"No problem, except you stupid."

If you ask someone who knows me you will find out that I have a high tolerance for people. Poor behavior, especially directed at me, usually makes me curious rather than angry. This is okay when I am alone but sometimes I wonder what my role is when I am with my family. If someone where to act poorly towards my wife or child what is an appropriate response especially in regard to physical action.

I know people who would never take physical action toward anyone at any time. I also know people who are ready at any moment to take action for any challenge to their or their families honor. The spectrum is broad.

I have spent a good chunk of my life in the wrestling room. This has taught me my way around a body and some neat tricks too. It has also taught me that there is always someone stronger, faster, quicker and that sometimes it comes from unexpected places. I am confident in my abilities but aware of the dangers of physical interaction. 

There are other factors involved with physical action other than my experience in martial arts, especially when children are involved. There are questions to consider: Does this deserve a physical response and if so to what degree? Am I putting myself or my family at further risk? What are the physical and legal consequences of this action?  Is this the role model I want to be? What if I fail?

The question is continually posed: "If someone had a gun to your spouse's head and you had a gun in your hand would you shoot?"

It blew my mind when someone posed the question "what if you missed?" to me. It further blew my mind when I shot a handgun for the first time and seemed entirely unable to hit anything that I was aiming at. Another question posed to me was "would your spouse want you to pull the trigger?"

Ask questions later right? Wrong? I have read a few stories in the last year that involve young inebriates killing another person by a punch to the head because the other person was trying to calm them or something. There are stories of people defending themselves or their family and going to prison because their defence became offence and they ended up maiming someone. Even one of my high school friends was killed by a bullet to the back from a shop keeper whose store he was attempting to rob. He died in a field after crawling some distance.

That is why the man at the mall who continued running into me after I apologized for cutting him off was not harmed even after he repeatedly called me stupid while going up the elevator. I merely looked at him and gave my conflict face (usually a perfect blend of confusion, empathy, and passiveness expressed in a smirk). I suppose if the only issue is that I am stupid then I can live with that.

I have been thinking a lot about this in the past few days due to this situation. It made me think of the "heroes" I always see from Hollywood who risk everything to save themselves or their families or who throw punches to defend honor. The movie Taken comes to mind (Liam Neeson blows up half of Paris and kills foreign diplomats and VIPS and comes out in the end with no legal or political backlash). Even though there is an alarming degree of impossibility, impracticality, and downright terrible choices, I still identify with Liam and cheer for him as he gets out of the hospital (the day after he is shot, stabbed, and beaten). I suppose a movie about a person having something terrible happen and then waiting to hear from the police regarding the incident is more of a drama than a thriller but seriously what should I do when a group of Albanian's abduct my daughter in Paris? Someone's got to know.

This post was supposed to be solely a critique of the movie Taken but it got a little bit out of hand. I apologize.

Tanah Rata

Today we took a bus journey to a town called Tanah Rata. It was a four hour ride two of which were navigating unfriendly mountain roads. It was well paved but narrow with many twists and turns. Vomit bags were provided by the company and utilized by the patrons; I will say no more.

The cameron highlands is famed in Malaysia for its tea production. Other attractions are its strawberry and honey farms as well as its beauty and proximity to Taman Negara national park. Many Malays come this way as an escape from the lowland heat. It is temperate here, though still warm, and at night  it can even get chilly. Maybe I'll have an excuse to wear my sweatshirt that hasn't seen action since Scotland.

We are excited to have a few relaxed days here. There are pros and cons about our hostel. It is inexpensive and has a book exchange with books I actually want to read but the rooms are quite bare and the city parks garbage trucks in a lot close by. The hostel owners told me that there is no garbage smell at the hostel so I suppose that I am conditioned to smell garbage when I see garbage trucks. Oh Pavlov, if it weren't for you it wouldn't smell bad around here. 

Another con is that, within an hour of our arrival, we have been mumbled at by an inebriate who stopped at our table and then became instantly confused at why he had stopped. "I'm just trying to figure out which one..." he said as he stumbled away. It isn't actually an issue except that it is the third awkward event in three days for me and I'm hoping it stops there.

Tomorrow we will explore the town and surrounding areas. Maybe we will even have some tea and strawberries with honey!

