Almost Home

We are in Narita Airport, Tokyo, boarding for the 13 hour flight to Chicago, then home to Minnesota. We spent most of the last week on Tioman, an island off the east coast of Malaysia. A BLAST! we met an Italian woman on the ferry crossing, and she shared our room for two nights as she had nowhere to stay. Then, our Singapore buddies Tom and Larry surprised us by showing up on the island when we thought, nah, no way will they come. John and I were sitting at a little restaurant reading, I looked up, and voila!!! There stood the traveling minstrels themselves. So, not only did we enjoy the island paradise that the east coast of Tioman remains (it's where the movie South Pacific was filmed!), we snorkeled, hiked, ate, and swam with a totally fun group of folks!

And finally, Bangkok for a day, which is the minimum amount of time it takes to acclimate to any new space, so we didn't really. However, we did manage to make it to Wat Pho where we enjoyed a Thai massage, the Grand Palace, where we did NOt so much enjoy the heat and grumpy guards, a ride along the river, which is the best way to see that part of Bangkok, dinner in Chinatown, and finally a ride on the mass transit, which was a fraction of the cost of the taxi we took to get that whole thing rolling in the morning. Here we are on the train, on the way back to the hotel - which, by the way, was recommended to us by my friend Janet's son, George, who lived there and stiudied Muay Thai for some time. It is an amazing training facility should you or anyone you know care to study martial arts in that part of the world!

Boarding call - home we go!

 

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Sandy Goes to Sanda

Back into the interior of the island of Bali, we spent our last two days in the mountains, cool and lush with rice paddies terracing the hillsides. The irrigation systems in these fields are a thousand years old, sophisticated and community-based. Water from a single source courses through plots owned by many different families. The swirling patterns and steppes created are artistic designs of their own.

Sanda is also where we visited the "kopi lewat" (civet coffee) farm. You may have heard of it - civets, cat-like creatures, consume coffee beans, then excrete them whole. Their poop is collected, and the coffee beans separated from the shit, roasted, and sold for much bank in the states and elsewhere (it is one of the official coffees of South Korea). The brewing process is like a science experiment, done in a beaker over an open flame. The beans are very finely ground, so no strainer is used or necessary. It has a deep, rich flavor, and no taint of the place from which it issues forth! :)

The second plate from the left has the dried, unseparated civet poop/coffee bean combo, while plates 3 and 4 are unroasted, separated male and female beans. It is said that the male beans taste better, but we did not taste them side by side. The woman in the picture is one of the owners of the 30-civet farm. Tom, who actually likes the coffee very much, wears the face I imagine my father would maintain were he here contemplating the enterprise. But I did buy a kilo of beans to share with friends back home and with our local coffee shop in hopes of engendering some business for this ambitious start up!

 

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Lovin' Lovina!

So, after the volcano at Batur with the fishing villages and gravesite on the lake, we headed north toward the beach community of Lovina. Again, if I am near a body of water, all is usually very well, and this is a beautiful, black sand beach from which you can actually see Krakatoa - yes, that Krakatoa, the volcano of monumental eruptive fame.

Our hosts, Tom and Pui San, being from water-surrounded, always hot Singapore, were trying to make a bee-line for their favorite cool mountain retreat in Sanda, but graciously acceded to my desire to spend the night and morning in Lovina. Thank you, thank you, it was fantastic!

We got up at 5:30 a.m., and made our way to the beach (about 10 yards from our door), where Tom, John and I boarded a wooden outrigger with our guide for the morning, Made. We were hoping to find dolphins playing in the sea.

Upon buying our tickets for this excursion the night before, we were told that, yes our money (all $7 each) would be refunded if we were rained out, but no refund if we did not see dolphins.

No rain greeted us that morning - and even Made, after two hours of coming upon pod after pod of the lithe, rather small, gray pranksters, told us it had been a particularly exceptional day for sightings! The water was warm, and we rode the boat often standing up hanging from the crossbar above to get a better look. Truly a highlight of the trip for me.

 

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A Little More from Kuta

No matter where I go, if I am near some body of water, I am usually loving it. We started our Bali days down south, near the airport, at Kuta Beach, which is Daytona Beach at Spring Break on steroids - kind of loud and kind of dirty. But we met a German guy on the plane as we were landing, Kurt, and we followed him to the "homestay" (little hotel) he had found...lovely little pearl of a place tucked into the maze of narrow alley-streets that is Kuta.

The day we spent there waiting for our friends Tom and Pui San happened to be Melasti, two days before Bali New Year. All Balinese make their way to a body of water on this day, to cleanse themselves and to give thanks to the ocean spirits, so even the beach at Kuta was transformed - thousands of Hindu revelers paraded, drummed, chanted, danced, and prayed by the sea as the waves washed in and the sun set. As every Hindu ceremony I have ever attended is, all in attendance were graciously included.

