Latest in Parenting Techniques and Lombok

Here are some photos of the latest. Now after being here for 3 months I sort of feel like I have the place fairly well wired and not too much shocks me, but the latest really did. Last week I took a boat ride over to the island of Lombok, first in search of surf and secondly just to see another island. I visited two places, one being the city of Sengiggi and the second a city called Kuta. Keep in mind I use the term city very loosely. These are pretty small places, the electricity turns off daily and often times you are driving the motorbike on dirt roads with horse drawn carriages. I decided to go to Kuta to check out the surf at this one spot called Mawi, supposedly named after some guy from Maui that discovered it. Although I did not score perfect waves at this spot you could definitely see the potential. The place is a left hand reef break that breaks over very shallow coral. On low tide you must be extremely careful as you are only in about 2-3 ft of water. I actually was not to stoked to get cut up for small surf. I did surf it at low tide, but preferred the safety of mid to high tide. After driving about 1 hour to get to this place you finally land up on the beach, on the beach are small thatched eateries offering little bits of shade. At these eateries the locals carry in the very basics, drinks and simple food to sell. They also watch your stuff while you surf. So after my first surf I was sitting at this 'Warung' when I looked over and there was this lady with her son, her son not being much older than 3 years old. You can see from the photos that instead of giving the kid candy to keep him quiet she gave him a cigarette. The little kid literally smoked the complete cigarette while I sat there in complete shock and awe!! The little fella puffed away like an old soul on the ciggy for at least 10 minutes, taking full drags, while he and his mother smiled for the camera. WOW! If she only had a little education and knew what she was allowing her son to do at such a young age. Things like this are sort of common place in some of these countries that I have been to, sad to see some times.
So after 3 months in Indonesia I am off to Borneo tomorrow. The surf board will be put away for about 1 month while I go looking for caves, do some scuba diving and climb a mountain. I feel sort of at odds with this because I am feeling pretty addicted to the surfing. Getting in the ocean every day is a wonderful thing, so with that being said I will probably have to come back and do some more exploring. Although I will miss the surf, Borneo has always been a place I wanted to visit and I am pretty sure it will amazing! The caves are supposed to be huge, the diving at Sipadan is supposed to be some of the best in the world (supposedly lots of hammerhead sharks), and Mt Kinabalu is the largest mt. in the southern hemisphere, so I am sure to acquire more stories and photos.
Just a side note, last night I went to the annual Bali Hash House Harrier awards. It was a real good time, the people I have met thru hashing have all been really nice people. Fun party.
The days of my 30s are coming to an end, no big deal I guess, but some times hard to believe that I am already here, but then you are always already here! 'Carpe Diem' Hope every one is well and happy - Cheers - jr

Life in Indo Bali N Sumba

Not too much to say, have been spending the last month in Bali and Sumba. Drinking Bintangs, surfing and running. Here are a few photos to show.

Off to Borneo on the 15th. So the surfboard will be put away and I will be doing some diving, spelunking and climbing a Mt.

The one photo of me with the other gentleman is this Australian man who has lived in Sumba for 36 years. He is known as Mr David. I stayed at his place in Sumba for about 10 days, he is a real sport junkie and has satelite tv. So he and I were actually watching the world series live in Sumba while feasting on fresh fish and lobster. Pretty good!

Bali days

Took a motorcycle trip for 3 days around the north of Bali. Went with a few new found friends. Snorkeling was probably the best I have ever done. It was float along a wall. The wall was loaded with colorful coral, tons of fish and even about a 6' shark sighting. Pretty cool. The motorcycle is the mode of transport here, you just have to be really careful, road laws do not necessarily apply. Hit a hot springs on the way home. Really nice way to kill 3 days. Sat. night here, time for a fish BBQ and some Bintang! Oh yeah, there have been several earthquakes, cyclones, tsunamis and such, but so far, knock on wood, all is still well.
Selamat jalan - JR

