Ginza intersection

We had a quick stop in Tokyo and then flew back to Los Angeles.  We got to Tokyo via the Narita express, which costs about $30 for one way and takes about an hour to reach Tokyo.  We saw the Tokyo-Edo museum, the Ginza shopping District, had a quick meal and then had to head back to the airport.

Tokyo has a massive metro/subway system, but it is somewhat odd because it is privatized and so different lines are operated by different companies.  There is the JR company system, the Tokyo Metro and the Toei.  Each has its own ticketing system and not all the lines overlap in a way that makes it easy to transfer from one line to another.  Unlike the well integrated metro/tram/bus system in Prague (where one ticket will get you access to the well integrated public system), the Tokyo system is fragmented, as each company has a different naming and ticketing scheme for their  lines.  You can get maps of the whole system, but it takes a fair amount of work to navigate the system and the various companies ticketing systems.

Sushi!

We had some sushi at the airport and then took our last flight back home.  Now our trip has come to an end.  We hope that you have enjoyed our blog with all the stories of our travels and many photos.  It has been an interesting experience to share our trip with anyone and everyone on the internet.  This was our first experience blogging, and it was easy enough.  Now that we are home, we have some more stuff to add (videos, budget, etc.)  and we will also give an update of where we end up living, so anyone we met along the way can come and visit us in America.

For those of you who have never had a blog, the system we use (wordpress) has a way of tracking how many people visit our blog and what they click on. We usually had about 50 hits per post.  For your entertainment, here is a list of the top 10 pages on our blog in terms of receiving the most hits as of today:

Kuala Lumpur main square

Sadly, our trip is at it end.  After one year and one month, we are headed back to Los Angeles. After Melaka, we headed back to the Kuala Lumpur for some final shopping, packing and sightseeing before heading home.  Kuala Lumpur has been a good transit hub, with many regional flights using the city as a hub.  We were able to get one-way tickets to Los Angeles (via Tokyo) for about $700 US.

Mmm, Indian food

Now that Thaipusam is past (but Chinese New Year is right around the corner), we had more time to look at the standard sites in KL during our remaining days.  We also continued to feast on the delicious food, especially our new breakfast favorite, roti canai and masala tea.  We have really enjoyed the Indian food here, from great tandoori chicken, all kinds of dal and nan for great prices (not to forget our favorite roti canai).

One highlight in KL was the Islamic Art museum. Islamic art focuses on complex geometric designs, since the reproduction of images of people and animals is considered blasphemous to mimic the creations of God. The museum had some excellent metal, cloth, tile and ceramic art work.  It also showed the complex mix of Arabic, Indian, Turkish and Chinese influence in the artwork.

Historic facade and public art

The architecture in KL is also an amazing mix of colonial, Islamic and other types of art.  We saw a historic facade that was left, but had a fountain on one wall to create a more interesting streetscape along an unused side of the block.  It was an interesting way of avoiding dead space on the street while waiting for a developer (and a real estate market) with deep enough pockets to re-use the site.

Old train station

We also visited a large national mosque and the National museum.  Malaysia is a really interesting crossroads of cultures from its location next to a major strategic oceanic choke-point.  The Dutch, Portuguese, English, and Japanese have all been involved in occupation and colonization of parts of Malaysia.  The culture itself is a rich mix of Arab, Indian, Chinese and Sumatran (not to forget Malay) people, foods, religions and customs.  The musuem had a good collection of old Chinese pocerlein in great shape, since it was found from intact wrecks in the areas around Malaysia.  There are all kinds of wrecks on the floor of the ocean, since there has been ocean going traders using the seas and ports around Malaysia for so many years.

Green roof

At the beginning of out trip, we celebrated the start of our adventure in Lima with Pisco sours overlooking the ocean.  In Islamic Malaysia, alcohol is heavily taxed and available only in certain areas. To wrap-up our trip, we had iced coffee in an upmarket shopping district in Kuala Lumpur.  As then say, “When in Rome….”  The shopping center where we had our coffee also had a really nice green-roof, covered with trees and racks of ferns and vines.  The roof had trendy bars, cafes and a gym for people to enjoy the “Forest in the City.”

