I've Had Some Weird Coffee Before, But This Takes the Cake!

Sometimes it's easy to get caught up in the day-to-day travel efforts and one tends to forget the small moments that make traveling fun and interesting.  
I will attempt to recapture some of those moments in this post. 

We've had a few weird and odd encounters on our trip - such as the Birdman at Easter Island - click here Birdman.

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I love Coffee ... but ... 

But one of the most unusual was the "Cat-Pooh-Chino" in Bali.  This is a play on words, using the familiar coffee term of Cappuccino.   Of course, most people know about the famous coffee grown in Sumatra or Java, two neighboring islands to Bali.

And they do grow excellent coffee beans in Bali, the climate is perfect for this.   However, there is a funny looking animal called a civet, locally known as a luwak.  Looks sorta like a cross between a raccoon and a fox.  They refer to this animal as a cat.

So this critter likes to eat coffee beans, and is able to extract the caffeine out, but the beans are not totally digested.  In other words, they are pooped out - and collected.   These partially digested beans are then roasted and made into ... coffee.  

I know, Fiona and I reacted the same way - this sounds gross!  Yuck, nasty!   But it's a big thing, although admittedly a niche, and the Balinese are proud of it.  Frankly, we just couldn't bring ourselves to drink any of this cat-poop coffee.

But they humorously refer to it as Cat-Pooh-chino.  No thanks.

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Another rather hilarious moment was recently here in Madagascar, when we were talking with a couple of guys, negotiating a driver for a four day trip to the other side of this giant island. 

We like to get to know people a little and learn their names.  The driver we have is named Andy, just like western style names.  I'm sure he has a Malagasy name (citizens of Madagascar are called Malagasy). 

His colleague was named Lionel.  We had a brief challenge understanding his accent.  I finally said, "you mean Lionel, like Lionel Ritchie, the music singer?"  

And he became excited and "Yes!  Exactly!  My mother is very fond of Lionel Ritchie, big fan!"
and then he added, "My brother's name is Ritchie!"   BWA HA! HA! HA!  

It just came across as super funny!  Lionel and Ritchie, brothers here in Madagascar!  Who'd have thought it?   Say You, Say Me ...

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We were driving around visiting sites all over Bali and one of the distinguishing features there are the rice paddies.  They are all other the place, very colorful, and usually in terraces, often looking like stepping stones. 

Rice is very popular all over Asia and now Africa.  The folks here in Madagascar eat rice three times a day - a full kilo each (2.2 lbs.).   Many people in this part of the world feel like they have not had a proper meal unless there is rice.  It's even the same in Senegal, where work with our Andando Foundation. 

At any rate, we're driving around and there are colorful flags fluttering in the breeze in the rice paddies.  It's very beautiful to see this.  I thought maybe it's a cultural thing, a way to beautify their everyday existence.  

But I eventually realized that the flags were there to ward off the birds, kind of like scarecrows.  That being said, they were still pleasant to look at, with different sizes and colors; a nice contrast to the green of the rice and the blue of the sky. 

I asked the driver if they were to protect the rice crops, and he said in broken english:  "Yes, they make scary for birds!"

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We were at a restaurant in Singapore and had ordered a meal, which came with a drink.  At one point the waitress came by to ask a question.  This is where the accents can be amusing.  

She said to me "Do you want to take off your bapsy?"
My response "My bapsy?  Do I want to take off my bapsy?"  I had no idea what this meant.  
She repeated the question, I was no better off than the first time I heard it.  What kind of thing is a  "bapsy"?  
She was courteous and rephrased the question "What kind of drink you want sir, Tea, Coffee or Pepsi? 
so - Do you want to take off your bapsy - really meant - Do you want tea, coffee or Pepsi - Ha! Ha!  

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Or check out this truck below!  It appears that the farmer or whoever stacked individual ears of corn, one by one into the back of this vehicle.  That must have taken a long, long time.  Wow!

Travel can often be a hassle (usually in customs and immigration at the airports) - but it can also provide some good laughs.  Or maybe some insight into culture ...

We Basically Threw a Dart at the Map, And Ended up Here

   

We were getting ready to board the plane from Singapore to Mauritius and we noticed a large contingent of single men as passengers.   There were probably a hundred of them, and they seemed to know each other. 

