Twinkle, Twinkle Little Worm

The only thing Waitomo is known for is these little worms that live on the ceilings of underground caves. The worms are the pupa of what will become a little fly - a sad little fly that has no mouth and therefore only lives 2-3 days. This seems an unusually cruel trick of nature - that, and having your poo glow while you're a worm. That's right, glowing poo. Pretty cool.

Since we've traveled all this way to see glowing poo we were going to do it right which in NZ means taking an adventure tour. Our trip, called Tuma Tuma Toobing, consisted of four hours (2.5 of it underground) in full on black wet suits, white rubber boots, and red hard hats with miner lights, slithering around wet caves. It was so cool. The water was freezing as you'd imagine (it's almost winter here) but we moved around a fair bit which made it bearable. Lots of time was spent on our hands and knees crawling through the smallest of spaces. At one point, we reached an impasse where we were floating with our head on one side of a rock formation and our feet on the other side. When the guide yelled "go," they pushed our head under the water and pulled us up by our feet on the other side. This is NZ fun and it's just that - really fun. My feet were a little worse for wear at the end of the day but it was all worth it. The glowworms were amazing and the climbing, crawling, and awesome outfits were equally cool. I would do it again in a heartbeat.

Next we visited Rotorua, a town nicknamed "Sulphur City." With the smell of egg salad in the air, we visited one of the thermal pools where you can lounge in pools of increasing temperature increments from 36 to 43 degree C. This was a great way to unwind after a day of crawling around in the mud with worms with glowing poo.

Lake Taupo was next, the largest lake in NZ -606 square kilometers. After a short drive from Rotorua, we settled in a nice guesthouse and went off to have a picnic and get a preview of tomorrow's activity.

Michael's belated birthday present is to go skydiving. Yes, skydiving. While it seemed a big deal when I thought about it back home, here it's happening all around you so you'd feel like a wimp if you weren't doing it. That said, I'm going too. While picnicking on Lake Taupo we saw them coming down every 15 minutes or so. While it looks super scary I can't wait.

Welcome to New Zealand

Another plane ride - so exciting. More good food, movies galore, and 11 hours of pampering. Again, excited to go to the airport.

Upon arriving in Auckland we grabbed a ferry to Waiheke Island, about 30 minutes outside of the city. We were guests of Michael's San Francisco roommate Rochelle's family who were there for the weekend. As we've done many times during this trip we managed to arrive in the middle of a major holiday - this time, Easter. The Wordsworths were incredibly generous and welcoming of us. Home cooked meals, dinners at lovely bistros, fluffy towels, visits from the Easter bunny, and a bed with sheets and a wonderful view were only some of the luxuries we experienced.

One morning we took in a hike along the water to Palm Beach. Well the intention was to take a walk along the water but in reality we ended up wandering the streets somewhat but this too was enjoyable. Plus, an ice cream stand with milkshakes magically appeared at the end of our walkabout. I'm so grateful for proper dairy.





As painful as it was to leave the Wordsworths, we had to get moving. For the first time in a while we did have somewhat of a schedule to keep. Michael's sister Susanne is meeting us in Christchurch in about a week so we had to see our sites on the North Island before meeting up.

That said, we rented a cute little car called the Starlet. I've never heard of this car but I liked the sound of it...and it was the cheapest one we could find.



After picking her up we headed three hours south to Waitomo, land of the glowworms.

Jackie Chan, Number One Son

Next, another luxurious plane ride to Hong Kong. This time we weren't staying in the airport even though after seeing our room the airport might have been a better choice. The "hotel" as it were is in a building that takes up a whole city block and is a fire and rat trap for sure. You go up in a very small elevator with various tailors, transvestites, and the occasional traveler. Our room was quite small - two twin beds and a tiny, tiny little bathroom. Enough room, however, for two quite large cockroaches to visit - one in Michael's bag and one under my shoe. At least they split the grief between us.





