Mooventures

Going to see Vietnam has been on my list for several years now, and I was more than thrilled to finally make it.  I had heard from several people that the best parts of the country are the towns between Hanoi (in the north) and Ho Chi Minh (the south).  Fellow travelers I met over the years said the best way to get from place to place is to find a tour or a guide. After a lot of research and cost comparison, I decided to join a “G adventures” tour. G adventures is the same tour group that I hiked Machu Picchu with so I knew they would be good. It was nice to have all the logistics taken care of – transportation, places to stay. But it was also nice to have the freedom to do what we wanted once we made it to each town.  Our leader would offer up suggestions but no one was bound a schedule.  I arrived in Vietnam a few days before the tour began – my visa from Indonesia was running out so I had to leave.  I flew into Ho Chi Minh on Saturday and then flew up to Hanoi on Sunday afternoon. I spent the rest of the day just wandering the streets. My favorite part were all the narrow streets:

On Monday I took a day trip to Hoa Lu & Tam Coc, two areas that are 2 hours south of Hanoi.  Hoa Lu is the relics of the ancient capital and temples dedicated to King Dinh and King Le remain. The two heroes who lived in 10th century chose Hoa Lu to build the citadel of the capital city then. Archaeologists continue to excavate buried parts of the ancient citadel with rusty weapons and ceramics. The temples are said to be built on the old foundation of their original palaces from the 11 and 12th centuries, then restored in 17th century. Though the temples are not maintained entirely some precious antiques are still preserved such as the whole-stone dragon thrones, wooden and lacquered statues of King Dinh, Kinh Le, Queen Duong Van Nga – who in turn married both of the kings.

We took a short bike ride after lunch and saw some amazing landscapes.

Tam Coc translates to “Three Caves” and is very near to Hoa Lu. We took row-boat trip (they row the boats using their feet!) through the area’s three caves.  The meandering river is lined by rice paddies and guarded by limestone cliffs, often inhabited by local goats.

On Tuesday, I took a day trip to the Perfume Pagoda, which is a vast complex of Buddhist temples built among the limestone hills and tropical forests in the area of Huong Mountain.  The center of the complex is Chua Trong (inner temple) located in Huong Tich Cave.

We then took a cable car to the top of the mountain to see some views and to visit some other pagodas.

Last on the agenda was a row boat ride on the Yen Stream. While very relaxing, nothing extremely different from yesterdays river trip.

Wednesday was my chill day. I moved hotels because our group was meeting up that evening. I took a stroll around the Hoan Kiem Lake which is the centerpiece of Hanoi.

The highlight from this day is that I was able to find a new backpack!! If you’re a backpacker, you can understand the time and energy it takes to find the right one, as well as the high prices that are involved. Fortunately, a lot of things made in Vietnam are cheaper to buy! This pack cost over $350 on the internet, but a mere $20 on the streets of Hanoi!  Check out my new traveling buddy:

Thursday, the group went to visit some Hanoi landmarks.  The Mausoleum contains Ho Chi Minh’s embalmed body.  The Ho Chi Minh Museum documents his life and the modern history of Vietnam.

The Temple of Literature (Van Mieu) is Vietnam’s oldest institution of higher education.  Dedicated to Confucious, the temple served as a national university for over 700 years educating Mandarins.  Students at the time used an ideographic script based on Chinese.

And that wraps up my 5 days in Hanoi!!

Week 2 of our Bali adventure started off on Friday in Paradise. You may think I’m kidding, but I’m not. If you ever get to Ubud, Bali, make sure you stay here, because it’s a little bit of paradise on earth!

Taman Bebek is a small, quaint homestay made up of cottages and rooms, and the property is sprawled across a beautiful part of Ubud amidst rice paddies, rolling hills and above the local river.  Each of the rooms its own unique design and style and the ones we saw were all incredible. Here are some snapshots of the room we stayed in:

We wandered around the property and along the way saw some really amazing landscapes!

Saturday (September 22) was Christina’s birthday!! It started off with breakfast on the terrace:

We then spent the rest of the day wandering the street our hotel was on. We stumbled across a space that looked like it could have been an art studio/hang-out lounge, but there was not one around to tell us more. Since there was no one to stop us, we took some photos:

The rest of the day we spent by the pool and in the evening we went to Mozaic for dinner.  Mozaic serves French fusion cuisine in a garden setting.  They have a fixed menu that changes daily depending on what is fresh.  This place was all about ambience. When you first walk in, you’re seated at a couch where you order drinks and they preview the menu for you. 

