Thanksgiving in June

I'm on the plane to Shanghai and this is the first of eight flights so far this summer that I haven't been able to sleep, even with Seal's buttery smooth voice on Audio-on-Demand. There are eight flights after this. We are approaching week 6 of the summer, and I have 4 weeks of international travel left. My mind is restless.

I can't stop thinking about how privileged I am to be on this trip at all, and how absolutely grateful I am for the people in my life. There are those who are making it logistically possible-- providing funds to explore and enjoy, offering me a place to stay, showing me around their cities, and just generally being some of the most generous, gracious people that I am lucky enough to associate with; those from home (both ATL and LA) who keep me grounded and feeling connected by continuing to communicate with me online and remind me of how good things are on my side of the world; those who I may not have talked to, but I know I'll be excited to see at the end of summer; and those who I've encountered on this journey and have done so much to alter my perspective of the world.

Even in thinking about the people who I was once close with but no longer am, I know and appreciate how great they are and how they've contributed to my being. Other than the ones that suck, obvi :)


Then I wake up and realize-- who is this person? How am I having such happy thoughts, how am I feeling so satisfied with everything, how did I get so damn lucky? More importantly, how can I perpetuate this feeling? The answer-- who the hell knows, but I should write this shit down.

That's it. Deep thoughts over. Though my fall schedule of 20 units including research, ultimate, APAMSA, and hopefully volunteering/shadowing and a job will take a lot to finesse while keeping myself both sane and satisfied. As usual, the way I like it.

Two of the things I am most looking forward to seeing at ATL home.

 Last day in Jakarta featured lots of lounging around, eating, drinking, and manicuring. My fingernails are a shimmery black. I drank a cup of Kopi Luwak coffee-- the kind referenced by Jack Nicholson in The Bucket List-- unique because the ripe coffee berries get eaten by a civet cat whose digestive system can't digest the bean which then gets shitted out, chemically altered by stomach acid and digestive enzymes (thanks to Herrera/physiology I could name these, along with the pathway they follow to the shitter), and collected by poor Indo coffee growers and sold at staggering prices.

Classy cup, just for this coffee.

 It's a really rich, dark coffee bordering on bitter, with a distinct taste that I'm having a really hard time verbalizing. It's a bit of a sour but fresh and fruity high note which then fades into a more mellow soury aftertaste. Even so, sour isn't the right word. Merrrrrh. Anyway, the coffee is excessively acidic as expected when considering its development process, and my stomach was not too much of a fan of that part which is why I stopped drinking normal coffee. But I figured, when else am I going to drink authentic cat shit coffee?

And since it's now 4 am Shanghai time I'll probably spend the day planning and organizing my 2 weeks there, sorting out the weekend trip to Beijing, and napping so I can be energized to PLAY PICKUP IN THE EVENING. Hopefully. No cleats, ankle braces, or spandex will be very new for me.


Also, I just watched Just Go With It, with Adam Sandler and Jennifer Aniston. It was surprisingly good, a fuzzy romcom that's not entirely retarded and had quite a few genuinely laughable moments. I don't even usually like Jen. And I realized Adam Sandler seems to enjoy doing movies in Hawaii. Makes me want to go back.


This post failed as a photoblog entry... Don't worry though, there will be countless photo opps through Shanghai!

Also, this plane consists of the most densely Chinese-populated group of people I've seen in a long time. It makes me a bit uncomfortable when everyone looks like me, but more fobby. Better get used to it, I guess.

To Ponyo + food adventures!

To China and its commie state.

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It's now 2 days later and I'm typing yet another multi-post post since I only occasionally have internet access. I considered completely ignoring the last post since I was likely delusionally exhausted (I ended up sleeping all afternoon the first day I was in SH since I slept MAYBE an hour on the overnight flight. Later realized my restlessness may have also been caused by the Kopi Luwak.), but then I decided I would still post it so the few people who read this blog might think that I actually have a soul...

Mosquito bites all over my leg and ant bites
on my feet from Bali. You drank my
blood, now I'm thirsting for yours. Bitch.

 Chilled and explored Nanjing Dong Lu today, a big pedestrian shopping area in the center of town. Saw Annie's workplace, got noodles for lunch, drank 2 bobas (secret goal: try as many different boba places as possible and find the best one in SH), got a guidebook, listed the sights I want to see and grouped them by location to plan efficient days. I have an exploration partner here, Dan, Annie's boyfriend, who is also here to visit and explore the city, so we'll trek together! At last my foreign language skills are useful. He's white.

A regular boba is about $1 USD here. Same in Taiwan. Historically when I visit Taiwan I make sure to drink at least 1/day. I fully plan to continue that trend, which means I will be consuming just about a month's worth of daily bobas. In the states the same amount of money would only support this addiction for 1 week.

