Holidays in America

After 18 months of living in Jakarta, we were long overdue for a visit back to beautiful America.   Nervous about the weather, we dug out our hoodies, slippers, and boots and packed our jumbo suitcases.  We booked the cheapest tickets we could find which included long layovers in Seoul, Korea.  Instead of hanging around the airport we bundled up and headed to Seoul for some sightseeing.

Temple in Seoul

Inside the temple, full of worshippers

Palace in Seoul

Palace guards, yes we were freezing!

After 38 hours of travel, we arrived in Carson City full of Christmas excitement.  We spent a wonderful week catching up with family, meeting our nephew Madden, trying to keep up with Morgan's energy, enjoying Dad's cooking, and reveling in how well stocked all the grocery stores were.  Jeff even made this video!

Take 2 on the slide

Cookie decorating - a family tradition

Our handsome nephew Madden in his Christmas outfit

So fantastic to have grandma there for the holidays

After a week in Carson City, we headed up to Portland to catch up with our besties.  On our first night, we decided to head out to dinner.  We had no clue, but we were in for a huge shock when all of our closest friends were there waiting to surprise us!

Cheers! 

While we were in PDX, we went a little crazy at New Season's, Powell's, Target, Trader Joes, and the Woodburn Outlets.  Jeff ran up the credit card with beer purchases and I considered hiding my Sephora receipt to conceal the evidence.  Our suitcases were bursting by the end of the week and we barely stayed below the 50 lb weight limit!

Jeff and I finally broke our streak of falling asleep before midnight on New Years Eve.  Tav and Jenny hosted a dinner and dance party that included oysters, fondue, cured meats, along with plenty of champagne, wine, beer, and whiskey.  The night ended with a moving group performance of "Wrecking Ball" at 4AM.  Luckily it was caught on camera since I was fast asleep during the live show.

Shuckin' oysters

Fondue dinner party

Our last night in PDX, so much fun! 

See you in July Portland!

More sightseeing in Korea

So much kimchi

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Malabar Tea Estate

Last weekend Jeff and I needed to clear out our lungs with some fresh air so we hit the road for Malabar Tea Estate.  We got an early start to the weekend, leaving Jakarta just after lunch on Friday. Our drive out to Bandung was smooth; it amazes me that we now consider 115 miles in 5 hours to be "making good time".   We arrived before dark, just in time to take in some of the gorgeous scenery and cool crisp air that reminded me of fall back in Oregon.  Our driver got out of the car and instantly bundled up and started shivering from the cold mountain air.  Jeff and I weren't far behind as we realized that 65 F is pretty dang cold when you're used to the mid 90's every day.

Jeff with Pak Karyadi who's trying to stay warm

Our cabin for the weekend

View from our back porch 

Testing out my new lens (thanks Jeff)

Every time we leave Jakarta we're reminded of how beautiful and lush Indonesia is.   The next morning we had leisurely breakfast of nasi goreng (fried rice) and eggs to fuel up for some trekking through the tea fields.  Along the way we passed several schools full of smiling children.  Indonesian children are adorable and always excited to practice their english with a "hello mister" and pose for pictures.

Very enthusiastic!

What a view!

Go America!

Our final stop for the day was the tea factory where we saw the cleaning, drying, grinding, bagging, sampled a few varieties of tea.  

It was a great weekend escape and much needed break from the city.  We've both been feeling a bit homesick so next up we'll be heading home for Christmas to catch up with family and friends.  Here we come America!

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Seeing the Orangutans in Kalimantan

Jeff and I headed off for a quick trip to Kalimantan last weekend for a chance to see the endangered Orangutans.   In Indonesian orang means "person" and hutan means "forest", so orangutan means person of the forest.  We'd been warned by friends to be ready to rough it and thank goodness we came prepared with wet wipes and snacks!  It was sad to see that a mining operation has polluted the river water so extensively that it closely resembles chocolate milk.  The wildlife viewing was unforgettable though and it felt like we could have starred in a nature documentary.

Most of the orangutans we saw were living near Camp Leakey, a research and rehabilitation facility.  They're fed a supplemental meal of bananas and milk once a day and have become very comfortable around humans.  We saw 2 wild orangutans along the river which was so exciting.

