Ah :) it feels so good to be back in Kuala Lumpur. It has been over a year since i've been here. I'm flooded with memories of my last Malaysia journey. I was with my friend Fabian from shanghai.
Bali, or the Island of the Gods, was a 3 week experiment for me. I had one major goal for my time in Bali: learn how to surf. Ever since I heard Asuka emote her passion for surfing, I have had it in my head to see what it's all about. In order for me to try surfing, I thought of 3 places to start: Bali, Australia, or Hawaii. Bali being the least expensive of the three, it seemed like a logical choice – plus, my sister wanted to check out the island. Bali is known in the surfer community for being a great place for both beginners to learn and pros to push themselves.
After my adventures in the Philippines, I met my sister and her fiancée, Jochen, in Bangkok. The next day we were on a cheap Air Asia flight to Bali. We decided we would stay for 3 weeks in a beautiful villa about 15 min from the beginner surfer beach. To get around, we rented motorbikes. This was an exciting challenge as vehicles drive on the left side of the road, and the traffic was a horrendous chaotic mess. To make things worse, at any moment there could be a huge pothole that would end your good health and fortune. I find that I drive very aggressively and as fast as the flow of motors would allow. I felt pure excitement flowing in between cars and motorbikes.
So far, in 2009, my time in Asia has been rattled with illness. Bali was no exception. I spent a week down and out with a fever. The skin on all of my body was very sensitive and painful to the touch. I'm not sure what I had, but I was more than ready to have my energy level back up. It was time to surf baby!!
Sarah's friends from Veitnam joined us, Jonny and Helen. Jonny is from Wales and has had the goal of becoming a pro surfer for a long time – this was also his time to learn. All four of us, Sarah, Jochen, Jonny and myself rented surfboards at Kuta beach – 20,000 Indonesian rupia (about $1.65) per hour. I found that I was most comfortable with a longboard – 8'2” long to be exact! I hurt myself multiple times already surfing – the back fin of the board swiped my foot by a crashing wave and left me limping for a few days. Various small bumps and bruises showed up over the weeks, but thankfully nothing major. We opted to get 2 hours of “surf lessons” for about $10. It was pretty simple, as the Balinese teachers were by no means pros, but their simple advice seemed to work out ok: “this is how you stand on the board”, “this is how you paddle” “this is how you catch a wave”, and so on. Once we were in the water everything broke down into a series of shouts: “PADDLE PADDLE! UP UP UP!”. All of us were able to stand up within the first hour. From there on out, it's just practice and getting better.
I would awake at 7:30 and jump on my scooter to meet Jonny at the beach after grabbing a scone and coffee breakfast. Same surfboard as the day before, and into the water. Excitement rushed through my body as the waves incrementally got larger as I long strokes took me away from the shore. There was no worry in the world as I gazed into the distance, calculating each potential wave. Everything was beautiful- The unrestrained potential cast by the morning sunlight, the surfboards to be rented under the palm tree groves on the beach, the volcano in the distance surrounded by clouds, and even the rainbow in the sky – not to mention the caffeine and adrenalin pumping through my veins. My final day in bali was spent in the ocean and on the board. My most successful and tiring day. I felt my aching tired back, chest and arms couldn't propel me fast enough to continue a successful ride to shore...but most of the time I was wrong. The sun started to drift into deep orange and violet hues. I gazed at the glistening horizon, alert and waiting for waves. As the last metallic orange sliver drifted into the indian ocean, the full moon was the only illumination against the silhouette of Kuta beach - I rode my last wave in. I had accomplished my goal. :) I now have a new desire – obtain a lifestyle where surfing will be a weekly possibility. Ah, would be so nice!
