Six Hours on the Seoul Train

Greetings from Seoul, South Korea!

We had an extremely long layover today in Seoul, and took full advantage of it. After figuring put how to navigate in a massively large airport ( we're talking like 200 duty free shopping opportunities plus an ice skating rink) we escaped the airport and took the "airport railway" to downtown Seoul where we walked around aimlessly until we found tourist attractions.

And by tourist attractions, we are referring to a beautiful palace that was built in 1395, and a Buddist temple, both from the Joseon Dynasty which ruled Korea for over 500 years. 

We had several other spots on our to-do list, but with limited time and a one-hour Seoul Train ride each direction, we ran out of time. Seoul boasts over 10 million residents and is one of the cleanest cities we have ever seen. 

Oh, and Leland had his first street food today... And have no idea what it is. Yumi...and ideas? 

Mmm... Street food...

Goodbye Paradise

Hi everyone,

We know we have been absent since the last post about Bali belly, but we are alive and well  in Gili Tarwangan, which is part of the province of Lombok. Since we last updated, we logged 11 amazing dives between the islands of Flores, Rinca and Komodo, got to "meet" some huge Komodo Dragons up close and personal in the wild and have soaked up our last four days of Honeymoon bliss here on Gili T.

We are now packing up and heading to catch the speed boat for our transfer back to Bali so we can start our 36-hour journey home.

Do check back with us though for some great photos of our dive trip and our stay here in the Gilis.

Komodo Sunset

Highest Volcano on Lombok, Mt. Rinjani

"Manta Point" dive site in the distance. 

Breakfast view from the Beach House on Gili Trawangan, Lombok

-Leland and Mia

Bali Belly - a real thing

Bali Belly goes by many names and can be contracted in a multitude of ways, but the effect is the same - aweful!

Mia and both got it, Mia's hit a day before me but mine lasting twice as long.  I'm sure for every unfortunate soul who gets this, experiences a different variation, but mine began with chills, then fever, sweats and progressed with an upset stomache (yes, this is a euphemism), nausea, dizziness and lightheadedness (which sent me to the floor one night), body aches, and zero appetite (and for the folks that know me, is a true sign that I'm sick). 

In total I was sick about three days and am still feeling a residual impact. Saw one of the local doctors who prescribed me poor tasting medication.  Apparently pills are no good, you must dilute powder in to water. 

Tomorrow, we're off to Komodo Island for a four-day dive adventure so let's hope were through with illnesses.  As a safeguard we were able to get a few extra antibiotics just in case.  As another precaution, we're using hand sanitizer after we touch anything (especially money). I generally refuse to use this stuff as it's a promotor of super germs, but I feel that's kind of what I'm up a against.

Ava

We went to the Safari to ride the elephants, and we did ( thanks Yurti!), but this little lady stole our hearts.

Her name is Ava and she is a 4 year old Orangutan, she is so sweet and all she wanted to do was play and snuggle, just like any 4 year old.

In case you were wondering,  "Orang" means Man, and "Utang" means forest or jungle, so it translates to people or man of the Jungle. 

Lions, Tigers and Orangutans! Oh... and Elephants too

Best. Day. Ever.

                                                       ...Well, second best day...

Courtesy of the Bali Safari and Marine Park

Bebek Tepi Sawah

This is another gorgeous hotel here in Bali, perhaps a stunning hotel. The words, Bebek Tepi Sawah means Ducks by the rice paddy, which oddly enough, there is a beautiful rice paddy right outside our room...although I have not seen any real ducks, other than the ones that they serve fried, Balinese style. :)

The rooms are good sized with a private patio that overlooks the rice fields, a giant soaking tub and private outdoor shower. There are two gorgeous and rarely inhabited pools, little geckos and frogs, and  a lot of gorgeous plants, which in homage to Leland's late grandma Hattie, I took lots of photos of.

Only gripe? The food is only so-so, but the staff is very friendly. Oh, and I almost forgot the roosters crow all day, and the dogs bark all morning. Just to let you know it's 4am. You would think sunrise, but they like 4am.

Monkey see, Monkey does whatever it wants

They have  their own frickin' forest!!!

