Chinese New Year

I had a few days off to celebrate Chinese New Year! So a few friends and I went to Bali to spend it at the beach. The beach in Bali is always relaxing. I did do one dive on the Liberty Wreck from World War II. The dive was really clear and it was pretty amazing to think that that ship was in the war. When the volcano erupted it shifted the ship much closer to shore so it is a really easy shore dive. Of course here in Indonesia the shore diving is very easy. I didn’t have to carry my gear down the beach or anything. Just had to walk myself down there and the gear was carried by men and women. Some of them would carry two and three tanks at a time on top of their heads!! I can’t imagine how strong their neck and shoulders must be!

The rest of the trip I laid around at the beach and swimming pool at the hotel relaxing and reading a book! It was a nice break although I had only been back from Christmas Holiday for about a month. We do get quite a few holiday here!

Spring Break -- Yogykarta - Gillis - Ubud - Kuta

On of my friends, Joie, from Alaska came to visit me during my spring break. I took her to Yogykarta. We stayed out at the bourbodour temple, the largest Buddhist temple in the world, so we could walk up to it in the morning for sunrise. It was beautiful! What an amazing place! Then we spent one night in Yogykarta and did some shopping and went to a Hindu temple, Pramadan.  It is the largest Hindu temple Indonesia. It was also very beautiful.

Then we flew to Lombok and took a boat to the gillis (islands). We stayed there for two days. It is a true tropical island. We took a horse and buggy ride around the island -- very small island! We went snorkeling one day. It was nice,

Our next stop of Bali. We went to Ubud for a couple of days. We did lots of shopping! We went to the Bali Bird Park and Monkey Forest. At monkey Forest, a monkey stole Joie’s bag which had her sunglasses in it! We fed the monkey’s some bananas and they came right after them. They even climbed on us to get the bananas.

We ended our trip in Kuta at the beach! We relaxed and enjoyed the beach!! It was beautiful -- of course! It was a whirlwind holiday but I think Joie had a good time and got to see lots of things around Indonesia. I hope more of my friends and family who are reading this will come to visit me!

Bali

I took one last trip to Bali with my friend Helen before the end of the school year. It was very relaxing and it was Helen’s last trip before she moves on to Bangkok!

Now I’m off to the States for my summer holidays!!

Summer in Montana

I started my summer holiday out in Washington DC at Georgetown University. I attend a counseling workshop for a week. Georgetown is beautiful. Full of old buildings and lots of history.

Then I was off to Montana for the rest of the summer. I had a great time with my family. I gave my nephew, Gregor, plenty of opportunity to get all of his driving hours so he could get his driver’s license. It just like being in Jakarta -- I had my own driver!

Singapore

I made a few trips to Singapore this year for various reason. It is always nice to get out of Jakarta to a first world city. On one trip, I went to Cirque Du Soleil Quidam. “It’s the story of a young girl who has been through more of the world than her age would make you believe. She is a disillusioned soul entering the world Quidam, who is the quintessential presence. He is everywhere in essence and still nowhere to be found. He pervades all of us. He is mysterious and full of suspense. He is not an entity but penetrates all others. It’s also a demonstration of physical skills that are astounding and never visualized before. There is an acrobatic feat displaying a young boy maneuvering a ever-revolving wheel which resembles the Vitruvian Man. Its an extended celebration of the human body acted out by a man and a woman who balance each other with nothing but sheer gravity. They touch but only imperceptibly. They move in all ways but human as if powered by some supernatural energy. Its a demonstration of harmony that can be attained by two bodies in perfect coordination. The human body is transformed into an work of art.”  It was unbelievable!!!

Thousand Islands

A group of friends and I went to Pantera Island. It is so peaceful and quiet and relaxing. And it is amazing that it is only a short boat ride out of Jakarta! How lucky I am to experience the tranquility Indonesia has to offer.

Thailand

I made a few trip to Bangkok this year. I went to the Lasik Eye Center and had corrective surgery. How amazing!!! It is so great to wake up in the middle of the night and actually see! This of course required a couple of follow-up trips back to Bangkok --which was fine with me! Luckily I have a good friend that lives there so I was able to stay at her house. The shopping is great in Bangkok. I was able to get some great deals.

Burma

I went on a group trip to Myanmar, formerly known as Burma. It a country blessed with rich natural and cultural resources. It is home to 135 national races. Myanmar is 98% Buddhist. One of the most prevalent is the monks in their saffron colored robes walking in a straight line with their black lacquer begging bowls.

The highlight of Yangon, the capital city, is a visit to Shwedagon Pagoda. Shwedagon has been gilded with 60 tons of gold and embellished with over 4,350 diamonds, on of which weighs more then 76 carats! It is so beautiful!

The region of Bagan was founded by King Anawratha in the 11th century and is known as the birthplace of Myanmar culture. It is situated on the eastern bank of the Ayeyarwaddy River and its plains boast over 2,200 Buddhist temples. These temples were built between the 11th and 13th centuries. Bagan is the largest archaeological site of it’s kind in Southeast Asia. We were supposed to take a hot air balloon ride over the plains but it rained that day.

Inle lake has been called “Venice of the East”. It is famous for it’s unique one-legged rowers, its floating markets and floating gardens. The one-legged rowers aren’t actually one-legged. They use one of their legs to push the oar. Inle Lake is the most picturesque spot in the eastern part of Myanmar. It is a natural lake, nestled between two mountain ranges. Our hotel cottages were on stilts! The main means of transportation while in this area is by traditional longboat. We went to an especially interesting place while staying in the area called Nga Hpe Chaung Monastery - the “jumping cat monastery”. For the past 22 years, the monks here have been teaching their cats to actually jump through hoops. They actually did it! Inle Lake is also famous for its cottage industries of silk weaving and cigar making. I bought some silk but passed on the cigars.

While we were in Inle Lake we went to see the long-necks. The long necks are the women with rings around their necks. They start putting the rings on their necks when they are about 10 years old and keep adding more rings as they grow. I can’t imagine how uncomfortable it must be. The original idea for the rings was for protection from tigers.

Myanmar people are very protected from the rest of the world. Every type of media is limited and monitored by the government. I did find a place to check e-mail but hotmail and yahoo and I’m sure many others are not allowed in the country.

We even celebrated Halloween!! Even though Halloween really is an American holiday, we still all dressed up and went out to dinner and puppet show! We were probably as entertaining as the puppet show for all the other guests! It was a great trip!

Christmas

I went home to Montana for Christmas this year. We had some snow and cold weather but we were also able to golf! Only in Montana!! I had a wonderful relaxing Christmas with my family!

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