Well, there it is

This blog is in its final stage: its shank has shrunk, and it is returning to its childhood, somewhere in the 0s and 1s of a data center guzzling energy somewhere it the world. It was a good blog. I got 33 comments! There is still a week to go before I touch down in the states again, but it is less of a stage of the trip than something intermediate.

It was a good trip and I have learned a lot from it. To get some of this giant mound of wisdom, just visit me and I'll tell you something.

However, the most important things are these:

1) Always travel with a canvas bag
2) Just ask someone

Hope you liked it.

Bye.

ps. it will be really interesiting to see how long this blog survives. One would think that these bytes would stay around forever somewhere, but I know they won't. Who knows, the Shawdyssey might be a must read in 5000 CE...



...

Hello from CZE

Apologies to our regular readers, but it shard to get to internet while on a bike. When we crossed the Danube east of Vienna yesterday we saw a day tourer with a palm pilot mounted between his handlebars. Maybe that is our next move.


Enter a new theme into the tour== EURO 2008.

We have gotten to see most of every game so far. There has been good play all around, but the Netherlands has captured my heart -as well as everyone elses- so far. We have just spent a day and a half in Austria (or Australia as dad called it once). I guess there were also 5 days in Hungary without a blog post, but you'll just need to seek me out for those stories...

yes, so Austria. We bypassed Vienna even though we were in the area because of the EURO 2008 crowds. We were sad for a bit, but we've learned to cheer ourselves up with pastries. We eat a lot of pastries people. Like, one time dad ordered two pastries for himself at one backery. DAD! But as they say, if you're biking all day everyday, then you're entitled to as much butter and sugar as you darn well please thank you very much.

We crossed the border into the Czech republic this morning, but just before we ran across this:

It was entirely deserted up there. We walked around it for about half an hour and then got on our bikes and kept on riding. Its near a town called Staatz, I think. So bike touring goes.

On Soviet Hotels

The last two nights (in Agnita and Turda) we have stayed in the only hotel we could find, which in both cases was a 30-50 room fortress built in the Soviet Era.

Neither of these towns have much of a Tourist industry, so were were the only customers. Also in both cases we were offered a meal in their vast dining room. The first night we turned it down as too weird, but the second night we were so loopy from riding that we tried it for a lark. We had a baked cheese, two salads, two plates of polenta, a basket of bread and a "Mix Grill" a piece, which had mashed potatoes, sausage, pork, and two types of liver. Jesse, I keep on trying your "wonder-meat", but it keeps on tasting like pencil lead.



Over the last 4 days we have ridden over 500km including a 1200m pass. Dad's computer has reset so many times now that we don't know anything exactly and the distances on the roads never correspond with those on the map, so all that is certain is that it has been a lot. We consider ourselves to be about halfway between Bucharest and Budapest at this point. The town of Brasov seemed interminably far away at one point and now it is 250km behind, so we are hoping that Budapest does the same thing.

Romanian Elections

We reached Brasov today. There was a many switchbacked climb to a 1263m pass in the Carpathians. The Carpathians fon't get much love. The Alps gather all the respect and girlfriends as Europes most famous range, while the Carpathians hang out in the corner being nice to everybody including us. The ride today was blue skies all the way, which highlighted dense beech forests climbing vertically up to rocky summits.  The road was betrucked but little betraveled so we did quite well.

The Romanian national elections are on June 1, so I get a chance to see deseprate campaigning in action. There are banners and posters and stickers everywhere, and yesterday I saw a dirtbike convoy supporting the PSD. This evening in Brazov, we ate down the way from the central square. As the evening lit up the spire of the age old church and saxon buildings, the sqaure was awash with Romanians enjoying their friday night by going to a political rally. This wasn't any rally either. This was an open air disco to benefit the PS-L,  for which I know nothing more than their orange color. This muct be a very liberal party, because the main act was a Romanian queen of House techno who was dancing in a way that would make Democrats blush and Dick Cheney die. Daft Punk for Prez! The citizens seemed to eat it up though. I saw plenty of orange shirts walking away afterward. 

Now into the heart of Transylvania. I watched Werner Herzog's Nosferatu while in China, so I know what to do if our next hostel is in a ruined castle.

Bergama-Akçay-Trojan Plain-Çanakkale

And so it goes: all of a sudden we are deep in the bike trip... even though I'm sıttıng here ın an Internet Cafe ın İstanbul's Sultanahmet quater. We have more than 300km behind us now and each k (well 10k) has a story. I'll stick to highlights, like American coverage of LeTour.

