monday memories / RTW trip: ancient egypt ambiance

while i have my around-the-world photos out from their usual home in the garage, i think i’ll continue telling some more stories from that adventure. after the last post about kenya ... 

 

arriving in cairo after two months in kenya was like landing back in civilization ... albeit a muslim civilization (our first experience of muslim culture except for a few days on java and yogyakarta at the beginning of our trip.). in a great city ... great coffee. great food. movie theaters. museums. history. peace. safety. we were psyched!

people were quite friendly, wanting to have a coffee and practice their english. different from kenya where we felt we couldn’t trust people, they wanted to rip us off.

we spent a few days in cairo getting acclimated and doing some business and banking. stayed at the nicest place on our whole trip (except, of course, the uber fancy hotel in bombay, which is in a whole tier to itself) ... the very friendly, clean and well-run pension roma ... in an old building with tons of character, huge rooms with ultra high ceilings and antique armoires and furniture, private bath, and complimentary breakfast. curt bought roses for me several times, just like in portland where he bought me a beautiful bouquet every friday. a far cry from our stay in kenya! and all for 30 egyptian pounds or $10/night! so good that i even noted it in my diary: 

the fruit juice was cheap, too! 30 cents for a big glass of fresh squeezed anything. our favorites: orange and strawberry/banana.

you have to understand ... this was straight off the heels of two months in kenya, preceeded by a month in india, and a month in nepal. all fascinating places in which we, as budget travellers, had stayed in some mighty grotty places. thailand and bali were really quite clean in comparison ... high standards of cleanliness. nepal, india and kenya ... not so much.  

then we headed to luxor. and stayed at possibly the very worst place of our entire trip. ah well, this is budget travelling. sometimes the little budget finds something great, sometimes not so great. i was pretty much the master at finding good places. i have a need for “ambiance.” (my college pals will laugh at this word, but it was true even then, a nascent sensibility and vocabulary word for me!) but it took some looking. curt got used to it, and we developed a system. we would arrive in a new place. he would sit with the luggage while i ran around looking at all the accommodation in our budget. and i'd always find the best! except in luxor :-(

and since we were travellers -- distinct from tourists -- we decided to rent bicycles and tour the valley of the kings on two wheels. hah! we dumbly handed over curt’s passport as collateral for the one-speed bicycles (we'd been travelling for six months by then and we KNEW BETTER!). but off we went sans passport. saw tut’s tomb, hatshupset’s magnificent tomb, and more. and it was the hottest, sweatiest, dustiest day of my life. and perhaps the most dangerous with all those monster wide tour buses racing past us, with their fancy schmancy air conditioning. i was jealous, but it was too late to turn back.

eventually curt’s bike failed ... we can’t remember exactly what ... flat tire? sticking brake? if i recall correctly, curt and i both got on my bike, he pedalled and i sat on the seat holding the broken bicycle to the side. it wasn’t pretty. when we got back to the bike rental place, they wanted us to pay for the repair. we said no, we didn’t do anything wrong, the bike just broke. they were holding curt’s passport until we forked out. i’m sure it wasn’t much, but we were on a budget and didn’t have extra funds. we argued for 20 minutes, loudly, before getting the passport back, without paying for the repairs. not exactly my proudest moment. and limped back to our crappy hotel. NOT the best day of the trip.

back to cairo and pension roma. we toured the fabulous egyptian museum. shopped in khan el khahlili souk. bought perfume. needed a usa fix so went to see “born on the 4^th of july” in a movie theater which was an experience in and of itself. you had to sit in your assigned seat and the vendors came to you. weird. no popcorn. not the greatest fix ...  i much prefer the movie-going experience at home!

the absolute best part of our egypt time was wandering around the back alleys of cairo. i admit i'm not the usual tourist or traveller. even now when i'm on a short trip. i don't love going around to tourist sites, just because the place is significant historically. just because the guidebook says you have to see it. i don't usually care to go SEE things. ruins. churches. museums. you know. it all becomes a blur after the first two or three. unless it is significant and meaningful to ME for whatever reason ... to me, this sightseeing is of the head.

i want to have an EXPERIENCE. of the heart. my heart. i much prefer to wander around and meet people, see what their daily lives entail. soak up the ambiance of the place. experience it. 

while meandering the little dirt lanes in the ancient coptic christian area of cairo, we found ben ezra synagogue. having been raised jewish, i was interested in this place. what? jews in egypt? i thought they all left with moses! crossed the red sea and all. the passover story. the man at the door said he had been offering tours of this tiny temple for 40 years. 

this man took us around the old synagogue where he said moses and jesus, mary and joseph spent time. moses was found as a baby in the reeds of the nile near here. this man showed us stones and stairs and all kinds of unphotogenic sites, always asking "photo? photo?" charming.