Indonesian Life

Wow! It's been a long time since I last did a update, I am still alive! Actually Al-Queda(not too sure how you spell that) has not got me. Actually that is a total joke, because besides the Cambodians, the Muslims I have met in Indonesia are extremely friendly. For all the Americans that get some sort of negative precept as to what Muslims are like based off of our news media, well they are completely wrong as far as I have seen so far. During Ramadan I was taken in like one of there own sons. By the way, Ramadan just finished, it started a month ago and officially ended this past weekend. What does that mean, well, if you are a good Muslim then you fast for about 3 weeks during sunlight hours. That's 4am until 6:30 pm everyday. After the fasting is over there is a huge celebration that goes on for a week. Everyone invites you to their house and wants to give you food and drinks.
So what has gone on for the last 5 weeks, well it goes something like this. I arrived in Kuta, Bali. No clue what to expect or where to go since this is my first time here. Found a place to live for a while. The goal was to buy a surfboard and start to get fit for surfing, then catch at least one wicked Indonesian barrel before I turn 40! Kuta for those of you that don't know is basically Australia's 'Hawaii'. Australia is so close that they all come here for a holiday. That's ok with me as I tend to get along well with the Aussies. So after 3 days of shopping around I made my purchase of my newest addition to my traveling kit, a 6'4" squash tail surfboard. I paid $500.00 for the board, leash, traction pad, board bag. The board is ok, not great, but the good boards are $700.00 and I was not willing to pay that much. And for those of you who wonder why I did not ship a board over from CA, because they wanted $1400.00 to do that. Kuta is a crazy place, it is really just a vortex of crazy energy. Several of my friends warned me not to get stuck there, as it is really easy to do. Everyone is travelling, old to young, all having a great time. The night clubs are off the chart, beer is cheap and mushroom shakes are everywhere if you want to go that route. People are beautiful and the music is loud! You can surf in the morning and party at night. Sounds good, but really not my cup of tea. The energy just gets sucked right out of you, and of course it always seems to be fun while you are engaging. Just by chance, I met a friend from San Francisco, along with some other really cool Aussies who live here, next thing you know it has been 2 weeks in Kuta. It just happened. Don't know how, it just did. It was not all just partying though, one of the Aussies who I met is a big Hash House Harrier runner. For those of you that don't know what that is, it is a running club that you can hook up with worldwide. A really great way to get in some good runs, all on trails and also to meet some really great people. They also like to drink beer, so it was a match made in heaven! I actually had already done one of these runs in Saigon, had a great time and really wanted to keep doing them in Bali as I have always heard about the Bali Hashs'. So far I have done about 5 of them. After my friend from SF took off I headed up the coast to a place called Medewi. I had heard about this surfcamp that had recently opened up and I wanted to check it out. It is a beach bungalow type of place that is run by a German and a local. Well, once I got here I have sort of been stuck. The vibe is really chill, the surf could be a little better, but it has been good for me to get fit again and to reteach myself how to surf. The area has about 5 breaks, some are beach breaks and the some are point breaks. Not a really heavy spot like a lot of Indonesian breaks can be. The camp is full of Germans which is sort of funny, they all want to learn to surf. Not everyone up here is a beginner though, the locals can definitely surf. So since they can surf they occasionally want to do road trips to some of the better waves in the area. I have done two of these so far, that was after upping my health insurance policy. One of these trips for those of you who know Indonesia was Padang-Padang. It is really an awesome wave. The takeoff is relatively easy but steep. Once you are on the wave you better have confidence, because about 75 yards down the line it gets pretty shallow and the water really sucks off the reef and the wave just about doubles in size into a really hollow barell. Heavy! Eventually it spits you out into open water. Although this was a great wave I was not quite ready to drop into a wave that breaks on very shallow water over coral. I really enjoyed being out in the water but cannot say that I had a really good day, but I am going back for sure. The second trip I have taken is a spot in Java called G-Land. It really is mother natures gift to surfers. It is surrounded by a jungle and is a huge circular reef that the waves just wrap around. It is a surfers playground. When I say playground, that does not make it any easier than Padang. It also barells really easily and also over reef. But 2 more weeks of surfing and fitness did a lot for me. This wave was a ton of fun, the swell that we had was not too big, but big enough to barell. G-Land is definately a place I want to go back to. It really is a feat of mother nature.
Oh yeah, we are in the most active area in the planet for earthquakes, so far I have been in two. One happened the other morning, it was just like riding a wave except I was in bed! (by myself).
Here is how the images go, I could add more but the internet is very slow here.
Fish N Bintang = a typical dinner in Bali
Bali Sunset
Chillin at the beach with a couple of local lady's
Some of the cool rock carvings in Bali, pretty amazing what these people carve out of rock
Celebrating Ramadan, CA style!
The monument to the people who died in Kuta when the Sari Night Club was blown up in 2002. mostly Australians.

