Saturday October 12

Tim underwater

The Reef

We started the day at a water sports centre near our Villa.  I had bought an underwater camera before the trip so I was keen to try it out.  I signed up for the sea walker adventure and off we went.  I put on a wet suit and they put an old diving bell over my head and down the ladder I went.  They had given me dire warning about ear pressure and panic so it was a slow descent to 5 m underwater.  A scuba diver was my guide and I walked along the ocean floor amongst the coral and fish.  Because we fed the fish they were all over.  My underwater camera worked, I got my fish pictures and I was a happy camper at the end of my walk.                   

Caroline

My daughter Caroline and partner Ali were supposed to join us on Friday night for the weekend in Bali.  Unfortunately they were bumped from the flight but they did get a flight the next day and showed up around 2 PM.  To celebrate being all together in Bali we went to a beachfront bar, drank cocktails and watched the sun set over the Indian  Ocean.           
    
    
   
   
                                                                                                       

Friday October 11

We started the day with a trip to the local theatre.  We watched a traditional Balanese dance of good versus evil.  It went on much too long, but the costumes were good.  Then we went shopping.  I got 2 universal power plugs and Joan got a silver bracelet.  We went to a silversmith shop located in the silver village of Celuk  The prices seem reasonable but not great.  Of course the price drops if you buy 2.  So, Joan and Barb bought 1 each and we got a discount. 

Restaurant overlooking Volcano

            For lunch we drove to the top of a mountain and ate overlooking a volcano that last erupted in 1972.  There seems to be a business in picking up volcanic ash in Indonesia. The trucks were carting the rocks and ash away to make bricks for temples.  In the distance we could see the clouds coming towards us but our view remained clear until we finished eating.  It was a very memorial meal.  

Thursday October 10

    

The Kings Temple

        We flew from Jogyakarta to Bali early in the morning.  After checking in we had our last cup of coffee on Java.  The flight was entertaining. We flew over a perfect round Volcano and Joan had the window seat.  The huge waves around Bali were visible from the air.  We met our driver at the airport, he took us for breakfast and we took our first pictures on the beachfront.  While I fumbled with the camera Joan and Barb posed in front on the big breakers.  As they were standing ankle deep in the water a big wave knocked both for a loop.  It’s a good thing they had a change of clothes in the taxi.

            We headed towards the middle of Bali where they grow the rice.  Along the way we stopped at the Royal Temple and then a coffee grower.  They let us try the 7 coffees for free but we had to pay to taste the Luwak coffee.  This coffee has passed through the bowels of a civet cat/fox.  The civet eats only the finest beans and the strong acids in his stomach cause the beans too mellow.  The coffee was indeed mellow.

            The rice fields have been cultivated for centuries and sit on the hillsides in terraces.  There is a reservoir

Rice Terraces in Bali

at the top of the hill and the water runs from the reservoir to all the fields below.  The terraces are mud walls planted with grass and some of them are quite slippery.  By the time I had finished picture taking my sandals were too slippery to get back up the steep parts.  I had to use my tripod as a cane.

Wednesday October 9

     We are at the Manohara Hotel in Borobudur.  It is a resort complex that borders on Borobudur so we have free access to the temple at all times.   I made another early morning visit (6 AM) to Borbudur and took pictures for the last time. There are several visitors to the temple at this hour, but it is still a quiet place.  Everybody is polite and all talk in hushed voices.

Recovered from a destroyed Village

                     

Removing the lava stones and dust

            We had arranged for a taxi driver to drive us all day.  The plan was to drive to Prambanan and then return to Jogjakarta.  We detoured on the way to visit     Mount Merapi.  This volcano erupts every 3 or 4 years and it last erupted in 2010.  It killed 300 people and did major damage to the area around it.  Work is underway to repair some of the damage.  There is a local industry to show tourists the sights and see the devastation.   We took a Jeep ride into the worst area and visited a small museum where they had melted television sets and frames of motor scooters that had been cremated by the lava flow.  The Jeep driver was slow and careful, but is still seemed like a circus ride as we careened around the makeshift roads.    

Joan and Barb on a Lava tour

                                          

            We did make it to Prambanan for a late afternoon visit.  It is a Hindu temple site but it also suffered damage during a 2006 earthquake.  Most of the site is open but some areas required a hard hat to enter.  We are now south of the equator.  The sun rises at 5:30 and sets at 5:30 so we are having trouble adjusting to the early evening and rapid sunsets.  However we did get some sunset shots of Prambanan.