this man was my favorite part of egypt. just. look. in. his. eyes. now THAT is an experience. i'll take that over any ruin, no matter how historically significant, any day, any time, anywhere.

~~~~~ 

lessons learned: never turn over your passport, for anything! ever! and especially not for a broken bicycle! and don't think for a minute that being a traveller is any better than being a tourist. it's the same! that was just my egotistical youth talking.

piddle-free zone

daisey. she is my love. her full name is princess daisey mae. i did not name her, she came to me at age 2. and i really don't know what i would have done without here these last eight years. she has been with me during the toughest times in life ... consistent, loving me with those adoring eyes. she is my family. 

and the rest of my family -- my brother and his clan -- now live in utah. so that's where we're going for thanksgiving. thanksgiving has always been the most important holiday for our family, and we celebrate it well. always super fun, low stress. we play games, hang out, walk, and of course, eat! 

but since my brother is in an almost brand new house, he and his wife really want to keep it nice. as in, no peeing on the carpets! i don't think they're worried that i'll do that ... no, but my little adorable furry friend does have a piddly accident now and again. or maybe it's not really an accident, maybe it's because she's miffed about being left too long, or not had enough walks this week, or ... not sure. i'm not a doggie psychologist! 

anyway, daisey was almost NOT invited for thanksgiving. but how could i celebrate well without MY family? so after some negotiating, she is coming with me. but we're just a month away now. and i want to make sure my sister-in-law's carpets stay nice and dry!

daisey's new, portable, soft-sided crate just arrived in the mail, and i'm feeding her treats in it. trying to get her to like her new digs. (but my burly cat roux seems to prefer the cozy space. he kind of rules the roost around here.)

anyway ... i am in need of some serious anti-piddling advice! anyone a dog-whisperer out there? it's all in the name of good family relations! 

photoflow: the faceless portrait

hiking an unrenovated, desolate portion of the great wall of china, i made this portrait of my german boyfriend thorsten. i LOVE this photo. have it framed in my kitchen (even though we stopped dating years ago). 

i find this image speaks volumes about thorsten:

1. strong: just look at that frame, that physique, tall and sturdy, those lean tree trunk legs.

2. mountain man: he uses that body to get out in nature and climb high (he also runs long distance and cycles up big hills).

3. intrepid traveller: he loves visiting new places, experiencing new cultures and foods (and has lived in the states over 10 years).

4. off the beaten path: this guy marches to his own drum (has a pierced ear and plays electric guitar).

5. relaxed: his hand reveals his relaxed nature (even though he's very hardworking and ambitious).

that's a lot of information for one photo. and you can't even see his face!

and that is exactly the point: you do not need to show someone's face to show many things about her/him. showing the back may reveal even more than the face. the face can distract us from seeing all the rest there is to see of someone. 

but not everyone agrees on this point. 

i was going to accompany thorsten home to germany for christmas, and considered giving this photo of thorsten to his mother. i hemmed and hawed. not sure she would like a photo of her son without seeing his face. i consulted my dad -- of the parental generation -- who very much appreciated photography. he said, go for it, it's a great photograph. 

so i gave it to thorsten's mom for christmas. she did not get it. no oooos and ahhhhhs. no "great photo," nicht. just a polite thank you. (she didn't get me, either, but that's another story.) 

some people expect to see faces in portraits. but i am reminded to photograph the "rear view" for a change ... to see what else there is to see of someone. 

Often while traveling with a camera we arrive just as the sun slips over the horizon of a moment, too late to expose film, only time enough to expose our hearts. 

~ Minor White

monday memories / RTW trip: hugging hills and yaks

while i have my around-the-world photos out from their usual home in the garage, i think i’ll continue telling some more stories from that adventure. after the last post about thailand ...

flying into kathmandu from bangkok was like entering a completely different planet. (and we hadn't even gotten to india yet ... i know i keep saying that. india is a different universe altogether!) kathmandu in january: misty, dark, mysterious, ancient, impoverished, damp. we had to spend about a week gaining our bearings, figuring out which trek to do, getting all the necessary official papers and permits, paying fees, gathering gear. 

before our RTW (round the world) departure, curt and i had set up a very loose itinerary which we gave to our friends and family, including the american express offices in each country we were to visit. back in the days before email and cell phones, amex offered locations for mail and packages to be held for travellers. so out in kathmandu one day, searching for the office, i spied a young western traveller coming toward me on the sidewalk. i stopped her and asked her if she knew where the american express office was located. she pointed me in the right direction, and we went our separate ways, not knowing that moment began a long and deep friendship. 

a few days later, karin was on the bus to pokhara with us along with her bf chris, another young couple from canada, and a load of nepali people. the six of us became instant friends, all on the same adventure: trekking the 21-day annapurna circuit. but first, we had to survive the treacherous eight-hour, gut-wrenching, brain-jostling bus ride. the road from kathmandu (capital city) to pokhara (second city) was virtually the only road in nepal, and much of it wasn't paved. our bus looked like it had been through a war, but many didn't make it, evidenced by rusted busted bus parts strewn down the mountain cliffs. harrowing. but we survived. 

one night in the idyllic, lakeside village of pokhara (where i left my whole fanny pack -- wallet and passport inside -- at a store, and later retrieved it from a gentle woman who would have had a year's worth of income had she stolen my cash) and we started our trek.  

fortunately we were young, strong and fit. even so, our six-some dwindled to a four-some just a few days in ... canadian christine suffered terrible headaches, nausea and sleeplessness due to altitude. her system just couldn't acclimate, so they had to turn around. you can't mess with mother nature, especially around the highest peaks on earth. karin, chris, curt and i heaved onward and upward. 

elevation in METERS, not feet!the annapurna circuit was and still is the most popular trekking route in nepal. easy to navigate without a guide(though i would get one now, to learn more about the culture), from tea lodge to tea lodge, each equipped with shared bunk rooms, filtered water, people from all over the world, decent food (even "beritos" and "vejjie bergers" -- though curt consistently chose the local daal bhat 3x/day). and yet, we were alone on the trail most of the time. the scenery varied from lush terraced fields -- lemon trees, almost tropical -- to monkeys swinging through forests, to barren hillsides and mountains, to bleak desolate villages, to the ultimate peaks reaching the heavens. 

these paths and trails we walked on every day were the "freeways" of the nepali. they had to carry everything they needed in their villages on their backs, usually with a tump line strapped around their foreheads. crates of eggs, canned goods, coke bottles!, firewood, etc etc etc. and usually, the locals were barefoot. or in the simplest footwear. the calf muscles on these folks! you could tell the professional sherpas -- they sported expensive hiking boots. 

we learned early on, "hug the hill" (not me-hill, the mountain-hill). on one particularly treacherous 5-foot-wide trail along a rock face, along came a yak train which i mistakenly got on the outside of (as in, NOT hugging the hill), staring down a 200-foot sheer drop. adrenaline surging, i had to hug the yaks to stay on the trail. even though they are huge/scary/smelly creatures, they were less scary than my other choice. hug the hill, definitely. but when in doubt, hug a yak! (i did not make that mistake again. when i saw a yak train coming our way, i just found a safe place to pull over, hug the hill and wait for the beasts to pass.)

only wealthy nepali can afford to ride horseback to their marriage ceremony 

i didn't know a lick about nepali/buddhist/tibetan culture or religion. chris did, though, and kept us well informed, and he's good with maps, too. so many hours to talk while we walked. (such a blessing to have so much TIME to just be with people). but my interest in spirituality of all kinds and the religions of the world has grown since then. had i known then what i know now, i would have been spinning these prayer wheels at every opportunity!

curt is very strong (he carried a huge backpack so i could carry only a daypack), but has a weak tummy. he got sick pretty much in every country. this time, it was bad. the daal bhat eventually got to him. or maybe some unclean water. on about day 6 he was in a bad, bad way. so sick that while entering a village late in the afternoon, he didn't even manage to get off the main trail and dropped trou, as in, had diarrhea right then and there, on the trail. kinda like shitting on someone's front steps. we stayed in that village for three nights while curt lay in bed moaning and groaning and felt like he was going to die. i was sad to see them go, but karin and chris trekked on. i nursed curt in a little ramshackle dark, dusty room. we didn't have much in the way of medications, so we just had to wait it out. and waited. and waited. 

but he came back to strength. we hiked along the spectacular kaligandaki gorge where a dog found and followed us for three days (helping curt? he missed his dog so. perhaps this furry friend bolstered him.) we made it all the way up to the desolate, eerie muktinath, finding our stride. we missed our friends karin and chris who were ahead of us on the trail. we loved having them as hiking partners, and wanted to catch up. 

we kept up a good clip, walked long days. we thought we could make it to tatopani, the next village on the map, where we might find our friends. darkness came and we kept walking (not smart). we reeeeeaaaaallllly wanted to get there. curt's feet were bleeding. i don't remember but i'm sure mine were aching, too. we arrived in tatopani, found the tea lodge and entered the open-air dining room to gasps and applause. karin and chris were there, they knew how fast we must've walked to catch up to them, and they spread the news to the other travellers. we recieved a standing ovation by all! celebrated well and rested the next day. 

rest and laundry day, with karin

a few more days walking and we made it back to pokhara. where we both got sick. really sick. as in, all orifices exploding at once (vomit and diarrhea, the combo pack). fortunately, we had a private bath with western toilet. thank god! (and thank god i was the one with the camera, no photos of sick hilly here!)

 back in kathmandu, we enjoyed ourselves. lattes and pastries at the pumpernickel cafe ... 

 curt got a shave which he still talks about to this day ... 

we felt like heroes, having survived our own trek!

little did we know what was in store for us in india ... 

