Video Time

Life in the Past Lane

SF to TJ Bike Trip 08/03/11 - 08/11/11 , two days later on

I took a bike trip this past August, and kept somewhat of a diary. I just typed it out, and would like to share it with you now. There are pictures from this trip here.

Day 1 SF Civic Center to Half Moon Bay State Park

Took a while to get out of Berkeley & SF. Said my last byes, dropped off library books. Met a tourer Paul at ocean beach. He and his girlfriend are biking down the coast too. Wanted to get to santa cruz but with the late start seemed unfun. Sprinkling when I came out from new leaf grocery – mostly organic. Ate a watermelon. Gonna go wash my feet, they smell. Gonna sleep well tonight. I can feel it. Devil’s Slide was gnarly, as was going down Sharp Part St into Pacifica. Outta the house at 11:45am outta downtown SF at 1:30 into Halfmoon Bay around 5:20.

Fuel: 4 melons in AM, dates while riding & red bell pepper, whole seeded watermelon at 5:30

Water: not much in AM- 40 oz til Montara, then almost a gallon.

Day 2 HMB to Santa Cruz

Recumbent 12 hours, slept 10. I’d like to lighten my load, but may wait til I get to SC. Drank date juice. Left 11:45, arrived 5:00. Clouds/drizzle ends at SC county line. Lotsa ocean cliff farms. Swanton Berry Farm = awesome. Ate ½ flat day olds $9 (10% biker discount). Broke a spoke as I came into town, met up with upStairah, got a new spoke at Bike Church. Rob (1^st Vipassana course manager) helped me out. He and Sarah share a house, a 3 story Victorian. Jumped in the ocean. Made a big salad from lotsa farmer’s market scores, hung with Sarah Eve and Jordan.

Day 3 SC to Monterey

Ate late last night. Slow start to the day. Sarah’s friend showed me on my map which way to go. Passed through hella strawberry fields. Didn’t eat enough in the AM, hit a wall / wheel lost true. Stopped and watched seals on a dock. Unloaded bike, trued wheel, got rid of “nada chair”, started eating dried persimmons, still no meal, continued on, saw a big outdoor produce market got 12 mangoes: 6 tommys, 6 manilla. Just what the Dr. ordered. Met another biker, Pilar, rode together to Monterey Veterans Memorial Park as it was getting dark. Getting to Julia Pfiefer tomorrow. Up for a big day. Would love it if there was space for my backpack in one of my buckets. May mail some stuff to lighten the load. Spokes need more adjusting before I go tomorrow. 1:15 – 8:45 slow day. Would like to start earlier. Good night!

Day 4 Monterey to Kirk Creek

Started with a flat front tire. Lightened the load by mailing a bunch of nonsense to LB in a flat rate box. Back up up UP to Skyline to 68 to 1 south past Carmel. Had to stop a BUNCH of times to retrue wheel like 9 or 10. Another late day, left Monterey around 1:30, got to Kirk Creek at 10:20pm! Kept on trucking past Pfiefer Big Sure, then kept striking out. Julia Pfiefer State Park was day use only. Hit Esalen as it was getting dark, they wouldn’t let in (thought maybe I could sleep on Emily’s floor), kept going, considered sleeping on the side of the road. Kept thinking happy thoughts about things I love, made it to Lucia, no vacancy at the hotel, filled up on water, went 6 more miles to Kirk Creek. Good thing I filled up on water, there was no drinking water there. Best Idea – yesterday pitted a bunch of dates for a quick and easy high calorie hit. Drank 4 Odwalla juices at Big Sur, got the last celery. Ate hoshigaki and Peacotums. Too tired to eat when I landed.

Day 5 KC to Morrow Bay

Wow KC hiker/biker site is gorgeous! right on the coast on grass amongst eucalyptus. Got a pretty late start again, par for the course. 12:40. Passed by Loren, Paul and gf at Plasket up two big windy slopes and down! Very fun going down and freaking beautiful cliffy coastline with kelp forests and pine trees. Met Clay from Texas. On out of Monterey County into SLOC saw the elephant seals. Flatter, still beautiful. Past San Simeon, Harmony population 18, reminded me of Laguna Canyon, cows and rolling hills. Broke a spoke d’oh! I think my spoke issues could’ve bee due to the wheel not being put on straight. Wheel see tomorrow. Straightened it out, seems to be riding better, passed Cayucos, ate ½ the apricots in the market there. Really craving some juicy fruits after all these dates. No overripe bananas since Moss Landing but I have hope for the coming days. Gonna try to make it to the coast by SB tomorrow, I hear there’s three big hills.

