The aftermath.

Explosion of stuff, and a Carrie.

Back in the good ol' US of A

Three flights. Two sunrises and sunsets in the same day (figure that one out). A 42 hour long six-month anniversary (another brain teaser for you). And here we are, happily in Kona, relaxing, eating home cooked food, and trying to figure out what to do with our lives (open to ideas).

Pete's a monkey. What are you?

Dec 18th Sunrise number two in Honolulu.

A rainbow to greet us in Hawaii. Must be a sign of good things to come.

Biking, Downhill.

The whole tribe (minus Louis & Tony who left monday evening) took a day-long bike tour from Kintamani back to Ubud.  Kintamani is the town at the top of the volcano, so the bike tour is literally a gentle downhill ride for about 25 km. We stopped at lots of sights along the way, picking up tidbits on Balinese culture, architecture, religion, rice farming techniques, coffee, and wood carving traditions. Not to mention, taking in the great scenery. 

Terraced rice paddies

Lake in the crater at the top of the volcano

Coffee tasting (no, we didn't taste the Luwak coffee, though we did see the little beasts. Look it up if you don't know what it is)

Inspecting the rice planting

Riding through one of the little country lanes in the middle of the rice fields

Candidasa

After a fun couple days with Besty & Blanchie in Legian and Balangan, we headed to Candidasa to meet up with the rest of the clan (Michael, Sophia, Louis, & Tony). This past weekend included a snorkeling trip to a white sand beach just north of town, a diving trip to the USS Liberty ship wreck off the coast of Bali, a lot of time spent on beaches and swimming, and many meals where we talked and talked ... and ate way too much!

Snorkeling at the white sand beach, just north of Candidasa

The crew eating a fish feast on the white sand beach

Preparing for our dive trip

Sophia, Betsy, & Pete

One of our many yummy dinners - Blanchie and the duck

Our hotel lobby - Blanchie made a friend!

We headed to Ubud this afternoon where we'll spend our last four days - then we head home to the States. It hasn't hit us that our trip is coming to an end ... but then again, our trip ends in Hawaii (so life isn't too bad)!

And the tribe arrives ....

Mom and Blanchie arrived a couple days ago.  Mike, Sophia, Louis and Tony arrive late tonight ....  We are all headed up to Candidasa for the next handful of days.  Only one week until Carrie and I fly back to the US ... so sad!

Kekak fire dance at Ulu watu

We had to get at least one surf photo!

Carrie back on the board!

Diving, Drinks, & Dinner in Gili T(rawangan)

This Friday we island hopped over to Gili Trawangan, or Gili T as it's known to the locals and the tourists who can't pronounce it. :) Gili T is one of three, tiny "Gili Islands" off the northwest coast of Lombok. For an idea of just how tiny - you can easily walk around Gili T in an hour and a half (or run in ~45 minutes) ... and Gili T is the biggest of the three Gilis.

For a visual of our island hopping in the past week, see the map below:

(From Bali, we went to Kuta, Lombok, a surf town on the southern coast. From Lombok, we hopped over to Gili T, a tropical paradise). 

Today we headed out for an afternoon dive to Shark Point. Unfortunately, we didn't see any reef shark, but we did see sea turtle, octopus, eel, sting ray, lobster, and loads of brightly colored fish (the needle fish always make me laugh - they are so funny looking) & gorgeous coral.

Pete & me on the dive boat

Our dive boat

After a fantastic dive, we headed to Sunset Bar for sunset (surprise!) Despite the cloudy sunset, it was absolutely stunning and quite possibly the most beautiful place I've ever been to. To the east, you could see a storm brewing over the dramatic mountains of Lombok. In the distance to the west, you could just see the highest peak of Bali peeking through the clouds. Not surprisingly, we took loads of pictures ...

Random boat on shore with Lombok in the background

Bintang is to Indonesia as Tusker is to Kenya as Kingfisher is to India (the ubiquitous beer)

Life is rough

Even after sunset we couldn't stop snapping pictures

So dinner in Gili T goes as such:

1) Find the restaurant that has the freshest looking fish and the best looking salad bar
2) Pick out the piece of fish that looks best and tell the guy behind the counter
3) Find a table on the beach and order a large, ice cold Bintang (beer)
4) Load up on the freshest salads while your fish is being grilled
5) Magically your fish appears - grilled to perfection and with an amazing garlic-butter sauce
6) Walk off the huge meal you just consumed
7) Make sure you walk long enough to make room for gelato from Gili Gelato

Tough decision ...