 

 

 

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Lake Batur

From the heat of Ubud, we drove to Lake Batur, north by about one hour, but a completely different eco-zone. It was raining "kuching and anjing" (cats and dogs) when we arrived, but cleared by early evening, and was lovely enough in the morning for a boat expedition across the lake at the foot of the volcanoe Batur, which last erupted in 1974. We passed villages along the shore, fueled by fish farms, and explored the local graveyard, where bodies are wrapped and left in little cages to protect them from the elements and animals for a while. Skulls are lined up along a ledge, where they can enjoy a view of the volcanoe across the lake in perpetuity,

 

 

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Blog Frustration!

Well, I wrote a long entry about our time in Inle Lake, and I tried three times to publish, to no avail. Went to find it tonight and it is nowhere to be found! Tak apa apa, as they say in Malay - never mind, I suppose, but frustrating!

We have been in Bali with our friends, Pui San and Tom, who is an old high school friend of mine, for 5 or 6 days now. We got here two days before Bali's new year celebration, Niepi. All the villages spend a good part of the year creating papier mache giant puppets, called agoh agoh, that are paraded then burned on Niepi Eve (it is year 1935 in Bali, by the way). A couple favorite agoh agoh in Ubud:

Honestly, much like Heart of the Beast Puppet Theatre's May Day production, if you are from Minnesota!

We are now at the Batur volcano area - rainy and ruggedly beautiful. Headed up to the north coast tomorrow - Lovina.

Let's see if this posts! Hope you all are well!

 

 

 

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Leaving Mandalay

Mandalay has really cemented for me how important it is to pay attention to what is going on internationally. Burma, in general, is very rough. I was here 25 years ago, and things have changed very little in terms of infrastructure. It is dusty and dirty, services such as health care and education costing the average Burmese a lot of money. But the people? Kind, helpful, curious, to a person.

We took a boat from Bagan to Mandalay on the Ayerwaddy River. The 11- hour trip took 14, the final 2.5 hours being in the densest of darkness on the river. Our boat's spotlight passed from side to side as we weaved from shore to shore following the deeper trenches as scouted by our two polesters who sat at the bow testing the water with 3-meter long poles, calling the ever-varying depths like a chant.

Scene along the Ayerwaddy River

We arrived in Mandalay about 9:00 p.m., and waded into the sea of taxis, motorbikes, and trucks, choosing a duo of tri-shaws that peddled us through the still wildly bustling streets, to our hotel, Emerald Land.

We spent one of our nights at a show by The Moustache Brothers, actually two brothers and a cousin. The eldest, Par Par Lay, was imprisoned for about 6 years for saying negative things about the government at a show attended by Aung San Suu Kyi in 2002. Their whole family has been in show business of one kind or another for several generations, and the show included sisters, in-laws, and other friends. Profits from the show go to supporting the 300 political prisoners that remain in Burma. They spoke effusively of the Karen people, who, they said, have been very brave in their fight against the government here. Many of those same Karen are our families and students in St. Paul. I felt very proud. Below is a picture of the troupe wearing some traditional Karen garb as they did a Karen dance.

Finally, we stumbled upon a tri-shaw driver, Myindt Oo who is also very active in the NLD - Aung San Suu Kyi's political party, the National League for Democracy (one of the offices, above). As you probably know, Daw Suu Kyi was under house arrest here in Rangon for almost 20 years, and she received the Nobel Peace Prize several years ago for her work on behalf of the people of Burma. Our tri-shaw driver took us to a NLD free clinic open on Sundays, that provides health, dental and eye care. Otherwise, health care is prohibitively expensive for many of the poor here. In a country with many natural resources, including oil, gas, precious metals and gems, etc., it is astounding how little trickles down to the people on any level.

Below, a doctor at work in the free dental clinic.

Below, our tri-shaw friend, Myindt Oo, middle.

While better than it used to be for those who are willing to speak out, it still carries some risk. I met a woman who works for the American Embassy (and who, coincidentally, is originally from Minnesota!), and asked her what we could do when we got home to further the work of the NLD. She said that right now, funding for educational exchanges is important, and not a big priority for the state department, so writing letters and encouraging support in that way is good.

Hope you all are well!

 

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Bagan, Burma

We made it to Rangon, Myanmar (Burma), and after two days there took a night bus (Gangnam Style, as in the videos on the bus) to lovely Bagan. Bagan (Pagan) was where things started to pull together in what eventually became modern-day Burma, back between 1044 and 1287. People donated land, and rulers had these amazing pagodas built across these flat plains - 10,000 of them - 3000 of which remain in various degrees of repair. We are on a fault line here, and earthquakes through the years have taken a toll on the mostly brick and stucco structures. One wants to head out as early as possible, both to catch an impossibly breathtaking sunrise over the plains, but also to do most of one's exploring before it gets impossibly hot! it is surely 95 or so today. We biked to Old Bagan this morning, and to about a dozen pagodas, before succumbing at noon.