They looked rather "informal" and most had a single backpack and a transfer pass from a flight from Bangladesh via Bangkok.  They looked a bit scruffy, obviously not tourists.  It didn't take long to realize they were workers.  Laborers, going to work in Mauritius.  

One Way or Another, The Work Will Get Done.  History Is Not a Straight Line.

It also didn't take long - once we landed on this remote island in the South Indian Ocean - to realize they were invited, as a group.   And after driving around a bit here, you can see why. 

At this point, as modern history plays out, there is a lot of building going on here in Mauritius, things are booming here and they need help to get things done.  Hence the number of workers coming by plane; this is not a new concept here. 

Over the history of this island, there were workers brought in here to do the manual labor required to build this country.   Most were brought against their will.  In other words, slaves.   The genetic pool of most Mauritians are Indian, African, Arab, and Island people (Polynesian, Indonesian, other islands).

Things got started here in 1589 when the Dutch showed up, and started a settlement here.  You can see the remains in the picture above.  Before that, no one lived on this island or the surrounding ones, it's just so far away.  But that early founding gives this place a history going back beyond the beginnings of America. 

So the Dutch struggled to survive and eventually gave way to the French, who then gave way to the the British.  They "imported" workers in addition to their own settlers and soldiers.  And when they left, those abandoned workers stayed behind.  

They didn't have a choice.  You can see the influence of the different people groups that were brought here over the years.  There are a lot of Hindus here, as evidence by the numerous religious symbols 

That's the makeup of the vibrant and mixed race of people who call themselves Mauritians.   

Mauritius is a small island, far away from anywhere.

   

We had needed a stop in the middle of the ocean on our trip between Asia and Africa, and this was it.  We came to find out that this place has an interesting history going back hundreds of years, interwoven into world history, even to this day. 

In the meantime this island has been at times, conquered, ignored, ruled by others, exploited, fought over, and used as a military base ... and as recently as 1968, achieved independence as a country (from Britain).   French is a key language spoken here along with English and Creole.  It has a rather strategic location originally for trade and then military purposes.

To travel here today gives a rich understanding of an isolated tropical island - it has rich rain-blessed volcanic soil to grow many crops such as sugar cane, pineapples, tea, fruits, and some grains.  The island is hilly and mountainous by nature, and has some spectacular sites.

There are many beautiful beaches, which bring tourists, and outdoor enthusiasts.  But the hills are full of waterfalls and tall mountains rising out of the sea with breathtaking vistas.  

We had no idea of the rich history and current economic vitality of this place.  It was a just a tiny island, a dot on the map.  When you get here and look around and do a little research, you find out amazing things.   It's very unique. 

We are leaving tomorrow to head to Madagascar.  

His Name Was Agus - And He Had A Story to Tell

He was new at the driving job.  Actually, he had been driving for a while, but in another capacity.  He had been driving a shuttle for bicycle riders up to the mountains in Bali to ride around on trails.

But he was a guide now, and driving travelers around to see things was somewhat new to him.  He struggled a bit with English, and didn't really know enough to be a guide.  But he gave it his best shot.  

We spent a lot of time with him.  His name was Agus (pronounced Ah-Goose), and he was earnest and a good driver and very reliable.  We trusted him.  It's an issue when you jump in a vehicle with someone you don't know who will take you to remote places and hopefully get you home safely on time and in one piece. 

One day we drove with him for almost twelve hours.  He made his way through the crazy traffic of Bali and took us to many amazing places and found his way to the right place on the right road.  This is commendable considering the lack of discernible directions, no road signs, and very difficult road conditions. 

 

For all this he made the equivalent of around $7.50 dollars.  We know this because we asked him.  Twelve hours of insane driving for $7.50.  
He was proud of his job and happy to have it.  We doubled his salary with our tip.

We requested him as a driver the next time we needed to go somewhere, and he was very grateful.   We were advised not to rent a car here; you can get a car and a driver all day for less than it cost to rent a car.  It's not advisable to drive in this intense environment, and the traffic in the city is crazy. 

