26 May 2011 Perth to Yallingup From giant pelican to pudgy black Lab, meet Roxy. Roxy is hanging out with us here at the Yallingup beach as we watch sunset and surfers. One of those surfers out there must belong to Roxy, for not only is her beachside gaze fixed out to sea, but each …
25 May 2011 Perth He’s huge. If he were a dog he’d be a Great Dane. We’re sharing this pier south of Perth with him, this enormous pelican. Actually, I think it would be more accurate to say that he’s sharing his pier with us. It’s nearly dusk and we are dragging, having risen at …
18 to 24 May 2011 We’re down to five bags and two backpacks. The sum total of what we will return to Seattle with come mid-June. Well, that’s if you don’t count the shipment that’s on a container boat right now, hopefully not more than a nautical mile or two from docking in Los Angeles. …
15 to 17 May 2011 Komaneka at Bisma, Ubud This is my pastry basket: Gina has one too. We each get one every morning, delivered free to our room with the rest of our hearty breakfast. In fact, the lovely people here at the Komaneka at Bisma Resort in Ubud come to our room eight …
13 and 14 May 2011 Munduk Moding Plantation After two days of trekking and our one day of biking, much reviewing and re-reviewing of our Lonely Planet, and talking with other travelers here in Bali, we’ve determined that beyond what we have done, what most people do when they come to Bali is nothing. Nothing …
12 May 2011 Munduk Trekking Our little Balinese guide from yesterday is waiting for us at Reception. He may be small in stature – at least one and a half heads shorter than Gina – but his smile is bigger than us both. We’ve opted for a longer trek today, doubling-down on the length from …
11 May 2011 Munduk Trekking The image of the blood running down her leg thanks to the leeches that were attached kept flashing through my head as we brushed through the wet jungle leaves following our Balinese guide to the first large waterfall. The “she” in question was a woman from the UK who we …
10 May 2011 Ubud to Munduk As our car descended into the village of Munduk, I noticed that my bum cheeks were instinctively squeezing the seat as though in a roller-coaster cart careening down that first big drop. The roadway grade must have been at least 20 percent and was accented in its treacherousness by …
07 to 09 May 2011 My rental bicycle appears to have been made for a 12 year old and ordered directly from the Sears Wish Book back in 1972, after which it was clearly left outside in the rain for at least two decades. There is nearly as much rust as paint, the wheels wobble …
05 & 06 May 2011 I don’t know about this being so near the Equator thing. All I do is sweat. Stand, sweat, sit, sweat, type, sweat, wander, sweat, eat an ice cream, sweat, buy a $1 juice, sweat, read the map, sweat, take a photo, sweat, and on and on it goes. Luckily, I …