There was the Akropolis at Bergama. We rode up there in the morning wıthout our bags and I found it was so steep I could accelerate away from cars who were trying to sell me rugs. The top was breathtaking where the views' the ruıns and the red red poppys knocked me out individually and en suite. Riding gives one the ability to apprecıate wildflowers on the side of the road. İts very nice.

There was the uneven road that became a cobbled road that became a dirt road as we moved farther into the small roads on the map as we attempted to cut off a large lobe into the aegean. Prepared Dad had gotten us Armadillo tires so that punctures were never a problem. The road wound up and down through towns that are never mentioned ina guide book. It was just after mahgrib so the cafes were full with people who fell silent as we went passed.

There was lunch on Sat. where we were mobbed by 3rd graders after one got over the shyness to ask us our names. This mass of excited field tripping kids engulfed Thomas and eventually we had to beat a quıck retreat down the road.

There was the Trojan Plain in the soft evening light. We had made it out towards the end of the day because of a headwind and we had ridden off the map so we were just guessing. Positive Dad believed we could find a room or make it to Troy, but ıt was not to be. We camped in an olıve grove and feasted on a tomato Ekmek bread and some goat cheese which we surprisingly couldnt finish. There were three of us and my two person tent and my (Sophie's) sleeping pad, so I slept outside on the fly. İt was too cold for bugs so İ was fine. We rode into Troy the next morning at sunrise.

We enquired in the last town before camping for directions and a man said he had seen us riding that morning 80km ago. We do stick out.

The three has become two. We dropped Thomas off in Çanakkale and we took the bus up to İstanbul. Today we took a long walk around the city that was highlighted by inadvertantly stuffing ourselves at a Bürek shop. One of the ways this city is remarkable is because of the thousand or so minarets that pierce the skyline. İt makes you look up and that makes you notice the birds. İts very nice. We will take the train to Bucareşt tomorrow night to begin biking again. I cant wait.

1ere Etage: Izmir a Bergama

99km 18.7 km/hr

And we are off. The rıde today started off nasty. The road to Çanakkale was full of semıs that passed wıthın feet of us. Also Dad needed to pee a lot as a result of hıs hydratıon efforts. Luckıly, most of the traffıc ended after we passed an oil refınery. Then our fırst stage went from stressful to ıdyllıc. We rolled smoothly through the ınland plaıns, wıth pleasant lorry-drıvers gıvıng us a genıal honk as they passed ın the far lane.

There were many fears held by many people at the begınnıng thıs trıp. Blogs have been renowned for swayıng public opınıon, and I would lıke to channel that power and let the world know that after one day, we are tıred but happy and feel great about the whole thıng. In fact, I am only worrıed that today gave us an unrealıstıc vıew of thıngs (we had a taılwınd the whole way and a beautıful turkısh woman gave us dırectıons to a perfect lıttle B&B ın Bergama). It does not get better than ıt was today. We wıll see what tomorrow holds.

at kast

hello all! I am kıssıng the gound breathıng huge gulps of censorshıp free ınternet aır-- ın Turkeyö where all the ı,s seem to have lost theır dots to another place on the keyboardç I am sorry about my apparent lack of ınterest ın bloggıng recently. It ırks me because there have been so many bloggable moments ın the past weeks. So many wıttıcısms that my audıence would have found so clever.

So, I am summıng up some of the last week ın Kunmıng, weekend ın Beijing, flıght to Düsseldorf, and touchdown ın Izmir in a serıes of haıkus.

Went to embassy
"pass sewn with new pages please"
"need word from DC"

Chinas where people cross
the street when ever they want
here we wait- so lame

I eat müslıx
ten bowls- stıll not satısfıed
need rıce ın the morn

If you dont thınk that haıkus are buılt lıke that, youll have to revıew. They just changed the standardsç

We depart on the bıkıng adventure tomorrow. the shakedown run today was encouragıng. Ill be checkıng ın as much as possıble as we roll up the Aegean.

Prologue

I got a tune up ride in this weekend with the gregarious Ruud Batta, a Dutchman dating another Shansi fellow. Having brought his bike to Kunming over a year ago he is one of the most knowedgeable cyclists I can talk to in these here parts. I rented a quality mountain bike for a pittance and we shoved off late on Saturday morning. The ride out of the city was hectic, because I haven't mastered the no-rules flavor of asian driving. The idea of biking directly in front of a moving semi-truck is something I'm still not comfortable with. Ruud jumped ahead of me about 50 meters at every intersection.

