The Killing Fields

Traveling the world is not all rainbows and waterfalls.  It’s a course in world history and sometimes history is horrifying.  The hardest, most humbling, sobering day of the year was visiting the S21 Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum and the Choeung Ek Killing Fields in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.  

In 1975, the Communist Khmer Rouge Regime under the evil dictator Pol Pot marched into Phnom Penh and took over the city after defeating the existing Cambodian government.  The people were elated as they thought the many years of war were over.  However, they were forced out of their homes and into the countryside.  They were told they could return in 3 days.  Instead, most were arrested and forced to work ridiculously long hours in the agricultural fields.  If they resisted they were imprisoned.  And tortured.  And executed.

From 1975 to 1979, the Khmer Rouge regime killed anywhere from ~1 million to ~3 million innocent Cambodians.  

Some were killed because they opposed the new political regime.

Some were killed because they wore glasses.

Some were killed because they had soft hands.

Pol Pot was as evil as any man in the history of the world.

We visited one of the Cheoung Ek Killing Fields, where ~9,000 bodies were found in mass graves.  Every time it rains more bone fragments, teeth and clothing are unearthed.  

When the mass graves were discovered, they found a tree next to one grave that contained women and children.  The tree had skull fragments and brain tissue all over it.  Studies indicate they killed babies by bashing their heads against the tree, and then tossing them into the graves.

They built a memorial the Cheoung Ek site which houses thousands of skulls, and bones dug up from the graves.

We then visited the S21 Tuol Sleng Prison, where victims were first brought, interrogated, starved and tortured.  A lot of them died from starvation, or torture in this very prison.  But, most were brought to the killing fields to be executed.

Only ~3 survivors remain.  I got to meet one of them.  After Bou Meng, was tortured for weeks, they found out he was a painter.  He was forced to paint portraits of the Khmer Rouge leaders for the remainder of his time imprisoned.

His life was spared.  But his wife's was not.

After these atrocities were discovered, and the Khmer Regime was overthrown, Bou escaped from the prison.  He now paints images of what life was like in the prison.  And, he volunteers at the prison.

I got to meet him and shake his hand. I bought his book.  It was a fascinating firsthand account of what life was like in S21.  And he testified in the court trial against the Khmer Rouge regime.  What a brave man.

This happened during my lifetime.  It’s almost impossible to fathom that people can be so evil.  

The Khmer Regime was not even really held accountable for their actions.  Pol Pot was able to live out the rest of his life with his family, and the other leaders were not prosecuted for their crimes until a few years ago. 

I don't remember this event being covered in history class back in school.  We learned a lot about the Holocaust, but not much about other genocides.  I guess there's too much history to cover everything.  But knowing world history is important for our future. 

If you are interested in more info, there is a book by a Cambodian woman who was a young girl when her family was forced out of Phnom Penh: First They Killed My Father.  Angelina Jolie is producing a Netflix film based on the book that will be released in 2017. 

And, of course there was the 1984 film entitled The Killing Fields, by Roland Joffre which won 3 Oscars.   

There is a memorial outside the S21 prison with all the names of the known victims.  

And a monument with the inscription:  "Never will we forget the crimes committed during the Democratic Kampuchea regime."  

I know I will never forget.

Chiling Falls with Mr Baby

MEMORY MONDAY - One of my favorite days on Remote Year was the Chiling Waterfalls day trip in Malaysia.  We took buses ~an hour and a half outside of Kuala Lumpur and I was lucky enough to sit in the front seat with our driver: 'Mr. Baby'.

I have no idea what his real name was, because he introduced himself to us as Mr Baby. He said all his friends call him that because he has 10 babies.  

Mr. Baby lives in a village outside of Kuala Lumpur near a gorgeous area called Perhentian.  He said it was common in their village for men to have ~20-25 children!  But, "Mr Baby only 10 children.  And, only 1 wife, because Mr. Baby is good man."  He was quite proud of the fact that while his religion said that he COULD have 4 wives, he only has 1 wife and loves her very much.

Mr. Baby made my day!  He is a solid driver, not shy of steppin' on it.  And he doesn't like it when other drivers are slow.  "See, this driver is sleeping.  Mr. Baby don't like this." 

And, he thinks "Indian drivers are the worst".  Not sure if he realized Abe was in the back seat, but not sure he really cared anyways.  He didn't say it mean spirited, just matter of fact like. 

The Chiling Falls are located near Selangor Lake, which is a really beautiful cool blue.

We had to trek through the jungle ~1 hour to get to the falls.  It was SWELTERING HOT.  I was sweating the second we got out of the air conditioned Mr. Baby-mobile.  Welcome to Malaysia!

One thing I've learned on Remote Year---I love the jungle / rainforest.  I love the outdoors in general, but the jungle has a bit more vibrance than the typical green forests I'm used to.  The sounds of crickets and insects are constant.  And, there is just a buzzzzzzzz that you can't describe unless you're in it.  

In order to get to the Falls, you have to cross the river 4-5 times.  Wading through the river was so fun!  The main reason is because it was SO HOT and the river was so refreshingly COOOOOOL.  

But also, it added a bit of extreme danger to the trek.  I had my good camera with me, and one slip would be fatal (to the camera).  

I love adventure!

When we finally got to the falls, I was so excited to see that we could swim in them!  It was a great reward for the sweltering trek.  The water was so cold and refreshing!

When you get into the water you realize you are swimming with MANY fish, and YES, they do nibble at your feet n legs a bit!

And, we could jump off the rocks! 

 Some of us were a little afraid of takin' that leap, like Heather.  :]

But, I was in it to win it!  Here's my plunge with the GoPro in hand.

We could even swim UNDER the falls!  I will say, being inside a waterfall is not very fun.  It's like being in a washing machine or a tropical storm.  It takes your breath away and feels a little dangerous.  But, our fearless leader TRAVIS is the waterfall KING!

Couple groups shots:

And then we had to trek back.

I think these are termites, not ants. 

We made it back!

Thankfully, Mr. Baby stopped at Selangor Lake on the way back and let us snap a few shots of the lake, which was stunning.  

Jungle + Waterfalls + Adventure + Camaraderie + Mr. Baby = 1 of my favorite days on RY!   

New Year, New Pic Process!

Month 11 of Remote Year, and I’ve only published 5 months of snaps.  It kills me, cuz I want to share them!  But, pic processing takes time.  So, New Year, new pic process.

People ask me, “I don't understand, why don’t you just upload them from your camera?”  But, it’s not as easy as that.  Processing a month of snaps usually takes me anywhere from ~6 - 15 hours!  

I'm currently working on Prague, I took over 1000 photos.  Often I take multiple exposures, testing out different settings.  First, I’ve got to weed out the bad ones.  And, then the good ones always require post processing.  Tonal value, brightness, contrast, etc.  

From now on, I’m just going to upload pics to Facebook here and there.  No more waiting until I've completed a full set for each country.  No more forcing myself to go in sequence. 

I'm turning over a new leaf!  Breakin' free from the old me!  2017!!!

Here are a few of my recent faves and I'll add these to Facebook as well:

Prague

Santorini

Belgrade

Split

Kuala Lumpur

Kuching

Borneo

Chiang Mai

Laos

Ko Samui

Phnom Penh

Elephants on Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve was quite different this year.  Instead of being in Boston dreaming of sugar plums and reindeer, I was in Thailand, eating sugar cane and playing with elephants.  I definitely miss family, but this was as sweet as Mom's homemade butterhorns!

