. Correct.

Some of my next postings will be Indian-related. Travel a month gave so much ideas to write. What we saw, what we ate, the whole experience the senses had. But all in all I can’t pretend I understand and know India. There’s so much still to be seen and learn. The culture is diverse from one area to another. I suppose India is not crossed out completely, sort of half way, since I still want to come back. Someday, sometime, on a good day. 

On exploring new world

Being limited in budget and time I try as much as I can to fulfill my travel craze. It’s not really craze though, because I’ve met people who schedule the whole year for trips. It is as they live and work for travel. So I decided to make it a dream to travel to at least one unknown place in a year. Ideally 2 places, one within Indonesia and one abroad.

Last year I was fortunate to be able to visit Makassar then continued to Toraja. Fabulous places, especially Toraja with its fascinating culture. Then I had a chance to have another trip before the end of the year, to Kupang (NTT) on September and then the following month to Vietnam. Yes, I’m blessed to be able to visit these places. All in its unique characteristic.

And to this year.. oohyeah.. another Nyepi, another chance to skip the island and visit another new place. This year I decided to go to Labuan Bajo, another island in the same province as Kupang (NTT).

It was an excellent choice. The main purpose was to see Komodo Island so as soon as I arrived in LBJ I went to one of the trip providers stationed along the road on the way to the sea port. So many options, from daily trip Komodo island, dive trip even 2-4 day trips to other islands and even Lombok.

Dithering about my choices I decided to take the 2 day trip. It took me a while to decide because I wasn’t sure I can survive a long boat trip considering I’m prone to having sea sick. I figured if I got sick I’ll just throw up and I’ll be fine. Been there, done that.

Early morning, had a quick breakfast and headed to the port. Met the boat captain, his crew, and a guy who will be my fellow traveler. Good, otherwise I’d have to cover the cost myself! 2.5 hour ride, we arrived at Rinca island. Had the first trekking looking for Komodos. Strangely enough not so many on the trekking, but we saw 4 of them on the base camp area. There they were, chilling out under the shade, not having a care of the world. Of course the ranger/guide kept reminding us not to be fooled as the komodos are always alert and ready to chase their prey. Yikes.

Next stop was Pink Beach. Fabulous. The corals were just beautiful! And it was low tide, I could almost touch them, but of course I didn’t, not wanting to harm them. So many cute little fish, tiny school of fish swarming at you. Just wonderful.

We headed to the Kalong island and spent the night on the sea. I was quite surprised that throughout the trip the water was so gentle. And during the night it was even more beautiful as we could stare at the sky full of stars.

The following day we went directly to Komodo island. The trekking was also interesting, it’s quite different than Rinca island with more trees covering us, the komodos were bigger than the ones in Rinca, and there were deers as part of the food chain.

Finished trekking, we went back to the boat, up for another snorkeling trip. We stopped at Kanawa island and Bidadari island, both were as beautiful as Pink Beach, even in Kanawa I spotted a handful of baby sharks. I couldn’t believe it at first, but there were baby sharks.

I wished I had more time. Could’ve spent a night in Kanawa or if even longer, take a ride to Ende and explore the island more. But due to limited time and budget, the komodos and fish were the main focus. Perhaps I need to return.. :).

My travel information:  I took a flight from Denpasar, Bali. Boats usually depart around 8am, either package deal or custom made. Cost for 2 day trip was Rp.1,500,000. There were only 2 of us, so more passengers works better as you can split the boat cost. Max. passenger: 7 pax.

Here's an amateur Flores underwater video I did. Not bad, huh? :)

The road less traveled.**

So I was supposed to find a new job. 

My dad’s message when I graduated: to never quit a job before you find a new (and better) one. Over the years I’ve followed that religiously. I’ve been blessed to move from one job to another getting better pay or perks or both. Then as if my luck has run out I lost my job last month. I don’t want to panic, but deep down I felt it. It was just not the right timing, the fact that I’m already in the phase where I’m skilled, experienced, but the employment market isn’t very friendly and most companies prefer to hire cheaper staff who has less skill and experience.

Timing, oh how important it is. So to avoid panic I decided to look at other possibilities. Isn’t it that when God closes one door there must be another door (or even a window) is opened? What options do I have? Of course #1 would be finding a new job. What are the other options? I could travel, for one. I could go back to school. I could start my own business. So many things. Just thinking about them makes me excited.

I chose to do the odd, the least chosen one. That is to do voluntary work. Ever since I graduated I the tug to do this, but wasn’t sure when, what and how. For quite some time I’ve heard stories about refugees looking for a new country they could adopt, start fresh, with high hopes of getting better life. I’ve seen reports on TV how people are being displaced and they have to struggle to get admitted in another country. And they are many here in this country, in fact in Bali there’s a place for them. So that's where my heart was directed. I would like to meet them, one way or the other.

After going through the registration process and got the approval I had my first visit to the detention center. Honestly it was unnerving for me at first; I felt guilty and asked for God’s forgiveness. They’re not criminals; the crime they did was not having proper documents and/or didn’t go through the proper channel to enter another country.

So I had my first encounter with the folks there. They sure were an interesting bunch. The kids seemed so friendly and excited to meet new person. I looked forward to working with them, to spend time with them and be their friend.

I’m not going to fool myself that at some point I need to go back to the “normal” corporate world and earn what I used to earn, but I haven’t set the deadline yet. I know God will provide. If this is the biggest thing that would “friggin’ frighten myself”, I’m going to wait it out and see how long I’m frightened. And even if later I turn back and can only sigh at the choice I made, I know somehow, there’s something from it made a difference, if it is just myself.

** Inspired by Robert Frost's "The Road Not Taken".

Puff the (not so magic) dragon...

