On to Yogyakarta

Sunday, November 21

We drove on to Yogyakarta that took us on narrow roads thru extensive rice fields that periodically  went over numerous rivers..

It is quickly apparent that growing rice is backbreaking work:

Typical narrow road:

The local folks use the abundant water running in the rivers to was trucks and motorbikes; also we see a common way for small children to be transported around :

On the road in West Java: Jakarta to Tasikmalaya

Saturday, 21 November

It is approximately 300 miles from Jakarta to Yogya by way of roads that are mostly 2 lane and of varying surface quality. Bumpy and narrow and shared by all manner of vehicle: cars, big and little trucks, small vans and large buses, horse drawn carts and motorbikes. So we plan to take 2 days.

The first part of the trip is just escaping the Jakarta sprawl by going south. Soon we see our first volcano in the distance, Mt Salak, before we turn east to climb over the Puncak Pass at 5000ft on a busy highway that climbs thru tea plantations.

Mt. Salak from the toll-road highway:

Danny and nephew Putra at an overlook at Puncak Pass:

We descend from the pass and drive thru lush rainforest punctuated by extensive rice fields and many small towns.

Tea plantations:

One of the highlights of the day came late in the afternoon with a visit to a traditional village called Kampung Naga. This village has tried to maintain itself by keeping to the old traditions of its people, not easy in these days of TV, cell phones, and the internet.

This is a hillside on the edge of the village that contains rice terraces:

This is the river that runs next to the village at the bottom of the valley:

Jakarta

Friday, 20 November

My day in Jakarta involved meeting Danny’s family. Danny was born and raised in Jakarta and lived in Bali for 5 years before coming to the United States. He lived and went to school in Houston and moved to San Diego about 8 months ago. I met him in San Diego this summer. When I found out that he was going to return to Indonesia for 6 months to visit his family, I figured that this would be a great opportunity to have a local connection for seeing this country. So we figured out a plan where we would spend 6 days on the island of Java..1 day in Jakarta, 2 days driving across West and Central Java to the city of Yogyakarta, the cultural center of Java. He would then join me for the 5 days on Bali that I had already planned.

First we went to the Family Compound in the southern suburbs of this large city. The parents and 7 of the 9 living children live there with their spouses and children… 22 people live in 5 residences. Danny’s twin brother, Eddie, the father and the husband of the oldest sister accompanied us to a thatched roof restaurant on a lake about 45 minutes from the Compound. During this day I got to see a lot of the area…from the crowded, densely populated central Jakarta with its high-rise hotels, office buildings and apartments to the lush suburbs and countryside.

There are photos of the restaurant and the monkeys that are in the lake that beg for food and are very good at catching food thrown to them.

This is a photo of Danny posed surrounded by a poplular asian fruit...Durian:

This a photo that Danny took of me, the father, Eddie the twin brother and Wito the brother in law:

Danny and I will go in Wito’s 1997 Chevy Blazer accompanied by Wito and his son Putra on our trip to Yogya. Putra is a serious student photographer who often works for twin brother Eddie, who is a professional photographer. Danny is a serious amateur phographer so we will have photographic firepower on this trip. Wito works for the Jakarta Airport security.

Just a note on my hotel for the 2 nites in Jakarta. It is the JW Marriott…yes the same one that was bombed about 8 months ago along with the nearby Ritz Carlton. Security is much tighter that boarding an airplane, with 5 security people descending on any car or taxi that tries to enter the front driveway checking the trunk, underneath with mirrors. Then one’s luggage is x-rayed and you go a metal detector on entering the hotel. It is protected by machine gun toting police at the immediate entrance. Here is a photo of me with one of the guards:

Jakarta, Java, Indonesia

Friday morning, 20 November 2009

After 2 days in Bangkok recovering from the flight over to Asia, yesterday I flew thru a connection in Kuala Lumpur to Jakarta arriving last nite (Photo above from the hotel room). Plan is to stay one day in Jakarta and then take 2 days driving thru the rainforests and volcanoes of central Java and finish with 3 days around the cultural capital of Java around Yogyakarta. Then will fly off to Bali for 5 days. I am getting out my camera today so will try to start posting photos. I will be traveling on Java with my friend Danny from San Diego who is back in his native Indonesia visiting his faily for a few months. We will travel with his brother and nephew in one of their cars.

I arrived in Bangkok at 6 am after 17 1/2 hours in the plane from LAX. My room at the hotel was ready when I arrived at 8am so I could shower and nap.
That first day in Bangkok, I had lunch again with my 82 yo cousin Jean at the Italian restaurant at the Four Seasons Hotel. She is doing very well.
I went out that evening so I could go to bed at bedtime in my new time zone.
The second day I met with my friend Aong and his buddies for dinner, a few games of pool and a couple of hours of kareoke at a bar.
Tomorrow we go off into central Java...hopefully decent weather and good photos.

Trip to Thailand, Indonesia and Vietnam starts tomorrow

I will be leaving tomorrow on by annual Big Trip to South East Asia by enduring a 18 hour flight from LAX to Bangkok. This year I will spend about 10 days in Thailand and break new ground by visiting Indonesia (Java for 6 days and Bali for 5 days) and central and southern Vietnam for 12 days.
I will hope to post blog entries on most days with photos. It is probable that I will not have reliable internet access when traveling the backroads of Java for 4 days and for a couple of days on the beaches of Vietnam. So those entries will have to be delayed.
Have a good Holiday Season, everybody.