Tuesday October 8; Borobudur

Borobudur Temple entrance

View from top top

AdMaking ceramics with a toe driven turntable

I have a new travel phone with a new Indonesian SIM card.  I set the alarm for 05:30 so I could be at the temple for 6:00 AM.  When my alarm went off I got up and got dressed and started eating a banana. I made too much noise and Joan woke up.  When she checked her watch, she told me it was 1:30 not 5:30.  When I checked the phone I realised I had received a text message and no alarm had gone off.    Stupid phone.

Borobudur was as good as advertised.  At 05:59 the sun began to shine and at 06:00 I was inside taking my first picture.  Borobudur is a large temple.  It was built between 600 and 700 AD. The crowds were few and the photography was easy for the first hour.  The visitors were from all over the world, but the Indonesian school children were the most fun.  They asked questions and wanted to take a picture with me.  In return I asked to take a picture of them.  They obliged happily.

            In the afternoon we rented a car and driver and toured the surrounding countryside. We visited small communities and went inside people’s homes to watch them making tofu, ceramics and producing tobacco.  Whole families were involved in the production.  It looks like the kids that go to school are the lucky ones.

Monday October 7, Borobudur

We flew from Singapore to Yogjakarta today.  The sights and sounds of Asia are a lot more intense in Indonesia than in Singapore.  The people are poorer, the goods are cheaper and the barganing is necessary.

  We changed plans at the last minute and we are ensconced in a luxury hotel at the gates of Borobudur.  The taxi driver taking us into Yogyakarta made us a great offer so we pulled a u-turn and headed for Borobudur instead of the city.  We are in a small town, where supper cost $1.50 and everybody drives a motorscooter.  We wandered the town to eat and watch the families of 4 ride by on their bikes.  

We have seen the temple from a distance and it looks enormous.  We will be up early tomorrow to check it out.

Saturday Oct 5: Mount Faber and Southern Ridges:

We took a taxi to the top of Mount Faber and walked back down through various paths and parks.  Singapore has tried hard to preserve the rainforests, and they have several parks in the city where there is still the original ground covering.  The southern ridges are a series of parks that are linked by walks and bridges.  At times we were 20 meters off the ground and still in the trees.  Other times we went through flower gardens.   Again the weather was hot and humid, so after our walk we retired to Caroline’s place for the pool and hot tub.

            We went to the Night Zoo after sunset.  Having just been at the day Zoo 2 days earlier we were less than impressed with the Night Zoo.  The introductory tram ride lulled us to sleep.

Friday Oct 4, Little India

   Today was a compromise between seeing the historic little India district and browsing the brand new shopping district. We started with the Little India district.  The first temple was undergoing major renovations and was very crowded with a major festival going on.  The festival included a meal at the temple and families were sitting and eating all over the floor.  I would have joined the food line but I didn’t know if Christians were allowed.  So after a short visit we headed for the second temple on our list.  The second temple was much more spacious and quiet.  We wandered for a while and then Joan and Barb headed for the shopping district while I stayed behind and took pictures.  The temples in Singapore have signs posted telling visitors when to remove shoes, where and when pictures are allowed and where visitors are not allowed.  All signs are in English so this makes for a very comfortable visit.                              
  In the evening we dined at a cheese and chocolate restaurant.  The restaurant is situated at the top of a 3-tower building with a boat on top.  We were able to wander around the “boat” and enjoy the views of Singapore at night.  I was a model of decorum at dinner and I kept it down to 3 plates of cheese and 2 plates of chocolate tidbits.     

         
 

                 

Sands Hotel and Casino

Thursday Oct 3 Singapore Zoo

Proboscis Monkey

Hamadrys Baboon

                    We have been to several zoos in our lifetime, but the Singapore zoo was highly recommended so we gave it a try.   It was delightful!  The whole zoo is under a canopy of trees, so we were seldom walking in the hot sun.  Most animal enclosures were separated by a moat, rather than a fence.  The Orang-utans were roaming free and stayed up in the trees along the path.  It was only after a branch fell on me that I looked up and discovered a mother and 2 babies right above me.   Joan got to see her Orang-utans, I got to see my Komoto Dragons, and Barb got to see her Mandrills.  (Barb is a great fan of the Lion King).