Day 6 Morrow Bay to Lompoc

Into Los Osos, bike shop closed. Want to get a new tire and see about a truing. Into SLO met a nice retired lady road biker who took me to the bike shop. New tire, fancy! Got some nectarines and melons – score!! Into Pismo – super nice and Laguna-y. ran into Clay again then broke a spoke. Gah! Only one spare left! Back inland through hella farms – strawbs and brocc and romaine mostly. Up a couple big hills – saw dead beautiful owl. Got bananas!!! In Guadalupe, just into SB County. Mexican farm town. Thank goodness for “over” ripe bananas! 9 pounds for $4.50. Into Lompoc met a can-collecting biker who told me where the campground was. Met 4 ladies from Vancouver “Birds on Bikes” sharing a camp spot with them. Borrowed a phone and called my momma. Scored an extra day, I was mistaken on the date of my HS reunion.

Day 7 Lompoc to Carpenteria

It was nice hanging with new friends. In AM got up earlier like 7:30, ate 2 melons, pitted dates, put on the bar tape at last. Went with the Birds to the grocery store then didn’t want to wait around / antsy to get riding. Felt really slow going on rough road into the wild. The big hill I was trippin’ on wasn’t so bad, easier than yesterday’s & really fun to go down. Passed the Austrian couple couple I met last night 20 miles outside of SB. Thankful for the leftover bananas and pitted dates., At ‘em in Goleta. Biking along and recognized Taylor’s street, but he don’t live there no more. Went to FedEx to use internet, speed round texted Tay, Rob-ot, the Birds, found out about farmer’s market down state street SB. It was poppin. Not used to so many plastic bags at the FM. Lotsa melons, avos, tomatoes, stone froot, fresh organic produce again at last! Asked around for seconds, scored hella free white peaches – delicious! Ate ‘em all there, got lettuce & a bunch of tomatoes & melons to go, one discount cantaloupe one “santa clause” aka “piel de sapo” (so says Happy Boy Farms). After that cruised down to Carpenteria as it was getting dark. Dang $10 hike n bike, double the usual. Ventura or LA tomorrow. Too tired to eat the lettuce and tomatoes.

Well that's as far as my diary went. The rest in summary:

Day 8 Carpenteria to Inglewood - Ventura farms, Malibu beach houses, no camp sites in LA, met some freak-bike builders who let me stay at their warehouse in Inglewood.

Day 9 Inglewood to Laguna Beach - triumphant hometown return. Broke a spoke on the LA/OC border. Dramatic clouds over Crystal Cove. Simultaneously happy to be home and sad for the trip to be over...

Then a week later, took another two days' travel with the Birds on Bikes to the Mexico border.

And now I've got my bike with me in Indonesia! (the adventure continues...)

What a Weekend

Had a fantastically full and fun weekend. Lets like look at a list:

Friday-

# 11/11/11 11 hour Wayang kulit (I went for about 4 hours) with 11 stories of Arjuna’s life, and a bunch of other things relating to the number 11. It was at Pak Purbo’s pendopo. Wayang kulit is like an endurance sport combined with storytelling, puppetry, and music. Endurance in that the dhalang (puppet-master) is talking, singing, cueing the musicians, and moving the puppets the entire time. He did make time to drink water and check text messages. The musicians also are sitting and playing the whole time, but they get to eat, drink tea, and smoke hella cigs. I ate 11 bananas and 11 mangoes in solidarity.

# Polish Independence party. Whoo party time. There were games snacks and upside-down Indonesian flags. Met a dude I want to talk to about combining gamelan and rock music.

Saturday-

# Went to Gunung (Mt.) Lawu. Saw two Candi – Hindu Temples. One from the 1400’s, one from 1500’s. Also stopped at a tea farm to admire the landscape. Going up the mountain was exciting. Its crazy how the whole mountain is “stepped” from farming in the past. Even really steep slopes. Seeing the changing climate and the farms on the side of the mountain were really cool! At the first temple my camera ran out of batteries. Whoops!

