Jakarta

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Kota Tua

My first morning in Jakarta, I headed out for Kota Tua, the old town where the Dutch originally settled. Before I could get very far, a group of schoolgirls came bouncing up to me to ask questions in English for a class assignment. They were video recording on their phones with fancy sequined microphones held up to better capture my voice. I did my best to answer their basic questions, like “What is your name?” and “Where are you from?”

My first stop was the Wayang Museum, which showcases puppets of all kinds from across Indonesia. There were two whole floors of puppets, and one of the most common puppet shows retells the Ramayana. Upstairs, there was an excellent display explaining the general storyline, and I ended up reading all of it. It turned out to be really helpful once I got to Bali (where Hindu is the most prominent religion) because the Ramayana is embedded in the culture.

puppets used to teach Muslim values, traditional shadow puppet, puppets used to teach about the struggle for Indonesian independence

After that, I randomly followed a sign to what I thought was a museum, but accidentally ended up in a fancy coffee shop. Instead of admitting I’d made a mistake, I decided to get a cold drink and found myself sitting underneath a giant 30-foot dragon on the ceiling. The rest of the coffee shop was filled lots of artifacts from old Jakarta. This is one of my favorite parts of travel, randomly stumbling upon something fascinating that I had no idea existed when I set out in the morning. This little place was probably one of my favorite unexpected finds of the trip.

As I sipped my fancy tropical fruit juice, I looked around the coffee shop, which was an ode to Peranakan culture. Peranakans are descendants of some of the earliest Chinese immigrants to Southeast Asia. The community has long been intertwined with local Malay and Indonesian cultures. The coffee shop was full of antiquities that showcased these early blended cultural traditions, as well as relics from the colonial influence.

After some more random wanderings, I sat down for lunch at the Cafe Batavia. It’s famous because it’s housed in the second oldest building in the Old Town, and many Western celebrities have visited over the years. I thought it was a bit overrated, but I did get to try bir pletok. This traditional Betawi (from the area near Jakarta) drink is made by brewing together ginger, pandan leaves, lemongrass, and sappan wood. Although it wasn’t my favorite drink, I enjoyed the unexpected combination of spices.

I started making my way to my next museum, but was stopped by yet another teacher and her students. These students were younger, more embarrassed, and shyer. I answered their half-whispered questions, and they sent me on my way, this time with a gift bag. I waited until I got all the way back to my hotel room to peek inside the fancy bag. And what did I find inside? A brand-new fancy pink hand towel.

giant dragon, fancy mixed juice, iced bir pletok, and my gifted pink hand towel

Next up was a stop at the Museum of Fine Art and Ceramics, where my favorite pieces were these wonderfully carved wooden statues displayed outside each of the gallery rooms along the outdoor breezeway. They were all relatively modern, but varied widely in style and the amount of detail in their carving. My four favorites are below.

four beautiful wooden carved sculptures – which one is your favorite?

As I was wandering back across the square, I offered to take a photo for a group of older Indonesian Muslim ladies who were clearly on a fun outing together. For the third time that day, they asked me to take a photo with them as well. I leaned over, and the one next to me wrapped her arm around my waist and I swear she reached down and grabbed my butt. Perhaps I should learn to be a little more cautious with my generosity. You never know when offering to take a photo will end with you getting unexpectedly groped by someone’s grandma.

Mangrove Lagoon

Last time I was in Jakarta, I’d put some pins in my Google Map and one of them was for kayaking in the mangroves. I figured I might as well check to see if there were any openings, and there were. The next day, I hauled myself out of bed early and grabbed a taxi. When I got there, our group consisted of a dad and his kid along with a larger family made up of a mom, dad, daughter, and a couple of nieces who had never been kayaking before. The core family had just come back from living in the UK for a couple of years, where the mom had just finished her PhD in pharmacy so she could return home and be a professor at the university.

After the girls figure out how to stay stable in a kayak, off we went on the mangrove adventure. Within minutes of being on the water, there was a reptile swimming nearby. My guide had previously warned me that they were no crocodiles in the water. Sure enough, it was just a monitor lizard, but I’d never seen anything like this. It was mesmerizing to see this creature swim effortlessly at the surface. Around the bend, there was a beautiful heron preening on a rock. I took a picture to identify it later. Although I already knew that herons come in blue and green, this one was a purple heron.

purple heron, me in my kayak, monitor lizard swimming in the mangrove lagoon

On and on we paddled, and it was surreal. This place was only twenty minutes from downtown Jakarta, yet I couldn’t hear any of the traffic. Saleh, the guy who does these tours, is a geologist in the oil industry by profession. He really just doing outdoorsy things. He recently did a 20+ day sea kayaking tour between islands, so we got along great, sharing stories of our adventures.

He then proceeded to show off the mangrove plantation, which was absolutely stunning. Row after row of young mangroves stretched out across the water, slowly becoming part of the ecosystem. The first time they planted them, they died because the water got too high during high tide. Now, they build baskets that sit above the water for the young plants. This allows their roots to grow down into the water and take hold but prevents them from drowning. Different areas had been planted at different times. Some were only a year old, some a few years, and some areas just looked like natural areas because they’d reached maturity.

baskets for baby mangroves, the mangroves after about three months

The company doing this work has held the contract for years, but it was about to expire, and a Chinese company might take over the contract to develop the area. On the way out, the owner of the business came over to talk with me. He was an Indonesian man who met his American wife while she was an exchange student here. He went to school at Penn State, and they’ve lived back and forth between Indonesia and the United States ever since. Of course, this land belongs to the government, but he didn’t want to see it turned into a high rise hotel. He didn’t think the new company would continue his family’s legacy of mangrove restoration and was understandably frustrated by how money and corruption was influencing how these contracts were being awarded.