On our flight home, we are lucky enough to have a nine-hour layover in Tokyo.  You might say “uggh” at the thought of a nine-hour layover, but we hope this is a just enough time to dash into the city for a quick look around and then back on an airplane to cross the Pacific and return to the United States.

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Last coffee....

Us at mosque

Alexa at mosque

green roof

Mosque square

Main square

We took a quick trip to Malacca, which is a city about two hours south of Kuala Lumpur.  Historically, Malacca was a major shipping port for merchants coming from Europe, the Middle East, India and China, giving the city a unique blend of history and culture.  We spent two days wandering through the different historic districts, visiting some of the museums in town, shopping and eating great food.

Traditional culture museum

Malaka was invaded by the Portugese in 1511 and used as a base for exploring the East Indies.  But before the European invasion of Malacca, it had already been an important trading center for over 100 years used by Chinese and Arab traders.  The city became famous for the silk, spices, textiles and porcelain from this area in Asia (sometimes called the Spice Islands).  This fame is what drew the Portuguese attention and led to the city’s capture and control by the Portuguese for the next 150 years.  The Dutch took the city from the Portuguese in 1641 and then it was given to the British in 1826 before gaining independence in 1957.

The influence of all the different periods of Malacca’s history can be seen throughout the town.  We stayed in Chinatown, which is still an active Chinese neighborhood today.  From there it is a quick walk across the river to the Dutch part of town where there are many historic colonial buildings around a typical European plaza that is still being used today.

Colonial gate

Malacca has a great museum housed in an old Dutch building that is full of objects from all over the world that made it there on trade ships, and from items that have been discovered in shipwrecks beneath the Straits of Malacca.  The museum also had an interesting exhibit on Zheng He, a Chinese explorer who made seven voyages to South East Asia, India and Eastern China between 1405 and 1433.  During our trip we both read a book (1421, the year China discovered America) about Zheng He and other Chinese explorers, so we were very excited to see that Malacca which was such an important port for them.

Baba nonya food

Today Malacca is a lively tourist center full of shops and restaurants mixed in with all the history.  In the shops you can still find things from all over the world, from little knick-knacks from China, to beautiful rugs from Kashmir.  Today they may not be brought by trade ships, but we still found it fitting to have goods from all over the world.  Since we knew we were heading home soon, Alexa enjoyed some shopping for souvenirs.  We very much enjoyed are time here, and were glad we could squeeze it in before we headed home.

Canal

Stairs up to the Cave

Wow, what an event. We had heard about Thaipusam from some travelers in Sumatra, and also in Penang.  We knew that it was a big event with about 1 million devotees celebrating in Kuala Lumpur.  Commonly known for the visually impressive piercing aspect of the festival, we were amazed by the whole event, which is more than just intense piercing.

Women carrying milk

Kuala Lumpur (known as KL) is a nice, modern city with a good light rail system.  Like most of Malaysia, KL has a mix of Chinese, Indian and Malay culture. We had a room reserved in Chinatown, which is near the main Sri Mahamariamman Temple.  Jason stumbled on the beginning of  Thaipusan after some time in an internet cafe late at night.  The beginning was marked with an elaborately decorated silver chariot carrying an idol of the god Murugan leaving the temple and heading for the Hindu shrines at the Batu Caves, about 10 kilometers away.  Hindu devotees follow the chariot through the night, often carrying a jug of milk on their heads or taking a vow of silence throughout the process.  The stairs up to the Batu caves entrance provide an intense final ascent for the long procession, especially for those with heavy kavadis who have been walking in the heat for a long time.

Hooks with little jugs of milk

Thaipusam is a celebration popular in the Tamil areas of India, and the Tamil population of Malaysia. Murugan is a Hindu deity associated with war and is considered the patron deity of the Tamil Nadu.  Thaipusan is a celebration of his birthday and when he received a spear to vanquish a demon.  Devotees carry kavadis, which means something like “burden”.  Simple kavadis are the jugs of milk, which people bring to the shrines at the Batu caves as an offering to Murugan.  Others participate in weeks of purification (meditating, celibacy, and a simple vegetarian diet) before the event, and then piercing of the flesh.  Many commonly pierce the mouth with a long skewer, and others carry elaborate kavadis with chains attached to hooks piercing their flesh but some simply shave their heads and make vows before setting out in the procession.

