Honeymoon Part 1: Bali (Island of the Gods)

We are on the Indonesian island of Bali. It has been glorious. It is perhaps a bit "touristy" in spots, but definitely a wonderful place to spend a few days (or more), with lots to do, lots to enjoy, and lots of very friendly and extremely polite people (Balinese are perhaps the nicest people we have ever met!). It has been a great choice for our first honeymoon stop (Indonesia also being a country new to both of us), and we are so blessed for the gifts of travel we received for our wedding!



We spent a fun day on Sunday in San Francisco with Serena, Brad, Hanh, and Wai Kiu (enjoying tasty eats at Hog & Rocks [oysters and ham] and PPQ Dungeness Crab and seeing the latest Harry Potter flick in 3D) before catching the ~Asia equivalent of a red-eye, a 1 a.m. flight leaving SF bound for Hong Kong. About 24 hours and two flights later (thanks, Jenny and Ron!), with some good movies, "How I Met Your Mother" to be watched and a good book ("The Help" is a great read, and I can't wait for the movie!!) along the way, we arrived safely in Bali, which is one of Indonesia's 17,508 (or so) islands.

I have never had such a smooth entry into a country. We got visas on arrival, which took all of about 20 seconds, got our bags (no luggage lost this trip!), cleared customs, and were at our hotel after about a 10-minute cab ride. We were lucky to be able to stay at the Holiday Inn resort at the beach at Tuban, accommodations which are far superior to our usual lodging (thanks, Neyers), and had a relaxing dinner and rest of the evening.

By the hotel pool


Do you think any more "stuff" could be fit on this motorbike?


On Wednesday, we enjyoyed the great outdoors. First, we went snorkeling off of the Nusa Dua peninsula (thanks, Pallavi/Amanda and Howards!), where we saw tons of varieties of colorful fish and even some eels (!). I believe the last time I went snorkeling was about 17 years ago in Australia, so this was quite a fun adventure!



We then visited Turtle Island, where we toured a sea turtle farm and got to hold all kinds of critters:

Green sea-turtle


This one was 65 years old!


Iguana


Python


Bat (I declined holding this one-- and was worried about K doing so- with no recent rabies shot)


I was disappointed that they didn't have any Komodo dragons, but K was just tickled pink with all the animals we got to handle!

From the turtle park, we were taken to Dreamland beach, where we watched the surfers, and then to cliffside Uluwatu temple, where the views spectacular and the monkeys sneaky! Kelvin lost his water bottle to a snatchy macaque, and other tourists lost various items such as sunglasses (and had to bribe the monkeys with food to have hope of regaining them).






Our day concluded with a delicious seaside dinner, a seafood barbeque on the beach at Jimbaran Bay (thanks, Amy + family and Aline!), where we watched waves crash to the shore and enjoyed being serenaded by this band playing popular songs on Indo instruments.



On Thursday, we woke up reeeeallly early (1 a.m.) to be transported to the Mt. Batur area in the northern part of the island for a sunrise hike to the top of Mt. Batur volcano (1717m) [thanks, Kristin & Caesar!]. We hiked from about 4 a.m.- 6 a.m. in the DARK (!) and, unfortunately, it was too cloudy to see anything from the top, but we still enjoyed our volcanic-steamed eggs and views of Lake Batur on the way down. The volcano's last major eruption was in 1963.




Thermal "oven"





After napping, we enjoyed a yummy Indo buffet lunch in Kintamani, overlooking the volcano, visited the Batur temple, one of the largest in Bali (an island where 75% of the population is Hindu, although Indonesia is predominantly Muslim overall), soaked in the Toya Devasya hot springs, and enjoyed a therapeutic massage overlooking the lake (much needed after our hike-- thanks, Michelle & Andy!). The lakeside cottage where we stayed prepared for us a dinner with delicious fresh fish from the lake!

Mt. Batur


Batur temple


(men are required to wear a headpiece, and sarong, to enter)


Toya Devasya Hot Springs Resort




Massage hut


Lake view


Our cottage


On Friday, we returned to South Bali and spent the day visiting various artisans' shops in the Ubud area (thank you, Patty!). We saw batik-making, silver-making, woodcarving, and painters at work, seeing tons of beautiful artwork and buying just a little. Ubud is a very cool city-- filled with galleries and craft stores, and we only wish we had more time to spend there.






