In love with Danua Toba, Sumatra

Lake Toba in the center of Sumatra has to hands-down be one of the most amazing places on earth and totally not what I has expected to find in Indonesia. I think it may be my personal favorite destination of them all - or at least it is running in a close tie with the Perentians, but for totally different reasons. (I had to post 2 Perentian sunsets at the top here as I haven't had the chance yet - the rest of the photos are from lake toba and Samosir Island)
Samosir Island is where I am staying right now. It's a fairly big island in the middle of Danua (lake) Toba which is in Northern-Central Sumatra high up on the mountains. The Lake is one of the largest freshwater lakes in the world. I caught my first glimpse of the lake on an extremely precarious but beautiful road winding down to the lake (on the 3rd public bus of the day from Berestagi - still quite the experience :) - and I was actually shocked that I was still in Indonesia. I feel like i should be in the Swiss Alps, only the dizzying peaks surrounding the lake are tropical jungle instead.
The local people that live on the Island are the Batak people who call Samosir their spiritual or "healing" homeland. I have so many things I want to say all at once about why I love this place so much and am so SO glad I made it here. First of all it's kind of bizarre - because there is a small stretch of the island that seems to be set up for the backpacker crowd - there are many guesthouses (hostels) and even hotels with pools that looked like they were once pretty happening, but most of them are closed and have been for a while. Apparently, its kind of a has-been place. Older locals tell me that it used to be the home of the full moon parties before Thailand stole it away. Locals my age don't remember these times and outside the one stretch of guesthouses and the one resort that is still open people stare wide-eyed at the site of tourists.
Because of this, it is actually the perfect balance: I have a great room for $3 at a place with internet, motorbikes, bicycles, hammocks attached to each balcony, great food and the once place with a tv to catch the World Cup at night (Go Ghana!!) All the comforts of a proper holiday, but without the hoards of other people. There are just enough travelers to eat and chat and watch thegame with. But during the day you can cruise around the island and feel like you are the only one here.
The first day I got a tour from a really cool local that works at my guesthouse around the entire island by motorbike. The photos I have here don't even come close to showing the amazing views at every turn. There is a road at the very top of the island that is, somehow, impeccably paved (have not seen that since Malaysia) and it winds high above the shores of the lake in big wide turns that on the back of the motorbike just felt like I was flying. It was a pretty spectacular afternoon. I think I had a smile plastered to my face for the entire 5 hours.
Yesterday I decided to retrace a leg of the journey on my own by bicycle and ended up riding 80km on probably the most uncomfortable bike ever which might be the most ambitious physical day of my life! No joke.
But it was great. Passing through the little Batak villages, most people would stop and just stare. A few of the people that spoke some English would stop me and motion for me to come take a rest and have some tea or fried rice. There was one lady in particular whose English was great, she was about 55 and when tourism was bigger here she ran a western food restaurant, now closed. I think I talked to her for about 2 and a half hours. In the meantime, attracting kids and other ladies to come sit and ask her to translate their questions to me. It was especially funny when they heard I was American they would light up and say "Ohhh Obama!" an repeat 5 times that they loved Obama. I'm not sure what news they get in those little farming villages and I haven't really heard that anywhere else. It was so fun! Its the kind of day I had sort of pictured having when I was planning this trip. Of course, the circuit around south east asia was so heavily visited that you don't really get to see what life would be like if the economy didn't thrive on tourism. I am usually on guard now when a local strikes up a conversation with me because I assume that they are just trying to swindle me into something. But totally not so here. It has been so great to just talk to people. I had to insist that Saba (my friend with the motorbike) let me at least pay for the fuel and no, he never tried to take me to his uncle's jewelry shop or his cousin's restaurant etc. etc. He was happy to just have someone to practice some English with and ask questions about California.
I really had no expectations coming here at all. I hadn't originally planned to come to Indonesia and didn't really know what it would be like. I met a girl, Sophia, from the Netherlands on the Perentians and she had just come from here and she told me that it was quiet and I wouldn't see many tourists and that its hard to travel around but that for her Sumatra was the trip of a lifetime. I wish I had her contact info because I would send her a massive thank you. I was toying with where I would go in Indonesia with the time I had and my conversation with her solidified my plan. Having totally unexpected adventures and in such a serene and gorgeous place makes for a great place to explore, relax and just think. I can see why the Batak people say this is their 'healing island." I can't figure out why Sumatra kind of went of the backpacker radar, but I for one am pretty glad they are all in Bali and I am here :)

