Brooklyn Bridge and Broadway

Working in New York feels like a good dream. Every morning I take the #2 express train across the city from my apartment building at Herald Square to Chambers Street – a station in the heart of the Financial District in Lower Manhattan. During my 20 minute commute I pass by innumerable bagel shops and pretzel stands, and usually stop somewhere along the way for a quick breakfast. It’s not bad leaving work at 6:00 and being at the Brooklyn Bridge at 6:15 to take a walk or, better yet, to meet friends in the Theatre District to catch one of the top shows on Broadway.

Arriving Monday night meant I had to unpack Tuesday night after work, and Wednesday night I was so overcome with jet lag that I crashed at 6:30 after work and didn’t wake up until 10:30. Thursday night I was ready to see the city. A fifteen-minute walk across Lower Manhattan took me to the Brooklyn Bridge; one of many unmistakable icons of New York City. It had been cloudy earlier in the day, but the weather cleared up just in time for me to enjoy the classic 19th century architecture of the bridge, and the classic New York City crowds made up of tourists from around the world, local New Yorkers walking or biking across the bridge for a little fresh air, and even a couple of Jewish boys from Brooklyn. At the end of the bridge opposite Manhattan is a park on the East River appropriately named, ‘Brooklyn Bridge Park’. The park offers views across the river to the city, and the impressive bridge dominates the skyline. A handful of people sat along the riverfront, chatting and snapping pictures as the sun lowered behind a jungle of skyscrapers.

Seeing the Brooklyn Bridge is a pretty good use of time for one evening after work, but I still had plenty more time before I had to head in for the night. I visited Times Square last November when I was here in New York, but the place is so energetic and exciting that it deserves more than just one visit. It doesn’t hurt that the world’s most famous city square is only a five minute walk from my apartment either. I wandered beneath the raging lights for an hour or so – gazing around and looking entirely like a tourist and nothing like a local New Yorker. My walk back home took me past some incredible views of the Empire State Building lit up at night; views that I’m sure I’ll enjoy throughout the summer, as the Empire State Building is literally next door to my apartment building.

One of the things I’m most excited about for the summer is seeing a new Broadway show every week I’m out here. With twelve weeks I can see the twelve best Broadway shows, and I started Friday night with the Tony award winning show for ‘Best Musical’ in 2008, “In the Heights”. To me the most distinctive aspect of In the Heights is the setting. For most Broadway shows visitors leave the streets of New York to enter a mystical land created by multi-million dollar props and wildly extravagant costumes. After walking into Richard Rogers Theatre on 46th Street I left the streets of New York to enter… the streets of New York. In the Heights was created by a 22-year-old veteran of the Upper Manhattan neighborhood Washington Heights, and exemplifies street life in New York as seen through his eyes. The various residents of the Heights share their life experiences throughout the show, including Abuela (Grandmother) Claudia’s immigration from Cuba during the 1940’s, Nina’s rise out of the barrio to attend Stanford – then her subsequent fall after leaving school, Daniela the salon owner who perpetuates a deluge of neighborhood gossip while styling hair, and Usnavi the shop keeper who was named after the first ship his father saw upon arriving in America (which actually read, “US Navy”). In true Washington Heights form the entire show is performed in original freestyle rap and hip-hop music – giving it a refreshing twist that sets it worlds apart from the other productions on Broadway.

Later in the summer I’ll get to know the intimate, smaller neighborhoods of New York, but for now I feel obligated to experience the iconic tourist attractions for which the city is famous. Nothing could be more iconic than the Statue of Liberty, and I made that my first priority yesterday morning. After waiting in a line that twisted past hot dog stands and music performers several hundred yards through Battery Park, I finally boarded a ferry headed for Liberty Island. I visited the Statue of Liberty when I came to New York on a family trip in 3rd grade, and amazingly enough I even remember the visit, but it’s been so long that it was high time to get a fresh impression of the national wonder. Sometime before the end of the summer I’ll visit again and see the museum and interior of the statue, but for today I just circled around it and took pictures. It was great to see the statue up close. Seeing it in magazines or on TV is one thing, but there’s something about walking around it and seeing it from every angle that brings it to life. I stopped at Ellis Island before heading back to Manhattan and enjoyed the museum there (which happened to be many times larger than I expected it would be), then took the train home to rest up a bit before leaving for the night.