Yesterday, I spent my day at the Elephant Jungle Sanctuary.  It's a rehab center for mistreated elephants.  In case you didn't know, the elephant tourism industry is quite controversial.   You can watch this video about the dark side of riding elephants.  

This sanctuary buys elephants from tour companies and gives them a better life!  And they bring in tourists to play with them, feed them and bathe them.  These gentle giants are really really kind, and they too, love Christmas.

We rode in the back of a truck which is a typical taxi here in Thailand.  (Not to be confused with Tuk-Tuks, which are smaller, open-air rickshaw type taxis.)

It was 1.5 hours each way, but they gave us free water! 

The group consisted of: Abby (Vermont)

Abe (Pittsburgh, but originally from India)

Derrick (Los Angeles)

Derryl (Los Angeles)

And, Natalie (Luxembourg)

Once we got to the sanctuary, we had to put on these snazzy shirts.  They need you to wear similar clothing as the caretakers so the elephants know you're friendly.  

I was pretty pleased with the color scheme of my shirt, since it matched my red tee n sneaks.  

Then, we got schooled on how to approach the elephants.  Do's n don'ts.  Here is Abby and I not listening to the instructions.

Naw, I'm kidding, we were dialed in.  I am not one of those people that takes wild animals lightly.  Don't wanna get stomped or smushed.  

AND, more importantly, you need to know eleph-elfie etiquette.  Here is my eleph-elfie.   

Just in case you wanted to see my eleph-elfie from a different angle, Abe got you covered:

And, maybe you want more eleph-elfies?  Better quality wide angle eleph-elfies?  I got you. 

Here are a bunch of snaps of my friends feeding and chillin' w the ellies:

CRUNCH!!!  These ellies eat bananas and sugar cane stalks.  It's wild to hear them CRUNCH on the sugar cane, crushing it like it wasn't even a thang.

This is me, cautiously feeding, and petting the gentle, GINORMOUS animals.

Petting the elephants was throwin' me super weird!  It feels like you're rubbing a spongy piece of staircase anti-slip grip tape, with wire bristles coming out of it.  I definitely wouldn't want to snuggle or spoon with an ellie.  

After the feeding, we went down to the mud pit, where everyone was encouraged to jump in n get dirty with the ellies.  I opted to take photos.  Not because I'm afraid to get dirty, I just wanted to take pics.

And then I saw this and think I made the right choice:

After ~7 mins, they led the ellies down to the river, and this time I got in and splish-splashed with em!  (You have to watch the video to see me)

After a good swim, what do they want to do?  Get dirty again.  

But, they're not just showering themselves with dirt because they want to get dirty.  It's a defensive move.  Filling their pores with dirt helps them avoid tick bites when they sleep at night.  Smart thinkin' fellas!  

Here's one of the staff clownin' w the ellie---he held the trunk up to his ear like he was answering a phone call!  LOL

Just a snap of one of 'em roamin' off in the distance.

I gotta say it was a good day.  The views were gorgeous.

And, the experience was unforgettable.

It was pretty hot out there, and on the way back, we were zonked.  Snoozin' in the ole truck.

Without further adieu, here is the video I made for you!  It is ~6:40.  Hope you enjoy!  Merry Christmas!

It's a Wonderful Christmas Gift!

It’s a wonderful world and it is a wonderful life!  And, yesterday, thanks to my wonderful family, I got to live my own It's a Wonderful Life movie scene.  Thanks to ALL my friends & fam who shared Christmas wishes via video from their homes this holiday season!

BACK STORY:

I'm 39 years old and this is the 1st year in my life that I will not be home for Christmas.  I've lived in California for 17 years, and every year, I managed to make it home. :[

My parents were inspired by a Remote Year video that Travis and Samantha created for our transition from Europe to Asia.  They recorded our families back home, wishing us well in Asia.  Then, they showed the compilation at a group event.  It was nothing short of spectacular! 

So, my parents took a page out of Tramantha's book and reached out to all my friends and family to create a Christmas compilation video for me.

A very special THANK YOU to my parents, Mark and Jeanne, for putting together such an awesome gift!  It is not easy to compile everyone’s videos and pics and assemble them in such a beautiful way.  AMAZING!

I was blown away by the love, warmth and Christmas spirit.  34 mins of love!  

The first 1/3rd of the video, my jaw was dropped seeing the wonderful wishes from various family groups around the U.S.  Everyone got SO CREATIVE!  There were custom poems, and songs, creative montages, and random awesomeness!

Then, it went into various friends from around the U.S., and I was thinkin’ “WHOA, this is unreal!”  

Mind blown.  Like when I watched the Battlestar Galactica Season 3 final.

And, then it circled back around to family, and even featured my teddy bear that I hadn’t talked to in 30+ years: Teddy!!  Totally forgot what Teddy looked like!  

And, then there was a nostalgic slideshow of throwback pics, and some video of my church from when I was a kid.  The slideshows were set to one of my favorite Christmas hymns, “You are the Gift”, by Charlie Crutcher.  

And, then...I may have just shed a tear.  

This year, I’ve traveled the world, and seen so many awe inspiring sights.  And, I appreciate the support of all my friends and family at home, following along with my Facebook posts, pics and blog.  

It is hard to be away from friends and family while traveling.  But, seeing this video reminded me how phenomenal my friends and family are!  

• 130 people
• 6 dogs
• 1 fish
• 1 teddy bear
• ~20 figurines

That many people took the time out of their busy holidays schedules to send me some love.  

I feel so loved and so wonderful.  Like good ole' George Bailey from Bedford Falls.

"Remember, NO man is a failure who has FRIENDS.”

And here is the masterpiece!  Feel free to watch or scrub through and find your video.

THANK YOU ALL, once again from the bottom of my heart!  Miss you all!!!  Much love from Chaing Mai!!!

Borneo's Wicked Wildlife - Pt 3

Years ago, I watched BBC’s Planet Earth series and was transfixed by the Caves episode.  Bats, snakes and insects make up this incredible ecosystem.  Borneo’s Mulu National Park boasts some of the world’s most impressive caves and underground passages and is featured in the BBC episode I saw.  Mysterious Mulu was beckoning me…

In Kuala Lumpur, we visited the Batu Caves, which was basically Mulu’s baby brother.  It was but a mere appetizer before the Mulu main course.    

We took a headlamp guided tour of the dark caves.  

You see centipedes, and spiders and scorpions, and worms, and cockroaches, and all sorts of creepy crawlers.  

And the whole time, you hear the chirping of bats above you.  

But, the thing is, it’s not scary.  It sounds scary, but, it’s actually quite peaceful.  

Algae grows on the rocks that get sunlight inside the caves

The highlight of the tour (for me): deep in the dark trenches, they ask everyone to turn their headlamps off.  We sat in the dark for a couple minutes, just listening to the chirping, the scurrying, the slithering, the whoosh of the wind and drips of water.  

Nothing living in the caves has any interest in getting near humans.  You have to trust that.  

Deep in the dark caves, there really is NO light.  You try to adjust your eyes, and still it’s complete pitch black.  In normal nighttime environments, there exists some moonlight, and or ambient light.  Not in the caves.  Pitch black.  It was INTENSE.  

