Happy Thanksgiving!

Hello out there and happy Thanksgiving to you all. We had KFC today. It's not turkey. I hope you all are eating much better than that.

We have been on the road non-stop lately. We went to the island of Java and did some really cool volcano trekking. We also went to Borobudur today. It's the largest Buddhist stuppa in the world.
Apparently everything you do in SE Asia has to be done at sunrise. Every morning you have to get up at 4:00 and catch a bus somewhere or hike up something. It's worth it though when you get the views. This is Mount Bromo.

The day after Mount Bromo we went to Ijen. There are sulphur mines there and it's one of the most amazing but disturbing places ever. The views are spectacular but the working conditions are horrifying. There are men mining sulphur with not much more than a handkerchief as a face mask. All day long they breath in horrible smoke and chemicals. They then have to hike up the mountain, many of them barefoot, with up to 90 kilos (180) pounds of sulphur on their backs. They labor is back-breaking and I can't imagine the pay is any better. It's sick to think that things like this actually go on. There is no OSHA here to say any other though. To them it's just work. To us it's appalling.

Next was Borobudur. This massive Buddhist temple was built long ago. It was abandoned when Islam starting taking over the island of Java and the Buddhists were forced out. It was covered by bushes and volcanic ash over hundreds of years and later discovered in the early 1800's. Even though the stones are beginning to crumble it's easy to appreciate how impressive this place really is. The carvings are so intricate and I can't imagine how long it would take to create. It's pretty cool to stand on something that's been there for thousands of years.

Tomorrow morning we are going to a festival bright and early. It is currently Hajj in the Muslim religion. Hajj is the pilgrimage Muslims must make to Mecca in their lifetime. It is celebrated here tomorrow with parades, ceremonies, and animal sacrifices. The locals keep telling us we have to go experience it so once again we are getting up at the ass crack of dawn to do so. It should be quite the experience though.

After that we have come to the point in our trip where we are parting ways for a bit. Andy has already seen most of Southeast Asia so he's going to head to the areas he hasn't seen yet. AJ is meeting a friend in Malaysia for a few days. I'm heading to Singapore and then probably off to Vietnam after that. We hope to meet again for Christmas and New Years if it's in the cards. Only time will tell....

Much love and happy holidays to you all,

Ryan


These pictures are out of order but I don't feel like rearranging them since I'm almost out of internet time. The bottom ones are Mount Bromo, the middle ones are Ijen, and the top ones are Borobudur. Enjoy.

Indonesian Sunsets....

Every night is amazing and they seem to get better and better with each passing day...

Bali, Indonesia...........It's NOT Missouri

Well, we made it to Bali last night. We left NZ at 7:00 in the morning and took a 3.5 hour flight to Melbourne, Australia. From there we had a six hour layover and then another 6.5 hour flight to Denpasar, Bali. We crossed four timezones in the process. We know have an +14 hour difference between the States.

We got in around 6:00 pm local time but by the time we got our visas and through customs it was dark. It was quite an experience right off the bat. The second we walked out of the airport we were barraged by locals pulling us every way trying to exchange money, buy maps, book hotesl, and get in their taxis. It was really frustrating. You couldn't even focus on our own maps trying to figure out where to go without 30 people saying, "Yes, yes, you come with me." It was a bit of a pain in the ass.

After finally negotiating a cab ride to the town of Kuta we made our way. It was chaos. There are motorbikes everywhere flying past cabs with hundreds to people just running about in the streets. There really aren't any type of traffic rules here. You basically just get out of the way and hope not to get hit. You have avoid children, bikes, motocycles, horses, street carts, and all kinds of other crazy stuff.

After about a half hour in the cab we get dropped off at our hostel. Lucky for us they had no vacancy for night. At this point we are all starving because we hadn't eaten in 18 hours. Our flight was on Pacific Blue and it's a budget airline. You get nothing free. All drinks and food must be purchased at a pretty ridiculous price. The Melbourne international terminal sucked too. They only had one crappy cafe to eat at and it was priced pretty crazy for the shit they were selling. We opted to wait and eat in Bali. We we freaking starving!

So, with fatigue setting in we decided to walk a bit and find the next place to stay. Lucky for us, again, there was a blackout in half of Kuta last night. We had no idea where to go and everything was dark so you couldn't tell what you were getting yourself into. You would look down alleys and just hear crazy Indonesian chatter and not know wheter to proceed or not. After some time we walked up to a hotel to try and get a room. Most people here speak Bahasa Indonesian with enough English to get your money and book your room. We just went for it and booked a room for the night not knowing what to expect. We didn't care anymore.

Later we walked the crowded, dark, chaotic streets and found some street vendors selling food. We don't know what we ate because it was dark but I know it was amazing! I'm pretty sure there was some pork, some fish, and some chicken. We got a huge plate of food covered in chili oil and beer for only $3.00. It was pretty awesome. We sat on a street curb while a woman served us with her bare fingers and finally got to take it all in. We were no longer in New Zealand and a long way from Missouri.

After that it was back to the hotel and thankfully the power had come back on. We passed out and woke up to a pretty nice view of the pool from our private balcony. Not bad for $10....


It's hotter than hell but only because of the humidity. It's like a Missouri summer with an extra 80% humidity. Hopefully it will be a great time though. Today we head for the beach to see what this place is all about. I'm sure we are in for some great views...

Talk to you all later!

Ryan

Penguins!

After much work up and down the coasts of New Zealand we finally saw some penguin colonies. We saw a few in Abel Tasman National Park but only when swimming by. We never really got a good look at them until now.

We are in Oamaru right now on the east coast of the South Island. There are two penguin colonies here. One is the blue penguin and the other is the yellow eyed penguin. The yellow eyed penguin is the rarest penguin in the world. They are supposed to be scared off really easy and you are supposed to be very quiet to see them. They come in from sea right around dark. There was a viewing area on a bluff and you could watch them float ashore like driftwood and all of a sudden they would pop up and waddle across the beach.

After a while they would waddle away and disappear into the bush. We didn't really expect anything else when all of a sudden a few came out of the bushes right in front of our face!

It was really cool to see the rarest penguin in the world in it's natural environment. Few people can witness such an event. What an experience.

Just around the corner was the colony of blue penguins. They come in at dark and are in the process of nesting right now as mating season is going on. They would come across the road and hide under sheds where they made their nests. Also really cool but it was hard to get a picture because the flash scares them off.

Overall, it was freaking cool to see some penguins in the wild carrying on like they do everyday. Worth the wait all this time.

Milford Sound

An amazing place! Milford Sound is in Fiordland National Park on the South Island of New Zealand. The huge area was carved by glaciers over millions of years. There are stunning waterfalls, mountains, and wildlife. It was truly a remarkable experience. The pictures (and video) speak for themselves.