The real Indonesia

Sometimes I just don't want to dicker with cab drivers. It's a squandered opportunity really when I don't, the ability to bargain in most countries is exciting. I know a few people who hate it, somehow it intimidates them, but I've always enjoyed it. My thoughts behind getting a cheap cab? The farther away from an airport or a city center that you're able to get the cheaper it's going to be. When I arrive at an airport I find there are thresholds I need to cross to make it to a cheap cab, because the drivers are great at getting people into their car before you find another driver, me included. Fiirst, I always see the 'official' cab stall or ticket booth that usually sits immediately next to the exit of the airport. I've never gone there. As soon as I walk outside the same drivers are there trying to give me a ride, but they'll negotiate where the ticket booth wouldn't have. That's still not the answer. Walking into a parking lot adjacent to the airport more 'cab drivers' will always approach and the price gets cheaper and cheaper. Eventually, if I can make it past all those offers without being convinced I get to the main road in front of the airport and there are, simply put, just dudes with vans. Normal ass guys looking to make a living. I like them more. Agree on a price first hand and then I'm off. 

This parrticular time I didn't quite have the necessary things required to bargain. Like an address. Or even the name of a place I was trying to go. I had a screenshot of a semi-blurry map and a telephone number to someone who spoke no English that the driver could call once we got closer... With only that I couldn't just be like 'oh, take me to this mysterly location for 100,000'. No, me and the guy had to look over the map and compare my photo to his spotty GPS. He offered to take me for 150,000. which I rightly knew it should've been around 80,000, but being overcharged here vs. being overcharrged in America are two different things. That's a three dollar differnce, not actually a big deal, plus he had to search for it. 

On the way out of the airport the driver stopped to buy minutes for his phone in case we needed to call my host once we got closer to the location. I was AirBnBing it, but not the classy white girl staying in a treehouse or sailboat AirBnB. This was more of a 'I want a place for $10 a night in an hour' AirBnB experience. Which, I promise you, the range of class in AirBnB's out there is quite impressive. The drive took about forty five minutes despite how close it was. The reason being is we were headed to a village, I wouldn't even call it a town, and the roads were riddled with pottholes and huge gaps spanning the entire width of the road. I don't know if it was just shoddy workmanship or because of the earthquakes that frequent the area but the fact remains the roads were shit. On top of that every 100 meters there would be a huge dumptruck parked on the road picking up the sugarcane or whatever they happened to be harvesting. This made the road basically a one lane road and there was plenty of dodging, weaving, and negotiating that we had to do. It was no problem for the hundreds of mopeds and motorcycles whizzing by, but we had a tougher time of it. When we finally made it to the small town that I still don't know the name of my driver callled Lili and got the final directions. 'Follow the main road until it turns into not a mainroad and then keep going past the main mosque and the house is across from the next mosque'. I guess I hadn't realized this was an Islamic country until now. Not that it bothers me. Somehow, actually, I even miss the call to prayer blasted from minarets five times daily. It takes me back to my days in Turkey.

The house was not hard to find as Lili was standing outside waving at us. I got out, paid the man his 150,000, and met Lili and the younger of the two kids, a little girl of arround 2. Lili speaks very little English though, so she immediately put me on the back of a moped with a girl, whom I pressumed to be a friend of hers, and sent me down to the internet cafe where her husband works. He is a German man with a big white beard, but speaks English well, which is nice sometimes. We chatted for an hour and I met their son. age 3, before his nephew took over his post at the cafe and we walked back over to their house. 

I have to say, during my time in that little villiage that I still don't know the name of I hadn't seen one person who wasn't a local. Not one white person other than this German man and he'd been living here for 6 years. The children and people still thought him a novelty. Imagine what they thought of a giant red bearded man suddenly appearing? This wasn't some tourist town where they were used to Europeans and Americans alike coming in and gawking at their lifestyles. They've only see a tourist, I'm sure, when one comes to stay at this AirBnB every so often. There were no shops with postcards or keychains, no western markets really and they sell gas in liter bottles on the side of the road. Nothing is written in English and nobody speaks over 10 words of it as far as I could tell. It was beautiful. Filthy and rugged, but beatiful. Don't get me wrong, the islands in Thailand had been beautiful too. I'd loved it there, but that wasn't why I travel. I don't fly all the way around the world to party with a bunch of bros on the beach no matter how much fun that can be. This was why I came here. This was why I travel. It's towns like that. Towns I never meant to be in and no one expected me to come near. Everyone stares at me because they're thinking the same thing, why are you here? It's the same thing the taxi driver asked me, 'why are you going here? There's nothing'. It's refreshing. The children come up and highfive me or wave. Most everyone says 'hello sir' while laughing because it's funny that I'm here and that's the only English they know. It cost $1 for more food than I can eat, and amazing food at that. It was a pleasant surprise as I'd come here by accident, on a spur, per usual, even if it was only for a night. It was a real night. 