People in trances and their supporters

We saw people of all ages participate in this massive festival.  From the most to elaborate kavadi with incredible body piercings to the youngest child dressed up and tired from the long walk and trying to keep the offering of milk on their heads, we were struck by the support everyone gave each other.  All the massively pierced people were surrounded by supporters who helped them along the way (sometimes physically with water, a chair to rest on, help with the kavadi) and celebrants drumming or chanting to mentally help them with their burdens.  Many of the heavily pierced people were in trances.  The trance states seemed most intense as people ascended the stairs with their burdens.  It was amazing to see to many people carrying these various burdens and then those who were there to support them.  When the hooks were removed, they covered their backs with ash.  There was little or no blood coming out of the little holes.  Even with the hooks in, there was no blood.

This is a huge festival, and other Malaysians (Muslims and Chinese) help out their Hindu counterparts with gifts of food and drink to help them along this arduous procession.  Next week will be Chinese New Year, where the Chinese will take center stage.  We also met up with some Polish friends we met in Laos.  They have some awesome photos as well, you can see a link to their blog “Ola and Misiek” on the right.

Petronas Twin Towers

Alexa and the Towers

The Petronas Twin towers (about 1,480 feet tall) are a prominent landmark in Kuala Lumpur and held the worlds record for the tallest building when originally completed in 1998.  Due to the subsurface conditions where half of the original site had a much greater depth to bedrock than the other side and could have resulted in the building footings settling and leaning to one side over time, the site for the project had to be shifted and the building was built with some of the deepest foundations ever used in construction.  The new location had relatively level bedrock, but it was at a depth of about 390 feet, and the porous quality of the bedrock required additional conditioning for another 100 feet in order to support the massive weight of the structure.  The end result required total foundation work to a depth of about 490 feet!

Family Affair

Man with Kavadis on the way up to the cave

Same man after

Patronas towers

lined up kavadis

kavadis

Jason at Caves

Back Hooks

Hooks with fruit

Tea plantation

Since we are winding up our trip, we are sticking to the well-beaten tourist path in Malaysia because it is much easier to travel from one tourist trap to another.  Cameron Highlands is another stop on the Lonely Planet warpath in Malaysia.  The area is know for being agriculturally productive and has a moderate and cool climate.  There are tea plantations, strawberry farms, and a whole bunch of other tourist oriented things including a butterfly farm, botanical gardens, waterfalls, etc.

Roti spinning

Like the rest of Malaysia, the food here continuous to be really good.  We can’t stop raving about the roti here.  It is called roti canai, and deserves a little more description.  Roti canai is made with dough that they flatten by spinning in the air (similar to a pizza crust, but the consistency of a pastry dough) and then repeatedly folding it. They spin it flat and thin, then fold it upon itself, adding layers of oil as they flatten and fold.  Similar to a croissant with many layers, the final product is then fried, and served with dishes of delicious curry dipping sauces.  This stuff is way better than typical nan.  We have also had some excellent tandoori chicken set menu plates, for about $2.25 US, delicious.

Jungle trail

We did a long hike through the jungle from the main tourist hub of Tanah Rata, passing a waterfall, through thick jungle with all types of ferns, and out into steep agricultural areas.  The farming here is somewhat odd, they often grow things in pots at an industrial scale.  Tomatoes, strawberry and radishes are grow in fertilizer-rich bags, set on top of the soil or on elevated racks, fed with drip irrigation systems.  From here we headed for Kuala Limpur, which is getting ready for the big Thaipusam festival.

more tea fields

Butterfly farm

Tea bushes

Trail view

Big millipede on the trail

Tea time

Competition

Bukit Lawang is a nice little village on the edge of the jungle, and a river runs through the town. It was hot and humid with frequent thunderstorms, so the river was a nice place to cool down in the afternoon heat. We crossed the river by a little dugout canoe to get to the ranger station in order to watch the early morning feeding (when they are active and within viewing distance). The rangers weren’t real strict about how close we got, and things seem pretty lax in general. We watched the orangutans get fed and then headed back into town. In town, there are also Thomas Leaf monkeys roaming around. They have funky hair and are fun to watch.  At the feeding, one was poking around and trying to get some bananas.