Cambodia

Well Cambodia has come and gone now. I can easily say it is the best country that I have been to in Asia. Although, the country is very poor and corrupt from what I can tell and what I was told, it really had the most friendly people of all. It is definitely a place that I could go back to. The pictures go something like this. My friend and myself. I met Dennis at my meditation in Chang Mai. He is working at the orphanage for 3 months. From left to right, the kids at the orphanage that were being taught a english lesson. The kids at the orphanage range from a baby until 18. Next picture over is a young boy who was floating on a local lake in a big metal bowl, holding a snake and basically looking for donations. The picture with the lady and baby is the cook at the orphanage holding a baby that was left at the door step. Most of these kids have no parents and were picked up off the street. The kids parents died from multiple reasons. The kids are then left to fend for themselves on the street. They sleep on the street, beg, and learn the basics of staying alive at a really young age. All of these kids that I met at the orphanage were extremely happy. The orphanage has only two rooms for the 30 kids and most sleep on the tile floor. It really is true
that kids don't cry if they are not going to get any attention. They are all so happy to just be off the street. COFCO is the name of the orphage. The last picture I took is of a local family I met. They were extremely nice, I actually met the girl in the upper left and she took me to meet her family. She also helped to have her friends show me around Siam Reap for a few days. It was great to meet some local people and get a better feeling for the local culture. Keep in mind that these people make about $40-$50 a month, but yet are the nicest people I have met on my whole trip, actually similar to the Nepalese people in the mountains.

Mother Nature wins another one!

One thing I have learned over the years is that mother nature always wins ! Here is my latest example. The temples at Angkor Wat are really cool, a definite must in the South East Asia itinerary. But it is amazing how after years of neglect that the trees and nature are starting to win the battle, as if to say I am boss. Same always goes in the mountains and the ocean! The temples are about a 1000 years old, give or take depending on which ones you are looking at. The temple carvings and engineering are really something to behold. They rival anything I have seen, ie , Rome, Mayan ruins, my work, etc.
So Cambodia is probably the best Asian country I have been to so far. Besides the hard sell on product, the people are really down to earth, good looking and friendly! People really are poor though, after talking to some workers, I have found that the average person working here seems to make about $50 / month. That is for a 54 hour work week!! Don't think I could find anyone at home to work for such wages. OK - this keyboard really sucks to type on, as keys keep getting stuck. Also this whole thing seems somewhat narcissistic, blogging that is, I don't really like it and I am not sure if anyone is even reading it. Share some love and let me know if you are, if not, then I won't waste my time! Hope all is well. JR

