More Bali Pictures
Dad, isn't this illegal in our HCHS contracts???! Dr. Estes, are you reading this??
- A temple by the sea
- A Balinese woodcarver
- The hubby and I
- My hubby! What you don’t see in this picture is the 3 local people who asked to take a picture next to Andrew….. ha!
Lindsey and I preparing for a long day of tanning.
- Mom, Dad and the goddess
A nice way to round out the trip :-(
You’d think after such a wonderful trip, we’d have to have something go wrong, right?? Well, it did. Our return trip was a VERY long one – about 26 hours of total flying over who knows how many actual days… Bali to Singapore to Bangkok to Seoul to Tokyo (which was not on our itinerary) to L.A. to Houston. Whew!!
As we were going to take of from Bali to Singapore, I felt this odd pain in my side. It kept getting worse and worse by the minute and by the time we were in the air it was horrible! I alternated between the bathroom when it was bad and my seat when it was not as bad for the duration of the 2 hour flight. We weren’t quite sure what it was at that point, and of course every horrible thing is running through my mind…like what happens if your appendix explodes 20,000 feet above the ground, and replaying every episode of House in by brain as I stand in the teeny bathroom and freak out. Luckily it stopped once we got to the hotel and I was OK the next day.
"Tell me what's wrooooooong!!"
We finally finished flying and I felt just a little but of pain off and on in parts of the trip, but it was mostly just queasy stomach-sick that I had since Bali.
Until we got home.
We got in about 9pm on Tuesday night and unpacked a little and played with our puppies (who barely remembered us, thank you very much). Along about 1am the pain started again…in the same place as the plane ride plus lower as well. I woke up Allison, who was in a serious fog because of jet lag, and told that I needed to go to the emergency room. She took me in and at that point they asked me “How’s your pain, 1 being no pain and 10 being worst pain imaginable?” Not wanting to seem like a pansy, I said 8, but it was really 15 (I know, Allison already yelled at me for that). I have never in my life felt so much pain 
I sat shivering in the hospital bed while the guy proceeded to poke around for a vein with a very large needle in both my arms and finally settled on my hand – after making me look like a heroin addict! They took a CT scan and pumped me full of drugs, which are the greatest thing EVER. I’m sure those of you who have had this already know what I’m talking about, but it turns out it was a 2mm kidney stone. After more nice drugs, a prescription for Vicodin and lots of gauze all over the nurse’s t failed IV attempts, we got back home around 5am.
I managed to get some sleep and stayed full of Vicodin for the rest of the day. At this point, it has passed into my bladder, which means the worst is over. It doesn’t hurt me at all and I just have to wait for it to pass. Mercifully, I won’t describe any more…but if you’d like to read up on my packet of kidney stone info from the hospital, I’d be glad to email you 
Not the real size, but close
As excruciating and horrible as it was, we are SO thankful that it didn’t happen on the plane or earlier in the trip!!! I was definitely spared what could’ve been a huge disaster, particularly since if it happened on the plane, I would’ve opened the door and jumped into the Pacific Ocean, no questions asked.
Seriously.
Seriously
Well, we have more pictures and tips and things to post, so THIS ISN’T THE LAST POST – keep checking!! And thank you SO MUCH for reading along with us and especially for posting – it kept us connected to Western civilization.
Ok, we have NEVER experienced this before…the villa we’re staying in is RIDICULOUS. I can’t remember if we’ve explained this part before, but we probably wouldn’t have gone to Indonesia for the trip if it weren’t for the Livingstons and some incredibly wonderful HCHS board members They gave Steve a week at Villa Wibisana in Bali for a gift last year and we managed to coordinate our trip so that we met up with Steve,
- Becky, and Lindsey in Singapore to spend this week with them. Taxis picked us up from the airport in Denpasar and dropped us off at this beautifully carved door where we were greeted by several servants with lays and and fizzy orange drinks. The villa is like a big walled-in square with buildings at each of the 4 corners and a big infinity pool and fountain in the center. There’s a dining room, a living room, 3 bedrooms and a study. It’s incredibly beautiful, especially at night.
- beach!
- Me and the Lindsey
Allison and the Mother
I didn’t quite understand that we have the run of the entire thing until we took the tour. I have no idea how much it would cost to own this…I suppose I don’t want to know All the workers are SO nice and always want to know if we need anything or if they can call us a taxi, get extra towels, or bring us something to eat or drink.
