Temples...

It is hard to imagine a more stereotypical place for me to be writing this blog entry. I am currently sitting poolside at the Yogyakarta Sheraton, watching Ms. Cupcake and S who are sound asleep and L who is reading a book. We ate our lunch on those nifty seats in the pool that are next to the pool bar and are now lounging poolside for the rest of the day until our evening flight to Bali. The hotel was nice enough to let us keep the suite until 7pm, so we have plenty of time to enjoy the amenities all day.

We woke early today to arrive at Borobodur before sunrise. We watched the sun come up over Mt. Merapi, Java’s infamous volcano, from the top of the 1300 year old Buddhist temple. The views were wonderful, despite the cloudy day, and we enjoyed walking around and around the huge and beautiful temple. Our morning continued with tours of the surrounding temples, Prawan and Mundut, and then a journey through all of the nearby villages, where rice paddies and views of Mt. Merapi abound, to the Prambanan Hindu temple sights. Each of the temples was beautiful in its own special way. Borobodur had many tourists (relatively), but the other temples had almost none. They were peaceful and set for the most part in idyllic settings. Mundut had a Buddhist monastery adjoining the temple with the large original Buddha statue that typified the quiet, rural and agricultural life of this corner of Java.

Through the whole day (and for that matter whole night last night), the prayer calls from the Mosques have been sounding. The singing and chanting have certainly added to the mystique of certain sights we’ve visited, though it is incredible that the loudspeakers have been calling with such frequency. At dinner last night, all were sounding at once, to the point that it was almost impossible to hear any individual voice, but really just a muffled cacophony of piety. The day certainly had its irony in that we spent the whole morning in Buddhist and Hindu sights in the world’s most populous Muslim country.

Borobodur was the main reason that we came to Yogyakarata and Java on this particular visit to Indonesia and we are very glad that we did. The temple itself and its beautiful surrounds were the perfect (early) start to what has been a solid day of vacation.

The pool at the Sheraton.

Nothing too exciting is going to happen for the rest of the day, other than perhaps a few more games of “net ball” that S and I have created in the hotel pool, so I think I’ll leave the blog here for the day.

Entries to continue from East Bali…

Partaking in Ramadan (almost)

Neighborhood around the water palace.

In the blazing sun, we followed Supri through the maze. At that point, we did not know his name, but for some reason he seemed quite intent on helping us. As we bobbed and weaved through the narrow alleyways consisting of people’s colorful and beautifully landscaped homes, we were literally melting in the heat. This now residential neighborhood used to be the sultan’s personal water palace about 300 years ago and we longed for a return to that age as we sweat straight through out clothes. It was 96 degrees, about 1:30pm and the sun was beating down. We had almost no idea where we were.

Where the sultan kept his harems.

Tunnel underneath the water palace.

We arrived in Yogyakarta , Indonesia, on the island of Java, a couple of hours before. We checked in to the magnificent Sheraton here that is just out town and then headed in to town to explore. Our first stop was the sultan’s neighborhood, including the Kraton, Water Palace (Taman Sari) and the network of roads in that area. Yogyakarta is known as the culture capital of Java – home of the famous puppet makers,  dancers, batik painters, etc. It is a pretty town, but extremely difficult to navigate. The hotel had given us a map that made the town (and its outskirts) look like a postage stamp – it is not. In fact, town is quite large, and what looked like it was a hop, skip and a jump away, usually ended up about 2 kilometers away under the scorching sun.

Nothing out of the ordinary - just kids playing with fire in the street.

Nonetheless, we braved the elements and with Supri’s gracious assistance (he literally started guiding us on the street and then we could not shake him), we ploughed through the important sights in the town. After exploring the sultan’s area, we made our way up to Marlioboro St., the major thoroughfare, on a horse drawn buggy (yes, that’s right), where we parted ways with Supri for a small tip. We explored some furniture and batik stores and then went over to Kota Gede, the silver-making village, to look for some silver and eat some dinner.

Yogyakarta was full of people – everywhere – who moved seeming unmolested by the rapacious heat. Indonesia’s now skyrocketing middle class was certainly apparent here. Though poverty was visible, most people looked to be going about their business quite comfortably. Prices were cheap, with a 10 mile taxi ride only costing about US$ 3.50, but am sure that it is that low cost of living that is providing these Javanese with an excellent platform to grow their wealth. In speaking with some of the locals, like Supri and some of those at the Sheraton, they take a huge amount of pride in their town and the opportunities that are availed to them here. Indonesia, or, at the least, this part of Java, appears to definitely be on the way up.