Nothing means more to me than having a child torn to see me leave. It was the case with Attila, the small boy. Somehow we had bonded despite speaking zero of each others language. Maybe it was all the candy we shared. But he held my hand as he walked me to the airport. There's nothing more confusing to the locals than me, the tall lanky redbearded stranger, holding the hand of a little local boy, no more than three years oldl. who's making me promise to come back and visit him as soon as I can. He turrned to say goodbye to me three times as he was leaving me in the airport. I wished I was staying, and briefly thought about canceling my flight... but I know I'll come back. 

Be happy, 

Beacon. 

 

What does traveling mean to me?

I've been trying to explain why I travel. What it is that is that indescribable draw captivating all the wanderlusters around the world. It's just so incredibly difficult to explain, it really is. No matter what I say or how exciting the stories I tell it's nearly impossible to convey the feelings that come with traveling the way I do. It's like describing love to someone. Like describing one of the few things I truly truly love in this world. And when it comes to talking about something or someone that is lord and master over my heart I think it's less about what I say and more about how I say it. Which makes it difficult to write. You have to hear the way a voice get's hopeful and see how the eyes stare off into the distance at the thought. How all of a sudden I'm lost and nothing, nothing at all matters. The dark ocean and unknown blackness are nothing. No dazzling heaven, no evanescent woman, no madness could distract me from that call. The only thing that holds my attention is the road I wander. Traveling is a love some of us can't do without. It's certainly something I would be lost without. And I know I'm not the only one who feels that urge. 

The problem remains though, how to say it. How to put into print what it means. How to create a portal on a screen that can teleport anyone at anytime into another place. Of course it will always hold that power over me when I re-read what I've written because I've laced the ink with the memories it took to write it. I know the secret trials undergone when throwing rhyme, reason, and caution to the wind on the other side of the world. But how to build a portal that anyone can take? How to show a stranger that freedom?

Take this trip for instance, though it's only been 10 days and a couple countries in SE Asia, how can I convey to someone what being here means to me? Seriously though, how do I describe what it was like to arrive in Bangkok at one a.m., a foreign country I know nothing about, somewhere I don't read or speak the language, only to follow the breadcrumbs left by Stumbles through a 45 minute cab ride, an hour and a half flight, half hour bus, and 5 minute motortaxi ride? The pure thrill of having no idea whatsoever where I was going other than the knowledge that two old friends and one new were waiting for me at the end of the whirlwind? The first good hug after not being on an adventure with someone since what seems like forever ago. Having breakfast on the beach, foods I've never heard of especially tasted before, and dinghy rides through turquoise waters and betwixt giant, gorgeous haystacks. It's just not describable. Words simply cannot show justice to the way drunk laughter feels on the other side of the world. Which, for the record, sounds exactly the same it just feels exotic, the same way reminiscing can feel like a world away. I just can't describe the difference between exploring miles of coastline by moped with Kiki, a virtual stranger, and what it's like riding an elephant in Shiang Mai. Both are serendipitous in their own individual ways. It's just like, how do I explain what a worry free goodbye is? One with no regrets because everyone knows paths cross and the world is a small small place between friends. Leaving Kiki in Phi Phi with a promise that I'd find her again before leaving the continent, or Stumbles and Mr. Miller flying home, leaving me in Bangkok, knowing that the next adventure we'll share probably isn't too far over the horizon. It's the virtue of letting go and the freedom gained by it. It's seeing the sun rise and set, more often than not, over a foreign horizen when at home I sometimes forget what the stars look like or that there even are stars! Traveling is all those things and more. Traveling for just the past 10 days was all those things and more, traveling for the past four years has been simply soul changing at the very least. 

