I let myself marvel over our bungalow at Puri Wisnu this morning. It really was a lovely layout, with lots of exotic plants growing everywhere around the courtyard. I took a picture of Heliconia rostrata, known as "lobster claw" or "false bird of paradise." It's very striking from a distance, but when I got up close … Continue reading Goa Gajah and Yeh Puluh
Travel Journal
Backdated blog entries that track our adventures around the world.
We Arrive in Bali
We took some time to fill out the Customs forms for entering Indonesia and boarded the final two-hour flight to Denpasar. We were seated beside a rather twitchy guy with leathery skin, prominent cheekbones, and salt-and-pepper stubble over his scalp, dressed in a wrinkled sharkskin suit. My overactive imagination made up all sorts of stories … Continue reading We Arrive in Bali
From SFO to Singapore
It all worked out in the end, of course. All the stress was behind us, all the obstacles of troublesome airlines with deplorable customer service was left back in another nation. And if you believe that... After spending the night in the MSP airport, we arrived very early in San Francisco, too early for Red … Continue reading From SFO to Singapore
Poor Timing?
Things are moving along swiftly and are about to wrap up: in four days, my wife and I will be flying to Denpasar, Indonesia, and we'll begin training to teach English. We got our passports back in the mail from the Indonesian Consulate in Chicago, all visa'ed up, and we sold the car yesterday morning. … Continue reading Poor Timing?
Visa Application
Still working on building this place up. Just added another project to my Portfolio, one I'm particularly proud of, and added the Resources page as a toolbox for editorial/literature resources. Always handy to have that on hand. Drove out to Chicago last Sunday, just got back last night. There, my wife and I applied for our … Continue reading Visa Application
Transition
My wife and I are packing up our apartment and getting ready to store, donate, or recycle all of our property: in four weeks we'll board a plane to take us to Denpasar, Indonesia, where we'll attain TESOL certification to teach English and then look for teaching jobs in South Korea. (Actually, I hope to … Continue reading Transition
Departure via the Blue Lagoon
Woke up after dreams of an online friend calling me (she does not have my number IRL) because I associate her with world travel, and here I was in another country. It's like a kind of validation, suggesting that I've arrived or am on the rise. I wouldn't want my Reykjavik excursion to represent the … Continue reading Departure via the Blue Lagoon
The Icelandic Sagas and ‘Iron Man’
We were permitted to tour the Culture House, after all that hubbub with the royalty and the government and the hey-hey-hey. We locked up our belongings and headed downstairs to the chambers of the historical artifacts. The layout was really compelling, enlarged illustrations from the traditional texts, the sagas. They broke down what each figure … Continue reading The Icelandic Sagas and ‘Iron Man’
Culture and Royalty
Woke up, bathed in the inset bathtub (my notes: "hand nozzle, no faucet, which is cool"), got dressed, and requested the password for Wi-Fi access from the hostess. I didn't write down what we needed to look up, probably a weather forecast, maybe checking the exchange rate? We sat down in the communal kitchen and … Continue reading Culture and Royalty
One of Those Unpleasant Days
After Café Paris, we walked downtown to the central bus area to catch the 14. We were feeling lazy and wanted to cut down on our travel time back to Galtafell. The 14 never showed, however, and I didn't know whether this was because the Sunday schedule was different from the other days or what. … Continue reading One of Those Unpleasant Days
C.W. Wilkie 