One of the most exciting things to me about moving away for a while is getting to know a slew of new people. The local singles wards in New York arranged to rent a ferry Saturday night and I spent three hours floating down the Hudson River enjoying amazing views of Manhattan and the Statue of Liberty lit up at night. About 300 Manhattan singles kept me company, and as I got to know a few people at the back of the boat a DJ blasted music to a delirious dancing hoard at the front in classic Utah-stake-dance fashion. I never would have thought to take a ferry along the river to see the city at night, but it really was amazing and I’m sure I’ll look back on it as one of my favorite experiences of the summer. Afterwards I met up with a friend of mine from BYU that I happened to bump into out here and had dinner at a local diner with a handful of others from the ferry.

Altogether I’ve been in New York five days so far and I think I’ve had a pretty good introduction. Between visiting the Brooklyn Bridge, Times Square, the Statue of Liberty, and Ellis Island, working in the Financial District during the day and seeing a Broadway show at night, and assimilating myself into the local single LDS culture, I think I’ve made pretty good ground. So far I still consider myself a tourist on a big field-trip to New York, but hopefully by the end of the summer I’ll have experienced the city well enough to look back on it all and legitimately be able to say, “I lived in New York”.

Back in the US... for now

Asia 2009 was a blast, but I'm now back in the USA and working in New York for the summer. I hope everyone enjoyed the travel posts, and I'll put up some NYC pics sometime soon.

Pusoksa

On the wall of the Beewon Guesthouse in Seoul, Korea, my home for the past few days, there is a flyer that reads, ‘PUSOKSA: This is my favorite place in Korea. – Lee’.

A few color photos accompany the flyer, as well as instructions on how to get there: ‘Subway Line #2 to Gangbyeon. Dong-Seoul bus terminal: Yeoungju. After getting off bus cross street & transfer to the village bus for Pusoksa.’ I checked the index of my Lonely Planet book for ‘Pusoksa’. Nothing. I checked for ‘Yeoungju’. Nothing. The only information I had to guide me to Lee’s favorite place in Korea (whoever Lee is) was the few short sentences on the flyer. With no other agenda planned for my day today I figured Pusoksa would be the perfect adventure.

I got a late start, which turned out to be quite an inconvenience as Pusoksa was much further from Seoul than I anticipated. After sleeping in and becoming preoccupied with all-you-can-eat toast and jam in the guesthouse kitchen, I finally left the guesthouse at 9:30. I honestly was unsure where I was going or even whether I would make it to Pusoksa or not, but all I wanted was an adventure. Even if the whole day was spent criss-crossing Korea on public busses then at least I could say I tried. At 10:30 I had crossed Seoul via the subway and made it to Gangbyeon Station.

Fortunately there was a bus leaving for Yeoungju… but not until 11:15. I began to realize that if I made it to Pusoksa at all then it would most likely be a very brief visit before dashing back to Seoul to catch my flight back to the US tomorrow.

At 1:45 I stared out the window of the bus to Yeoungju as it pulled into a rest stop. I had hoped the bus would have arrived by then, but a rest stop certainly meant that Yeoungju was nowhere nearby. I wondered how far Pusoksa was from Yeoungju… A half-hour? One hour? Two hours? If I didn’t get to Yeoungju soon there was a good chance I’d have to take the first bus back to Seoul without seeing anything. I tried not to think what would happen if I arrived in Yeoungju after the last bus to Seoul left… missing an international flight back to the US is an ugly situation I never want to have to deal with.