Once we got out of the city, cars got scarce and hills got frequent. We passed farmers covering the road with hay in order for car's tires to thresh it. It was a cloudy day so we couldn't see for ever, but the endless green ridges soldiering off to oblivion was image enough. It was a good ride.

Side note, we were supposed to pass a house with ferocious and unchained dogs. I steeled myself for it, and all Ruud could tell me is to bike for my life. The dogs never appeared, but the terror was definately there. I plan on having a three foot smackin' stick at easy access on my bike and to take mounted combat lessons over the next week.

The ride was about 60 k. All above 2000 meters. I'm excited.

OK, this is pretty ridiculous. I think that China is trying to censor my
blog. At first I blamed internet explorer for not directing me to the
Shawdyssey, but now I am beginning to truely think that the problem runs
deeper. I can't read any of my favorite blogs [Rough Draft and The APB]
or search craigslist. Very sinister. I'm going underground by having my
daddy post this from 'mrrica.

China has been great though, as you can see. The May holidays made for a 5
day weekend for Sophie. We got oput of Kunming and up into one of my most
romanticized parts of the globe, where the Yangtze, Mekong and another river
bunch up and run parallel out of the himalaya. We had a fantastic two day
hike through the Tiger Leaping Gorge where the Yangze basically undercuts
frosty peakes two and a half miles above it.

Another highlight of the trip was Dali, a medieval feeling city made of
marble with mountains on one side and a large lake on the other. We took a
bateau mouche out to the middle of the lake to a picturesque monastery.
After that, we were ferried to a small fishing town where before we knew it
a man had smacked two wriggling green fish on the pavement and begun to gut
them for us. After other dishes were agreed upon (by them), we had just
enough time to walk through a small cave with some pretty stalactites before
our midday feast was prepared. The shock came at the end of the delicious
meal that also included tiny squids and lettucy fungi when the bill read 250
yuan or about $40 (10x a reagular meal). Gram, your gracious contribution to
our travels covered it. An unforgetable experience.

As for those who think that I'm not training up here, just know that I'm
living at an elevation somewhat above Denver. I'M TRAINING ALL THE TIME MUAH
HA HA HA HA.

it's lump it's lump it's Kuala Lumpur

I sneaked this photo off the internet because my photos arent available, but this is Kuala Lumpur. S, J, and I spent three taking in the sights.

Things about KL that are sweet: The architecture, especially this at night. Also the hawker centers where you are carried by the crowd past countless stalls selling countless tasties for a pittance.

Things about KL that are strange: Everything in the city center is geared towards shopping. Even these Petronas Towers have a 5 story mall at their base. I've never seen multiple Luis Vuitton boutiques within walking distance of each other. As Minnesota is the birthplace of malls, my friends asked me to comment. My thoughts: there is a reason malls were invented by folks living with the temps we have. Why these ideas have taken off in the tropics? I have no idea.

Yesterday I bid my good friends S and J farewell. Its hard to say goodbye because even though it has been 10 months, this trip was always in the plans. Now there is no set date. I hope one turns us up soon. After a night of watching soccer in a bus station food stall and two flights, I have arrived in Kunming, beginning book two of the Shawdyssey. We're located at 25 degrees North here putting me out of the tropics. Its about 60 out and I'm wearing all my clothes. Having been here for 24 hours all I have noticed is that Chinese aren't affraid to budge in line. Dispicable.

The southern hemisphere

I am writing you all from the Southern Hemisphere, more specifically the town of Sumenep on the island of Madura just north of Java. For all you who haven't been, this hemisphere is not that much different than the real one. Only three hamburgers have tried to eat me.

The Southern Hemisphere does have a surprising amount of Oberlin graduates though. The day after arriving in the SH I was joined by 7 other Oberlin grads on the slopes of Mount Bromo. I think this would be a good band photo.

After four of this reunion departed for Yogyakarta, Sarah Jesse Emily and I decided to give volcanos a rest and hit the beach. Volcanos are cool and all, I really love them, but I don't love to smell them. You miss this in postcards and textbooks. Thus, we headed to the little traveled island of Madura instead of the Ijen plateau. Lonely Planet calls the towns well kept and the beaches passable, and as a result we are the first foreigners to stay at our hotel since 2005. And the beaches? Well:

They're so happy to see us that someone in the office of tourism is inviting us to dinner in his home tonight. This is why the Lonely Planet doesn't have all the answers.

