Istanbul: Turkish Delight

Aaaahhhh… the country of Apple Tea and Turkish delight … hard to not love Istanbul. We spent almost two full days here and had a GREAT time. The weather was cool but sunny and – for the first time in two weeks – I did not feel like I was melting at every turn. We came to Istanbul with my mom and Ben on Great Escape 2009 and, everywhere we went, I felt their presence. Homesickness set in. I ended up staying at the hotel - for almost an hour after we got our scavenge book – so I could call the boys and just hear their voices. The time change between the US and Asia makes it virtually impossible to talk to them until we get this far west. It was so nice to just hear them, even though they were heading out to school and could not talk for long.
Some of our Istanbul scavenges:
#1: The Obvious: We had to visit the Haga Sofia and the Blue Dome – of course. I put my finger in The Sweating Wall in the Haga Sofia and made a complete turn of my hand while making a wish (apparently all the steps necessary to guarantee that my wish will come true)… Sure hope that the legend it true as it was a good wish.
#2: The Unexpected: We got stopped in the main square by two ten year old girls who were required to talk to strangers for their English homework assignment. We had to answer a long list of random questions (like: “What season do you like best?” and “What kind of pet do you have?”). Their English was great and they were so serious about getting all of the questions asked and accurately recording the answers. Very cute.
#3: The Grand Bazaar: The grand market was teaming with people so we wandered around for almost a hour, people-watching and getting the answers to various scavenger questions. For example, we had to find this particular carpet shop and get a list of famous people who had bought carpets there (Answer: Harvey Keitel, Elizabeth Hurley). This may not seem like a big deal but there are approximately 892 carpet stores in the Grand Bazaar and finding this exact one is somewhat of a Herculean feat. We also bought a set of Russian stacking dolls and “Evil Eye” blue-stoned key chains.
# 4: Smoking ChiChi: We had to spend an hour visiting with people at a specific Hookah bar in the middle of the trendy area of town (Cemberlitas). We tried apple tobacco upon the recommendation of our waiter but it burned the back of my throat and made me cough. We drank cup after cup of apple tea.
#5: Bonus trip to Ephesus: On the second morning, we took a bonus trip to Ephesus. I was dreading it because it involved a 4 AM wake-up call and I’ve had just about enough of waking up before dawn. But it ended up being a great day. The flight was short (less than an hour) and then an easy car ride to Ephesus. We ended up with lots of time so we wandered slowly through the ruins, took tons of photos and then sat and ate lunch in the market area at the end. The poppies are in bloom and the flowers grow all in-between the rocks and ruins making the whole place seem alive with color. Seems unreal that this statue had survived the elements for all of these years and still looks so great.
#5: Hammam: Traditional Turkish Bath: We had to go to a Turkish bath and take in the experience. So we found ourselves in this large marble-lined room with dozens of other half-nude women sweating out the toxins and getting scrubbed up – with lots of bubbles and soap – by muscled female attendants. A Hammam is like a giant public sauna and bath house where the women sit around on this marble circular stage in the middle of the room and gossip and giggle. The men’s section is separate. We came out feeling clean and exfoliated.
Good-Bye Asia: Hello Europe
