Well as the message indicates, I have hit a MAJOR road block on my trip. On March 17th, I was walking down some dark stairs and I ended up missing one resulting in my twisting my ankle. After two days, the swelling did not go down so I went to the hospital to get it checked out. It turns out that I had fractured the 5th Metatarsil in my Left foot and to make sure it heals correctly, it required the doctor to perform surgery and insert a pin in my foot. The procedure was done here in Bali but I am headed back to the United States tomorrow (March 23rd) to let it heal. It will take approximatly 4 weeks to heal but 8 weeks to heal to the point that I am cleared to do as much walking as this trip requires. After the 8 weeks are over, I am absolutly going to head back out to finish either what I started, or to embark on a modified "Trip of a Lifetime." More details will follow as to what my revised trip will entail so stay tuned....
Until later,
Evan
Saturday, March 21, 2009
Sunday, March 15, 2009
Bali, Indonesia (Part 1)
Well I am currently in Bali, Indonesia and it is truly AMAZING. The sand couldn't be better and the water couldn't be clearer. For the last few days,in addition to relaxing in paradise, I have been finishing up my Scuba Diving Certification. I am proud to say that I am now a certified, open-water scuba diver. To complete this certification, I obviously had to go out and do some dives. I went to the north east corner of the island and we dove at a site off the cost of a town called Tulamben. In Tulamben there are a few different dive areas and we explored them all.
The first site that we went to was the shipwreck of the U.S. Liberty that was sank when a Japanese submarine torpedoed it back in World War II. It is truly spectacular to see a shipwreck that has been on the bottom for so long and has had enough time for coral and other marine life to grow all over it. Aside from the wreck itself, we were lucky enough to be able to see three black-tipped reef sharks, millions of beautiful fish, stingrays, and a barracuda.
The next site that we went to is known as "The Wall" and is basically an underwater cliff that drops straight down from about ten feet to a hundred feet. The wall is absolutely covered with corals and plants of every color imaginable. Along with the plants, there were millions of fish again and we were even lucky enough to see clown fish, or as many of you probably know them as, "Nemo fish."
After experiencing those first few dives, I think that I have found a new sport that I am going to get very into. I already have another dive trip booked and we are going to head to a dive site known as "Manta Point" in hopes of seeing Manta Rays. It is pretty much guaranteed that we will see Manta Rays so stay tuned for details about that! In addition to my trip to Manta Point, I have also decided to immediately upgrade my certification from "open-water diver" to "advanced open-water diver." In order to do this, I have to do five "specialty dives" with each of the five dives focusing on a certain specialty. I was able to pick from a huge list of options and I selected deep diving, underwater navigation, multi-level diving, night diving, and fish identification. I will post more details about what each of those was like after I complete them in a few days!
Well that's about it for now. Keep tuned for Bali part two...
The first site that we went to was the shipwreck of the U.S. Liberty that was sank when a Japanese submarine torpedoed it back in World War II. It is truly spectacular to see a shipwreck that has been on the bottom for so long and has had enough time for coral and other marine life to grow all over it. Aside from the wreck itself, we were lucky enough to be able to see three black-tipped reef sharks, millions of beautiful fish, stingrays, and a barracuda.
The next site that we went to is known as "The Wall" and is basically an underwater cliff that drops straight down from about ten feet to a hundred feet. The wall is absolutely covered with corals and plants of every color imaginable. Along with the plants, there were millions of fish again and we were even lucky enough to see clown fish, or as many of you probably know them as, "Nemo fish."
After experiencing those first few dives, I think that I have found a new sport that I am going to get very into. I already have another dive trip booked and we are going to head to a dive site known as "Manta Point" in hopes of seeing Manta Rays. It is pretty much guaranteed that we will see Manta Rays so stay tuned for details about that! In addition to my trip to Manta Point, I have also decided to immediately upgrade my certification from "open-water diver" to "advanced open-water diver." In order to do this, I have to do five "specialty dives" with each of the five dives focusing on a certain specialty. I was able to pick from a huge list of options and I selected deep diving, underwater navigation, multi-level diving, night diving, and fish identification. I will post more details about what each of those was like after I complete them in a few days!