The back gardens of the restaurant.

Nonetheless, the day seemed incredibly long. By the time we arrived at Oman Dhumur restaurant for dinner that evening, we thought we’d been gone for about 10 hours. It was only 4:55pm. The heat had been oppressive, we had no maps to guide us, and, most importantly of all, we were lied to over and over again all day. Every shopkeeper said the next shop was closed or that all of Kota Gede (yes, a town!) closed at 4pm due to Ramadan. It was extremely annoying and consequently exhausting. By the time we sat down in the old restored colonial that is the restaurant for dinner, we really needed a break.

Food... finally.

Oman Dhumer, Yogyakarta’s best restaurant, delivered. The setting was beautiful and though we ate dinner alongside about 40 geckos, the food was delicious. The mishap of the fact that both Ms. Cupcake and L were served completely raw chicken was almost fully overlooked since we were so relieved to be in such a nice setting. Moreover, none of us had eaten since an early breakfast. We had meant to get a small snack for lunch, but due to the terrible maps never quite managed to find anywhere. We ate before dawn and didn’t eat dinner till dusk so apart from drinking water, had actually complied with the Ramadan fasting for the day! Fortunately, the local fare for dinner, including delicious lamb and chicken fried rice, satay and red snapper in curry with steamed rice, hit the spot – and all, including several delicious spice infused coll beverages – for about US$ 10 per person!

After our early dinner, we headed back to the sancutuary of our hotel. We have an early morning tomorrow (3am!) to catch sunrise at Borobodur, so we’re off to bed now after a brief and freezing cold dip in the indoor pool and beer at the club lounge. 

Singapore food safari

Succulent. Juicy. Spicy. Messy.

Oh, how the chili crab has changed my life. As I plunged my moist fingers deeper into the carcass of the 1.2 and 1.3 kilo crabs, respectively, I smiled at the fact we were in Singapore once more. Tonight was the night of our food safari of Singapore. Unfortunately, due to a bit of a late departure (my fault) and the fact that the chili crab process took longer than expected, there were only two stops, but they were delicious ones.

We met our friends S and L tonight at the St. Regis. They flew in from LA the night before and will be accompanying us on the rest of our trip. We have looked forward to their arrival all along after many great experiences traveling with them in the past, though the only sad part is that their arrival indicates the last 25% of our trip. Sad.

We said a sad goodbye to Danum Valley this morning. We woke up bright and early to watch the animals awake along the river and were rewarded with yet more Red Leaf monkeys. After breakfast we said goodbye to the wonderful staff and headed out on the 2 hour journey to the airport through the jungle. Even leaving, we saw wildlife – the bearded pig (along with about half a dozen piglets), monitor lizards and some tropical birds all crossed our path.

We headed straight to get Ms. Cupcake’s sari refit after arrival. I was obviously bored while this was getting done, but the owner of the sari shop, sensing both my boredom and hunger (as I was preparing for the food safari), ran out to Ananda Bhavan Vegitarian, on Selegie Road, to get me some samosas. Ms. Cupcake, utterly shocked at this, decided that the store policy must be buy a sari, get a samosa (or two in my case). These were indeed unlike any other samosas I had ever had. They were large, about the size of a person’s hand, and chock full of potatoes and peas in a delicious curry. It was both moister and crispier than any prior samosa experience.

After thanking the gracious owner of Memsaab tailoring for both the samosas and the sari, we headed off to meet our friends and start the food safari. Andy, our absolute favorite St. Regis staff member, gave us some additional food tips before we set out.

First stop, Bok Chor Mee at Hill Street Pork Noodles. The four of us are all huge Anthony Bourdain fans, so this was a must stop. He went here on his last Singapore episode and Bok Chor Mee sounded like a great dish anyway. It was. Fishballs, pork, dumplings, noodles, cooked in a spicy sauce and broth – it was delicious, even in the 90 degree heat. From there, we moved on to East Coast Park Seafood Center’s famous Long Beach Seafood – the creators (so they say) of Black Pepper Crab. S and I went and chose the victims – two medium sized suckers from their tanks, and sent them away for preparation as chili crab and black pepper crab, respectively.

Delicious. Despite the relatively terrible service at the restaurant, the crab was so good that it overshadowed all else. Washed down with some Tiger Beer, the crab was heavenly. The chili sauce was then mopped up diligently with the accompanying fried buns.

We’re off again tomorrow to yet another new place, but it is funny that Singapore is really beginning to feel homey – a comfortable place with great food. 