At 2:45 the bus finally pulled into the Yeoungju bus station. Some quick improvised communication with words exchanged in English and Korean – but none of which were understood – got me a ticket back to Seoul on a bus leaving at 7:00. I had four hours to find Pusoksu and get back to the station. Before I left the Beewon Guesthouse I had asked the receptionist to write ‘Pusoksu’ in Korean for me on a pad of paper… that turned out to be essential information. After showing the Korean spelling to a few locals I was guided to a bus stop in Yeoungju and onto a rickety public bus headed into rural Korea.

I stared at the clock at the front of the bus as the minutes ticked by like seconds. Three-fifteen came and went… then 3:30… then 3:45. Finally the bus pulled up at a cluster of small Korean restaurants and a dirt pathway leading into the distance. A handful of Korean tourists were there, but I was definitely the only white man for miles.

I had only an hour before I had to catch the bus back to Yeoungju, so I had to hurry. I didn’t have time to read the signs describing the history of Pusoksu, but a Google search tonight revealed that the name means ‘Temple of the Floating Stone’, it was founded by the great monk Uisang in 676 AD, and that the temple was built to invoke Buddha’s help in fending off an impending invasion of Korea by Chinese armies. The temple worked for Uisang and his fellow citizens – the Koreans succeeded against the Chinese and secured the unification of Korea. Also, thanks to Uisang, visitors to Korea can enjoy one of the most beautiful sights in the country in an incredible natural setting.

Lee was right, Pusoksa is beautiful. I began my visit by hiking up the dirt trail to the entrance to the temple, then slowly ascending the steps through various pagodas to a giant temple at the top that housed an amazing giant golden Buddha statue. From the top of the temple complex I could see the entire grounds of Pusoksu spread out below me, and I spent the next half-hour admiring the natural beauty of the place and snapping my favorite pictures of my visit to Korea. After capturing the gardens and temples as best as I could with my camera I headed back down the dirt path and rushed to catch the bus back to Yeoungju.

My visit to Pusoksu was brief, but somehow I feel like it completed my visit to Korea. Of the four short days I have here I spent two in Seoul and the surrounding area and one at the DMZ. Until today I didn’t feel like I had really seen Korea. I had seen a big city and a site of incredible political controversy; both interesting places, but not the real Korea. Today was an adventure. I saw plenty of rural Korea on the bus rides to and from Yeoungju and Pusoksa. I met several friendly Koreans on my way who were anxious to help me – including a young South Korean soldier who gave me his phone number and told me to call him if I missed my bus back to Yeoungju. Finally, I saw the wonder itself – Pusoksa in all its ancient glory, surrounded by lush green mountains and the natural beauty of Korea. The day was a success… I had made it to Pusoksa.

Hwaseong Fortress

For some reason I’ve had a more difficult time than usual figuring out what to see while in Korea. There aren’t really any obvious tourist destinations like the Louvre in Paris or the Taj Mahal in India, and most of what looks interesting in the Lonely Planet book is just barely too far away to make it a day trip from Seoul. UNESCO World Heritage sites are usually a pretty good bet; some of my favorite destinations in the world – including Delphi, Greece and Luang Prabang, Laos – are places I visited primarily because they are UNESCO sites. While flipping through the guide book last night I noticed that Hwaseong Fortress, only an hour South of Seoul by train, was a UNESCO site. Heading there to see it made sense as a good day trip from Seoul.

Before leaving the city I had one item of business to take care of – visiting the N’Seoul Tower. I can never get enough of seeing the greatest views of the cities I visit, and the N’Seoul Tower is the de facto place for sweeping views of Seoul. A short cable car ride up a rocky, tree-covered hill in the center of Seoul took me to the base of N’Seoul Tower, and a quick elevator ride ushered me to the top. The city views of Seoul were impressive, but I was a little disappointed that the viewing area was all indoors. It can be particularly difficult taking good pictures through windows, and I struggled to find angles with my camera that would avoid the glare of the window panes surrounding the interior of the building. Altogether the visit was still worthwhile – I got a good feel for what Seoul looks like from above, snapped a few good pictures, and generally enjoyed hanging around at the highest point in the city. My favorite part of N’Seoul was labels on the windows that informed visitors of the direction and distance of various cities in the world. Obvious cities included Paris, New York, Tokyo, and Moscow. Some of the more obscure ones (at least in the Western world) were Pyongyang, Vladivostok, Dhaka, and Kabul.

