Back In Indonesia...Barely

5 days out from climbing Mt. Kinabalu:
Muscle Soreness - moderate
Knees - Okay
Fear of Rain - STILL HIGH

So we've now travelled from Malaysian Borneo to Indonesian Borneo via Jakarta on Java. For some reason, even though it's the same island, it's practically impossible (or they make it extremely difficult) to get from what part to the other. Seemingly, it's because the two countries don't want illegal trade to go in between (or something...).

Not a problem, because with Air Asia (the greatest airline ever) short hops between countries (even with a stop over) are ridiculously cheap. Buying our tickets two days before, we flew from Kota Kinabalu to Jakarta (a 3 hour flight) for $40. And then from Jakarta to Balikpapn, for another $40 (2 hour flight). It was also interesting that we were on the 'Maiden Voyage' for the Jakarta flight because Air Asia just opened up the route.

However, like I've hinted in the title of this post I almost didn't make it in the country. We've been to Indonesia as you may recall previously in November to Bali and had absolutely no problems at the border. Actually, Andrew and I have barely had border gaurds say two words to us throughout our entire journey so imagine my surprise when the Indonesian customs officer asked me for my forwarding ticket out of the country. I'm a backpacker, our whole stitch is to not plan anything! An outward ticket a whole month from now? Are you kidding? I barely know where I'm sleeping tonight. However, this stipulation is well-known (ish) even though we've never been asked and never had a problem previously.

So I told him I didn't have one. And then did my best to convince him that no, sir, I did not want to stay in Indo for the rest of my life and I pinky swore I'd leave within the month. He looked skeptical and called his boss (I guess pinky swearing doesn't have the same weight it does in the States). Indonesia is not a country you want to screw around in, for instance, the first sign you see when getting off the plane says "Welcome to Indonesia! Death Penalty for Drug Traffickers!" AHHH I mean what could the penalty be for no forwarding ticket? Lose a finger? I was not anxious to find out.

Boss comes back, looks at us, it's AOK. So after this debacle was finished and we were indeed going to be let into the country, he looks at my passport and says PROBLEM. What now?? I already pinky swore what else do you want from me? It turns out my passport is full. See, all these asian countries (barring Thailand and Malaysia) need Visas. And Visas take up the whole page. Coupled with the fact that Canada is apparently very stamp-happy, my passport has no room for another Visa. "But what about those two pages at the end there?" I asked, not really understanding the problem. "Those are for amendments." He says, barely looking me in the eye. What are amendments? Why Do I need that? What a stupid system in the first place? (All thoughts I spoke silently to myself, while cursing the US, knowing I'm fully in the wrong).

And then he asks me "Do I have another passport?" No, I don't. And that's when the tears started. He quickly says "I talk to my boss" and hustles away from the nearly hysterical American girl before it gets too ugly.

After about 10 minutes, he comes back and says "I let you in Indonesia...I help you, you help me?" I throw the $10 change I had leftover at him gratefully, thanking God I'm allowed in the country. It's 11 pm on a friday and I was not looking forward to spending the night at the airport.

All in All, I'm grateful to be back in Indonesia for many reasons, including visitng friends of our family the Feits, who now live here. The husband, Mark, works for Chevron and has been an expatriate for many years and have been living in Balikpapan for the last year and a half. It's wonderful to stay in a house, with a comforter (!), home cooked meals and carpet. All things we take for granted in North America, but a comforter (meaning the A/C is on and blasting) and carpet are hard to come by in Asia. From here, we'll probably head to other destinations in Indo before hopping over the Phillipines to visit Andrew's childhood nanny's family. Stay tuned.

Mt. Kinabalu: We came, we saw, we got our asses kicked.

There's a lovely postcard in every souvenir shop in Malaysian Borneo of the beautiful Mt. Kinabalu--South East Asia's highest point--that says I came, I saw, I conquered. As for Andrew and my ascent up the mountain, there was absolutely no conquering. Not even a tiny bit. Although we made it up and down in one piece, the mountain sorely humbled us.

It was Andrew's idea to come to Malaysian Borneo, he wanted to see Orangatans and rain forests and I had the bright idea of climbing the mountain. "It'll be fun!" I said to Andrew's grumbling, "And the exercise will do us good." This climbing thing is a bad habit of mine, which I did traveling through Europe as well. If there's a mountain, a clock tower, a really high ladder within a kilometer I am drawn to it like a fat kid to apple pie. I don't know what it is, I guess I like the idea of seeing a city or country from a bird's eye view. I should have learned my lesson in Switzerland with my 12 hour descent down Mt. Eiger, but somehow I tend to block these treacherous experiences out.