Indonesia Review

Ashley and I very much enjoyed Indonesia. It is probably our favorite out of all the Southeast Asian countries that we visited. It fit what we were looking for perfectly and gave a little extra as well. It is definitely in the top three countries we've visited on this excursion.

One of the main reasons I found Indonesia so pleasant was that it is a good mix of freedoms versus development/infrastructure. The roads are developed and mostly safe but you can drive a scooter with a surfboard strapped to the side around without being in breach of safety laws. Don't get me wrong I think that safety laws are important but it is nice to experience personal responsibility as opposed to third party regulation. It is what allures us to travel; to feel the breeze while sitting on top of the bus instead of being regulated to be inside it. It is important to note that it is taking a risk as every year there are stories of unfortunate tourists perishing in their acts of freedom.

Indonesia is one of the more inexpensive countries. A good meal can be purchased for under $2 and other expenses such as hostels and transportation are not overwhelming as in some other countries. This is good for us as we near the end of our trip and the end of our funds.

Indonesia has delicious food. We were very pleased with the variety of dishes and their deliciousness. I never thought I would crave rice but someone when we ordered other foods we always experienced a twinge of sorrow to not be eating the usual dish. Nasi goreng and Nasi Campur (fried rice and mixed rice) were our two favorites. These are the basic, every day meals of the Indonesian people and we definitely learned why. Don't worry though, my love for sandwiches remains steadfast.

Water activities were mainly what there is to do in Indonesia (makes sense considering Indonesia is made up of thousands of islands). Surfing, snorkelling, diving, swimming, and fishing are main activities. I am happy for the water because it gave some relief to the heat. One highlight for us is that we were able to see and swim with a turtle while snorkelling. We watched it forever while it slowly swam and ate but it was a lot of fun to see.

There is only one thing that I regret about Indonesia; we did not get the chance to go to Komodo island. I had no idea it was part of Indonesia and it would have been amazing to see but unfortunately factors such as distance and timing came into play. It would have been fascinating to see the island and the dragons but I suppose National Geographic will have to be good enough me.

Overall Indonesia was the most affordable, relaxed, and diverse of the SEA countries we've visited. The people were always friendly and helpful and there was always something interesting to see and do. There was also plenty of opportunity to take a day for relaxing, reading, and laying in the sun (if that's what you're into).

Kuala Lumpur

Another day of travel yesterday and another day recuperating. Well deserved I should say as we did not arrive at our hostel until around 3am. Being in limbo has become second nature to us in both the smaller and larger pictures. Recovering from a long stretch is a little more challenging though as staying in hostels limits ones freedom to complete tasks. Nap times can be hard to come by due to noise from others, heat, restlessness, etc.

Once we are rested we hope to explore Kuala Lumpur. This city is massive with many attractions. Botanical gardens with butterfly, orchid, and bird sanctuaries, History and Islamic art museums, and markets are all on the radar for visiting and within walking distance of our hostel. The Petronas towers are the second largest buildings in the world and supposed to be an impressive sight; you might say that I expect to Petronas. This will make for a few days of wandering and figuring how this city works.

We also hope to see more of peninsular Malaysia. The oldest jungle in the world is in Malaysia and can be accessed via Taman Negara national park. There are also the Cameron Highlands which hold tea plantations and spectacular scenery. We will see where we end up. Our plans now have to be mindful of time which is a factor we haven't had to deal with much in the past six months. Our grand finale.

Ugh

Here is one of the most difficult parts of travelling. When I am tired and want to lay down or relax I may not be able to because my bed might be 30 minutes drive away and I may have to wait another couple hours before the shuttle comes to pick me up. Now becomes buying something at a restaurant and hoping the owners don't care if I sit for a few hours.

I learned something today; uneven sidewalks can lead to disaster but if you reduce your pace and take it slow you can navigate the sidewalks and look around while doing it without tripping. Genius! I am actually very focused on the way that I walk lately. I read a book called Born To Run which was amusing and informative. It is a fascinating story which presents a theory that humans are uniquely built for distance running. From that theory the author looks at different cultures, statistics, historical data, and present trends giving a surprisingly powerful argument. 

One aspect that I found very intriguing is how our walking and running has changed since the implementation of pavement, shoes, and especially running-shoes. The authors argument is that the implementation of these (especially the running shoes) has allowed us to take longer strides and in turn has us landing on our heals. Landing on the heal disrupts the foots natural design of shock absorption, weight distribution and path finding essentially leaving us weak in the feet and prone to injury. While I'm not tossing out my shoes I am examining my own stride and making some minor adjustments.

