Crossing the equator to Bali

The first thing B does when we check into our hotel is flush the toilet to watch the water going counter clock wise.

We spend our first morning getting to know our beach...and it's a busy one. Apparently this is where every Indonesian wants to play water sports. I didn't realize that Jakarta is only a three-hour ferry away.

After a relaxing hour-long massage (I have two masseuses work on me at the same time and I still only pay $5 in total)...it's time to check out sarongs and sundresses.

A little further along... the beach temple...

...but we needn't go too far to make an offering as there is also one across the street from our hotel...one beside our hotel...another just a block from that, two more the block after...well in fact, there is a temple just about every two or three houses.

And this is what you do...fill these little (or big) banana leaf baskets with grass, cookies, rice and other snacks and offer them to the evil spirits twice a day...once to ask for protection the second time to say thanks for the protection. You can add cigarettes too if your spirits are smokers.

After the birds, dogs, cats and rats get through with the contents, the baskets end up all over the streets and beaches, get blown among the trees and bushes, clog the rivers and sewers...

Time for lunch...I wonder what our server's going to bring us from inside those containers...?

THIS!!! between the satays, curries and vegetables in peanut sauce, I find it difficult to stop eating. The food is amazingly delicious and ridiculously cheap. Although our hotel room has a full kitchen, it's pointless to bother cooking.

A platter of very interesting fruits await us when we check in. I don't know the name of the seedy one (sweet and refreshing) but the other is called snake fruit because it has an outer skin just like a snake...and hard! I think they're actually wood until Bruno cuts one open. They taste a little like pears.

Kuta beach...we take a taxi here to check out the best surfing spot on the island. It seems calm but...

...just after I snap this shot, a huge wave sneaks in and totally soaks me.

An outrigger sits just beyond the breakers

The Coke deity?

Hmmm, what's B focussing in on?

I'd love to take some of these home. Since temples are big business here, so is carving...everyone needs their stone gods.

All hand done!


I go in search of the evil spirits...


...and notice we share the same hairstyle...

...I think it has something to do with the heat.

Steamy Singapore...only 130 kms north of the equator!

My fave street in Singapore...it actually stands for Upper Dickson but ya gotta love it!!

Singapore is not quite as captivating as you'd think...but there are some interesting buildings. Don't expect to see a city full of British Colonial architecture (very few remnants survive). It does have its rules though...for example it's apparently highly illegal ($1000 fine and/or jail) to : chew gum, but nobody arrests me for breaking this law everyday; jaywalk - we should pay thousands for all the times we do this; spit or smoke in public places - this one we find easier to resist but not the rest of the population!


Wendy checks out the spice garden in Fort Canning Park...

Ginger!

An ear pod tree...seriously that's what it's called.

Off to Little India...

Lunch on a banana leaf. The waiter keeps trying to get us to try the fish head curry, a very popular dish here...and even after we insist on the chicken and vegetarian platters, he brings us a bowl full anyway...on the house... because you cannot come to Singapore without eating fish heads...

...Or without having a Singapore sling at Raffles Hotel...the place where it was created around 1915.

However, when we get to the Long Bar, the exact location of its birth, it's dark, dreary, full of complaining Australians and reeks of beer. We opt instead to have ours (well, Bruno anyway...I choose a less-sweet Saigon cooler) outside in the unconditioned courtyard. But with or without air-con, the price for a drink here is still $26 (about $21 Cdn). ouch!

Over to Arab street for some Turkish coffee and baklava.

We almost have this district to ourselves, as it's Ramadan and all the restaurants will stay empty until sundown.


This interesting building is called the Three Towers

What's happening in China Town

The menu lists this dish as pork with green peppers...that's green chilli peppers!! Bruno takes one taste and tells me it's all mine..I devour the whole plate.

This horrible looking stuff is the new craze...jellied, dry meat. It's actually quite tasty. I have to sneak a photo as the vendor doesn't want me to steal any trade secrets!?!? What if I just buy some?

There are beautiful flowers everywhere here.

The problem is with the humidity making the stone sidewalks slick enough, fallen blossoms make them downright treacherous. I see many people skidding over crushed flower corpses.

Our hotel as seen through the jungle that surrounds it. Right in the centre of the city, we stay in the middle of a huge tropical forest.

We love our private terrace surrounded by the jungle...here I am trying to see what creature is squawking in the tree over my head.

Off to the DMZ

When Bruno mentioned that he wanted to go to the Demilitarized Zone between North and South Korea, he was advised to be careful...however, the only real danger here is being run over by a tour bus.



We get to walk down into one of the infiltration tunnels ...a very cool, yet uncomfortable experience because we have to walk scrunched over in order not to bash our brains out on the rough, rocky dripping ceilings carved out to accommodate the height of North Korean soldiers. Apparently, N Koreans are much shorter than those in the South, due, no doubt to the effects of malnutrition. So far, four of these tunnels have been discovered and it is speculated there are many more. I regret not sneaking my cell-phone inside to get a picture...

As far as B can go in the DMZ...

Along the border...wishes from those in S Korea for loved ones stuck starving in the north.

A forbidden photo - the Freedom Bridge to North Korea - I don't know why so many countries have issues over photographing anything to do with the military or border crossings. I mean, really...what possible tactical advantage is there to viewing a soldier in a sentry lookout? Besides, if we could sneak this photo easily, a spy could do a lot better. Oops, I hope after posting this, I'm not banned from reentering Korea...we have to fly back to Vancouver from Seoul.

These people are trying to take pics of N Korea. It is forbidden to step over the yellow line with a camera. When one man did so accidently, a guard stormed over, ripped the camera out of the guy's hand, deleted all his photos and threatened to confiscate the camera.

What Bruno managed to snap with his telephoto lens held high over his head...a boring glimpse of a flag pole in North Korea (he thinks it's pretty cool)! Click on the photo to see a close-up of the N Korean flag.

Although these guards (who appeared to be doing nothing but guarding these benches) don't seem too impressed with my squeezing between them, they don't stop me.

We can't go to Korea without eating Korean BBQ. One of the condiments provided is an entire bowl of sliced raw garlic which I sizzle up on the grill and eat almost single-handedly. I reek for almost two days after...

Why is there a piece of coal in my rice? To help cook it (and keep it hot later) inside a giant steamer out on the sidewalk in front of the restaurant.

More street food. You're probably wondering if all we do is eat...pretty much, yes...and walk

Time for a beauty treatment...I think I'll try the #1...I'm pretty sure I've never had one of those before.

The remnants of a great dinner...Kimchee, pickled yellow radishes and Mundu - vegetable and pork dumplings- ... after a first course of Bibimbap - ground meat, bean sprouts, rice and raw egg - all generously doused in chilli sauce, we devour two plates of these delicious dumplings.

Checking out the street scene after dinner

For all your taping needs...

My favorite shoe store!

My favorite snacks