Go Sox!

Caught the game with Chad and Trish, bagels, creamcheese, lox, hashbrowns and curry puffs. Not your usual baseball watching snacks, but suited our Indonesian expat 7 AM baseball watching just perfectly. Hope you all heard us cheering on the other side of the world!

Gunung Guntur

Just got back from a weekend in Cipanas - a small village about 3 or 4 hours southeast of Jakarta known for its hot springs and volcanoes. We hiked up Gunung Guntur on Saturday with the Java Lava hiking group. The hike itself was a bit tough and not the best volcano we have climbed (we are starting to be picky). The trail started in a nice jungle, but then abruptly went pretty straight up and turned into volcanic rubble and tall dry weeds. No shade and hard to stop since the ground never really leveled off. It was a nice view from the top and we had fun on the climb with the group. Howie especially loved sliding down the scree at lightening speed on the way down.

Sunday we enjoyed the giant hot spring pool at the hotel which even had a fun water slide dumping you into hot water and a crowd of very amused Indonesians. We also strolled through the village and checked out the rice padis, cauliflower and tomato fields. It was a beautiful sight with the lush fields surrounded by volcanoes.

Tomorrow it is up early to watch the Sox again with the other displaced members of Red Sox nation. Go SOX!

More photos at www.picasaweb.google.com/howieandhaviva/gunungguntur

Red Sox + 7AM start = Big Apple Pancake

I'm happy to report that we have been getting all the Red Sox playoff games. They start at 7 AM, so this morning we invited some fellow Sox fans over for breakfast and the Sox. I made a Parnes' family favorite - Big Apple Pancake. It wasn't quite the same with palm sugar instead of brown sugar, and our Easy Bake oven didn't get quite hot enough, but it was tasty as always.

Looking forward to Game 7 tomorrow morning at 7. Lucky for me I had the foresight to make sure I'm not working until 2 in the afternoon.

Hiking volcanoes and finding Nemo

I still cannot wipe the smile off my face from our wonderful trip this past weekend to Manado. We arrived late Thursday night and were picked up by the good people at the Highland Resort and Spa. The resort is just outside of Manado nestled in the hills of Tomahon. The cabin was cute, all made of coconut wood and we woke up in the morning to gorgeous views of volcanoes and the small village below.

One of the guys who picked us up, Charles, offered to hike with us, which is normally something we decline, but since he was quite a nice guy and this was “no guide fee, great service at the Highland resort” we decided to take him up on it. We hiked up a nice small volcano – Gunung Mahawu – which even though it was late in the morning, was pretty clear and had great views. We could see Manado, Gunung Lokon (the larger active volcano we were told not to climb since it has been a bit bubbly lately) and even Bunaken – the small island we headed to next for a few days of snorkeling.

Charles took us up and over the volcano and then led us into town to his local favorite lunch spot. Could not tell you the name, it was a hole in the wall that fed us our new favorite food – Tinatuan or Bubur Manado. Bubur is usually not something we are into as it typically means porridge of some sort, but this was more of a soup made of pumpkin, cassava, corn and some leavy greens that had a hint of citrus. (A version we had a couple days later had some rice in it as well.) It was phenomenal and you could see after a long morning or day in the fields why people would eat it. Filling but not too heavy and full of flavor.

We also hit the local market in the morning (before the hike) where we were presented with all the local delights including the specialties of bat and dog. The bats were speared and frightening the dogs just hard to look at (especially the cages of live dogs awaiting their immanent trip to the fire pit.) There was no part of any animal spared and the place was hopping since it was the day before Idul Fitri.

From there we headed to Manado to catch the boat to Bunaken. Manado was pretty dead due to the holiday so outside of a great sunset from the pool at the hotel, there is not much to talk about. Bunaken on the other hand was AMAZING. Since it is a small volcanic island the reef simply surrounds the whole thing. The snorkeling is like swimming inside a tropical aquarium. The first day we jut put in right from the resort and saw some amazing things – bright blue starfish, Nemo and various other things we have seen only in Chinese restaurant tanks. Incredible color and variety. The second day we joined the group of divers staying at our place (a lively group from Germany, Austria, England and Ireland who dive together every year, using their 3 weeks of European holiday) and headed to the other side of the island for some equally exciting snorkeling. In the last 20 minutes of our second snorkel I spotted a turtle hanging out on the reef wall. We followed him into the middle of the sea as he swam around, a couple times popping his head up for some air. It was incredible. In the blue water he looked like he was flying and at some points he was no more than a couple feet from either of us. It was a total rush.

It was a beautiful and relaxing trip and of course it has been hard to get back into the work week - the sign of a good holiday! Only 4 weeks left of work here in Indo so this was really just a prelude of what is to come.

More pics: http://picasaweb.google.com/howieandhaviva/NorthSulawesi

Eating Habits

I know we do not usually use the blog for this sort of thing, but this article is appealing to me on so many levels I had to pass it on to all of you: http://www.slate.com/id/2175569/nav/ais/

It seems all the adventurous eating we have done on our travels may have in fact gained us a few extra years. Of course, I suppose, one could add the smog and pollution into the equation, and take a few years off, and maybe say we have just evened ourselves out, but all in all the argument that, "eh a little poo will not kill you" seems to be true, at least for us hearty people living in the developing world...And it certainly has made the travels much more fun. Read until the end, the last paragraph about Cholent is particularly amusing.

We head out tomorrow to Manado, on the island of Sulawesi, for more eating adventures. We are not hoping for poo in our food, but fear it a little bit less now.

The Lost City of Atlantis

Well, sort of. Actually, Atlantis, the water park in Jakarta. I was getting jealous of Howie's Wednesdays off and decided to take one of the many comp days I have piled up and take part in some of the adventures. We headed to Ancol, the amusement park area on the coast. All sorts of things to do there including a Disney Land like theme park, an art market and our pick, Atlantis. It was a nice escape from the city and it being Ramadan and mid-week, we had the place to ourselves. Our friends Maiko, Adam and Shelly joined in on the fun and despite what looked like the best slide being closed, we all made the most of the slightly fresher air, lack of other people and one very steep slide.

Tiger Islands - Pulau Macan

We have just returned from a great weekend in what might be paradise – Pulau Macan, one of the 1000 Islands. The 1000 Islands (Pulau Seribu) are a string of islands located off the coast of Java, about an hour and a half by boat from Jakarta. No relation to the dressing of the same name, these islands feel like another world. When the boat speeds off from the very smelly and polluted Jakarta harbor it is hard to imagine the crystal clear blue and green waters and the white sandy beach that await you. Pulau Macan is a small island with pretty basic, but nice accommodations. The real highlight is jumping off the dock, putting on your snorkel gear and working your way to the small deserted island about 150 meters away. Gorgeous fish and coral mark the way and the fine white sand beach is well worth the swim. It was like being inside one of those travel magazines.

They also took us for a great boat ride to another small island (inhabited by only two fishing families) to watch an amazing sunset - wine sunset and snacks after a day of snorkeling and sunbathing...um, perfect. To top it off the food all weekend was great. Fishermen literally docked on the island and presented their goods to the chef, who picked out some amazing fish and did wonders on the grill. The oatmeal and chocolate chip cookies they gave us on the boat ride over was a great indication of things to come. Two days definitely felt like much longer and the escape from hot, slightly smelly, crowded and polluted Jakarta was well appreciated. (Even if it made for a very hard Monday back at work.)

More pics: http://picasaweb.google.com/howieandhaviva/PulauMacan