Pacific Specifics

What do I write about? The outstanding things we've been seeing and doing every day? The way it all makes me feel? How much it all cost? The days full of wonder and excitement? Let me tell you about one moment is an epic day. I was talking to my Mom (oh, the wonders of technology and satellites) while at a monumental Buddhist temple here on the island of Java called Borobudur. She said to me: I've ridden an elephant once in my life, if you get a chance, you should do it! I hung up and a few minutes later I saw this elephant in an empty field. I had my picture taken with him, so show how the bottom of the saddle is much taller than the top of my head. In person is so amazing. You hear that elephants are big, and I get it, but the size of it's feet are even bigger than what I imagined. The footprint was so huge! The trunk was so long! Guess why that guy is standing in the picture with me? He's considerate. It's a male elephant with elephant sized male body parts. H...

There have been two so far. The first one was being in Costa Rica last year and standing outside of my Mom's house in Samara looking at some howler monkeys in the trees. Another couple walks up, and we all admire the monkeys and talk a bit. It turns out they are from the exact same area of Denmark where my father lives. And we were going there in a few weeks. How crazy is that? We never saw them again, but the trip to Denmark was epic (I hadn't seen my Dad in about 18 years). The second one was last night when we were at a near empty restaurant here on the island of Borneo and heard a lady saying she was from the United States. We ended up talking to her for a bit and she said she was from Ohio, and had been to Costa Rica three times. That she had been to Samara. How crazy is that? Well, there was another outstanding coincidence this morning actually. A while back I wrote about a lovely lady named Eve who took the time to give us advice and talk just while in passing down...

I will miss Kuching. We made a great choice, we have a lovely room close to a lot of food options (all wallet friendly and taste bud happy). It's close to the official riverfront walkway, and China town. It's an interesting and lively walk to the bridge and to the big mall. It only takes one month for me to start to feel like I understand things and can find my way. All that will end, I don't think we will spend that much time in one place for the rest of our trip, which ends in the middle of July. There are a few things that a girl like me notices. Kuching is on the island of Borneo, and is part of the country of Malaysia. If you look at the island we are basically on the top of the left side. I love how the men are just as likely to be holding their little ones as the moms. Lots of Daddy love in the first years. When I am in the States I notice a lot of very overweight people. Here there are a lot of very underweight people. And under-height. I get asked once a week ...

What a weekend! Okay, this isn't the jungle. This a Taoist temple that we were able to visit. These places are so amazing, and they let us wander in. It still feels like sneaking into someone's house. This is a page from a menu at a restaurant that we can see from the hotel room. It's up on the fourth floor of a building, and outdoors. It's the biggest restaurant area I've ever seen in my life. So many tables, so much seafood on display. Ron got a fish dish with the eyes staring up at him, all of it's sharp looking teeth still in the gaping mouth. He loved it. I had prawns with broccoli.   The next day we went to see orangutans. Orang-utan. Man of the forest. Or woman. This one is called Grandma, she was put in the reserve to rehab her, and she had 3 babies. It's called Semenggoh Nature Reserve. This is an older female, she's 47 years old and she was named Seduku. They are 4-5 tall, and my favorite part is that their arm span is 8 fe...

The question "What next?" can be a dreaded one. But not this time. I'm done living my life based on this question being a negative one. Now it's a positive one full of excitement and wonder. "What could possibly be next?!" I have a partial answer. It's based on my daily positive affirmation that "My life is a statement of unlimited possibilities!" It was the one I picked when I felt like I was in a big rut. You know the kind of rut I'm talking about? When there is a dirt road, and the rains come, and it gets muddy, but you can't wait for it to dry, you have things to do, places to be. So you take a chance on the wet dirt, make a mess and go down that narrow road. I wanted my rut, don't get me wrong. I wanted a stable job and a decent place to live, I had kids to raise. I just didn't prefer the rut I needed. Now it's May in the magical year of 2018. I'm living in the future, trying to stay in the present. And the next 2...

What a day yesterday was. We booked a tour to see the orang utans and we get to experience it tomorrow. We are also traveling to a place called Bako National Park. Bako has a few different species of monkeys, including the ones with the really big noses. I can't wait. These places are both within an hour of here. I am still looking for a way to get to the Fairy and Wind caves too, also so close. I will be asking a lot of questions tomorrow. We walked to the tour place, walked past a Chinese temple on our way to the mall (think: air conditioning), walked across a bridge to an extensive orchid garden, wandered the garden, walked back, then pretty much collapsed. The Chinese decorations are intense, we have passed these kinds of temples many times, staring at the outside. I finally asked if we could go inside, and they said yes. It was stunning, like the Catholic churches in Europe were stunning with detailed art jumping out from all angles. It wasn't a very big building, but i...

Here are some pictures from my day. We have been walking an average of five miles a day. Why haven't I lost at least ten pounds by now? Yesterday was my not so brilliant idea of going across the river to eat some breakfast. It turned out that every single business was not open yet, except two stores selling fish. Even at 9am. Then we wandered in another direction, ever hopeful for a restaurant. No luck. But we did find a peaceful place with just us and trees and grass. And rain. We found a fantastic looking botanical garden, which will be a great adventure when we have more time and less hunger. We walked past an old fort, a big golden building, the garden, some government buildings that were not impressive, then past the Astana palace and an orchid garden. We had to walk the bridge back, and now it's 11:30am and no breakfast yet. But do we eat at the first available place? Nope. We catch a bus to the brand new mega mall. Then we finally eat. At least the weather was perfect...