~~~~~

lessons learned: always hug the hills! stay alert,  for the next person you meet may just become a dear friend. 

+++++ 

postscript: karin and i are still friends, 20 years later. we still joke to each other "do you know where the american express office is?" she's super crafty and taught me how to make greeting cards, planting the seed that was to become eyechai. now she's busy with bigger things ... she and chris got married and just had a baby boy! but their little guy hasn't dampened their wanderlust ... they've taken him camping in botswana, namibia, iceland, and nevada!

photoflow: fresh perspective

when in need of a fresh perspective ...

give a kid your camera!

on a film production last summer in france and spain, i worked alongside 6 kids ranging from 9-19 (yes, i’m old enough to consider 19-year-olds “kids”). three actors, a set designer, a sound recordist, and a musical director/camera assistant -- these are some talented kids! sometimes they almost outnumbered the adults (we were 6 – 14 adults, depending on the day) on this heavenly film shoot. 

one long day shooting in the middle of a vast hay field in northern spain -- during a lull in the work -- i let 11-year-old beth borrow my camera. didn't pay any attention to what she was shooting. only to find this when i got my camera back:

i love this shot, such a quiet moment captured. and the tilt just adds to the interest, bringing the moment inward, toward nicoletta who usually had to act tough (she played the beautiful villain in the film). beth reminded me that WE CAN TILT HORIZONS with fabulous results!

i was schooled for so long -- both in school and working as a photojournalist -- to get my horizons absolutely straight, perfectly horizontal. in fact, i recently posted a tilted horizon photo on facebook, and one of my former colleagues messaged back to straighten that horizon! but i'm all about breaking the (silly, constricting) rules these days. 

toward the end of the shoot, with so much work behind us, we were in great need of a party. fortunately cinematographer kyle's birthday came at just the right moment. beth's younger brother arty (or was it beth again?) borrowed my camera during a festive dinner at the home of the filmmakers. and this was the result:

seeing in a completely different way than i usually see. and right on ... capturing the jovial moment: playful richard, the distinctly euro-feel of the meal, breadcrumbs and all. maybe it was just that arty -- if it was arty --sat a little lower than i normally sit, so he saw THROUGH the wineglass. whatever. the result reminds me to bend my knees, get lower, or higher, or from the side, or anything other than how i usually see from my 5'9" viewpoint. 

these young people taught me so much that summer. just one of the things they taught me was how so see. with a fresh perspective.

While there is perhaps a province in which the photograph can tell us nothing more than what we see with our own eyes, there is another in which it proves to us how little our eyes permit us to see. 

~Dorothea Lange

monday memories / RTW trip: no turkey in thailand

while i have my around-the-world photos out from their usual home in the garage, i think i’ll continue telling some more stories from that adventure. after the last post about bali ...

we walked across the malaysia/thailand border. that was weird. no man's land for a few hundred yards. then after a harrowing minibus ride overnight from the border of malaysia, we made it to a perfect little island. away from the touristey phuket, ko samui and ko pipi, we found ko lanta. off season. pretty much deserted. as in, no full-moon parties (one can only imagine the insanity!). lovely.

we stayed in a place that was “closed” but – in gracious thai style -- they allowed a few folks to stay anyway. an interesting couple from port townsend and an aussie couple.

we arrived on thanksgiving (my very favorite holiday). and we arrived provisions in hand. we hadn't been able to find a turkey so we bought chicken. no sweet potatoes so bought white potatoes. no regular string beans so bought those long asian string beans. at the beach bungalow, we were told we needed to find the chef and ask permission to invade his sacred, sand-floored kitchen and cook up the thanksgiving feast. this young chef eyed us up and down – you know how chefs are – and grudgingly turned over his kitchen to us. we prepared the feast, and invited everyone staying there to join in. so the six tourists (we say “touri”) and the three local guys caretaking the hotel, including the chef, regaled at our meal. it was a great, right up there with all-time perfect ambiance, company and food.