Well that's about it for now. Keep tuned for Bali part two...
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
Yogyakarta, Indonesia
Well I arrived in Yogyakarta, Indonesia on March 8th and it didn't look good from the start. It was pouring rain and I had no reservation for a hotel prior to my arrival. That being the case, I just decided to grab a taxi and try my luck. After what seemed like hours (Yogyakarta has insane traffic problems and basically no traffic laws to speak of,) I arrived in the Sosrowijayan area which is ground zero for backpackers in this city. To add to my list of building problems, it happened to be somebody important in Indonesia's birthday and everyone and their brother was in town for the celebration. So now I was dealing with rain and what looked like no rooms to sleep in.
Just when I thought I was out of luck, a nice man saw me and realized what situation I was likely in. He then came up to me and told me that he had one room left in his "losman" or hotel. I gladly accepted his generous offer and then settled down for the night. The room was very basic but worked great. After dropping my stuff down, I went back to the street to see what was around. It had stopped raining by this point and so I decided to go hunting for a tourist agency to book a tour to this area's two most famous sights, the Buddhist, Borobudur Temple and the Hindu, Prambanan Temple Complex. I was successful and was then set up on my tour for the next day.
The next morning I awoke at 5:00 AM so that we could be at Borobudur for the sun rise and man was it worth it. Upon our arrival to the temple, which is fairly high up on a mountain, we hiked up to the top and watched as the sun appeared out of the mist of the extremely green and lush surrounding foothills. I have seen the sun rise over the Red Sea at Masada in Israel and this reminded me of that. It is simply amazing and something that I will never forget.
After walking around the temple grounds for a while longer, we set out for the Prambanan Temple complex. Upon our arrival at the Parambanan Temple Complex, I was once again amazed at the simple architectural achievement that these temple builders accomplished when this complex was build back in the 9th century A.D. The main temple stands a staggering 47 meters above the ground and that temple as well as the surrounding temples are FILLED with intricate carvings and statues dedicated to the various gods of the Hindu Religion. That was all for day one.
Day two brought me to a new hotel (the other one was full) but it worked out to my benefit. I now had a swimming pool at my disposal. After checking in, I dropped my stuff off and set out for another day of sight seeing. The first sight that I went to on day two was the Kraton, which is the Indonesian word for Sultan's Palace. This was very neat and was filled with HUGE open air rooms that were at one time used for various performances and ceremonies. I unfortunately did not get to see the living quarters (the Sultan currently lives there) and so it was off to stop number two. Stop number two was Yogyakarta's famous "Bird Market." As the title indicates, this is a market where thousands of birds, from little parakeet type birds, all the way to roosters, are sold daily. This was quite a spectacle and I do not think that I have ever seen so many birds in one place in my life. The final stop on day two was the Water Palace. This is another one of the Sultan's Palaces and use to be used for royal bathing and cooling down when it got hot out. It is no longer in use but was still quite a sight.
One final thing that I have DEFINITELY noticed and REALLY taken advantage of in Indonesia is how absurdly cheap things are. My dinners have basically cost me around 3 dollars each for as much food as I can eat, my hotel costs 15 dollars per night for a NICE place (you can pay at little as 4 dollars if you want just the basics) and a taxi to anywhere in the city only costs 2 dollars. That really puts things into perspective. A typical salary for a rice field worker here is 1 dollar a day. That amounts to 365 dollars a year at the absolute most. Just something to think about...
Well that pretty much brings me to the end of my Yogyakarta experience. Tomorrow it is off to what Southeast Asia is REALLY famous for. The golden beaches, crystal clear water, and never ending party. Time to head to Bali tomorrow. Until next time...