Leaving Turkey was the end of the Asia leg. We are heading to Madrid now to start the Europe trek. In this part of the trip, we’ll be dumped in Madrid and have to make our way through several countries over 4 or 5 days doing scavenges along the way. We have to arrange our own transportation and figure out the best route to get the most scavenges done in the various countries. I’ve never been to Spain, so I’m looking forward to this leg. This is also the part of the trip where we have to travel with all of our luggage again – on planes, trains, buses etc. – and by the end I will likely be cursing every extra pair of socks that I have in my suitcase. I even threw away from clothes in Istanbul to try and lighten the load… but I’m still pretty much hauling around a body bag. I am dreading that part.
Observations from Asia:
1) Washing clothes in India: There is an area in Mumbai called the Dhoti Ghats: a large laundry area - or field of concrete squares - that is flooded with clean water once per week. Men work from dawn to dusk - standing thigh high in the water - scrubbing sheets, clothes and linens with blocks of soap and beating them on the concrete sides to get them clean and then hanging it all up to dry in the blistering sun. Apparently more than 50% of the laundry of Mumbai is done here, including laundry for some of the best hotels. It sort of goes without saying that the day that you send things out to wash in Mumbai is important as you clearly want to time your washing for “clean water” day instead of “6 days into dirty water” day.
2) This was my favorite quote from Gandhi’s house – and not just because I am a woman – but because it seems so true: “To call women the weaker sex is a libel, it is man’s injustice to women. If by strength is meant moral power then woman is immeasurably man’s superior…If non-violence is the law of our being, the future is with women.” Just being where he had slept and walked and studied was impactful and has stayed with me.
3) Trying to stay clean in the face of abject poverty: A little boy in the slums of Mumbai bathing in an old paint can half-filled with dirty water. All you can think is: “There but for the grace of God, go I.” How is it that I was luck enough to born into my life and this poor child was born into his?
4) Asian culture is are so vibrant with color – and color is such a part of their lives - that they even decorate their public transport (called Jeepneys). These were originally re-modeled US Jeeps that were left behind after the Korean war. Every Jeepney is a different artistic expression.
5) Dawn: Sunrise: Dawn: We have seen the sun rise almost every day of the trip as Bill usually has some scavenge - with lots of points – that occurs only at dawn. He is either a true sadist or he wants us up and out of bed (doing and seeing things) early every day. I have not yet decided which is true. But what is true is that there is an “out of this world” feeling about being on a Buddhist monument – watching out at the city of Yogykarta – while the sun rises.
6) It took us full effort to climb to the top of Mount Brumo for sunrise – and there were even horses available to carry the elderly or kids to the top – and this girl decided to hike it in heels!!!! Vanity is apparently the same throughout the world: a powerful emotion that overcomes all reason!!!
7) Our hotel in Bali was SOOOOO luxurious that they laid out rose petals each night on our bed and gave us fresh night gowns (of soft cotton) to sleep in. And best of all.. the nightgowns were clean and smelt like sunshine (which is not true of virtually every thing in my suitcase by now). We are hand-washing our clothes each night and, when you soak what you wore that day, the water is BLACK with grime. Even with multiple washing cycles, our clothes are not in great shape. And do not smell particularly good. I can’t wait to get home to machine washed clothes.
8) This was a staple meal for us throughout Asia: Nasi Goreing or fried rice. Except, here, instead of mixing the egg in with the rice, the egg comes on top (like an omellete hat)