Again at Ko Olina

The past week I spent another week at a timeshare in Hawaii; at the Marriott Ko Olina Beach Club on Oahu. The scenery is just so beautiful I had to post some photos.
Above is a typical sunset as the resort is on the western shore of Oahu about 25 miles west of Honolulu.
Below is the beach at the resort which is a large man-made lagoon carved out the rocky coast so the surf is safe for families:


Here are a couple of more sunset photos:



One of the mornings we took a catamarran cruise into the ocean where we went dolphin watching and then snorkeled looking at all the fish and coral off shore:





Another day we drove to the North Shore of the island which has some beautiful beaches. Also the surf was up a little bit, so I snapped some photos:



And of course to prove that I was there:

Golf in Palm Desert

Last week I spent at a timeshare in Palm Desert on a golf course. It is about 2+ hour drive from San Diego over the mountains to the desert. I played golf 4 times in 6 days in very nice weather.

It was in the high 80s to low 90s F the whole week with low humidity and bright sunshine. At my place back in San Diego we had the usual May Gray and June Gloom coastal cloudiness with temps in the mid 60s.

My golf prowess was, as usual, very inconsistent with good shots mixed with terrible shots. The last 2 days I played in the 23rd Annual Doctors Desert Golf Tournament which one of the Cardiologists organizes every year. It is a 4 man team scramble format and my team tied for 1st Place on day one......won $35!

Above was the view from my condo balcony of the 17th Green at Shadow Ridge in the gright daylight.

Below is the shot just after the sun has dipped below the mountains in the evening.

Home tomorrow

The weather this week has been surprisingly crappy. It's been cloudy and overcast most of this week. Temperatures have been okay..around 80F. It's been fine for playing golf which I did every other day. But it was not good beach or pool weather.
It's the first time in about a dozen trips to Hawaii that the weather hasn't been wonderful.

Above is a photo looking up the western coast of Oahu from Ko Olina.



Below is a photo from my hotel room on the morning of my departure. I moved 3/4 mile up the road to the JW Marriott Ihilani Hotel for my last nite using some Marriott Reward points.

As you can see the sun was out on Easter morning:

Hawaii

I'm spending a week at a timeshare on Oahu...the Marriott Ko Olina Beach Club.
This is a view from the balcony of my room on the first nite:

I plan to play golf 4-5 times during the 8-9 days I'll be here. Also there will be some pool and beach time. I will probably make the 25 mile drive into Honolulu a couple times while I'm here.
The weather is ideal...in the low 80's, sunny.... although a bit windy for golf.

Ski Week at Snowbird, Utah

I am up at Snowbird, Utah at my timeshare for a week of skiing. I have the timeshare unit the 5th week of every year. I have done this since 1979 so this is the 31st consecutive year.

The above photo was taken from the balcony when the setting sun was shining on the 2 highest peaks at the ski resort.


This photo was taken up on the mountain showing me and the beautiful mountain environment at Snowbird:

This is me in action:
Another photo from the balcony:

On the way Home

23 December, Tuesday, 1515 Tokyo Time
I'm on the way back to San Diego and in the United Business Class Lounge at Narita Airport.
I have a couple hours until I embark on a 10 hour flight to LAX and then a few hours to catch a hop down to San Diego.Probably another 16 hours until I get home.
The last few days in Pattaya were lazy with beach, pool, beach, pool, lunch, dinner, lunch, dinner.
It was a good trip except for missing the Vietnam sightseeing the first 2 weeks. I'll have to try to return ...maybe in the early Spring to Vietnam for a couple of weeks.

The Trip is Winding Down

Friday afternoon, December 19

The trip is winding down. I am in Pattaya until I leave at 6:40am on Tuesday from Bangkok. I will have to leave the hotel for the airport at 4:00am since the airport is an hour's drive from Pattaya. So I have decided to post a few assorted photos that were of interest.

First there are 2 signs in "Engrish". Throughout Asia there are attempted English translation of notices in the native language that achieve a strange if not hilarious meaning. There is a fun (for non-Asians) website dedicated to this phenomenon: http://www.engrish.com/



Along the beaches one sees these strange-looking structures:
They are part of the Tsunami Warning System....with sirens and loudspeakers to warn of an approaching tsunami or an event that may trigger one such as an offshore earthquake. There are also signs advising if an eveacuation route to higher, safer ground.


This is a photo of a statue at Wat Po. I thought the stylish hat deserved attention.

The moderate weather has continued throughout the month. But I hear it has been cold and rainy back home in San Diego. I hope I bring good weather home with me.

Phang Nga National Park 2

During the day in Phang Nga Bay we encountered numerous beautiful vistas that required photos. Those of you are paying attention will have noticed the similarity that the geology has to Halong Bay in northern Vietnam from last year's trip.

We motored about with 14 tourists in our speed boat:
Many tourists paddle about in kayaks between the rocks:
As the sun got lower in the sky during the afternoon, the lighting created some nice effects:

More fisherman in their long-tailed boats:

A walk on the sand during low tide:

If this photo below looks familiar to you, then you are a fan of the James Bond movies. It was featured in the 1974 "Man with the Golden Gun". The movie producers chose this location to have one of the arch-villains hideout. Of course, it is now a a busy tourist site called "James Bond Rock":