            The weather is consistently 30c and high humidity.  After a day of walking we are hot and sweaty, so we went up to the pools and hot tubs to refresh ourselves.  Jetlag is kicking in so we had a very quiet evening and early bedtime.

Wednesday Oct 2 Chinatown

Our first day in Singapore was a quiet day walking around the city.  We walked to the hawker’s market in Chinatown and had our first street lunch. Similar to a food court in Montreal there are 50 different vendors each with their own speciality Several tables are available for people eating right away.  I chose the Pork offcut vendor and I had Pig’s tail soup.  Pig’s tail tastes like pork hocks.

            After lunch we walked around Marina Bay – a 2km walk around the water in the middle of downtown.  We then went back to Caroline’s place to use the swimming pool and hot tub.  A gentle first day.

Flight from Montreal to Singapore:

We departed Montreal at 12:05 right on schedule.  Our flight took us from Montreal to Newark to Hong Kong to Singapore.   The leg from Newark to Hong Kong went right over the North Pole, so 4 hours after departure we flew over Montreal on our way north.   The skies were clear in southern Quebec and we had a great view of the Eastern Townships and Lanaudiere.   Later we also had a great view of Siberia and Mongolia.  The snow is already on the ground in Siberia.

            All flights were on time and we arrived just before midnight on Tuesday.  It took 24 hours to fly to Singapore.  We did have a problem finding Caroline’s place, but after circling the block for half an hour we tracked it down.

Countdown to Singapore

My oldest daughter Caroline is living in Singapore.  Joan and I and Barb (Joan's sister) are heading to Singapore on  Sept 30 for 6 weeks.  We fly for 24 hours from Montreal to Newark to Hong Kong to Singapore.  We arrive midnight October 1st.

Saturday October 20, 2012

Fort Lauderdale, Florida to Pointe Claire, Quebec

Total distance traveled 3095km.   Total height climbed 16,089m vertical climb

All we have to do today is get to the airport on time.  We left our hotel at 11:30, picked up the bike boxes at Fort Lauderdale airport, drove on to Miami international airport and started the packing. 

The escalator man

Problem number 1; we were missing the correct tool to remove one set of pedals.  An escalator maintenance man, walking down the hallway, saved us.  I saw his bag of tools and asked him for a wrench.  Within 3 minutes he had both pedals off and we chatted about our trip.  This is typical of Americans – very willing to help and very friendly.

  Problem number 2; we had to pay for the bikes to fly home with us.  Our tickets cost $212 each.  The bikes cost $198.  I expected the bike to be in the seat next to me.

No more problems!  We had a smooth flight to Montreal, a lift home waiting, and a nice cup of tea. 
     

Miami

Home in Montreal

       

Friday October 19, 2012

Fort Lauderdale FL; 20km, 58m vertical climb

The first task today was to get hold of packaging for the bikes so we cycled to Ft Lauderdale airport to see if our airline for the return to Montreal had boxes. The first counter clerk said they no longer supplied them but fortunately the guy next to her contradicted her and went round the back to see if they had any. Luckily for us he found some so we paid for them and asked for them to be held there for pickup on tomorrow. That was our biggest problem solved so we rode back to town and moved our gear across the road to a much nicer hotel. We had to wait for a big thunderstorm to finish, then we set off to find a hardware store where we bought a roll of large strong plastic bags that will use for the rest of our luggage. With that job done we took a short break for a nice big ice cream and then set off to tour the harbour area. We rode up and down a series of parallel streets where the back gardens are separated by canals and each house has landing stage where the boats are moored. Some of the boats are bigger than some of the houses and no doubt cost a lot more.                    

The back lane

After we arrived back at the hotel TimB booked a van to takes us and the bikes to Miami airport in the morning via Ft Lauderdale airport to pick up the boxes. With that done we had the evening left for dinner at Ernie’s.    

Tim approaching a Monster

The Monster

Thursday October 18, 2012

Jupiter FL to Fort Lauderdale FL; 109km 145m vertical climb

Today was our last full day on the road.  After 20km on a busy US1 we moved over to the A1A for the rest of the way to Fort Lauderdale and passed the ritziest part of the USA we have ever seen. The A1A goes along the oceanfront and this is prime real estate all the way to Miami.  The houses were chateaus, the grass was like putting greens and the curbside hedges were lush.  We were wondering where you find so many millionaires to buy these places.  We got into Fort Lauderdale at 6 pm and checked into the Relax Inn. The gaudy colour scheme appealed to me but the inside was not so good.     