Medan

Early the next morning, we headed back to the huge, sprawling port of Medan, in order to catch our ferry back to Penang. Medan has about 2 million people, but you would hardly know it because there is no noticeable center you might expect such a large city to have. It is mostly just one huge and sprawling mass of congestion. Located on the edge of the Strait of Melaka, Medan has a large and busy port. The areas around the Strait of Melaka are truly at the crossroads of the Asian economy. Medan has a large Chinese-Indonesian population, and the whole peninsula of Malaysia (plus the island of Singapore) is a bustling mix of international culture and commerce. As our ferry crossed the Strait, we were rocked by large waves from a lumbering container ship.

mmm, Penang roti!

Back in Penang, we enjoyed one more day of excellent Penang food. Now we are headed for the Cameron highlands.

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orangatang

Crossing the River

Medan mosque

Underwater camera!

From Banda Aceh, we headed for the island of Pulau Weh, known for great diving and snorkeling.  We were not let down.  The coral here in Pulau Weh is not the best you can see in Southeast Asia, but the real draw is the variety of fish species and size of the fish.  We have seen cuddle-fish, lion-fish, large barracuda, huge trigger fish, moray eels and many, many others while snorkeling. A Dutch couple let us borrow their great underwater camera set-up, and we were thankfully able to get some great photos to share.

We had some sinus infections and other ailments that kept us from diving here.  But the snorkeling in the channel in front of our bungalows in Ipioh was some of the best we have done.  We relaxed here in our big bungalow with a huge deck and hammocks for a week.  We spent most of our time snorkeling and reading.   It has been really cheap to stay here, and very enjoyable.

Cuddle fish

The owner of the bungalows (and all the other resorts in Ipioh) are slowly rebuilding from the tsunami damage.  The island of Pulau Weh is steep with limited beaches.  Since the terrain quickly gains elevation, the damage here was not as massive as in the flat-lands of Banda Aceh.  Some of the coral was damaged, but it appears to be growing back and there are many, many fish here.  Some people saw sharks and turtles, but we did not.

Mandi shower

As we approach the end of our trip and begin the process of looking for jobs and returning to the United States, we are trying to remember everything unique and different about where we are right now and what we are doing.  We are both looking forward to returning but also sad to be leaving behind our lifestyle of constantly being on the road and new experiences every day.  So here are some photos of the bathrooms we often use, which have become accustomed to and they really aren’t a big deal anymore.  The toilet is a decent and clean tile hole in the floor, and is flushed with a mandi.  The mandi is the big tank of water you use the scooper to dump water into the toilet to flush your business.  The mandi shower also works the same way.  You don’t jump in the tank; you dump water on yourself to shower.

Clown fish/Nemo fish

We are now getting ready to head back to the USA and we are trimming down what we are carrying.  We traded our mosquito net for a few free nights at our bungalow, and to help the locals in their tsunami re-building for their new rooms.  We also gave our snorkel masks to the Dutch couple who let us use the waterproof camera we used to get all these pictures.  They will be in Indonesia for the next five months and can get more use from them than we can.

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Ikan Buleh

Great snorkeling

View from breakfast restuarant

sunrise

coral

Mandi-style toilet

Our home in Pulau Weh

Our ride

We headed up to Banda Aceh to cross over to the island of Pulau Weh to do some snorkeling and maybe diving.  Banda Aceh is the provincial capital of Aceh, the northern most province in Sumatra.  Well known for the suffering and devastation caused by the 2004 tsunami which wiped out much of the city, Banda Aceh is recovering from the tsunami. However, this tragedy affected everyone in Banda Aceh, as much of the city was completely wiped out.

New road made with aid money

On the way to the ferry for Pulau Weh, we met a nice guy (Roni) who gave us a good price for a ride to the dock on his motorcycle sidecar (both of us plus our backpacks). The ferry for Pulau Weh leaves from Ulee Lheue, which was ‘ground zero” for the tsunami.  On the way, he pointed out the tsunami devastated western portion of the city, where you can see new homes and some parcels that remain vacant.  We also passed a memorial he said was for the victims.  We were trying to get to the ferry before it left, but we made a mental note that it would be good to stop at the memorial on the way back.

