First Impression of Bali

Today was our first full day in Bali! We woke up pretty early and had breakfast at the hotel and then we met up with out driver from yesterday and took a long drive to the base of Mt. Batur. There is a lot of Hindu imagery and statues everywhere. Also a lot of Buddhist influence although to a lesser extent. Pretty much everywhere we looked they were selling stone statues of every shape and size. But mostly Hindu god shapes. And also mostly Hindu god sizes.

Anyhow. When we got to the base of the mountain we were immediately accosted by these three guys who were offering to be our guide up to the top. "We'll be fine with no guide, thank you very much" we said. But they insisted. Oh how they insisted! "It is our rule, and you must respect our rules here" they countered. But we were not convinced, everything about these guys just said that they were trying to rip us off. We saw one tourist who had just finished and she had paid 1 million RP for a guide to the top. Obviously none of use were too thrilled about that prospect. So we tried to argue with them but to no avail. We agreed that if they could show us some sort of legitimate proof that we were required to take a guide then we would go. But instead they just kept telling us that it was a rule of the "association" and somehow that was more important than the rule of law.

I asked at a tourist information office if there really was such a rule and the woman there said that we could hike without a guide if we wanted to even though she didn't recommend it. So we decided to just ignore them and go up anyway. No luck there though. They drove up on their scooters and tried to stop us but we just kept walking. Then the head guy drove up ahead and parked his scooter so that it blocked most of the path. Then he stood menacingly in front of it with his arms akimbo. When Jonathan walked up and tried to pass him he shoved him back and then he pulled back his jacket to reveal a knife in his belt which he proceeded to run his hands over threateningly. We thought we would call his bluff and we told him if it was really illegal that he should go ahead and call the cops on us, we didn't mind. Unfortunately he wouldn't do it (obviously) and we didn't have a phone to do it ourselves. So, lacking the means to resolve the conflict by way of the police and being at a disadvantage in the weapons department we backed down and went to leave.

I was all for finding another way up or bushwhacking it past the initial parts of the trail but nobody wanted to do that. We were stubbornly going to abandon the idea completely (this after a three hour drive to get there which only goes to show how angry we were with the whole situation) but Josef really wanted to go so we decided eventually to turn around and go with a different tour guide who was cheaper (slightly) and although probably affiliated with the same odious "association" would at least take the cut that those jerks would've gotten.

Now that I'm done ranting... the hike was really good and as we started to get above the valley floor the views of the lake and other mountains as well as the quaint farming village below were absolutely breathtaking.

Lena was having a hard time because she hadn't eaten for 36 hours due to some bad food poisoning and a stay in the hospital.  I wish she had told us that beforehand and I would've forced her to eat something. Anyway, it was understandably hard going for her and she had to turn around about 80% of the way up. Ben graciously offered to go down with her.

The rest of us pushed on to the top where we got to hike around the rim of the crater and stick our hands in some active vents. The rim was pretty narrow and when the clouds rolled in and covered everything it looked like we were on a long narrow island floating in the sky. Well, eventually we did come down and when we finally got to the bottom we feasted sumptuously on really cheap Tim Tams, the best prepared Ramen noodles I've ever eaten, and fresh mango and pineapple juice.


Afterwards we went and drove to Ubud where we got checked into our hotel and then we went and got dinner on the main street. Dinner was good but not great. Gelato after dinner was great but not exceptional. Bali however, and I assume Indonesia as well, is exceptional and nothing else. It has so much personality. To wit, there are these really highly ornamented stone and wood gates all over the place that all look like they are hiding some sort of secret. I feel like if you went through one of them you would be spirited away to another world. If enchantments exist, Indonesia is a land filled with them.

Malaysia Part Uno:

So I went on this really long trip over Chinese New Year right? Yes, and I although I did an excellent job keeping up on my journal I'd rather spare you the ill effects of information overload. So, if you glance down below you will see the first part of a brief-ish synopsis of my recent vacation in it's natural habitat, my blog that is.

Sample day: 

Another lazy day, the only time we got out of the house was to go buy an iPhone 4S for Jonathan at the mall and to get lunch at the foodcourt. After lunch though there was this really cool Qing dynasty imperial vase that had water in it and if you rubbed your hands on the sides it made a cool ringing sound and the water rippled very captivatingly. This afternoon we played in the pool and tonight we played ticket to ride, ate pizza on the roof, and watched Real Steel.