The impressive Seoul subway network stretches all the way south past Suwon, Korea, the location of Hwaseong Fortress, and a single ride took me from N’Seoul to explore the ancient site. Hwaseong is massive, and the fortress walls enclose not only an ancient Korean palace, but also much of Suwon city itself. After a lunch of pan-fried beef stew with noodles and Korean side dishes I explored Hwaseoung Palace, then went for a walk along the fortress walls. Altogether the walk takes about two hours and along the way visitors pass ancient observation towers, fortress gates, turrets, and command posts. Before coming to Suwon I hoped that the visit would be an escape from the city, but urban developments have surrounded the entire fortress and blend seamlessly into the suburbs of Seoul. Despite the fact I was clearly still in the city, I enjoyed Hwaseong for what it was – a collection of fascinating Korean architecture strung together in a pathway circling Suwon. When I really think about it, Hwaseong is actually quite a bit different than any other ancient sites I’ve visited in Asia – I don’t remember ever visiting one that was in the middle of a big city before.

As the day wound down I finished the fortress walk, wandered aimlessly through Suwon until I finally found the bus-stop that would take me to the train station, then headed back to my home for the night at the Beewon Guesthouse in Seoul. Altogether the day was pretty enjoyable – searching out places like Hwasong that are unknown and unpredictable is all part of the adventure of traveling.

DMZ

Whenever I hear terms like ‘East Germany’, ‘The Berlin Wall’, ‘Cold War’, or ‘The Soviet Union’ I can’t help but imagine a twisted and backwards era – times so oppressive, painful, and unnecessary for so many people that it’s difficult to believe it was only twenty years ago. Perhaps twenty years from now the world will look back on North Korea with a similar point of view. The final stubborn outpost of the communist frontier; led by a paranoid, blood-thirsty dictator who runs the nation through a personality cult centered around himself and terrorizes the world with constant threats of nuclear catastrophe. It’s hard to believe that such events could take place in such a progressive time in the world, but it’s almost harder to believe that visitors to South Korea can take a thirty minute bus ride from Seoul to be ushered to the border to peek across into Kim Jong-Il’s shell of a country. I didn’t even have to think about whether or not I would visit the De-Militarized Zone while in South Korea… I had to go.

The first evidence that North Korea was nearby came while driving through the suburbs only a few miles north of Seoul. Giant concrete boxes resembling viaducts stretched across the freeway in a few locations. If they hadn’t been pointed out to me I wouldn’t even have noticed we were passing under them, but once they caught my attention it struck me as odd that there was no road on either end of these ‘viaducts’. Our Korean tour guide explained that the boxes were not viaducts, but ‘tank traps’ to protect against a North Korean invasion. Since Seoul is only thirty miles from the border, extreme measures are taken to ensure that the city will be difficult to capture during an invasion. If news ever reaches the capital that troops have crossed into South Korea, TNT in the tank traps will be detonated, instantly collapsing the structures and blocking all roads leading to Seoul.

The first stop of the day was at Dorasan Station, a squeaky clean train station recently built by South Korea at the border of the De-Militarized Zone. The station is miles from the nearest city and has no practical use at all – except for one thing. If immigration agreements are ever reached between North Korea and South Korea the station is ready to be opened immediately – ready to welcome thousands of visitors from North Korea and ready to transport thousands of South Koreans across the peninsula and into Asia and Europe via rail. The strangest thing about the station is a giant sign above one of the terminals that reads, ‘Trains to Pyongyang’. So much tension exists between the two Koreas that it seems ridiculous that a train from South Korea would ever travel to Pyongyang. I had several questions for the Korean tour guide and she was happy to answer all of them. The station was built in 2002, but only one train has ever traveled to Pyongyang – a trip made in May 2007 as a test run for the station. Besides that single trip the station remains dormant, with the exception of sporadic trains from Seoul that bring Korean citizens to visit the DMZ. The sign that reads ‘Trains to Pyongyang’ is an optimistic effort by the South Korean Ministry of Unification to encourage hope for the reuniting of the two countries.

