Nusa Lembongan & Ceningan, Indonesia

fresh off the fastboat - 1 hr. from Sanur to Nusa Lembongan (mushroom bay).

beautiful weather - skies, waters, gentle breeze - very nice.

no idea where we'll stay - we jump in a truck and head to, Tamarind Bay.  driver wants us to stay w/ his friend - even to the point of being pushy - we push back and walk on, turtles in a foreign land w/ too little information.  this turns into a common theme as we're traveling on budget so the places that fit our criteria very rarely advertise online.  we must stay somewhere for 1 night while we scope out the area for subsequent nights.  trouble in Nusa Lembongan turns out to be electricity reliability - which is to say the juice is sometimes on at night, sometimes not.  there even seems to be a pattern to the service but after a few simple hypothesis are tested and disproven, we throw up our arms and adjust our strategies.  without electricity, air con units are worthless and concrete, bunker-esque hotels, are hot - no air flow.

eventually we find Ulu - bungalows built in true Indonesian fashion, 2 stories high w/ balcony, windows for evening breeze, and outdoor shower / bath on the first floor.  not often i get a view of the stars while i'm sudzin' up - what a joy though when it comes my way.

possibly the best sunsets we had in all of Indonesia were on Nusa Lembongan... 

not a great beach for tourists - more of a working beach, from hosting moorings for guiding, fishing, and local ferry boats to giving access to locals transporting their seaweed haul, this slanted beach at Tamarind Bay was buzzing.  surfers come to Lembongan to ride the 3 surf breaks off shore.  they hire local fishermen to take them out to a covered raft near the 2 most popular breaks, "laceration" and "playgrounds."  i get the feeling this area is not for beginners.

waves breaking at breakfast - what a treat!

the oldest / biggest tree on Nusa Lembongan!

we had a blast renting scooters and exploring the islands.  between $4 and $7 gets you a scooter for the day and they go everywhere!  Carly like riding hers into things like walls.  no harm done though and we all enjoyed laughing at her mishaps - nice, supportive, family that we are.

Bintang!  a daily splurge in the evening - hard to avoid, why try?

we loved Indonesia's obsession with architectural decoration - carvings, casts, statues...

no house reef for snorkeling here - half hour by boat to the Mangroves (too silty = bad visibility), then to Nusa Penida (beautiful and clear but cold for the kids - approx. 23 degrees C).

one day we happened upon a funeral ceremony which we observed from the road.  apparently these ceremonies last all week - evident from my attempt to find the local doctor to treat an ear infection.  every time i stopped by, he was "away at ceremony."  i thought maybe this was just a standard dismissal but no so - they clearly attend ceremony often on Nusa Lemongan. 

Gamelan players waiting for the post-ceremony procession through town.

if your family has enough money, you get cremated when you die.  if not, you're buried until there's enough cash to afford the wood, and presumably priests' fees.  umbrellas on every gravestone apparently for added comfort from the midday sun.

dream point, near dream beach - powerful waves nearly swept Basil and Ryan off.  couple scrapes, some angry scoldings by loved ones, and a dead cell phone later, four travelers back on scooters head for trauma therapy - food, beer, & middle of the night contemplation.  nothing keeps a mind engaged in the wee hours like a lesson on human frailty as taught by the indiscriminate might of the sea.

all waves are not equal...

the islands of Lembongan & Ceningan maintain a thriving seaweed farming culture.  they grow, cut, haul, dry, and presumably much more in the way of processing it to produce skin creams & jellies.

moving the harvested seaweed during low tide from the bay in between Lembongan and Ceningan

this young girl looked to be about 15 years old - strong and proud of her task!

wherever there's flat, undeveloped land, there's seaweed arranged for drying...

Kayl and Ryan stay behind for a scooter adventure to Ceningan (fanta, laps in the pool for exercise, and 4x4 rubiks cube lessons…by Kayl of course), Carly and Basil jump on the Dive Concepts (great dive company run by a bunch of competent, friendly, french guys) SCUBA boat to Crystal Bay and Manta Point.  little chilly but worth it for an encounter w/ Mantas!

…and Oriental Sweet Lips

gentle giants glide nearby, unafraid & even curious.

manta rays have feeding grounds & cleaning stations - different depths, different locations...

…and we're off!  to Bangsal, Lombok by fast boat.  Mt. Rinjani looms physically as well as in our thoughts - do kids often climb this massive volcano?  will we find available guides & porters at prices we can afford?  how will the actual experience contrast with the marketing literature?

