USS MIDWAY

Once in back in San Diego (and over the 14 hour time difference between here and Bali) I dragged Kendrah to the downtown pier to tour the USS Midway.

For those of you who don't know, the Midway was the longest serving aircraft carrier in US Naval history. She served for just over 47 years and has now been turned into a museum, complete with crew quarters (with lifesized, slightly scary-looking dolls), helicopters and retired fighter jets.

Okay, enough of a history lesson. On to the photos:

Kendrah, making herself comfortable in one of the very cozy bunks on the ship

He he, looks like he got caught!

Performing surgery

MY TRIP

Yes, I realize it's been ages and ages since I last posted. In fact, it's been more than a month. But I have my excuses for my laziness and delayed postings...which mostly consist of working, sleeping and drinking my way through the week.

At least I'm honest, people.

So, on to something slightly more important: my trip. My friend Jessica (from back home in London) has been teaching at a private school in Jakarta where the children are fluent in English. She teaches advanced English Lit classes for students who will (frequently but not always) head to schools in North America once they graduate. It's a busy and challenging job, but (as expected) she's excelling and loving her time there.

Anyway, Jess had a two week break for the Ramadan holiday, so she invited me to come visit Jakarta and then play on the island of Bali. It was a looong 22 hour flight, but totally worth it in the end.

JAKARTA

Riding the Ojek

This is how Jess gets around -you hire an Indo, and they drive you anywhere you want to go. Yup...that's me riding a motorbike without a helmet...

This was the quality of the shopping at the mall near Jess' house. Had to take the picture, given that I knew Kendrah would be drooling over the very thought of the beautiful shoes.

This is the hotel room we had when we stayed in a hotel in Jakarta. It was called the Hotel Mulia and it was 5 stars all the way. They even had someone to drape your napkin over your lap every time you sat down in a restaurant. We went for their Champagne Brunch one morning and it was incredible: champagne (duh!) and sushi and pasta and bread and cheese and oysters and....

You get the picture. Amazing.

Our rooftop pool. This was directly beside the spa, where we splurged (a relative term, since our entire stay was still well under budget) on 2 massages during our 3 day stay

One of the ways that Indos earn money. There isn't any social assistance or welfare there, so everyone has some type of job to earn their living. You've got to give them credit for their creativity, as they manage to fill every niche imaginable. This guy walks up and down the highway selling water and fruit to passing drivers.

My friend Jessica

We went to this restaurant called Koi one night. It was a fusion of Asian and European food. An interesting and delicious meal.


We went to the "Premiere Theatre" when we were in the city. It's only slightly more expensive than the regular theater, but your (HUGE) armchair fully reclines and you're given a pillow and a blanket to cuddle with throughout the movie. Plus, the staff bring snacks and drinks directly to your seat. Not a hard way to spend the night!

After the luxury of Jakarta, it was onto the raw beauty (and excessive drinking) of Bali....

BALI: PART I

After Jakarta, we headed to the island of Bali for some fun-in-the-sun. A total cliche, I know, but definitely true in this instance. We spent our days laying in the sun, by the pool and the beach, shopping, eating and reading some satisfyingly-cheesy beach books. Our nights were spent sampling the local restaurants, the local drinks, and dancing the night away at the tackiest bar I've seen since....

....hmmm.....

....there is simply no comparison.

Our first hotel had a rooftop infinity pool. After we got crispy our first day at the beach, we spent our second day on the island laying by the pool and cooling our aching skin. That's me, reading one of my mindless novels while admiring the
Indian Ocean

Jess and The Brit

"The Bounty Discotheque"

The cheesiness factor should be pretty apparent by this picture. A moment later, we had a full view of his bottom, as the underwear came sliding off. Kind of reminded me of the many episode of Queer As Folk that I've been obsessed with watching.