It was great fun to be back in a big, urban city. High buildings and high prices. But it was worth it in my estimation to get a reasonable bagel and cup of coffee. We spent the afternoon walking around Victoria peak on Hong Kong Island. Not great weather but a wonderful view. One of the best bits was taking the local ferry between HK and Kowloon Islands which afforded more spectacular scenery.





No trip to Hong Kong would be complete without a visit to the Avenue of Stars. The only star I knew was Jackie Chan - these folks LOVE Jackie Chan.



After less than 48 hours it was time to be off again, this time to New Zealand. It was hard to believe that three and a half months had passed and we'd be leaving Asia for good. I was a bit sad, but at the same time I was ready for the change.

The English Patient

Next, more diving. Our goal was to get to Tulamben on the east coast of Bali. While Tulamben is only about 18 miles as the crow flies from Ganung Batur there is no direct way to get there. Taking public transportation is highly discouraged by everyone you talk to for two reasons (we think). One, if you take public transport you wont take more expensive taxis; and, two, there are very few direct routes. The trip to Tulamben would have required four different bemos, which are like minibuses, and would likely have taken all day. This seemed a good time to cash in my Christmas gift transportation upgrade coupon. This meant we took a taxi for the trip and completed it in a little under three hours. Half of the trip was through the mountains and the other half along the coast.

We chose Tulamben because you can dive the USS Liberty. This cargo ship was damaged during the WWII and sat on the Tulamben coast line until it was pushed into the Bali Sea by the force of the explosion during the 1963 eruption of Gunung Agung.

We stayed at Tulamben Wreck Divers, a hotel catering to divers right across the street from the wreck. The town is very small and its main industry is catering to divers. What's nice about being right at the wreck is that you can dive any time you want, as often as you want.

But, we encountered a setback. Michael had been feeling a bit of an earache when we started out this morning. By the time we reached Tulamben it had grown into a full fledged ear infection. His ear canal had swollen up and by the time we went to sleep he had a 102 temperature. He was in excruciating pain and our supplies of pain killers were fairly limited.



I have to say that folks here have been incredibly nice and helpful during the now three days of convalescence. Sandra, another guest and Australian ER doc was quite generous with her knowledge and her supply of codeine. Tony and Dot, the proprietors, were also great with supplying medication and having their driver make a drug run during a trip to Kuta, the nearest town with any decent medical facilities, over 3 hours away. Michael is slowly getting better but its been a long few days. It is, however, not a bad place to get sick. We luckily had a much nicer set up than usual - sheets, towels, a dvd player and movies to rent, AC, a minifridge - which made things at least a bit more comfortable.

And, as Michael was sleeping much of the time, I also managed to get in four dives. It's a funny little system. You get suited up in your wetsuit and weightbelt and you walk down the main street about 300 feet, take a left at the bush, and wander into a little wooded area till you pop out at the beach. There your tanks and dive jackets await you and there is not another soul around. Again, very James Bond like - your equipment just magically appears. Actually porters carry the tanks on their heads which is also pretty amazing.



From there you suit up and just walk into the water. The diving here is unbelievable - better than Thailand and Malaysia for sure. The visibility was great and the variety of fish is outstanding. On my most recent dive I saw 10 black tip sharks. They were probably about four feet in length and never got too close but you can tell by the way they move that you wouldn't want to get them angry.



After staying in Tulamben for five nights it was time to move on - this time to Kuta where we would lay low for a day until our flight to Hong Kong. Gone will be warm weather and cheap eats - back to reality time.

Ganung Batur

Next we headed further north to see the volcano, Ganung Batur. Michael and his family climbed this volcano 24 years ago so he was excited to see it all again. On our taxi ride up we were asking our driver about hiking the volcano, the town where we'd be staying, etc. He sort of laughed, mentioned something about the mafia, and then dropped the subject. Hmm, what that was all about we wouldn't find out till later.