 

Admittedly, things are inexpensive in Bali.  Most things don't cost much.  You can buy an excellent lunch for two for under ten dollars.  But Agus has a wife and a kid, and it turns out he lost his house.

We actually passed through his remote village at one point on our two day trip . We asked Agus about how he ended up in the big city as a driver. 

 

He told us about how he had grown up and lived in a small village.  There was a volcanic eruption, not uncommon on this island.  It was pretty bad, and followed by constant earthquakes.  He said the earthquakes were unnerving.  At one point after so many earthquakes, the government declared that the entire town should move away before something worse happened. 

So he moved to Denpassar, the crowded capital of Bali, with his wife and daughter.  When he finally landed a job as a driver he was really happy.  The job required a good use of the English language, which is a struggle for Agus.  

 
He is proud to have a job as a driver and is working hard to provide good service.  There is a lot of competition for jobs here.  He needs to perform at a high level and one small slip may mean that someone else could replace him. 

 
We were granted a brief glimpse into his life inside a different culture.  He is a very happy person despite a tough life.  We've seen repeatedly that many people who live with basically nothing are very happy people.  

This helps to keep things in perspective.  We should never take for granted what we have.  Make the best of the opportunities you are given.  And while you're at it, be happy.  Things can change in a heartbeat.    

The One Minute Ride - A Surfing Legend - And Other Views - In Bali

Moving On - We find ourselves in Bali

We have now changed from a sort of South Pacific vibe to more of a tropical Asia thing.   We are on the island of Bali, Indonesia - it's a big country, with a lot of people and a lot of islands.    

Surfing is big here.  A lot of young people come here to live and to surf.  Of course, there is a culture associated with surfing, and those who are dedicated to the craft are living the dream here.

I saw a sign on a surf shop.  It had with a bunch of surfing sayings - such as the proverbial "I had a one minute ride" legend.   The fact is that a one minute ride on a surfboard is a long time.  






In fact, we've had enough time relaxing here at the wonderful beaches to do the research.   There are a lot of surfers here catching a lot of good waves, and we have not seen one single ride a minute long.  Most rides, even the good ones, are maybe thirty seconds at most.  

Hey, you can Google it, the average ride on a wave is ten seconds.  That's not a bad thing.  It takes a long time to learn how to surf and find the right wave.  But a real one minute ride is epic; it will get you on You Tube with a video - it is very rare.





May all surfers be blessed one day, some day,  with the elusive one minute ride. 

This a kind of a tropical paradise ...

I know, that's an overused phrase, but Bali has a lot of positives.  We have taken the last couple days to explore some amazing sites and scenery of this rather small island.

For the most part Bali has a Hindu culture, with the significant images of the multiple gods and tales of that religion.   It's also very tropical, it's hot but rains every day and every thing here is super green.   The people are friendly, welcoming, and kind.  

There are many colorful temples with intricate carvings and statues.  

The terrain is comprised of wonderful coastal beaches, dense rain forest, and volcanic mountains.  The ample rainfall makes for beautiful waterfalls.   And there is a bunch of wildlife, birds, all kinds of critters - and monkeys, lots of 'em.

We went to a "monkey forest" which was a well designed kind of national park, but nevertheless was very enjoyable.  There were a lot of monkeys, but frankly we seen monkeys before.  What was more impressive was the incredible massive tropical trees and the water and the rain forest jungle.  It was awesome.

We carried on into the highlands in the center of the island, where there is a large volcano and lakes up in the clouds.  

And more waterfalls, everywhere.    Great fun hiking in to see them.  It's very hot and humid here, and the moisture is thick in the air.   So you get kinda sweaty, but it's worth it. 

Travel goes in stages.  We are well into this trip now, and have entered a new episode.  We are in Southeast Asia.  You have to switch gears.  It was nice to be in English speaking New Zealand and Australia for several weeks. 

But it's time to keep moving.  There are new adventures ahead.   And sometimes you just have to sit and look at the sunset and ponder this great big wonderful world, as Fiona is doing in the picture below. 

Is This Pier the Longest in the World? How Tall Is That Lighthouse?