When I think of the Philippines, my mind is filled with vivid raw untouched nature, crystal clear ocean, calm nights filled with stars and crickets, polluted dirty impoverished city, jeepneys coughing out thick black exhaust, small stuffy buses lunging out of control on check-point roads, huge roadside rum and beer signs urging “slow down”, security guards with sub-machine guns and automatic shotguns, “little America” shopping centers, cheap tricycle rides, and endless fast food. My experiences here have been rich. A full range of emotion cycled through me. I was excited to see old friends from the old world in Shanghai and disappointed when travel plans to meet up didn't work as hoped. I stayed up two days straight to journey by plane, bus, and boat to a remote island. I fell asleep to crashing waves in a bungalow on a cliff above the ocean and awoke to the sound of the sea. I was bed-ridden for days and unable to eat for almost a week. I lost 2 kilos. I narrowly escaped having my head violently smashed from a chunk of lava tumbling down a lava flow. I climbed a volcano. I was horrified when I awoke to find my legs covered in a vibrant rash. I swam with huge bus-sized whale sharks and panicked when I realized their massive size. I road a small fishing boat up a river to see swarms of fireflies synchronize their flashes on a full moon night after the rain. I was stung by the largest jelly fish I have ever seen. I sprained my ankle by said volcano and was taken to the emergency room for a $20 x ray – just to be sure. I raced around in a wheelchair and induced laughter in a Manila hospital. I was a photographed specimen. I drank with the locals. I drank a ton of coffee and had the best two hour massage of my life. I was a driver in the adrenaline inducing traffic chaos of Manila and road-tripped to the sea. I felt alive. I wanted to stay longer. I want to go back.
When I first arrived in Hong Kong, I compared it to my life in Shanghai. This was a mistake. The cities are as different as night and day, not only that, but my situation couldn't be more polar opposite. I certainly don't want to say any experience was "better" or "worse". Such simple black and white illustrations don't accurately describe the range of experience that were had. Comparing cities is like comparing your children. Which one is "better"? Which one do you love more? I have been here for just under 3 months and have made incredible new friends. I have tried many new things and found new passion.
A few weeks after I arrived in Hong Kong, I met Jo on the ferry from HK island to Lamma island. Jo is a Brazilian capoeira contra mastre and lives in the same small village as me. According to Wikipedia, capoeira is:
"an Afro-Brazilian art form that makes a ritual of movements from martial arts, games, and dance."
I had first heard about capoeira several years ago and remember thinking it would be incredible to try. Well, I got my chance! I have been very passionate about leaning and playing capoeira - I have been going to class with Jo at least 3, sometimes more, times a week! Out of all of the new students that I see joining, on my first day, I was worse than all of them! I'm proud of how far I've come, as I've been working quite hard at it!
This is a video of me playing capoeira at the end of class. I'm already quite tired...so get ready for a laugh or too:
Everyone in the Hong Kong group is a beginner, so we're all just struggling to get the basics down. It's still so much fun, and a lot harder than it looks!!
This was taken on Tom's last class in Hong Kong. He's a great Dutchman traveling the world with his cousin for a year working as in intern for various financial institutions before he goes to university. You can view his blog here, which also happens to contain tons of photos.
This is my teacher, Jo, playing with a student from Switzerland:
Check out more capoeira videos here. I particually like this one. This will give more of an idea of what more advanced capoeira is.
I came here at a bad time for finding work of any kind - right after the financial crisis, during Christmas, and right before Chinese new year. Sill, I have been lucky and found a little bit of animation work while in Hong Kong. You can see some of the projects I've worked on here:
This is essentially a glorified power-point presentation. It was created for an internal presentation of Olaf Mueller's photo shoot for Miele, a German luxury home appliance company.
In between animation and capoeira, I've found a little work as a model:
The friends that I've made here have all been so wonderful. It's so hard to say goodbye, and I will certainly be missing them, but if it weren't for this incredible opportunity to travel and experience new things, I wouldn't have met them.
Taking a small fishing boat back home from Hong Kong, as the normal ferry doesn't make any trips from 12:30am to 6:30am.
My birthday at an Indian curry restaurant in TST. A friend from Shanghai was able to visit!
During my "birthday weekend", we took a friend's boat out around the island. It was quite cool that day, but we kept warm with hot apple cider.
Get together at a friend's house...sophisticated glasses look. yah!
So after Hong Kong, what is next? I will be leaving Hong Kong on January 25th to meet friends from Shanghai in the Philippines for two weeks! After that, I will travel to Thailand to finally met up with my sister and her fiance! From there, we will take a flight down to Bali, and work our way by land and sea through Indonesia, Singapore, Malaysia, and finally back to Koh Tao, Thailand. I will leave them there while they continue to learn diving, and I will meet Tim, a good friend from Shanghai, and will drive motorcycles across Laos together. We will finish this at the end of March.