We went to Monkey forest today and were blown away by all the monkeys.  It is literally, a forest full of monkeys. These are not the naughty monkeys of Uluwatu. These are happy, well fed little buggers who hangout, play, and occasionally hiss at you if you get too close or touch their tails.

Oops ...

Good Morning Ubud!

Today Indra picked us up from our hotel in Sanur and took us on a whirlwind sightseeing trip across Bali. We start our day at a traditional Balinese Batik shop were they create the Batik and Ikat (Balinese hand loomed fabric, which oddly enough the pattern is very popular in women's clothing right now...), by hand.

This weaving process takes about a month to complete

The Batik design is first created by an artist, and drawn on either silk or cotton with a pencil. From there it is traced with hot beeswax, but only in the areas that are to maintain the original color of the cloth (think tie-dye where rubber bands omit the color).

Applying the first layer of beeswax

The dying is done in batches and once the initial color is set the process starts over with more wax and dye being applied to enhance the design. 

Various steps in the Batik process

Batik prints can range from one color to a half dozen or more, all requiring the cycle to be repeated per color. Once the design is completed they are boiled to remove all the wax and dried.

From there we went to a family silver smithing shop where they make all the jewelry and designs themselves. Their top salesman was their 17 year old daughter who is already at the local university.

Our third stop of the day was at the woodworking studio. We kinda missed out because the woodworker was not there, but we did get to learn a lot about the different woods they use and see museum quality pieces. 

We made a quick stop at a local painting gallery that showcased the evolution of Balinese art, progressing from highly detailed paintings of religious Hindu stories, which are used primarily for the temples, to modern day, abstract art. 

Along our whirlwind journey we also had the opportunity to visit a large temple as well as a traditional Balinese home, which to today's standards is very poor. Our host still lives onsite and accepts donations which he lives for people to home into his home and look around. 

Our final stop of the day was a wonderful viewing of Mt. Agung, which translates to "Big Mountain." Mt.Agung is the largest volcano on Bali and is still very active. After catching the sunset, we headed to our new home in Ubud.

Barong!

So for you Hindus out there you know all there is to know about the Barong. But for the rest of you, the Barong is a mythical creature that fights the bad spirits and can take on many forms.

Here in Bali it is no different. The Barong is EVERYWHERE. It can appear as two small children dancing under the big hairy beast, in a paintings, masks, and of course, as two or three adults dancing under the big hairy costume. Either way, if it looks familiar, and you have o idea what it is -- it's the Barong!

Uluwatu - Monkeys a Blaze

For our last day in Sanur, our friendly Javanese driver, Indra, took us to see the Hindu temples  in Uluwatu, which overlook the Indian Ocean.

These temples are from around the 15th century and are inhabited by some very as Indra put it, "naughty monkeys."

Our driver, Indra

So naughty in fact that Indra brought a stick with him...

Naughty Monkey

While there we also took in the Kecac Firedance, which tells the story of the Hindu gods Sitka and the Monkey God who saved her. (I am sure there is way more to this story....) But it was great to watch. As a bonus we were able to take in our very first sunset over the Indian Ocean, which was quite amazing in itself. 

Did I mention that they try to set the monkey god on fire?

Paddle Canoe

We spent the first four days of our honeymoon in a quaint little beach town called Sanur, which is on the south eastern coast of Bali; and it was the perfect segway into wedding decompression. We decided to spend our lazy days either by the pool, on our porch reading or getting massages, rough, we know.

Needless to say it was an amazingly relaxing way to start our trip. We did decide that we should take is the sights a a little so we took to the sea and rented a kayak, I mean, a paddle canoe, as the locals like to call them...and toured around the reef off of Sanur.

We didn't find much but Chocolate Chip Starfish, which to us surprise are everywhere. As is tradition, I rolled the kayak, I mean paddle canoe, and dumped us (and our belongings) into the sea. To be fair, Leland failed to counter lean...so in we went. After a brief float in Balinese Sea, we reboarded our vessel and headed back in.

It wasn't until we returned our kayak, I mean paddle canoe, that we realized that someone was missing their mask. Let's just say that there is going to be a lucky Bali kid out there with Leland's SCUBA mask as their new prized possession.