Kuta take two. (Kuta-Lombok, that is)

There is something pretty damn cool about taking a boat out to a surf break. Its kind of like going heli skiing. The only difference is, that when it comes to surfing, I can do the equivalent of 'snow plow' at best. But it still feels pretty neat.

After our recuperation time in Ubud, and our scooter trip to Lovina, we decided to check out Lombok, and island just to the east of Bali.  Lombok is far less visited, less developed, and beautiful.  Kuta-Lombok is a sleepy little fishing town on the south coast, now mostly a sleepy little surf town. 

We caught a cheap, 30 minute, flight from Bali to Lombok and rolled into Kuta monday evening.

Getting to the only mellow break near Kuta (there are a number of world class breaks, but only one that is beginner friendly) involved riding our scooter 10 minutes down a bumpy rural road, past the rice and tobacco fields, through herds of cows, along the edge of a big turquoise bay, to the even smaller fishing town of Gerepuk.  There, we rented boards from the one surf shop, and hired a boatman to take us the 5-10 minutes out to the break.  The boatmen would anchor just next to the break, and wait 2-3 hours for us to tire ourselves out, then bring us back to shore (not surprisingly it turns out, most of the boatmen are awesome surfers, so we are really paying for them to go out surfing as well - not a bad job).

Thankfully a friendly couple from Colorado took us under their wing and showed us the ropes to figure all of this out, and gave me a bunch of surf lessons to boot.

Three days of surfing later, my arms feel like they are going to fall off, I'm sunburnt on 80% of my body, but I actually feel like I at least have an idea of what I'm doing on a surfboard, and for better or worse, might be addicted.

After a less than stellar experience in Kuta-Bali, our 4 days in Kuta-Lombok were a breath of fresh air. We met great folks, had good food, roared around the countryside on our scooter ('roar' might not be the most accurate descriptor of the sound made by a scooter, but it seems more dramatic than 'putt-putted around'), surfed, lounged by the pool drinking beer, watched the sunset from rocky outcrops, and generally had a grand ol' time.

View of the Kuta-Lombok area from a nearby hill. Lots of beaches, and not much else there. 

We never took our camera out surfing, so I stole this photo of the fishing boats that take you out to the break from a travel site. They would pile 3-4 boards onto a boat, and off we would go. http://www.cnngo.com/explorations/none/lombok-kuta-indonesias-other-kuta-832163 

I stole this photo too.  Its taken from where the boats would anchor, just to the side of the break.

Scooting Around Bali

While we were in Ubud, we were looking at a map and decided it would be fun to go up and over the mountains to the northern coast of Bali. After renting a scooter and packing a small messenger bag with toothbrushes and bathing suits – we were off!

We headed north into the mountains where the temperature started to drop and we realized we were pretty much in the clouds. It was a welcomed feeling, as we had been sweating in the morning sun as we left Ubud. We passed through many small villages and towns with Balinese people going about their daily routines. It was a pleasant sight to see villages that hadn’t been commercialized for tourists and were real, Bali towns. Once we were outside the towns, we were again immersed in fields and fields of rice paddies, this time terraced because of the slope of the mountains. After about two hours, we arrived in the small, lakeside mountain town of Bedugul, where we visited a temple set right on the lake. When we arrived, a ceremony was just beginning as they paraded through the temple grounds.

Us & the temple

After a quick tour of the grounds and a bite to eat, we were off again. As we continued north, the road began to follow the rim of the crater of the volcano. We could see Lake Buyan down the slope to the left, and fields of rice paddies down the slope to the right.

Pete & Lake Buyan

We took the scenic route from Lake Buyan to the northern coast, which meant scooting through the gorgeous, picturesque town of Munduk and driving along a narrow, VERY steep, road to Banjar.

This picture does not do the road justice - it was VERY steep in parts!

We eventually made it to the coastal town of Lovina, where we stayed the night. In our one night there, we were lucky enough to catch a beautiful sunset and an equally stunning sunrise. (I went on a boat ride at the crack of dawn to see dolphins – Pete opted to sleep in to fight off stomach ailments).

Sunset in Lovina

Another picture of sunset

This little guy ran by our table at dinner

Sunrise in Lovina

Dolphins!