Once you get out of the cave you are confronted by tons of devious monkeys that seem like they are plotting or concocting some 12 Monkeys type plan...

But, that was just the Batu Caves!  Back to Borneo...

Gunung Mulu National Park is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, protected because of its unique wildlife and plant life and protected so people of future generations can visit and experience the beauty.

Mulu was next level cave madness.  WICKED.  WEIRD.  And, MAGNIFICENT.

First, my hotel, the Mulu Marriott. It's nestled right into the rainforest.  Just listen to the awesome SOUND of the jungle.  I love that sound.  Constant buzz, chirping, yawping geckos and frogs.  So weird.

The Mulu Marriot’s mascot is the gecko (kinda).  They sell gecko stuffed animals in their hotel store. Each guest gets a gecko in their room (joke).  Here's mine:

Now, unfortunately, there was monsoon-season rain every day, and I did not get to go on the canopy walk, or the night hike, where I would have seen tons of crazy lizards, centipedes, etc.  But the real attraction was the bats in the caves.

There are 4 main “Show Caves” that most tourists visit.

Deer Cave (named because Deer used to run through the passage and lick the salt covered rocks)

Lang Cave (Gorgeous interior walls that look like jellyfish)

Clearwater Cave (because of the gorgeous river running through it)

Cave of the Winds (named because of the wind vortex that exists in some of the narrow passages. Tons of cool stalagmites and stalactites!)  

The caves are home to MILLIONS of bats.  Bats are a vital part of these ecosystems---pretty much everything revolves around them.  They eat mosquitoes and other insects.  They poop out “guano” and other insects eat the guano, and other insects eat those insects and the circle of life continues.   

I am thankful for the bats, because there’s enough mosquitoes in the rainforest already!  I’ve got the bites to prove it.  

In addition to the bats, there are Cave Swiftlets: birds that use a type of 'clicking' sonar.  The chirping of millions of bats and then the clicking of the low flying swiftlets.  INCREDIBLE.  

The clicking gets more frequent the closer they get to their target.  Click, click, click, click, click, click...like a horror movie.  

Spooky-key-kuh key, key-ku-key, key-kuh-key.

There are also millions of spiders in the caves.  They post up on the walls, and catch flies and other insects.  Check out how many webs there are:

This is a different type of web, spun by the thread worm.  It hangs and traps flying insects:

Day one of the tour ends at the Bat Observatory, outside the Deer / Lang Caves with the possibility of seeing the bats fly out of the caves in formation to feed.

Some lucky visitors get to see em.  Some don’t.  Some folks I met tried two nights in a row, and the monsoons were too strong --- no bats.  

But, wouldn’t you know it, I’m like the Lucky Charms leprechaun and even though it was raining, they came out to play.  

They come out in waves.  About 5-7 mini groups exit the cave first.  They flock in beautiful ribbon-esque formations.  After the mini groups, the rest of 'em fly out in one long ribbony stream that can last ~45 mins!  (Ours lasted about 5 minutes.  Most likely not all came out due to the drizzle of rain)  It's almost like a fireworks show with the grand finale.

Not a lot is known about bats and why they fly like this.  Bats are blind, but SHARP.  Their sonar is on point.

At my hotel the following night, I was having dessert at the pool bar, with a Dutch couple, and we realized bats were flying underneath the ceiling of the outdoor lounge and literally right over our heads.  They’ll fly so close to you and so fast, but never hit you.

My, oh, my, Mulu is magnificent!

The idea of visiting caves that are fully encrusted in bat guano may sound gross to some, but for me it was spectacular.

Seeing the bats fly out of the cave was bananas.  It was the icing on the cave cake.  

That’s it for the Borneo’s Wicked Wildlife blog series.  Borneo was one of the best travel experiences of my life because it was just so different and exotic.  Never had been to the rainforest before ('cept one day in Iguazu Falls).  But, Borneo was one week of wild and weird.  

There is a buzz in the rainforest, literally.  The sound of it is entrancing.  And, I can hear still it in my sleep.

Borneo's Wicked Wildlife - Pt 2

No trip to Borneo is complete without seeing wild orangutans.  Seeing animals in a zoo is depressing.  Seeing them in the semi-wild is wicked sweet!!  

If you visit Kuching, you gotta go to Semenggoh Nature Reserve.  It's less than an hour from the city.  For a little context, Kuching is the capital city of the state of Sarawak, which is on the island of Borneo, which is part of Malaysia.  Here is the map in case you missed the last post:

Here are a few snaps of Kuching to give you an idea of what this charmingly cute and colorful little island city is like.  (THANK YOU to Fritztastic and Celeste for recommending it!)

Ok, back to the wildlife.  You probably are wondering why I said "semi-wild"?  The Semenggoh Wildlife Center was set up in the 1970's as a rehab center for injured animals.  They help sick animals and then release them into the jungle.    

Semenggoh basically acts as a feeding center for the endangered Bornean Orangutans.  Twice a day they call out for them and if they come, they get to eat fruit.  During the fruitful seasons in the jungle, the orangutans don't even show up, cuz they're full.  This makes the staff happy, but the visitors sad.

Semenggoh is actually a little controversial, because some think we are intruding on their space too much.  See the article here.  I didn't see any problem with it.  They're endangered and making sure they are fed seems like a good thing long term.

There are a bunch of other areas on Borneo where you can see orangutans truly living in the wild.  I've already got a spot I want to come back to:  Danum Valley in Sabah (just up the coast on Borneo) came recommended by a guy who guides up there, and it is home to Proboscis Monkeys, Orangutans AND Pygmy Elephants. YUP, I'll be back.

Feeding time is 9 - 10am, and then the afternoon.  I went at 9am based on the recommendation of a fellow traveler --- thanks Yogginy!  Higher likelihood of seein' 'em early.

The workers led us on a short hike to get to the feeding area.  And then, they call out to them, yawping wildly into the jungle every minute or two.  

We waited.  And waited.  

9:15.  No orangutans.

9:30.  No orangutans.  

At this point, the crowd seemed defeated.  The adrenaline had faded.  I started taking pics of cool jungle flora.  

Then, all of a sudden...we see large treetops swaying irregularly way off in the distance.

The excitement was palpable!  

And then, the tree next to it started swaying...they're getting closer!  

The first sight of one off in the distance, was unreal.  I've seen orangutans in zoos before, but this was like Jurassic Park type stuff.  Thrilling!

These guys are so acrobatic and flexible.  

They seem like they are having a blast as they are climbing trees, swinging and swaying.  

It's just their way of moving around, but arboreal locomotion just looks so fun!   Who wouldn't want to be Tarzan, swinging from vines?  Maybe I should get into trapeze...

2 came out to get their fruit on and we watched them for about 20 minutes.  

They did not come close to the crowds like when Yoginny was there.  But, I didn't mind.  Call me crazy, but I tend to appreciate a bit of distance with wild animals.  

For the most part, they had their backs to the crowd.  

But, every once in a while, they would check us out.  

I love how they hold the fruit with their feet, and use their hands to eat---all while holding on to the ropes. Amazing animals.  

After about 15 minutes, one of the feeders announced that there were two or three baby orangutans approaching the front area if we wanted to see them.  

When he said babies, I had this vision of orangutans in diapers, sucking on passies.  But, naw, these babies look pretty grown to me.  