Human Atrocities

So Saigon has come and gone. Every city I have been to so far certainly has its own flare and identity. Saigon was the city of motor scooters. Literally thousands everywhere. It was like a peleton of motor scooters, crossing the road was a life and death experience. Try it hung over and tired and your lucky to make it to the other side. It really is just a sea of motor scooters.
My main reason for going to Saigon was to see the Cu Chi tunnels. These are the tunnels that the Viet Cong used in the war. In California I have a good friend of mine who's job it was was to flush the V.C. out of these tunnels. These tunnels are extremely tiny to say the least and I cannot imagine how difficult this job must have been. Not to mention the whole area was booby trapped with different forms of killing devices such as holes with speared bamboo sticks covered in poisonous snake venom. Crazy what humans will do to each other.
So there I am sitting at a cafe in Saigon, I pick up the news paper from Australia and open it up. Sort of ironic, because I opened it strait up to reading about my buddy that was killed down that way a few years ago. The driver that killed him was on trial and the case had just wrapped up. Damian played a signifigant role in me packing my bags and leaving, and here I am in Saigon, pick up a Aussie news paper, open it up, and there he is. Go figure!
Now I have made it Cambodia, checking out some of Pol Pots fine work. Sort of strange to be in this city that was in complete turmoil just 30 years ago. So after having my cappuccino and croissant I headed to the killing fields to see what this whacked out individual was up to. He was quite frugal in his ways of killing. To save money, he and his cronies would just whack the person upside the head, often times slow miserable deaths. Music played in the trees so that the others could not hear what was going on. What could possess someone to do this really is unfathomable to me. Another go figure!

Yahoo festival on the water-Vang Vieng

So if you want to have special food, then this could be the place for you. I am talking special pancakes, shakes, tea and pizzas. Why are they special, because you can have them made with either, opium, mushrooms or marijuana. I hear they are pretty good! I call this place the biggest yahoo fest around because you can rent a tube and float down the Mekong river and stop about every 500-1000 ft at a new bar. Every young kid from Europe seemed to be here. This business is probably the most popular I have seen in Laos, people line up to get tubes for their adventure. Mind you, this is probably not the safest thing one could do, this morning I saw lots of carnage walking around the streets. But the beauty of the whole thing is, is that it is Laos and basically you can do what you want. That means setting up a bar on the Mekong, putting up some really sketchy swing into the river, or some really dodgy huge water slide and get away with it. Mind you a girl died here about a month ago. It was a trip to see, but not really my seen. The total float is about 3k's with a bar about every 500 meters. This business is rocking for Laos standards, and it is all cash! I can tell you the water slide and the rope swings were big, bigger than I have ever scene, put it this way, I met a kid this morning that dislocated his shoulder just on his entry into the Mekong after the swing. But hey ' it was worth it man'. So anyway, enough of the yahoo fest, I moved on this morning, going south and getting more excited about the the surfing to come every day! Hope all is well- cheers my friends

Mekong river slow boat and Luang Prabang

After the jungle the it was 2 days on Mekong river and three days in Luang Prabang. I took the boat to in order to get to Luang Prabang. The river was cool, you travel on what they call a long boat. Great time, like a two day party on the Mekong. Met some nice people. Basically you meet people from all over the world. I met a Finish man and a American who I hung out with in Luang Prabang for a couple of days. L.P. was nice, the city/small town is right next to the Mekong, good place to go to. I spent 3 days there, did about 60k's on a rented mt bike one day to waterfall, spent a little time in some caves, got myself a $5 one hour massage, it was good. I have now moved again, heading south! This is all great, but really getting anxious to get to Indonesia. How many Wats/temples can one see?