# Went to a double Javanese wedding. My friend Jody’s two cousins got married at the same time. Danced with a cross-dressing singer.

Sunday-

# Hip Hop festival in the park. Saw my new friend’s RATM cover-band perform. Made me nostalgic for America because the political/revolutionary subject matter reminded me of my friends in the occupy movement. Then it started raining REALLY HARD for like ten minutes. The show stopped and everyone ran for cover.

# Mankunegaran Latihan (gamelan practice at the palace)

A Year of Sitting Cross-Legged

You may have noticed I haven’t been keeping up on this blog since arriving in Solo. That’s because I’ve been so busy finding my groove in a city with so many grooves. And now there’s so much to talk about I don’t know where to begin.

Highlights so far include: making cool friends from all over the world (there are people from Serbia, Poland, Lithuania, South Africa, UK, Mexico, Myanmar, France, Japan, Romania, Czech Republic, Portugal, Greece, Hungary, Argentina, Philippines and of course Indonesia studying at my school), amazing tropical fruits, “Voice of the Archipelago” arts festival with performances from all over Indonesia, hearing shouts of “hello mister” about once every 30 seconds while riding on my bike, bike ride out of the city into rice fields.

About School:

Classes at ISI (Institut Seni Indonesia ~ Art Institute of Indonesia) start at 7:30am, where my major is Karawitan -traditional music (aka gamelan). School is awesome – all gamelan all the time: I’m taking classes in Javanese gamelan technique, Balinese gamelan, singing class, and lessons on three Central Javanese “soft style” leading instruments: rebab (two stringed bowed instrument- like a violin), gender (metallophone played with two hands -like a vibraphone), and kendang (set of three double-headed hand drums that take the role of conductor) …plus batik, a textile dyeing technique, and pancak silat, an Indonesian martial art.

This week I went to a flute-maker’s house to watch him do his thing, and get some flutes. It is really fascinating to watch him at work. To get the holes in the right place to get the correct pitches for the two different laras –tunings/scales, its based not on specific measurements, but on ratios of length because no two bamboo are precisely the same width…

Just added some photos to my flikr page: http://www.flickr.com/photos/66325401@N03/

There are fruit trees all over the place. Its mango season right now which rules. There are many more types available here than the US because they grow here, some of my favorites are: mangga gule (sugar), aro manis (sweet), mana lagi (more again), madu (honey), and my favorite so far is this one that they call gule but its different: A yellow-fleshed and yellow-skinned pointy-tipped mango with a very thin seed that is off-the-hook-sweet. All the mangoes here are sweeter than the ones available in the US from Mexico. Maybe they like it better closer to the equator? Also the soil is very fertile due to the abundant volcanic ash. I read that the varieties here came from India, which is supposed to be where mangoes originate, and Central Javanese people are known for their love of sweet taste (soy sauce is sweet here, and people put two heaping tablespoons of sugar in their tea), so perhaps they just chose the sweetest mangoes possible.

Other fruits:

-Semangka (water melon): not as juicy nor as sweet as CA watermelon but still really good for a hot day, and so far they are all hot days. I’ve seen long and seeded ones, big round seedless red, and yellow ones.

-Salak (snake fruit): has the shape of a fig, and the texture of snake skin. Inside it has the color and texture of a garlic clove, but tastes sweet-tart like an apple but better.

-Papaya: the variety here I’ve seen so far is called “bangkok” or “thailand”, and is similar to the big maridol papayas from Mexico, but sweeter. From seed to fruit in four months!

-Srikaya (custard apple): much like a cherimoya but sweeter and has more seeds.

-Sirsak: looks like a cherimoya but much more fibrous and tart. I’m not really a fan.

-Sawo: tropical climate’s answer to persimmons. Yes! A super sweet fruit that looks like a cross between a potato and a kiwi on the outside, and inside is orange-brown with ripe pear texture and seeds much the same shape as persimmon. This is my new favorite fruit (for now).

-Pisang (bananas): there are a bunch of types, and some are really good. I’ve mostly been sticking to mangoes as a staple because its mango season now and they are cheaper. But I’m sure I will adventure into banana island after mango season is over, and will have more to say then.

-Nganka (jackfruit): People sell pre-sorted pieces its amazing.

-Durien (durian): I’ve had some fresh durian imported from Thailand, yep its amazing. The season here starts in a few months, can’t wait!