Other Things We Did:

• Went to the top of the Petronas Towers, the tallest twin towers in the world
• Hiked around Batu Caves
• Visited the Museum of Muslim Art and Architecture which was amazing
• Toured the National Mosque and met the Muslim missionairies
• Ate at a delicious Indian cafeteria in little India
• Played the board game Diplomacy, i.e. the best game ever invented

And here are some pictures from the first part of our trip...

The McKinley's family room

Rooftop terrace where we had pizza

Batu Caves

National mosque, they made us wear
purple robes to cover our shorts

Harbin : Day 4

One of the greatest paradoxes in my life is my undying love for skiing and my reluctance to spend the great deal of money which it unfortunately entails. So yes, there was what was reported to be a fairly decent ski resort about 90 minutes outside of Harbin, but no we didn't decide to fork over the $80 US that it would've cost us to go skiing there for a day. What we did find however was a much smaller (much much much smaller) ski hill just on the outskirts of town that was so cheap it was almost free. Not only was it really cheap but the service was great too. They had people who would do your boots up for you! That's pretty awesome. Sadly the ski hill consisted of a single bunny run and a rope tow. On the other hand, it was Gatsby's first time ever skiing so the situation was pretty ideal for giving beginning ski lessons. It was pretty difficult trying to teach someone to ski in Chinese but eventually I figured out the right set of vocabulary and all in all it was a pretty enjoyable way to spend the morning.

After skiing we went and grabbed some noodles by the train station and then boarded our long and painful train ride home. This time we had two seats in the hard sleeper car and two seats in the regular car. The three guys took turns sleeping in the bed and sitting in the cheap seats. It is hard to imagine how painful it would be to have purchased a "standing only" ticket from Harbin to Nanjing.

Harbin : Day 3

If you go far enough north, and stay long enough, it stands to reason that eventually you will be eaten by a polar bear. This seems fairly certain. Thus, we put all the polar bears we can catch in cages and drive gas guzzling cars to fuel global warming so that we can destroy the habitats of the remaining few. Now, if this perfect plan fails to completely mitigate the issue at hand at least we can more easily control who gets eaten by the polar bears and when. And that brings me to day 3 in our adventures to the northern China frontier. We went to Polarland which was this great arctic themed zoo/aquarium thing the highlight of which was the two enormous polar bears that they had. In actuality we never got to see the polar bears eat anything they just swam back and forth, all that stuff about polar bears eating people was just to build suspense. But in some other universe perhaps they feed people to polar bears at the zoo. Maybe convicts or something, I don't know. Well, after the polar land we went to dinner at a Russian restaurant that Gatsby's friend recommended and which we all heartily approved of after we ate there.

walking to polarland

Harbin : Day 2 Part 2

In the afternoon on day two we went and saw the reason that Harbin is famous: the snow and ice festival! It was pretty impressive and lived up to the hype for the most part. It would have been much more enjoyable had I not contracted an incurable case of the hiccups (the kind that hurt) for the last 45 we were there. Because it hadn’t officially opened yet there were some parts that were closed off. I could try and describe all the different sculptures and buildings but that would just unnecessarily drain my literary powers which are not unlimited. So instead I’ll just share the magic of Harbin’s number one tourist attraction through some enlightening pictures.

Harbin : Day 2 Part 1

It was the day after Christmas (is that called boxing day? I can’t remember) and we had big big plans for how to spend our second day in China’s winter wonderland. We woke up early and followed the public transit directions we got from Google to find our way to the Siberian tiger park. 

This park was absolutely amazing. It was probably the highlight of the trip for me at least. When we got to the ticket window there was a sign listing entry prices of course, but this was accompanied by another sign that was a ‘menu’ of all the live animals you could buy to feed to the tigers. We bought a chicken for 60 RMB.  While we were waiting for the armored bus that would conduct us through tigerland my roommate Gatsby decided to buy me a Christmas present, and for some reason in his mind that meant furry animal hat. So that combined with the age old Roman tradition of wearing a finished piece of taxidermy on one's head (and all the pomp, majesty, and machismo that accompanies that) accounts for my wearing a tiger hat all day. Ok, now that I’ve rationalized myself, back to the story. We all hopped in an armored bus and then we were driven through the enormous park that was filled with tigers at every turn. They would come right up to and in front of the bus. Near the beginning a jeep drove in with our chicken sitting on the roof. One tiger leaped onto the roof of the car causing the chicken to fly down into the hungry waiting jaws of a second 600 pound striped killer.