After you’ve been able to enjoy your drink, they lead you to another part of the restaurant where you’re seated for a 7-course meal.  They were kind enough to add a little birthday flair to Christina’s dessert:

Our last night in Ubud, we went to see a series of traditional Balinese dances performed at Ubud Palace Courtyard which is supposed to replicate what it looked like during the 16^th century.  The dancing was interesting, but they do a lot of expression with their eyes and to be honest, their jumpy eyes started to freak me out a little. I don’t know if these photos capture it, but here is a glimpse:

After our weekend in Paradise, we traveled to Lombok which is another island off the coast of Indonesia. Lombok is becoming an increasingly more popular vacation spot boasting the Gili Islands for water sports, the Rinjani volcano for trekking, and amazing beaches for surfing on the south coast.  Due to time restraints of our trip, we were only able to get to the south coast which is the part with the beautiful white sand beaches.  We took the local (a.k.a SLOW!) ferry from Bali for $2.00 and it took 6+ hours.  We could have opted for the fast boat which takes 45 – 60 minutes, but costs upwards of $45. Here are some photos from our slow ferry ride:

Unfortunately, Christina suffered an injury as we were getting off the ferry and she ended up with a fractured finger. We spent our first morning there driving to the doctor in the ambulance. While the reason for our field trip wasn’t fun, it was interesting to be able to see parts of Lombok that we wouldn’t have had the opportunity otherwise. 

Once we got back to the hotel, we spent our days lazing by the beach and pool!

We went back to Bali for our last night and stayed in a town called Kuta.  It does have beautiful beaches and they are very popular with the surfers. However the rest of the town is a quite crowded with tourists and at night it becomes overwhelming! I think the closest thing I can compare it to is NYC Times Square on New Years Eve.  We focused our time in watching surfers at the beach! 🙂

And that wraps up Bali! Would I go back? Absolutely!

On September 14, my dear friend Christina arrived in Jakarta all the way from Oakland, CA!! Before she knew about my travel plans after India, she had already booked a trip to Bali and when she realized where I’d be she asked me to join her. The trip was also to celebrate her birthday, and after our time there, I can honestly say it is the BEST birthday celebration I’ve ever been a part of!

We left for Bali on Sunday, September 16, and our first few days we spent in Seminyak, which is one of the many beach towns along South Bali. We stayed at a small homestay called Teka Teki which means “puzzle” in Bahasa. Sort of ironic, since we were very puzzled when we showed up and there was no one to greet us or show us to our room.  It was quite nerve-racking since we had quite a difficult time finding the place on our taxi ride from the airport.  One challenging feature of a lot of the roads is that they are too narrow for cars to drive down – only motorbikes can get through. After a stressful arrival, we made it here:

And then we went to dinner at a local restaurant and had some delicious Balinese food!

The next 2 days were filled with time at the beach and shopping at the various boutiques around town.  On Tuesday night, we went to a very popular restaurant called Ku De Ta.  The thing to do is have drinks on the beach to watch the sunset and then have dinner. We did it all and it was amazing!

On Wednesday, we moved to another town in Bali called Ubud.  This town is known for its rich Balinese culture and various activities.  Around Ubud are temples, ancient sites and villages producing handicrafts.  There are also a surrounding countryside with lush rice paddies and towering coconut trees.  We spent our first few days in Ubud at this homestay:

On Thursday, we woke up early for a Balinese cooking class at Warung Enak with our awesome cooking teacher Rai Sri.

The class started with a visit to the local market.  It was quite busy when we got there at 7:15am.  These photos are merely an attempt to capture some of what we saw:

We then went back to the restaurant and started to make a 7-course meal. Here was the menu:

*Grated Cassava Filled with Palm Sugar

*West Javanese Spicy Fruit Salad, with guava, mango, pineapple & cucumber

*Manduranese Chicken Broth with shredded cabbage, bean sprout & boiled egg

*Poached Trevally in Spiced Herb Broth of lemongrass, ginger, chilli, pandan, & lime kaffir leaf