Indo Adventures Part 1

Landed in Sumatra, Indonesia for my last leg of this SEAsia journey before heading to Sydney via Singapore in just under three weeks. Looking back I can't believe how quickly the 3 months have gone by! Malaysia was hard to leave being surrounded by such paradise and making great friends. I still have so many photos to upload from the last 3 weeks in Malaysia, but those will have to wait.

Taht said, So far I'm thinking Sumatra was a great choice for the final adventure because adventure is an overstatement and I've been here 3 days.
I arrived in Medan, which was by far the dirtiest, smelliest, saddest place I've been yet. The third-world quality of life has not been so apparent anywhere I've been on this trip. I was thinking back on Laos, which is one of the poorest countries - but you never really felt it there, being so rural and sparsely populated - but here, especially in Medan - its right in your face. Trash everywhere and groups of kids that couldn't have been older than 7 or 8 sitting around smoking cigarettes. At the end of Malaysia, I met some friends that were going back into Thailand now that the protests have calmed down and it crossed my mind that I could have been on a lovely beach instead. One afternoon and a night was plenty in Medan so I caught a vehicle (and I use the term vehicle loosely here) to head to the hilltop stopover toward to center of Sumatra called Berestagi.

The journey was both the most thrilling and terrifying yet. At this stage I felt like I had the bus journey's down - you know they are going to drive too fast for comfort and insist on passing at crazy speeds on blind corners, thats been the norm pretty much everywhere. Sumatra is not croweded with toursits like everywhere else, and ther are know tourists buses to get between points. For people traveling alone the local vans are it unless you are traveling with enough people to hire a car. Well, by local bus station in Medan they meant a tiny store front with a van parked in front on which every panel was a differnt color and I could see men hauling a pig, a few cages of birds and a motorbike onto the roof secured with ropes. I was also the only tourist in site and definitely the only girl getting on the van.
Going into this I knew that Northern Sumatra was less of a backpacker trail, but I have met enough people along the way that had done it and raved about how worthwhile it was that I didn't want to miss it even if it meant traveling more stretches alone than I have elesewhere in southeast asia where you always meet loads of other travellers heading the same way.
My feelings on the bus ride were moments of sharp fear that we were definitly going to collide with the masive truck with god knows what heaped on it heading straight at us as our driver attempts a harrowing pass, before somehow swooping into the smallest space betwee two cars on our side of the road at as close to the last minute as possilble. Then riding literally on the bumper of the car in front before doing it again! It was definitely hair-raising - but I was also laughing to myself thinking "well, you wanted adventure, you got it!" And as soon as we got out of Medan the spectacular natural beauty of the country was pretty breathtaking. And now that I am way up high looking over theland below from Berstagi - I think about 2,000 meters above sea level I am SO happy I made the decision to come here. The town has some old Dutch architecture and it is bookended by two big Volcanoes on each side - One of which, Sibayek, that you can climb to the top of in a day (that was my plan for today, but then I picked up Malcom Gladwell's latest book, What the Dog Saw, and like his othhr three books I haven't moved from one spot all day reading it)
The atmosphere up here is very headclearing and the air is nice and cool. Such a welome change.
From here I will brave the local vans once again and head to the giant lake called Danua Toba in the middle of Sumatra that sounds pretty spectacular.