The extreme optimism of the train station contrasted so much with the pessimism of the tank traps that I had to ask my tour guide a few more questions. At our next stop, Dora Observatory, I asked away as other tourists stared across the DMZ into North Korea. In short, both Koreas desperately want reunification – the disagreement is over politics. South Koreans insist on a capitalist government while North Koreans insist on communism (although I honestly don’t understand why – the amount of humanitarian aid they receive from South Korea should be evidence enough that their own system has failed). North Korea has become obsessed with a ‘Juche’ philosophy, meaning ‘self-reliance’. The government is so paranoid of an invasion that defense has become the main objective of the entire country – all North Korean citizens serve an obligatory ten years in the military and weapons development is such a huge priority that the country has been able to sell its technology to Iraq and Iran. It’s such a shame that politics is all that is keeping the two countries from reuniting. If Kim Jong-Il would quit indoctrinating the population into sustaining him as their divinely appointed ‘Dear Leader’ then perhaps the people would learn to think on their own and would choose capitalism and reunification.

North Korean incidents always come with a few quirky stories, and the perfect example of that was a visit to the ‘3rd Infiltration Tunnel’ at the border of the DMZ. The 3rd Infiltration Tunnel is the third of four tunnels discovered by South Korea that were dug by North Korea as attempts to facilitate a quick invasion. South Korea first learned of the tunnel through a North Korean official who had defected to the South. When they confronted the North about the tunnel they denied it existed. South Korea did some further probing and actually located the tunnel. After further prodding the North admitted it existed, but insisted it was an unused coal shaft and not an infiltration tunnel. Determined to get to the bottom of the matter and fully aware that there was no coal in the area, the South bored into the tunnel to explore it. When they got to the bottom they discovered that the North Koreans had recently withdrawn – but not before they had painted the walls of the tunnel black with a thin coal coating.

The tunnel is now open to visitors from the South and I excitedly walked several hundred feet below the surface of the ground to discover the North Korean tunnel for myself today. It was fascinating to see the thin round holes drilled to place dynamite in, as well as the blockade built at the mid-point of the tunnel by the South. My favorite part of the visit, though, was running my hand along the damp interior of the cave and examining the black coal dust that rubbed off onto my fingertips.

The highlight of today’s DMZ experience was visiting Panmunjom, a ‘Joint Security Area’ on the border of the two countries that is manned by soldiers from the South as well as the North. It still blows my mind that tourists are allowed to visit Panmunjom. A United States Soldier escorted the group through the South half of the complex to a United Nations building that sits exactly on the border of the two countries. The building is used for meetings between the North and the South and a door on each end of the building leads into the respective countries. A South Korean soldier guarded the door to the North with a stern look and clenched fists, and I posed next to him for a photograph. It was a thrill to me to be in the North end of the room for the picture – technically in North Korea. Later we visited two nearby viewpoints – one from which we could clearly see a North Korean town across the DMZ, and another from which we could see most of the Joint Security Area. I stared across into North Korea at a soldier on the other side, and the soldier stared right back at the group of us through a pair of giant binoculars.

I ended the day on a lighter note by attending a show called ‘Nanta’ back in Seoul. Nanta is a Broadway-type Korean production that features four chefs beating catchy rhythms and performing acrobatics with basic kitchen equipment. The show has become so popular that it now is the most renowned show in Korea, and has also been performed in over 200 cities in 34 countries, including a Broadway version of the show in New York. Highlights of the show included the four chefs tossing a fury of plastic plates across the stage and catching them all in the most difficult ways imaginable, the chefs deftly and quickly cutting vegetables so they virtually disintegrated in thin air, and the chefs performing an ancient Korean kitchen act where they beat out rhythms on bronze cups of tea. The show was definitely unique and a even little quirky, but it was equally impressive and entertaining and altogether a great way to experience a different aspect of Korean culture.

