Happy Halloween from Medewi!

Happy Halloween! This is the best costume we could find.

Sunset at our surf point. This is taken at low tide, making this break a little treacherous to surf even at a high tide with the rocky bottom. I lost a fin our first day out.

Sharing a wave together.

The calm before the storm at the black sand beach in front of our hotel.

This is one of the best views we've had from a balcony yet.

Additional photos can be viewed at: http://picasaweb.google.com/robyou/MedewiUbudBali10271142010?feat=directlink

Five nights in the surf town of Medewi has been one of the most relaxing and peaceful stretches of our trip so far. Far less touristy than any of the other Balinese towns we've visited, all there really is to do here is surf, as there are really no other sights nor any tourist infrastructure apart from a few local warungs (restaurants). The surf has been consistently good, and although the waves are not always easy to catch, and it can get a little crowded, the vibe is positive. If we could only find some costumes we would liven this place up with some Halloween fun. Back to Ubud tomorrow.

Celuk and Ubud Bali 10/27-11/01/2010

The wedding bands from Celuk

After a relatively long wait at the ring-makers shop in Celuk, we were presented with two sets of wedding bands, one resembling the etched wave design we had presented to them and another a surprising raised wave around the band. Debating the merits of each, we decided to go with the raised version. The bands are made of white gold (we hope) and while not perfect, they are unique and supposedly endowed with a special Balinese power to make us disappear while wearing them. They should come in handy on our upcoming sojourn into New Zealand. With this accomplished we headed out on our scooter to Medewi, some 80 kilometers away. We didn't make it. The rain decided to unleash on us soon after our departure from Celuk (Mordor no doubt) and we sought shelter in the nearby town of Ubud. Ubud is the artistic capital of Bali, and you can find all sorts of paintings, statuary, and musical instruments in this region. There is also loads of garden cottage accommodation and great food to be had. We found this unplanned stopover to be exceedingly pleasant. After a swim in the pool and a rare great dinner, we relaxed in our room with our books. We have found access to good books pretty easy throughout our travels in SE Asia and Nepal, but finding something interesting in Indonesia is a challenge. Fortunately for us we have come across a couple of good books, one of which is "A Land of Two Halves" a hitchhikers journey around New Zealand (timely, funny and informative) and "The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao" a Dominican immigrant families story, told with lots of humor and zest (also with lots of Middle Earth references for nerds like me).

Indonesian Tsunami

We were unaware and unaffected by the recent earthquake and resulting tsunami off the western coast of Sumatra. We feel quite fortunate, as we had considered spending a couple of weeks in Sumatra, but then decided against it in the end. There has also been a significant amount of volcanic activity in the last couple of months, first near the city of Medan in Sumatra, and currently a volcano on Java is erupting. We are now in Medewi, a surf town on the west coast of Bali. We depart to Australia in about a week.

Sanur, Bali 10/21-10/26/2010

In Sanur, you can get married in a giant transparent diamond! There is an altar, chairs, and a/c venting from the floors. I wonder what marketing genius thought of this idea.... for laughs, here we are recreating the photo we saw on the promotional brochure.

Another hilarious wedding option we ran across-underwater with giant bubble helmets anyone?

Bali/Lombok has been the most expensive spot on our trip yet. We're trying to cut down on costs by eating at warungs and street stalls, which provide much tastier and far less expensive food (about $4/meal for the both of us vs $16 at western restaurants).

Steve's feet enjoying a swim and beer.

We traveled to Sanur on the west coast of Bali as a transit stop on the way to Nusa Lembongan (another island well-known for its snorkeling and surfing); however, we enjoyed the comfortable and relaxing atmosphere so much that we opted to stay and forego Nusa Lembongan. We've been whiling our days away surfing, drinking in pool swim-up bars, watching videos on our iPad, motorbiking around, getting $5 massages, and attempting to fatten Steve up. He's making a valiant effort with the 5 Dunkin Donuts he ate in one single day. Although not entirely R&R, we decided to get our wedding bands made here in Bali as there are more artisans per capita than anywhere else in the world and we've heard that it is significantly cheaper than in the States since you pay for the rings by weight (weighed by the gram) and not for any of the craftsmanship. However, the shopping trip turned out to be quite the ordeal as we were sitting ducks for touts and people trying to take advantage of us as our combined knowledge of jewelry could probably fill a matchbox. Well we placed the order, and today we will collect the resulting rings. We are keeping our fingers crossed. We have rented a motorbike/scooter for the next week and will drive about 50 miles north to a surf spot called Medewi, where we hear the waves are fun and the crowds much thinner.