 

 

Looking for Adventure 

Adventure:  an unusual, exciting, daring, or possibly dangerous activity, such as a trip or experience; or the excitement produced by such an activity, with the occasional element of risk.

Example:  "She had some exciting adventures in Africa"  or  "They travelled the world in search of adventure, excitement, new experience, thrills, stimulation, and discovering new things."

That's our goal on these trips - adventure, new things, seeing new places for the first time.  I would never claim that we are breaking new ground, but maybe it could be said that we have an adventurous spirit?  


We make some ambitious plans to go a lot of places off the beaten path, and we often run into some adventure.   In fact, we are looking for it (a little adventure, within reason), going somewhere far away and hard to get to.  

At the current chapter of our Round the World Southern Cross Trip we are in the far southwest of Australia.   This is a very remote part of a rather remote country.   Upon our arrival here, we landed in Perth, which turned out to be a large modern city.  

As much as we enjoy visiting interesting cities, we generally prefer to get out in the countryside (the outback?) and see what's out there.   We're  following that pattern during our travel here in the state of Western Australia.  

We try to do as much research as possible regarding the spots on our journey.   We knew there was an active and thriving wine district based in Margaret River, so that's where we went.  

The far southwest region is also home to to a couple man made landmarks.  One is the Busselton Jetty, and the other is the Leeuwin Lighthouse on the isolated cape at lands end in Australia.   

After a long bus ride of a couple hundred miles, we made it to Margaret River (pronounced in Aussie: MAH-grit Ri-Vah).  It's a quaint little town in the wooded hills not far from the Indian Ocean.  

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At first glance, it doesn't look like wine country.  It's kinda dry, and the woods hide the vineyards.  But they grow many varietals like Chardonnay, Cabernet Sauvignon, and Sauvignon Blanc.  They have to irrigate all the vines, it's rather dry here; and since the seasons "down under" are opposite, it's harvest right now. 

They put nets over all the vines, so it's not the most attractive bucolic scenery.  It's to keep the birds away.  They don't eat the grapes so much as just peck a hole in them so they dry out and rot, or get diseased.  It's a real problem.  I did photo a vineyard without the nets.

We visited several wineries (did I mention I'm in the wine business?) and enjoyed the informal attitude toward tastings.  In fact, they call tasting rooms "cellar doors", and the typical Aussie casual approach is refreshing; they don't take things too seriously. 

I didn't get a lot of pictures, I was too caught up in the experience, all our colleagues on this wine tour were young and impressionable.  I was sort of the crusty old wine expert.  Frankly I don't consider myself crusty or old, but compared to them ... well, let's just say I was a more seasoned wine veteran. 

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The Busselton Jetty 

We set out yesterday to visit the historical Busselton Jetty, which is actually a pier - the longest pier in the world ... or something like that.  The claims are very dramatic - it's the biggest this, or the longest that, or the maximum length of ...  

But I don't want to downplay the impact of this structure.  It was something they started building 150 years ago because the shoreline is very shallow and they needed to be able to unload ships and people (settlers?) into this part of the world. 

We walked the entire way out to the end; it is 1.84 kilometers long, which equates to almost a mile and a quarter.  It was so far that you could hardly see land once you got out to the end.  They even have a train that runs out there!



The weather here is sunny and warm, it was a great day, not to mention the sunny beaches nearby with an elaborate pirate ship playground for kids.

 

The Cape Leeuwin Lighthouse 

Then we made our way to Cape Leeuwin, the ultimate southwest point of the Australian continent.  It is a significant and striking location, where two major oceans meet; the Indian Ocean and the Southern Ocean.  

It has been a very dangerous cape for early explorers and sailing ships.  After several catastrophic shipwrecks, they decided to build this very impressive lighthouse, which still functions and protects ships from the rugged coastline.  


We climbed to the top, which made me nervous.  I'm not real good around heights, and this thing was almost two hundred feet high, the tallest lighthouse in the ... something ...
It was super windy up there!

It was named after the Dutch ship Leeuwin (Lion, in English) which was the first European vessel to sight this place, in 1622.  The story of the lighthouse is inspiring, and the scenery is breathtaking, especially when you climb to the top of the lighthouse.  