And here I am in Singapore while I write this, dodging in and out of tropical thunderstorms in order to enjoy coffee and beer amongst the sky scrapers.It just makes me thing that sometimes I made the right choices in life.

Be Happy,

Beacon 

Ain't no rest for the wicked

I swear 12 times over that when I bought this flight it was San Franciscio to Taiwan to Thailand. I swear it, by my left and my right hand. despite my assuredness and not surprisingly I had literally only looked at the ticket once, to see what time need to leave and where from, so I can't say I didn't have it coming. I boarded this plane thinking it was going to Taiwan. It wasn't. You know those interactive maps they have on planes now? The really neat ones that tell you where you are and the wind speed and elevation and temps? Well it took until I saw that thing, about a half hour into the flight, before I realized I wasn't flying to Taiwan. Not that it matttered that much really, because it was just a layover on my way to Bangkok (what I thought was my final destination). It's just a little surpising when that morning I didn't expeect to be flying to China. 

Alright, no biggie. I was just in China which is cool. Also it was freezing and the few hours spent there were huddled up with some other travelers awaiting their flights to Thailand. It was a good experience for me I think. The only issue was China didn't like me using their internet. Also, not a huge issue, but seeing as I had coordinated nothing with Stumbles, no meet up point or game plan, before leaving the states it would've been nice to get in contact with her before I landed in Bangkok at one in the morning. Again, I wasn't too worried, I was positive Stumbles knew all the details of everything and I wouldn't have to worry about a thing. So, after freezing some tail off in China I set out for Bangkok on the last (so I thought) leg of a long commute to travel. 

I got to Bangkok after a near twenty four hours of solid travel. I was tired, hungry, and all I wanted was to get through one of the longest immigration lines I've ever seen. Interestingly enough I could not manage to find any wifi my phone would accept here either, except briefly before it kicked me off. In that briefness though, I got a flash of messages from Stumbles. I was relieved to have some idea of what there would be to come. Then I read the messages... some of the messages were this: 'There was a miscomunication on when my flight was coming in so she wasn't even in Bangkok'. Interesting. A further message said she was in Krabi. Despite that I had plenty of time to prepare for this trip I still hadn't looked at a map of Thailand and due to my lack of internets I was flying in the dark. I had no idea where Krabi was. And the final message that came through was 'the other airport is cheaper'. Okay. Interesting. I now had a breadcrumb situation. I had nothing to go on other than 'the other airport is cheaper' and 'come to Krabi'. Cool. So, after 24 hours of travel I walked out of the Bangkok airport at 2am and hailed a cab saying nothing more than I needed to go to the 'other' airport which I didn't even know the name of. The cab ride was a blur. I was feeling solid at first, but then the air conditioning and luxurious seats (remember I had been sitting in airplane seats for over 15 hours) started to get to me. My mind got fuzzy for a while as I just watched the street lights trace by in the dark. A surprisingly long ride later, I got there around 3am where I was informed the ticket desk would open at 4am. Enough time to scarf so airport food. I bought a ticket for $40 to Krabi first thing in the morning with still no idea if Stumbles was there or whether they'd moved on to somewhere else. 

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Krabi

I got off the plane with really no idea what to do. Thank goodness I managed to get some wifi at this airport though and recieved a long sought after message from Stumbles with the final key to the puzzle, the location of they were staying. A couple questions later I was sitting on a random bus driving through the gorgeous gorgeous Thai countryside. There were little mopeds whipping around through all the trafic and temples scattered about. Everything you would imagine. Before I knew it the bus was at the end of it's line and I still wasn't where I needed to be. I flagged down a moped taxi and enjoyed the sea air blowing in my hair as we drove parallel to the beach towards my final destination!

I rolled up to the hotel to find Mr. Miller waiting downstairs for me. If you don't remember Mr. Miller, he is now part of the Stumbles/Beacon team and, as is with all old friends, it was really good to see him again. He lead me upstairs where we found Stumbles for a super hug, Turns out I've really missed traveling, especially with these two. And immediattely the stories and banter started between us. Just remembering all the good old adventures we've had over breakfast on the newest adventure. 

A little bit to my surprise, but not too much, Mr. Miller and Stumbles had taken a girl under their wing. They just kicked it off apparantely and now we have a fourth! Her name is Kiki and she's from Florida. Very cool young lady. Then, as often ends up happening, with some slight variations of course, we were all off drinking Thai whiskey on a boat as we explored the islands and beaches. There is no place in the world I would rather be.