9) I am having a serious chat with one of the orphans in Manilla . He is not understanding a word that I am saying… obviously!!!
10) This what many of our meals in Asia looked like: not a single recognizable thing on the table.

11) In the fish market outside of Seoul, there was a woman making fish cakes on an open fire … and pressing them into the shape of fish. Apparently fish tastes best when it looks like fish.

12) Emily and Elizabeth are doing well as team mates, no major fights although there have been a few minor meltdowns. Every team has been tested by the competition as each day is HARD, busy, exhausting and often frustrating. As expected, emotions can run high and there are tears from time to time.

India: Lessons in inspiration, poverty and death

India- as always - was incredible: incredibly heart-wrenching, incredibly impactful, incredibly “India.” Mumbai (formerly Bombay) is a far more cosmopolitan, up-to-date city that some of the other parts of India that I’ve visited. And it has fantastic architecture left over from the British rule. But that is just the prettier backdrop for the same unbelievable poverty that is India. What a mass of humanity... everywhere you look there are people – and more people – and more people. It seems impossible to real impact any meaningful changes in this country in the face of that many people. Our three days in India brought powerful lesson on poverty and dying....Just a few of the scavenges we did:
#1: High Court: We went to watch court proceedings in the High Court. The lawyers still wear the English-style black gowns (like graduation gowns) over their suits but no longer wear the funny white wigs like the barristers in England still do. All legal proceedings are conducted in English and we watch a series of docket calls and argument on various motions. Very interesting. # 2: Inspiration: We also went to the house where Gandhi lived and where he was living when he was shot. His room is still exactly as it was when he lived there… his sleeping pallet, his spinning wheel, his books. All over the walls are photos from his life and some of his most inspiring quotes. There is also a copy of the letters that he wrote to Hitler and to President Roosevelt during World War II, begging both men to help avoid war and suffering. It was so inspiring to be right there: where Gandhi walked and slept and ate.
# 3: Dying ceremony No. 1: Cremation: We were supposed to observe a Hindu cremation ceremony. And.. unbelievably.. we did!! There is something miraculous about any event being listed as a potential scavenge in the book – because suddenly it becomes not only possible but actually do-able. Normally it would never occur to me to try and attend a perfect stranger’s funeral. But then Bill prints it as a scavenge and off we set for the largest crematorium in Mumbai. In the Hindu religion, once you die you are reincarnated. So a dead body is not very important as the soul has already moved on. The preferred method of burial is cremation and you can choose either an open air wooden pit or a furnace-like cremation. This crematorium offered both options. When we arrived, no-one spoke English and I have no idea who they thought we were, but they treated us like arriving royalty. We first got a tour of the open-air fire pits and then the owner of the facility took us into the furnace area. A funeral was in full swing. We were led right up to the front and told to stand right next to the body (the family members all smiled at us and made room for us to stand right at the front). It was very unnerving as suddenly we were an intimate part of this elderly lady’s funeral. Her body was laid out on a bamboo stretcher and two “priests” pressed what looked like un-leaven dough on her forehead and into her mouth, put flowers in her nose and between each of her toes and then poured thick cream on her face. Then her sons came forward and kissed her feet and a large clay pot of water was smashed on the ground. The pot breaking was the end of the ceremony and suddenly a door opened in the wall and her body was pushed into an open fire and burned. As a Westerner, I have to admit to being fairly freaked out… but it was also mesmerizingly interesting to watch a Hindu funeral up close.
# 4: Dying Ceremony No 2: Another scavenger was to visit the Tower of Silence which is an area in Mumbai where a certain sect of Hindus take their dead and leave the bodies for the crows to eat the flesh. You cannot actually go into that part but I took a photo of one of the circling crows because it seemed so odd to know that this bird had just been feeding on human bodies.
#5: Lessons in Poverty: The scavenge was to take a tour of the largest slum in Mumbai. Once again, since it was a scavenge, what would normally seem to be impossible, became a valid option. Natasha and David tracked down a very nice man who did walking tours of the slums and we hired him to take us the following day. We met Tessy at Café Leopold (which is a hip café in the center of Mumbai that still has bullet holes in the wall from where it was shot up during the terrorist attack in 2008) and he started the tour by taking us on the local train out to the slum. The train station alone was an experience. The slum houses 1.2 million people in an area that is the size of a large park. Each home is like a 10X 10 space in which 6-8 people live. They own nothing: no beds, no blankets, no pillows, nothing. We got to actually go into the homes, meet the people, walk through the streets (if you can call mud alleyways a “street”) and see exactly how the people live. There is one large garbage pile area and - since it is the only open area in the slums - it is filled with kids playing cricket and running around. Yes, you read that right… the kids’ playground is the garbage pit. And they play there without any shoes (as they don’t own any) and limited clothes. The average daily wage for the slum dwellers is less than $2 per day. It was an amazing and humbling experience.
We are now off to Instabul for two days... I have been to Instanbul before and really liked it. Also really looking forward to being in a more Western and modern city for change...and one with cooler weather than the sweltering heat of India.

Singapore fling

By the time we cleared customs and checked our bags into Left Luggage, we had a total of five hours to conquer Singapore during our lay-over to India. We rushed out of the airport, figured out the subway system (with some solid assistance from several very nice strangers) and ran around Singapore at top speed, picking up points as we went. One scavenge was to ride the G-Max which is like a space capsule on a bungy cord. You get strapped in and then flung up in the air like a rocket ship. The pod bounces and spins in all directions on a bungy system. Being afraid of heights, this was one scavenge that Rainey had to do alone.. as there was NO WAY that I was getting on that thing. Emily and Elizabeth went with Rainey and I was the photographer.
Nasty food scavenge for Singapore: noodles with squid. You see a little one lurking in the front of the bowl… squidy legs afloat. I ate around it and the noodles were pretty good. Off to India.. stay tuned