from the islands we headed up to bangkok ... to the blare of tuktuks and the first masked people i ever saw because of the pollution. pretty overwhelming after the harmony and balance of bali and ko lanta. but we were two months into our trip and getting our travellers’ “sea legs” by now. curt dove into the thai spicey food, sweat dripping down his face, savoring the pad thai and gai pad graprow (chicken with holy basil) dishes. i had read a one-liner in our lonely planet guidebook about a monastery that offered an herbal detox process for people hooked on the ever-prevalent and highly addictive opium and heroin from up north. decided i had to go there to see for myself. a journalistic bug, if you will. left curt in the city -- the only time we separated during our whole 10-month journey -- and headed to wat thamkrabok 130km north of bangkok.

the monastery was spectacular, in a rough, primitive way. huge buddha statues gazed down on the tranquil paths and the dark-brown robed monks -- mountain monks -- who use no transportation. walk everywhere. eat once a day at 7am. hard core. i think they're like the navy seals of monks (at least that's what i understood from my guide). but peaceful at the same time.

the receptionist monk wrangled up the only english-speaker to give me a tour. my monk guide was american. huge. hailed from new york, his bronx accent still strong. said he had been a mercenary before coming to the monastery to change his ways, 18 years prior.

i was in awe of him, a little fearful, and thrilled. i’m walking with an ex-mercenary-turned-monk, i thought. it was like a dream. hard to take it all in.

as we walked, at one point i swayed into him – you know, the way you do walking with someone -- brushing his shoulder with mine. he said, a monk may not touch a woman, with a half-smile -- still serious -- whispering, that’s the most fun i’ve had in 18 years. i stayed three feet away after that. didn’t want to mess with this guy.

he showed me the monks’ life, sitting on rocks, chipping away at stones or carving huge buddhas. breaking down and building up. a perfect metaphor for the addicts there for drug detox.

the recovering addicts stay in a secluded dormitory for the first 5 days where they ingest a secret herbal potion morning and evening which causes immediate vomiting. they also take herbal pills and drink special herbal tea. and twice daily, they leave their seclusion to walk across the grounds to endure HOT herbal steambaths. cold turkey detox. i didn't have much access since i wasn't with a big news organization, but i did see the procession to the steambath. here are more images of the process, if you can "stomach" it. the monks have been delivering this detox process since 1959 for over 100,000 addicts. apparently they have a high success rate.

after bangkok, we headed up north to the enchanting, lush, mountain region of chaing mai and smaller chaing rai ... and the thai portion of the golden triangle. from idyllic mae hong son, we left on a seven-day hill-tribe trek.

our group was led by the lovely burmese man leung.

we walked all day, entering a village in the late afternoon.

we stayed in local homes – one-room bamboo homes on stilts -- the animals live underneath. no electricity. no running water (thus the little dirty faces everywhere).

we ate and slept with the families, scattered on the bamboo floor.

our first night after dinner, sitting around the fire INSIDE the bamboo house (how do they not burn them down?), a very old woman entered and made her way to a dark corner of the room. leung went off in the dark after her, then returned. one by one, people went into her corner, then returned. turns out she was the opium dealer in town. as it was described to me, she lay on her side with a candle and the opium pipe on the floor. for a small price, anyone could go and lay down next to her, facing her. she would stoke the pipe and keep it going while they smoked, she took turns. many of the others in our group tried it. me? are you kidding? i wasn’t going anywhere near the stuff. no curiosity at all, not after what i’d seen at wat thamkrabok.

every evening in each village, someone would enter after dinner and offer opium in a dark corner. leung seemed to like it. i was afraid he was becoming addicted, if he wasn’t already.

only one night did we camp out, in the jungle. leung made all the cookware, tea kettle, serving spoons, and chopsticks out of bamboo! then cooked the meal. we ate off of big leaves. the whole trek ... amazing.

after saying goodbye to our new friends, we found another little village where we’d heard several peace corps workers were living. they invited us to stay for christmas and enjoy the turkey they'd been fattening up for months. we remembered our turkey-less thanksgiving and were quite tempted ... but we wanted to keep moving to get to nepal. 

so we headed out of the hills, this time on the top of a bus, soaking in the tropical air, the floral scents, the late afternoon sun ... no fear, just contentment. we were real travellers now. we could handle pretty much anything. we could get around. we were safe. having fun. learning. making all kinds of friends. having all kinds of experiences. in. the. world. free.