SH has murky skies. Almost as bad as Jakarta.
Makes LA look good-- at least we have
blue skies often despite the pollution.

Lunch: Soupy noodles with salt pork and some shredded
vegetable with sauteed mushrooms on the side.
Plus soup buns. $3 USD/person. Screw you, Oz.

Underground pedestrian street crossing at People's Square
(peep-o squah, as they say on the metro announcements),
doubling as a replica of 1930's SH, quickly transitioning
into a commercial pedestrian mall.

 Hit up Isola, an Italian bar/grill in Pudong for happy hour. It was a really classy, upscale place and we sauntered in looking like ratty college kids. Oops. And happy hour really just meant 2 for 1 of a certain drink. We splurged on food. No more paying for Western food in the Eastern hemisphere. Other than fast food.

Arugula/mushroom/grape/parm salad with strawberry
Caipirinha, some Portuguese cocktail

Oh oh also, even with limited internet, China blocks facebook and youtube. USC VPN connection=superwin! And when I got off the plane I got a text basically saying 'Hey, We know you're here and you're on our phone network. We're watching. Don't screw up or forget to dial +. Love, China'

Chinese Big Brother is watching. Scary.

Back from Bali

Bali is not exactly what I expected it to be. For some reason I had the glossy, luxurious paradise image that is typically associated with the place, but I was reminded that it's still an island in Southeast Asia. To me that means the water and scenery of Hawaii plus the motorcycles, dirty streets, desperate street vendors, and stray dogs of Taiwan. Even so, charming place with unbeatable character and culture.

Also, geographical clarification: Bali is an island which is part of Indonesia. Only one small part of it is typical to tourist visitation and even there it is barely industralized, though it's apparent that any development centers around tourism needs. Interesting, and I was surprised/upset at how ignorant I am about the real layout of the world. We're staying in Seminyak, the typically classier, more quiet but still touristey district.

Yesterday we flew in, lunched, and went street shopping through Kuta, the more raucous portion of Bali. Bought some things, sharpened my rusty bargaining skillz, and rested on the beach until the sun/hunger set. The beach itself was dirtier and the water less clear than what I had gotted used to on Oahu, but I was also in the Waikiki equivalent where there are always tons of people, so who knows about the rest of the island. The surf looked pretty good though.

A beach entrance.

Our room.

Internet shed, outdoorsy lounge area.

Me and Evelyn at Warung Made for lunch. Touristey place with
ok food but really cute Indo decor.

Fruit seller on the street. It's impressive how much shit people can
carry on their heads. I was so nervous taking my slice of papaya,
scared I'd make the whole thing topple while trying to seek out the
biggest slice :)

Bali beach + sunset.

A few minutes later, sun closer to horizon.

Corner of a sarong I bought.

Wooden, carved penises are apparently a favorite for Balinese
souvenir salespeople to make and stock. These were the biggest, most
bedazzled ones we saw. They some in all colors, sizes, and
functions-- keychains, bottle openers, statues!

These wooden ones are much more common. Quite the selection.

Latenight outing to Ku de Ta, a loungey restaurant place.

I got a hot chocolate :) Melting chocolate with hot milk
poured over it. So good and fresh and creamy.

Today we slept in, had breakfast at the hotel, and went to explore Pura Tanah Lot, a distinct 'floating' temple. Then trekked all the way south to Ulu Watu to see a traditional Balinese Kecak dance. Really cool stuff.

View of hotel from breakfast table.

Drank a young coconut. Scraping the meat. Yes, I had a metal
spoon in my backpack :) Victory loves preparation.

With Evelyn, in front of temple!

At low tide there's a rocky pathway to get to the temple, but only
actual worshippers are allowed in.

Can't resist watching waves break against rock.

View back to a traditional-looking building on the land.

Floating temple!

Do I fit the bill? The place was called Naughty Nuri's. BBQ.

 THERE WERE MONKEYS RUNNING AROUND IN THE FOREST IN ULU WATU!

SO CUTE! Look at the little one hugging its mommy! One of them ended
up getting in a tree behind those people and jumping on one. She
screamed. It was hilarious... for me. Another one stole a woman's
glasses off her face.

Ok fine, this is pretty picturesque Bali. Monkeys on a ledge, yet
another sacred building in a logistically confusing location, sunset
through the clouds.

The dance featured no instruments, only a 70-man chorus. After the
procession in, they made a sortof circle, and all of the minimal
action took place in the little space between them and the fire,
where an offering was made for some spiritual purpose.

Really interesting costumes, makeup, plot, and everything. The dance
motions are very small-scale and involve a lot of delicate, detailed
hand and finger movements, paired with entirely apathetic facial
expressions.