Jungle

Wow! A lot has transpired since the last post. I made it to the jungle and back, had to fight off the lions, tigers, bears and leeches. Not joking about the leeches, nasty little, blood sucking annoyances to say the least. So I was in northern Laos and did a three day trek. On the trek were two guides and three trekkers, including myself. The other two people were a man and woman from France. Really nice people. So the trek begins in like 90 degree weather with about 90% humidity. In the first 100 ft you are already completely covered in sweat, I am thinking it could be a long day when you are soaking wet so soon and mosquitos are buzzing around waiting to deliver Dengue fever or malaria. Ok - I dont want to sound cynical as we were hiking thru the jungle and it was really beautiful. Lushous greenery everywhere. Jungle vines hanging off the trees with the occassional snake on the trail. As we approach our village accomadations for the night, a lady is bare breasted just checking us out. Not your everyday trekking sight! We get our own little cabin that all five of us sleep in. The food is fresh as can be, hand picked vegetables and the chicken is killed for us right before our eyes.
After a good night of sleep it was time to start day two, we were warned of the leeches on this day, sort of excited and worried at the same time. They are not going to give you any disease, but the thought of these things sucking my blood really does not excite me. So at the height of the leeches, the ground was literally alive with leeches, you could not walk 100 ft without having at least 2 or 3 having a go at you. I managed to only give blood 2 times! It made it hard to enjoy the trail when all you are thinking about is not to let these things get you. Sort of crazy fun. At the end of the day we were rewarded with a gorgeous village, on the approach we were walking through these vast rice fields with big views of mountains all around us. This night was similar to last night except this time the main course was fresh duck! It was actually really tasty. So day three it was all over and I can say it was nice to get out of the jungle, even if I was only in it for 3 days!

Now in Laos

3 buses, 1 ferry ride later, now in northern town of Laos, called Lam Na Tha. The reason for coming here was to go into the jungle. It is so called virgin territory and has 37 large mammals as friends, ie , elephants, leopards, tigers. So should be a good time. I go in to the jungle tomorrow and should come out in about 3 days. It is also so called 'monsoon season' right now, you would never know it as it has been extremely hot and dry so far! Walking down the streets yesterday I think I lost about a gallon of water. Laos people are pretty cool and laid back, suits me much better than Thailand. One funny thing of note, up here there seem to be nothing but French tourist. It is like fashion, one magazine or book writes about what is cool and the next thing you know everyone is doing it! Lao Beer is the latest beverage of choice, just don't tell the Buddha on me. Life is good, doing the best I can to enjoy the moment!

Killing time in Chiang Mai

So I am sitting here getting all caught up, killing a day before I go see a hand specialist tomorrow. My wrist has been bothering me, so I had x-rays taken the other day. I guess it was good to have it done after meditating because the results were not what I wanted to hear. After 2 years, 2 surgerys, 3 cast, I found out the bone still has a non-union and that the screw has come loose. This news just about made the screw in my head come loose! So I am going to see a hand specialist tomorrow while there is one available. Not sure what they can really do now, but I know it is not going to be what I want to hear. DONT EVER TAKE YOUR BODY FOR GRANTED! It could be worse, and there probably is some good that will come out of this, just not sure what that is yet. So after that appointement, the plan is to head north, go to see the virgin jungle of Laos, maybe get lucky and catch Dengue fever. After that, Viet Nam, Cambodia, then what I really want to do, surf in Indonesia. I also plan on checking out Borneo, possibly the South Pacific, then hit Australia. So thats the plan, although you never know, things can change. On a downer of note, the Budha tells me that I can longer drink beer! I think I am just about to go put on the white suit and start walking around the streets!!!

Some things haven't changed!!

Going insane(ly) calm!