After the bus tour there was a second section where you could stroll along an elevated covered walkway and look down at the tigers who, when we got there at least, were all napping in a big dog tiger pile. Here there was another opportunity to feed the tigers fresh meat, but this time you could throw it to them yourself. Since opportunities like this are non-existent in the civilized world I bought another live chicken and dangled it over the railing and over 40 hungry tiger mouths. If you’ve ever wondered where the phrase “Voracious as a Siberian tiger in Harbin who has just had the good fortune of expropriating a mouthwatering chicken and is engaged in tearing it to pieces” came from (and who hasn’t wondered that) it came from my head just now, and the spectacle it was coined to describe was pretty awe-inspiring to say the least.

I hand fed THAT meat to THAT tiger! Oh yeah.

One last thing that we saw at the tiger park was the only living white liger and one of only a few living ligers period. It was magical, but that should come as no surprise. After all, that’s what they’re bred for.

Doesn't it look majestic? Or is that smug?

Harbin : Day 1

Owing to the fact that Nanjing was altogether not Christmasy enough, but also because the window of opportunity just happened to fall over Christmas, I decided to take my "reading days" and go see China's northeasternmost province and only extant winter wonderland. For those uninitiated into the world of Chinese geography that would be Heilongjiang province (literally "black dragon river") and the city is called Harbin. It is nestled in between North Korea and Eastern Siberia. Our merry company consisted of myself, Ian, Maryia, and my roommate, who was recently re-christened Gatsby (would-be detractors of my choice of names take note, his old English name was 'Govad' so even if you don't like Gatsby you have to admit it's a big improvement). We originally planned on purchasing the cheapest train tickets available, partly to save money and partly because I felt that, unpleasant as it may be, it is a quintessential part of the China experience. However, due to Maryia being accustomed to a certain level of Luxury* we instead bought four tickets in the sleeper car so we could keep her company during the 30 hour train ride.

We arrived bright and early at the Harbin railway station on Christmas Day. My first sensation stepping off the train was not the most pleasant, that of having all my snot freeze in my nose. It was after all between -20°C and -30°C practically the whole time we were there. Our first object when we arrived was to find a church service to attend. Sadly, Harbin does not have an LDS branch, but nevertheless due to the Russian influence it is a city replete with churches, possibly more than any other city in China. I've never been to Mass before so I thought it would be good to find a Catholic church to go to. Unfortunately searching the Chinese interweb is like going on a scavenger hunt in a million-acre field of stinging nettle, oh and the field is also full of landmines, and Nazis, and a plethora of other kinds of unpleasantness. So we never did find a Catholic church, but we did eventually find a Christian church that was putting on a large Christmas program. We stopped in for the last hour. It was pretty good though. There were a lot of people there. When we got there there were actually no seats left in the auditorium but this Chinese lady made sure that we got some anyway because we were foreigners and she didn't want us to "go back home with a bad impression of Chinese Christians" as she put it.

After Church and lunch we went ice skating at a college which had converted their outdoor track into a skating rink. There were these guys there doing this really cool thing I had never seen before. They had these large metal tops that they got spinning on the ice and then they would keep them going by whipping them. It was pretty spiffy. At some point someone had remarked that ice cream in Harbin ought to be really cheap because they wouldn't have to pay for refrigeration, well after ice skating we confirmed that indeed this was the case, at the bus stop we found that they had cases of ice cream laying out on the street. And it was really cheap. And it was also delicious!

We finished off Christmas Day by visiting Harbin's most famous cathedral, St. Sofia's. The church was badly damaged but not quite destroyed during the Cultural Revolution but has since been restored. Or at least, the exterior has been restored, the interior has been reformed and is now a museum/gift shop. Well, I've written enough for one day, I'll write the rest later.

* Apparently she only flies Emerates and Lufthswasa (spelling on both of those?)