Look how flexible this one is.  Doing a split, holding his weight with his toes, while scarfin' some fruit.

10am, feeding time was over!  But, I'm thoroughly happy with my visit to Semenggoh.  Thought I was gonna get skunked.  Instead I got orangutan-ed.  

Next up...the grand finale!  Borneo's Wicked Wildlife Part 3.  

Ever wonder what millions of bats look like flying out of a cave, all together in formation!?!?  Subscribe to my blog, cuz you don't wanna miss the next post.

Borneo's Wicked Wildlife - Pt 1

The island of Borneo boasts the most wicked wildlife!  Because of the climate, the rainforest is home to the most types of species of life on Earth.  From plants to insects to animals, it is lush in life.  And, it's simply gorgeous.

So I went on a solo journey over Thanksgiving to explore and see what this wildlife was all about.  Best travel week of the year.  (Maybe because I was not working?)  

I could write for days about the trip and all of the interesting things I saw.  But I want to focus on the wildlife.  This is the 1st in a 3-part series:

Pt 1 - Bako National Park 

Pt 2 - Semnggoh Nature Reserve

Pt 3 - Gunung Mulu National Park

 

First, you’re probably wondering, where is Borneo?  Well, Borneo is the largest island in Asia and the 3rd largest in the world. The island is split between 3 countries: Malaysian, Brunei and Indonesian.  And it’s in the South China Sea:

Bako National Park was out of this world!  It came well recommended from Remote Tom, and cousin Jeffrey SS Johnson whose story of getting robbed by monkeys had me geeked to the gills. 

You have to take a ferry to get to Bako.  This ferry was a tiny river boat.  A ferry for one.

At the landing, you learn of the crocs in the water.  GULP.  

Guess I won't be swimming in the water, just swimming in sweat.  It is unfathomably hot and humid in the jungle.  

Bako is known for being home to the endangered Proboscis monkeys, among many other wild things.  It features 14 different hiking trails, and you can see different plants, animals, birds and insects depending on which trail you take.  

And it's got this weird awesome vibe about it.  Almost like Jurassic Park.  Or the LOST island.

In addition to the day time hiking, they also offer a somewhat spooky, guided night hike, into the deep and dark jungle with flashlights to find nocturnal animals. Not many pics from the night hike.  A little dark. 

I was only on Bako National Park for ~24 hours and here's a list of the things I saw:

Proboscis Monkeys (Endangered)

Crab Eating Macaque (Monkeys)

Silver Leaf Monkey

Kingfisher

Bearded Pig

Plantain Squirrel

Flying Lemur (Sadly did not get to see it fly.  It was just hugging a tree.)

Asian Pit Viper

Snails

Mudskippers (Kinda like flying fish)

Swallows (Birds)

Tortoises

Spiders

Centipedes

Scorpions

Frogs

Praying Mantis

Shell Dwelling Hermit Crabs

Spotted Gecko

Lizards

Grasshoppers

Mosquitoes

More Mosquitoes

Did I mention Mosquitoes?

All in all, the most exciting species were the endangered Proboscis Monkeys!

Proboscis Monkeys, aka Long-Nosed Monkeys are all over Bako. They look like humans with their pot bellies & long noses. My first sighting was my best. As I was heading to the hiking trails I stumbled upon 3 eating in a tree ~10 yards away, right out in the open.

The 3rd one was behind these guys, a bit lower.

They noticed me. I got so excited, like the feeling of approaching a girl for the first time. Heart racing, "Don't do anything stupid, just be cool." I took a couple snaps, and they were fine. Inched a bit closer. Fine. And then i did something stupid. I took out my GoPro and turned it on. BEEP BEEP BEEP. They ran away.  So sad!

The funny thing is that, in my giddy, kid-like state, I tried to call out after them and ask them why they were running away.  

"Hey, wait!  Guys, don't go!"  

As if they're going to just turn around and listen to reason.

I saw a few more during my stay on Bako but never out in the open like this. And then monsoon season kicked in and they were scarce. Coolest animals I've seen in the wild! Gotta go back to Bako.  Here are some shots from them up in the trees.

Caveat --- I'm actually NOT a good photographer.  I may have a decent eye, but I make a lot of mistakes that cost me amazing snaps.  When you're in the jungle, sweating profusely, and the adrenaline is pumping from seeing wild animals, you don't have a ton of time or mental capacity to figure out the perfect F-stop and ISO settings.  That's why these are blurry.  And, that's why I have to go back to Bako! 

The beach is filled with holes in the sand.  If you're patient and you watch closely, you can see crabs running out of the holes every once in a while.  They're tiny and have super cute eyes.

Pit vipers...you would not even notice them if someone didn't tell you they were there.   They stay in the same position on the same tree for weeks sometimes.  They sit and wait...and wait...and wait for prey to go by and then WHAM!  Gotcha!  

Speaking of snakes, there is a formation that juts out of the water in the park, that resembles a snake.  They call this the sea stack...what do you think?  Snake like?

And a spider from the night hike:

Here's a short video of what I assume is a Silver Lutung Monkey:

And, here is a weird video of what I assume are maybe mud skippers in low tide?  And then, towards the end of the video, maybe a fish that is about to go aground?

Oh and lastly...a huge shout-out to the bearded pigs!

These guys are shamelessly snorting their way around the island.  Stickin' their lil snout in everyone's business.  But, it's cool.  They're not shy and fantastically weird.  One of them just wandered on to the beach at sunset, searchin' for sea worms.  

Next up, Part 2: Semenggoh Nature Reserve, wild orangutans!

And, if you are curious about bats...just you wait for Part 3: Mulu National Park.  Stay tuned for some mind-blowing battiness...

Motivating Malaysian Middle Schoolers

I was super inspired meeting some of the brightest, hungriest leaders from Kuala Lumpur at a Remote Year networking event with YSEALI (Young Southeast Asian Leaders Initiative).  One young lady, Sherry asked me to speak to the students at her middle school (15-16 yr olds).  My mentor once told me, “Take every speaking opportunity you can get, Matthew.”  OK, I can't say no!

It is a challenge trying to sell Malaysian teenagers on the importance of communication and public speaking for their future.  Of all the things on a teenager's mind, wanting to be up in front of a group is uuuuusually not one of them. Not to mention, there is a slight language barrier here.  Most kids speak basic English, but some are more fluent than others.  

But, CHALLENGE ACCEPTED.

Last May, I spoke to a group of high schoolers in La Paz, Bolivia.  It was a bit of a snooze fest.  A yawn-a-thon.  I feel like I lost ‘em halfway through and couldn’t reel ‘em back in.  Up to that point, all of my workshops had been with adult audiences.  Speaking to students is a different ball of wax!  I vowed to learn from it.

Waiting to get picked up...confident, yet excited!

The event was at a secondary school here in KL:  The SMK Taman Maluri School.  Before I was about to go on, the students seemed a little antsy.  It was hot outside (at least to me, they're probably used to it) and they had been sitting for a while already, listening to local filmmaker, Sham Sunder.  I was feeling the excitement, bigly!  I knew I had to keep the energy up if I wanted the crowd to stay with me.  And I was expecting them to talk over me---especially the kids in the back.

