Sultans and Buddhas

In the city of Yogyakarta, Central Java, we visited the Sultans palace. Here we saw the palace guards, pictures and paintings of Sulatns in the past, and the beautiful grounds. The elf-like golden ear ornaments you see in the photo below are a symbol of wisdom.

Probably my favorite part of the palace was the orchestra of men playing traditional Indo music featuring an array of xylophones, bells, and gongs accompanied by female singers. It was beautiful. This was all along with a traditional Indonesian puppet show which can last anywhere from 2-5 hrs depending on the story being told. We only sat for a small part of the show.

After touring the palace we witnessed men skillfully chiseling & painting every tiny detail of the shadow puppets made from tough water buffalo hide. The small chisels are made from motorbike spokes.

The royal Water Garden was a pretty cool stop. It used to be a sort of amusement park for royalty.

One of the greatest things we've seen in all of Indonesia has been Borobudur, the largest stupa in the Southern Hemisphere. It was built in the 9th century and restored in 1973. The multiteered stupa represents the Buddhist mountain, Meru, and symbolizes the journey upward from earthly suffering all the way to Nirvana. All this is depicted as you travel clockwise & upward on incredible stone carvings.

An amazing, spiritual place.

I'm creating this post sitting on a train with Liz by my side traveling west from Yogyakarta to Jakarta. It won't be posted until we can get internet. Outside the window we can see massive volcanoes off in the hazy distance, people and water buffalo diligently tending to the rice terraces, banana trees and bamboo, mosques, the scooter-riding masses, burning rubbish, and children splashing in a river under the equatorial sun. In a few days we take a short plane ride to Kuala-Lampur, Malaysia, then on north to Thailand to rendezvous with some incredible friends. :) -MP

East Java

So we're adjusting to life in Java, an island that boasts 121 active volcanos. This Muslim island is a far cry from Hindu Bali. I miss the smell of incense but the lack of other tourists has been an interesting change. We are celebrities here, I can't go anywhere without at least a few young girls asking to take a picture with me (or pretending to take a selfie and taking a picture of me). One guy actually approached us and just starting videotaping and asking questions! Funny stuff. 

On Friday, we were invited from the sidewalk to sit in VIP seats for a Batik fashion show which was pretty cool. We were caught without a camera for that one. Lucky us the festivities were all weekend..

Early Sunday morning we hiked up Mt. Ijen in the dark. There are men climbing up and down this volcano every day to mine sulfur (in baskets) and the pictures are hard to believe. We were able to pay a guy off to let us walk down to the blue flames that burn from the sulfur, so that's what that is below. The clouds of sulfur burn your eyes and throat and it's difficult to stay near for very long. It was also very windy on the crater rim so you'll notice Matt and I are wearing everything from our backpacks that could be considered warm (which isn't much). 

After Ijen we left Banyuwangi for Surabaya (8 hr bus for $8). We went to a cigarette factory where women roll something like 500 cigarettes in a hour. We also walked around the souks in the Arab Quarter. 

"Madam please we can take your picture?!!"

Slow first day at his new job...

xxL

Northern Bali

After Gili T. we headed back to Bali to the quiet little port town of Padangbai. We really loved it there.

In Padangbai we visited the blue lagoon where we found it: The World's TINIEST Hermit Crab!

Then we walked to the white sand beach where we drank and ate a coconut, and swam in the surf:

After Padangbai we headed further north to Tulamben were we had planned to snorkel.  But got a really good deal, so we went diving! Just 30m offshore is the site of the wreck the USS Liberty! Wicked cool! We saw some amazing fish, coral, anemones, barracuda,and swam through parts of the wreck.

We couldn't take any pictures unfortunately since the we dove too deep for our camera to handle.

Here are some pictures from the web to give an idea of what it was like:

In Tulamben we stayed at our dive instructor, Suker's, homestay. He is a great guy with a wonderful family. We drank palm wine and spirits with them, played games, and made some jewelry for them. Here is the youngest, Dika, playing Pass the Pigs with his brother, Suker, and us. :)

We are currently on the island of Java, west of Bali, and planning to hike Mt. Ijen in the morning.

-MP

Gettin' it in Gili

We did a three day trip to the Gili Islands (about a week ago). Matt tried scuba for the first time and we both loved it. Our camera can't go very deep so our underwater pictures are from snorkeling, but we saw turtles (3!), tons of beautiful fish and a baby eagle ray. 

Holy volcano.

Before scuba and after scuba..

Holy volcano sunset.

More to come, we've got some catching up to do..

xx L

Monkey Seeks Banana

It's true! Monkeys really do LOVE bananas, and they're not shy about it. Ask Liz, they'll hop right up on you if they even suspect you've got food. Here are a few pictures from the Ubud Monkey Forest in Bali where Macaques seek refuge in this lush jungle sanctuary which also holds the Temple of The Dead.

Every day in the dry season if you look up you will see these massive kites buzzing high in the sky in parts of Bali. We were able to see a few boys launching one in the town soccer field.

We're currently in Gili Trawangang, a small island east of Bali.  We got absolutely drenched on the boat ride over from Padang Bai. No worries though, the sun is shining and everything else is going just fine on this beautiful little island, known for its world-class diving.  Tomorrow we are scheduled for a beginner scuba sesh! I hope we see some sea turtles. :) -MP

Ubud

We headed into the mountains to Ubud on the 9th. This village-city is sort of the Art and cultural capital around here. Everything you see is beautiful, the fabrics, woodcarvings, metalwork, beadwork, etc. 

On our first day we did the Bali Eco Bike Tour. It covered a lot of ground, starting with breakfast at Kintamani, an area with the volcano Mt. Batur (last erupted in '63) and a beautiful crater lake with so much sulfur in it that the fish have to be eaten the same day they are caught.

From there we went to an organic farm where we learned about some herbs and tasted the famous poop coffee (Luwak). I also tasted the leaf of a cinnamon tree which was quite cool. The Luwak Kopi was $5-6/cup which is expensive here. It was good (not amazing but what I do I know about coffee?), it's amazing it doesn't taste like poop..

Turmeric and ginger root, sampler, Luwak Kopi:

Cooking poop beans:

After this we got on our bikes and rode through Balinese villages. We stopped first at a homestead and learned about the culture. I won't give all the details but every home has a temple and beautiful unique stonework. It seemed even the poorest families had this. 

From there we hopped back on our bikes and then stopped so our guide could show us these gold spiders...

Next was a big Banyan tree which roughly means tree of life - it was the type of tree the one in the movie Avatar was based on. This one was hundreds if years old.

Final stop before a delicious lunch was at some rice paddies and we got to see some women harvesting the rice.

xx L