Anyways, the lovely Lonely Planet explains in detail what the climb is like so we should have known....but it also says that for it's size Mt. Kinabalu is one of the easiest mountains in the world to climb. Do not do what I did and read that as it is easy to climb...No, it's just easier than say that other really tall mountain Everest or something. Treacherous two day climb up a mountain in freezing cold weather with the possibility of rain? I'm in!

It takes two days to get the top of Mt. Kinabalu (we met a guy who did it in 1 day, but he was a nutter and he was English so I highly recommend not following his lead). The first day is a really steep hike, not so much a climb, with hundreds upon hundreds of steps for 5 hours (about 6 kilometers and 11000 feet up). This is a bit misleading, seeing as you start about halfway up at 6500 feet (I told you it was the easiest mountain of its height) but it's still frickin high and a lot of steps! Until we came down, I really did not realize how many steps there were (there I go blocking out the treacherous parts again). Not only was it a difficult climb, the second we got on the trail it started pouring. And it proceeded to pour for our entire ascent, with the clouds literally shitting on us during our last 45 minutes. Needless to say we were not happy and very, very wet.

I, being the responsible one in the relationship, told Andrew to pack an entire new set of clothes seeing as this is a rain forest and there's a very good chance it will rain (I wasn't expecting the whole time, however). I saw him take out the clothes, but somehow they did not make it into the bag. About 1 hour up the mountain he tells me that the shorts he is wearing are his only pair of shorts (I can barely hear him through the downpour). Not only that, we get up to the top and it turns out he didn't bring new underwear or socks! Somehow a 'whole new outfit' was interpreted as a new t-shirt. Well played Andrew, seeing as it was 45 degrees where we stayed the night. He ended up having to buy a $10 pair of glorified boxers that he put on backwards and proceeded to rip in half almost immediately. Looking back it was pretty funny (who I am kidding, it was funny immediately).

Because the mountain covers in clouds almost immediately after the sun rises, everyone recommends waking up at 2:30 to make it up to the top for the sunrise. Actually, that's leaving at 2:30 so waking up even before that. Considering you're so tired from hiking uphill the first day, it's pretty easy to go bed relatively early. However, staying asleep is a challenge because there was no heat in our room and we were SO COLD! I was wearing every layer I owned (which by the way was the only thing I had to climb up to the top) and I was still cold under 2 blankets. I was almost happy to get up at 2:00 to start the climb to move around and try to warm up.

So it's 2:30, it's 39 degrees, and Andrew and I and about 200 Chinese tourists begin our ascent up to the tippity top. We have 2.5 kilometers to go, but these are the toughest of the lot. The steps begin at a far steeper grade than before and the atmosphere begins to thin. Breathing becomes a chore and our legs are severely sore from the day before. Oh yeah, and it's pitch black out. The first little while is an extremely slow pace due to all the other tourists, since there's only 1 path and we're all going the same place. With everyone's flashlights we resemble little ants walking up the mountain and you can see the path ahead clearly from those who started before you and it's not encouraging.

After the steps, the rope part of the journey begins. The ropes aren't scary, as they are more extremely exerting. Ropes = steep and steep = tiring. Ropes follow you the entire rest of the way, but you don't have to use them but 3 or 4 times (presumably because they show you the path so you won't fall off a cliff!). At this point, Andrew and I are literally stopping every 5 steps for a 'breather.' Three and a half hours later (and me almost giving up with like 10 meters to go) we're at the top. Just before the sunrise. And what a wonderful sunrise it is.

According to our guide, Nail (pronounced NEAL), it was one of the clearest most impressive sunsets he's had in months. And we totally deserved it, considering the crap climb we had the day before. There was barely a cloud in the sky and you could see for miles. And when the sun rose, it colored the few clouds there were red and orange. Supposedly, from where we were we could see as far as the Phillipines, but I couldn't be bothered at that point to go to the other side of the cliff (it was hard enough to breathe sitting where I was). 13000 feet (4095.2 meters ) later, we made it. And it was a glorious feeling.


But then I remembered we had to go down.

It took another 2 hours to get back to the lodge. In the daylight, it wasn't nearly as scary, but it still wasn't easy. We got back at 8:30 in the morning, ate some breakfast and headed down again. We had another 4 hours of hiking down hill to go and we had already been at it for 6 hours. One of the hardest things physically I've ever had to do was make myself get up from the breakfast table and begin the descent down the mountain.