Kuta beach, Bali

early in the trip, the boys were often spoiled with their OWN twin bed.

hotel Lusa quickly became a favorite of ours.  1) because USA is hidden in the name, 2) it was close to Kuta beach, 3) the pool.  many laps, games of chase, & breath holding contests were hosted in this lovely pool.  breakfast, complete with Bali coffee, always enjoyed poolside.

Basil and Ryan's first attempt at surfing.  we came to discover that many elements of surfing successfully are hidden beneath the surface of this sport.  timing is everything here - from knowing which wave to ride to checking weather conditions / swell reports to determining whether high tide or low tide would yield the most fitting conditions.  let's be clear, surfing is for 20 year olds, ready to risk life and limb for glory and adrenaline.  i'll stick to my snowboard and backcountry freshies!

cold bottles of coke, 10,000 IDRs ($1) / cold cans of bintang, 20,000 ($2): comes w/ free chair rental

Carly and Kayl less inclined to surf after initial experiences - respect for the sea, lesson #1.  Kayl opted for a local Balinese resin tattoo that would last for several weeks before fading.

the finished tattoo...

navigating the streets of Kuta after a fabulous dinner of Nasi Goreng (fried rice with shrimp crackers).  a couple of Chocomuchos (anyone out there share our obsession with these candy bars?) from the circle K for dessert and then a slow walk back to the hotel, keeping an eye peeled for pubs with big TVs and FIFA world cup banners.  kayl and i would later sneak out of our hotel room at midnight to join a mostly crowded bar full of football fanatics.  one half of the bar was watching USA v. Germany, the other half, Portugal v. Ghana.  of course who could resist trying to keep tabs on both games!  i admit the walk back at 2:30am with my naive and youthful fellow football fanatic had me a bit on edge.  the deserted and often darkened streets urged us to keep a brisk step and limit our gaze.

nights 2 & 3, done.

on day 4, we're picked up in a van and driven to the port at Sanur.  4 nasi goreng's please while we wait for the fast boat to Nusa Lembongan…making this up as we go!

Hello Indonesia, first stop, Balangan, Jimbaran, Bali

Shanghai Pudong airport, 1:05am departure time, hanging in there but tired.  Kayl and Carly would end up watching several movies on the 6 1/2 hour flight to Bali.  Basil and Ryan tried sleeping and were moderately successful.  when i invent a more comfortable airplane neck pillow, i will fly you all to Bali for a party!

kids love pools, hell i love pools, bali's hot - better have a great beach or a pool or you're staying indoors during the middle of the day.

loved eating breakfast on the beach - just a 5 minute walk from the Balangan Sea View Resort - simple, delicious fare, excellent coffee, killer views of the morning surf break and the crazies who surf it.  my hat's off to those who've braved it here - Balangan Beach is not for beginners.

O mysterious, powerful, beautiful ocean, i see, hear, smell, and feel you - do you know i am here?

pocked rocky shoreline, only beach we've seen like this - very interesting.  basil enjoyed sitting in the holes…until a wave would surprise him, sending him springing up and retreating for cover.  kayl got surprised once also, slipped, and lost his glasses in the retreating tumult.  fortunately one of us used supreme optimism to go look for them before the next wave and voila! 3 or 4 meters away, inside one of the holes - we wondered if the hole "caught" his glasses, keeping them from being fully claimed by the sea.

you can get a cheap room with a fan and padlock on the door for about $10/night.  great vibe.

pretty quiet beach - definitely an advanced surfer's destination.  they even have photographers with cannon style telephoto lenses if you want your picture taken while you're battling the break.

could've done without the "taksi" driver's recommendation to take us to a "friend's restaurant" in Jimbaran.  "only 15-20 minutes away" turned into 45 minutes as he drove us right back to the Denpasar airport!  we could see the planes landing from our table!  at first i thought, "hey great, this reminds me of a beach restaurant in Costa Rica Carly and i went to in Montezuma.  that place was awesome."  however, the prices at Sri Ganga were outrageous and i felt like a total shmuck "right off the boat" tourist who was being taken advantage of.  so we had some drinks, and after a few conversations with management and our driver, paid the bill and got the hell out of dodge.  back at the "resort" we ordered some fried rice and fried noodles and settled into a satisfying meal.  lesson learned.

day 1 and 2, down...