Discussion question: How does one acknowledge all the problems in the world without living their lives in eternal stress. Just because I acknowledge the state of the world doesn't mean I should have an unhappy life. I think many liberals have this problem. How do you deal?

Bye Bye Banda

By this time tomorrow, I will be in Kuala Lumpur waiting with Jesse and Sarah for a flight to Surabaya. For the next 10 days we will be vacationing (for me a vacation vacation) in Eastern Java and possibly attending the biggest Oberlin reunion in Indonesia ever. Purportedly, this reunion will include: Moi, Jesse, Sarah, Maya Walton, Nancy Dye, Guy Brown, Ben from Ben and Jerry's, Adrian Fenty, Jake Brody, Ben Wolak, Emily Clark and Ellis Ballard.

As to Banda Aceh, I've had a wonderful time here, even if it severely wasn't what I expected. I saw myself becoming an experienced maritime carpenter while I was here, and that definitely didn't happen. The closest I came was mending the beam of my bed that Sarah and I cracked and drinking supersweet tea with some sailors down by t'river.

I beat myself up because I never satisfied any of my save-the-world urge here, but I did chill a good deal with many Acehnese and thats invaluable. How many of you have heard of Aceh before? Well there are 400,000 people here who will never leave my completely leave my thoughts.

I also learned how to play basketball here; another invaluable skill. When I played basketball in Germany 5 years ago, my friends looked terrified--the tragedy of my skillz was no laughing matter. Don't get me wrong, I'm still pretty bad, but two days ago I sunk 4 or 5 layups and a few pull-up jumpers. I doubt that this sport will ever supersede endurance sports (I was best at running back to defend the basket), but it will be that much more exciting to watch March Madness.

Then there are Sarah and Jesse. How nice is it to see old friends again? All the way nice. This time will be written into the diaries and stories that I hope will continue for the rest of our lives. I can't wait to move into Kendal with them. Well I can wait, but it will be nice.

To Banda Aceh! I drink a Passion fruit in your honor.

Voici le leeches.

Climbing Gunung Sulawah

For any of you who were tuning in to find an adventure on an Acehnese fishing boat on the strait of Malacca, you will be disappointed. After hanging around the docks for a few hours, the word got out that the waves were too big and we would have to wait until the weekend (nobody thinks about water on Friday, the Islamic sabbath). This might be the last nail in the coffin of helping out the fishing industry in Banda Aceh, which was my excuse for coming here in the first place. Ah well...

I did, however, climb a volcano this weekend. Gunung Sulawah is extinct as the dodo compared to most Indonesian volcanos, but that is not saying much. It rises a vertical mile above the strait of Malacca and is covered by what can only be described as trackless jungle. We took along some hippie guides who are studying Arabic at the Islamic University in Banda Aceh. It takes all Muslims...

The jungle that we began in was loud and active. The insects and bird calls made us have to shout. I was initiall put off by spiders that were spinning webs large enough to catch birds, but we soon pushed those out of our mind in order to deal with the constant onslaught of leeches.
These tropical leeches are much different than their Great Lakes brethren. They are much smaller, and they can move about like an inchworm in the dirt. They actually seemed to come from the dirt which was thick and slippery everywhere. Fortunately, you could pull them off with your fingers once they attached, but that mean that you bled from the spot which attracted more of the buggers. One of our guides said that of all the creatures in the jungle (which does contain tigers), the leeches were her kryptonite.

We began the trip a little late to accommodate Jesse, so we ended up climbing the last (and steepest) part completely in the twilight. The ground was slippery and sloping at 30 degrees or more so the only thing that kept me upright was gripping trunks and vines. It occurred to me that my hands are the way they are in order to grip trees just like these. I had turned into a bona fide oranghutan (in Indonesian, orang = person, hutan = forest). We spent the next morning on the chilly (60 degree) peak even though there wasn't much of a view (jungle, again). The guides were content to just sit back and cook noodles, and relax in the woods. When we asked about the possibility of running into the likes of the man eating tigers I'd seen at the Aceh nature conservancy, we were told not to worry, because even though they were on the mountain, they would never use the same trail that we did. It was a great experience.

Just 5 more days in Aceh before I'm on the road again.

Also check out these girls; they run the show.

Livin' in an Imam's Paradise

I live within 200 meters of the biggest Mosque of the biggest city of [not the biggest] province of the nation with the largest Islamic population in the world. As someone solely raised on Western art and pop music, I began my stay in Aceh by trying to zone out the Imam's call, which happens five times daily. Lately, I've begun to hear it as a pretty darn awesome thing.