The second day at Danum

Danum Valley

After yesterday’s great successes, today was to be another day running around the jungle searching for animals. We trekked early morning, morning, afternoon and night. We did long canopy walks (there is only one that they set up by hand(!) that is about 250 meters long), long treks up hills and down to waterfalls through the pristine jungle and a night walk that gave Ms. Cupcake the chills. Since we were pretty active, Ryan was able to take us to bits that very few people go to, certainly increasing our chances of wildlife spotting.

Danum Valley

Overall, we trekked more than 10k throughout the various trails and forest at the lodge and were indeed successful again, albeit less so. We saw the giant squirrel and the pygmy squirrel (Ms. Cupcake’s new favorite animal), lots of new birds, the long-tailed macaque and came disturbingly close (ok, so it was about 30 feet but disturbing enough for us, nonetheless) to a black spitting cobra. Almost more importantly, we just had a great time. This was exactly what we had wanted to do here – traipse through jungle looking for animals – so it was a pretty perfect experience. Unlike in African savannahs and plains where the animals are just right there, easy to spot, you have to work for it in the jungle. That, to me, is much more exciting.

Don't remember what kind of lizard this is.

Long Tailed Macaque

Black hornbill

Ryan was full of great information and was able to stop on dime once we spotted something. Though my legs were truly hurting, a brief afternoon respite in our Jacuzzi made all the difference for the night trekking. During said respite, we were even able to see Red-Leaf monkeys and a rhinoceros hornbill right in front of the room.

Pygmy Squirrel

The canopy walk at the lodge.

Borneo Rainforest Lodge is Danum Valley is a great place. It is one that we will undoubtedly come back to again. It gives you the chance to be closer than you have ever been with nature without any of it being contrived. The accommodations are stellar, the food is superb (especially the Malay dishes, like stir-fried wild ferns, pumpkin in coconut, lamb kuzi and lamb rendang) and the staff is some of the friendliest you will encounter anywhere.

We fall asleep one more time to the sounds of the jungle. Despite the bats circling outside our window, we are going to be really sad to leave. 

Orangutan sighting!

The jungle at night. There is a tree squirrel in there somewhere.

The rainforest is a symphony at night. Each insect, bird, and nocturnal animal has their instrument and they play it loudly. The sound can be almost deafening and simultaneously the most peaceful thing you have ever heard.

As much as the actual wildlife can frighten us at times (like the 4 inch red critter that got into our room last night), there is really nothing quite as serene and beautiful as the jungle.

The river in front of the lodge.

Borneo Rainforest Lodge is located inside the Danum Valley Conservation Area in Sabah. The Conservation Area is about 48,000 hectares and contains the oldest rainforest in the world – it is more than 130 million years old. There is a terrific range of biodiversity – with more than 110 mammals, 320 species of bird, hundreds of reptiles and countless (probably unfortunately) insects. It is also one of the few places on earth that you can still see Orang-Utans in the wild.

The view from our room.

The lodge was established in 1994. Before that, it was just a research center. Now, it is literally a jungle safari. Imagine all of the trappings of any standard African luxury safari lodge, and they have that here. The place is utterly fabulous after Sarawak and two days climbing the mountain.

We were picked up from the airport for the 3 hour transfer to the lodge by our guide Ryan. He is extremely passionate about the wildlife in the area and hopes to eventually work at WWF – he has gained familiarity with them through their research trips to the lodge. At 25, he was the perfect guide for us – energetic, funny and ready to haul us through the jungle.

During the heat of the day, they recommend that you just hang out at the lodge or in your room for a bit. It is blazing hot with 100% humidity. We have a small Jacuzzi pool on our deck overlooking the Danum river and the jungle, so we just laid back there and watched the strange world around us. It was great.

Fresh orangutan! Only about 2 months old.

Then, Orang-utans!!!! It is only about 50/50, they say, that guests get lucky and get to see them and we were very, very lucky. As soon as we started our afternoon trek, we were running through the jungle at a breakneck pace about to a place about 1.5 km from the lodge through the Valley floor to where the sighting took place. We arrived dripping with sweat to the site of a mother, child and baby Orang-utan. Not in our wildest dreams did we think we would have an encounter this close. We watched them play and eat within 30 feet of us – maybe less – for the next 45 minutes. We felt almost like Jane Goodall. This was the one thing from the whole trip that Ms. Cupcake looked the most forward to, so it was a remarkable treat that within 30 minutes we found 3 (!!!) Orang-utans.