*Duck Satay Lilit

*Fermentation Rice & Cassava on Passion fruit caulis & shredded young coconut

*Boiled Flour with Palm Sugar inside, tossed with grated coconut

Needless to say we were STUFFED beyond belief by the end of the class!! We decided to walk back towards the hotel, and along the way we stumbled across a funky art museum belonging to the artist known simply as Symon.  We got to chat with him for a few minutes and he was quite the interesting fellow.  Here is a brief description that has been written about the artist:

“Symon has lived in Bali since 1978 and is best known for his bold portraits of Balinese people, done in vivid tropical colours and often to an exaggerated scale, as in his series of Big Heads. His energetic and sometimes whimsical take on Balinese life and landscapes makes a refreshing change from the more sedate traditional views so popular with many other Ubud artists.”

Here are some snapshots of the space and some of my favorite paintings. For more info, you can check out his website at: www.symonstudios.com.

Here are some other things we saw along our walk:

And that wraps up the first half of our time in Bali. Next post will be about week 2!!

For the past 14 years I have been an educator.  While my classroom time has always been in early education (pre-K, K, 2^nd grade), through coaching, mentoring, and tutoring I have been able to work with kids of all ages.  I guess you could say I define myself as a teacher.  It’s all I’ve known and done since I graduated from university.  The fact of the matter is, I LOVE TEACHING!  Do I love ALL aspects of it? Of course not – I don’t think there’s a teacher who does!  But the joys that come from teaching are hard to rival: watching a child enter your classroom not knowing any letters of the alphabet and leaving in the spring being able to read; observing a group of 20+ students come in as individuals and leave as a community; being able to witness independence as it happens…the list goes on and on. Anyone who knows me can attest that I have had my fair share of tough times during my career, but I like to think I came out of those situations a better teacher and a stronger person.

This past February, I had an “experience” that altered my entire view of me as a teacher.  Without going into too many details, I will just say this: I had a meeting with some supervisors under the guise of something that needed to be discussed, and when I went into the meeting, I realized it was all a set-up to sabotage me.  There were a lot of very hurtful things said that attacked me as a teacher and person. Needless to say, I walked out of that meeting feeling like my world had just been turned upside down.  I didn’t understand where all of this negativity and hatred towards me was coming from.  I was hurt, angry, and confused.  I remember my initial reaction was, “I’m totally calling in ‘sick’ tomorrow” because I didn’t want to go back.  But after talking with a friend, I remember her saying, “You have to go in tomorrow – whatever you do – DON’T call in! If you do, it shows they got to you, and they win.”  She had a point, and I decided to go in the next day – and every day for the rest of the year. But I feel like from that day forward, I wasn’t the same teacher I was before. I felt I had been betrayed by my supervisors and I didn’t feel I could trust them (or anyone, really) with anything. What’s worse, was I started to doubt myself as a teacher, despite being in my 14^th year.  I did what I had to do though – I put my nose to the grindstone and made the students in my class the only priority in my work life.  It was a rough 4 months but I made it to June.  Along the way, I decided not to return to that school but I didn’t have anything lined up.  This is very out-of-character for me, but I knew that there was no way I could return given what had happened.  So, I gave my notice and left for India in late June, and have been traveling around southeast Asia ever since.

One of the things I’ve been contemplating while traveling is what is next for me.  My confidence in teaching isn’t exactly stellar after what happened in February, but I also can’t picture myself doing anything else.  Outside of teaching, one of the things I’ve been most passionate about is athletics.  I decided to apply to Northeastern University for the Masters in Sports Leadership program.  Here is an excerpt from my personal statement that sums up why I decided to apply:

            “As an educator of urban youth for the last 14 years, I am dismayed at the shrinking opportunities for youth to participate in these kinds of sport activities.  Simply put, there aren’t enough fields, courts, coaches, or infrastructure and the cost is just too high for families.  I think back to how sports impacted my life while I was growing up, and I am challenged to make these opportunities accessible to all.  My vision is to have a year-round community sports program that specifically serves urban youth.  Through grants and private or corporate funding, the program would operate on a sliding scale based on what families can afford.  The program would offer a variety of sports throughout the year and would start by teaching the basic skills of each sport with an emphasis on teamwork and positive sportsmanship.  Besides learning how to play sports, the bigger goal would be that kids would learn about conflict resolution, collaboration, and healthy competition.  By learning and playing a sport together under the leadership of a coach, children would have the opportunity to experience these challenges, and in the process not only learn about themselves, but about their peers as well.  I have seen how sports can positively impact and change the course of a young person’s life.  My goal is to make this available to every child who desires it.”

