Snakes and Apes

Writing from java. Got here from borneo where i taveled to see orangutans. From gilis, took boat to lombok, drove to airport then connected theough surabaya. That afternoon, Got off plane at pangkalan bun, a local city but more rural very rural town. At the airport, met my guide and after 20 min, pull up on street in Kumai, a nearby town. "We're here " I'm told which was surprising because i could see no water. However, i was directed towards an alley, and next to a bunch of dudes smoking cigarettes was a simple boat sitting on dirty bay - water the color of chocolate milk. Very basic accommodation but I had the boat to myself. It's wooden, 2m across and 10 meters long, with one room where staff sleeps. I sleep on deck. On boat is guide, chef, assistant and captain - all for me! My quarters are open air and open walled. I've attached pic if my "bedroom" I had a small table and a mattress. It's not luxury but sufficed and staff was great as was the food. First dinner consisted of omelette, tempeh, fried shrimp, rice and watermelon. Breakfast included banana pancakes. Each meal was solid, and after long days in the jungle, was much looked forward to.

MyGuide spoke a bit of English and was super nice. He told me about the time Julia Roberts came to the sekonyer river. He served her tea in her documentary, but you can only see his arm according to him, so hes only partially famous. He then mentioned that she drank the entire glass of his tea in one gulp - big drinker that Julia.

A few minutes after boarding, we were off down the bay to the sekonyer river. Felt like I was in Heart of Darkness. Jungle is so dense and right against the river - no river banks. Very few other boats. Felt truly isolated.

The River is heavily polluted. Very dark brown due to an illegal gold mine up river. They need evie cook to come and get things in order. Also, the boat"toilet" which doesnt flush simply let's out into the river beneath the spare wooden beams below. This is not water suitable to drink...

As it turned to dusk, the fire flies came out which was amazing. The forest looked like its was filled with Christmas lights. An impressive sight. Docked for night along river. No dock; we just tied up to some branches. No sounds except for crickets and the odd bat or proboscis monkey, which are only found in borneo and have giant noses. I would have made a jewish joke, but this being a muslim country, figured best to be quiet!

the next day, I visited Camp Leakey.

Wow.

Amazing to see these orangutans up close. Walking around camp leakey, many orangutans that have been rehabilitated have since had offspring. Truly wild orangutans are difficult to find and those found often do not come to the ground. Here, u can get right up close to them. There are no walls or fences. The apes live in the forest, just happen to live near this camp, which provides food as the orangutans are rehabbed. It is amazing to watch them interact with each other (like watching children) and and in some instances, interact with you. This probably shouldn't be permitted, and technically it's not, because these "guys" are much stronger than humans. It got hairy when we encountered an orangutan and it's baby on a walkway. While playing around, the orangutan grabbed my guide and wouldn't let go. At first guide was calm, but as orangutan made tighter grasp and took more of his leg, he started yelling for park ranger. Orangutamn finally relented when i got out water bottle and gave it to him to play with. Later that afternoon I got a picture right next to a large female - 1 foot away - and realized, if it wanted, this woman could turn around and tear my arm out of its socket! Amazing, thrilling, and somewhat dangerous. Very unique. Also, hung out with the author for lonely planet Borneo who was there. He Had interesting story from our location. A British tourist was eaten by a crocodile there 10 years ago. Borneo, in his opinion, is the most dangerous place he has covered. A bit nervous something may come aboard and join me at night. Back at the boat I saw a monitor lizard, basically a 5 ft long Komodo dragon. I figured him or an orangutan would make a nice house guest, but one of the thousands of tarantulas that come out at night (and whose nets i had seen all day) would definitely not.

The next day, visited two more camps and saw more orangutans. What was really impressive was during dusk trip back down river, saw the "Jewish" proboscis monkeys. As we continued our journey we then saw tons more. we pulled off to side and we were in the middle of 50 maybe more monkeys, and just a few meters from the local king, the largest of the monkeys. It seems as though there were two factions and we had sailed into the middle of a turf war. Being dusk, difficult to see in pictures, but it was an incredible site, especially the sounds of 50 monkeys screaming, and the king and another male screaming at each other and eventually tussling!