The final act featured a white monkey being burned to death, but he
was magical so he defeated the circle of fire. Cool story.

With one of the dancers. She basically held that
expression through the entire performance.

With the white monkey, in case you can't tell.

Tomorrow (now today, by the time I post this), is Ubud day! Mountainey region, more temples and monkeys. Doing cultural things that can only be found here-- I'll beach elsewhere. Then back to Jakarta for a day, and off to Shanghai for 2 weeks! That will mark the halfway point of my international trip. Weird/exciting!

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Ok, so I failed at posting this morning and am now sitting in the Denpasar (Bali) airport waiting for my delayed flight back to Jakarta. Lots of waiting around reminds me how much I thrive on efficiency. We did make it to Ubud and though we didn't get to do everything I would have liked, the things we did do were awesome. A bit more shopping at yet another street marketplace, lunch, then the monkey sanctuary!

Look how adorable! They were pretty assertive when bananas were
around and wouldn't hesitate to climb on people to get food.

Little one learning to climb :) Technically these are all Balinese
macaques, and about 300 of them live in this forest.

Baby holding onto mommy's stomach!

This one stole a whole bunch of bananas and sat in a tree savoring
each and every one. People got mad that he stole. I think he
deserved it. Clever monkey.

Blurry but there's a monkey on my shoulder trying to get the
banana in my hand.

Blurring the lines of racism.

I might have rabies. Note new black necklace
to add to my collection!

Boarding time at last. Jakarta tomorrow, then off to Shanghai to see Ponyo and Dan!

Also, it dawned on me that today is June 18. AMCAS applications (for med school, to matriculate in fall 2012) opened June 1. I am so happy with my decision to not apply this year, which I only recently accepted as a great detour rather than a setback.

Colloidal Jakarta

Evelyn and I have basically been eating, going to a new destination, exploring, eating, repeat. Jakarta is quite the interesting city, with the traffic, pollution, and population of Mexico City, the slums of the Dominican, and the luxuries of Dubai, all juxtaposed among each other. The richest and the poorest are all here, crowding on one of 110,000+ islands which compose Indonesia, including Java, Sumatra and of course Bali.

Yesterday, I arrived and we went to explore Kota, the old historic town which used to be the center of everything when the Dutch were in control and Indonesia was still the Dutch East Indies (Indo wasn't independent until 1945. And I found that I recognize certain islands for coffee blends. The infamous mongoose-poop coffee is also popular here.).

Iced delima jelly with avocado. They eat avo as an actual fruit here, it's delicious!

Possibly the old Dutch town hall? And Indo flag, which
I might have initially thought was the Polish one.

Not much was maintained very well after the Dutch left.

Except for the adorable Cafe Batavia which is meant to provide a colonial experience.

A ring with my name being custom engraved in
Taman Fatahillah, old Dutch city square, less than $2.

In a mall which looked like a giant Barbie house. Indos love their
AC malls, for good reason. Also, apparently I look local
here too. That or Japanese... wtf.

A hand-painted Italian-style fresco on Evelyn's living room wall.

Chandelier, glass wall, pool, gym.

Absolutely gorgeous living room, spiral staircase, etc.

Dining room. Again, divine.

Even the downstairs bathroom is beautiful.

Today we explored Jalen Surabayan, a market-type street featuring antiques. It's always impressive how much crap street vendors manage to hold onto and day by day, try to sell. Some of it was really cool though--

Pillar of shy Buddhas.

Reminds me of The Life Aquatic.

Evelyn in one of a streetful of these teeny, cramped shops.

Old school printing press. They had old binoculars,
microscopes, phones, cameras, spotlights, and much more.

A shop featuring chandeliers.
These people are excessively space-efficient.

Break for drinks at Cali Deli. It's actually a Viet place.
I had a sweet black rice/condensed milk ice thing,
and Evelyn had a Viet iced coffee of some sort.

 We stopped at the National Monument, then drove by Mesjid Istiqlal, one of the noted huge mosques in Southeast Asia. We were going to get out and go in, but we were in shorts and slightly (extremely) intimidated by the militant-looking Muslims around.

With the giant, phallic National Monument.

Amazing carved storyboard sculptures on
a wall right outside the throbbing erection.

Hmph.

View from the top of the penis. Jakarta is not the cleanest city.
Note little run-down shacks right before the towering skyscrapers.

View of Mesjid Istiqlal. Look at the tiny cathedral
in between the small dome and the pointy thing.

Lunch juices-- soursop and avo/chocolate. Forgot to take a
picture of my Jakarta chicken curry, but it was a beautiful
medium between Indian and Thai yellow curry, but more
coconut milky and lighter.

 Tickets to Bali booked for Thursday-Saturday! Excited!