But, I was pleasantly surprised!  ~100 students seemed dialed in.  They listened attentively, and participated whenever I asked them.  I spoke for an hour.  Once or twice I felt the audience was getting a little antsy---but I switched things up and was able to reel ‘em back in.  

It was an incredibly exciting experience, interacting with these young Malay kids...finding out what their hopes and dreams are...and trying to motivate them to achieve their dreams!  

What am I doing here, demonstrating how to cradle a coconut?!!?!?

I met a future Oscar winning actor, “the next Angelina Jolie”!

I met the future President of Malaysia!  

I met a future Marketing Manager for a beauty products company!

I met future software engineers.  

And, I met students who simply said, they just wanted to work hard and make their parents proud.  :]

I learned a LOT from these students!  And I think they seemed inspired.  Overall, the energy was amazing.  

And after I was done, the school presented me with a beautiful fruit basket and a certificate of appreciation.

If the amount of selfies requested is an indicator of success, I’d say the event was a success!

I left there elated and inspired.  I realized I want to focus more of my time on working with the youth.  This is way more fulfilling and exciting than adult training.  I know my colleague Joshua C. Jackson knows exactly how I feel.  He has traveled to 88 different cities in the U.S. this past year talking to students.  Seems like a blast!

It was only my 2nd time speaking to kids, but I already know I will make the next event even more successful, and entertaining!

Thank you to Sherry and the SMK Taman Maluri school for having me!  And, thanks to Travis in Remote Year for setting up that YSEALI event, which led to the event!

Here is Sherry and her sweet kids:

Rubber Trees & Duku Fruit

Did you know that rubber comes from trees?  I must have been daydreaming about Kelly Kapowski back in middle school science class when they covered this topic, because I thought rubber came from factories.  I guess that’s synthetic rubber.  Blew my mind.

Our Remote Year Welcome Party was last Saturday and we traveled by bus to a ‘remote’ (#pun) homestay in the country outside of Kuala Lumpur.  We learned about Malaysian culture and did a series of fun activities.

We played with slingshots (Here is Ruslan showing us how it is done):

Mike won!  

Laura came in 2nd!

Travis 3rd!

We played Sepak Takraw (volleyball meets soccer) with the local kids.  This was really hard for me.  You can't use your hands, just your feet and head. When the ball came to me, I instinctively bumped it like a volleyball.  

If you want to see what hard core, competitive Sepak Takraw looks like:

But one of the more interesting events was a demonstration on extracting rubber from rubber trees.  You just carve a couple diagonal lines in the tree, and the rubber seeps out.  

If you touch the rubber with your hand and roll it around in your fingers it gums up and becomes---well, rubber.  Reminded me of Elmer’s glue.

After a traditional Malay lunch, we were given as many duku fruits as we wanted to eat.  Someone said these are langsat.  But we were told duku.  Wiki redirects them both to the same page, but there are slight differences between duku and langsat.  Who knows.  Either way---delicious.  

Kinda tastes like lychee, even kinda looks like it.  But, it's more flavorful and has more of an orange-y taste?  Here's a demonstration for how to peel and eat duku fruit.

It was a fascinating Malay day and I learned lots.  Like the fact that rubber grows on trees.  And people in Malaysia harvest it. 

Mind BLOWN!

Next thing I know, you’re going to tell me that a former reality TV star who publicly mocked a handicapped person got elected President of the United States. 

Oh wait.  That happened.  

MIND COMPLETELY BLOWN INTO SMITHEREENS.

Belgrade Street Art Movement

It’s almost impossible to not notice the proliferation of GO VEGAN street art around Belgrade.  The cute and colorful characters and the simple slogans are brilliant. I’m NO VEGAN, and I’m not planning to GO VEGAN, but I do appreciate a movement and I love street art.  

Friend, Not Bacon.

Friend, Not Omelette.

We Are Not Food.

My Tits, My Milk.

I’m not sure who is behind this campaign.  Couldn’t find much info online about it.  But, kudos to the artists that came up with it!  Once you see them, you can’t un-see them.  They’re everywhere!

Belgrade is certainly not the only city to see Vegan street art.  Here is a Tumblr dedicated to Vegan street art around the world.

I found this interesting article about someone who painted VEGAN over a McDonald’s mural in Huntington Beach, California. This is NOT cool.  Don’t paint over a beautiful mural.  Make your art on a random wall.  But don’t paint over someone else’s piece, even if it is a Mickey-D’s mural.

In my opinion, graffiti is a beautiful thing. I’ve seen some amazing street art around the world on this trip!  Each city has its own style.  Belgrade has some phenomenal artists, like this one who does these black and white portraits of important political and historical figures.  This piece is quite controversial.  It features Bosnian Serb anarchist, Gavrilo Princip, who assassinated the Archduke Franz Ferdinand and essentially started WWI.  

Buenos Aires has the most impressive collection so far (Read my previous post about it)  I love cities like BA, and Venice CA, where street art is not only accepted, but celebrated and encouraged.  It can turn a decaying city into a colorful, tropical concrete jungle.  

Street art is a powerful medium that can be a catalyst for social movements.  

I’m sure we will see some politically motivated street art emerge over the next few years in the U.S.  

Curious to see what people come up with…

Asia Travel Day and Doha

Our last big travel day for Remote Year was a 3 day, epic-long, exhausting journey from Europe to Asia.  RY did a great job of breaking up the journey into digestible chunks with a sweet 7 hour layover in Doha, Qatar---which turned out to be a completely fascinating experience!  

It started on Friday with a 5 hour bus ride from Split to Zagreb (capital of Croatia).  We left ~4pm, and luckily I got a seat on the sunset side of the bus.  

We spent the night in a Zagreb hotel.  Pootee the Explorer and I found a 4.5 star TripAdvisor restaurant: Lari & Penati, which did not disappoint!  Here is a shot of the decor at the restaurant.  Pots attached to the walls:

Got up early to take the 5 hour flight from Zagreb to Doha, Qatar.   The timing worked out where we were able to see a sick sunset coming into Doha---chalk another one up for RY's timing and Ma Nature for comin' through in the clutch:

We then had a hotel in Doha for 7 hours before our overnight flight to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.  

Before this trip, I had no idea what a Zagreb was, or a Doha, or a Qatar.  I may have assumed they were creatures from Willy Wonka's World.  But, now I know Qatar is a country in the Persian Gulf and Doha is its capital. 

You may recognize Qatar from watching the best soccer player in the world---Lionel Messi's team FC Barcelona is sponsored by Qatar Airways.

Image Courtesy of USA Today

OR, you may know Qatar as the country that will host the World Cup in 2022. (you also may have heard about the controversial accusations that they bribed the World Cup committee to get the games?)

Doha, Qatar is very grand!!  Vegas-esque.  The city skyline is most impressive.  Sadly, I did not have time to do any night photography, so this image is courtesy of MrWallpaper.com

Doha (like Vegas) is built in an extremely arid desert climate, has a ton of tourism and has a ton of big, fancy, modern hotels that are lit up like Christmas trees.  BUT, (unlike Vegas) it is a Muslim city and thus, almost exclusively dry.  You can drink alcohol in only some of the hotels and residents can purchase alcohol to drink in their homes only.  Oh, and it is an incredibly CLEAN city.  Pristine sidewalks.   