It also has me thinking about our travels in a new light. When Ashley and I walked the streets of Lima, our first stop in our travels, we may easily have been mistaken as inebriated by how much we stumbled. It turns out that smooth sidewalks are as much a luxury as traveling to eleven different countries is. It only dawned on me how much better we are at walking and how much slower we go while we are doing it. The curse of walking while sight-seeing is stubbed toes, rolled ankles, and jammed heals. The cure it seems is walking at a ridiculously slow pace or stare at your feet the whole time. 

I hope this has been informative if not entirely useless. Either way I am saving a space on my resume for this new found skill. "Learned to walk slowly over rough terrain" is surely a job securing skill.

A quick update. Tomorrow we are flying from Bali back to Kuala Lumpur where we start the final chapter of our travels. The last leg.

Lemonchello, Reading, Transition

Lemonchello. Ever heard of it? It is a lemon liqueur made in Italy and served after a meal as a digestive. I tried some yesterday because of all things on this tiny island there is a couple from Italy that owns a restaurant. I'm usually not too fond of Italian restaurants. The food is usually either too greasy or just a boring tomato-based concoction that brings only one flavor to my taste buds. This was different. This was delicious. So much so that it changed my perspectives.

After our restaurant experience we walked back to our guest house in the dark. We met a confused looking Englishman who asked us how to get to the water. I found it to be a curious question because we are on a tiny Island. Ten minutes walk in any direction leads to the water here. "How do you get lost on a tiny Island" I said to Ashley. Ten minutes later... we weren't lost, we just didn't know where we were. It was actually uneventful as we just followed the path our road turned into south until we popped out into a field we recognized not five minutes from our guesthouse.

In three weeks I will be on a plane to Canada while Ashley flies to Australia. This time frame has provided a degree of motivation to keep going. It is strange to think of our time as moving toward and ending instead of moving away from a beginning. It will be a welcome change to begin again. Ashley and I are both very happy with the fact that, despite where we have been and what we have seen, it has only shown us how much we enjoy life at home. Though I lament being removed from the opportunities travel provides, I am content to resume a less mobile life. I have no fear in the transition.

I suppose I will also regret losing the freedom to read without interruption from other responsibilities. In the past two months I have read: Hard Times, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, The Ciderhouse Rules, The Old Man and the Sea, The Quiet American, The Fallen Idol/The Third Man, The Imaginary Girlfriend, For Whom the Bell Tolls, The Catcher In the Rye, Born To Run, and The Great Gatsby as an audiobook. Thats more than I have ever read before and I am enjoying every minute of it. I don't want it to stop actually but I know that my ability to do continue such a pace will meet head on with life responsibilities and distractions. I have also learned that I need to add some contemporary books in between my friends in classic literature. It actually helps build momentum.

It is now too hot to write.

Gili Air

Wifi is hard to come by on this island. Our guest house does not have it yet and there are only a few restaurants that advertise it. This post may never see the internet. It depends on how long we are trapped in paradise.

Gili in Indonesian means island in English. We are settled on the northernmost of a grouping of three islands off the northwest short of Lombok: Gili Trawangan, Gili Meno, and our present location Gili Air. All of the islands are without fresh water (it is boated over from Lombok), without motorized vehicles, and without dogs. Meno is least developed and most tranquil, Air is focused on diving and snorkelling, and Trawangan is famed for its magic mushrooms. Gili T's mushrooms have spilled over to the other islands as well. At almost every restaurant here you can purchase a "Bloody fresh magic mushroom shake". Add a number of expletives before the word bloody in that sentence and you'll know the rest of the signs. I am unsure if that is just the lingo that has developed around them or if the name of the variety of mushroom is "bloody fresh".

Our guesthouse is a beautiful mix of white colonial concrete villa and bamboo bungalow with thatched roof. Its stone paths lined with green grass and beautiful plant. At the center courtyard there is a restaurant style seating area and a small but effective pool. Every morning we wake to the roosters, walk as far as we please around the island (it takes an hour and fifteen for an island loop at a leisurely pace), eat breakfast, and then lay up pool side until we feel like moving on.