The call starts out quietly. You have to be listening to pick it up. It takes a couple minutes to go from a conversational pace to the full voiced call. I used to think the call sounded like random vocalizing, but I just wasn't listening. The guy remains on the 12 tone scale the whole time, this is amazing given the huge jumps and slides he takes. The dynamics are off the charts too. His loud notes peel off across the city and mask the quite tones directly afterward. The other thing that I have realized that the tone of his voice is full of emotion and devotion. Timbres that I've never heard in such a formal or public setting before.

When my uber-imam finishes his set, every other mosque in town (there are many) have taken up the call and there is this fallout of rising and falling tone that slowly and imperceptibly dies away. Playing basketball, the sun going down in [another] fiery sunset and these sounds are an experience. One of the coolest I've had so far.

Today and tomorrow: fishing
saturday and sunday: climbing a volcano.

Aceh is not hipster

I find it interesting how and what American music trickles down to other parts of the world. A twentysomething friend of mine spent most of the morning singing John Denver to me to show me his cred. Was John Denver ever cool? Sorry Mountain Mama, but I can love you without the song. Another strange thing: from what I can tell, Linkin Park could probably claim themselves the most popular band on earth given their following here and elsewhere. Linkin Park is not fly. Sorry Melike. Granted, Banda Aceh does not have a particularly good connection to the hip music scene. I can't really see people being really pretentious about electronic chirps or flannel shirted skinny guys here. Things are different in Java, though. I hear that Jakarta is lousy with hipsters that would make Oberlin's feel fat, wholesome and joyful.

Banda Aceh's NGO scene is also not hipster at all. When you get paid $25 an hour and can live for $10 a day, you can go shopping in Singapore and buy a mansion. Say goodbye to PBR and hello to designer vodkas. That said, they can however throw a kickin dance party. A couple from Portland were moving back to the states and had a going away party that consisted of 4 hours of bangin disco. Its hard to dance for that long. My back hurt in the morning. Jesse (pictured) claimed the prize of best individual dancer and took home the light globe proudly. I must say I was gunning for the same title, but I don't begrudge it to him. After all, the dude practices everyday, everywhere. You can't dispute the effort.

Peterpan and Nidji in Banda Aceh

Jesse likened this to Pearl Jam and Madonna playing in a Kansas City community center. These are two of the biggest bands from Jakarta and they were playing an outdoor gig in a town with less than 400,000 people. I wish I had brought my camera. Everybody under 30 in the city was there. The basketball rebels, the university good-kids, the NGO peeps, everybody. To get in, the men and the women had to pass through separate gates and into separate areas in front of the stage. Except that was the end of it. Everybody and their mother was hopping the fence. I've never seen a 5 foot fence be more useless [insert Shakespearian Wall quote here]. You get the idea that Sharia Law isn't like real law in the way its observed. Jesse also says that it is much less strict these days than even a few months ago. Anyone who comes here expecting strict and authoritarian rule of unhappy people will be disappointed, or at least look for different things than I am.

The concert was like all other outdoor shows, which is to say very reassuring about humanity. All the hand waving jumping and dancing by everybody included the jaobob'd girls was so heartening. It also ended with the sunset breaking through the clouds (the show needed to be done by 7pm) to make a double rainbow during the last song. I wish I had my camera. Banda Aceh doesn't get many big acts, and everybody said afterwards that kids more chances like this to express themselves.

I can't get to everything I have done here- you'll have to seek me out later for that- but I will say that I played a little show on my new guitar (!) at a community center yesterday (after teaching them how to make pancakes, don't ask). It was officially the first stop of my world tour.

Gecko

These cute little buggers are everywhere (this one outside our bungalow on Pulah Weh, just off the NW tip of sumatra). They aren't as freaky as cockroaches or rats, because they don't skitter over your feet or anything. However, these little beasts make the loudest sound imaginable. They sound like Clara is pissed about something and is saying MRONK! right at the top of her screech. Every night, one or two of these guys pipe up just as I turn out the lights and screech for about 5 minutes, growing more irritated as they progress.

I saw a larger gecko like creature about 2 feet long crawling on the screen outside our kitchen this morning. Different ecosystems here.

pics and running

Yes. Here I am at Pamu'uk. It doesn't get much better than this. If you could see inside my hands, You would find a sand composed of shells as well as qtz. The waves sifted these two media in very exciting ways.