Suffice it to say, we have done quite a bit of relaxing and alternating between the pool and the beach (which is a 5 minute walk). Bali beaches have much stronger waves and currents than, say, Florida. It can be a little scary sometimes, especially when you seen the big flags with the skull and crossbones that says something about strong currents. I would avoid letting little kids swim there at all costs. Lindsey and I have been boogie boarding quite a bit (actually it’s more like taking a salty beating for an hour) and Allison has been through more books than I can count by now. Then when we come back it’s, “Welcome home Mr. Andrew!” “Drink, sir?”, “May I take your towel, sir?” It’s NUTS! We’re thinking about training Chile and Won Ton to do the same thing. Won Ton would be up to it, but Chile would probably screw it up
I believe it’s Saturday the 5th (who knows anymore-haha!) and we’re leaving to come back tomorrow night. We fly to Singapore and spend the night there, then from Singapore to Bangkok to Seoul to L.A. to Houston. I think we get home the 8th.
Happy 4th of July! Josh, Rachel, Dave, Sarah, we found ourselves craving hot dogs and carcass (with or without soup mix), Ale 8, and frisbee golf. Have you moved to Houston yet???
Singapore!
Yes, we’re still way behind…we’re writing about Singapore from Bali.
Singapore is a GREAT city! Incredibly clean (comparatively), efficient, pretty, and great public transportation. Although here’s a tip: you can wave for a taxi from the side of the street for a month if you want, but they’ll just stare at you as they’re driving by….you have to go to the taxi queue to get one. A big different since we had to beat taxi drivers with a stick in all the other countries to get them to leave us alone. Anyway, our hostel was great , too! Cheap, A/C, private room, fairly clean showers and NO SQUAT POTS 
It’s also right in the middle of Little India, which was probably the coolest part. During the first day we went to the Singapore Zoo, which is very cool since they are not incredibly concerned about animal attacks, I guess. There are few barriers between the animals and people and the ones they have are basically chicken wire. I’m sure they have the barriers hidden, but it’s really cool to be so close to them. Even better than the Zoo itself was their Night Safari…you drive through a different section of the Zoo in pitch black and see all the nocturnal animals (and the ones they poke to keep awake till 10pm). It’s amazing since it’s dark and a little creepy and the animals are so close.
I think I had my best experience of the trip in Singapore!! Walking down the street in Little India, I was telling Allison, “I wish I could watch somebody play the tabla drums or even talk to them about them!” Tabla drums are the main drums in Indian music. Listen to just about any Indian sitar or vocal music and they are probably accompanied by tabla. It two drums, one small on made of wood and a bigger one made of brass and they both have black dots in the middle. So no sooner had I said that to Allison then we pass the “Indian Classical Music Center” We go in and there are sitars, harmoniums, tablas, and all sorts of Indian instruments for sale, not to mention a sitar lesson going on right on the floor! I’m freaking out silently and looking at all the cool stuff…………….long story short, I got myself an hour long tabla lesson with an old Indian master who’s been playing tabla for almost 40 years!!!!!!
I have always wanted to learn tabla but have never had the chance. There’s SO much to playing them, but he talked to me about the drums, taught me the very basics and got me slightly going. It was SO great to be there doing that-taking an Indian drum lesson in Little India in Singapore from a master player!! Surreal, to say the least. Allison took a few pictures so people will believe me
Melaka
Better late than never, right? We stayed in Melaka, Malaysia the 26th and 27th. Melaka is a GREAT city-if you go to this part of the world, you have to go there. There’s a lot of Dutch & Portugese influence in the building since it’s been under Portugese, Dutch, British, Japanese (WWII), and finally their own rule. The town center has a fountain, a clock tower, and lots of red buildings such as Christ Church Melaka which is the oldest church building in S.E. Asia. The red paint on the outside of buildings is kind of Melaka’s “thing”…it’s all lit up red at night, too, so don’t get confused like I did and wonder why you’re walking through one big red-light district We’ll do pictures in our next post since this computer’s USB drive isn’t working. We took a walking tour you can follow in the Lonely Planet books and it was SO cool! If you’re into Asian antiques, this is your Mecca. The shops were amazing and we wanted to buy half of the stock of every one. Not at all cheap, but amazing to browse through.
We couchsurfed with Yee Ching Meng (or “Yee Tea” as he liked being called) and his wife Susan. They own a tea shop near the town square and were SO gracious and nice! They’re probably some of the most charitable people I’ve ever met-very involved with a Bhuddist charity organization. We got to take a 2 hour tea class at their shop…very cool!! The first part was how to perform a tea ceremony and correctly serve, etc. and the second part was a tea tasting where we tried a few green teas, a Taiwanese red tea, a flower tea, and an herbal tea. After that, YeeTea took us around the town square and showed us some nice views of the coast, interesting building (including the ruins of St. Paul’s Church, which is significantly older than America ) and pretty parts of town. If there was any question, THAT is why we couchsurf!!! They also took us out for dinner at some stalls and then breakfast the next morning at a dim sum place near their house. I always have to remind myself that Asians tend to be into savory stuff for breakfast instead of sweet stuff. Fish balls, bitter cucumber, chili sauce and rice noodles are quite a wake up call!!