Livin the dream on Perentian Island Kecil

Perentian Islands off the coast of Malaysia are FAR AND AWAY the most spectacular islands EVER!! Aside from the beach and the island looking like textbook tropical paradise - I mean the clearest most beautiful turquoise water and white sand you have ever seen. But on top of that the coral all around the island is INCREDIBLE. It looks like its from Mars or something. Bright blue and purple massive, brain-like gobs and loads of incredible fish. You can climb all over the island and snorkel around different spots or take a boat trip for a few Ringgit (dollars) and have a boat take you too 6 or 7 spots. I've made some cool friends - people who have been here diving for a while and they took me out to a place called shark point. Swam with about 7 or 8 3-4 foot sharks RIGHT next to us. I was KICKING myself for not springing for the underwater housing for the Flip camera. Also saw some huge turtles barracudas and stingrays! AMAZING. I feel like I've died and found my heaven. I can see why people get stuck here. I'll be spending the better part of this month here and I couldn't be happier about it.
And as an added bonus, I've sort of established a bit of a business here teaching swimming lessons. I was teaching a girl from Kuala Lumpur I met on the boat here and a big family on vacation from China came up and asked me how much I charge for my swim lessons. So I've set up a sign outside on of the snorkel rental shacks for lessons in the morning and have been getting a pretty steady stream of customers. Only a few Ringgit, but it pays for my accommodation :)
I have SO many awesome photos I am dying to post but it just takes wayyy to long to upload them here so those will have to come later.
IF YOU EVER HAVE A CHANCE TO COME TO THE PERENTIAN ISLANDS. DO IT, DO IT, DO IT. AND BRING ENOUGH MONEY TO STAY A WHILE. YOU WON'T WANT TO LEAVE.

Bokeo, Laos: Ziplines, Hikes and LEECHES

The videos and photos say it better, but the Gibbon Experience definitely lived up to expectations. Which is saying a lot since I have been thinking and dreaming about doing it ever since Mike showed me the link well over a year ago (thanks Mike, my South East Asia mentor ;) I suppose I should explain the title of this post. This last adventure in Laos before saying goodbye to this amazing country was 3 days in the Bokeo Rainforest consisting of 2-3 hours of hiking each day, sleeping in a treehouse about 150 feet up that you reach via zipline. The rainy season is starting to move in here, so there have been heavy rains most nights, but clear and still SWLERTING during the day and on our inital hike in. But I was feeling good - and cocky about my awesome 100% waterproof half sandle, half hiking shoes that I reallllly didn't want to buy at REI back in March. The hike was muddy and we had to cross countless rivers and streams. Some of which had two-bamboo-planks-wide bridges to use for crossing; which I really am not a fan of. Anyone who knows me, knows that balance and grace are not exaclty my strong suites. Plus, I've already had one embarassing fall from one of those in Vietnam - much to the joy of my hiking buddies, one of whom thankfully was carrying my camera at the time! SO anyway, I just went trapsing right through all the water and sludge thinking how glad I was I wasn't wearing big old hiking boots. About 3 hours in we reach a waterfall with a swimming hole at which point I take off my left shoe to reveal not 1 BUT 3 leeches on my feet, one of which had obviously been there for some time as it was HUGE. After, I am embarrased to say, a frantic swatting at my feet with a stick and the girliest shrieks ever, I managed to clear them off and calm down. Of course only long enough to find 2 more on my OTHER foot. This time I paused long enough to get a photo of it - not as big as the first, but still GROSS, not mention annoying because the small bites DO NOT stop bleeding! Thanks to my Weird True and Freaky trivia I remembered that leeches anesthetize you once they bite with their saliva so you don't feel them at ALL. Needless to say, the next three days of hikes were spent with an eagle-eye out for approaching leeches which turned out to be EVERYWHERE. If you stopped for a minute on the trail you'd spot at least 5 if not more inching their way over, reaching up just waiting for some poor innocent flesh to walk by. And now I've gone on for two paraghraphs about a few leech bites. I'm choosing to hike in the forest in Laos, so what did I expect I guess, right? And I haven't even explained about the Ziplines...Once the major days hike was through with the rest of the day was spent Zipling around the jungle canopy and across stunning valleys. Zip-walk a little way to the next-Zip-Walk-Zip. By the third day of zipping you start to feel pretty confident with it and can kick your feel out, lay back and let your hands free and really get going fast. Its got to be the closest feeling to flying. If only it wasn't over so quickly! Eventually you zip back into the AWESOME treehouse you are sharing with just three other people - which was really nice because you never had to wait long at the ziplines. Then for dinner, you'd hear the zipline singing and look over to find one of the guides crusing in with your meal on his shoulder. It was so funny. The first time I hooked up to the zipline on that first day and looked over the ledge it hit me that I was actually THERE. It felt surreal because I have been dreaming about the Gibbon Experience for so long and talking about it to just about anyone who would listen back in San Fran while planning this trip . It feels a bit weird that it's over now! But, I came back to civilization to find that my insurance void in Thailand was lifted to only Bangkok; so I am spending a few days in the VERY laid-back Pai in Northern Thailand, soaking in some Yoga and lots of live jazz and reggae music before flying down to Malaysia at the end of the week. Up here, you'd never know there was any turmoil gooing on in the country whatsoever.