There are beaches on this island but none are worth sitting on due to bits of sharp coral piled up. There are beach side restaurants with shaded, padded seats that are built facing the water. Our lunch and afternoons have involved getting lost in the sounds of the ocean, in a good book, in the actual ocean or in a delicious lime shake.

At dinner time the restaurants set up tables on the beach, light lanterns or candles, and turn on their music. The music is anything from blues to Metallica (a soothing dinnertime musical treat). Two days ago we enjoyed a marlin bbq skewer. I have never had marlin but I recently read The Old Man and the Sea which has a marlin for one of its main characters so I was tempted to try it. I was not disappointed but I will be if I learn that I ate an endangered species once we get the internet again. I have been worrying a little bit.

With a some good books and a small amount in the bank one could survive here for weeks on end.

The surf

Today marks the second time surfing here. It was disappointing. The waves were large; too big for my skill level and there were too many people in the water trying for the same space. I also chose the wrong board; too short and narrow for my skill level, not that having a longer and broader one would have helped much.

In the end the tally stood at one surfboard lost, one scraped and bloodied shin, two tumbles in the white wash without a board, one long swim back to the boat, one recovered board, six tumbles in the white wash with a board, and three attempted waves that I could do nothing but cling for dear life on. I suppose a shorter tally would look something along the lines of Ocean 15 Erik 2. A somewhat crushing defeat.

To sate your obvious curiosity I'll explain. The waves came in a broad horseshoe shape and I was attempting to stay on the edge of them where the crest was less powerful and it was less crowded. Unfortunately I was pushed closer to the center with each set of waves rolling in. Eventually I was in the thick of it. I took a wave because the only other option was to get crushed. Instead I was pushed towards another surfer who did the only to do when another surfer is hurtling towards you, dive. I caught the back end of his board on my shin and it also managed to hook the leash attached to the same leg. The leash popped off although I didn't feel anything other than the power of the ocean and remorse for deciding to surf that day. Once the wave had crested and its power had diminished I decided I had better try to stand up. I fell while attempting this and at this point, when I did not feel the usual pull of the surf board on the leash, I realized the leash was no longer attached to me. I found my buddy in the water and we shared his board while looking around for mine. It was no where to be seen. At this point two of the local instructors who came out with their trainees on our boat told me to get back to the boat and search for it from there. I have only ever swum that far in the open water one other time in my life and I have the same opinion of both events; unpleasant. I ended up finding my board, scooping it up and I headed out for another try only to be crushed by the powerful waves again but this time I had a board with me.

One good thing happened while I was out there. I learned how to duck a wave a little better. In fact, by the end of the session, I even ducked a wave successfully without getting caught up in it. I also learned when to paddle for your life and when is a good time to pack it in. Another good thing is that I still have my leg and no one has any stab wounds. So it wasn't all bad.

I will surf again and hopefully it will be a successful day.

Indonesia

Indonesia is a wonderful place. So far one of our favorite in Southeast Asia. The food is delicious, plentiful, and inexpensive. The sun shines on a beautiful blue ocean. The people a the friendliest we have met throughout our travels.  It is as close to paradise as one could imagine.

We stayed two days in Bali; one of many Islands of Indonesia. It was crowded, hot, and hard to get around. We rented scooters on of the days and ran into the most traffic we have driven in yet. A huge tourist population is crowded on to Bali with many hotels and resorts to accommodate. We stayed for two days and moved on to an island further east of Bali called Lombok.

Lombok is what we have been searching for. The island is small. It is mainly agricultural with rice fields growing all over. It also has a number of beaches which attracts many surfers and not many partiers or tourists at present. I am sure the island will become more developed as time passes but for now it is an uncrowded gem.

We have been surfing once in three days and hopefully tomorrow will make a second time. It is much different than Canoa. There are few places with beginner waves that break on beaches. We visit a beach called Maui today and saw waves that would have crushed me; a brother to a brother and a cousin high. On account of this when we surfed we took a boat to a spot off shore that had smaller waves. 

The waves were larger than anyone had expected for that day and I can say they were larger than what I saw in Canoa. I sort of accidentally caught the first wave I tried for perfectly and was very proud of myself but it was short lived as it was my best performance of the day. At about the mid way point in our trip there was a particularly large group of waves that snuck in and crushed most of the surfers in the water. Surf borders went flying. Surfers tumbled through the churning white wash. I got water in my ears. It was glorious.