I am excited to share that I was recently accepted into the program and will begin in January 2013!  I am thrilled about having the opportunity to start something new and pursue another interest I feel strongly about. I recently was thinking about this upcoming new direction I’m taking and I realized there is a good possibility I may not teach again. I’m not going to say never – life is too unpredictable to make such a statement.  I feel that teaching has defined me over the last 14 years and now…well, it’s going to change.  I am hoping that I contributed to future generations in some small way during my teaching career and I hope I can continue to do so in my new pursuits. It’s weird to think about not having that identity anymore.  Hope you all will stick with me as I start to build a new one. 

The last 5 days of my India adventure took place in Mumbai. The honest truth is that by the time we reached Mumbai (we were down to 5 of us at this point), we were all pretty tired. But we managed to get to a few things, including a visit to Dharavi, which I’m saving for another post. (I need to process that experience some more before I can write about it.) We spent a lot of our days exploring the southern part of Mumbai – Colaba Causeway and Crawford Market were the two main ones. The one landmark we ventured to was the Gateway of India, where Gandhi arrived after his time South Africa, and where the last of the British left in 1947.  

Across the street, we could see the impressive Taj Hotel (which we snuck into for a peek, but no inside photos!)

July 21-28 was when 9 of us took off on an adventure in Kerala, India (southwestern part of the country). During the week we had our own van and driver (yay for Abraham!). He picked us up at the Cochin Airport and we spent our first night there.  Sunday morning we looked around the town for a few hours. Our first stop was to this church:

We then went to the water’s edge where we got a personal tutorial about Chinese fishing nets and how they’re used by the local fishermen in the area. They have quite an amazing system set up!

Sunday afternoon we started to travel towards Munnar.  Along the way we saw some beautiful waterfalls!

We also stopped and took a tour of a spices and herbal garden.

We finally arrived Sunday evening in Munnar and stayed here:

We spent most of Monday in sightseeing and exploring the area. The sights we saw were incredible! After being in cities and rural towns for 3 weeks, it was refreshing to enjoy the lush greenery and fresh air this climate had to offer.

It seemed everywhere we turned we saw workers in the tea plantations. Most of them stopped to smile and wave at us, seeming happy in their work.

I loved how the bright colors of the villages seemed to pop out at me as we drove by them.

We saw some animals along the way, including a family of wild elephants! (it was hard to get a good photo of them)

We stopped at a place called Echo Point, where if you yell loud enough, the echo is actually quite loud and clear.

Later that evening we went to Punarjani Traditional Village.  The first hour was Kathakali, which is a classical dance drama. I could tolerate it in the beginning – in fact, Kim and I both got on stage for a minute.  But it got to be so weird and creepy, I ended up walking out halfway through.

The second hour was Kalarippayattu, which is a form of traditional martial arts. This made up for the horrible first hour! We saw some amazing battles, fighting, and acrobatics. Here are some photos, but they don’t capture the intensity of seeing it live!

On Tuesday, we started our trek to Thekkady.  Along the way we stopped at:

We started with a 1km walk and along the way I met this friendly cow-

We ended up at an amazing view point – we were standing in Thekkady and looking out into the town of Kumily.

Then we all crammed into a jeep, and went to spend some time with 2 enormous elephants!! They were so sweet and calm and we had a great time hanging with them.

After our elephant adventure, we were passing by a school and Jami stopped by to drop off some school supplies she had brought with her. Look at the smiles on these kids faces!

Tuesday afternoon we went on a boat tour where we were told we would see some tigers. The board ride was nice enough, but the only wildlife we saw were more elephants!

Wednesday morning we came down from the mountains and headed towards Alleppey, where we spent some time on a houseboat. It was nice to have the whole boat to ourselves and the ride up and down the river (although we basically went in one big circle!) was relaxing.

Thursday morning we left the Alleppey area and traveled most of the day to reach Kovalam beach. This was the view from the lobby:

Friday morning we took a 3-hour boat ride that was incredibly fun and relaxing. We passed through a huge mangrove where we saw various birds amidst some vibrant scenery.

We eventually ended up at a beautiful golden-sand beach where we lounged in the sun for an hour.