In other news: I finally got in a run! Yes, I woke up at 7:30 am(!) this morning and walked to the park near Jesse's house. Now, I am an experienced travel-runner, having run in 8 countries to date, but something about Aceh had kept me from running for almost two weeks. Jesse has been very careful to show me how not to aggravate Sharia law, so maybe that has kept me timid. We wear long sleeved shirts on the way to the courts, a quatermile away. I wore my basketball shorts and a t-shirt for this particular run which is about 6 times as much material I usually use when its 85 degrees. As I got to it, I felt all my insecurities slipping away. Here I was, running. Here I was, it was normal. Even they sheets of laughter from the uniformed and covered hs students on their way to school were normal. The one thing that wasn't normal, was that I didn't go very long. I cut the run at 20 minutes because I had to fart, and farts these days are usually diarhea. My runs have lead to many public poops, from Madrid's Casa del Campo, the Berliner Lustgarden, and every supergreen tuft of grass in Roseville. I also hate to admit it, but I felt pretty out of shape. I must have looked like a basketball player who is trying to run but has no idea how to which, at the moment, is exactly what I am. Is this the beginning of a sub15 min 5k next spring? Perhaps. Perhaps.

An Open Letter to all NGOs in Banda Aceh

YOU'VE BEEN HERE TOO LONG. YOU WERE VERY HELPFUL RIGHT AFTER THE TSUNAMI. EVERYBODY KNOWS IT, YOU SAVED A LOT OF PEOPLE AND HELPED OTHERS GET ON THEIR FEET FASTER. THAT WAS 3 YEARS AGO. NOW IT IS OBVIOUS THAT YOUR JUST HERE TO TAKE 70% OF THE CONSTANT FLOW OF MONEY INTO THE AREA. IT WILL BE PROFITABLE TO BE HERE FOR A VERY LONG TIME, BUT IT IS NO LONGER HUMANITARIAN WORK. YOU'RE JUST USING SUPERIOR TECHNOLOGY TO MAKE MAD BANK. THE ACEHNESE ARE RESOURCEFUL PEOPLE. THEY CAN GET ON WITHOUT YOU NOW.

GO BACK TO YOUR RESPECTIVE COUNTRIES, OR QUIT PRETENDING THAT YOU'RE HERE TO "HELP IN POST-TSUNAMI COORDINATED DEVELOPMENT" OR SOMETHING LIKE THAT.

Signed,

John

In other news I went to the most phenomenal beach today just west of Banda Aceh: Lampu'uk. The water was azure and crashed against beach and cliff in ways I've never dreamed. This is the reason people are beach scientists. Every coastal process was there: dunes on the back shore that stung your shins with windblown sand, beach cusps, riptides and particle sorting by density. This is an area where the Tsunami claimed 90% of human lives, basically everyone who wasn't away for some reason. Now its flush with European bistros serving the NGO community. I had a fantastic brick-oven pizza Napoli.

I've asked a few folks about their tsunami experiences, and they have been quite nonchalant in talking about the loss of their loved ones. When I express my condolences they just say that sometimes life is tragic. Wow man.

On the juice front, I've now had cucumber and lychee. I also did what I said I would never do. I bought some of those apples from the states. They were for an apple crisp for an NGO party (btw, I love at least 1/3rd of the NGO people I've met), which came out quite well despite the lack of brown sugar. My secret was adding some passion fruit to the filling. Yes! As for the avocado shake, I think that it would work out perfectly with avocado, chocolate milk and some ice cream.

Since a rice based meal costs between $.80 and 1.50, Jesse Sarah and I find excuses to eat out most of the time. A typical take out parcel will be rice, a fish or two, a jackfruit sauce, maybe some eggplant or quail eggs, all perched in a banana leaf cone. As we say here: Enak Sekali!

I'm in the middle of the Omnivores Dilemma right now. It's a transformative book. Having grown up in such a liberal atmosphere, I rebelled by being cynical of many of the causes my parents fought for. We think this way because we're affluent academics, I said. I thought I would get more of the same from a professor of Journalism at Berkeley, but not so. This book strikes me as simply an objective look at the food industry. He points out over and over again how industrial farming has created so many problems that did not exist until 30 years ago. I hope Austin has as vibrant a coop scene as the cities.

Don't look now, but I may be getting some photos online soon. If I can get a thumb drive (and not demolish or loose it), hopefully the internet here will tolerate some uploads.