It had been overcast each evening, and my Last night it was finally a clear sky. It was Stunning with no light pollution. Could see countless stars, planets and even a galaxy. The stars above coupled with the fire flies on banks, made for an amazing sight,mas I was enveloped by "stars" all around.

Overall, was glad I went to borneo. As a fan of wildlife, was an extraordinary place to visit and get close to orangutans. They are really neat to observe. like watching humans interact. Mothers take care of their young until they are seven years old, I think the longest time in animal kingdom. Seeing the moms and their kids was a trip, as it was a nurturing that I hadn't really seen first hand in the animal kingdom. So far have had great time in Indonesia, and would recommend a trip, probably two nights instead of three would suffice, to the sekonyer river in Borneo.

Life on gili

Gili islands were amazing. They are series of 3 small islands off the northern coast of Lombok in Indonesia. I arrived via a 90 min ferry from Bali, near the ashram where I was staying.

Stayed on most popular one, gili trawangan. To give a sense of its size, It's about 1 hr 20 min walk to circumnavigate the entire island. Very unique because no motorbikes or cars are allowed so you either walk, bike or take the local taxi, which is a horse-drawn buggy.

I arrived with no plan and was looking forward to sitting on beach and doing some reading. I got restless though, and with a dive school at my hotel, decided to take a refresher course for diving my since I hadn't gone in about 10 years. Was good to get back underwater and saw a giant sea turtle about 5 feet across, just feet away from me. Did 3 dives overall and while i rekindled an interest in scuba diving, the local aquatic life was somewhat lacking since local population had damaged reefs in past by fishing with dynamite!

Gili islands are known for nightlife but I took it pretty easy my first 2 nights. Dinners were amazing, as a bunch of restaurants bring in fresh seafood daily and you choose your own fish to be grilled like Milos in nyc, only here it wasnt expensive and full of mooks.

My 2nd full day, i went out to sunset bar on the southern tip of island to check out the views and spend the afternoon. Met an awesome group of guys from Australia and one from buenos aires. became an adopted member of their crew and chilled at beach bar for rest of the day. Eliot, one of the Aussies is a dj so did the music for the bar, which was nice respite from the bob marley every other beach bar played. That night, we hit up the night food market, which was similar to restaurant (grilled fish to order) but less fancy. Was still amazing. Also met some girls from holland who joined our group, so we had table for 7. That night, we had a large mahi mahi, local fish, prawns and squid and it was 8 dollars per person. Was cool how people from all different backgrounds came together and formed new social group.

Next day, elliot was asked to dj again at sunset bar so we went back after hanging out in town on the beach. Views ive attached below were incredible. Also hit up market for dinner again where I had phenomenal seafood noodles for 2.5 dollars. Went out again where I fell in love with Australian doctor babe who is volunteering in Bali. Unfortunately, we live about 24 hrs away from each other, so im afraid Dr Paton and I are not to be. By the end, had really great time with new friends I met in the Gilis. I dont regret any part of my trip; however, I do wonder what it would have been like to follow the backpacker route in southeast Asia. Had a awesome time meeting people and making friends which was very different from 5 hotels in India or ashrams in Bali.

Overall, highly recommend the gili islands. Partly, from friends I made and the laid back vibe of the islands, i had so much fun and miss it already.

Following in the steps of J-Rob

Hello from Bali. While I have not read the book / seen the movie, I realized I am currently mirroring the last 2/3rds of Eat Pray Love. This was unintentional; however, I'd be amenable to bringing home a European yoga babe.