Be happy, 

Beacon 

 

It's hard to go where you plan

It's really really difficult to stay on schedule. It's not like there ever was a strict plan really, just a vague idea to hike some medium length vague trail. Which, apparantly, the idea is more than enough to leave a country with. But I'm saying it right now to get it out in the open. I have failed twice to hike El Camino de Santiago now, but it's no worries. Once, because Ireland is amazing. Then, again, because of a random assortment of various countries and people that I decided to see or meet along the way instead of making may way south to France. Anyways, it's not really that bad that I didn't make it again. Just means I'll have to try again next year. Which isn't exactly a burden if you know what I mean. So, even though I didn't really make it to El Camino de Santiago, here's how the rest of this trip to Europe ended up.

I remember waking up groggily after sleeping in the car at Metal Hammer Paradise. We'd decided to rent the car an extra day and drive it all the way to the southern part of Germany, about 7 hours away. In southern Germany lies a town called Spangdalem and in Spangdalem there is an airforce base. Stationed at that base is Ben, one of Kayzia's highschool friends. How can you come to Europe and not visit your friends?! So we were Spangdalem bound via the German autobahn. If you don't know what the autobahn is you're missing out because it's awesome. It's a highway with no speedlimit. Doesn't look any different than an American highway other than those famous signs that mark you're ability to go as fast as you damn well please. It was a blast, we only got the rental car up to aboout 180km per hour, but it was still awesome. The most enjoyable part was when we were driving 100mph in the slow lane and a BMW or Mercedes would whizz past in a blurr. Like really, there were times we were doing a hundred and got passed as if we were standing still. It was great and I would love for America to get their own form of this, especially in all of our middle of nowheres, but, other than getting passed by most everyone in Germany, there were plenty of cheesy pretzel stops along the way as we jammed out all the way through Germany's beautiful countryside. 

We arrrived in the south that night and were kind of starving despite our all day snack fest. We arrived at the visitor center and waited for Ben and his lovely wife, Mary Beth, to come sign us into the base. It didn't take long before we were caught in a blur of getting signed in and whisked away onto base. Now, we'd been in Europe for a while and, despite all the amazing hot dogs and other foods we'd been gorging our selves on, Taco Bell and Popeyes still hold a tender spot in our hearts and it was very exciting to see those two places agian. 

A huge box of fried chicken later we were bound for an airforce housewarming party somewhere off base and surprisingly, though it shouldn't have been, was exactly like any other party we would see in America. Kayzia and Ben wrecked some people at beer pong while me and Mary Beth played a little less effectively. All in all it was a fun night and really refreshing, as it always is, to be able to talk to everyone aound us. 

Our time spent in Spangdalem was awesome. We stayed with Ben and Mary Beth the whole time in theier huge house. Spent some time climbing and boulder which was actually a blast and possibly a new found hobby of mine. Plenty of time was spent playing foosball at some of the local bars and discotechs. Even more time was spent playing SuperSmash Bros Brawl on the Wii in the living room. Plenty of nights were spent playing spades and drinking wine as well. Needless to say it was pretty damn awesome and the continues cold weather made it harder and harder for us to leave. Turns out we spent nearly two weeks in Spangdalem ending our stay with a couple trips to Trier, the closest larger German city. It was all very common place things, except that it was in Germany, yet, somehow, it was an incredible experience to be a part of. I learned so much more about the military than I'd ever known previously and it was awesome. Ben was a hoot and so was Mary Beth. I loved meeting them both and I wish them both well in all of their endeavors! Maybe Kayzia and I will manage to come visit them when they move over to Italy!

In the end we had a blast and the insuing cold weather and an unbelievable airline ticket convinced us to return home to the United States for Thanksgiving and Christmas. It was kind of sad saying goodbye to Europe, but getting over the Pyrenees mountains in the South of France would have been hell at this time of year. We flew nonstop Frankfurt to Vegas and spent Thanksgiving there before parting ways to our familes. It was a bittersweet departure, but, little did we know, we'd see each other agian quite soon when we were each on our own respective adventures. I miss you Kayzia, let's hit up the Galapagos this spring when all the snow melts and I'm back in the country. See you soon I hope. To everyoone else, I hope the holidays were wonderful and that this new year promises loads of new travel and adventure for you! You may not know it, but it's good for you and it really ain't that hard. So I hope to see you out of the country!!!