Seoul

Until today I felt like Seoul was one of the last few great Asian cities that I’ve never visited. During the past few years I’ve been to Bangkok, Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, Ho Chi Minh City, Taipai, Delhi, Mumbai, Dubai, and Tokyo – and in 2001 I visited Beijing, Shanghai, and Hong Kong as part of a tour of mainland China. For some reason, though, I never made it to Seoul. To this point my only impressions of Korea have come from conversations with others who have been there or from a few TV shows or magazine articles. Today I finally got a taste of Seoul for myself as part of a four-day stopover in Korea on my way back home.

After a seven-hour flight from Singapore to Seoul, an early-morning train ride from Incheon International Airport to the nearest Seoul metro station, two subway transfers, and a thirty-minute search for my hotel through narrow alleyways with every sign written in Korean, I finally dumped my stuff off at my room and got started for the day.

It made sense to begin the day at Seodaemun Museum; a former prison that was highly recommended in my Lonely Planet guide book. Seodaemun was built in 1908 by the Japanese, who were occupying Korea at the time and had ambitions of turning the peninsula into a Japanese colony. I realized how little I knew about Korean history when I read the displays that told of Korean resistance movements and independence fighters during the early 20th century. The Japanese occupied Korea until 1945, and Seodaemun Prison was primarily used to punish Koreans who resisted the Japanese occupation. The museum turned out to be a pretty grim way to start off my sightseeing in Seoul. Exhibit after exhibit detailed the brutal torture and imprisonment of Korea’s ‘patriotic ancestors’, and one unfortunate mistranslation in an exhibit invited visitors to the museum the ‘opportunity to experience the torture’. I was surprised by how ruthlessly the museum depicted the Japanese occupiers. Many Asian nations seem to resent the Japanese aggression that was so common during the first half of the 20th century, but I like to think that things have changed since then. I would hope that these days most people in Asia see themselves as close neighbors who share different cultures and different pasts, but common goals for the future.

A quick subway ride took me back to Anguk Station where I wandered through a colorful Korean neighborhood looking for a bite to eat. Specifically I was looking for a restaurant in the area called ‘Chon’, but again, everything was in Korean; it was impossible for me to know the names of the restaurants I was passing. Finally I just picked one which may or may not have been Chon. I ordered the ‘pan-fried beef’ for a mere 10,000 won and was surprised to get a small Korean feast delivered to my table. No less than 10 separate dishes were placed in front of me, including the tasty skillet of beef. I can’t be sure what everything I ate really was, but among the variety of foods was seasoned rice noodles, dried seaweed, a spicy soup filled with beans and chilis, white rice (I’m pretty sure about that one), and something resembling a quesadilla with a mustard-flavored filling inside. I don’t think I’ve ever had Korean food before today and I don’t know what I was expecting, but what I got was very different than any other Asian food I’ve had before.

The highlight of the day for me was visiting Changdeokgung Palace; a huge complex of ancient Korean architecture and gardens built in the 15th century to house King Taejong. One constant theme throughout the palace grounds was architectural design that ensured that the King was constantly elevated higher than everyone else. A long brick pathway that led into the palace was elevated in the middle, for example, to accommodate the king. All others followed behind on the lower parts of the path. Also, I was impressed by how open and spacious the grounds were. The Royal Garden that accompanied the palace had countless ponds filled with lily pads and koi goldfish, and a variety of different types of Asian trees kept the place shady and cool.