Doha is recognized as one of the New 7 Wonders Cities.  (BTW, 2 of the other cities are La Paz, Bolivia, RY month 3, and Kuala Lumpur, which we are currently living in).  

One of the main attractions in Doha is an outdoor shopping center called the Souq-Waqif (translated = standing market).  After checking into one of the fancy hotels, we only had a few hours so we headed to Souq.   

First order of business---food.  The travel was making us hangry.  Waltzed into this phenomenally fancy Persian restaurant Isfahan Gardens, which is designed to resemble the Iranian Palace with the same name:

After eating delicious Persian dishes, we explored the Souq market.  There is a labyrinth of alleyways with rug shops and lamp shops and random trinket shops.  Reminded me of the markets in the movie Aladdin---only way more modern!  

One highlight in the Souq Market was the Turkish Ice Cream guy.  He messes with the customers and puts on a show!  I asked him what flavors he had and he said Tomato.  I ordered the Tomato ice cream and it was actually strawberry.

Turkish ice cream is DELISH.  It's got a more gelatinous texture.  Chewy almost.  I'd give anything to have some right now!

After ice cream, we stopped at a hookah bar, because that's what you do in Doha.

Where am I?!

After spending time at the Souq Market, we went back to the Doha Airport for our 7 hour overnight flight to Kuala Lumpur.  

One sweet surprise was finding Lay's Salt & Vinegar chips at the Doha Airport.  I wrote about my love of these chips and not being able to find them in the beginning of Remote Year (click here to read).  But, I found them for the first time in 9 months, and the romance was still real.  This bag did not stand a chance.

Jet lagged, no sleep, weary eyes!

The Salt & Vinegar chips were a great way to kick off the 7 hour flight.  Finding Dory helped pass the time too.  And starting the TV series Fargo.  And a few Zzzz's...

After arriving in Kuala Lumpur, we then took an hour long bus ride from the KL airport to our new home, the Maple Suites.  

~51 hours of travel from Europe to Asia.

It was nice to break the trip up with a couple hotel stays and visiting Zagreb and Doha.  

A month ago, I had never even heard of Zagreb, Doha or Qatar.  But, Doha especially was such a rich, cultural experience and a huge added bonus on our Asian adventure!  Wish I had longer to take pics, because the architecture is incredible.

Thank you, Remote Year for the 7 hour layover in Qatar!

Chasing Croatian Waterfalls - Pt 2

Round 2: Krka National Park.  Plitvice was pretty, but I had heard good things about Krka.  Krka is literally on the way back from Plitvice, right off the E65.  So, I set out and took my time getting down there.  

I left Plitvice without eating breakfast so it was serendipitous that I spotted a cheese stand at a cute little farm not far from where I was staying!  

They were selling several varietals of cheese---I opted for the smoked cow cheese, 20 Kuna worth.  (~$2.90 USD.  Not bad!) 

Started driving, and takin' hunks off the wedge.  But, as delicious as it was, I couldn’t eat that much of it.  At least it held me over until I could get to a real lunch spot and get some pizza, aka, more cheese.

Driving down, I had one of those emotional road trip moments, where you realize how beautiful the world is, and you just wish everyone could be with you in the moment to experience it.  Croatia is a gorgeous country.  I hesitate to compare it to one particular US state, because it feels like a combo of many.

I stopped on the side of the road a couple times.  The Croatian countryside was lookin’ fine and I wanted to remember it.  

Finally, got to Krka National Parks.  

Right outside I saw signs for warthog crossing, and I wondered if I’d run into a bunch of Pumbas?  No sight of ‘em---or smell of ‘em though.

Got my ticket to Krka and set out on the path.  Another wooden trail, icy blue to emerald green crystal clear water and more small waterfalls EVERYWHERE.  

Check out this barista-inspired river froth:

Krka is a bit smaller than Plitvice.  Actually, it’s a lot smaller.  BUT, pound for pound, it might be better because of the finale.  The end of the trail is spectacular, and the end of the Plitvice trail felt a little anti-climactic.

Get this---in the summer, you can actually swim in the final falls area!  Not in the fall though.

Did you know that I’m super lucky?  I  was born on 7-11-77, which is naturally lucky.  Sometimes, this luck is dumb.  Like when I was taking this video and a fish jumped out of the falls!  Check out the 0:35 mark of the video to see a special moment.  

This is me, proud of the fish I just caught.

In case you missed it, here is a close up:

One thing I learned in Igauzu Falls --- where there are waterfalls, there are rainbows.  You just have to find the angles.  Found ‘em.

And, be on the lookout, I was taking photos near this cement wall and realized I was hanging out with many insect friends that look like ladybugs but are not.  They are "firebugs".  Cuties.

It only took me about an hour to get through the Krka trails.  They were gorgeous!  Better angles than Plitvice.  The sun wasn’t always blaring in the background.  

If you ever make it to Croatia, and only have one National Park in you, I’d take in Krka.  Plitvice is bigger, and has more variety, but Krka is a tighter package.  The colors are stunning.

Next up---chasing waterfalls in Malaysia!  Sunday is the day!  

Chasing Croatian Waterfalls - Pt 1

Croatia is home to some wicked waterfalls in: Plitviče Lakes National Park, and Krka National Park.  I set out on a solo adventure and it felt very nostalgic! It’s fall in Croatia and the leaves were changing color.  The foliage reminded me of fall in the US (a little bit).

The drive up to Plitvice is ~2.5 hours.  I was cruising up the freeway doing 140 (km/hr), and the weather was perfect!  I was thinking how easy the trip was going and how happy I was to be on the road again.

Until, the freeway suddenly...just...CLOSED.

Apparently, there were severely high winds and it's not safe to drive on E65 in these conditions.  The problem was, my SIM Card was broken and I had no way of looking up directions.  I DID have an old-school GPS, but it kept re-routing me onto the freeway.  

I drove up to the tollbooth and asked for directions.  She rattled off a series of directions in her limited Croatian-English and I barely caught anything except: “You must take the OLD road”.  

But how is one to know where the old road is…?

Drove around, back and forth in the middle of the Croatian countryside.  And I realized:

1. There are far worse places to get lost than Croatia!  I was near some gorgeous lakes, with red and orange trees and big mountains in the background.  Croatia is beautiful!  I decided to stop and take some pics.

2. It is well past my pizza time.  Croatia is near Italy and they are proud of their pizza.  I must stop and fill the tank.  

Stopping for pizza was helpful, as they tried pointing me in the right direction.  But, I still got lost again.  Finally stopped at a tollbooth for a second time and asked them to type directions into my phone.  

I finally found the old road.  Arrived at my AirBnB around 8pm.  The trip was supposed to take ~2.5 hours.  Instead it took ~7 hours.  Oh well, I made it!

Plitvice Lakes National Park is pretty big.  It is a series of 16 lakes that are connected by a wooden hiking trail and a series of waterfalls.  It’s not the type of thing where you hike for a while to get to the ONE waterfall.  There are several different hiking trails with MANY small waterfalls and lakes.  I chose the H route, which takes ~4-6 hours to get through.  This is the start of the H route---as you can see the lakes are crystal clear!  

BTW, Plitvice is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.  You can see why it is protected---it's wondrous.

And, it was a beautiful fall day for a hike.  

Unfortunately, I think going in the afternoon was a mistake.  It seemed like every awesome waterfall had the sun right behind it, which killed my photography game.  