I'm flying to Thailand the day after tomorrow, where things will continue on their natural path. I'm meeting Stumbles and Mr. Miller there! I'm stoked. Really really stoked. 

Be happy everyone, 

Beacon

Brussels to Metal Hammer Paradise in Germany

We left Amsterdam a little sooner than I would've liked but we were still trying to make it to El Camino before it got too cold and there were still a few other little errandswe needed to run. First we needed to see Kayzia's favourite band, a Swedish group called Truckfighters. They were playing way up in the middle of nowhere Northern Germany at Metal Hammer Paradise. We had some days before it was time to see them play so we directed our attention south to Brussels, Belgium. 

Literally the only thing I knew about Belgium was they have waffles named after their country. Other than that it could've literally been anything and I wouldn't have been surprised. We jumped a cheap bus there from Amsterdam and arrived late at night. I'd been in contact with a couchsurfer all day and she was fine with us showing up later, but we still didn't want to keep her up so we hopped on the metro right away in order to get uptown. And we were impressed by it. The handles on the subway were leather and each station was decorated spectacularly. Our first impressions were good ones, but we were very tired and simply on a mission to find our couchsurfer, which, sometimes, can be difficult. It wasn't actually that difficult though and we got a very warm welcome from a woman. She was wonderful. Super enthusiastic to host as she'd just gone on a couchsurfing vacation in Italy. After tea and some chitchat we were sleeping soundly on the futon in her living room. 

We woke up the next day and had a nice little breakfast with our host. We weren't planning to stay another night but she offered to lend us her scooters (push scooters that is) for the day so we could properly explore the city and we couldn't resist taking them for a ride. And so the day was spent, scootering all over Brussels, checking out parks, statues, and beers. But then, suddenly, I saw something. I saw something on the pavement! Oh my god I saw it! So, technichally, it kind of happened. We found El Camino de Santiago, just not where we thought we would. Through the middle of downtown Brussels there was a trail of golden shells. The sign of El Camino. We'd found it! At least I can say, though I plan to amend it ASAP, at least I can say I have set foot on El Camino de Santiago even if I haven't hiked it yet. 

Brussels, though short, was fun. We left the next morning via Flix bus for Hamburg Germany in order to get ready for the approach to Metal Hammer Paradise. We'd decided to splurge and rent a car the day we needed to make it to the concert location. A lot of the reasoning being there was no other way to get there. So we had two nights to spend in Hamburg . The first night was spent exploring the dockside and stealth camping under some brush in a public park. We spent a lot of time in the tent on this trip, but I loved it. What we ended up doing most nights was buying a bottle of wine and I would read to Kayzia. We were reading Name of the Wind which is one of my favourite books and I almost always seem to read it while I'm traveling. So even though we spent a lot of time in the tent, it was a lot of time well spent. 

The next day was also spent exploring and ended us up at a small bar across the street from a concert we were trying to get into. Chvrches were playing, but unfortunately we couldn't get tickets so we spent some time drinking cheap beer at the bar across the street. We had a wonderfully nice bartender named Inna whom we ended up becoming quite good friends with by the end of the night. After it got busy and she was swamped for a bit we went and got her some food and continued chilling trying to figure out our gameplan for the night. The only question is where to camp. Turns out we stayed around until Inna got off work and as kind as she is she offered to let us stay at her house for the night! The people you can meet while traveling are amazing.

So a few stops on the metro later and we were clambering into Inna's house with our packs. We spent the night hanging out, laughing a bit, talking about Arnold Schwarzenegger, and watching the video diaries that Inna had compiled while going to school for video. It was awesome. Inna was incedible and it seemed so random for this all to happen we couldn't believe it. We had such a good time with Inna and I know we both still talk to her on Facebook. The next morning she took us back into town with her where she went her way whilewe went ours. Next thing you know we have a rented car and we're driving on the autobahn to Metal Hammer Paradise!

The concert was being held at a beach resort which we found a little strange for a metal concert, but all the same the venue was huge and beautiful, though a little bit cold. One of the best parts of this trip for me was watching how excited Kayzia was to be there. How much she loves Truckfighters and watching her get in there and mosh. It was a fun night, a really really strangely beautiful night in the weirdest of ways.

Be happy,

Beacon.