One of the wild rangas munching on some fruit

This gal seemed pretty used to posing for tourists

This mom kept stealing food from the crews backpacks and ended up spilling milk all over herself and her baby. 

Splits!

This male had huge shoulders and arms and our guide said he still wasn't fully grown  

We saw so many little babies clinging to their moms while they climbed from tree to tree.  This pair came so close to us that we were nervous she was going to grab the camera as Jeff filmed.

This gibbon was getting ready to steal some bananas during feeding

Long-nosed monkey, a very common sight during the weekend

Beautiful sunset on the boat

Sun bear breaking into a beehive

It sounds crazy, but we both found the hole in the ground more inviting than the wet toilet seat.  I wasn't nearly as excited when I noticed our dishes were washed in the same river water all the toilets open into.  Our stomachs survived the weekend and I have a new respect for the "clean" tap water we're so fortunate to have in Jakarta.

Luxury

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Last Stops - Sydney and Newport

Sydney was bittersweet for Jeff and I because it marked the end of our unforgettable trip, but the city and it's skyline views are absolutely gorgeous.  The Harbor Bridge and the Opera House were stunning and we were lucky enough to get a room with a view of both.

Amazing view from our room

The weather was perfect for our bridge climb at dusk and I made it to the top with a manageable amount of anxiety.  Coming down in the dark was a challenge, but it was absolutely worth the amazing sights.

Bridge climb

View from the Manly Ferry

The famous Bondi Beach

Symphony at the Opera House - Choppin

After living it up in Sydney we headed north for a visit with Brendon and Sue, our close friend's parents. Brendon showed us the best restaurants and viewpoints, guided us on a bushwalk to explore aboriginal art, and even grilled up some amazing lamb for dinner .  He outshined an offical tour guide we met along the way and shared all the details about what the art meant and the ceremonies that took place, which made the sights so much more interesting.

Viewpoint in Newport

Aboriginal carving - several thousand years old

Our tour leader - Brendon

Our trip completely revived us for another year in Asia.  I'll leave you with a few of our favorite Oz sayings we heard along the way:

• bonnet - hood of the car
• rumble strip - bumps on side of road
• pokies - poker slot machines
• boot - trunk of the car
• strawbs- strawberries
• schooner - glass of beer smaller than a pint
• bush - not city or road, countryside (can be used as bushfire, bushwalking, out in the bush, bush whacking, bush folk)
• bunyip - a mythical creature that a guy in a laundromat told us to look out for claiming one had eaten his dog
• drop bear - another mythical creature we were warned about that drops from trees onto victims
• old bloke - old guy
• good on ya - well done
• slap on some lippy - put on lipstick (hear this one on the news!)

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Great Barrier Reef and Whitsundays

The Great Barrier Reef has always been at the top of my bucket list, so I insisted that we had to see it.  I had no idea what a huge variety we would see.  The pictures paint a much better picture of this part of the trip so I'll (try to) keep the commentary short.  We spent a few days on Heron Island which used to be a turtle canning facility and has now turned into a turtle conservation sight.

We saw a lot of green sea turtles and a huge loggerhead turtle.   Loggerheads are endangered and this guy had 2 tracking tags on his fins.   He looks small in the pictures, but he was massive and our guide guessed he was about 80 or 90 years old!  He was swimming around, eating clams, and generally not too concerned with the snorkelers stalking him.

Munching on clams

Spotted eagle rays 

Keep the ocean clean

This lemon shark sure got our adrenaline pumping!

Stingray

As if the sharks swimming around weren't enough, the ocean floor was packed full of stingrays, cowtail rays, and shovelnose rays.  There was a few times when we were snorkeling along and realized we were completely surrounded by huge, scary fish.

Next we headed up to Airlie Beach for a sailing trip in the Whitsundays.  We stayed on a beautiful boat and had a blast sailing, snorkeling, drinking wine, and relaxing with 3 other couples on board.

Hoist the sails

Captain and first mate, Jeff loved steering the boat and learning how to sail  

Sunrise on the water 

Whitehaven beach

Whitehaven Beach

Sand on Whitehaven Beach

Swimming with the turtles

Giant trevally

Champagne on the beach with a great group of friends!

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