Well the silent treatment is now over. Ten days of Vippassana meditation. A real cool expirience. Here is how the day goes. Wake at 4am to the clanking of the bells at the monastary, meditate for 2 hours before 6:30 am breakfast. At breakfast there are about 150 people, including about 30 monks. Breakfast is normally some sort of noodles with vegetables, really nothing sweet. You all sit together but do not talk to each other, just enjoy your food, Alms food as they call it. Then it is off to your room and more meditation until 10:30 am lunch. After lunch, which is your last meal of the day, it is now time for more meditation which is continued on until 10 pm. That is interrupted one time each day for a meeting with the teacher, the head monk. He consults you and wants to know how things are going and then he tells you what he wants you to do in the next 24 hours in regards to meditating. Now there is no reading, writing, talking, cell phones or computers. Now you may think this torture, and I will say at times it can really be challenging, but it is only 10 days and a great way to calm the mind, or to at least attempt to. The meditations are composed of sitting and walking, anywhere from 15min. per to 1hr per, up to 3 hr sessions. It really is a cool experience when your mind goes quiet! Not easy to achieve, I think I must have played my whole life thru my head time and time again! After a while, it actually gets addicting, because you start to crave the calmness of meditation. And when you are not able to calm the mind, it can be very frusterating. I am by no means a master at this, but I will say it was a great exerience and if any of you desire to do such a thing, then Wat Ram Poeng in northern Thailand is a great place to do it. And don't forget, you must always wear your all whites and when you get out the world seems like a very fast moving place! Just thought of something else, one of the Buddhist precepts to follow is to refrain from killing other animals, yet you see Monks eating meat!? I asked the teacher about this one day, it is ok to eat meat as long as you have compassion for it. Teachers always have the answers huh!

Nepal

so many words to describe it, gorgeous will do for now, the trek was changed at the last minute, instead of doing Mustang loop as we had planned, we did the Everest Base Camp loop which took us up to 18,500 ft. This is a pretty popular route, but we actually started in this town called Jiri. The point of starting here was to do the trek the original way, see less Western people and it also helps your body to acclimitize to altitude better. These days most treks start in this little hill side village called Lukla. Lukla is a whole other story in itself. The town is situated on the side of mt. the airport runway is very short and has about a 30 degree pitch. A little nerve racking on the take off! We would eventually get to Lukla, just not for 24 days. This would be our last stop before flying back to Kathmandu. The trek itself was very difficult, there is nothing easy about it, up and down mountains and then throw in altitude. At the height of our trek, it litteraly was one foot in front of the other, at a very relaxed, controlled pace other wise you were completely out of breath. The mt regions are primarily Tibetan Buddhist, some of the friendliest people I have ever met. One note I just thought of, the one thing that really bothered me was the lack of respect for the enviroment, but I guess that should not surprise me. But really there was garbage everywhere. I guess they do the same things all humans do, just on a more simplistic level. Have a candy bar and then just throw your wrapper on the ground, the river, wherever! So after 24 days of trekking, dealing with rain and leeches on the lower levels and snow and altitude at the higher levels we made it back to Kathmandu. Kathmandu is organized chaos. It is primarily Hindu, I checked out the old temples, watched cremations done right next to the river (as kids played in the river 100 yards down way). A real neat city, but I was ready to leave after 4 days of city life.

Here is a YouTube link of a video from Kalla Pattar: http://www.youtube.com/user/Jamesbevanrobinson69

pickin a winner

just a quick question to blogland, do all Asians just pick there nose freely? So this has happened several times of late, a few woman and a few men. The other day I am sitting on the train, look up to see a rather good looking lady sitting down in front of me. Typical Thai looking lady, creamy chocolate skin, not an ounce of fat on her with long black hair. Ok, looking good so far, then low and behold she buries her finger knuckle deep up her nose hole. Going for gold, or chunks' or whatever else she may have had up that nostril. Sort of wrecked the image for me. So this has happened multiple times, I guess they just don't care, oh well, maybe I'll join them soon. Not quite there yet!

going silent

well tomorrow I go silent for 10 days, actually entering a 10 day silent meditation/retreat at a local Wat up here in northern Thailand. I want to see what it will be like, sort of a challenge to myself and to see what comes of it. The ol saying goes, take control of your mind, meditate! So lets see if I can get control. For 10 days there is no outside intervention at all. That means no computer, cell phone, reading or writing material. Could be lonely, we'll see! My first impression the other day was the movie, 'One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest'. Everyoone is required to wear all whites and there is no interaction amongst the people, just daily debriefings with the monk. So the impression was a lot of people just wandering around in all whites, great huh! Going crazy!!