Traffic, Gili style

Gili Trawangan
September 2011

Fabrics to dye for

One thing we did while in Bali was visit an ikat factory--a traditional fabric dying technique on the island. (Ikat fabrics are actually found all around the world, including many parts of South America...it isn't just famous in Bali!) Thread is bound into a pattern first, and then dyed before woven into cloth. You can see the binding process in the first two images and then the process of weaving the thread into cloth in the last image.

The finished product...beautiful!

English lessons with the monks

Doi Saket, Thailand
October 24, 2011

Mountains of rice

One of the places we visited while in Bali was the Jatiluwih rice terraces- a few hours North of Ubud. In Balinese, jati means really, luwih means beautiful...and the view lived up to the name. Rice is naturally found growing in wet, marshy areas, so each terrace is strong enough to hold a mini-pool of water that the rice then grows from. The terraces in this area of Bali date back hundreds of years.The photos don't capture how beautiful it was!

dog...or cat?

Chiang Mai, Thailand
October 22 2011

Bali temples

Indonesia is the largest Muslim country in the world by population, however the small island of Bali is almost all Hindu. Ornate Balinese Hindu temples are everywhere on the island, and every morning and evening local Balinese lay banana-leaf offering bowls on sidewalks and in small temple nooks near their home or business. The traditional culture, combined with the beauty of the island and the laid back, friendly locals (who, by the way, have a great sense of humor) make it a magical place, and it's no wonder why travelers come back again every year.
------------

Offerings on the street...and on water meters of course

Ryan gettin' crafty with the locals

My mom (and Ryan) never cease to find the musical instruments!

Poor bug...

Old trees are holy in Bali (as they should be!) and are wrapped in cloth. Sometimes you'll find offerings at the bottom of the trees.

This is part of a Balinese dance called the Kecak. More than 100 men sit in a concentric circle and chant while a play from an old Hindu tale called Ramayana takes place in the middle of the circle. Here is a short clip of the chanting from the movie Baraka so you can get a feel for how powerful it is. After this dance, an older Balinese man did a fire trance dance where he walked on hot coals for at least five minutes...yikes!

A beautiful temple and lotus pond tucked behind restaurants right in the middle of town.

You would think this is yet another temple picture, but it's actually a photo of our hotel in Ubud!

Bye Bye (no musical instrument to play) Blues

Ryan has a new toy...a ukulele! Ukes are a big thing here.

Chiang Mai, Thailand
October 21 2011

Bali

We were really looking forward to Bali...not just because of all the amazing things we kept hearing about this little island, but because my parents endured the 30 hour journey from Dallas and met us there. It was so nice being able to hang out with family, not to mention play four-person card games more regularly! Plus, Ryan had a new buddy to talk sports with, and I could wander the streets of Ubud and shop with my mom. Being on the road for so long can really make you miss your family, and all things familiar, really. The three weeks with my parents was a very welcome treat for us.

So what did we do in Bali? We chilled on the beaches of Sanur, celebrated my dad's birthday (40 years old. I know, crazy right?!), did lots of yoga in Ubud, saw beautiful rice terraces, almost got pooped on by a large reptilian intruder hanging out on the ceiling (ask my dad about that one!), ate amazing Indonesian food, got hooked on the Game of Thrones book series (well my mom and I did at least), hung out with some monkeys, found secret pathways leading to cute cafes...you know, the usual.

Here are some photos from Sanur and Ubud. More photos of Bali to come!
-----------
Picture-perfect Sanur beach

Asian tourists wanting a photo with my dad. At first they didn't even ask...they just sat down on his chair and took a photo with him!
















My dad's birthday dinner. Grilled fish on the beach, what could be better?!
















 Monkeys in Ubud

exotic fruit
















streets and sights in Ubud

a tasty Indonesian lunch

Beijing

China and U.S. might not have much in common - but one similarity that we picked-up on as soon as we got to Beijing is how massive everything. Like in the U.S., it feels like there is a mindset in China that bigger is better. On the first day we arrived we decided to walk the few blocks to Tiananmen square, only to find out that each city block is about 1 mile long! We quickly opted to take the subway most places after that. Tiananmen square, the buildings around the square, and the Forbidden City grounds were so huge it seems that they weren't even built to human scale.

Here a few other random China observations:

• While the English translation on street signs were not nearly as hilarious as in Japan and Korea,  the English translations in restaurant menus were pretty absurd. Many times the name of the dish did not correspond with the dish in the picture whatsoever. Oddly enough, we found a bunch of restaurants that tend to use the term "explosion," in a way that makes no sense, to describe many of the dishes (like, "onion explodes the table" to describe chicken with onions, hot peppers and rice).
• Chinese people are incredibly loud phone talkers! At first, we thought that we just happened to keep walking by people having heated arguments over the phone, but eventually we realized that they were just having normal conversations. 
• Watch out for stepping on big loogies - you may not even be safe indoors! 
• Instead of using diapers, babies just have big slits down the mid-section of their pants. When it's time to go, the parent just holds the baby up in the air and let's them do their business, sometimes right on the street.
• Speaking of babies, and on a much more serious note, where are the little baby girls? In three+ weeks in China, I think we saw just one or two girl babies the whole time. According to this article in The Economist, there is sad trend happening in the world, and not just in China, that should be getting way more attention than it has been.  

In general, China is a complex and fascinating place, with such rich history and so much recent change. We feel like we barely scratched the surface. 

Tiananmen Square

The Forbidden City. This photo sums it up: insanely massive, lots of concrete, numerous red buildings that all look relatively similar to one another.

The Great Wall

This was our 3-hour hike on the wall. The top of the wall is basically a series of steps, and the wall is very steep - not for the faint of heart.

Are we standing crooked or is the wall not straight? Humm....

Life in Beijing's hutong neighborhoods