It's on a peninsula, and when you look at it from above (like the top of the lighthouse) you can see the two oceans.  The waters are two different colors. 

The view of the two oceans meeting makes an impression on a person.  It's remote and exciting and dare I say, adventurous? 

Travel Notes - Look Both Ways Before You Cross the Street, and Then Run Like Hell

 

 

We are in Perth Australia now, but let me digress with a brief travel essay ...

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The way people cross the street has a lot of variation from place to place.  In other words, when you want to cross a road, do drivers stop for you or, do they ignore you, or speed up or ... well, what do they actually do?

On this particular journey, we have experienced a wide range of reactions from drivers.  For example, when you step off a curb (or kerb in "proper English"), what should you expect to happen?  

As a long time runner, I have learned to never expect someone to stop for you.  I'm always careful to wait to see what a car and driver are going to do.  But it varies from place to place.  Part of it is cultural. 

And another issue; what sort of provision have the local authorities made for you to cross the street?  Is there a crosswalk?  A walking signal?  A little green man on the traffic light to indicate you can walk now?

We have run the gamut of reactions, and I will describe them as follows:

1.  The drivers in Tahiti are the most respectful of walkers that I have ever seen.  If you even stick a toe into the street, the drivers will come to screeching halt immediately.   It was almost weird how quickly they ALWAYS stopped to allow you to cross. 

2.  How much people walk - the amount of locals that walk to get somewhere - has a big effect on how much drivers will stop at cross walks.  The more walkers, and the more common it is to walk, the better your chances to cross a road (or be allowed to).  If people don't walk much, they ain't gonna stop. 

3. Australians are frankly terrible not very good at giving way to pedestrians.  There are no crosswalks at most intersections, so you have to make a run for it whenever you can.  And they don't stop!  You'd better be pretty good at estimating your chances, because the failure to plan means you're planning to fail.  Death is not a good alternative. 

I said to Fiona at one point "pedestrians have no rights to cross a street here in Australia, your only right is to die!"   Okay, maybe that's a bit strong ... 

4.  And another challenge is that here in Australia (and New Zealand too) they drive on the other side of the road, like British style.  So when you cross the street, you have to look the other, opposite ...  what seems like the ... wrong way.  It's very counter intuitive.  You have to be on your toes!  Pay attention!  Your life depends on it!

5.  One rather fascinating style of crossing streets took place in New Zealand.   At most major intersections, they shut down the whole shootin' match and everybody just starts crossing in whatever direction they please.  It takes some getting used to.   It's kind of fun to watch, like controlled chaos, but it works, and it's pretty efficient.  

I captured a video of this impressive procedure:

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So we are now in the far west corner of Australia. There are six states in Australia: Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria, Tasmania, South Australia, and - Western Australia - where we are for the next few days

Western Australia is one of the more remote parts of the world.   Australia in general is a fairly remote place and hard to get to. 

But in this corner, it's one of the remotest parts of a remote country.  And candidly I did not expect to encounter what we found here in Perth.  It's much larger and more modern that I thought.  (I'm not sure what I expected, but not this)  

It's a large city, over two million, and seems rather affluent, as a result of natural resource extraction, like mining.  It's right on the west coast of the nation, on the Indian Ocean.  The weather is fantastic and the people are friendly and so far it's been one of our favorite spots on the trip. 

There is a major wine region here also, Margaret River, where we find ourselves tonight.  

Anyway, I've chosen to include a few pictures of the Perth region.  


We went to the Gold Museum here, also an example of natural resources here.  They had a big gold rush in the 1870's which attracted a lot of people and the population grew dramatically. 


I was able to pick up a replica of the largest fold nugget ever found, in a distant part of Western Australia.   The original was over 150 pounds.  

And check out this bad boy, a giant solid gold coin that weighs a ton!  It's worth like 60 million dollars - and it was real!  

And you can weigh yourself to see how much you are "worth your weight" in pure gold.  Quite a lot it turns out. 

Most of cities in Australia have done a good job with maintaining a strong sense of outdoors, even in the city, with great parks and green spaces. 

We are looking forward to the next couple days here as we get further out into the more remote regions of Australia. 










Will the drivers give you a chance to cross?