Up until the last hour, it was actually way easier than I thought it was going to be. Granted going down all those steps (I believe I read somewhere there's 2500) is very painful on the knees, it's not nearly as exerting on the lungs so you go a bit faster than on the way up. Unfortunately, Andrew's mogul knees gave him a big 'FUCK YOU FOR DOING THIS TO ME' about 3 hours in and he was in severely bad shape for last 2 kilometers. I felt really bad for our guide because we were going at a snail's pace by the end, but he didn't seem to mind.

It's all over now (well my sore muscles wouldn't agree with that) and looking back I'm really glad it we did it. We still are living in fear of steps (any steps, including sidewalks) and getting up from chairs prove a challenge, But would I recommend it? Yes. Would I do it again? HELL NO. It's definitely a great, beautiful, challenging and rewarding experience...But I'd recommend a walking stick...and a big tube of Bengay.

Singapore: The cleanest place on Earth

So the US has "Disneyworld: The happiest place on Earth" and Asia has "Singapore: The cleanest place on Earth." Well, certainly the cleanest city on earth. I think the best way to describe it for all you Disney-goers is it's like right when you walk into Mainstreet USA and the pavement is clean and the bricks look brand new and you just can't help but have a smile on your face (and think that all the "cast members" are going to break into song and dance). It's like that all over Singapore and this by no means is a small city.

Having heard of Singapore's cleanliness before arriving, my expectation was that there would be tons of little men all over Singapore picking up trash, power-washing streets, cleaning grates with toothbrushes, etc. However, this is not the case. Singaporeans don't litter. Not only are there about a million trash cans all over the city and countless PSAs, there is a hefty $1000 fine if you should dare to throw a single receipt on their beloved pavement. Seem harsh? It's a small price to pay to be immaculate..

Singapore is all about scaring their citizens into conformity, which initially freaked me out but after seeing Singapore I feel like New York should adopt some of their habits. For instance, one of my favorite signs is a cartoon lady running to find a bathroom (and it shows her sweating and in pain because she has to go so badly). And unfortunately, when she arrives at the toilet it is clogged because someone was so unthoughtful as to not flush the toilet! Life lesson: please ensure toilet is flushed properly after use. I'm not kidding there are thousands of signs like these all over the city...and how are their bathrooms? I swear I could eat off the floors and was tempted to move in. We'd be lucky if we could even find a public restroom in NYC.

One PSA however that would not go over so well in NYC is one about the Subway. There are TVs all over the subway stations with commercials, etc. and one in particular starts with what looks like Nuclear bomb with the caption: Please don't let this happen to us. Right there I was like you crossed the line. It then goes on to show pictures of the subway bombings in London, Mumbai, and Madrid with not only the trains mangled, but people crying, bloddy, being taken in ambulances, etc. Meanwhile, there's a 5 year old heading home from kindergarten right next to me. It ends urging people to tell the authorities if they see something suspicious on the subway. We have these in NY too--it's a campaign that looks like it's been around since the 80s and they show a picture of a lone briefcase under a chair. It says "if you see something, say something." I guess it's hardly as effective. . .

Overall, Singapore is a great city that Andrew and I have loved. Not only because it's obvious cool-factor, but it will forever be in our memories as where we got Engaged! So hopefully we'll get to come back and re-visit someday. And tomorrow we're off to Borneo!

Crossing the Street in the 'Nam: It's like Frogger with your life.

Vietnam in a Nutshell is lots and lots of motorbikes...Okay, maybe that's not true. Motorbikes and noodle soup. But in all seriousness, I've never seen so many motorbikes in all my life. And my favorite part was reading in the magazine on the plane before we landed on "how to cross the street in vietnam." Seemed like an odd topic for a magazine article..I mean are we idiots? I've been crossing the street since I was two. Well ladies and gentlemen, throw all you previous "look both ways" knowledge behind you because crossing a street in Vietnam is like no where else on earth. Cross walks? Yeah right. Traffic cops? Who are you kidding? (well there are some, but they just sit around and look pretty). Traffic lights? Functional but ignored by nearly everyone.

To give you an idea I've posted a video I found doing a quick search on youtube. Andrew tried to reassure me once by saying "don't worry if they're going to hit you, they'll honk." Little did he know they honk constantly so that brings absolutely no peace of mind.



My strategy was keep Andrew on the "motorbike" side of me so that they'd hit him first. Thanks honey!

Cambodia's Kids and the lovely Gov't

For the last 3 days or so, we've been in Sihanoukville in Southern Cambodia. It's a nice beach town, with a TON of expats. And I can see why, it's a very nice place, good weather, and it's cheap. We've learned some interesting things about the cambodian people in our few days here, one of which is about the kids who work on the beach selling little bracelets, trinkets, and such. These kids are adorable (hello, have you ever seen Maddox Jolie-Pitt...probably the cutest and most famous Cambodian EVER), have great personalities, generally speak good English and you can see why most tourists (ourselves included) are sucked into buying souvenirs from them. Hey, they're only a $1 right?