I arrived from Bombay where I stayed with my friend Ashay and his wife Abha at their new home in Malabar Hill. I had been to the city once before for Ashay's wedding a few years back. Bombay is a city like Shanghai, that has grown so quickly and has attracted so much capital, that it was hardly recognizable. Although not a great "tourist" city, a nice place to visit after Nepal, as all we did was hang out and go to nice restaurants. It was interesting that in Rajasthan, beef was nowhere on the menu, but at upmarket spots in Bombay, many places had beef, and in fact I ate two cheeseburgers over the course of the weekend (goodbye Everest weight-loss). Abha and Ashay were terrific hosts and on Saturday, post dinner, which like NYC ended at nearly 12am, we went to Ashay's country club, whose bar was turned into an amazing bar late night by other young members. Bollywood and western dance turned were blaring in the wood paneled room- this was more Dorrians than the Racquet Club. Everyone was dancing, taking the odd break to go out on terrace to smoke or go to bar for another drink. At around 2am, about ten of us went back to Ashay's for late night karaoke session. When Journey's Don't stop believing came on, knew that this was a city I could call home. Unfortunately, still not used to city-lifestyle from Nepal, woke up at 8am after sleeping for 4 hrs. People left at 5am but I passed out beforehand. The nice thing about no drinking while trekking was no hangovers! After another day of hanging out and having brunch with Ashay's friends, who I had met during his wedding, we went to watch the Indian premier league cricket finals and I was off to the airport to fly to Bali.

In Bali, I'm staying at the Ashram Ghandi. It's on the ocean about 2 hrs north of the touristy southern area. While accommodations are simple, I'm learning yoga and participating during prayers and other Ashram activities. Ive attached a copy of my daily schedule. Also, the food is amazing. Pretty incredible that room and board here is only about 25 dollars per night! Have another 2 days here and then off to Gili Islands, then Borneo, then Java, then aspen and then back to my adoring fans. Hard to imagine I only have about 2 weeks left!

EPL,
Jacob

Maybe Bob Seeger was wrong

After spending 2 weeks in pristine mountains, view of Kathmandu changed a bit. Very dirty city with Tons of smog and dust. Worse than beijing 12 years ago. When i got back to Yak and Yeti, Wanted to send trekking gear home to consolidate bags for next legs of the journey. First stop, the Business center was confused. When they finally understood the request, they said better to do tomorrow because DhL was closed. After prodding, they admitted Dhl didnt close for an hour, and agter making a phone call, someone supposedlybfrom dhl shows up in 30 minutes. We go over the items I seek to send and he comes out with sheet and suggests package will cost about 400 dollars! We go to weigh items, and since he only has 5 kilo scale we improvise and go to health club and step on scale there. We then begin finishing paperwork and confirm the price, now $350. He then asks for cash. I tell him credit card only and when I push, it becomes clear be does not actually work at dhl. He curriers things for the hotel. Not willing to trust him that my package will be sent once cash is given, I tell him lets go to physical location. He then motions for me to try to ride on back of his motorcycle, but with a big bag, no helmet and tenuous nature of Kathmandu streets, we get cab instead. We go to dhl store 5 min drive away. My happiness is short lived, when I find out despite the "visa accepted sign" dominating the entrance, the guy working the desk is new and has nO idea how to work a credit card machine. It's creeping towards 5pm and these guys aRe useless. The new guy suggests an idea though. Go to another dhl location closer to airport, about 30 min aWay. Faced with schlepping my bag to Indonesia, as I was leaving the next am, I got in new cab with currier and set off for new location. We then get stuck in traffic, surrounded by parade or protest, the roads lined with riot police. Our car is at standstill and it's creeping towards 530pm when dhl closes. We then catch a break as the street is cleared by police and we get to dhl with minutes to spare.This location is actually helpful, but they don't have proper tape and must send out for some. In meantime, they need to check each item, and I'm forced to create list and document each pair of shorts, socks, and thermal article. 20 min later, we complete paperwork and I head bAck to yak and yetti. Now have fingers crossed that clothes get back to NYC.