One of the highlights of the day was eating lunch as a floating restaurant. Our boat pulled up next to the “dock” of the place, we ate our lunch on the restaurant deck, and then went back on the boat.

The catch was very fresh that day!

Saturday morning we all got up incredibly early to head back to Cochin. The whole week in Kerala would not have been the same if it weren’t for our awesome driver/tour guide Abraham. Thanks for everything!

July 20 marked the last day of the formal program. One of the highlights was getting to meet a woman who worked with and personally knew Gandhiji! She was an inspiration and a pillar of strength!

This is me with Mr. Shugan Jain, our lead teacher and the person who helped make this program possible:

And this is our whole crew after certificates were given out:

Three weeks went by quick! We battled the intense heat and humidity of Delhi, lived in the horrid rooming conditions at meditation camp, survived “Jain jail” in Aligarh where we struggled to demonstrate ahimsa on numerous crickets, and dealt with naked Jain monks in Jaipur. But we also witnessed amazing things happening in schools across India, learned that nonviolence can be taught to children, were inspired by some incredible students, were appreciated for being educators, drank countless cups of delicious chai, shared with and learned from each other, and I know we are all walking away from this as better people than we started off.  For me, I know what I need to do:

The last school visit of the program was on July 19.  We went to Mahaveer Public School in Jaipur.  If you’ve been following the other school visits, it was similar to most of them. Think of this as more of a photo entry 🙂

We were welcomed by the Girls’ Bagpipe Band – they are all very proud members!

Love that they call their art room an Art Cottage. The art instructor says she believes having space available in which students can let creativity flow and let the ideas come as they may. She always has beautiful, calming, and inspiring music in the background because she believes music can unlock creativity in the brain.

All around the art room (and the entire school) were student-created posters and projects. They were all amazing! Here are some examples:

They had a huge library with books in English, Hindi, and Sanskrit.

Good to know someone still uses a card catalog!

They have a new gymnasium in their building. We visited 11th graders during their yoga class. They have yoga class 3 days a week in addition to their regular PE classes.

The school uses a handwriting method called the Dandia Technique. This is a mandatory class for all 9th-graders and it is possible to not pass it. It’s amazing that they make time to ensure proper handwriting is being used. We got to sit in and watch how it is taught, and afterwards we saw some performances from their cultural groups.

A great visit with some amazing students!

Last Wednesday, we had the opportunity to see one of the most incredible examples of ahimsa in action.  The official name of the society is Bhagwan Mahaveer Viklang Sahayata Samiti (BMVSS).  The objective is to provide mobility and dignity to the handicapped. BMVSS emphasizes a holistic approach to addressing the problems of amputees. The society focuses no only on the medical problems of the underprivileged, but also the financial and social problems.  It was started by Shri D.R. Mehta, pictured here: 

He said he started this society because he almost lost a limb himself several years back and it got him thinking about the options people have who have lost a limb.  While the concentration is on the disabled in India, in the last several years, BMVSS held on-the-spot artificial limb fitment camps in 25 countries such as Afghanistan, Honduras, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, and other countries throughout Asia, Africa, and South America.  They provide artificial limbs, calipers, wheelchairs, hand paddled tricycles, crutches and other aids and appliances to the handicapped to about 65,000 disabled in a year.  Here is the most amazing part: BMVSS provides these aids and appliances totally free of charge. In fact, about 99% of their patients are below the poverty line. The place we visited is known as Jaipur Foot, and they manufacture the artificial limbs.  Jaipur Foot is closest to the human foot and limb in terms of flexions, functions and cosmoses.  With it a below knee amputee can walk, walk on uneven ground, run, climb a tree or a mountain, sit cross-legged, crouch, ride a cycle or drive a car.  The average cost of one artificial limb of BMVSS is $45 in Jaipur, whereas in the US this may be more than $10,000. I would strongly encourage you to visit their website to learn more about this incredible organization: www.jaipurfoot.org.  Here are some photos from our tour of Jaipur Foot:

This is one of the employees in the factory. He received a limb through Jaipur Foot and was so grateful, he decided to work for Mr. Mehta.

This is one of many people who hang around the clinic all day. He is waiting for his limb to be finished. In this photo, Mr. Mehta asked him to show him everything he has in his pockets – he had 1 rupee.  Mr. Mehta said these are the types of people that need the help the most.