The whole family. Children stay with their mom until they are about 7 or 8.

Orangutan!

It was extremely hard to break away, but after our commune with nature, we were alerted of another sighting by the ranger at the lodge. Red-Leaf monkeys – lots of them – about 1 km back on the trail. We ran to the spot and were bombarded by falling branches and leaves as the monkeys hopped around. There were maybe a dozen flying from tree to tree and causing chaos all around us.

A red leaf monkey.

We arrived back at the lodge for dinner feeling incredibly accomplished with our wildlife sightings. The food was great – I got to eat Malay food that I love, including stir-fried jungle ferns, rendang, etc. and Ms. Cupcake ate some western food.

However, our night was not over.

Our chariot.

We had arranged for a night safari. Just our guide and us in a pick-up truck on the dirt road spotting animals.  It was a full moon, so we were actually going at a terrible time – during a full moon animals tend to hide to avoid large predators.

This is what a hornbill looks like when he is sleeping.

Nonetheless, our success continued. We saw a leopard cat, samba deer, multiple types of flying squirrels (we even got to see them glide), two types of civets and, the clincher, a rhinoceros hornbill sleeping in a tree within 10 feet of us. We really had incredible luck.

A leopard "cat", not to be confused with an actual leopard.

Danum Valley is a magical place. We thought that the Singapore zoo was cool because the animals were free to roam, but here they are really free to roam and we saw almost as many animals as at the zoo. We felt like kids running through the jungle to find the animals – in fact, we were so excited that both of us managed to forget that the legs we were running on were still sore from climbing the mountain!

Now, to bed we go, with only the soundtrack of the jungle in the background. 

Oh the pain... and the joy

View from the top.

We did not sleep a wink. I mean one. We tried very hard but the rest house was quite noisy and, for Ms. Cupcake anyway, the altitude hurt her head. We set out at 3am for the grind to the top. It was another 2.5km to the base of the peak and a grueling additional 250 meters of scramble to the summit.

Kinabalu summit

It was truly exhausting. I made the summit about 5:30am. Ms. Cupcake both didn’t feel well and also didn’t feel comfortable at a point just before the 7km mark. At that point on the trail, it stopped being a straight ascent up via rocks and started being a steady climb with ropes. At that particular point, the ropes were being used to secure your move horizontally to another area; so, essentially, you were using the ropes to keep yourself from falling down the mountain – not a great feeling. She simply had had enough at that point and turned back. That is where her morning took another turn for the worse.

It was about 40 degrees Fahrenheit and though she was dressed in warm clothes with hat, gloves and a neck warmer, she was still very cold. Unfortunately, the rest house was vacant and when we split on the trail both of us forgot that I had the key. Not a good move. So, for the next couple of hours, Ms. Cupcake basically just sat there and froze.

Summit of Kinabalu

Meanwhile, I was racked with guilt that I left her. I wanted to stay and take her back to the lodge, but she insisted that I press on. We were so close and she didn’t want me to miss it. It was about 400 meters on that I remembered that I had the key, but it was the most difficult 400 meters of the entire ascent so I just couldn’t make it back to get it to her without certainly causing myself some physical harm from misusing the rope descending. I had sent the guide with her and I just didn’t trust my abilities to go back down just yet. So, instead, I decided to get to the top and then descend everything as quickly as I could.

The very, very cold lodge. After people leave to summit at 3am, the staff disappears and turns off the power until 6:30am.

I ran for the sections of the ascent that I could, though it was pretty grueling. It was simply granite rock face where largely you were able to make a slow trudge to the top, but sometimes you needed to use a rope to get through the really steep bits. From below, you would see a ridge up ahead and think that that was the top. Then, you would see headlights further on and realize that you still had a long, long way to go. There were several times that I was also ready to give up.

Aaron, at the top.

I reached the summit just before sunrise. It was beautiful. It was a clear day and as the sun came up you could more or less see all of Sabah. The green rolling hills (they were really mountains, but from up there they looked like hills) began to shine in the early morning rays to the south of the mountain while the coast and KK woke up to the north. Sunrise bore its typical hues and after I had a kind German girl take a photo of me with the peak sign (for those of you that doubt that I made it), I began a speedy descent down the mountain. I made it down in about 1 hr and 15 minutes to the rest house. I ran the last 1 km (the part after the ropes), to try to get to Ms. Cupcake as soon as possible. I was practically physically destroyed by the time I got there.