Our driver Roni at the gates of the burial and memorial

On our return from Pulau Weh, we were greeted by hordes of taxi drivers eager for our business.  Alexa spotted Roni on the side calling “Hey Jason”, and we headed through the throngs of taxi touts for his motorcycle sidecar.  He remembered that we wanted to stop at the tsunami memorial.  He told us his parents and all of his siblings had died in the tsunami, leaving him the only person left of his family of 10.  Everyone in Banda Aceh has a tragic story to tell.  The first memorial we visited had a simple layout around some devastated building shells that were not demolished and gave you a feel for how devastated the area was.  Roni said his parents were (buried) here.  Later, we learned on the internet that this was the site of a mass grave for over 60,000 tsunami victims and the buildings used to be a hospital.  Out of necessity in the days immediately after the tsunami, the grounds became a massive grave where the dead were buried quickly in a large pit,  in accordance with Islamic custom and for public health.

A barge blocking the road

He also took us to another prominent tsunami site, the final resting place for an enormous ship.  The ship was actually a barge, which had a power station and was moored at the harbor near Ulee Lheue.  The tsunami pushed this 2,600 ton power-plant barge about five kilometers inland, and left it on top of this unfortunate neighborhood.  It now sits on top of an old road, which can be seen leading up to this enormous barge, then continuing out on the other side.  Since the barge is far too large to move, the power plant has been refurbished, with new power lines leading from the electric panels on the barge into the neighborhood surrounding the barge’s new “berth”.   This has become a tourist attraction and testament to the power of the tsunami.

Pushed inland by tsunami

A tsunami educational park was built near the barge, and included photos of the event.  There is also a display of photos of the damage. The amount of damage, debris and death shown in those photos are far beyond what people normally experience.  The first quake was a 9.1+ and the aftershock was a 7.3 on the Richter scale.  The tsunami reached a depth of about 45 feet here, and most of Aceh is flat and seems at or near sea level.  About 130,000 people died here and the devastation was massive.  We know that now, far-away in Haiti, people are having similar problems, and it is stunning to be here and to witness the permanent impacts of such a disaster.  And yet we only scratched the surface of the suffering of the people who actually were here at the time.

At the main tsunami museum

Prior to the tsunami, the region had been subject to strife between Acehnese separatists (GAM) and the Indonesian government.  During the tsunami aid efforts, GAM established itself as the most capable and de facto “government” in the region, so a peace deal that was eventually signed gave the Acehnese significant autonomy.  The result is that Aceh is the only province in Indonesia permitted to institute Islamic Sharia law.

The main mosque in Aceh was not destroyed in the tsunami, while surrounding neighborhoods were.  Of course, many claim divine intervention.  These days, the mosque also serves as the grounds where public caning of  people who violate the Sharia law occur.  We dressed respectfully and took some photos of the magnificent building.

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Alexa at the mosque

Memorial and mass grave

Baiturrahman Mosque

Dunung Siyabak

From Lake Toba we headed north to the Karo Highlands and the town of Berastagi.  In Berastagi, our goal was to climb a volcano (Gunung Sibayak) and then move on north to Bukit Lawang, where there is a park with orangutans.  The highlands around Berastagi have many active volcanoes and the rich volcanic soil provides for some great growing conditions for fruits and vegetables.  Berastagi is famous for the passion fruit they grow here, plus the many other excellent fruits and veggies.  The people here are very nice and there are not many tourists.

Sibayak crater

There were many signs at the hostel about how many people died hiking to the volcano and getting lost in the jungle, specifically noting when they only found their “bones”.  It was no surprise that they also offered guiding services and the posters stated how you had to have a guide, unless you wanted to get lost and die.  It seemed like bunch of nonsense designed to scare tourists into hiring a guide.  We did a quick check on the internet and it seems people who recently climbed the volcano either did it easily without a guide or had a guide who wasn’t that great and could barely communicate with them.  We didn’t hire a guide and it turns out there is a paved road almost all the way to the summit.