After my boat ride and some breakfast, we hopped back on our scooter and headed south over another volcano to Kintamani. We weren’t as lucky with the rain (or lack there of!) on the second day, and had to pull over at a little roadside stand with an awning when the rain changed from a drizzle to sheets of rain. We waited it out with a Balinese family and when we could see a break in the rain, we went for it. Let’s just say the hot sun in Ubud was very welcomed as we rolled back into town!

And we made it back safely!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Our thanksgiving bird - crispy duck, indonesian style

Carrie and her faux-drink. Antibiotics and alcohol don't mix well.

Dig in! (Not the green bean casserole look-alike as a side)

Like most years, we have a lot to be thankful for.

We are thankful for each other. Through quitting our jobs, two cross-country drives, wedding planning, and lots of ups and downs in the past 6 months of travel, we have enjoyed each others companionship, laughed a lot, created tons of memories, put up with each other’s tired or hunger induced moods, taken care of each other when we’ve been sick, and made the entire world feel like home.

We are thankful for our families. For being so supportive and encouraging of everything we have ever done, for not questioning our decision to quit our jobs and travel, for inspiring us to always want to climb the next hill, or explore around the next corner.

We are thankful for the amazing collection of friends we have, new and old, scattered around the world.  The things you work on, are passionate about, pursue as hobbies, think and talk about, never cease to amaze and inspire us.

We are thankful for the warm hospitality we have been shown the world over – places to stay, home-cooked meals, friendly advice, and warm smiles.

We are thankful to have been able to put ourselves in a position to take a year off and explore.

We are thankful to have been born into a world of opportunity, where hard work and luck can go a long ways. We’ve met many folks along the way that will never have the same opportunities, no matter how hard they work, solely on the basis of where they were born.

Its hard to know what the future holds, and we look forward to many more adventures, and much more to be thankful about next year, and in the years to come, but for today, we are thankful for the incredible love and support that we have been lucky enough to received to date.

On the mend, pressing ‘reset’ on Bali

Things are looking up. We escaped Kuta, a found a charming, quiet room to rent in Ubud, set in a lush garden overlooking a tree-filled ravine. My stomach is cooperating for the most part, Carrie’s leg is healing nicely. Things have improved over last week! Maybe Bali isn't so bad after all :)

Parts of Ubud are congested, and overly touristy (Eat, Pray, Love hasn’t helped in that department), but it is still a charming place. Stepping away from the couple busy streets puts you in the midst of rice paddies, lush vegetation, and beautiful scenery.  Plus, the advantage of it being a tourist magnet means that there are tons of great restaurants!

A little guy guarding the entrance of the Sacred Monkey Forest

Folks at work in the rice paddies

A short walk from town leads to beautiful ridgelines

Not a bad place to stop for a rest and a drink while out on a walk in the hot sun    

Kuta:1 Pete&Carrie: 0

Editors note: Travel is awesome. But, on an extended trip there will always be a day or two here and there where you would gladly take back your seat in a cubicle in exchange for a normally functioning stomach. We've had a couple of those this week.

It’s been a bit of a rough start to the Bali leg of the trip.  We had been warned not to stay in Kuta by pretty much everyone we spoke to, but unfortunately it seems to be the only appropriate spot for beginners to take up surfing on the island. Given that, our plan was to spend a couple nights in Kuta, get the basics of surfing down, and hopefully by then have figured out a quieter (and cleaner) beach that we could base ourselves at and continue to try to pick up surfing.

Well, 6 nights later, we are still here.

The first day went as planned – arrived, checked into the nice, relatively quiet hotel we had booked online, found a surf shop and booked a lesson for the next day. After the red-eye from India, there wasn’t much more on our list to get done other than sleep.

Our surf lesson the next morning was good – great instructor, both standing up on waves, having fun. But man, it was tiring. I found myself out of breath, tired, light headed, but enjoying it.  We dropped the boards off after the lesson, had a quick bite to eat, and then carried our bags halfway across town to the cheaper hotel we found. I thought the walk was going to kill me. Hot. Humid. And I was really lagging.

Got to the hotel. Checked in. Spent the afternoon in bed.

Around 4pm, after more trips to the bathroom than I can count, and realizing that I was running a really high fever, I went to the medical clinic down the street (I will leave out the frustrating part about the clinics approach to pricing – suffice to say that I bought the medications the clinic tried to sell me at a pharmacy down the street for a 1/100^th the price).