Inspirational Workout

What is INSPIRATION??

have you ever suddenly felt like everything you feel, think, or look at is divine?  all of sudden you're snapping photographs like there's no tomorrow - and every shot seems to turn out perfectly.  that song in the background becomes an omen, filled with meaning and clues.  people you meet along the way are just as exciting as where you're going and you're pleasantly distracted by the spontaneous conversations you bump into.  this is INSPIRATION.  it is when you are one with the moment.  it is an enlightened state and extremely full.

yesterday i was visited by inspiration.  to me, it's still a mystery - kind of like when someone i love, who's passed on, visits me in a dream - i'm not sure why or how it happens, but i'm so grateful when it does.

so i was in the middle of a 40 minute workout (20 min. circuit below repeated) and was INSPIRED - I thought "I need to let people know that you do NOT need a gym membership to get fit."  in fact, you don't need to buy anything except maybe a mat for the floor and maybe some workout clothes.  (personally, i find wearing workout clothing puts me in the mood to exercise)

Carly tells me that "everybody" already knows this stuff but i don't believe her so here's the deal:

1) "working out gets easier" - we've all heard this but no one's explained to me why?

Answer:
  a) strong muscles enjoy exercising - that's what they do well!  it's fun to flaunt what you got so just hang in there!!  it will happen.  you will get stronger with every effort.
  b) ...and guess what, weak muscles enjoy relaxing - that's what THEY do well.  :(
  c) ENDORPHINS (endogenous morphine) - which are produced / released during exercise - they dull the pain, giving you a natural "high.  research is showing that a 20-30 minute workout will activate endorphins.
  d) there seems to be a direct link between exercise and increased SEROTONIN.  serotonin helps with depression and focus.  so…the more serotonin you have, the more you will want to work out!  see?

2) you can workout in your garage or house!!  you really ONLY need motivation and 10-30 minutes per day.

3) speaking of 10-30 minute workouts, tons of research is being published showing that spending hours on the treadmill or stationary bike does NOT do it people.  instead, try "interval training" where you alternate from aerobic and non-aerobic exercises - WITH intensity.

4) if you try a workout and its just TOO HARD, do half of what it calls for - or a third or quarter - whatever it takes to start.  build it up from there.  i have a pushup workout that calls for 3 different types of pushups, 20 pushups per set - and then you repeat it 3 times - so after about 10-12 minutes, you just did 180 pushups!  that was too many for me so i started with 5.  now i'm up to 10.  see?

5) jump ropes are awesome.  get one.

6) you WILL see drastic improvements within 1 year.  yes, it will take TIME and consistent investment - but not from your pocketbook - from YOU!

7) many many great workout programs online:
     pbfingers.com (http://www.pbfingers.com/2012/01/15/at-home-workouts/)
     bodeefit.com (haven't tried this yet, but have heard good things)
     just checkout YouTube sometime - there's a gazillion!

8) it's really right at your fingertips and fun once you get into it - the more you do, the better it gets.  and then your hooked because you've spent effort and time (not $$ though) and it's a PART OF YOU.  that's the secret.

GOOD LUCK!!!!!!

finally, if you aren't familiar with "For a Dancer" by Jackson Browne - listen to it today.  here are the lyrics:

Keep a fire burning in your eye
Pay attention to the open sky
You never know what will be coming down
I don't remember losing track of you
You were always dancing in and out of view
I must have thought you'd always be around

Always keeping things real by playing the clown
Now you're nowhere to be found

I don't know what happens when people die
Can't seem to grasp it as hard as I try
It's like a song I can hear playing right in my ear
That I can't sing, I can't help listening
And I can't help feeling stupid standing 'round
Crying as they ease you down

'Cause I know that you'd rather we were dancing

Dancing our sorrow away
(Right on dancing)
No matter what fate chooses to play
(There's nothing you can do about it anyway)

Just do the steps that you've been shown
By everyone you've ever known
Until the dance becomes your very own
No matter how close to yours another's steps have grown
In the end there is one dance you'll do alone

Keep a fire for the human race
Let your prayers go drifting into space
You never know what will be coming down
Perhaps a better world is drawing near
And just as easily it could all disappear
Along with whatever meaning you might have found

Don't let the uncertainty turn you around
(The world keeps turning around and around)
Go on and make a joyful sound

Into a dancer you have grown from a seed somebody else has thrown
Go on ahead and throw some seeds of your own

And somewhere between the time you arrive and the time you go
May lie a reason you were alive but you'll never know

the Philippines part2 - Moalboal & the Ocean

welcome to Moalboal!!  on the eastern coast on the island of Cebu in the Central Visayas of the Philippines lies the humble, but thriving fishing town of Moalboal.