After stay on back end of hike realize that nepal is in serious trouble.

Nepal in mountains is great. Kathmandu not do much. Lights flickering suggest an unstable grid, even in our hotel, where there was No hot water until 5 pm. Tons of riot police everywhere. Country is On verge if descending into chaos and I'm glad I got out when I did. Unsure how long it will last before something drastic happens. When monarchy ended, left huge void and lots of factions trying to pull country and constitution together. Nothing is getting repaired here and no growth like In Indian cities. Currency devalued over 10 pct last week when i was trekking. The Country has lots to offer but concerned Maoists or military will take over soon if the country doesn't get it's proverbial shit together asAp. Never felt like I was in a city on the brink like I did in Kathmandu. Everyone there was so nice though that I hope they fix their issues.

Back at sea level

First post in a while. While i kept journal of my everest base camp trek, will post day-by-day thoughts after. Figured i would write overview and include some pics first. Had amazing trip and highly recommend Everest base camp for others. Had amazing guide, Lakhpa, who paced us well and was very knowledgeable. It's some of the most beautiful scenery I have ever seen. Hiking around plethora of 20k+ foot peaks is impressive, especially when most of the trek is higher than any part of continental USA. Trip was not overly challenging outside of the days when we were over 16000 feet. Felt Really greAt to be on trail for two weeks. Each day when we reached a new village, felt sense of accomplishment usually lacking on vacations. Also, from 2 weeks of exercise, I Feel much healthier than when i stArted. For those who dont like to "rough it", outside of the last 5 days, most nights spent in lodges which while spartan are nicely appointed with clean water, beds and decent food.

One or goals was to turn phone off and do some thinking and head-clearing. Hiking without distraction of music or tv was great opportunity.

While I will post more in depth info and stories, wanted to include a Few highlights:

Scenery is truly striking. Have been in mountains before, but scale of Himalayas is extraordinary. When at base camp of AMA Dablam, you are already at 15k feet and looking up, the mountain in front of you is another 7 empire state buildings tall!

Group dynamic was excellent. Everyone got along and was super nice. I was youngest by about 20 years and oldest was Frank "the tank" Brophy who was 77! I hope I'm in that good of shape in 50 years.

Got very lucky with weather. Rained a bit afternoon of first day and didn't really experience rain again for next two weeks.

Acclimated very well. Only had issues when we climbed kala Pathar (18200 feet) mostly bc I was dehydrated. Realized when I was that high up that high altitude mountaineering was not for me. While I loved the daily hikes, fine staying under 20k feet elevation.

We were in Everest base camp at right time as many people were submitting then. Met a few famous climbers, including Conrad Anker who was super friendly. Seems as though mountain is getting overrun with Sandy Pitman types though. Spent some time with both people who submitted and failed, all of which complained about overcrowding, and had to step over multiple dead bodies on their ascents and descents as too many unqualified people who can write $100k check are summitting.

Realized we needed to add more humor and competition to the trip so I purchased a yak bell for the group. If you were last one to a meal, you had to wear yak bell at the meal and carry to next meal. Included. Pic of Betty after she Was last to breakfast.

Had snake / (l)lama encounter at famous monestary of Tingboche. Attached a pic. Big hitter the lama.

Read atlas shrugged which I enjoyed and gave new inspiration to try to do something as opposed to Passively investing or trading. The career related thought was also echoed in satisfaction of completing a difficult trek that required hard work. Feltbgood to accomplish something. What i specifically want to do - im still not sure.

Flight to / from Lukla is nuts. Never comforting when you look in cockpit and warnings are flashing "terrain ahead" did not crash tho and luckily didnt fly Agni airways which had crash while we were on trail!

After trip, headed back to Kathmandu and then Bombay to see friends, Ashay and Abha Shah. Will post updates on next day or so. Just got to Bali and will be in Indonesia for next two weeks!

-snake on planes