We have also been enjoying scooter rides on this island. There is one main highway and there are few vehicles on it. We have been exploring more and more finding beaches and small villages. Today Ashley gave high fives to four children while sitting on the back of the scooter; they were pumped. We met a group of sixty children all in uniforms walking in a line on the side of the rode. When we rode by they started waving and continued to do so all the way down the line. The price of fame? Everywhere we go we are greeted by exuberant half clothed or non clothed children. Ashley's dream come true.

Typical

Want to know a secret about budget travel? Here it is; nothing goes as planned.

Observe:

After a day of lounging poolside at our hotel we decided to explore Penang. We woke up ready to start our day at 7:30am. We left the hotel at a quarter to eleven. Our plan was to take a taxi to the Penang National Park and from there hike an hour and a half to monkey beach where we would spend the afternoon.

We found a taxi by the mall who said he could take us to the national park. We found it to be a reasonable price so we hopped in. Thirty minutes later we arrived at a park. It was a pleasant looking place with a botanical garden and an extremely steep hill with a paved walking/biking path. We asked the driver which way monkey beach was and he pointed up the hill. It was at this point through a series of loud bursts we discovered that the other building on the premises was a rifle range. We went to a booth by the hill where a park ranger informed us that Penang national park was very far away but we could walk up the hill for 3 hours to get a nice view of the city. We decided to amble around the park enjoying the sounds of nature and rifles. We did find monkeys and fed them until one charged the girls fangs exposed.

We found another taxi drive to take us to real national park. It was only an hour further. When we arrived it was roughly 1:30. I found some sort of soup with fish heads in it for a quick lunch (it was only $0.33 and we started our 1.5 hour hike. We were told that the park closes at 6pm and that we should started walking back at 5:30. We were also told there were boats there that could take us back to the entrance for $25. We hoped to not have to take the boat.

The hike was lovely. It only took us an hour and it ranged from concrete boardwalks to sandy beaches to jungle paths. The beach was nice too and it was entertaining to see groups of monkeys going through the garbage, drinking from pop cans, and stealing from tourists as they helplessly stood by. I came prepared with sticks because we had heard tales of practically whole tourists being stolen by monkeys.

One pleasant surprise was that a boat taxi came to ask if we wanted a ride back and told us he would only charge $5. We took him up on the offer and earlier than we thought too because within 45 minutes of being there it threatened rain and within an hour the threat turned into a promise. We were back at the entrance by 4:30.

Our return journey consisted of a 2 hour public bus ride a search for a taxi and a half hour taxi ride. In the end we spent 4 hours in transportation and 2 hours outside. Not quite what we expected the day would look like.

In the end it did not work out how we expected or would have wanted but from this side of the day it was wholly enjoyable. Nothing goes as planned!

Penang

George Town is a sea port on the island of Penang. We are staying in a hotel close to the airport which is about thirty minutes from George Town, from the beaches, and from anything remotely touristy. Nearby there is a mall which is 6 stories of insanity. When I say insanity think no layout, no rhyme or reason for anything, duplicate stores like crazy, and half of them are closed at any give point in the day. We have eaten 90 percent of our meals in the mall food-court because there are no restaurants close by. As terrible as it sounds the food-court is just mom and pop restaurants inside accompanied by KFC and McDonalds.

Our time here has mostly been spent in the hotel which sounds terrible like the aforementioned food court but it has also been nice. There is AC inside which has been a welcome relief from the heat and humidity. Tomorrow we are moving on from here to Kuala Lumpur and from Kuala Lumpur to Bali. There we shall surf, hike, snorkel, eat, and sleep. Life is hard these days.

On Sunday there is a general election in Malaysia. The big one. There are many campaign posters around advertising for the two major parties. What is most impressive are the flags. There are hundreds of thousands of flags flying each with the insignia of the different parties on each. There are flags hanging from apartment buildings, lining the streets, flying from restaurants, in yards, etc. It is not so much one flag flying in these places; there are flags and flags and flags all tied together sometimes hundreds at a time. It is kind of incredible to see. Today I saw a sign with one of the candidates faces on it and the words "Too Lazzzzzy" written underneath. I'm happy that the smear campaigns are so sophisticated.