Ubud also houses the Monkey Forest (Sanctuary), where over 300 macaques play with tourists and provide much entertainment. We saw another tourist lose her wallet here at the hands of a monkey (who was probably just wanting a banana) and we were very careful with our belongings :)



Mom and baby







Tegenungan waterfall



We watched a beautiful traditional Kecak and fire dance performance (a man literally danced in a bonfire!) and enjoyed a multi-course Indonesian feast accompanied by legong dancing to conclude the near-perfect day. Indonesian food is soooo tasty-- we have enjoyed crispy duck (bebek goreng), fried noodles (mia goreng) and rice, sauteed vegetables, excellent hot chiles, tamarind beef, and are looking out for the delicacy suckling pig.







At dinner, they gave us all (even the guys) these franjipani flowers for our ears.
Lychee martini (thank you, Kristin/Caesar!)





We have one more day in Bali before heading to stop and country #2, Malaysia and the Perhentian Islands... the fun continues!!!

Babies on Board

As we are about to embark on a trip including to Malaysia, and having many friends with kids (some of whom are brave enough to travel), this article by Joel Stein in a recent Time Magazine struck me as absolutely hilarious. Please read!

Baby on Board, by Joel Stein

"When my son Laszlo was 6 months old, I took him to a bar at 9 p.m. I assumed I'd be kicked out or at least given dirty looks, but instead women kept coming over to tell me what an amazing father I was. If my lovely wife Cassandra took Laszlo to a bar at 9 p.m., people would have called child services. Yet every time I ask to take my son places he clearly doesn't belong — high-end restaurants, movie premieres, corporate retreats — people say they'd be thrilled to have him.

After a while, of course, they are not thrilled to have him. He knocks things over, cries and yells the word car every time he thinks he hears a car, which is every time there's a noise. So I'm proud of Malaysia Airlines for banning kids under 2 in first class. I've taken Laszlo on the business-class section of a flight, and it was a horrible thing to do to other passengers. I've also taken him on the economy section of a flight, and that was a horrible thing to do to those passengers too. But they were poor passengers, so they deserved it.

The reason I took my baby with me on business class is that airlines have a crazy rule that instead of paying for another seat, you can put a kid under 2 on your lap for an entire domestic flight. They won't let you keep your purse on your lap during takeoff and landing, since it might turn into a deadly projectile, but an infant is apparently soft enough to ricochet harmlessly off passenger after passenger. Once his skull ossifies over his soft spots, he's got to buckle up.

Since two people and a baby is tight in coach, Cassandra and I decided that instead of paying for three seats, we would use miles to upgrade to two business-class seats and keep Laszlo on our laps. It turns out business class is awesome for babies: they tire themselves out running around the airline's business-class lounge, and on the plane they can't reach the seat in front of them with their feet, there's more stuff attached to the armrest to play with, the aisles are wider for them to stumble through, and there are fewer people to hear them cry. If babies could just get their act together and land executive-level jobs, they would totally fill business class.

Until that happens, I want airlines to reserve a few rows in the back of coach for people with small children. Because the only thing more stressful than hearing a screaming baby on a plane is being the parent of a screaming baby on a plane. Shove us all in the back, where we can suffer together. Put some old toys in the overheads, sprinkle juice boxes around and cover the seats with plastic. Instead of a selection of bad romantic comedies, the baby section will always show Toy Story. Instead of a drink cart full of alcohol, it will be loaded with even more alcohol and Children's Benadryl. Instead of Us Weekly magazines, there will be children's books, which have the same word-to-picture ratio as Us Weekly. The blankets, of course, will be the exact same size as the ones in the rest of the plane.

Sure, it will suck for the last-minute traveler who can get a seat only in or near the baby section, but that guy is definitely not rich. Will the baby section smell good? No. Does the section near the bathroom ever smell good? No.

Airlines are already charging fees that let people pay for more leg room or cut to the front of the boarding line. I'd pay more for a plane with a baby section whether I was in it or not. I'd also like a quiet section, like Amtrak trains have. And a full-size section, a snoring section, a bad-breath section, a drinking section, a sleep-on-a-stranger's-shoulder-maybe-by-accident-maybe-not section and an out-loud-movie-laughter section.