ps - i apologize for all the photos of curt. he's just so dang photogenic! 

~~~~~

lessons learned: cook for the locals. just say no. ride on top of buses whenever possible. 

+++++

ok, i'm cooking thai food tonight! 

monday memories / RTW trip: harmony & balance

while i have my around-the-world photos out from their usual home in the garage, i think i’ll continue telling some more stories from that adventure ...

we started our around-the-world tour in october 1990, leaving from our home in portland and flying waaaaaay across the pacific to taiwan, our first stop. i had a friend living there at the time who was waiting for us at the airport. and waiting, and waiting, and waiting. we had decided only a month before to take this grand tour, talk about impulsive (me, not curt)! and in our frantic preparations to start our journey, we (probably my idea, again) had neglected to get visas for taiwan. oops! and in that ancient time before cell phones, there was nary a thing we could do, quarantined in the holding area, to alert my friend. so onward we ventured on the next leg of our flight to singapore. 

singapore is a great place to start an asian adventure, easing in to the east. except that in those days, i didn’t know the slightest thing about “easing.” after our god-knows-how-many-hours-long flights, jet lag, gooey humidity, foreign beds ... i brilliantly decided to go for a run our first morning there while curt, sensible guy that he is, slept in and then waited for me at breakfast.

i ran out the front door of the ywca hostel along a road through a tropical forest, with ENORMOUS green leaves and jungle bird sounds, marveling at the exotic all around me. returned dripping in sweat, stopping at the payphone outside the entrance to call home and tell mom we had arrived safely. mom was a big talker (understatement of the century) and wanted to know all about everything. but midway through our conversation, i started feeling dizzy, and then nauseous. not wanting to worry my mom, i abruptly said i had to go, but she had no intention of ending the conversation just yet. mom, i really have to go, i don’t feel well. mom. i. have. to ...

the first thing i saw was the phone receiver dangling from its cord three feet above my face. i took in the sky, the leaves, the birds ... from the ground where i lay. i roused myself, dirt and dust sticking to my sweaty legs, arms, shirt and shorts. found curt in the dining room. curt, i fainted! he made me drink litres of water, fed me some toast. i guess all the air travel, dehydration, running, and sweating had gotten the best of me. mind you, i am not a fainter. have the constitution of a bull. but i fainted on the first morning of our big adventure. was it an omen of things to come? 

singapore was eye-opening and fun, a strange shoppers paradise, full of multi-story shopping malls. we bought a little shortwave radio and stocked up on the items we had forgotten at home. enjoyed the best indian food of our whole trip (including the time we spent in india) in the “little india” section of the city. yum! and we booked our boat trip to jakarta. no more planes for us. the budget-travel had begun.

excruciating pretty much sums up our three-day boat trip. the sleeping berths were packed with people and the stench of sea-sick vomit. we opted to stay outside on deck, along with the other budget travellers. we slept in our brand new sleeping bags on a dirty wooden deck for two nights and sat, stood, and walked on the deck for three nightmarish, long days. our time was punctuated by vendors who’d come out to sell food, but the only thing that seemed palatable to us was crackers. and the other  budget travellers? many of them were the uber-long-term-traveller-types and had gone to singapore to get medical attention for their various ailments. one guy had a bandaged ear from some weird infection. one a bandaged foot from a wound that wouldn’t heal in the moist tropical air. and more bandaged body parts paraded on deck. many of them didn’t seem like they’d washed their clothes or hair any time recently. curt and i stayed to ourselves and ate our crackers, quiet and sobered from this scene. what had we (me, again, the whole dang trip was my idea) gotten ourselves into? 

finally debarked in jakarta, off that godforsaken boat, and straight into dante’s inferno mixed in with the biggest slum and garbage dump imaginable (we hadn’t yet been to india). resilience is key on this kind of trip. we found a decent little place to stay for one night, and tickets for yet another (one day, not so bad) boat and bus to bali. 

needless to say, our trip didn’t start out as well as we’d imagined.

but bali? bali. oh bali. sweet, sweet bali.

bali was exactly what i’d imagined, only better.  we’d planned on staying three weeks in the artists village of ubud, in the mountains in the middle of the island. surrounded by terraced rice paddies, jungles, walking paths, bicycles for rent, delicious food, friendly bars, gentle people. we found a lovely and super cheap place to stay where our breakfast of tea and papaya and banana was delivered to our doorstep each morning, along with a little leaf tray holding a few grains of rice, flowers, and incense to keep the bad spirits away. we were grateful for this offering, after the journey we had taken to get there. we were in some serious need of peace and safety and serenity. 

apparently there had been a large local gathering right before our arrivel, kicking off a month-long ceremony at ubud's temple. sitting in a pretty ravine along the river at end of the main road, the open-air temple made of bamboo and flags hosted a slew of activity. every day we saw the balinese carrying trays of fruit piled high as they made their way to the temple to make offerings to the gods. and every evening, the temple gamelan rang through the jungle. at first the gamelan sounded like a lot of clanging iron; but over the weeks, it grew on me. i eventually found deep appreciation for this heavenly music.

we rented bikes and rode through the fields. we took in a shadow puppet play. made some friends. saw art. bought sarongs. went swimming. curt learned the art of balancing a papaya on his head, making the local women giggle (later in our travels we learned that only balinese women balance things on their heads). walking. eating. drinking. so peaceful. now this is how travelling is supposed to be! 

and we found better and better places to stay, closer and closer to the temple. our last place was the best, in the middle of the jungle just above the temple, complete with outdoor bathroom (walls but no ceiling!) and one daily lizard poop (the first few days we thought it was an olive pit ... weird, how did that get there?) delivered smack dab in the middle of our bed (no doubt a protest for invading his space). we spent each night falling asleep to the sacred gamelan and balinese prayers.

just before leaving ubud, we heard the month-long ceremony would close the following weekend with a procession through the village. and the reason behind the ceremonies? the balinese from ubud and neighboring villages intended to restore balance and harmony in the world (at least that was the gist as we understood it). we decided to stay another week. could use a good dose of harmony and balance before heading on to god-knows-what, god-knows-where.

perched in an open-air bar alongside the road, cold beer in hand (it was probably too early for beer, but what the heck, it was like a parade, bali-style!) we gazed at the orderly procession of color and costume and platters and platters of tropical fruit and flower offerings. first came the giant puppet, then the little boys, then the little girls, then the older boys, then the older girls, then the men, then the women ... each group wearing matching outfits. elegant. serene. festive. pious. simply gorgeous. all culminating in a grand ceremony at the temple.

did they restore harmony and balance to the world? they certainly did to my world. we spent our last night, after cleaning the “olive pit” off the bed, slumbering to the magical gamelan sounds.

 and we left the very next day.

 ~~~~~

lessons learned: research visas! don’t go running after flying! gamelan is beautiful, once you get the hang of it. always seek harmony and balance.