We stayed in Penelokan, a small town set on a hillside with an amazing view of Ganung Batur. As there are only two places to stay in town we were somewhat concerned about finding lodging that was within our price range. After striking out at the first place (too expensive), we found a room at an unfinished hotel. From looking at their registration book we think we were their only guests since January. We had the whole place to ourselves and a wonderful view - certainly the best we've had the entire trip.





Our plans to hike the volcano, which one traditionally starts at 4 am, were squashed when we discovered the extorniate cost of the climb. Prices of anywhere from $55/person to $30/person were quoted, which neither of us could stomach paying as this was only a three hour hike. The high cost seems to be a function of a Hiking Guide Association that has cornered the market on this volcano. You cannot climb without them. We learned later of stories of hikers being robbed, threatened, etc. while hiking on their own which reinforced our decision to just stay one night and skip the hike.

Instead we decided to take a walk to the lake, about 1.5 miles down a steep hill. On the walk down we were talked to or stopped at least 25 times by locals offering us rides, wanting to sell their art, offering to guide us up the volcano, etc.

We stopped for lunch about half way down at what turned out to be a not so great restaurant. Luckily there was a large group of mangy looking cats who liked the offerings much more then we did and helped us finish up the grisly bits.



Upon arriving at the lake we were swarmed with locals wanting to sell us bracelets, massages, tours, boat rides, etc. I got the impression that they hadn't seen tourists in quite some time. In fact during our one day stay we saw only two other westerners.

We made our way back up the hill by motorbike. The hill is so steep that I actually had to get off my bike two times so my driver could go back downhill a bit to get more of a running start.

Dinner that night was also another weird experience. The hotel restaurant is also not really open yet so we sat, in the dark, the only two people in the whole place with leaking ceilings and incomplete menus, while two young hotel staff hovered over us.



Breakfast the next morning was more of the same but we sat on the incomplete balcony, complete with exposed rebar and no railing to keep you from falling over. The view, however, was spectacular.

Ubud

After our few days in Kuta it was time to move north - about one hour north to Ubud. This adorable little town reminded me of Carmel, CA or some other boutique town. There are many artist studios, flash restaurants, day spas, and fancy little resorts. The best part for us was as there was no one there we were able to negotiate (well Michael was able to negotiate) a very good price for a very sweet little place.







The town is filled with tiny boutiques and is quite charming. There is a ton of attention given to all the little things and the opulence was a nice change from cockroaches of the past.







Our first stop was the Monkey Forest Sanctuary. As Michael had been here 24 years earlier, he gave me some warnings - the monkeys KNOW when you have food so don't try to hide it (like I was with my backpack full of bananas) and don't resist - give the monkey what he wants.

Even while it was a bit freaky to have them tugging on my skirt it was very cool to watch them. They clearly are very well fed and have no fear of tourists - if anything it's the other way around.









We took in a little culture and went to the shadow puppet theater. While I thought it would be in a temple or some sacred space the venue was actually in a back alleyway where there were plastic chairs and a dirty sheet hung up as the "stage." For the most part the show appeared pretty traditional albeit for the occasional Monica Lewinsky joke thrown in.





When the rain finally cleared we went for a walk through the rice paddies. The scenery was quite lovely and we barely saw anyone during our two hours of trekking through the fields. When we did see people they were in their tiny artist shops carving wood or painting eggs - two popular art forms here.



After our hike it was time for a little indulgence. I cashed in one of my Christmas gifts from Michael - $30 worth of spa treatments. Thirty US dollars goes a long way in Bali and I had it all mapped out. I went and had a great facial to start.

Michael met me an hour later and we had massages and body scrubs with honey. The massage room was sweet with three walls and an open wall facing the rice paddies.



After they massage all this honey into you they wrap you up in a big sheet of plastic to let you "set." After you bake for 15 minutes you rinse off in the shower and jump into a tub of flower petals, have a cup of tea, and soak for 20 minutes. It was incredibly civilized.