Airlines can pull this off because they are the one industry that's up front about our class system: there's first, business and economy — and Mexicans have a better chance of climbing two walls to pee in Texas than coach passengers do of passing that curtain to use the first-class bathroom. I long for a day when there's a curtain everywhere, separating me from everyone else when I, say, pick up prescriptions at a drugstore or get on the subway. Also, at certain hours, from Cassandra and Laszlo, who do not make any money.

It's insane to expect nonparents to sit near babies, chatty retirees to sit near iPodded teens or people doing sudoku to sit near me, since I'm so obviously silently making fun of them for doing sudoku. We have long ago progressed past the point in our history where people of all kinds interacted in the town square and hardened truckers traveled the country with best friends who were monkeys. We're all safely sequestered in our demographic. So either the airlines are going to have to segregate us for our six-hour trip or someone is going to start Baby Air. First class on the nonstop to Kuala Lumpur will sell out in minutes."

Housing- check!

The major tasks in the past month have been:

1. Graduate from residency
2. Get married
3. Study for and take family medicine boards
4. Find a place to live in Humboldt County
5. Go on the honeymoon
6. Move
7. Start our new jobs

(Sound stressful?? Thankfully, we are now more than halfway done with the above!)

We took family medicine boards on Tuesday and it actually wasn't too painful. Despite the militant sign-in-/sign-out process, the rigid prohibition of taking off a sweater off during the test, and being frisked every time we had to take a break (bathroom, snack, etc.), the test part went fairly smoothly. While I used to be a "ruminator" and go over and over questions I was unsure of, I've gotten a lot more decisive and Kelvin and I both got out of the test several hours earlier than allotted. We hope the results (which take about 6 weeks, I hear) are good!

Despite having been seated for many hours already, we were able, given our early finish, to immediately drive up to Humboldt county (another 6 hours' drive) to look for a place to live for the next few years. Since being here, we have been generously hosted by Marguerite, the girlfriend of my clinic director, at her lovely house in Fieldbrook, and have been very productive with house-hunting.

Moving is STRESSFUL. I am lucky to have been able to have stayed at the same apartment in Sacramento for the past four years; however, I am now reminded of how painful it is to find a new residence and to physically move. After doing (well, Kelvin doing) a lot of preliminary research from Craigslist and other Humboldt listings, we allotted about 3 days up here to find a place to live in the Arcata area. While we would like to have a house someday, we don't think we're quite ready yet to buy given that the area is so new to us, and there's no way that buying a home could have been realistic in our small window of searching time, so rental shopping it was. We are considering (well, I am; K is less thrilled about the idea) getting a dog in the future... which actually somewhat limited us in options (with reason, landlords are very leery of tenants with pets)... but, even so, we had a rather packed couple of days.

I think we saw about TWELVE rental properties during business hours on Wednesday, in the tri-city area including McKinleyville, Arcata (more central) and Eureka (farthest south). Today, we saw another about five places. We have certainly had the driving tour of the region, and seen some nice real estate. After deliberating at length about the relative values, locations, "feels" of the areas (McKinleyville is supposed to be kind of "redneck," Arcata more liberal), commutes (gas here is more than $4/gallon, which is among the priciest in the nation), and microclimates (there are sunnier/warmer areas, and cooler, more dreary ones), we thought we had decided on a place in McKinleyville (the town of my clinic) -- a cute three-bedroom, 1.5-bath, townhome with a small fenced yard. We also really liked a three-bedroom, 1 + 3/4 bath nice Arcata home with two levels (a huge spacious downstairs), hardwood floors, and located in a great neighborhood only a few minutes from the hospital (where I'd be doing OB) and Kelvin's clinic; however, when it came down to costs (yes, even as two MDs we still are thrifty and Asian, want value, and also just threw a wedding), we weren't sure it made financial sense splurge for the extra money it would take to secure that place ($400/month more-- a sum that we could more easily rationalize using towards saving for property, furniture, or travel).

However, luck had it that the landlord, when we expressed our disappointment and declination, actually voluntarily dropped the rent to where it was within our budget.... and thus we ended up with an awesome place and our first choice! We signed the lease and we can't wait to move in when we return from our honeymoon.