+++++

ever since the eat pray love phenomenon, bali has become THE destination for 30- and 40-something single women looking for love. i read an article about the new ubud, where the author saw a sign on a cash register which read: “eat pray leave.” i think they might need to hold another "harmony and balance" ceremony!

no courage at all

it didn't take any courage whatsoever to visit this clan, on my way out of squam and art camp in new hampshire. no sirree bob, this required nothing of the sort. these people i love, they love me, and all i had to do was soak it all up, the love, the friendship, the easy togetherness.

you see, this growing family (new third baby a month ago) is my family. yet another family of mine. i was there when their first was born. invited to actually be there for the miracle that is max. 

that's just how these folks are. they invited me to share christmas eve with them in san francisco when my mom was spending her last days at the hospital nearby. 

in fact, i was enjoying soaking them up so much, i forgot to take pictures! we supped on lobster and corn in the garden, a perfect new england evening.

and they surprised me with their and my dear aussie friends fab justin and the lovely lily. it all passed too quickly. 

and then it was time for max to go to school ... 

and for me to get on the road ... 

but they're all coming to visit the left coast next week. i hope my camera does a better job of showing all their faces then! 

northern cali and southward home (hill)

road trip days 13-16: norcal coast - home (mill valley)

we finally slowed down the pace. instead of doing 6-8 hours of driving, we did 2 or 3 or 4. got to spend more time walking, shooting and on our starbucks sessions to upload our photos to picture summer. i remembered that i'm insanely in love with meadows. all those little grasses mixed together creating the perfect imaginary playland ... just like when i was a young girl, i imagine i'm thumbelina-sized, walking through the forest of GIANT trees (of knee-high grasses). sublime. even in the presence of a whole herd of elk, i felt the tug to snuggle into the opposite meadow -- sans elk -- but with the most magnificent display of feathery grasses and plants ... grasses, elk, grasses, elk ... for me it was clear ... grasses. but cynthia loved the elk. she wants to be a wildlife photographer in africa when she grows up.







my trusty van waited for us patiently (she finally got a name on this trip: mojo) between the meadows, grasses to the right, elk to the left.



later we found a great campsite on the banks of the klamath river close to its confluence with the pacific. the morning was deliciously foggy (home sweet home). cynthia REALLY wanted to see another bear, and in the morning we heard there had been one the previous evening playing on someone's tent. we must've been making dinner ... sheesh! but rumor had it there was a bear who swam across the river many mornings, so we sat in these chairs and waited, alas no bear.

our assignment that day was to photograph "wind".



we eventually wound our way down the avenue of the giants and burst out to the coast above mendocino. the coast! getting closer to home!



no bears but a great hillside of goats.



you old goat! (what do you think they were saying to one another?)



ended up in sonoma for lunch. our assignment that day was "light". this fork photo ended up being featured on the picture summer site! a lovely end to our trip.



cynthia flew back to australia after a few serious days of shopping: aveda, yoga mats, juicy, neoprene wine bags, etc etc etc. she is now officially my special shutter sister. it's hard to believe she just started photographing during our road trip. she has the gift! our last assignment of july was to create a photo garland of all the picture summer photos.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

road trip epilogue:

all in all, we travelled over 3500 miles in 16 days!

we experienced: yosemite granite, a bear, photo galleries, a las vegas show, the inside of a helicopter inside the grand canyon, red rocks at zion, deer, geological history, stone arches, friends, sushi bars, organic grocery stores, rock shops, big skies, campgrounds, sweaty shirts, maps, snacks of blueberries and walnuts and carrots (ate primal -- no gas station junk food -- the whole way), too many gas station restrooms, starbucks in every state, family, lizards, brand new guest beds, poached eggs, microbrewed beer, bbqs, more friends, kids, rivers, dogs (we both missed ours tremendously so had to pet each and every dog we came across), dusty cameras, photoshop, oregon green, an old boyfriend, giant sequoias, goats, the pacific, seals, fine restaurants, finer wine.

and so much of road trips happen inside the car. we talked the entire time. had brought 7 books on tape which we did not even listen to. we had 7 years to catch up on! shared music, stories, tears, the love of photography, laughs, insights. we rekindled a deep friendship. cynthia is 10 years younger than me, and she's like a sister, but not a younger sister. just a sister. i learned so much from her. strength. beauty. generosity. efficiency. love.

portland people (hill)

road trip day 11: salt lake city - portland

i used to live in portland. went to college there. made lots of friends. fell in love. you know ... life. and i love love love to go back and visit. my freshman year college roommate laura and i are still fast friends. she married college sweetheart phil (which i wrote about here). phil is HILARIOUS. and he's the penultimate, loquacious tour guide. of course he took us somewhere that made us all happy ... mcmenamin's edgefield microbrewery and gardens in nearby troutdale for sunday brunch (and i got artsy fartsy with the beer)!



then we had a bbq with more friends ... and all their cute kids ...



next morning, it was goodbye to all the portland people. we headed south to the mckenzie river valley and paradise campground -- which it was -- and the magic of the oregon landscapes ...

the horny toad and the eggs (hill)

road trip day 8: boulder - salt lake city

got to visit my brother and family in their new home just south of salt lake city. a too short but very sweet visit. they are so happy in their new house, even bought new guest beds so cynthia and i could sleep well. i love my family! on their former 3 acres, they didn't ever have to walk the dogs. now that they're in a neighborhood, they walk their dogs just like the rest of us. but not all of us have these views!



and they have other creatures in their yard ...



cynthia taught us all how to poach an egg without a special poacher pan. yum!

going primal (hill)

i'm going primal.

no, i'm not letting my armpit hair grow out (although i have in the past and i do like that kind of freedom/natural sexiness), i'm not living in a cave, i'm not hunting or gathering in the traditional sense and no, i'm not grunting any more than usual ... no, i'm following the primal way of nourishment and i'm feeling GREAT!

the author of this book recommends omitting all non-fiber carbohydrates from our diets. period. no rice, bread, crackers, chips, potatoes, popcorn, cereal, oatmeal, pasta, chocolate, beer, wine, dried fruit, juices, and many fresh fruits. none. nada. zip!

author nora gedgaudas says we humans have not evolved much -- biologically -- since our primal hunter-gatherer days. think about what those gals and guys might have been eating ... wild (think: grass-fed) animal protein, veggies, nuts, seeds and berries. all natural. as in, without chemicals. as nature intended. what we now call "organic". weird: the non-organic stuff should be called "chemical", not the other way around!

nora says the advent of agriculture has produced lots of carbs that are not a human dietary requirement and actually wreak havoc on our systems, body and mind. vitamin deficiencies. seratonin deficiencies. inflammation. hormone issues. insulin resistance. leptin disregulation. osteoporosis. obesity. adhd. depression. anxiety. think about what you have been eating lately ... carbs come to mind? we, at least here in the states and europe/uk, normally eat a lot of carbs these days.

