A Year Without Ice Cubes

My final blog entry

sylvia_aiko — Mon, 7 Dec 2009 15:51:00 GMT

Well, this is it. A few months belated, but I am officially retiring this blog. Because, let's face it, my year through Africa and Asia without ice cubes ended 3 months ago when my plane touched down in Honolulu. Then I was in 'vacation' mode (different from traveling mode) until my plane touched down in Washington, DC on November 4th. Then I was in 'get reacquainted with the US East Coast and its inhabitants' mode this past month. But now, surrounded by the first snowfall I've experienced in over a year, I am finally ready to end this thing. This blog. It's been an amazing year, and I'm so glad I was able to share my experiences and feel connected to my family and friends through the wonders of technology. So thank you all. And with that, I leave you with a final video, entitled "Michelle's Adventures in Africa". Interesting that I should end MY travel blog with a video of Michelle. But I really feel that I should share this with everyone, I made it back in May as a birthday gift for Michelle while I was in Southern India and she was traveling around Northern India. I uploaded it to Facebook to get it to her but never put it up on Youtube or this blog. So here it is, Africa through my eyes, my ears (I listened to a lot of Bjork this year...), with my travel buddy. Enjoy.

Our final vlog...

sylvia_aiko — Mon, 7 Dec 2009 15:25:00 GMT

Saying our goodbyes and thank yous, and reminiscing a bit about Hawaii. We actually did much more during our 2 months on the islands than what's mentioned in this video, like hiking around the volcanoes on the Big Island while crashing in Gary and Judy's basement apartment, bonding with 2 awesome dogs and 11 cats while house sitting at Marilyn and Carl's, and doing lots of yoga at Open Space Yoga in Waikiki. But sadly, none of these things were caught on camera, so they did not make the cut...

Fast Food in Malaysia

sylvia_aiko — Mon, 7 Dec 2009 15:21:00 GMT

It's EVERYWHERE! AAAAH!!!!

Food in Malaysia

sylvia_aiko — Mon, 7 Dec 2009 15:13:00 GMT

Here's a lovely video showcasing some of the delicious food that can be found in Malaysia. Ending music by Caroline, Neil, and myself using Caroline's loop pedal back in the days of 94 Bishop Street...

Good Bye World...

sylvia_aiko — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 23:11:00 GMT

Fly to Hawaii in the morning. Quick goodbye to the rest of the world. Borneo was fantastic. Sad to leave. Will write more/post photos and videos when I'm settled on the islands. Until then...

Borneo

sylvia_aiko — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 17:21:00 GMT

"If you've spent years dreaming of Borneo, of longboat trips down murky rivers, of jungle trails green in tooth and claw, of smoky longhouses and drunken dances, of strange creatures and hidden caverns, of blowpipes and head hunters, rest easy. You've just found what you're looking. Sarawak is 'classic' Borneo par excellence, and few other places will reward a little adventurous spirit so grandly."

AH, Lonely Planet. How did you know I've spent years dreaming of Borneo, why do you use such lofty language, and why are you always saying 'par excellence' ? Today a self-described skinny Asian man told us the popular guidebooks should be called "Lying Planet." Okay, I haven’t spent years dreaming of Borneo, until I got here I think I only associated it with the orangutans (which we saw, btw, and they were awesome…although also really touristy). One of the only reasons we even came to Malaysia was because we saw a commercial in Nepal produced by the Malaysia Tourism Promotion Board, and it looked cool. So we booked a flight and bought a Lonely Planet guide. Then when I was too overwhelmed by Kuala Lumpur, we booked a flight to Malaysian Borneo, because it sounded more exotic and less developed than its peninsular counterpart. So here we are in Sarawak, paying $9 a night each for a bed in a 12-person dorm (it may sound cheap, but we’re used to paying $2 a night each for a double room with attached bath in Nepal), using the free wireless, and dodging high-speed traffic whenever we venture out of our hostel. We did just come back from 4 days in Bako National Park where we experienced ‘jungle trails green in tooth and claw’, and we saw a lot of wildlife, but the park was basically overrun by tourists during the day. Which is fine, it’s great that tourism is doing so well here, but I’m still adjusting. I don’t even know where I’m going with this blog entry, I guess I’m just complaining, and I should stop… all I know is I’ve spent way too much money in the past 2 weeks, eaten way to much food and junk food (Malaysia is the first country since the US where we’ve observed rampant obesity), and complained way too much about such things as spending money and the excesses of modernity. SO, I’m hoping this little blog entry will get it all out of my system and I can just enjoy my last weeks abroad before returning to the US and really having to deal with spending too much money and being overwhelmed by consumerism. In fact, maybe I should view Malaysia as a kind of transition back home…okay, will do.

I think I feel better know. Not that I didn’t feel good before, I think I just felt like making fun of Lonely Planet in solidarity with the skinny Asian man and then started blabbing. We are making one last attempt at escape from overdevelopment and have booked a flight to the Kelabit Highlands in Borneo, where the rest of the dreams Lonely Planet projected onto me should come to fruition. I hope to hang out with tribal people in their longhouses, drink their rice wine and dance drunkenly with them, and avoid at all costs McDonalds, KFC, and Pizzahut (coming in the near future: a video montage of Michelle singing a childhood song about these fast food joints in front of various fast food joints around Malaysia...hey, if we weren’t laughing, we’d be crying…). The Kelabit Highlands has no banks or ATMs, and supposedly it’s possible to hire a guide (granted, an expensive guide) and disappear into the jungle for a few days, staying at various longhouses. So that’s the plan. Wish me luck in the wilderness again…

Gallery: Peninsular Malaysia

sylvia_aiko — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 13:10:00 GMT

Kuala Lumpur, Kuala Selangor, Taman Negara

Back from the Jungle...

sylvia_aiko — Sun, 9 Aug 2009 19:49:00 GMT

and into the concrete jungle of Kuala Lumpur. Which I've grown accustomed to and don't freak out at anymore. I've grown so much in the jungle...