Sengiggi and Gili Trawangan, Lombok 10/16-10/21/2010

Dusk on Gili Trawangan. You can see Mt. Rinjani, the highest mountain on Lombok in the distance.

Coral reefs surround the entire east coast of the island and we saw the most amazing array of fish and hawksbill turtles from snorkeling right off the shore. Wish we had an underwater camera!

One of the many bays that we passed on our trip up the northwest coast of Lombok.

We headed to the northwest coast of Lombok to Sengiggi and the Gili Islands (30 minute boat ride from Lombok), famed for their snorkeling and diving in crystal clear, warm waters. Although Phi Phi Islands still had the best coral we've seen, Gili Trawangan (the largest of the three Gili Islands) had the best variety of marine life we've seen. There was an abysmal drop-off about 50m off the shore where we saw the whole cast of characters from Finding Nemo, complete with clownfish, angelfish, porcupinefish, and sea turtles.

Bali & Lombok 10/6-10/16/2010

A view of the south coast of Lombok. There are world-class surf breaks all along this coast.

Our favorite mode of transport. Wish we could just fit our backpacks on there too!

Our boat ride out to the break at Don-Don. Surf breaks aren't the most easily accessible, but they're worth it.

Steve catching a left. There were both good lefts and rights on this wave.

Additional photos can be viewed at:http://picasaweb.google.com/robyou/BaliLombokIndonesia100610212010?feat=directlink

I think we had some really high expectations of Bali, so we were a little disappointed when we first got here as our first stop of Kuta Beach, surfing hub of the island, is something like a Las Vegas for Australians, just a lot of bars, massage parlors, and shops catering to the drunk and unabashed. That added to the fact that Steve and I both got sick one right after the other was our test to love and cherish each other "in SICKNESS and in health". Things started looking better when we traveled to Lombok, the less touristy island east of Bali, known for its world-class surf, with a place called Desert Point, on the southwest side of the island, considered the "best wave in the world." We of course, were not skilled enough to surf that break, but we did enjoy a break in the surf town of Gerupak, called Don-Don, which the locals call the "beginner" break. The only "beginner" thing about it is that you won't crack your head open on the coral reef, but it was still a good consistent 6 ft.+ wave. We surfed at Gerupak for two days, but unfortunately had to leave as we ran out of money and there was no ATM or bank in town. This small, lazy surf town, where everyone knows your name after 2 days, is definitely a place we'd love to come back to one day.

Pokhara 10/1-10/3/2010

Steve getting strapped in for paragliding. I think his newly acquired moustache (souvenir from the trek) has channeled the inner GI Joe in him.

Robyn catching a thermal.

View from above. Our landing site is the grassy plain in the northwest corner of the bay.

Additional photos can be viewed at: http://picasaweb.google.com/robyou/PokharaNepal100110032010?feat=directlink

Took a little hiatus from posting, so will try to play catch-up. We decided to end our Nepal trek with a stay in Pokhara, the second-largest city in Nepal, but far more laid-back than the capital city, Kathmandu. To celebrate Steve's birthday, we opted to splurge and try something that he's never done before, so we decided to continue our favorite past time of jumping off things - in this instance, a cliff - with a 30 minute paragliding session. Pokhara is one of the preeminent places in the world to paraglide as the valley provides consistent wind and thermal patterns and year-round mild temperatures - we paraglided in t-shirts and shorts that day. I was a little confused about the differences between parasailing, hangliding, base jumping, and paragliding, but essentially paragliding is using a sail (bigger than a parachute) that doesn't need to be ejected from a pack (safer!) and you jump off a sloping cliff (much, much safer than basejumping, because you still have the option of aborting your jump if something doesn't feel right). Steve enjoyed himself, while I on the other hand, probably don't ever need to do it again, as I succumbed to motion sickness about halfway through the session. After we recouped, we had a great birthday lunch of Japanese food (first Japanese in 4 mos!) with Jay, our paragliding buddy from SoCal who was in Nepal doing a weeklong Habitat for Humanity project - go Jay!

Day 12: Muktinath to Jomsom (12,335 ft-9,108 ft)

A villager working in a lettuce patch?

Looking back towards theThorung La pass (between the two peaks).

The wind on the way to Jomsom was strong.