As always, for more photos, check out my flickr account here.
Lamma Island is to the southwest of Hong Kong Island. It is 13.55 square kilometres and an estimated population of 6,000. Lamma is, in contrast to Hong Kong Island and Kowloon, peaceful and tranquil, with relatively natural scenery.
I'm not sure what these plants are called...by to my enjoyment, they're everywhere. When I was living in Shangahi, I had one of these potted next to my window in my bedroom. It grew so big that sometimes when I awoke, it would be hovering over my head. Jungle fauna in my room. Lovely.
There you have it. That's where I am! So far, so good. The island is beautiful. I'm surrounded by beauty in fact. Waking up every morning is an experience in itself. I'm usually woken up by the first rays of sunlight stretching over the mountain. Then again by the birds. Then the dogs barking. People speaking loudly. They rush nosily to catch the ferry to Hong Kong island to work for the day. The fresh flowery perfumed air convinces me out of bed. Breakfast first, then a 5 minute walk to the beach.
Panorama of the roof of my apt:
Click the images for the full sizes. You can see a bunch more pics of the place here.
Just as dawn breaks over the Manhattan skyline I'll be sitting in a jet plane. 23 hours later I will be in Hong Kong. I have been dwelling on this moment (or a similar moment) since my deportation flight from Shanghai on May 17th. The last half year has been one of new experience, loneliness, determination, and sad endings - ending friendships, ending opportunity, ending life. So I rode my bicycle 2600km from South Dakota to New York. I kept busy in NY...working on odd jobs like cutting down trees and chopping them into firewood, built decks, dug big holes in the earth - you know, manly things that make you sweat and reward you with tired aches at the end of the day. Now that i've chopped my trees, it's time to head out and wander the earth.
What are my plans? oh, what loose plans I have. Most of my plans can be summarized by names of countries. Hong Kong, Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam, Thailand, Malaysia, Brunei, Indonesia, Papua new guinea, hopefully India, Nepal and China, and then ending with Japan in May 2009...or beginning again with Japan depending on how you look at it.
To me, this is the next logical step to the life experience.
I have completed my journey from South Dakota to New York on my bike! I am now at my parent's home just outside of Washingtonville, NY. It's about halfway between Albany and downtown Manhattan. Right now, I'm uploading the rest of my photos from my trip to my flickr account.
Here's a photo of the final hill that I had to bike up.
The total trip distance was just about 1500 miles (2400km). I left Sioux Falls on August 20th at 9:00 and arrived in New York at 13:30 on September 29th.
My average speed was 13 miles an hour (21 kph). I spent a total of 23 days biking. Wow...I just realized I took a lot of days off! I was in no rush though. I'll enter all my statistics in a spreadsheet soon. I'll also go back and enter journal entries with photos from that specific day. This is the first time I've been able to sit down and update my blog since Toronto! Since then I've biked all the way across New York state! Most of that trip was with my father:
It has been an amazing journey. I can't say that i've loved every second of it, but I would not trade any experience i've had along the way. I the last 40 days have been incredibly rich...looking back, I realize I have experienced such a huge range of emotions and situations. I have been cold, depressed, exhausted, exhilarated, alert, afraid, content, starving, full, joyful, grateful, bitter, angry, competitive, thoughtful, and reckless...just to name a few. I'm excited for whatever will come next. Stay tuned!
Well, I have just spent 3 days in the wonderful Canadian city of Toronto! This city is incredible. If it weren't for the vicious winters, it would be tempting to stay for a while!
I will be meeting my dad in St. Cathrine in 6 hours! We will then bike the remaining 500 miles to his home in Rock Tavern, NY...close to NYC. I expect it to take about 10 or 11 days.
Abram Hodgens is an American designer/animator who specializes in motion graphic broadcast design and computer animation. After working in Shanghai, China for 2 years as creative director for Keyframe, he is now taking time to travel and focus on new experiences and opportunities.
New to the blog? Check out how this whole journey started here.
_1.jpg)