Maybe it would have been better to go in the am?  But I had worked until 5am the night before and then woke up around 10ish.  (This job is getting in the way of my sightseeing)  :]  That being said, here are the best of the shots I took:

Plitvice Lakes are gorgeous.  It was a breath of fresh air to be in the woods during foliage season, especially after all the urban living the past 8 months.  Plitvice is no Iguazu Falls, (the best waterfalls I've ever seen) but it is a beautiful experience!

Next up, in Pt 2 --- Krka National Park!  Stay tuned...

Serbia's Church of Saint Sava

The Serbs love them some Saint Sava!  As I’ve written in a previous post, St Sava is one of the most important figures in Serbian history (Serbian Prince, Orthodox Monk, enlightened teacher & author, etc).  

And the Church of Saint Sava is one of the most treasured structures in the city.  She is a beaut!  Especially with all that white marble, and immaculate detailing.

Also, Saint Sava Temple is one of the biggest church buildings in the world.  It ranks up there.

Interestingly, the interior of the church is still under construction.  There is scaffolding set up, and while some of the windows look really nice, it is very much unfinished.  

It's bizarre because the outside is so stunning!  There aren't really any seats or anything.  But, there are still a couple areas set up for worship and prayer.

I can only imagine what the inside will look when it is finished, especially if they put as much love and care as they did with the outside.  Supposedly a lot of the interior decor will feature mosaics.  (thumbs up emoji)  

Here are some photos of the temple as the sun is setting.  

Saint Sava Temple is a most impressive sight!  I really enjoyed the peacefulness and tranquility of the church grounds.  Even as there were kids scootering around and street vendors pedaling ice cream and souvenirs.  

2 and a half words for Serbia, "Get-er done!"  I wanna see your inside shine like the outside.  See you soon, Saint Sava Temple!

Looking Back at London

I loved London!  Maybe it's because it felt 'safe' after 4 months in South America?  Or, maybe it's because I'm a Sherwood, and my ancestors are British?  Either way, I loved it and felt quite at home there.  Sadly, I wasn't there much, as I did 3 weekend side trips (Wales, Paris, Edinburgh).  But, the time I was there was lovely.  So, here's a long overdue recap of some of the highlights!

Looking back, I did not do much sightseeing and the majority of my time in London was spent in the Tube (aka London’s public train system).  I traveled during the weekends but during the week, I commuted into the RY co-working space: the Collective: Bedford.  

The workspace was really cool, and I dug the vibe.  It was right by the British Museum in a cool area of London, not far from SoHo.  I would usually get off the Tube one stop early, (Oxford Street) because I liked the vibe of Ox St!   It must have been the flags and banners. 

Or, maybe it was the cool street performers doing my favorite Justin Bieber song?

The commute to the office was ~50 - 55 minutes.  The London Tube is the most intricate train system I've seen, although probably not as crazy as NYC.  Thank God for the CityMapper app!  Here is a video of us walking the Tube hallways on my birthday:

And, us riding the Tube on my birthday:

Lots of time spent at Tube stations:

Lots of views like this:

And people like this:

One night, I was craving wings.  I found a BBQ joint named Bodean's.  Not only did they have fantastic wings, but the ribs, brisket, burnt tips, etc, were top notch!  Great to find a strong BBQ place.  

London has one of the best geotag filters on Snapchat.  Love this teacup one:

I've already written about my experience at the Tate Modern Museum, but here is a video of the awesome views from the top floor:

My last night in London was amazing.  Finally met up with one of my friends from LA, (formerly LA, she has been living in London for almost a year), Jena Mihalovic.

Jena picked the restaurant, this trendy spot called the "Sketch Gallery".  Sketch has multiple rooms, and each one is decorated uniquely by the British artist David Shrigley.  We dined in The Gallery, which was incredibly cool.  Love the sketch drawings on the walls and the tall ceilings. 

The food was fantastically weird.  Most of the dishes had ice cream with it.  But, it would be a small scoop of mushroom ice cream or some strange concoction.  I loved everything!

One funny feature of Sketch is the uber-hip bathroom setup, featuring futuristic "pods" to do your business in.  It's funny to see so many people taking photos in the bathroom.  I was one of them.  

That was a perfect final night for a fun month.  Thanks to Jena for picking the perfect place and sending me off right! 

I'd love to go back to London and spend more quality time there!  I'm sure I'll be back.

Side note:  I’m way behind on photos and blogging.  I’ve been working hard all summer and have had a hard time keeping up with balancing work and sharing my travel experience!  But I am trying to catch up.  I just posted the best of my London pics to Facebook.  Check em out here.

Stay tuned for more!  I will catch up!

Prague Film Project: Princess

My friend Patrick, aka Pootee the Explorer is making 1 short film per month of Remote Year.  (You may recall I was an actor in his Bolivia: Salt Flat People film)  As an experiment in Prague, he opened the plot to anyone who wanted to pitch a story.  I wrote 3 ideas and he chose 1 to make into a short film.    

I wrote a short and simple concept, and then Patrick took the ball and ran with it.  

He side stepped out of the backfield, bowled over some defensive lineman, juked a couple linebackers out of their jockstraps, stiff armed a corner, did a 360 spin around the free safety and high stepped into the end zone for a touchdown!  He even did a Beyonce style touchdown celebration dance.

I am so happy with the way this turned out and I think it was a great collaboration.  Patrick and I have a similar sense of humor and our goals with Princess seemed to line up perfectly.  And it was a fun production to be a part of from location scouting, to casting, to production, etc.  

The plot centers on a ridiculously naive American girl who comes to Prague to find her prince.  It's a musical of sorts, with some classic Disney elements.  Laura Pounds was the perfect Princess!!!

Prague is a gorgeous city to film in and our actors are just as gorgeous!

Jonathan Black and Anhton Tran were phenomenal backup singers and dancers and brought incredible energy to the movie!  And the amazingly talented Natalie Underwood provided the perfect voice-over to set the tone for the film.

We had an absolute blast filming.  Everything fell into place in a two day shoot.  Like, when we ran into these white birds on the Charles Bridge.  Disney Princesses are always very animal friendly.

SPOILER ALERT : The rest of this post will contain imagery and info that you should not see before watching the film.  So, without further adieu, here is Princess:

SPOILER ALERT : Film reveal info is just below these next few lines!!!  Stop now and watch the film!  Don't scroll down until you watch!
 

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Ok, now that you've watched the film, you probably know why I did not want you to see the rest of these behind the scenes pics.  

Can't reveal the Prince before you watch the film!

Richard Hessler was the perfect Prince.  He played it so well, and I think he even looks like a classic Disney Prince, don't you?

One of the challenges of making this movie was finding a Prince t-shirt.  We tried a few different stores in Prague, but to no avail.  I was forced to make a t-shirt.  I think it turned out well.

After painting the shirt, I had to dirty it up and make it look "homeless" chic.  I was rubbing this white t-shirt all over the ground.  People thought I was weird.  

But, the shirt wasn't getting dirty enough on the dry groundSo, I rubbed it in a dirty puddle.  And then, i was worried that it was TOO dirty.  It was really nasty and dark and almost obscured the word PRINCE.  But, when it dried, I think it looked appropriately worn and disheveled.  