Onward to Singapore! I’d like to have thought that we’d arrive by bamboo boat through the city’s water streets and be greeted by the Singaporian captain in the last Pirates of the Carribean movie…but it’s not really like that.
Unfortunately.
Although I did say (very menacingly) “Welcome….to Singapooooore!” just like him as we pulled into the country by boring bus.
No swords came up from the floor for us to defend ourselves with.
Buses and Intestinal Fortitude… or lack thereof
So, you knew this was coming. Andrew and I have been very very lucky so far in the digestive department. But a trip to Asia just wouldn’t be complete unless there was some excitment…. right?? (I do realize that by writing this, all of my wonderful students, our bosses, our families…. pretty much everyone but our dogs will be reading about our issues, but what the heck!)
Our last night in Penang we went to the most awesome night market where we both ate ….. everything. Here is a list for those of you who have lived in Malaysia…. curry puffs, bananna pancakes, bubble tea, wan ton mee, dosai w/curry, sticky rice wedges, pink sponge cake, cream puffs, lime juice and a few other things. I have never in my life been so full…. but the food was AMAZING. The overall problem here is that Andrew had started the evening with issues, and this little outing didn’t do anything to help. I was fine until about midnight.
Oh, and did I mention that we had a 7 hour bus trip ahead of us in the morning to Melaka???? Lets just say that it wasn’t pretty. Especially in a country of “squat pots” (google it if you aren’t familiar with the phrase).
Oh, and then there is the Malaysian bus system. We pulled out of the bus terminal and instead of beginning our trip to Melaka, we stopped a the local “Goodyear Tire Store” and had not one…. but all the tires on the coach bus replaced!!!!! Are you kidding me??!!! Thats not to mention the sitting at our first stop for a half an hour…… (everyone just sat, nothing happened). The funniest thing was that when we got the the tire shop, all the Malays got off the bus to watch the Goodyear guys replace the tires…. like this was a normal occurance. Finally, we started driving to Melaka and we had to pull over to the side of the road for another 45 mintues because a gigantic trash bag had been caught in the wheel.
Our 7 hour bus trip ended up being 10 hours. The Malays are very relaxed when it comes to time, none of them seemed concerned that we were late. We notice the same things with the stores in each city we visit, some of them open at different times everyday, or just really late in the morning (10-11:30 AM), depending on whenever an employee arrives.
We ordered tailor made suites and they said to come and pick them, and I quote “anytime on Tuesday ma’am, anytime on Tuesday”. Andrew and I arrived at 10 AM, “Oh no! This is too early, we’re on Malaysian time here”….. no kidding, that’s what she said.
Anyway, I had a point here….. oh intestinal fortitude. We don’t have it, especially when it comes to 10 hour bus rides. And we still feel a bit weird. Both of us have stomach cramps. And now you’re probably wishing you hadn’t read this post.
Andrew says I’m starting too many sentences with “and”. But I don’t care b/c my stomach hurts.
Penang! The homeland!
Here we are (or here we’ve been) in Penang. It’s an island just off the west coast of Malaysia and this is where Allison and her siblings were born, as we said in the last post. We’re staying in the house of a teacher at Dalat School while he and his family are in the States (the Munsons). It’s REALLY NICE to stay in a house instead of hopping from hostel to hostel or staying in a junky place. The house had been broken into the weekend before we got there because the place was left with no lights on and the Munson’s dogs were away at the kennel. Not to worry, though…Dalat people installed security lights all around the house, so it looks
like 7 am in the middle of the night (think Christmas Vacation where Clark lights up the house ) At least we’re nice and safe. We wish Chile and Won Ton were here to protect us…. BUT we figure Won Ton would spend his days in the local library reading Vonnegut and sipping tea and Chile would have been a low-ranking dog gang member and wandered the street for a day and a half before he got too scared and hid under a Durian truck for the rest of the trip. All in all, not much help.
ANYWAY
So Penang! Very nice! Allison has been reminiscing and showing me places she’s been/things she ate as a child. Every morning we go to the stalls and get a little baggie of tea or coffee (all with sweetened condensed milk, of course) and then to the market stalls to eat a breakfast of roti (fried dough), banana pancakes (fried dough with bananas and peanuts) or sticky rice (STEAMED sticky rice in blocks with all sorts of things in it). Or a combination of all three! Woo hoo! (We’re doing an awful lot of walking, by the way).