Taman Negara was cool, we basically trekked through the jungle for 4 days, each day getting dirtier and sweatier than the previous, or so it seemed. My first impressions of the national park was that it was like an outdoorsy amusement park, with lots of people, long lines for the canopy walkway, and even park attendants. But that was just the first day, after that we left the crowds and went further into the wilderness, spent a night in a bumbun (dorm/cabin shelter in the middle of the jungle that accomodates 12, but there were 14 of us...Jonathan from France slept on the ground, and a Dutch family's guide slept outside...good on 'em), hiked 5 hours back to the park headquarters the next day with minimal food and water because we thought we'd be able to get a boat back, but noooooo...got eaten by leaches, tripped over roots, climbed over fallen trees, waded through rivers, and had a great time.

Our last day in Taman Negara we hiked to a bat cave, which Michelle spelunked through while I just hung out with the hundreds of bats flying all around my head. My favorite part of the trip...Malaysia redeemed itself thanks to its hyper little bats...guess it doesn't take much for me...

Tomorrow we fly to Malaysian Borneo, not sure what we'll do there for 3 weeks but probably more of the same, tramping through the jungle. And alas, I bought my final plane ticket for this crazy trip of ours, flying to Hawaii on September 1st. Back to the good US of A...well, island style anyway...

Malaysia is truly...modern...

sylvia_aiko — Mon, 3 Aug 2009 23:38:00 GMT

...and I'm having a hard time adjusting. Been in Kuala Lumpur for a few days, been completely overwhelmed with the modernity and consumerism and traffic, it feels like an Asian NYC. I actually wrote a really whiney, stream of conciousness blog entry while using wireless at Starbucks the other day, about how I can't deal with using wireless at Starbucks at this point in my life, but (probably fortunately) it didn't get saved for some reason. So I've calmed down a bit and now I'm in a slightly better place emotionally...yesterday we took a bus to Kuala Selangor to see the famous synchronized fireflies of peninsular Malaysia, and we stayed in an A-frame in a nature park and got to go out on a rowboat at night and it was really really nice to get away from the big city; but it was still really touristy and not quite how I had romanticized it to be after first hearing about said fireflies on Radiolab (take a listen here and have your mind blown because Radiolab is the best!!! http://www.wnyc.org/shows/radiolab/episodes/2005/02/18 ). Then it was back to KL, which at one point during our conjested bus ride into the city Michelle realized, "It's like Rockville Pike on steroids."

But we're planning our next escape, this time to Taman Negara about 4 hours away, the self-proclaimed oldest rainforest in the world, and according to the author of the book I'm reading now, "As long as there is wilderness, there is hope." Let's hope so...

All for now, I'll write more when we get back from the jungle in a few days, then it's off to Borneo for more wilderness.

And another...

sylvia_aiko — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 16:27:00 GMT

My camera was lost/stolen while we were trekking in the Annapurnas, so I had to buy a new one...which has a video TIMELAPSE option! COOOOOOOOOL!!! Mountain flight with Buddha Air over the Everest/Himalayas, and trekking around the Kathmandu valley.

Another video

sylvia_aiko — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 16:19:00 GMT

This is what happens in Nepal and India: tourists are constantly accosted by holy men (or sometimes fake holy men in real holy men costumes.) Who then proceed to face paint you and ask for money. Ah, the way to spiritual enlightenment...

Gallery: Mountain Flight and Trekking around Kathmandu Valley

sylvia_aiko — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 15:40:00 GMT

Gallery: Going Native and Off-Season Holi

sylvia_aiko — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 15:01:00 GMT

It's just what happens when you visit your friends' families

Hmm...maybe India WAS incredible...

sylvia_aiko — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 16:02:00 GMT

Old school vid. Mostly featuring Michelle and Becs and their adventures in India.

Trekking in the Annapurnas

sylvia_aiko — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 15:59:00 GMT

And another vlog we made a long time ago, about our trekking adventures.

Raj's Villages

sylvia_aiko — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 15:56:00 GMT

Video we made a long, long time ago after visiting our friend Raj's villages outside Kathmandu. ENJOY

I'm baaaack

sylvia_aiko — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 15:33:00 GMT

It's been a long long time, but finally videos have been uploaded, we are leaving Nepal, and I'm back on this here blog. I think I've had writers block or something, plus we've been visiting villages and trekking where internet is not an option, but in anycase, there are a couple 'vlogs' up now to give you all an idea of what we've been up to.

Next (and probably final) stop: Malaysia. Kind of impulsive decision, China didn't work out so we bought a flight ticket for Kuala Lumpur. Not sure what to expect...we shall see...

Ah, but I will miss Nepal...

Gallery: Trekking!

sylvia_aiko — Sat, 27 Jun 2009 22:57:00 GMT

Annapurna Base Camp Trek

Gallery: Pokhara, Nepal

sylvia_aiko — Sat, 27 Jun 2009 22:30:00 GMT

Gallery: Temples/Monasteries

sylvia_aiko — Sat, 6 Jun 2009 01:58:00 GMT

Around Kathmandu