The other big prop we needed was the Frog from Prague.  Luckily, some typical Prague souvenirs are puppets.  We were able to find this ratty little puppet that i think was perfect.  

One of the funnier moments of filming came at the dinner scene.  Richard was playing a homeless man, and surely was to be hungry.  When she goes to toast with him, he chugged the glass of wine, picked up the bottle of wine, and chugged a quarter of it and then started WOLFING down the food.  This was one take and we all could barely keep from laughing!  

Well played, Richard.  He nailed it.

Hope you liked Princess as much as we liked making it!  The reviews have been funny so far.  People seemed to love the build up but were a little shell shocked by the ending.  People asked me afterward if I needed a hug.  

Naw, I'm good!  I'm a hopeless romantic.  But, hey --- happy endings are for Hollywood.

Serbian Sightseeing Scramble

It’s my last week in Belgrade, and per usual, I’m running around trying to see sights that I put off seeing the first 3 weeks.  In one day, I visited two museums and one art gallery.  Success!

Right across the street from my apartment is the Historical Museum of Serbia.  

I had no idea what to expect, but was pleasantly surprised!  They had two exhibits.  The first was Saint Sava, Serbian Prince and orthodox monk, one of the most important figures in Serbian history.  He was known as The Enlightener, because he possessed vast theological knowledge and spiritual power which he brought to the people of Serbia.  He is regarded as the father of Serbian education and literature.  And a protector of the Church and its people.  

The second exhibit featured Mihajlo Pupin, a Serbian physicist, chemist and scientist.   I didn't know anything about Pupin when I walked in, but came to realize how important he was.  He came to the United States to study and work and was instrumental in developing long distance telephone technology.  He was friends with Nikola Tesla and apparently made quite an impression on Albert Einstein.  Oh yeah, and he was a founding member of NASA.  

The Pupin exhibit itself was extraordinary!  It was interactive, like the first room you walk into, you have to turn the huge page of this oversized book to get the intro video to play:

And in another room regarding Pupin's migration to the US, you stand on the floor of this "boat" and a bunch of lighting and sound effects start to play:

In another room, you swing on a swingset and the video animated back and forth to the rhythm of your swinging.  Phenomenal interactive museum design by the Serbs here!  And overall, beautiful displays.

After the Historical Museum, I hopped over to the Nikola Tesla Museum.  Nikola Tesla is a huge deal in Serbia, even the Belgrade Airport is named after him: Nikola Tesla Airport.  

The Nikola Tesla Museum is actually really small.  

I was expecting a much bigger layout, but even though it's small, the demonstration was impressive.  They show a 15 minute video on the history of Tesla and his accomplishments.  And then they demonstrate a few of his most important inventions like the alternating current (AC) coils, the remote control, and spinning motors.  

Tesla has over 300 patents and his technology was way ahead of the times.  People couldn't even wrap their brain around how important his work was.  Many modern inventions were made possible by Tesla.  He invented AC current, which is the standard for electric power.  Almost every washing machine uses his motor.  He invented remote controls.  And, he basically invented radio.  (Although he didn't get credit for it because larger companies stole his patents)

The speaker was saying that one of his proudest accomplishments is the fact that an electrical unit was named after him:  T.  T, for Tesla is a unit of magnetic field.  They even feature this on the Serbian currency: 100 dinars: 

Oh and I got to be in the same room as this incredible man!  Tesla's ashes are in this urn:

Walking around the same night, I randomly walked by this really cool art gallery called U10 Gallery.  I walked by it at first, but when I saw the art in the windows, I backtracked and checked it out.  

The exhibit featured French artists, not Serbian, but the style seemed to fit so perfectly in the gritty Belgrade aesthetic.  I think it's multiple artists named Printnoiz / Magnaro.  

You could just walk around aimlessly any night in Belgrade and find a cool museum, gallery, cafe, restaurant, bar, etc.  So much to see and do.  The best spots are usually tucked away or hidden from the road.  In Belgrade, they don't invest in the outside of the buildings.  But, don't judge a book by its cover.  Open the book and you'll see the beauty.  

It's too bad I'm leaving tomorrow, because I could stay in Serbia for a long time!  LOVE Belgrade.

Greek Salads are Great in Greece

Go figure, the Greeks got this down.  I’m a huge fan of Greek salads (sans olives).  Maybe it’s 'cause I grew up with tons of fresh tomatoes n cukes from the garden in the summertime?  Or, it’s probably the big chunks of feta cheese.  But, I could eat one of these every day...and, that’s exactly what I did for 8 days in Greece.  

Every restaurant has their own style.

Efcharis in Athens near the Monastiraki Metro station put a bunch of green bell peppers and pepperoncinis in there!  Pepperoncinis are really underrated.

Theofanis in Akrotiri deep fries the feta cheese patty.  And, they use orange bell peppers.  And, tons of capers.  I for one, am all for capers.    

Akro on Black Beach (In Akrotiri, not Perissa.  It’s the 3rd beach in the Red Beach, White Beach, Black Beach water taxi cruise) serves up a heaping pile of Greek salad goodness.  They also put plenty of bell peppers and capers in, but also arugula (LOVE IT) and toasted nut bread croutons.  

I am now having Greek salad withdrawals. 

Luckily, back in Belgrade they have this thing called the Shopska salad (Šopska salata).  It's kinda similar to the Greek salad: tomatoes, cucumbers, onions, oil and LOTS OF SIRENE CHEESE.  

Zavicaj restaurant is pretty liberal with the cheese, and sparing with the onions.

Bajloni Bar & Beyond has a better handle on the ratio of cheese to salad.  

I think my big takeaway from this whole post is that I need to go back to Greece as soon as possible.  Specifically, the islands.  Because, this was my view from Akro on Black Beach when I ate my last Greek Salad:

The Beauty of Belgrade

Belgrade, (capital city of Serbia) was the biggest wild card on our travel itinerary.  I don’t think anyone in the group had ever been, which was odd.  Outside of Cordoba, at least someone had visited all the other cities.  But, Belgrade remained largely unknown which created allure and mystery.  

We had heard about Belgrade’s hoppin’ nightlife (not as appealing to me these days, but every once in a while I'll venture into the night and cut a rug).  But, other than that, not much info.  

In the city preview, Belgrade was called “charmingly gritty”.  

I’ve been here two weeks now and I concur, the city is charming!  And, a bit gritty.  But, with grit comes history and character.  

The city was at war not long ago, and that post war grit combined with the typical European urban decay creates a rich cityscape.  

RY has us living right in the heart of the city center and I LOVE the location.  We are right next to the House of the National Assembly building:

...and across the street from the Historical Museum of Serbia:

We are a few blocks away from Republic Square, which is a city center / big outdoor mall.  In my neighborhood, are ~100 cafes, bars, restaurants, etc.  All with their own unique character.  And, good music! 

Only a couple years ago, there was an effort to revitalize the Belgrade Waterfront, an area along the Sava River.  They’re investing a lot of money into it, and I think it’s paying off!  There are river boats, a bike path, shops, cafes, restaurants, etc.  

The local neighborhood is very graffiti friendly and reminds me of Venice, California.  But, the Belgrade Waterfront is all class compared to Cali coast.  

Belgrade may not be on any American’s list of places to travel in Europe, but I guarantee if you come here, you will not be disappointed.  It’s a hidden gem, and an up and coming destination for future backpackers!