Michael has strong feelings about the required massage attire (disposable black bikini underwear) - see his blog for rantings.

Bali Hai

Our arrival in Bail was slightly complicated by the fact the one big holiday of the year, Nyepi, was set to begin about one hour after our arrival. For this New Year's celebration the town shuts down. As we couldn't travel too far we settled on Kuta for our first few nights. We were a little reluctant as this is where the Bali bombings occurred in 2003 but so far so good.

After much wandering about we found a nice place, with a pool, where we could settle in before everything shut down.





When the celebration does start you are expected to be quiet (as Nyepi means Quiet Day), not use electricity, and not leave the hotel area. It turned out to be a rainy day which was good for just sitting around and reading. The only challenge came at dinner time as the restaurant was set to close early (5 pm) and didn't have enough food to feed everyone. After placing an order that never arrived, Michael went down to the restaurant and got them to make us a plate of scrambled eggs after they'd closed. While not exactly what we were wanting, we were happy just to have food.

The next day we were able to get out and walk about but many of the stores were still closed. Kuta is full of tiny little streets with this interesting combination of colonial and Hindu culture. It is not uncommon to see beautiful and ornate entryways surrounded by overgrown flowers and gardens. So while the city itself is a bit touristy, it's also quite charming.







Our plan is to move north tomorrow into the hills a bit - this is of course assuming some travel place will be open so we can buy a ticket out of here.

Airplane Food Rocks

I have never been so excited to get to an airport in my life. The prospect of seeing stores I recognized, being able to read all signs, and knowing there would be no squatting in the bathroom was quite comforting. And, and, not to mention the excitement of airplane food. We were not disappointed. To have dinner, while watching a first run movie, and drinking a glass of wine - not bad. And the Munch seemed to like it too.



After an uneventful flight we arrived in Hong Kong and set about finding our accommodations for the night. The Hong Kong airport is not bad for sleeping as there are many seats together without armrests between them so you can lie out on three of them at once. Just enough space for me, not quite enough for Michael. When bedtime arrived, I just put in my earplugs and my night mask and went about trying to sleep. While I didn't get a full 8 hours I probably got about 3-4 which was better than I expected. What was also nice is that no one bothers you and there were about 10 other people sleeping around us.



The next morning we woke up early and did a little walkabout in the airport to get some morning snacks before our flight to Bali.

Kuala Lumpur

The next task was to get to Kuala Lumpur to catch our flight to Bali. The trip was relatively easy - boat, bus, and another bus to KL. It was nice to be back in a big city - our first since Bangkok about a month ago.



The Lonely Plant describes budget accommodations in KL as "grim" so I did not have high hopes. We were in high commando mode getting off the bus as we coordinated our bag and map efforts - it paid off as we were on the move in under a minute from when the bus arrived. We picked a hostel called Le Village, a clean and friendly place with incredibly tiny rooms of which there are many - they really cram them in.



We spent one day pretty much in the internet cafe, doing blog updates, getting exchange rates, and researching Bali. I also spent some time researching the Hong Kong airport as we were going to spend the night there on our way to Bali. Our flight from KL arrived at 9:30 pm and our flight to Bali the next day left at 10 am so it didn't make a lot of sense to travel all the way into Hong Kong and find an expensive room just to have to get up early to get back to the airport the next day. I knew there was a website that detailed all the good places to sleep in airports around the world so I spent a little time doing research.

But, before our night in the HK airport we visited the Petronas Towers - the largest twin towers and the 2nd largest towers in the world. While you can't go all the way up to the 88th floor, you can visit the skybridge on the 41st floor which connects the two towers. The whole set up is very space age looking with lots of shiny metal and sharp angles.





On our way out of the towers we saw a group of limousines, one of which was carrying the King of Cambodia. He's a cute little fellow - looks a bit like Ben Kingsley.

Another favorite was this store I saw while wandering around KL - the Reject Shop. I can only imagine what they sell.