Additional images can be seen at: http://picasaweb.google.com/robyou/AnnapurnaCircuitTrekPart49279302010#

Muktinath is a beautiful town filled with both Hindu and Buddhist temples and encompassed by over 100 rivers and streams, making this a popular pilgrimage site for Nepalis and Indians. Although beautiful, I think I was more overwhelmed by our first hot shower in almost 2 weeks! We enjoyed our time in Muktinath shooting the breeze with our friends-Manny and Jason (two firefighters from Sacramento of all places!) and said a farewell to our lifesaver, Prem, as he made his way back to Manang. We started the last day of our trek walking down a river valley through poplar trees and streams until we reached the dry desertous town of Eklai Bhatti. From there it was a 2 hour flat walk to Jomsom, with one last catch, we had to contend with head-on 50mph gale force winds and dust the entire way. Here we thought the final home stretch of our trek would be a piece of cake, but as we've learned, nothing in Nepal is easy!

Day 11: Thorung Phedi - Thorung La - Muktinath (14, 599ft-17,768 ft-12,335ft)

A reenactment of the proposal at 17,872 ft.

A juxtaposition of colors and textures.

Bleary eyed at dawn. The sun rising and moon setting over Thorung Phedi.

We got our earliest start yet (6am) to tackle our monster of a day which has us climbing 3,300 ft and descending about 5,300 ft in the same day, which should take us a good 8-10 hrs in total. We have gotten the reputation for being the slackers on the trail as we are usually the absolute last party to set off for the day. Today was no exception as many parties left Thorung Phedi at 3:30am in the morning to beat the crowds and get over the pass before the late morning winds kicked up. We found in completely unnecessary to get up that early as the weather has been ideal the past several days and folks put themselves in more danger from trekking on unstable ground in the dark and risk of hypothermia due to the frigid early morning temps. Steve and were fairly intimidated about today's trek as we've heard numerous stories of how many people fail to cross due to AMS or other ailments. As we were setting off, we overheard another trekker negotiating a helicopter for her sick partner who failed to make it earlier this morning. Helicopter rescues cost in the range of $2,500-$5,000!

The morning ascent was cold and uncomfortable as the dry slightly above freezing temps dried out our sinuses and exacerbated our breathing difficulty in the thin air. Once the sun rose, we were able to shed our hats and gloves and a few layers which made trekking a little more comfortable. We managed to push through the 5hr ascent by playing mental games in our head (like naming US cities in alphabetical order or 6 degrees of separation with actors and movies) or simply counting paces as it took all our concentration to breathe and put one foot in front of the other. After passing several glaciers and witnessing an avalanche (from far away) we finally made it to the top of the pass.

I was starting to get a headache at the top so I told Steve that I simply wanted to take our photos and start heading down as soon as possible. Steve kept stalling with various activities to my growing dismay, when suddenly he crouched down to me (I guess his legs were hurting from all that climbing making it difficult to kneel) and asked me to marry him! Forgetting all about my headache, I of course accepted with open arms, but I guess it was a bit windy up there because Steve had to ask me a second time because he hadn't heard my first response! We shared the great news with Prem, who probably didn't understand any of it, but he was a good sport taking staged photos of the proposal. Not sure if it was the extra strength Aleve that I took, the extra oxygen my brain was getting on the descent, or my euphoria at our future, but I seemed to float all the way down the mountain to Muktinath.

Day 10: Yak Kharka to Thorung Phedi (13,365 ft-14,599 ft)

A little lake fed by one of the numerous streams that dot our path.

Taking it nice and slow....

New ridge we crossed over today with a new mountain range to wow us.

Additional Images can be seen at: http://picasaweb.google.com/robyou/AnnapurnaCircuitTrekPart39259272010#

We woke up surprisingly refreshed given that we went to bed freezing cold in a drafty room, and expected a cold, restless night. Steve helped warm my feet by placing my backpack cover over the end of my sleeping bag - how ingenious! We also had one of our most pleasant breakfasts consisting of oatmeal with apples, masala tea, and seabuckthorn juice, which is the juice from the small orange berries of a bush that grows only in the Manang Valley. It is said to have 100 different kinds of nutrients and bioactive substances and have a higher vitamin content than any other fruit or vegetable. Move over pomegranate, acai, and mangosteen! Although not cheap, especially by Nepali standards, at over $2 a glass, we think it helped contribute to Steve's recovery from his stomach bug and my symptoms of AMS. The taste falls somewhere between mangosteen juice, guava juice, and fermented kombucha. Our trek today we took at a leisurely pace as we wanted to ascend slower than we did yesterday given my onset of AMS symptoms. We still had clear views of the mountains and after 4 days of viewings, they still seem to amaze me. The vegetation is getting sparse and the landscape more desolate looking as we approach Thorung Phedi "the foot of the hill" at 14,599 ft and the starting point to the pinnacle of our trek - the Thorung La pass.

Day 9: Manang to Yak Kharka (11,614 ft-13,365 ft)

A friendly billy goat that we wanted to take with us.

Turning away from the Annapurna range.