Last stop Laos

Now having said farewell to the elephant conservatory, I've made my way back toward the Lao/Thai border on a 3 day boat journey down the Mekong. Each night graced with the most intense lighting and rain storms I have EVER seen. It was beautiful...but I am glad to not be on a boat for 9 hours a day! Today, a day of relaxation before the last adventure in Laos, the Gibbons Experience - check it out: Ziplining around the Bokeo forest and living in tree houses for 3 days.
The plan originaly had been to then work my way into Northern Thailand and overland to the Thai islands. Now due to the unfortuante political situation in Thailand my travel insurance is void there, curfews are in effect in the country and the situation seems to be worsening. Very sad.
So, after some deliberation about whether to take a jaunt over to Burma with the additional time or to fly down to Malaysia and then cruise over to Sumatra and Bali in Indo before my final stop in Singapore - I've decided on Malaysia and Indonesia as it fits better into my loop and timeframe. And to be honest, I am SO ready for some paraside beach time. After all the trekking and Jungle terrain and countless temples some white sand beaches couldn't sound better. I think I'll save Myanmar for the next big trip...perhaps on the way home from Australia. Burma-Nepal-India. I think I can safely say the most profound affect this trip has had on me is the intensity with which I wish to see so much more! And seeing how most of the world lives certainly makes you grateful for all that you were so lucky to be born into.
I've uploaded here a collection of photos I wanted to post from Laos now that I have an actaul high speed connection. And as a total aside, I am listening to the newly released Black Keys album 'Brothers' proeduced by Danger Mouse again and it is EXECELLENT. Do check it out. Tighten Up and Everlasting Light are such a great songs! Now, if I can just figure out how to get it on my ipod here without itunes and without deleting the rest of my music, hmmm...