-Rambutan: like a furry red lichi. The season starts in December, so I haven’t tried them yet.

-there are imported apples, grapes, and asian pears available but I haven’t tried them and probably won’t. (who would?)

Things that are different here that took (or are taking) getting used to: fruits ripen reallllly quickly here due to heat and humidity- fruit is ripe day-of purchase or next day then overripe shortly after, the toilets are “squat style”, there is no TP, you take a “bath” by pouring water on yourself with a dipper from a tiled basin, you can take a bath at any public restroom, its so hot here, the rain pattern is different, the traffic flows on the left side of the street (same with walking), there are no sidewalks, there are very many motor-bikes, and almost no traffic rules yet I feel safer riding my bike here than in the US because people are so alert, there is smoking allowed anywhere and everybody’s doing it, I’m sitting cross-legged more than ever before, and I’m developing new bumps on the outer edges of my feet which are numb.

Things I miss: family and friends, my music collaborators, my old bed (3 layers of carpet on the floor), the ocean, clean air, street level cycles, climbing trees, my external hard drive (why did I forget you?).

That’s enough for now. Catch you later! Sampai nanti!

here in jakarta

here I am in Indonesia, In Jakarta for the second day. we, the darmasiswa students, are staying in a big hotel.

we all met together in a huge conference room for some presentations for most of the day. there are people from all over the world here, a huge salad bowl of different cultures and excitement. 'm sharing a room with two fellas, one from South Africa, one from Germany.

As of today, I'm 29! I ate a durian to celebrate. Yum! Also ate one yesterday ...Fresh durians are so good.

Seoulfully

So I'm in the Seoul airport right now, and they've got free computer use, so I'm using it! It was tough to sleep on the flight last night (and it went from Sept 18-20th, so I'm still half-wondering where my Sept 19th went).
It really takes leaving home to fully appreciate what "home" really means... I thought alot about all my friends and family who I love and am sad not to see for so long, then I was thinking "wait you should have told them all that you love them more often." Gosh guys, what can I say ...I'm so grateful for all the wonderful people in my life!
I heard they treat you well on Korean Air, and found it to be totally true. The staff is super helpful and friendly. Got a blankey, lots of water refills, a wet hot face towel, all with a smile. Got here at 4:30AM today, waited til 6 to stow my bags, then ventured out into a land I didn't even consider researching before.
After leaving the airport, not too many people I encountered spoke English. I felt silly for being so un-prepared, I don't know the first thing about Korean, like even yes and no... but Seoul actually has alot of signs in English, which I was very thankful for, otherwise I could have got lost wandering around with no map all tired. Had a confusing interaction when I bought a bottled water ... oh and the art supplies. Compared to U$D, there are three extra zer0s.
Some notes on my impression of the city (and I only was near a university close to the city hall). I liked how the immediate surrounding areas were utilizing alot of space for farming. It seemed like instead of the American style suburban sprawl, all the people were efficiently contained in minimal space, leaving quite a bit of open land. There were clusters of really tall apartment buildings but the overall scenery in Seoul's outskirts between downtown and Incheon Airport was pretty forrestly green).... anyways theres alot more to say, but i need to go get on the plane to jakarta. bye bye!

New Blog, Dog

Hey you, internet lookers!

My name is Dave and I'm hella exuberant about life and the pursuit of happiness. I'm looking down the barrel of an awesome life-changing year in Indonesia. I set up this blog so y'all can follow along with me in my adventures!

I leave on Sunday for Jakarta for a few days, then to the Central Javanese city of Surakarta AKA Solo. I'll be there for a year studying gamelan music, the traditional music of the area. Solo city has it's own style. Video.

I'm also going to be bringing my bike with me and hope to tour around Java and Bali. I'm super excited about this cultural experience, travel is something I've always been interested in, but at the same time always had an excuse for why I couldn't do it. When I do something I tend to go all the way, so how's this for getting out of California! I can't wait to try all the amazing tropical fruits I've only heard of, and some I've only had imported. As of now, I'm planning on continuing my simple raw vegan diet... but who knows what'll happen!

Here are some pictures from (my Gamelan Group in Berkeley) Sari Raras' wayang kulit (shadow puppet) performance Spring 2011:

 With Pak Midiyanto, who I've been studying with since 2004:

 My first teacher Pak Heri Purwanto (back in the states for a month) and I:

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