Also, if you want to see pictures from my travels do the following:
1. go to http://www.snapfish.com/
2. Click on login
3. In then field that says "email" type: motleyevan7397@yahoo.com
4. In the field that says "password" type: motleycrue
5. Browse on any of the albums titles "Trip of a Lifetime" The description accompanying each album will tell you where the pictures from each album took place.
Just when I thought I was out of luck, a nice man saw me and realized what situation I was likely in. He then came up to me and told me that he had one room left in his "losman" or hotel. I gladly accepted his generous offer and then settled down for the night. The room was very basic but worked great. After dropping my stuff down, I went back to the street to see what was around. It had stopped raining by this point and so I decided to go hunting for a tourist agency to book a tour to this area's two most famous sights, the Buddhist, Borobudur Temple and the Hindu, Prambanan Temple Complex. I was successful and was then set up on my tour for the next day.
The next morning I awoke at 5:00 AM so that we could be at Borobudur for the sun rise and man was it worth it. Upon our arrival to the temple, which is fairly high up on a mountain, we hiked up to the top and watched as the sun appeared out of the mist of the extremely green and lush surrounding foothills. I have seen the sun rise over the Red Sea at Masada in Israel and this reminded me of that. It is simply amazing and something that I will never forget.
After walking around the temple grounds for a while longer, we set out for the Prambanan Temple complex. Upon our arrival at the Parambanan Temple Complex, I was once again amazed at the simple architectural achievement that these temple builders accomplished when this complex was build back in the 9th century A.D. The main temple stands a staggering 47 meters above the ground and that temple as well as the surrounding temples are FILLED with intricate carvings and statues dedicated to the various gods of the Hindu Religion. That was all for day one.
Day two brought me to a new hotel (the other one was full) but it worked out to my benefit. I now had a swimming pool at my disposal. After checking in, I dropped my stuff off and set out for another day of sight seeing. The first sight that I went to on day two was the Kraton, which is the Indonesian word for Sultan's Palace. This was very neat and was filled with HUGE open air rooms that were at one time used for various performances and ceremonies. I unfortunately did not get to see the living quarters (the Sultan currently lives there) and so it was off to stop number two. Stop number two was Yogyakarta's famous "Bird Market." As the title indicates, this is a market where thousands of birds, from little parakeet type birds, all the way to roosters, are sold daily. This was quite a spectacle and I do not think that I have ever seen so many birds in one place in my life. The final stop on day two was the Water Palace. This is another one of the Sultan's Palaces and use to be used for royal bathing and cooling down when it got hot out. It is no longer in use but was still quite a sight.
One final thing that I have DEFINITELY noticed and REALLY taken advantage of in Indonesia is how absurdly cheap things are. My dinners have basically cost me around 3 dollars each for as much food as I can eat, my hotel costs 15 dollars per night for a NICE place (you can pay at little as 4 dollars if you want just the basics) and a taxi to anywhere in the city only costs 2 dollars. That really puts things into perspective. A typical salary for a rice field worker here is 1 dollar a day. That amounts to 365 dollars a year at the absolute most. Just something to think about...
Well that pretty much brings me to the end of my Yogyakarta experience. Tomorrow it is off to what Southeast Asia is REALLY famous for. The golden beaches, crystal clear water, and never ending party. Time to head to Bali tomorrow. Until next time...
Also, if you want to see pictures from my travels do the following:
1. go to http://www.snapfish.com/
2. Click on login
3. In then field that says "email" type: motleyevan7397@yahoo.com
4. In the field that says "password" type: motleycrue
5. Browse on any of the albums titles "Trip of a Lifetime" The description accompanying each album will tell you where the pictures from each album took place.
Saturday, March 7, 2009
Singapore
As I write this post, my first stop, Singapore, is coming to an end. The first thing I noticed about Singapore is how clean the city is. I do not think that I have seen a single piece of trash since I have been here. In fact, it is illegal to sell gum here in an effort to keep the city clean. That being said, there is also and IMMENSE amount of culture and life to be found in this city.