Beautiful Bali

The whole object of travel is not to set foot on foreign land; it is at last to set foot on this part of one's own earth. -- Gilbert K. Chesterton

Bali.. even the name is exotic.. and the place is even better. We got two whole days in heaven. There are no words to describe how GREAT it is to be in Bali after the train-ride, no-sleep trek across Java. The first morning we slept in late (which, on this trip, means we did not get out of bed until 8 AM….WOW). It was delicious. Then we set off to explore Bali. A few highlights from our adventures:
A. Sanur: a small seaside town with lots of westerners. We rented bikes and rode around the city. It felt great to be mobile even if the bikes did not have working gears or great brakes (and stopping meant putting down your feet and grinding your shoes on the pavement). We rode to a beach for lunch and then took a boat out to the reef and went snorkeling. There were so many fish that it was like swimming through a crowded Indian train station of fish. The fish were actually touching you because there were so many of them. Last stop was to a spa for a “fish pedicure” where we put our feet into an aquarium and little fish ate all of the dried skin off our toes and heels and sucked on the skin to bring blood into our feet. It is the oddest experience – part tickly, part sucking feeling, mainly bizarre. But it does make your feet feel better once it is over.

B. Katu: Another seaside city where we had to find the memorial for the 2002 bombing. You might remember than in October of 2002, terrorists bombed a popular tourist night club in Bali and killed over 300 people (almost a third of which were Australians). In that spot, they built a memorial which lists all of the names of the dead and people bring flowers and small mementos to the shrine. The day before, family of an Australian couple who died in the fire, had left photos and flowers in memory of this couple. It was very sobering.

C. Elephant Camp: We visited the elephant camp where a couple (husband from Australia and wife from Bali) went out and rescued almost a dozen sick and diseased elephants from the logging camps of Sumatra and brought then to Bali. They created a beautiful reserve for the elephants and you can visit to feed the elephants, ride them, take them into the pond for a swim… interact with them. It was fun.

D. Monkey Temple: We visited an Indiana Jones style temple in the middle of the rain forest in Ubud that is literally covered with monkeys. You buy fruit and bananas on your way into the forest and the monkeys clamber all over you to take (or steal) the food. In fact you have to put everything into your bag and zip it up of the naughty monkeys will steal your hat or sunglasses or anything in our hands. There were tons of baby monkeys playing and scampering about and they would come right up to you and hold your hand and take the bananas right from you.

E. Massage: And highlight of the trip… I got a massage at our hotel which was the most luxurious, elegant, unbelievable experience. Each massage table is in a private bungalow on the river where you hear the

waterfall and babbling water as the background to the massage. When I arrived they gave me sugar tea and a sweet cookie and then a beautiful and gentle woman poured warm oil all over me and gently rub out all of my aches and pains. It ends – 90 minutes later- with her putting me into a Jacuzzi, feeding me chilled fresh fruit and putting a cool clothe on my head… while I watched the river stream by in my own private piece of heaven. And the bill: $61. I am sooooo coming back to this island. It is wonderful.
Our next stop is Singapore for a 7 hour lay-over on our way to Mumbai, India. We are going to get the book of Singapore scavenges when we land and will have only limited time to get as much done as we can. Then off to India. I’ve never been to Mumbai (formerly Bombay) so really looking forward to it.

Observations from Indonesia
#1: On top of the volcano

(Mount Bromo), it is cold in the morning so we had to pile on the clothes. Nice change from the heat of Yogyakarta. While

the trip to get there is beyond awful (and actually

the worse travel experience I’ve ever had), the actual climb is very doable (nothing like Adam’s Peak in Sri Lanka

which we had to climb last year) and the sunrise is memorable.
#2: Squat toilets are horrific and are the most likely cause of chronic voluntary constipation in South East Asia. Why does Korea have great toilets with heated seats and

a short flight away in Indonesia you still have to squat down over a hole in the ground?

#3: Unless you are Indonesian

it is hard to look anything but goofy in the temple sarongs that you must wear to enter any temple. Western men just cannot seem to get the hang of walking in a

skirt.

#4: The Balinese people are kind

and gentle. They truly welcome you to their island and they take the concept of service to a new level.#5: In every square inch – literally – of Bali is a sacred statue, shrine, temple or some piece of wood or stone that has been carved within an inch of its life into something creative, scary or beautiful.