The pic above is from the main strip where motorbikes, buses, and jeepneys hurry by.  off to either side, women sell fish, chicken, and pork freshly barbecued over charcoal.  men lean against their vehicles smoking cigarettes and recording all movement.  can't say i never felt a little ultra-aware of eyes on me as i entered / exited the pharmacy that hosted the ATM machine.  this is relevant since a few days in we discovered our hotel didn't accept credit cards (i think they have remedied this since). to the lodge managers' credit, they personally loaned me their motorbike so i could ride the 15 minutes into town, withdraw cash, and settle the bill in pesos.  ended up spending about 2% extra in ATM fees - could be worse.

LESSON learned: it's better to take cash with you, when traveling to less-developed foreign countries, and convert it to the local currency than rely on ATMs.  this means you travel with a bunch of cash with you - a little hard for me to get used to considering i used to use traveler's cheques to mitigate risk of loss/theft - seemed backward to me to travel with cash but clearly so much easier to hide your cash than to seek the elusive ATM.  along these same lines, wherever we stayed in the Philippines, if credit cards were accepted, they would tack on 4-5% as a surcharge.  to avoid this, we'd pay in cash, thinking we had plenty of cash…

...but then plans CHANGE.

you end up really enjoying a place you thought you'd just pass through OR

you find a gem of a restaurant and splurge on dinner therapy OR

you opt for a private car instead of waiting a few hours for the bus.

if you have cash, you can always convert it - though i check myself here recalling a Chinese merchant in Anda (on Bohol island) who agreed to convert my Chinese Yuan into Pesos at a nearly criminal exchange rate.  i just couldn't do it though i was desperate for cash and ended up going back to our former accommodation (La Petra) to arrange a cash for credit card charge transaction (which of course includes the 4%).  the resort owner was very kind to do this for me - thanks Ines!  enough business - onto the adventure & fun!!

THE BLUE ORCHID RESORT

every morning the locals would wade the low tide looking for sea urchins - not the black spiky ones - to collect & eat.  you chop off the bottom with a sharp knife and scoop out the raw, roe-like flesh inside - tasted 100% like the ocean - didn't ask for seconds, but finished my "plate."

our dive instructor, Dino Bustamente, a patient, informative, skillful, native diver and wonderful teacher - couldn't imagine anyone else navigating my family through the PADI open water course.  we did several lessons in the pool, then a couple in front of the resort, and finally by boat to Pescador Island and Panagsama beach to see the enormous schools of sardines - truly mesmorizing.

definitely one of the best experiences we've had while on family vacation!

boat rides to different dive sites were so fun - Jun Jun was a very responsible captain and amazingly strong for his size.  his sunglasses and friendly demeanor added a lot to the dive experience.  Kayl loved lying down at the very front of the boat, looking at the water going past / under, feeling the wind and the sun.  good times...

until they turn 15, the kids' maximum depth is 12 meters - however, since i'm an adult, i can go to 18 meters.  occasionally, i would swim under them for a "spacey" view.  here's Basil checking his SPG (submersible pressure gauge) to see how far he's down and how much oxygen he has left.

here Kayl practices clearing his mask.  he was relaxed and calm even though we were 10-12 meters below the surface.  i was so proud seeing my boys in such a surreal setting.  they never panicked, were respectful of the coral and fish, and showed great care for sticking together.

Dino could write underwater with a special pen & slate - he was a great teacher and Basil and Kayl were fantastic students.

everyone except Carly, who developed a middle ear barotrauma by re-surfacing too quickly during a dive early on, earned their PADI certifications on December 22, 2013 - Kayl's 10th birthday!

a big big thank you to The Blue Orchid Resort and especially the managers, Melissa and Servais, who made our stay feel intimate, comfortable, and truly unique (if you're ever in Suzhou, China or Vermont, U.S., i hope you'll be OUR guest).  the food was superb, our room - just right, the location - hard to beat (woke up each morning by walking to the edge of the reef and snorkeling - heaven).  if and when we get the chance to return to the Philippines, i can't imagine a trip without The Blue Orchid for a few nights of bliss!

thanks again!!