Sumatra, Bali, Surfing, Monkeys, Motorbikes, Hospital

Just outside of Ubud! These pictures make me want to break my camera! Doesn't do the green justice!

Local Bali New years. Everybody(including tourists) must stay indoors for 24hours and not speak on the first day of Nyepi as the demons come out for 24 hours!

Touring around Bali in motobiiiike!

Safety first.

Getting ready for the festival.

Everyone's excited.

Helmet day! I'm going for the 1950's greaser/Surfer look.

Temples in Ubud town. I'd love a front porch like this!

Never seen rice grow so high.

The entire region just seems so fertile. Its green everywhere you look here!

One of the small bungalows we were looking at staying. 10 bucks each.... too pricey

Chillin in Kuta. I'm meditating before my first surfing lesson.

Ok. Here goes...

Wrong surface and still having trouble 'popping up'

Ready to get radical bro!

So this little story starts about one week before all that surf and fun in the sun.

As soon as we woke up from our first night in the jungle town of Bukit Lawang in Sumatra, Randelle starting felling ill. I took it upon myself to see if there was a pharmacy in town and maybe a few pills would do the trick. I soon found out there was no doctor/pharmacy/hospital in this village. Internet was down, power was down, it was Friday(Day of rest in Islam). So I came back to the small hut. By this time randy was already unable to get out of bed and was in severe pain.

I took her purse, my cash and forced her out of bed to the next town(a villager had mentioned a clinic might be open today). Upon arrival I walked into what seemed like an outdoor variety store next to a greasy motorcycle repair shop. The two teen aged girls were obviously manning the station for Dr. mom or dad I thought. They gave Randelle a Indo-English dictionary and told her to find the words and point to where it hurt. After 10 minutes, no adult and the pain getting worse I said "screw this lets go to the next town". 20km later we arrived in a ghost town clinic in Bohorok with one local doctor. With needles being brandished and mystery pills being forced, Randelle was by this point unable to make a rational decision. Medan was only 3-4 hours away I thought. However, this city has a reputation for being on travelers minds when asked: "Whats the worst place you've ever been to?" Having already seen it and placed it placed it at number two behind Bangalore India...yuk, I told myself that this is the end of the line, there must be an international hospital in Medan! The driver kept saying "Grrrenegliss Grrrenegliss!" so I said "Lets do it!". After negotiating (yelling) the price down to a less extortionate rate, we drove on the wrong side of the street almost the entire way(a couple of clipped side mirrors on the way) before finally arriving in record time to Gleneagles International...fewww. Randy was promptly looked after by half a dozen nurses(at the same time) and hooked up to the juice/IV. Turns out she had a bad infection in her stomach that spread. So we spent 3 days recovering

After the happy endings all round(I bought myself a PSP to dull the boredom) I will say this:

If you are alone in a 3rd world country and far from medical attention every second counts. If you feel ill, an unneeded $200 dollar hospital bill far outways being stuck in the jungle without proper medical treatment. Plus you might not be able to make the right decisions when your body or mind start to fail you. So, point is I guess, if your feeling like it might be worse than a case of"Delhi Belly", Leave all your big bags behind and make that trek back to 'civiliziation' asap...even if all your gear gets lost or stolen...its just stuff :)

Randelle is 1 day out of the hospital and already hunting for rabies!

Sumatra has been amazing. Most people come here to surf, dive or check out the orangutans but then quickly leave when their 7 day tour is up. Spend more than one day in town and the locals will ask you" What are you still doing here?" Once they've exhausted their one liners"Are you trekking today" and recognize you for being more than a walking wallet the mask will drop. They''ll at once want to get to know you, hang out and show you their jamming skills(Seems every single Indonesian knows how to play guitar, and quite well too...I've already gone through 3 broken strings in 3 weeks). They are mostly Muslim here, yet the religion is more moderate(except for the north in Banda Aceh) A couple cold Bintang Beers and some gin and juice definitely helps them get though a passionate "Hotel California" song. But time of rest and call to prayer still apply.

In Pulau Weh.

Diving.

Mina the Orangutan! Most of them are docile but Mina badly ingures a local jungle guide every year. I got a few blurry snaps in before she started towards us....eeeee....oh yeah and she's a new mum so run!

Some poor guy left his bag on the ground to take a picture. Mina grabs it and proceeds to empty the entire contents in search for food!

Local breakfast with Sumatra coffee.

More Bukit!
I can't help it. I always make the pilgrimage to the Petronas towers when I'm in K.L. Its like the coliseum when in Rome....O.K. not really.