Props, Kudos, and Honorable Mentions...

I was recently made aware that the work that I have been doing and more specifically, this blog was mentioned on Joshua Berman's website: The Tranquilo Traveler . Josh is the brother of my friend Todd and he was here in Sri Lanka doing work with Tea Plantation workers in the central highlands. Unfortunately, I was never able to meet up with him during his stay here. If you are interested checkout the post and enjoy the rest of his site, which is quiet interesting and beautifully laid out. Thanks for the mention Josh! Hope we can meet in Boulder or SF when I return. (Permalink to the article)

And while I thinking of it, the Berman clan seems to be quite talented. Todd is a very talented artist and I was lucky enough to check out some of his work when I was back in SF in January. You can see some of his art on his site TheArtDontStop.org Todd was in our Burningman camp in 2005 and did some fun collective art projects. On the day our camp had a party, Todd encouraged everyone to draw a small self portrait of themselves. He then cut out each of the figures and added them into a scene that he painted. It was wonderful and brought a lot of smiles to the folks that visited our camp and participated in the project.

Here is one of my favorites...

The Mission Apartments

Ok, they are not quite family yet, but my friend, and Todd's partner (soon to be legal mate by some obscurely named ceremony) Laurin Giradin has a fun culture blog called Eat Drink Protest Its a fun site with lots of good food ideas. Kathryn, I think you'd appreciate this site.

Enjoy...

I'm Comming Home!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Well, at least for a few weeks… I cant wait, it will have been 1 months since Ive been back in San Francisco. I can’t wait to see all my friends and family, eat burritos and sushi, and enjoy beautiful California (I know, it’s the rainy season). I also get to see the winter wonderland that is Wisconsin in January, but this too will be a welcome change from Sri Lanka. I will return to Sri Lanka in Mid January and then will finish up my contract here at the end of March 2007. After that, who knows! I may travel around for a while or maybe come back to the states and get reacquainted with my homeland.

So my itinerary is pretty heinous. I will be in almost every major airport between here and Milwaukee at one point or another. Ive included a summary of my travels here for your amusement. Remember, there is about a 12hr time difference between Sri Lanka and the US.

Departure: December 27^th, 2006 – 9pm India Standard Time
Colombo – Male (Maldives) 1hr 30mins, 484 miles
Male – Tokyo 9hrs 0 mins, 4,740 miles
Tokyo – San Francisco 8hrs 53 mins, 5,131 miles
Arrive SFO 9:18 AM PST December 28^th, 2006
Total Duration: 25hrs 48mins, 10,335 miles

Departure: January 8^th, 2007 – 12:48pm PST
San Francisco – Denver 2 hrs 21mins, 954 miles
Denver – Milwaukee 2hrs 17mins, 907 miles
Arrive MKE 10:07pm CST
Total Duration: 7hrs 19mins, 1,861 miles

Departure: January 16^th, 2007 – 9:15 am CST
Milwaukee – Chicago 45mins, 75 miles
Chicago – Tokyo 13hrs 15mins, 6,286 miles
Tokyo – Singapore 7 hrs 29 mins, 3,311 miles
Singapore – Kuala Lumpur 1 hr 0 mins, 197 miles
Kuala Lumpur – Colombo 3 hrs 30mins, 1,524 miles
Arrives Colombo 10:25 AM January 18^th 2007.
Total Duration: 37hrs 40mins, 11,393 miles

Total Round Trip Duration 70 hrs 47mins, 23,589 miles
10 Take offs and landings
9 different airports
6 countries.

Wish me luck!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Look forward to seeing you all soon.

More Bali pics

Well, finally getting around to posting a few more pics from my Bali trip. Once I finsh posting these pics I will post an update on my situation here in Sri Lanka, which is better than its been for a long time! :) Enjoy!
Yes, another sunset photo... Can you really have enough though? This is from Kuta beach where I stayed at the begining and end of my trip. It has quiet a few tourist and the locals really seem to appreciate the beach life too. Local people fly these very large kites everyday at the beach. It seems to be a national passtime and is really beautiful. Everyone comes at to watch the sunset.
This is a family that runs a guest house in Ubud, the cultural captial in the foothills of the mountain region. There house looks more like a temple and all the buildings are beautifully decorated. I stayed in my own bungalow for about $4.50 a night, with breakfast!

Traditional Balinese dance is a popular activity in Ubud. I went to two performances while I was there and they were really entertaining. They seem to enjoy themselves which makes the show even more entertaining
!
Everyday local people prepare offerings to the gods. They start each morning by making the small baskets by hand out of grass leaves. It adds color to even the dullest of streets. 

Bali Pics

Well, Im finally getting around to posting pics from myBali trip. This first set is from my stay on a small island off the coast of Bali where I stayed for 4-5 days. It was really peaceful and had excellent diving!

The beach was protected by a coral reef and when the tide went out you could see all of the seaweed farms.
View of the main volcano on Bali from the beach I was staying at/
The first night I was staying here there was a shipwreck on the reef. The boat was not from the area and was unfamilar with the reef. I walked out there at low tide to find the crew stripping the vessel of anything valuable. Locals mentioned that boats like these often are pirate ships that steel fish from the local fisherman. Apparently it happens a lot down here.

It was a bit of an adventure to get out there. Walking through the seaweed farms and over the coral. I lost my flip flops 3 times as it was getting dark and got pricked by 2 sea urchins. Ouch!
I rented a motor bike and drove around this little island and there were some fantastic views. This is another bay where they are haresting seaweed.

Thailand - Big Reclining Buddha

Also at Wat Pho, the large reclining Buddha is utterly impressive. It is difficult to get a perspective from the photos but he is really, really long. Along each side of the Buddha, there are hundreds of small bronze pots that you are supposed to drop small coins in as you walk along the Buddha image. The sound is mesmerizing as you walk through the temple with all the other people.


Check out the feet on Buddha! Each foot is covered with intricate mother of pearl inlays.

Thailand - January 2006

After the commemoration events, I took a short trip to Thailand for a little R&R and to celebrate new years. It is relatively cheap to get there and it is about a 4 hr flight. I was happy to return to Thailand after my trip there 4 years ago. I was only there for just over a week but really enjoyed my time in Bangkok and Chaing Mai. I even got some climbing in.

The temples at the Grand Palace and Wat Pho are utterly amazing. Even some of the lesser temples in the countryside are quite impressive.

I really like these…thai versions or gargoyles(???). The detail is amazing.

This golden Buddha is actually from a temple in Chaing Mai (the north) but thought it was worth adding.

Back at Wat Pho, they are currently in the process of restoring many of the temples. Here they are tracing all the intricate artwork for preservation and verification after it has been restored. You can see the areas that have been restored.