Here are some pictures of our new place, our first real residence (albeit a rental) as a married couple. Sorry I don't have a comprehensive set of snapshots, as I wasn't that thorough with the camera when we looked at it early yesterday. We love it (but want you to see for yourself, too!). Please come visit us (Serena, we have lots of room, and bring Shabu! Kimie- you can stay for a month for a rotation and have your own bedroom, but you might have to fight Kelvin because he wants a "man cave.")

Front view (doesn't it look big?! -- we are not sure if the "porch couch" will be a keeper...)



Entryway mudroom


One of the upstairs bedrooms (furniture to be replaced by our own)



We have had some time while up here to explore a bit as well as take care of some clinic business. We visited Old Town Eureka and the many thrift, used book, and furniture stores (I am very excited about interior decorating now!). We tried some pho in Eureka (not bad!), met with our respective clinic staff, administrators, and directors, and had a wonderful potluck dinner tonight courtesy of Marguerite and my clinic docs with great tips on Humboldt living. Good times!



So onto 5., 6., and 7. on the list...
Next: honeymoon!! Then: MOVE!

Hubby's first haircut (by the wife)

Kelvin loves getting his hair cut. He goes pretty religiously every 3 weeks (or else his side gray, which he swears was not there before he met me [!], is too noticeable) to the same haircut place (Sport Clips, where, per their website "men go to get their haircuts when they are looking for a good time in a relaxed sport themed experience") and only on the days when this one particular hairdresser is working ("Jerica knows me!"). He loves watching ESPN, zoning out, not having to explain himself, getting the head massage at the end, and buys the haircut packages in bulk.

I, on the other hand, get my hair trimmed about once every 9-12 months (or when I remember), and always whine about paying $15 for a trim at Supercuts (I whine less when I do something drastic like hack off a whole head of hair). If I could cut the back of my own hair, I would do it. I have highlighted my hair with strawberry-blonde hair-dye in my own bathroom on several occasions (one self-highlighting job in high school bought me the nickname "skunk".... you can imagine how great that one turned out...); however, other than getting ringlets put in by my grandmother's hairdresser while she got her weekly up-do and when we were kids, I have never been to a real "salon" to have anything fancy done. I might have to give it a try once in my life but now is not the time.

I just don't think a (routine) haircut requires that much time, energy, or money.

So, since Kelvin needed a post-wedding, pre-honeymoon haircut (he would NOT let me do the pre-wedding cut, with good reason!), I offered (i.e. pleaded for him to let me try) to cut his hair this time. Let's just say that it definitely shows that he has a lot of trust and confidence in me, because other than the particular hairdressers he has found who do a good job, I think his mother is the only other person he has previously allowed to cut his hair. He was also fully aware that, although I had been the designated hair-clipper on our miniature schnauzer, Toccata, when she was still living (and, as I was also the one to bathe her, I was NOT her most favorite human), I had never in my life cut a human's hair (guy OR girl, I am pretty sure).

Me: Wow! The clipper (which his mom gave me) looks just like the one I used to use on our dog!
K (nervously): Uh... ok. Are you sure you want to do this?
Me: Of course! I think I can totally handle this. How hard can it be?
K: Well... there will be a lot of hair to clean up.
Me: Do you think hair scares me?! Don't worry about it. I have a broom and dustpan.
Anyway, what's the worst that could happen? So it's a bit short....it will just grow out and you can have Jerica do it in three weeks, when we get back, right?
K: Uh... but we still have to look respectable when meeting with prospective landlords (this week).
Me: It will be fine. Sit down.

Here is K going (apprehensively/despondently) into the trim:


The process was not too difficult. The clipper came with all the comb sizes for leaving different lengths of hair, which we used on the bottom, sides and back. I then trimmed the very bottom and around the ears and sideburns, shortened the very top, and voila...

(The after picture)


(sorry this looks like such a mug-shot).