A delicate Buddha in stone from the walls of the Ananda Pagoda, circa 1099 A.D.

And less subtly, one of the four standing Buddhas from the same pagoda - the largest Buddhas in Burma.

Almost literally, as far as the eye can see...

We even found a school, though students are on a 3-month break, many of them at the pagodas selling paintings, bells, statues, etc., etc, etc. They are so sweet, it is hard not to buy something from each of them!

We are taking a boat early in the morning to Mandalay, a 9-hour or so journey on the Ayerwaddy (Irrawaddy) River. Contrary to popular myth, Rudyard Kipling never visited Mandalay, though he did write the poem, Road to Mandalay. On the other hand, George Orwell served as a police officer in Rangon during WWII. How cool is that?

 

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Family Visit

So, as most of you know, I was married to a very nice man named Mooraly from Malaysia. Our marriage didn't work very well, but thankfully we are still friends. And VERY thankfully, I am still friends with his very wonderful family, many of whom I have been fortunate to see during this week in Singapore and Malaysia.

These are Moo's aunt and uncle, Kamila Attay and Raja Mama. We went to a funky Indian restaurant located in a house that served amazing food on the traditional banana leaves.

This is their daughter, Gayatri, who I first met when she was 6, with her son, Ishaan. Both so dear -

And this is their son, Ganesh, who was 5 when I came on the scene, and his girlfriend Kristen on the left, and cousin Vaishnavi, whose room we borrowed (thanks, V!).

Valerie, sister-in-law, who my father will always love because she served macaroni and cheese and meatloaf when he visited Malaysia 25 years ago (not a food adventurer, my dad!). So good to see her!

Cousins Darshini, Ishaan, and Vaishnavi. Could they be any cuter??!

Vaishnavi is a blue belt in Tae Kwon do!!

Darshini...a princess dancer!

Moo's mom and the boys.

Lovely sister-in-law, Shireen, who put us up and put up with us.

And Ravi, Moo's younger brother, and Shireen's husband.

I am very, very lucky.

On to Burma...

 

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Junyuan Primary School Visit

I spent a few hours on Tuesday ay Junyuan Primary School in Singapore, which serves students ages 6-12. Sharifah Osman is the head of the IT department at the school, and she shared lots of interesting information about how Singapore has roles out out their IT plan, starting way back in 1997.

The front desk at Junyuan Primary Scool. Just like the clerks at elementary schools across the U.S., this woman helped take care of many things even while I sat for a short time waiting for Sharifah to show me around - two sick boys, one bandage for a girl with a skinned knee, a request from the principal, two teachers needing some papers, greeting a visiting parent.

I slipped into the library for a quick peek - students told me they get to go twice a week and can take out 4 books at a time. Harry Potter? Not so much. But The Lightning Thief is a favorite series, the teacher was walking back and forth (below) between the library and the kids who already had their books and were reading out on the sidewalk (no enclosed halls here! Everything open to the elements!)

 

Chinese New Year takes place over about two weeks, with celebrations occurring throughout. I was invited to join the staff and parent group for a "Lou Hei" ceremony - everyone has a pair of chopsticks and stands in a circle around a plate of shaved carrots, cucumber, cabbage, raw salmon, garnished with crushed peanuts, sesame seeds, and sweet and sour sauces. On three, everyone dives into the plate, throwing the salad up in the air, chanting good wishes for a prosperous new year. It's a relatively new tradition, started in Singapore! The folks to my left: assistant principal Tony, head principal Madame Law, and assistant principal Hielda. There are 1,070 students in grades 1-6 at the school.

 

This is the school's Eco-garden, located in the courtyard. There are several different mini-biomes - a cactus desert, a pond, a rainforest. The science teacher has set up stations in the garden, and, using QR codes and tablets, students make their way through, completing tasks and assignments. If a student has a question along the way, the tablets are set up so he or she can Skype teacher on the spot!

The school has also chosen to purchase Samsung Tablets instead of iPads, mostly because of the functionality of Flash (or non-functionality in the case of the iPad).

Here are a couple of classrooms (above and below), both using Promethean boards. The IT person explained that they checked out both SMART Boards and Prometheans, then gave teachers the choice. They overwhelmingly chose Promethean - they liked the interface much better.

 

This is a set-up that students can use during recess - the computers (below) are kept in these boxes, made to look like a train. If they choose, they can have 20 minutes of computer time on some days.

There are three computer labs serving the school, 40 computers in each. Each class is expected to go to the lab 2 hours per week. The lab below is a laptop lab so the computers can also be carted down to the classrooms.

And just like every school I've ever been in, READING, READING, READING is the key! Actually, science instruction is not started until about 3rd grade, rather, they emphasize math and reading until then. Thanks, Singapore! On to Malaysia....

 

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