Mahout training in Laos: land of a thousand elephants

I have SO much to catch up on in my past 2 weeks in Laos! I am now all the way up in the North of Laos, outside of Luang Namtha, where I am spending the week as a volunteer at an elephant camp and learning the ways of the Mahouts (elephant keepers/trainers)
My 3rd day here I have discovered a few things - sitting on this wooden chair right now the most poignant discovery are muscles I never knew existed, screaming in agony after 3 days on the back slash neck of an elephant! Upon arrival I was given my Mahout uniform - a very uncute and totally unfashionable outfit, as you can see in my photos. I tried to get out of wearing it, though now, after experiencing being shat on and shoveling giant elephant crap and being sprayed at with a mixture of elephant snot and brown mekong river water, I'm rather grateful for it!
My elephants name is Tuomin. By today he finally seems to be responding to the commands I have been memorizing now that I am actually saying them in an accent that at least somewhat resembleds what it is I am supposed to be saying. Today I told him to kneel down "Toi" and he did it first time. I climbed up and directed him the 2km to the river without a hitch! Big step from the first two days, let me tell you. It all goes fine until the Mahout teaching me tells Tuomin to lay down, roll and "Buon-Buon" (spray) me everytime I take him for his bath in the river. All the the while I am yelling "yao-yao, Hoa!" (No, No, Stop)
Aside from the cleaning after the elephants (not cute)it is really great being so close to these really amazing animals! The afternoons and evenings are extremely peaceful. I either kayak or tube along the river, looking up at the specatacular mountains. Im learing to cooking Lao Lap a traditional dinner here and eating lots of Papaya Salads.
Laos has been a very welcome step back in time. Especially coming from the very fast pace of life in Vietnam. When I first arrived in the capital city of Vientiane I was amazed by how quiet it was. And that was in the capital city! People don't honk like crazy here and are very considerate in general.
I've also made stops in Vang Vieng - an insane backpacker party town, but which should not be missed soley for the AWESOME trapeze swings that are rigged up over the river that I was totally addicted to and could not lift my arms because of for a day after leaving. From there we took the picturesque bus ride through the Lao montains to Luang Prabang, which is listed as a UNESCO World Heritage site and you can easily see why with the French architecture and TONS of Wats (temples) set on the Mekong River.
Well, I am hoggin the one computer with a decent internet connection out here. So, more to come later...

Halong Bay and Trekking in the Northeast

This past week has been the most fun and eye-opening yet. I am truly in love with Vietnam and with 3 days left in the country I know I will be back! I signed up for one of the package tours out to Halong Bay - which is basically the only way to do it and it is a bit of a toursit trap. I was fortunate though and ended up with a great group of people all around my age and from all over the world.

The first day was exploring the "Amazing Cave" in one of the Islands. It was quite a cave, but the beauty was sort of lost with the blue and gree lighting they had set up and the hoardes of westerners being shuttling along the the roped off path. All it needed was the Indiana Jones theme song and I was at Disneyland. BUT from there we got on a boat and cruised around the bay which has thousands of islands of all sizes that rise straight up out of the water. Made for some realy great kayaking. I decided to take my sleeping bag up to the deck of the boat that night and sleep under the stars. Waking up to sunrise on Halong Bay and diving off the deck of the boat for a morning swim will be a hard one to beat. It only got better when we spent the second night in huts on a secluded beach on Monkey Island. And to top it off, our Vietnamese tour guide sounded EXACLTY like Borat everytime he said anything in English. Absolutely amazing! I've never laughed so much in 2 days in my life!

I am now sitting in a cafe in Sapa, a town in the North East region of Vietnam, near the border to China. I came up here via train with 2 friends I made on Halong Bay who were dying as much as I was to get into to the hills and do some hiking. We've been trekking along the valley of rice paddies from village to village sleeping in some VERY hunble homestays at night. The trekking has been great in the Valley, but a few of us are dying to climb up the the peaks above the valley and really get the panaoramic view. So tomorrow I'll be setting off to hike up to apparently the tallest mountain in Vietnam - a 2 day hike that we've hired a local guide from the Balck H'mong hilltribe for at $5 a day! I'v got my mozzy net and some rice and mangosteens(best fruit EVERR) and I'm ready to go!

This area of the country is so lovely; the air is fresh and the village kids - while hounding you to buy their textiles and bracelets nonstop- are still so cute and their traditional attire is awesome! The most fun though is the conversations you have while trekking with other travelers from all over the world who work in all kind of different careers. Their stories have added to my endless list of places I want to see - there are just too many things to see in this world. I think Nepal/ India has definitely moved to the top of my list! Who's with me??!