Seoul’s premier art gallery is the Leeum Samsung Museum of Art, which I visited late this afternoon. The museum is divided into two separate buildings; one that houses ancient art and artifacts, and another that is home to modern art and contemporary art. Some of my favorite exhibits were 12th century ceramics including incense burners and a ceramic pillow, an 11th century replica of a pagoda, and a 10th bronze century roof ornament shaped like a dragon. I tried to imagine what life would have been like for Koreans hundreds of years ago and pictured the various artifacts in ancient Korean homes. The modern art was a bit more difficult for me to relate to – I enjoyed a piece by Andy Warhol and one or two others, but one exhibit – a Steinway grand piano welded to a giant metal plate – came across to me as a waste of a perfectly good piano.

If there’s one thing I’ve been looking forward to about Korea for months then it’s visiting the De-Militarized Zone on the border of North and South Korea. As I write this it’s hard to believe that North Korea is only 60 miles north of Seoul – 60 miles north of where I’m sitting right now. I booked a tour leaving for the DMZ tomorrow… it’s almost as hard for me to believe that I’ll actually visit the border tomorrow afternoon.

Tanah Lot

I spent the afternoon today visiting three Hindu temples in Bali. The first temple I visited was 'Taman Ayun', a spacious temple with wide, grassy courtyards that was built in 1634. The interpretation of Hindu temples is much different in Bali than I’m used to elsewhere. Most times a 'temple' here isn’t a single structure, but instead it’s a collection of small buildings enclosed in a giant courtyard. That was the case with Taman Ayun. The entrance to the temple led to a giant courtyard filled with grass, then a second courtyard contained a moat surrounding fifteen or twenty small buildings. The architecture of Taman Ayun gave the place a distinct Balinese feel - several multi-storied pagodas with thick grassy roofs were lined in a row and towered above the moat below. Something about the arrangement of the pagodas and the moat just made the place feel wildly exotic.

The second temple was 'Alas Kedaton', also known as a Monkey Forest. The buildings at Alas Kedaton weren't terribly impressive and the Monkey Forest there wasn't nearly as good as the one I visited yesterday, but I still enjoyed the place. At Alas Kedaton the monkeys eat peanuts instead of bananas. For 1000 rupiah I bought a tiny bag of peanuts and my obligatory guide showed me how to feed the monkeys as we walked through the temple. I feel a little immature getting excited about feeding monkeys, but it really was fun. I'd lean over to one of the monkeys with a peanut in the palm of my hand and the monkey would come up and politely take the peanut with both hands, then run off with it. One time I gave a peanut to a fat monkey that was clearly one of the leaders of the bunch. After handing him the peanut and walking away I felt a tug at my shorts. I looked down and the fat monkey was pulling on my shorts with both hands and looking up at me, as if to say that he obviously deserved more than just one peanut. My guide explained to me matter-of-factly that the big monkeys get two peanuts.

My final temple visit of the day was to 'Tanah Lot', a temple built on a tiny island and one of the most famous temples in Bali. Tanah Lot was crowded with hoards of tourists when I got there, but it still was fun to visit. I happened to arrive at low tide, when it is easy to walk about 100 yards across a pathway of rock that leads to the temple island. At the base of the island was a group of Hindu priests anointing visitors to the temple. After waiting in line for about ten minutes, the priests instructed me to wash my face with holy water, then one of them used a stick to flick holy water all over my hair and a different one pressed dried rice to my forehead and put a flower behind my ear. I felt a little ridiculous walking around with the rice on my forehead and the flower, but it helped that most other people had it too. Unfortunately it turned out that only Balinese are allowed to enter the temple itself and I was merely allowed walk a few steps leading to the entrance, but the views were still enjoyable and the experience was worthwhile. I figure that if Tanah Lot is one of the most famous sights in Bali then I have to see it, regardless of whether it’s packed with tourists or even if I can actually enter the temple or not.