i've been eating the primal way for two and a half weeks now, with a few minor detours (had a beer with curt when he was here, and had three chocolate-covered almonds with my friend julie the other day). it's easy to "eat primal" because i don't have any cravings. i'm not hungry like i always used to be. that's because my blood sugar needed more "sugar" (read: carbs, sugar, chocolate, sweets, bread, etc) to feel good.

fast approaching 50, the past few years i've had low energy, blue moods, and have had to take thyroid and hormone medications to feel better. just in the last couple weeks, i'm getting my energy back and i'm feeling great!

nora says we can also eat small amounts of raw, unprocessed dairy products, if you can find them. i went to whole foods this morning to get raw milk with which to make yogurt, but alas, they said their insurance was too high and they had to stop selling it. so i made it with the next best thing, straus family creamery organic whole milk.

will keep you updated about my progress.

anyone else nourishing themselves this way? or another way that makes you feel great? please chime in!

i planted! (hill)

i joined the ranks of gardeners today. i planted!

old boyfriend curt (he prefers "ex-luvvah") came for memorial day bearing gifts, including herbs to establish my new herb garden. he also bought pots, soil, and flowers to brighten it all (impatiens ... wonder what that means). and instead of planting them for me, he wanted me to do it so i could gain the benefits of working with the earth.

i had a garden the first year in my house about 12 years ago ... but the cats also "enjoyed" the garden, and the cucumbers turned out bitter, and i figured the taste was from the cats. and never planted a garden again. gross!

recently i learned that cucumbers are bitter for many reasons, and thought perhaps i should reconsider gardening (and have a serious talk with my cats). then curt arrived laden with plastic pots with greens spilling from a cardboard box.

old love. new garden. nice.

memorable memorial day (hill)

[gallery columns="5"]

memorial day 2010:

old boyfriend in town ...

quaint mill valley parade

gg bridge crossing on a perrrrrrfect day in the bay, even if we did lock our bikes outside the warming hut and forgot the key!

flag on porch

city island: must see

sharing secrets

neighbors, friends, community

requisite memday bbq

ahhhhhhhh summer

i dream of jamie (hill)

yesterday i was feeling playful and posted on facebook "i kinda have a big crush on jamie oliver." i just LOVE him. he's bold, brazen, hardworking, charismatic, funny, making a difference, down to earth, and cute! lo and behold, jamie visited me in my dream last night ...

in my dream, i met jamie on the side of the road -- i was a new crew member or something. we met and he *saw* me, avatar style. as in, his essence saw my essence. his strength saw my strength. his vulnerability saw my vulnerability. his courage saw my courage. his heart saw my heart. i rode in his car for awhile and we got to know each other, joking and jabbering away to the next shoot. "i'll see you later," he said. later in the hotel lobby, we met and walked in the garden for hours. talked, laughed, played tag and teased like kids. he asked me how old i was, and i said, "i'm 29 ... and 18 ... and 7 ... and 45 ... and 98." he got it. and we just looked in each other's eyes, no need for words.

next day i rode my beach cruiser to his event at a swimming pool. i was early (in real life i'm never early). ran into his daughter's friend who loaned me his daughter's bikini, and somehow i looked great in it (the beauty of the dreamworld)! my entrance into the pool was from the high dive, an expansive swan dive ending with a tuck and a flip and a half with a graceful splash. (i was actually a child high diver ... a coach wanted to train me for the olympics until ear trouble became serious.) i swam and i swam, then jamie jumped in. swimming with jamie was like swimming with the dolphins, sheer joy.

in my dream we remained fast friends for a very long time because we really *saw* each other, listened to each other, and loved each other truly.

if it's true that all the characters in one's dream are the dreamer (psychology term = projection), then the message i take from this dream is to draw upon my "inner jamie oliver," the parts of myself that jamie represents to me: strength, capabilities, humor, wisdom, courage, will, charisma, boldness, gifts ...

thank you jamie, for all that you are, and for being my dreamtime friend. (ps - i'm eating my veggies!)

~~

btw, jamie won the one and only 2010 TED award. visionary, bold, inspiring. see him here:

http://www.ted.com/talks/jamie_oliver.html

http://www.jamieoliver.com/campaigns/jamies-food-revolution

the day after easter (hill)

the day after easter. no chocolate bunnies for me. no chocolate period. no eggs. no pastel colors. no egg hunts. no nothin, except for these four i found on tonight's dog walk, the day after. reminding me that other people have bunnies. i don't. i don't celebrate easter.

yesterday on easter sunday i went to the alameda flea market for the first time with my cousin and her girls who don't celebrate easter, either. the morning was windy and freezing and many of the sellers' spaces seemed empty. when it started raining big fat drops we abandoned the expedition and headed into oakland for breakfast. we opted out of the easter brunch buffets for $39.99 per and the 'chicken and waffles' place with very dirty carpets and a very dirty restroom. so we ended up at the buttermilk something diner for a mediocre meal, and saw some big groups of families and hat ladies just in from church. it rained the rest of the day while i sat at the dining room table and did my taxes, between distractions. what a weird easter sunday it was ... even by my sideways standards.

my mom used to buy us chocolate bunnies when we were kids, the day after easter when they were on sale. she LOVED sales. anyway, i don't celebrate christmas, either. don't celebrate hanukkah, don't do passover (except when we do it like the renaissance faire, which i'll explain another time), don't even celebrate new year's eve anymore (all that drinking), or st. paddy's day (ditto). don't do much for birthdays, for that matter. our family was jewish, and we did celebrate the major jewish holidays, but not really in any great, memorable way. my dad would have gotten christmas trees, but my mom would have none of it. on christmas, it's chinese food and the movies, the only places for non-christmas-celebrators to go. we celebrated hannukah which as a kid seemed long and drawn out and watered down and not really that much fun. not like christmas seems. i just heard from a friend of mine who lives in israel, and who said her kids were on pesah vacation, that's PASSOVER VACATION! wow. it just sounds so refreshing to have the jewish holidays matter and not to be marginalized the way they are here. not that i affiliate with being jewish.