Something very fun I like is ais cacang (ice kachang). It’s a bit like a snow cone, but with strawberry syrup, evaporated milk, ice cream, little black jellies and pink jellies. You have the option of corn, beans, and something that is long and salty and chewy (???), but Allison taught me that you say “No beans, no corn!” when you order They look at you like you’re crazy not to get it, but I’ll endure the scorn. Here’s a picture of this little delicacy:
So far we’ve been to the Penang Butterfly Farm, the Tropical Fruit Farm (which is AWESOME, especially since you get a huge fruit buffet at the end of the tour included in your ticket!), the Spice Gardens, the Snake Temple, the Gurney Drive/Fettis Park stalls (where I ate something very good on a stick with lots of tentacles sticking out), and went over to Batu Ferringhi (the pretty part of the beaches). In Batu, Allison and I both had suits tailored for us…HIGHLY RECOMMENDED! BOTH of our suits (mine made of wool/cashmere and hers of Japanese Silk) cost WAY less than half of what it would cost to get just my suit made of the same stuff in America. Allison also found some of the Chinese yellow china that she collects that we can’t find anywhere in the States. We had to buy a $15 suitcase to take it with us. We may be eating peanut butter for some time after we get back
Cameron Highlands
We’re a little behind in our posts, but here are some pictures from the Cameron Highlands. It’s about a 4 hour bus ride (including stops for the driver to get off and have a leisurely lunch) from K.L. Did we mention he talked on his cell phone and smoked while driving?? Anyway, the Cameron Highlands are beautiful-they remind me of the North Carolina mountains. It’s nice and cool up there and has lots of touristy things to do. We went to a bee farm, a rose garden, a strawberry farm, a Chinese Buddhist Temple, and a butterfly/bug farm. 
The best thing, though was the Boh tea plantation. All the pictures of hills with patterns on the are tea bushes. We drove through the hills and saw lots of bushes and then we got a tour of the factory to see how they make tea. And then of course the gift shop and cafe, where you can have yourself a cuppa among the tea bushes The tea leaves are harvested every 3 weeks by machine (with person help) and are rolled, fermented, and dried for the final product. The bigger the piece of leaf after rolling, the stronger the tea. Usually they toss out the huge pieces and use them as fertilizer.
Some of the more interesting parts of the trip were our hostel and “that couple” on our 4 hour bus ride. They were a 60~70 year old Chinese couple who didn’t stop talking LOUDLY the entire 4 hours. Difficult to sleep…although a lady that he was talking to actually fell asleep sitting up as he was talking to her. The next morning Allison and I climbed into the van for the 5 hour tour and who’s on the van?? That’s right…and they talked in Chinese while the Malaysian tour guide was doing her best to give us the English tour. Very difficult to hear, needless to stay. We thought it would be pretty funny (horrible) if they were on our bus to Penang, too but luckily that didn’t happen.
The hostel wasn’t the worst in the world, but it was pretty sketchy and right next to where several garbage trucks were parked. There were 5 beds on either side of the room and Allison’s side were all guys and my side were all girls. No, we didn’t pick the sides, they are assigned. Allison was glad she was on the other side of the room since the girl next to me…couldn’t control her…flatulence…very well. Seriously, it was gross. The nice parts about the hostel were the hostel’s dog, Rocky (got my puppy fix for the present) and VERY good showers (they weren’t cold and moldy). Allison says that girls will care that the toilet got soaked when you shower cause it’s all in one room. I don’t see the hooplah
The second night we stayed in the utmost luxury (comparatively) at the OMF bungalow. As usual, Allison flashed her family missionary credentials and we were treated like royalty. Not really, but it sure is funny how many people know her family members. The bungalow is a beautiful and really quiet place. We played badminton (national sport of Malaysia and another sport that both of us fail miserably in…although Allison thinks she’s good cause she took it as a P.E. at Asbury) and walked around the pretty gardens and had tea and biscuits in the eating room. We met a couple there who are teachers at Dalat International School in Penang, where Allison parents and grandparents taught and she went to elementary school. Bob and Missy (Hobbs) Davis and their kids – very nice and fun to talk to!! Bob and I played a Risk-type board game and he annihilated me. It was great to be in a quiet place away from everything and just sit and read and drink Milo (like Malaysian Nestle Quick). Onward to Penang (where we’ve already been for 4 days, but DON’T RUSH ME 
)
Reassuring…
For those of us who don’t speak Bahasa Malay, I like to think that this sign in K.L. says “Don’t walk here or we’ll shoot you in the back as you’re running away.”
Yikes.