So... the whole haircut probably took longer than it would have taken Jerica (close to an hour!-- mostly because Kelvin had to point out to me what needed to be done/what needed to go shorter, and because I initially clipped so conservatively so as to not bald him!), there was lots of hair on my bathroom floor, but, all in all, I think it was a hair-cutting success. With what we saved, we can go out to dinner or something, and maybe I can just be the one who does the hair "every other time" (that is, if he lets me....) :)

Lazy summer days + berry-picking

This has been an interesting week/couple of weeks. It has been over four years since I've had such a relaxed schedule (i.e. total freedom throughout the day in what we call a stay-cation), without the constraints of work hanging over my head. I don't think the two-week vacations from residency have quite the same feel, as we are generally on the move. This has been some real quality time in the Sac apartment and some very lazy days! It's actually remarkable to me how little I've seemed to get done with a wide-open schedule.... how is it possible to do it all while working? The days just seem to fly by!

It is sooo liberating to not set an alarm in the morning. I have always been a rather early riser (it is rare for me to sleep past 8 a.m.!), but apparently my body has recognized that I have a big sleep debt (i.e. 12 years) to make up, and I've actually slept in until past 9:30 some mornings (thanks to some excellent black-out curtains which keep the bedroom dark and cool). I'm not quite sure how, after getting 8-10 hours of sleep per night, I still sometimes feel the need to take a nap later in the day, but I do have that luxury now, so I've been taking advantage of it...

The days have consisted of some quality family medicine boards-studying; however, at this point in life, my attention span is about an hour, and so about an hour into questions, I have to go do something else (for 2-3 hours) :). It has been very leisurely studying, let's just say, but I definitely feel ready to have the test behind us.

It's been a great time to catch up on "life" things such as wrapping up wedding stuff. It is AMAZING to have free time, during business hours, to go to the bank and post office and to make phone calls. I spent some quality time at the Social Security Administration and the DMV (on two separate days) initiating the name-change process so that I could get going with the medical licensing paperwork which might just take forever. I think I've made about 5 separate trips to the post office in the past 2 weeks. Kelvin has been working hard contacting some rental offices in Arcata looking for some housing for us so we can investigate this week.

We've had some time for recreation, too. I've been getting some good runs in, at convenient times (not at like 4 a.m. which I had to do at times in residency), and we've been milking netflix (before the new rate hike and while we can watch matinees!) and redbox (I would highly recommend the series How I Met Your Mother [one of the funniest and best TV shows I have ever seen-- ranking with Friends and The Office], The Lincoln Lawyer and Conviction; neutral for Babies [a bit slow for me], but two thumbs down for Sex and the City 2 [I'm embarrassed to say we rented this]. We got a couples' massage last week at the infamous Happy Day Spa (which we will miss). I've made several trips to the library to get some good reads by Jodi Picoult (House Rules), Lisa Scottoline (Think Twice), and Anita Shreve (Rescue).

I must say, though, that the highlight of this week was berry-picking today with residency friends. There were about 14 of us that made it up to to the American River Cherry Company outside of Placerville on a trip organized by Serena, to enjoy the outdoors and some yummy fruit (which I obviously looove!)! The company has been featured in Sunset magazine and we were lucky to be there in July as there is only a one-month window for cherry-picking.





I'd been up to nearby Apple Hill a couple of years ago to enjoy some of the orchards' tasty treats, but, apart from gathering raspberries as a child on my grandparents' Minnesota farm, I had never actually been fruit-picking formally. It was a a wonderful time! The weather was perfect (i.e. 80 and sunny, leaving me envious we didn't have similar cool weather for our wedding day), and the picking a lot of fun.



We got three buckets to pick our own cherries, blueberries, and "all other berries," respectively, and were charged by the pound (in the buckets, not in our stomachs, thankfully). The cherries were wonderful, and the raspberries, marionberries and olallieberries (a new one for me) superb; the blueberries were not quite ripe yet, but still worth scavenging for. Unfortunately, upon arrival to the farm, I noticed that my camera battery was dead and thus I don't have any unique pictures from the day; however, I stole some from Erin/Kristin/Serena who have intelligent phones :).






Brad, up in the tree


Swati, with her stash


We stopped for a delicious lunch at Heyday Cafe in the gold-town of Placerville, also known formerly as "Hangtown" due to the number of hangings that occurred there (gold was discovered in nearby Coloma). I chose a turkey/cranberry panini (with stuffing, my favorite!) which was pretty much like Thanksgiving on a roll and very delicious....



We browsed a few little cute shops and bookstores, and then were back in Sac mid-afternoon in time for another nap :).

It is so nice to be "off for the summer"! Do we really have to go back to work this fall?