i guess i don't celebrate most holidays because i don't affiliate with any religion, and don't like to drink that much. i don't even celebrate the solstices, even though i place more credence in nature's rhythms than anything man-made. my birthday falls on the spring equinox, which feels exciting no matter if i "celebrate" or not. doesn't everyone feel spring bursting on march 21st?

i realize i sound a bit of a scrooge with my limited holiday-making. what i do celebrate, however, i celebrate with gusto! four days out of the year are my especially fun days. i seriously celebrate the BBQ HOLIDAYS! memorial day, fourth of july, labor day ... wouldn't miss a bbqing opportunity for anything, and i do love a parade (even though i now see through all the pomp and fire engines for what they really are: pr/marketing opportunities for small town businesses ... true or scroogey?).

and then there's thanksgiving, the best holiday EVER! food, friends, family, freedom from gift-giving, four day weekend, relaxing. i had a double oven installed just for thanksgiving, and it is the only time i use two ovens at once. worth every penny.

my former chiropractor was jewish married to a non-jew. i once asked him what they celebrated. EVERYTHING he replied! which sounds so happy, so inclusive, so fun. without any of the religious weight put on any of the holidays. just because it's a celebration. what a lighthearted way to be. i could get behind that kind of dogma: celebrate more.

i could bake two different chocolate cakes in my double oven and toast my accountant with champagne when i finally finish my taxes!

yay or nay?

how do you celebrate?

I'm not gonna cook you a lettuce (Meg)

Stay-at-home that I am, I rarely get to be ahead of the zeitgeist.  But about a month ago my DH picked up a copy of Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution cook book as we were on our way out of the library.  Something about it appealed to Chris.   Jamie's mission is to get people to cook real food instead of eating processed prepared food.   He also has this sweet idea of people "passing on" the recipes they like, which appeals to me because it's a way of building community.  I looked through it and decided that because the recipes are well presented and easy, (with a photo for each one--love that) it would be a valuable resource for Mettlin when she goes off to school.  I remember so clearly that I had a copy of the Silver Palate when I went to college, and I was so pleased to be able to cook for friends when we spent weekends at the coast.

Thinking that I should try a few recipes before buying the book for her, I turned to the section on "Family Roast Dinners".  I can't even count up all the roasted chickens I've served over the years, but the number must be high.  I've even got (and have made) the recipe for Zuni's Roast Chicken, which is widely acknowledged to be the best restaurant roast chicken in the state of California and maybe the world.  There, in this book, was yet another recipe for roast chicken.  Jamie's take is quite different though--you roast the chicken on a bed of vegetables, you put a whole lemon in the cavity, and he assumes you'll make gravy from the veggies after the chicken is cooked.  As I'm sure you've guessed by now, the chicken was unbelievably tasty.  And so easy!

He also has a whole section on chopped salads, which for me seemed ridiculous at first glance--how could anyone possibly need a recipe for a chopped salad.  Then I remembered his mission and my idea that this would be a helpful book for someone just learning to cook, and I thought I'd try one.  He has a page of general rules for making a delicious chopped salad and then several actual recipes.  I made the Mediterranean chopped salad and even the teenagers ate it with gusto.  My DH & parents loved it too, and I now often take the extra few moments to chop the salads--although I devour unchopped salad with glee, it turns out that chopping it makes all those veggies more palatable for those who are not vegetable freaks.

A few weeks after that, I started seeing ads on the TV for his show and set the Tivo to record it.  Jamie's show features a town in Virginia (or is it West Virginia?) and his efforts to give the people in it the skills they need to feed themselves real food instead of processed convenient crap.  The channel didn't change for the first episode, but the second one was recorded, and it was eye-opening.  One scene showed Jamie visiting a kindergarten class and the children being unable to identify tomatoes and potatoes, let alone eggplant.  It's so easy for me to forget how privileged we are here on the west coast of California, with fresh local produce available abundantly year-round and the produce section placed near the entrance of every grocery store.  During a radio show interview the host told Jamie that the town didn't want to sit around eating lettuce all day.  Jamie's response was to say "I'm not gonna cook you a lettuce", but actually, for my family, that's just what he did!  He makes the act of preparing food simple and satisfying enough for very beginning cooks and veterans alike.  And yup, I bought the book.

p.s.  I can't recommend the Empire kosher chickens available at Trader Joe's highly enough.  They are expensive, but my family eats every single morsel when I use them, usually the day I cook them, but if there are leftovers they get gobbled up too.  So no food waste.

p.p.s. You can find both these recipes at

http://www.jamieoliver.com/campaigns/jamies-food-revolution


And now I've passed them on to you!

Diiii-nner! (Meg)

Such a big part of my oh-so-domestic life revolves around food that I've decided weight gain is an occupational hazard for me.   Much of my time is spent trying to figure out what to cook that's healthy, not too pricey, and that three out of four Hunters will eat (I don't have time to care what dentists think about it).  Sometimes I win, and sometimes I lose, but as the years go by I more consistently rack up wins than losses.  An interesting solution I tried recently was the October Real Simple magazine's Month of Easy Dinners.  Once a week I printed out the shopping list and went to the grocery store (such a treat to only go once a week--with out a plan I often end up going everyday) and five nights a week I had a dinner ready to cook that didn't repeat too often, was fairly healthy, and if someone whined "I hate that", it was the magazine they hated, not me!  Our family doesn't eat at home on average two nights a week because of activities so five recipes per week was perfect.   I also did have to plan for lunches and breakfasts, but now that Mettlin is driving she's the one to run to the store for another gallon of milk if I mess up.  There were four real keepers for my family--recipes I've added to the family favorites--and not having to think every day about what we were going to eat that night was worth triple the price of the magazine.  But check it out--it's available for free  at http://www.realsimple.com/food-recipes/recipe-collections-favorites/quick-easy/month-easy-dinners-00000000020770/index.html And our most favorite recipe is Ravioli with Apples and Walnuts, available at http://www.realsimple.com/food-recipes/browse-all-recipes/ravioli-apples-walnuts-recipe-00000000020572/index.html