Sunrise on Kinabalu

As quick as I was, she was positively freezing. She had even tried to lay down on the floor outside of our room but was too cold. What a mess. I knew that all she wanted to do now, though, was get off of the mountain. So, despite the fact that my legs were literally shaking, I took down what I could eat of a quick breakfast, grabbed our bags and we headed down the mountain. We descended so quickly that at the bottom of the mountain my legs almost ceased to function. We were down in 3 hrs and 10 minutes. We reached the bottom by 11:45am – so early, that our ride back to KK was not even there yet. They had never had a client reach the bottom before 1pm (that is certainly not to say that people don’t – they had simply never had someone that did it – as we were actually the 4^th and 5^th people down the mountain, respectively, from the night before), but Ms. Cupcake’s need to end her mountain experience gave extra special motivation on the descent. Meanwhile, after 20km of hiking in 28 hrs (12km in less than 9 hrs that morning) and about 2500 meters of each ascent and descent, my body was becoming an absolute mess. My sprained ankle did not hurt, but was black and blue and had swelled to about 4x its former size.  

Kota Kinabalu

Once our transport back to KK arrived, we headed back to the city as quickly as possible. At that point, all we could think of was the ocean view suite we’d get at the Le Meredién (courtesy, again, of all the work travel and the Starwood membership) and some fruity drinks at the hotel pool. A couple of hours later, sitting at the pool, looking out over the ocean after a nice hot shower and some time absorbing civilization in our room, all was right with the world again. We were sore, but I was thrilled with my accomplishment and Ms. Cupcake was damn happy to be off of the mountain.

Kota Kinabalu

The evening finished with a real treat. KK is famous for its barbecued fish. The fish is caught within 500 meters of shore and then grilled in front of you and served up as fresh as could be. The night market with the best barbecued fish stands was directly in front of our hotel on the ocean promenade so we simply walked across the street to what would be our best meal, hands down, in Malaysia.

The blue one on the left - dinner.

Walking through all of the stalls at the market, you are simply spoiled for choice. We passed several rows of hawkers with all types of Malay food, but it is at the back, nearest the sea, that you find all of the fish stands. Our choice was made pretty simple. We missed the front of a particular stall but walked right through their kitchen. Staring up at us with eyes as clear as tropical waters was a huge plate of red snapper and parrot fish. 

The after photo of the fish. I thought this photo was absolutely disgusting, but Aaron insisted on including it. It tasted good.

We ordered the largest parrot fish (probably about 3 – 4 lbs as a whole fish), some veg fried noodles, and then sat at the stalls benches and tables while we waited for it to be grilled up. About 15 minutes later, a perfectly grilled whole fish arrived in front us. Basted in Malay barbecue sauce and rub, it was sweet and spicy and super moist – definitely the best fish I had ever had. The noodles, along with some satay we picked up from another stall, made the perfect accompaniments. We finished the meal with some “half moons” (which, incidentally, we also had as an appetizer – we were starving after the mountain) and some fired bananas. There is nothing like pancakes with butter and peanuts and fried fruit to end a delectable meal! All of that food was only US$ 12, of which the fish was US$ 8!

Lots of rain at the night market.

As we finished, it started to pour. Nothing stopped. The market and all of those cooking and eating continued on as if Noah’s Ark type rains were nothing extraordinary. Of course that is because they are indeed nothing extraordinary in KK, but to us it was great to see the fun simply continue through the torrential downpour.

Looking down over the market now from the room the frenetic pace continues. With a bursting but delighted stomach and aching legs, we are off to sleep. It is only 8pm, but we are exhausting and we are off to see Orang-utans bright and early tomorrow!

Kinabalu, Day 1

Mt. Kinabalu

We are now about 11,000 feet up on Mt. Kinabalu. It was a hard slog today and Ms. Cupcake was a trooper for the effort. We went a bit more than 8 km of more or less straight up (with a bit of straight down). It was a tough 6 hours that were rewarded with a lack of heat and hot water at the Laban Rata lodge. Not great. We are so tired anyhow that I suppose it doesn’t matter.

Climbing the mountain was indeed quite beautiful. You go through several types of forest on your way up and pass some beautiful waterfalls. We chose to do the longer (by 2 km) Mesilau trail to get up the mountain and were rewarded with almost no other climbers and several waterfalls on the trail, but severely punished by the extra 2 km of up and down. Ms. Cupcake definitely did not appreciate my choice of route.

Tomorrow morning at 2am we wake to summit. It’s 6pm and we are headed to bed.

A large pitcher plant