Well according to a lot of local organizations here, these kids make close to $500 a month, most ranging from the ages of 7-11. $500 is an exorbitant amount of money to any Cambodian, let alone a pre-teen. So this could still be okay if they give it to their family who needs it? Wrong. Because they make so much money, they don't go to school and become accustomed to a life a relative 'wealth.' But what happens when they turn 15, are no longer cute, can't make even close to that much money, and on top of that they aren't educated and don't want to get a normal job? They go into prostitution. Unfortunately, sex-tourism is a huge industry out here (as it is in all of southeast asia) and tourists are encouraging the industry indirectly from its start. It's all very sad.

Another interesting thing we witnessed was a prime example of inefficiency in the Cambodian government. We were having breakfast at an Australian restaurant, when literally 15 people (about half of them in police and military uniform) approach the restaurant, inquiring for the owner. Needless to say, we all were a bit weary of the group. Turns out, the owner has failed to fill out a census form and apparently it requires 15 people to ensure he fills it out properly! The owner was rightly outraged, saying that he didn't intimidate that easily (and honestly as individuals they weren't all that scary, more just the fact there were 15!). Talking with the owner after the incident(and in case you're interested, he did fill out the form in a hasty manner), he said this is pretty typical procedure. I asked how he dealt with it and he said it helps that he knows the numero uno guy in the government to go to in cases like these so normally he isn't affected.

In Cambodia, the military owns and operates everything, inefficiently and corruptly. Basically, a couple of years ago the person who got into power was only put there because he was a puppet to the military and now gives them everything they want (including ownership of all the land, which they sell mainly to ex-pats for lots of moolah). It's also incredibly hard to get into the military, because once in it's a frat-boy super club where you are feared absolutely and have to pay for nothing. Apparently, you have to either be born into it or pay $50,000 to join.

It's very sad the area around these beaches is being so built up and the government is selling all the beach front property to 5 star resorts. By next year they say there will only be 1 public beach in the area (last year there was close to 10). I asked a lot of the ex-pat owners if they are worried they'll just be kicked out of their business one day without notice and they say it's always a very real possibility. To the point that most Cambodians are so used to it that they build their businesses very impermanent (Like non-cemented tiles) so they can move at any point. However, there is money to be had and the lifestyle's great so until they are told they can't be here there is no where else they'd rather be. Very brave and good on them.

Cambodia and the Voice of God

I woke up this morning at 7:30 on a SATURDAY to a scary, angry voice on a loudspeaker followed by traditional cambodian music blaring. Literally, minus the music I thought the voice was having a horrible one-sided, schizophrenic argument and urging us all to go to war. Not the greatest wake up call. I mean NORMALLY a 7:30 wake up call wouldn't bother me, as you know Andrew and I like to run a half marathon every morning at sunrise (up hill through the rain no less haha) but last night we may have par-taked in 1 too many...what are the kids calling it these days? oh yeah, BEERS and while listening to the awful racket was contemplating suffocating myself with a pillow. (Inevitably, I chose not to as I thought a Cambodian funeral may be a hard for my parents logistically). I know it sounds very culturally ignorant to not appreciate the music, but to my hung-over head it sounded like Andrew's niece, Jasmine, rocking out on her $5 keyboard mixed with fingernails scratching down a chalkboard. Needless to say, I'm not buying the CD.

Finally able to fall asleep, Andrew and I rose a couple of hours later and worked our way to the breakfast table to inquire as to the 'lovely' symphony that was actually STILL GOING ON (4 hours later). A few fellow breakfast-goers were asking the same questions, with the commencement time of the music creeping closer and closer to sunrise. (I thought 7:30, people apparently heard it at 6) Upon further inspection, it seems that the scary announcer guy and the wonderful melodies were part of a wedding ceremony! You can imagine my surprise when the waiter told me that not only dose it start early in the morning, that it's actually a 3 day event!

We promptly checked out of the hotel and will be heading back to Pnomh Penh tomorrow. The leaving may or may not be related to the wedding music, however, it was good motivation.

And now my internet time is up, and I hear the wedding music again (of course). May be I'll drop in for a dance b/c you know I enjoy it so much.

Pictures, Pictures, and More Pictures

Hello Hello!

We have new pictures up of Thailand, Laos, and Vietnam! Click on the link below.

http://picasaweb.google.com/LindsayCollins

We are heading to cambodia tomorrow for probably a couple of weeks. Vietnam's been great, we've done a TON of stuff.

Enjoy the pics!