This was the bar where we spent the majority of our nights. It was a huge attraction for people our age from all over the world. We met people from Australia, New Zealand, Britain, Germany, Sweden, etc. Funnily enough, we didn't run into any other Americans or Canadians there. Guess the 22 hour flight is a big enough deterrent to keep them from the party island.

Our second hotel was slightly more rustic than the first. We had one of the penthouse suites -the rooms on the top floor- but things were still designed Indo style....meaning our bathroom was outside.

Yes, you read that correctly.

You walked outside of the room to get to the bathroom. It had shoulder-high walls, and rocks in the shower, and you could get a lovely view of the night sky while laying in the bathtub. Only in Indonesia would the penthouse suite feature an outdoor "luxury" bathroom!

Some of the views from our hotel room

Relaxing in the pool.

The peace sign is our little tribute to the Koreans we saw on our trip. At our first hotel, there was a group of 20-somethings and every single time they took a group photo (and they took plenty!) every last one of them would make a peace sign and flash it at the camera. It's got to be a cultural thing...cause we just didn't get it

We went out for dessert and drinks one night at a different bar -trying to avoid showing our faces too much at the Bounty. Little did we know this elegant bar would quickly turn into an "I'm old and shake my ass kinda funny but I still think I should be able to pick up hot young Indo girls" dance bar.

It was painful to watch

We amused ourselves by taking multiple pictures of ourselves....much to the annoyance of the couple next to us. But it kept us entertained all the same

Our seafood dinner on the beach.

We watched the sunset while they cooked us fresh seafood of our choosing. We had lobster and crab (still not as good as the stuff from the Wharf in San Fran though!) and shrimp and....I'm sure there was something else, but I'm drawing a blank at the moment. Either way, it was delicious, but far too much food!

BALI: PART II

Despite our multitude of days on the beach, we managed to squeeze some cultural days into our trip. We visited some rice paddies, a monkey forest, and and a temple in the sea. There were many more temples and tours we could have done, but this was what interested us, and still left us enough time to lounge in the sun before we had to fly home and re-enter the real world.

THE RICE PADDIES

The rice paddies

The farmers dry their rice on the side of the road on bamboo mats

THE MONKEY FOREST

We walked through a monkey forest on the island where we were allowed to feed them. I was enjoying it....until one tried to climb up my leg. And given that Jess is scared of the monkeys, we hightailed it out of there pretty quickly afterwards.

That would be the over-eager monkey!

THE NASTY SURPRISE

This fantastic toilet cost me $1000 rupiah to use. The equivalent of about $0.10 USD.

I should have held it.

THE TEMPLE IN THE SEA

This is a Hindu temple that is actually IN the sea. During low tide, you can walk across the rocks and wander around the base of the temple. Monks live here, so the temple is closed, except on religious holidays, when Hindus are allowed to bring gifts for the gods. When high tide comes in, the temple becomes it's own island. At night, tourists gather to watch the sunset and the rising tide.

BALI: BEACH DAYS

We hit either the beach or the pool every day we were there. Crispy and burnt quickly turned into tanned and glowing. And that was despite slathering ourselves with SPF 45 sunscreen.....if that doesn't work....there is no hope.

Good thing I don't mind the freckles I get following a couple days in the sun!

Women on the beach come around and peel these mini-pineapples into spirals on a stick. They were sweeter than any pineapple I've ever had back home....

...but when my tongue started to tingle and go numb, I didn't like them quite so much anymore....

That's me, waving from the warm Indian Ocean

The Indo boy who rented us the beach chairs for the afternoon

KAYAKING IN LA JOLLA

After our lesson in Half Moon Bay, Kendrah and I rented sea kayaks in La Jolla and spent the afternoon on the water, exploring the coastline and the caves around the town. It was a pretty fun afternoon on the water. We saw more seals, tons of other kayakers, and some crazy waves crashing against the rocks as the tide came in.

You probably can't see it, but that's Kendrah coming out of one of the caves.

Brave Girl!