We are in Yak country now.

We decided to hire a porter to help us climb for the next few days as I was worried about overexerting myself at this altitude. I'm feeling nearly 100% after the rest day in Manang and completing my course of antibiotics. Today we had beautiful blue skies and they do appear to be bluer than any skies we've seen (less atmosphere? If anybody has a better answer, would appreciate the help), and a cool temperature to hike in. It is amazing at this latitude how you can be sweating in the direct sun and freezing cold in the shade. With our trusty porter, Prem, in tow, we started our climb out of Manang and angled Northwest, away from the Annapurna massif. Amazing views all around as we passed up the valley into yak territory. Finally we caught our first glimpse of these shaggy animals as they grazed in picturesque mountain pastures. As we approached Yak Kharka Robyn complained of dizziness and a slight headache - early symptoms of mountain sickness. We reached Yak Kharka a short time later and her headache was worse. The body will adjust to altitude relatively quickly if one stops ascending. Fortunately after having lunch she started to feel better. This gave us and idea of how quickly her body acclimates and we decided to slow our pace for the 400m ascent to Thorung Phedi tomorrow. I think the freedom from her first day with no backpack allowed her to ascend too quickly. The air feels drier- if that is possible- and colder, somewhere around 40 degrees F, but we are keeping warm in our fleeces, hats, and sleeping bags. Tonight will be a true test of our Nepali-made sleeping bags as the room has lots of ventilation.

Day 8: Acclimitization Day in Manang

The view 1000 feet above Manang.

Our hotel in Manang, the Yeti.

A beautiful morning view of Ganga Purna.

Some stunning late night views with glowing snow-capped mountains under a full moon. A better than average night's sleep although the air dries out the throat and sinuses quickly so we are drinking lots of water. The views in the morning sun were great, while the pastries in the bakery looked fantastic, the dry mountain air made them a bit of a chore to get down. My appetite is starting to come back after two days of picking at my food. We did a day hike up to 3,900m or 12,870 ft to aid with our acclimitization. While I am feeling stronger, my low caloric intake has made me tire easily. We also attended an AMS (acute mountain sickness) talk put on by the good folks at the Himalayan Rescue Association. Although the talk intimidated us a little bit with all the things that can go wrong on the mountain, it was very helpful and we feel better equipped to know what to do if we get stricken with any symptoms. We decided we were going to hire a porter to help us on the climb over the pass. If all goes well, we will be in Jomsom (end destination - the land of milk and honey) in 5 days.

Day 7: Ghyaru to Manang (12,111 ft-11,614 ft)

Our first glimpse of the Annapurnas.

Looking back towards Ghyaru with Annapurna II in the distance.

More images can be viewed at: http://picasaweb.google.com/robyou/AnnapurnaCircuitTrekPart29219242010#

Yes the elevation change is correct in the title. Today we had to drop in elevation to only go up again tomorrow...all that hard work! After another fitful night's sleep due to the high altitude, things started to look a little brighter as the clouds started parting and we got our first glimpse of the mountains - Annapurna 2 (slightly less than 8,000m) to be exact. There are four Annapurna mountains named 1-4 in order of descending altitude with 1 being the tallest at just over 8,000m. Steve felt slightly better after starting a course of cipro and he kept a pretty good pace given his condition. We made it to our destination in Manang in about 7 hrs, slower than the 5hrs recommended, but we enjoyed a leisurely tea break and lunch with some friends, Nick and Alex, that we met at last night's lodge. Today's hike had us traversing a ridge giving us superb views of the mountains above, the river below, and a number of stone villages and gompas (temples). The terrain shifted to dry scrub brush which reminded me a lot of eastern Nevada. We got our first shower (albeit a cold one) in a few days when we finally reached Manang, the first major milestone as we are now clearly in high altitude territory and this is the last stop for any major services or comforts as we prepare to ascend another 2,000m or 6,600 ft through the Thorung La pass (5,416m or 17,872ft).

Day 6: Upper Pisang to Ghyaru (11,220 ft-12,111 ft)

Another nap along the way.

We've had some mediocre meals on our trek, which is understandable due to the difficulty of delivering supplies, but last night's meal of pizza and vegetable mom0s (dumplings) was absolutely horrendous. The pizza consisted of tomato paste poured over undercooked flatbread with cabbage and a bit of yak cheese. The momos had so much salt I think my heart stopped. Of course, we were too polite to say anything to the little old lady innkeeper about her cooking that we just told her that we were full and that is why we left everything half eaten. Ah and in the morning after a restless night, we woke to clouds, and for me it got worse as I came down with a stomach bug which sapped all my strength. This made the 1000 ft ascent to Ghyaru a long arduous day and we felt like moving speed bumps - take ten steps, stop to rest, then try ten more. Robyn had to keep encouraging me along as all I wanted to do was lie down. Eventually she had to take my pack and a hike that was supposed to take less than 2 hours ended up taking 4.5 hrs.