101 fever, bacterial infection in the stomach, and a parasite in there to boot. Sweet.

Thankfully the meds kicked in pretty quickly, so only had to spend most of the next day (day 3) in bed before starting to feel human again. Carrie was a saint, and brought in meals (plain rice and a banana) from the restaurant down the street for me. I managed to muster the energy to walk to the beach to watch Carrie take another surf lesson just before sunset.

We both surfed again on Day 4. Rented a scooter in the afternoon and battled Kuta traffic for a couple hours trying to get the lay of the land.

Got home that night, and Carrie was starting to come down with a fever. The next day (Day 5), she was in bed all day. My turn to fetch the meals from the restaurant down the street.

We wake up on Day 6, Carrie’s fever seems to be subsided, I’m feeling almost 100%, we both decide to go out for a morning surf. All’s going well until Carrie tries to catch a wave, does a nose dive, and comes out of the water grimacing. Big cut on her thigh, presumably from the fin of the board.

3 stitches, iodine, antibiotics, and doctors orders not to swim for the next week later we are really, really ready to be done with Kuta.

Heading up to the mountains tomorrow, hoping that chapter one of our Bali stay is behind us! 

Reminiscing about India

India.

The mysticism. The sadhus. The fire. The colors. The noise.

The cows. The elephants. The camels. The autorickshaws.

The crowds. The traffic. The chaos.

The smiles and furtive looks. The warm hospitality.

The food, the chai, always offered.

The history. The forts. The temples.

The slums. The beggars. The poverty.

The new metro. The new airport terminal. The new high-tech office parks.

The tech entrepreneurs. The hoteliers. The manufacturers. The Indian tourists.

The mountains. The rivers. The desert. The coast. The cities.

India. You never cease to amaze.

Kerala Paradise

We had a fantastic week in Kerala! From Mumbai, we headed south (this time by plane) to Kovalam in the southern state of Kerala. Our home-stay with our hosts, Sally & Ani, was definitely the highlight. Both 77 years old (but act not a day past 30), they split their time between Kovalam and the SF Bay Area. They have a gorgeous house set right on the beach with a 5-star hotel sprouting up all around them. We left our windows open all week to hear the waves crashing on the beach, which proved to be rather loud at points (rough life, we know). The setting alone was a perfect get-away, but our hosts made it that much better. As we sipped on our sundowners each evening, we got to know more and more about their children, their 35-year marriage, and all sorts of interesting stories from their lives (we heard about shark attacks and losing passports in Spain to name a few).

Pete, Sally, & Ani

Each morning we'd wake up to a coconut with a straw in it (yum!)

View from the balcony (where we'd have our sundowners)

Kovalam Sunset

While we were in Kovalam, we took two trips to see more of beautiful state of Kerala. Our first trip was to the southern tip of India. Along the way, we stopped at a palace and a temple (cameras were not allowed at the temple, so no pictures). The palace was gorgeous and looked like it could have been in Thailand. The architecture of southern India is far different from that of the north.

Entrances, ceilings, and doors were intricately carved out of wood

Column carving

We continued south until we arrived at the southern most tip of India to a town called Kanyakumari. Just off the coast there are two islands, one with a temple and one with a very large statue. We took the ferry out to tour around the two islands.

Two islands off shore

Close up of the foot of the statue

Elephant & me

Me & Pete at the tip of India

Once we were back on land, we headed for the Gandhi Memorial and then to Sunset Point.

Colorful Gandhi Memorial

Boats at Sunset Point

Our second excursion was north of Kovalam to head inland on the backwaters. We hired a houseboat for the day with a great crew. After a couple hours on the boat and a feast of a lunch, we arrived at a little village where we changed to a canoe and punted into the smaller rivers to explore the little communities along the waterways. Our canoe driver, Vijeesh, was quite the character and we laughed and laughed at his jokes. He let us punt for a little bit, but Pete was much better than I was! After the canoe, we hopped back on our houseboat for some tea as we made our way back to the dock.

Our Houseboat

Our feast of a lunch

Locals going about their daily business

Indian tourists who loved that we took a picture of them!

Canoe trip through the smaller canals

Canoes on the backwaters

Pete testing out his punting skills

Our canoe driver, Vijeesh

Pete captaining the houseboat on the way back

Us on the houseboat