"Work"

btw, I had an Avocado/Chocolate shake and it was heavenly! I think avocados should always be used as sweet fruits rather than in salad.

OK about the supposed saving the world that I set out to do here: So far I have saved one printer and cleaned one set of windows. The idea that I could come here and just build boats for helpless Acehnese is flawed for several reasons:

• Boulay (frriners) don't build the boats. They show up to Aceh and intercept all the cash and take 70% of it administrating everything. They explain it as transfering the skills to the Acehnese, which is legit, I guess, but lame for me.
• They builders don't speak english or indonesian. They use the local dialect called Acehnese. Two languages in a month?
• It is a huge liability if I mess up, which will probably happen.
  
• The boat building site is 45 minutes away in a Labi-Labi, or a small and random-routed minibus. Outside Aceh is still dangerous because of a 10 year civil war that has only been civil since the Tsunami.

Because of these reasons, I was asked to paint a bathroom yesterday. I almost did it (cleaned the windows), but then I turned around and said that my time could be better spent elsewhere so I went home and played basketball with Jesse and the locals. Let me tell you, I'm still really bad at basketball, but I think this is my chance to break into the scene. I can play center here and the skills of my peers aren't as high as they would be in the states, so I can finally play without being laughed off the court.

I still have some work prospects. If I can show that I am useful out at the boatworks, I can show up 3 or 4 days a week no problem. There's also the prospect of working with another guy who is doing bathymetric surveys of the area. That might be fun.

Thats it.

On Fruit

I like fruit, I always have. I remember living in southern California and eating 6-8 oranges from our tree everyday in January. It was good, but the fruit here is on a whole new level. I would imagine that this is because tropical fruits grow here, as opposed to Minnesota. Near Jesse's is a street devoted exclusively to selling fruit. Apparently, Acehnese business models ascribe to the logic that if one guy sets up a profitable coconut shed on a street, this is the only place where coconuts will sell. The street will soon sell coconuts exclusively and will be the only street in town to do so.

Jesse thinks that I can sample a new fruit every day while I'm here. So far I have had Guava, Mango, Pineapple, Papaya, Oranges, Jackfruit and Passion Fruit. I notice that the stalls also have apples imported from Washington State, and I haven't tried any of those. I've seen Avocado on juice menus. I think that will be my next experiment.

Culture Shock, Friends Shock, Nature Shock.

No amount of Britney, Barrie thinking I'm bumbling and unexperienced high schooler, or airplane food could prepare me for stepping off the plane in Medan at 10pm with only the directions to a hotel. Enormous billboards, dead rats, and prostitutes all steamed passed me on a current of completely random motorbike movement. All I could think of was a video game like Cruisin' USA where it doesn't matter where you drive or how narrowly you avoid crashing. Even with my jetlag, I arrived in my steaming room hyperventilating. And I brought running shoes? And I just left the comforts of the suburban United States for three months? WHAT WAS I THINKING??????

No amount of new things, incomprehensible language, or terror can ever hope to stand up against finally seeing the good friend you set out to see. When I saw Jesse at the Banda Aceh airport, I had been traveling for about 40 hours. I hadn't spoken to someone I knew or really communicated anything in just as long, so it was a relief to say the least. He quickly biked me into Banda Aceh where I saw Sarah Newman as well as Mia Walton and Guy Brown who were up for the week from Yogyajakarta. I really like seeing my friends.

No amount of dislike for carbonates environments, Midwestern lakes, or fresh water aquaria can prepare one for snorkeling on a coral reef of a secluded jungle isle. In my first glance under the waves, I saw two angelfish chasing each other between my legs. It was all there, from corrals, urchins, and anemones to puffer fish, parrot fish, eels and gars. It was such a traffic jam of fish that it felt like Medan all over again. Even the terror element was still there: you try swimming in the same ocean as an eel as thick as your arm. This is not an activity for Uncle Rob.

I'm missus OH MY GOD THAT BRITNEY'S SHAMELESS

Greetings. I'm at a Burgerking in the KL airport. How did that happen?

Well lets see, there 20 hours in the dark. That gets old after a while. I stayed awake for most of it doing a number of things:

• Getting the digits of the two elderly ladies from LA who flanked me. They also taught me some Chinese. I can now say hand, finger, watch, fingernail and joint. Thats all I really need, right?
  