Helpful locals

We left town early and hiked up the road through the thick jungle to the crater at the volcano.  Along the way we heard some kind of monkey or gibbons in the distance howling and making racket to claim their territory.  We also saw men on motorbikes with hunting rifles, so the monkeys may want to keep it down a little.   The road ended near the top, but we couldn’t find the trail to the volcanic carter in the thick jungle.  Some locals (Andi, Roundney and Dandy) who were camping with their club Rempalain Indonesia at the top were nice and showed us the trail to the crater.  It is easy to reach since it is a visible shelf above the road, but we missed it on the way up.

Alexa in the crater

The crater has many holes venting sulfurous steam and other areas with concentrations of sulfur. The smell of sulfur was noticeable, but not overpowering.  We climbed to a ridge to eat our lunch despite the smell of the sulfur.  We had great views of Berastagi below and the larger volcano called Gunung Sinabung.  Below the rim of the crater in the valley below, we could see what looked like a geothermal power plant. We had great weather before our lunch, then some storm clouds rolled in and we headed back down into town.  There is also a hot-springs near the bottom, but we wanted to head back to town.  On the way back, a group of hornbill birds flew overhead, with their pre-historic strange sounds, distinct heads and wide wingspans.

Mangosteen

There are two different outdoor fruit markets in the town.  One has the fruit nicely stacked for tourists, and the other is in a huge cement building with the usual assortment of freshly butchered meat, seafood and other households goods.  In addition to passion fruit and papaya, we also really enjoyed the mangosteens here.  They have a purple outside and thick skin, but the white inner flesh is rich, sweet and juicy.

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Karo Highlands farms

Central Berastagi

Leaving Lake Toba

Mangosteens at the fruit market

Vents in the crater

Batak houses

We took a ferry across the Strait of Melaka from Penang to the port of Medan in Sumatra.  After a little confusion at the port of Medan, our first stop in Sumatra was  Danau Toba, a massive lake that was formed by a volcanic eruption thousands of years ago.  We arrived late and stayed in the port city of Parapat, and the next day we crossed over to an island in the middle of the lake called Samosir.

Batak design

This upper region of Sumatra is home to the Batak people.  In contrast to the Acehenese to the north and the rest of Muslim Sumatra to the south, the Batak are Christian.  They have their own distinct culture and language and are very friendly, open, warm and musical people.  In the past, they gained notoriety for being cannibals, eating their conquered enemies or those who violated their customs.  These potentially fierce people maintained their own culture in the face of pressure from the Acehenese to the north and the rest of Sumatra.  Christian missionaries eventually won them over, but at the potential cost of being eaten.  The last persons they seem to have eaten were way back 1816 and we lost no limbs to the cooking fire and found them very nice.  They are well-known for their musical ability and wood carving skills, and we saw them playing guitar and a marimba type instrument all over the place.

Alexa with the stick of power

We met a well-traveled German on the ferry over from Penang on his way to meeting up with another German friend who was married to a local Batak woman.  We shared a rental car and river from the port of Medan, and they helped us get a great room on the lake at the local price and were nice enough to show us around the area.  We visited a traditional compound of distinct Batak houses where the family of the Batak wife of the German was historically based.  The houses have peaked roofs and intricately carved gables, often incorporating lizards and other geometric designs.  The houses are raised on stilts and livestock were traditionally housed below. It was also interesting to see fitted stonework similar to the Inca stonework we saw in Peru.  In the compound was a ring of stone chairs where the villages elders made decisions and administered justice.

Typical Batak church

While the Batak are Christian and you see crosses and churches everywhere, they also include many aspects of their animist heritage with their religious practices.  They have an elaborate re-burial ceremonies for human remains three years after death. The tombs are towering structures that look like their houses and hold many generations of remains.  Spiritual masks and other totems are common elements in their wood carving on the elaborately decorated tombs.

Gado Gado and Urap, served with a view

We had a very nice place to stay on the lake, and enjoyed getting back into Indonesian food (Nasi Goring, Gado-Gado and Urap).  We saw a musical performance and also visited a really nice orchid garden, before a grueling mini-van ride up to Berastagi.  The ride was one of the most grueling on our trip, due to the proliferate amount of cockroaches living in the van and chain-smoking  within the van (no open windows), in addition to the usually cramped seating and rough roads.

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More Orchids

Alexa at Lake

Our villa

Batak homes and tomb

Danau (Lake) Toba

View from our room

Samosir countryside