It makes the whole island an adventure in sensory overload as everywhere you look, there is something incredible to see . Each year one country grabs my heart and this year, it is Bali.

Indonesia: Heaven and Hell

Countries, like people, are loved for their failings.
--F. Yeats Brown

Indonesia: Love it.. Hate it.. in Equal parts. We flew into Yogyakarta on the island of Java and found out that the major points - in this leg - would go to the teams that travelled all across Java to Bali - using ONLY local modes of transportation (trains, buses, ferries, tuk-tuks)…by ourselves … hauling our body-bags of luggage with us... URGGHHH!!! Flying woudl cost a huge penalty. And just in case you are wondering, Indonesian local transport is NOT set up for Americans travelling with large suitcases and backpacks. It was 46 hours straight of nightmare and without sleep or real food.
The very first morning in Java we had to do a mandatory challenge (i.e. a challenge that you have to do or you lose all points for the entire leg) that involved us getting up at 3 AM to drive to an amazing monument (which we then climbed up in the pitch black) and watched the sun rise from the top. It was neat to be in the dark and feeling your way and then the sun starts to rise and you realize what an amazing ancient structure you are actuallyt sitting on. But a bitch of a wake-up call.
What made it even worse is that we then had to keep going.. from 3 AM .. for over 41 hours straight. If traveling by train, bus and bicycle tuk-tuk across Indonesia is not hell, it’s pretty close to it. Three teams went together: Rainey and I, his daughters (Elizabeth and Emily) and Natasha and David. We had the wildest experiences on this leg. At our first stop, we confronted abject corruption as we got stopped at the scavenge site and forced to pay a bribe for “parking fees.” Really pissed me off as the guy just extorted money from us. He would not let us go through until we paid him. The second train (or “the meat locker”) was FREEZING to the point that I put on layers of clothes and wrapped my head in a T-shirt and was still chilled to the bone. Rainey wrapped his legs in a rain poncho to try and curb the frostbite. The third train (or the “roach mobile) had no air conditioning and was overrun with cockroaches that desperately wanted to crawl on your legs. I was beyond grossed-out. I had to do yoga breathing to stop my sheer panic at the vermin. But, by then, we had been traveling for 11 hours straight in the heat so we all fell asleep and woke up - with a start - at a train station that we thought was the right one. We threw our luggage off the train and jumped out– only to discover that we had got it wrong and we were now stuck in the middle of NOWHERE. And clearly Americans are not a common sight at this village. Every single person at the train station was staring at us like we were the animals in a National Geographic After-School TV special. Emily had a mild panic attack and I honestly cannot blame her. Talk about being under a microscope. We had to wait for the next train which cost us time so we ended up getting into Probolingo late at night. When the train pulled away, we were the ONLY people in sight. No-one anywhere. No taxis. Nothing. So there we were… no idea what to do next.. except we knew that we had to try and get a few hours sleep before we started this big climb up a volcanic mountain to see sunrise from the top. But the power of the American Dollar won out. The word obviously got out in town that Americans were at the train station and the bicycle rickshaws started arriving from every corner. We had to take one rickshaw per person so we could fit luggage and the rickshaw gang leader told us that he could take us to “his friend’s house” who could arrange for a mini-van to get us to the foot of the volcano in time. With no other choice, we had to “trust strangers in strange lands” and off we set. Fifteen minutes of hard pedaling later, we arrived deep in a neighborhood at someone’s house. A lot of loud knocking and yelling and a sleepy woman and 2 children came to the door to say that the mini-van driver was out drinking (always a good sign) but she would call him. Thirty minutes of us waiting in a back alley of Probolingo with 6 rickshaws and drivers and luggage and the sweetest sight I ever saw showed up.. a man with a van who spoke English (even if he was a little drunk). He piled us all in the van, made some calls, took us to a flea-bag hotel for a shower and 2 hours of sleep (the shower was gross and mainly cold water but still fantastic after the cockroach train but the bed was overrun with little black bugs that scurried across the pillows), came back for us at 2:30 AM (which is the time you have to leave in order to get to the summit by sunrise) and we started our trek to the top of Mount Bromo. By this time we had been awake for almost 24 hours and had not eaten a meal in almost that long. And then… we made it... and stood at the top of Mount Brumo for sunrise and it suddenly all seemed worthwhile. I wish that I could upload some photos of the experience but for some reason by computer as decided to stop recognizing my camera chip. I am going to work on that.., but for now.. let me say that it was an awe-inspiring sight (even through the blurry vision of no sleep) to watch the sun rise over the volcanic cloud of ash from the active volcano.
After the climb down, it was another 11 hours by bus and ferry to Bali…. Where we finally found heaven at the end of the road through hell. Our hotel in Bali is THE NICEST hotel that I have ever stayed in. It gives 5 stars a new meaning. Double WOW. Can’t wait to get out and about in Bali as this place seems amazing. But first.. some sleep.