• Watching Juno. I thought for sure that I would be the last Minnesotan to see that, but I guess now uncle Rob is. It was very very good, although the road between St. Cloud and the Cities does not look like that.
• Scoring 150,000 at Bejeweled II
• Changing the song that is running through my head from The Bird and the Bee's cover of "How Deep is your Love" to "Piece of Me;" the new one my Britney. Not only is this song BANGIN', it is also a nastier satire than Belle & Sebastion could ever muster. Brit is laughing at the entire world for having nothing else to talk about than what a mess she is. I listened to it on repeat for several hours.
  

I also somehow ended up in Taiwan. I though I was supposed to transfer in Tokyo, but I guess not. I guess those hours of perusing airline sites really payed off. It is 5.5 hours until my flight to Medan, but I am not going to go into KL proper because it would cost ~$100. Please. I think I'll have a better chance to see it on my way out.

Packing List

After consulting Jono and Sophie about packing, I have decided to pack absurdly light category.

• Pack: Lowe, light blue. Purchased at REI: Seattle in 1985 by my dad. Has slightly more capacity a day pack.
• Camera: Canon Powershot 540, no stories.
• Journal 8.5"x6.5" Black n' Red 24lb notebook. Complements of Bonnie Jean at SAFL
• Passport: For some reason it says I was born in Minneapolis. This hasn't been a problem in the past, but still...
• Books: Paradise Lost, The Omnivores Dilemma, and Lonely Planet Indonesian Phrasebook.
• Toothpaste, Razor, NEW Toothbrush, Gel, Malaria meds, Diarhea meds.
  
• Footwear: ~550 mile old Asics GT-2120's, Flip-flops
• Guilty concession: 25 mile old Asics GT-2130's. How are you not going to bring running shoes?

For mes amis,

• 3 data CDs of Western Music that contain, among other things, Dr. Dog, M.I.A. and White Rabbits
• Three books on To Kill A Mockingbird for Jesse, as well as a West Side Story DVD for Jesse.

For Wearing:

• Jono will try to outdo me by packing just two pairs of quick-drying undies. However, I will undercut him by bringing just one (1) pair of boxers.
• 2pr running shorts/boxers standby
• Swimming Trunks
  
• 1pr Jeans purchased from that thrift store in Oberlin.
• 3pr socks, running and otherwise.
• 3 Shirts Maroon Plaid button up, Verein Berliner Austauschschuler T, Oberlin Racing Jersey
• Marmot Raincoat I stole storage in Tank in 2006. It was in a box labeled 1986.

Thats it!

Rotation

So I'm about to travel around the world. I am traveling towards the west. Because I will not retrace my steps, I will end up having experienced one less rotation then all of you. Its like I will be a day younger. 

Since I will not be retracing my steps, my friend Albert (Einstein) will have to admit that my movements will actually speed up the rotation of the earth. Look forward to shorter days, sorry.

Tell me, O muse,

of that ingenious hero who travelled far and wide after he had sacked the famous town of Troy. Many cities did he visit, and many were the nations with whose manners and customs he was acquainted; moreover he suffered much by sea while trying to save his own life and bring his men safely home; but do what he might he could not save his men, for they perished through their own sheer folly in eating the cattle of the Sun-god Hyperion; so the god prevented them from ever reaching home. Tell me, too, about all these things, O daughter of Jove, from whatsoever source you may know them.

Yes yes, this is the telling of the epic of the Shawdyssey. I am that ingenious hero Shawdysseus, however, the opening passage breaks down into metaphor after the bard refers to me. By sacking the famous town of Troy, our bard means that I successfully navigated the perils of a choosing a graduate school (this still has yet to be done). The many cities that I did (will) visit are Banda Aceh, Indonesia, Kunming, China and every dorf between Izmir (Smyrna), Turkey and Berlin. Continuing into the second half of our bard's introduction, she completely looses touch with reality, as I can save my men even if they eat the brisket of those delicious cattle.

As the daughter of Jove weaves they story, and your wine makes the corners of the room hazy, we slip into present tense. We find me tying up various ends in the Twin Cities after a lovely 8 months there fighting them Trojans. At this point I have one last snag in my plan. It appears to me now that I should get an Indonesian Visa before I leave the US, rather than hanging around Kuala Lumpur for a few days getting it there. This would allow for three extra days in Indo which would be taken up by snorkeling with Jesse Sarah Mia and Guy Brown. There is no consulate in the Twin Cities, so I have to send away for such a Visa. If it doesn't return in 9 business days, then I'm hosed for the entire trip.

Find out what happens...