The first day, I headed to the old "Colonial District" that is the center of the former British Rule. There are lots of old buildings that have a British type of look and it was very interesting to see such buildings in the middle of an Asian city.
The next day, It was off to Chinatown, Little India, and Kampong Glam also known as the Muslim Quarter. Chinatown was the first stop and it is very similar to most Chinatowns that I have been to, (Oakland, San Francisco, New York, etc.) There are infinite little shops and restaurants all crammed along little alleys that are really neat to walk down. The most interesting that I found in Chinatown, however, was Singapore's most famous Hindu Temple. I had never been to a Hindu Temple before and upon entering, I was completely blown away by the intricacy, detail, and colors of the statues and artwork. The Hindu religion has many "Gods" and each one is represented by a statue. For those of you who have never been to a Hindu Temple, I highly recommend checking one out to see for yourself all of the colors and details that they put into the design of their temples.
Next up was Little India. This part of the city is obviously the "Indian Quarter" and much like Chinatown, it has tons of shops and restaurants crammed along little alleys selling all sorts of traditional "Indian" goods. There wasn't anything particularly special about this area but it was neat to see a specifically "Indian" area for the first time.
Finally, I went to the Muslim Quarter. By far the most distinctive thing in this area was the massive Mosque. The whole time I was there, I could hear prayers being chanted over the loud speaker. This was very interesting to hear and although I couldn't understand what they were saying, it was cool to be immersed in that culture for a little while.
That was all for that day.
The final day I was in Singapore, I went to an Island off of the coast of Singapore called Sentosa Island, which is the next "big thing" in Singapore's tourism industry. The island has a bunch of sandy beaches full of imported sand and by 2010, will boast a Universal Studios theme park and a casino to go along with the currently existing resorts and attractions. The coolest thing that I saw however was this MASSIVE statue that is called the "Merlion." It is a statue that is half fish and half lion and is supposedly the "tourist" symbol of Singapore.
Well that pretty much covers Singapore and its off to Indonesia tomorrow. Be sure to check back soon!
The first day, I headed to the old "Colonial District" that is the center of the former British Rule. There are lots of old buildings that have a British type of look and it was very interesting to see such buildings in the middle of an Asian city.
The next day, It was off to Chinatown, Little India, and Kampong Glam also known as the Muslim Quarter. Chinatown was the first stop and it is very similar to most Chinatowns that I have been to, (Oakland, San Francisco, New York, etc.) There are infinite little shops and restaurants all crammed along little alleys that are really neat to walk down. The most interesting that I found in Chinatown, however, was Singapore's most famous Hindu Temple. I had never been to a Hindu Temple before and upon entering, I was completely blown away by the intricacy, detail, and colors of the statues and artwork. The Hindu religion has many "Gods" and each one is represented by a statue. For those of you who have never been to a Hindu Temple, I highly recommend checking one out to see for yourself all of the colors and details that they put into the design of their temples.
Next up was Little India. This part of the city is obviously the "Indian Quarter" and much like Chinatown, it has tons of shops and restaurants crammed along little alleys selling all sorts of traditional "Indian" goods. There wasn't anything particularly special about this area but it was neat to see a specifically "Indian" area for the first time.
Finally, I went to the Muslim Quarter. By far the most distinctive thing in this area was the massive Mosque. The whole time I was there, I could hear prayers being chanted over the loud speaker. This was very interesting to hear and although I couldn't understand what they were saying, it was cool to be immersed in that culture for a little while.
That was all for that day.
The final day I was in Singapore, I went to an Island off of the coast of Singapore called Sentosa Island, which is the next "big thing" in Singapore's tourism industry. The island has a bunch of sandy beaches full of imported sand and by 2010, will boast a Universal Studios theme park and a casino to go along with the currently existing resorts and attractions. The coolest thing that I saw however was this MASSIVE statue that is called the "Merlion." It is a statue that is half fish and half lion and is supposedly the "tourist" symbol of Singapore.
Well that pretty much covers Singapore and its off to Indonesia tomorrow. Be sure to check back soon!
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