Thrilla in Manilla

We arrived in Manilla in the afternoon and Bill did not open the leg until almost 3 PM. We decided straight off to do a bonus challenge of working with a charity called Hospicio de San Jose. The traffic in Manilla is AWFUL so it took us over an hour to find the place – which turned out to be a home for orphaned or abandoned children (they call them “surrendered” children) as well as a wing for old women and a wing of severely disabled children. What a humbling experience!! Working with a skeleton staff and a crew of volunteers, this group takes care of almost 300 babies, children and elderly who have nowhere else to go. They literally have babies left on their doorstep at night. The facility operates on a shoestring budget and are constantly begging for supplies, volunteers etc. Here is us with the head nun who runs the place. On the table is the powdered milk that we went to the market and bought as a donation (formula is very expensive and they are always running out of it ). We played with the kids and hung with out with them for almost two hours. It was heartbreaking. These kids have less than nothing. They do not have a single wordly possession and not even a family to share their misery This little boy got left by my mom at the home just a few days ago. When we came in, he was sitting in the corner by himself … his eyes say it all. He had an aura of sadness and abandonment that was palpable. The best hope for him is that he is lucky enough to get adopted out. Even so, that would take about 18 months of red tape.
Pansangjan Falls
The next morning we did a WOWWWW (or A+ + scavenge). First, we had to drive about 3 hours outside of Manilla in a cramped car with limited air conditioning… not great. But then we got to a small rainforest village by a river where we did this amazing rafting trip… very great. We were loaded into narrow, wooden canoes and taken up-river to an incredible waterfall. The canoes are just a few inches out of the water and VERY tippy. The movie “Apocalypse Now” was filmed here so you can just imagine the scenery: a beautiful ravine (with waterfalls and lush rainforest vegetation all along it ). But the real highlight of the trip were the boat men… They literally drag these canoes upriver and over rapids by pushing off from the sharp stones that line the river and half-running, half-climbing – like monkeys - on the sides of the ravines and then jumping back into the boat. It is ballet and gymnastics all rolled into one. The boatmen fit the canoes into narrow channels in the rocks, over rapids, through narrow spaces in the rocks and all without bumping the boats or scratching the pain. At the top of the river, you reach a blue lagoon swimming hole with a fabulous waterfall. You then get onto a bamboo raft and the boatmen take you UNDER the waterfall and into Devil's Cave. As you pass under the waterfall, the water is so strong and powerful that you feel like you cannot breathe and that your ears will rip out of your head.

Awful eating challenge for Manilla

And yes, this one is GROSS. We had to find a local "delicacy" which is a boiled egg that contains a 1-2 day old chicken inside. It is even more disgusting in real life than it sounds as I write this teally is an embryo bird cooked into the egg and you are supposed to crack it open and eat it. Just putting the one bite (that we have to eat) into my mouth may have scarred me for life.

We are NOW IN INDONESIA (Yeah - another country that I have never been to). Can't wait to see it all. I got sick today - some weird lump came up on my jaw line which is painful and makes it difficult for me to talk. It feels like a pocket of infection. I started an antibiotics regimen and am taking Advil but it has me feeling quite poorly. I'm hoping to feel better tomorrow because this is going to be a TOUGH leg with lots of over-country travel. And I can't imagine traveling through Indonesia using only "local modes of transportation" is going to be very efficient. But it will be BE GREAT fun.