I decided I was tired of Indonesian food tonight and walked a couple blocks down the street from Kuta Puri Hotel to have a true American meal at the Hard Rock Café. The place was ridiculously expensive, especially by Indonesian standards, but after being away for nearly three weeks it felt good to feast on a hamburger and fries for a change. There are plenty of Indonesian restaurants around that serve 'American' food, but their interpretation of it tastes too Indonesian. Then, of course, there is McDonalds, but that tastes like McDonalds. As much as I love ethnic food, nothing is quite like enjoying a high-quality American meal while traveling halfway around the world.

Ubud

While the obvious draw for many of the visitors who come to Bali is the wide beaches and perfect surf on the South end of the island, Bali is also known for its colorful ancient culture. This afternoon I took a bus to Ubud, a town in Bali made famous by its intricate temples, tasteful art galleries, and first-class cultural shows.

Just about anyone I’ve met who has been to Bali has talked enthusiastically about the ‘Sacred Monkey Forest Sanctuary’, a natural reserve near Ubud that is home to hundreds of mischievous monkeys. I started my visit to Ubud with a visit to the Monkey Forest – and bought a cluster of bananas on the way in to feed to the tiny animals. As I walked through the narrow stone paths of the sanctuary it was impossible not to see monkeys. Monkey swung above me in the trees overhead, monkeys ran in all directions on the trail in front of me, monkeys climbed up my body attempting to steal the bananas from me, and monkeys lounged and slept on the sides of the path.

After handing out a few bananas I spent a half-hour or so wandering through a small Hindu temple in the forest. Hindu temples seem to vary in style in the different parts of the world they’re found in (and they even vary in the different parts of India), but they’re particularly different in Bali. This temple was made entirely of brick and stone and had none of the colorful deities decorating it that are so common of Hindu temples in India. Instead intricate Indonesian carvings of various creatures decorated a tall tower in the center of the temple and brightly colored murals lined with gold leaf decorated the doors inside the temple. The place had a peaceful yet almost eerie feel to it – something about an ancient Hindu temple in the middle of a Monkey Forest will do that.

Before leaving the forest I had to finish handing out my bananas, so I found a giant group of monkeys and handed them out one by one. Some monkeys were energetic and ferocious, and stole the bananas that I gave to the more mellow monkeys. A few monkeys were fat and arrogant with huge tufts of facial hair – obviously the dominant males of the group. I sat down with one fat monkey while another tourist took my picture. I handed a banana to the monkey, but held onto it until I could hear the shutter of the camera. The fat monkey quickly became impatient and irritated and bore his teeth at me, threatening to bite my hand if I didn’t release the banana. Finally I just let go of the thing, figuring it was better to let the animal have his banana than to risk getting some kind of infection from a monkey bite in the middle of Indonesia.

I spent some time wandering through the streets of Ubud, peeking into the different galleries and stopping in another Hindu temple along the way, then later tonight I went to the Royal Palace in Ubud for an outdoor play called ‘The Great Mahabrata Epic’. Specifically the show was a ‘Legong and Barong Dance’ and I suspect the entire epic would last much longer than the 90-minute presentation. According to a handout given to me at the entrance, the Legong Dance starts with the first character – a ‘Condong’ court lady, who is followed by two ‘Legongs’, who represent Prince Lasema and Princess Rangkesari. The three dancers were fantastically dressed in brightly colored Balinese costumes and moved quickly and erratically with the live Balinese music. Another dance featured two fat giants, Sunda and Upasunda – also immaculately dressed and clearly superior to their three clumsy followers, who appeared to be dressed as pirates.

My favorite part of the whole performance was easily the ‘Barong’, a ‘powerful and benevolent, magical creature danced by two people in one costume and often accompanied by a monkey’. The Barong appeared in the doorway to the stage in all its furry glory, decorated with shimmering gold cloth, tiny mirrors, a gigantic tail, and a wiley-eyed Indonesian mask. As the music became more intense the Barong marched around the stage with the rhythm, then laid on the ground like a giant sheepdog as a small man dressed as a monkey appeared. The monkey teased the Barong with a banana for the entire act until the climactic conclusion of it all – the Barong standing up and kicking the monkey in the back.