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This pack of ciggies was left by a house guest who bought upon his arrival in Bali, but decided he didn’t like it and asked me to pass it on to whoever I know smoking it.

Out of curiosity I picked one out and lighted it. One puff. Two puff. Three puff. And it was out. Hahaaa.. yes, it only took me three puffs to reformulate why I don’t like smoking. My first time was when I was ten or eleven years old, and in that young delicate age I couldn’t really put words on that experience, and after a couple of decades, I can. 

Older and wiser, now I can say that I don’t like smoking because literally it’s like inhaling those smelly garbage smoke (and we have plenty of that in Bali) and blow it out again. Just like that, empty mouth just smelly air circling around my mouth resulting nothing else than smelly breath. Hahaa… not my cup of tea :D

East bound: TORAJA

It’s been a year since the last time I traveled abroad. There are only two reason for this, time and money. Since it cost more to travel abroad I don’t want to waste a lot of cash just to spend 2-3 days in Bangkok, for instance. Besides, Indonesia is rich and full of different cultures with magnificent places to see. Logically I should travel within my country before exploring the world, right? 

So Toraja was my latest destination. I had travel mates this time, 3 girls. Schedule: Nyepi (Balinese holiday on mid March). So us girls prepared our tickets, hotels and a scratch of itinerary. We figured for the most part things can be done on location so no need to over-prepare it.

With cheap tickets in our pocket (thanks to AirAsia) we left on Saturday afternoon. It’s a bit too bad there’s only 1 flight and it leaves at 3pm, we sort of lost one day. But it is what it is. The flight from Bali to Makassar (prev. Ujung Pandang) was uneventful. We went directly to Litha bus station, purchased our ticket for the 9pm bus ride. We had plenty of time for dinner, but not that much to roam around the city. So we chose a small warung walking distance from the station. They had cheap Makassar dish, coto Makassar and we all ordered that, along with some dumpling we bought from street vendor.

The bus left on time (which is good) and off we went. I swallowed a motion sickness pill just as we left, just in case, but also so that I could sleep and get some rest. Only then did I found out that the pill lasted for 4 hours. When I woke up I hesitated to take another pill, so I just closed my eyes and tried going back to sleep. The bus made a lot of stops, which I thought was good because it gave people chance when they needed to go to the bathroom.

And just about a couple of hours before we reached Rantepao the road started to get really curvy, lots of turns, and as predicted I started to feel queesy, and not too long I got sick. My last meal was 6 hours before so I basically had digested all the food, but this kind of sickness had to twist and pinch my tummy to the max until there was nothing else to vomit. I guess that’s the ‘risk’ of having ulcer problem. The acid just had to crush you and there was nothing you can do, at some point you had to let it out, and when it’s done, you get your cool back and try to get more rest. I couldn’t even drink, you know with all the smell and the taste in my mouth. Oh yes, my travel buddy J also had a jackpot, and from the sound of it seemed she was more miserable than I. LOL.

Rantepao is beautiful in its own, the people are very diligent in working their land. You can hardly see a lot that’s not turned into paddy field. Wherever you turn you can see rice fields are either planted or prepare to be planted.

The graveyards and its mystical funeral rituals add spice to the whole Toraja story and as spooky as it is, it intrigued a lot of people, maybe including me. For this trip we didn’t want to exhaust ourselves with too many graveyard visits, so after the third one we thought it was enough. We took enough pictures, we’ve seen enough skulls and bones.

Two spots I really liked and glad we went to was Bori and Singki. In Bori you could see more than a dozen of megalithic stones standing in the area. Sure was a cool place to take pictures (even on a rain). It was like Toraja’s own Stonehenge.

Singki is located in a hilly area, and at the top there’s a construction of a huge crucifix. The hike was not too bad, and when you reached to the top the view was worth it. You could see the whole town from the top. I would think the crucifix was meant like the statue of Jesus in Rio de Janeiro. Pretty cool. They’re being really clear of who they worship.

Our way back to Makassar was better for me, although I had to admit a bit worried I would throw up again (thank God it didn’t happen). But my friend did. Poor J.

Note:

- Bus fare range from Rp.80,000-130,000 (depending on the type of the bus). Bus ride is between 8-10 hours

- Hotels are cheap (ours was Rp.300,000 without aircon). To be safe better to book in advance. The city is quite popular among government officials.

- Motorbike rent cost Rp.80,000 per day, excluding gas

I’m glad now I can cross Toraja from my bucket list. Now on to dithering the next destination.

This blog was never meant to be a travel blog. There are already plenty of them. I’m glad they exist, they help some of my trips, so bless them. I guess the recent posts are travel because there aren’t many exciting things going on, so traveling was the only idea that stimulate my brain to write.

Not good.

Have I been ignorant? Have I lost my writing muscles? Have I been dulled by work that I become dulled to the things that are happening around that I can write about? Perhaps all of the above, or perhaps I’m just being lazy… LOL.

OK, I admit this blog needs more tlc. I had some ideas, but some of them are either too private or too complicated for me to digest before writing it. Yup, I digest stuff before writing it. It’s basically working on the first crappy drafts :D

So secretly I will try hard (honest, as hard as I can) to use this brain again. It’s been too idle from sitting down and staring at telly. There I said it, the big evil and time sucker in my life :p

I did plan to cancel my cable subscription, it’s even on my NY resolution, namely watch less telly! But what I can say, bad habit die hard.. Most nights when I come home from work that’s the easiest thing to do. It’s not going to be easy to reverse that. In the meantime I won’t cancel it just yet. I got a housemate, and it’s an easy entertainment when I/we have company. Yep, it has to start from me. Well, to be honest, there aren’t many good shows, and housemate doesn’t really watch documentaries, which can be more useful. 

OK, have to be more strict. It’s my time I’m wasting here. So it’s all on me. Pooh..!