Day 5: Chame to Upper Pisang (8,759 ft-11,220 ft)

Crossing the Marsyangdi on our way to Upper Pisang.

Steve and the Swarga Dhar

We are yet to see our first yak or nak, but Robyn claims to have see a yeti earlier today. I informed her that this wasn't possible, as the yeti resides in the high Himalaya, not down here at 10,000 ft. She clarified her sighting suggesting instead that I'm starting to look more like a yeti by the day. Today's climb took us through some of the most beautiful country so far. We followed a deep river gorge up through richly scented pine forest, an inspiring passage cut into the rock face pst a 5,000 ft high slab of rock called the Swarga Dhar (Gateway to Heaven). Nepalis believe that the spirit of the deceased has to climb up and over this rock to reach the afterlife. After a lunch of tuna spaghetti (one of the food options with protein in it) and Masala tea (so good), we continued upwards to where the steep canyon opened into an impressive valley on the Northeast side of the Annapurna massif. We have finally turned the corner (literally) and are now in the rain shadow of the mountains, and hopefully leaving the rain and clouds behind. We are perched at the Himalayan Guesthouse in Upper Pisang. Our room looks south across the valley towards the Annapurnas. If the clouds vanish tomorrow, we are in for our first spectacular views of Annapurna 3 and 4.

I think the thin air is making us a little kooky or it could be the lack of things to do after dinner, but we wrote a few little diddies/songs of our experiences to pass the time:

Sleeping in the Clouds
High in the Himalaya
Lies a stone house
Just below a Buddhist monastery
The chanting whips in with the wind

I'm sleeping in the Himalaya
High up in the clouds
Feeling at ease
dreaming of yaks and yetis
Prayer flags blowing
in the breeze

The yeti riding the yak
Tuna spaghetti & mac
A yeti is white not black
Watch out for dal bhal attack
Nakkety nak a female yak.

The Dark Side of the Himalaya
Delayed and terrified by a landslide
Stumbled over slipppery stones
On a trail that looks like a stream
The cold chilling us to the bone
My blood sustaining a leech
Duped by a guide
Nursing blisters all the way
Climbing, climbing, climbing

Slapped by a donkey
Slipped on his dung
Scooted under a waterfall
Scratched my thumb
Bit by a horsefly
Stung by a nettle
Trying to save money boiling tea in a kettle
Peed myself
Got gassed by dal bhat
Our alarm clock wakes us up at 7am to a robot
Spending $35 a day for all this
When deep down it's Kata Beach that we miss.

Day 4: Dharapani to Chame (6,102 ft-8,758 ft)

Goal number 1, making it to Manang.

Separating out the bran from the rice kernel, with baby overseeing.

Not sure if we're getting used to the 6-8 hrs of trekking a day or if the environmental conditions on this leg are improving (easier, less rocky terrain and fewer landslides) but we finally feel we're hitting our stride, making the Lonely Planet recommended trekking times, and generally enjoying ourselves more. We reached the acclimitization line (the line where most folks start feeling the effects of the high altitude) of 8,250ft+ today and I'm not sure if it's in my head, but I do feel like it's a little harder to breathe with the thinner air. The climate and landscape has changed to cooler alpine forest and reminds us a lot of Yosemite and the Sierras, but then we're reminded again of where we are when we see troops of common langurs swinging from the trees or mule trains sharing the trail with us with their colorful headdresses and heavy burdens (mules and human porters are the only form of transporting goods up in the mountains as there are currently no roads beyond Bhulbule). Before dinner we decided to check out some natural hot springs that some Israeli trailmates told us about. About a 15 min. walk out of town, across a bridge, was a concrete tub that lay flush up against the river. Although the water was only about a foot and a half deep, the water was warm to ease our achey muscles as we stared out at the powerful raging river next to us.

Another interestig anecdote I've noticed is how the tables have turned from one country to the next. In many parts of Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos, Steve used to get lots of attention for being the white foreigner. But here in Nepal, I seem to be the roadside attraction and all eyes are on me for looking like a local, but not dressing nor acting like one. Although I had some people mistake me in the other countries we've visited as native to that country (I've been mistaken for Vietnamese, Cambodian, Laotian, and Thai) almost all Nepalis think I'm actually Nepali. I'll take that as a compliment as Nepalis are some of the warmest and genuine people we've had the pleasure to meet.