The Breakers Hotel - Palm Beach

Just a ordinary hedge

Chateau overlooking the Ocean

Mansion in Boca Ratan

The Relax Inn - Fort Lauderdale

  

Wednesday October 17, 2012

Vero Beach FL to Jupiter FL; 84 km 108 m vertical climb

The day was warm and muggy as we started out this morning.  We were 40km down the road and we had both used 2 bottles of Gatorade already.  At 60km we had lunch and the nice lady gave me a bottle full of ice and water to go. Within 10 km it was warm. The afternoon was hard work as we rode into the wind.  When we hit Jupiter at, 80km, we looked at the clouds and called it a day.  Our hotel was expensive, but it had a hot tub, a lovely view, and endless tea and coffee.  The receptionist gave us a room next to the beach, towels for the hot tub and a Tim Horton’s tea bag.  We were in the hot tub when the rain started.  Now we’re listening to the weather channel and it seems there is torrential rain in the area, with up to 4” in the area just down the road.       

View from our back window

View from our back window

Tim and Tim in hot tub

 

Tuesday October 16, 2012

Titusville to Vero Beach 118km 115m vertical climb.

As we were about to leave our motel this morning a German couple rode by and stopped to chat.  They were touring the USA and had started in San Francisco.  They rode down the west coast to San Diego and then used public transport to get to Houston.  They were stopped from riding across Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas by the extreme heat wave in the US.  They will ride to Key West and then go back up the Caribbean coast.  They are mostly camping.

We rode inland today on US route 1.  With a north wind behind us we got to our destination, Sebastian, about 3 pm.  We bypassed the first bunch of motels on the north side of town and then had trouble finding a hotel near the south side of town.  When we finally found the hotel we were looking for they had no water.  Because of the strong north wind we kept on riding to Vero Beach where we are all cleaned up and waiting for my old colleague Gary to arrive with his wife so we can go out for the evening.           

Gary and Rhonda enjoying retirement

Monday October 15, 2012

Tim @ Goodall

Daytona Beach to Titusville 96km 99m vertical climb

We were up and out to Denny’s for breakfast by 8 and were the second customers in the place. Normally at that time most people have been and gone but Daytona is very much a tourist town and it seems most people make a later than usual start. We were on the road before ten and it was still fairly quiet. A few kilometres down the road I thought I had found home – Goodall Street - of all places.    Our coastal route, A1A, does not continue south without interruption, so on the southern end of Daytona Beach, we crossed the bridge back to the mainland and continued south on US1. After 64km we pulled in to a petrol station for a break and within a few minutes we were overtaken by a very heavy shower. We stayed under the station roof drinking our pint beakers of tea and before long we were joined by a large group of Harley bikers. We enjoyed the opportunity to talk to some of them while waves over torrential rain passed by. It was over an hour before it eased up enough for us all to continue on our way. We still got wet but the great thing about the 30-degree weather here is that the rain is warm. We had trouble finding a motel in Titusville and we had to backtrack a couple of kilometres from the south side of town to find one but we still had time in hand to get the laundry done before dinner. After Taco Bell we went down the road to Jalopey`s for a beer (and now I can make a few people jealous) $2.50 for an imperial pint!!!!

Rain Break at the gas station

Sunday October 14,2012

St. Augustine to Daytona Beach; 84km 57m vertical climb

Flagler College

St. Augustine from Bridge

We toured St. Augustine during the morning.  The old fort was interesting but Flagler collage was impressive.  It is a150 year old resort that is now a community collage.  Even though the building has students, it is still in good shape. The architecture throughout the town is very Spanish.  We left St. Augustine at 11:30 and took the A1A to Daytona Beach.  Although it was only 80km, it was a hard ride with the crosswind coming off the ocean all day long.  We had a brief respite when we had trees or buildings blocking the wind off the ocean.  This is my first time in Daytona Beach and my impressions 0f Daytona Beach were confirmed when I saw the cars on the beach and the cheap hotels.  We are in the Playa Hotel, which cost only $67 a night because we don’t have to pay parking fees.  My other impression of Daytona Beach as a party town were confirmed   when the waitress told me I couldn’t stop drinking because I had a free beer coming.  

On Daytona Beach

Playa Hotel - Daytona Beach