I had only planned on going kayaking, but somehow ended up learning about mangroves, meeting a whole cast of characters, and learning about local government corruption. Saleh promised to take me out to the ocean the next time I visit, so I can experience “real” sea kayaking. The owner said he’ll text me the next time he visits San Francisco and the pharmacist mom and dad now follow me on Instagram.

Indonesian Food

For the foodies following along, here’s some of what I ate. First photo below was ketupat pecel pincuk, which was basically just vegetables on rice with fried tempeh, slathered over with peanut sauce. Next up is gado-gado, practically the only vegetarian dish on the menu at Cafe Batavia. This is another version of salad with a peanut sauce, this time with some eggs on the side. This dish gets served often in Indonesia and it’s always plated in a different way. Last up was a random hole-in-the-wall joint in Chinatown that always seemed to have a line of people out the door. I finally walked by when there weren’t too many people. It’s a Korean-style salt bread place and that’s basically all they serve along with tea and coffee. They only had a couple of flavors left, so I got a cheesy one to go.

keetupat pecel pincuk, gado-gado from Cafe Batavia, Korean-style cheese salt bread

Fiji – Yasawas Part 3 – Night Snorkel & Bull Sharks

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Fiji Village

Although I spent most of my time in Fiji in the water, I did take the opportunity to visit a local village during my stay. Many of the people who worked at the hotel I stayed at came from this nearby village. We had a tour guide for our visit and he said that a lot has changed since the resort was built. Walking around town, there were solar panels providing electricity to many houses as well as backup water tanks. Most houses had moved their kitchens indoors out of the rain. We were able to peek inside the local church, medical offices, and school but none of these were in session.

The most interesting thing for me was the lali drum in the center of the village near the church. When it is hit, it makes a deep resonant sound that calls villagers in for meetings or to celebrate an event. Lali drums are still used today and continue to play an important role in Fijian culture and traditions.

Fijian church, lali drum, alphabet paintings on school wall

Night Snorkel

I had already done a night dive, but I figured I could squeeze in at least one more night adventure at the next place I stopped. It ended up being a good one. I saw a Partridge Tun Snail that was over a foot long and slowly making its way along the seafloor. Their main source of food is sea cucumbers which are also much more plentiful at night. There were also a couple of turtles and reef sharks ominously swimming around us. Every so often I’d catch a glimpse of a tail or a fin. Reef sharks are generally not aggressive and they feed on tiny fish and crustaceans. They seemed to be mostly curious about the group of humans in the water while keeping their distance.

Partridge Tun Snail, Green Sea Turtle (with remoras on its back), Blacktip Reef Shark

Sea cucumbers come out in force in the evening hours. I continue to delight in all the shapes, sizes, and textures that they come in. They are so strange and loveable, looking like giant blobs making their way ever so slowly across the ocean floor.

Greenfish Sea Cucumber, Pinkfish Sea Cucumber, Leopard Sea Cucumber

The one in the photo below is a bit smaller, but while in Fiji I saw a Graeffe’s Sea Cucumber that was over two feet long. During the same night snorkel, our guide also managed to spot another day octopus out and about after dark. I’m beginning to think this species needs a new common name, although plenty of people insist they do see them during the day as well. At first glance, the Lion’s Paw Sea Cucumber looks almost like a snake lying on the seafloor. Once it starts moving, though, it resembles a wrinkled, expandable garden hose slowly inching its way across the ocean floor.

Graeffe’s Sea Cucumber, Day Octopus, Lion’s Paw Sea Cucumber

Fish

To be honest, I’m generally not that into fish. Some species, like the lagoon triggerfish (also the state fish of Hawaiʻi), are relatively easy to identify because their patterns are so unique and distinctive. When I first started snorkeling, I often felt overwhelmed trying to identify and name different species. After each trip, I would go home, download my photos, and carefully upload them to iNaturalist so I could learn their names. That approach was genuinely helpful. I began to recognize different fish shapes and groupings, even if the specific species names did not always stick.

In many ways, that is still how I think about fish. Does it fit into a group I already recognize? Or does it stand out as something distinctive? Are the patterns interesting? Does it have an unusual color pattern or a unique shape? Any of these traits might prompt me to reach for my camera and pay closer attention when identifying it later on iNaturalist.

There is no single right way to learn about sea life. It is perfectly fine to snorkel or scuba dive and simply appreciate the beauty of coral reefs without knowing any names. For me, learning some of their names adds another layer of enjoyment. Names open the door to a deeper understanding, giving me access to each species’ story, behavior, diet, and role within its ecosystem.

Snubnose Dart, Lagoon Triggerfish, Bluefish Trevally

Giant Clams

These giant clams also have a symbiotic relationship with dinoflagellates, just like the corals I mentioned in the last blog, a relationship known as photosymbiosis. The phytoplankton carry out photosynthesis and produce sugars that provide about 60-70% of the energy the clam needs to function. The rest of its diet comes from particles it filters out of the surrounding water.

Small Giant Clam, Small Giant Clam, Noah’s Giant Clam

The clam has two openings in its mantle: the incurrent siphon, which it uses to draw water in, and the excurrent siphon, which it uses to expel water. In between, it filters detritus and plankton from the water and transports them to its mouth for digestion.

Small Giant Clam, Fluted Giant Clam, Noah’s Giant Clam

Bull Shark Dive

The first time I snorkeled with a California Leopard Shark I remember how my breath caught just for a moment, before my brain could remind my body to calm down and just enjoy the experience. Leopard Sharks are harmless, but much of the media surrounding sharks has turned all sharks into feared creatures far out of proportion to the actual risk they pose. We are about 50 times more likely to die from being struck from lightning than being attacked by a shark.

Nonetheless, I’ve had to learn to manage my fear and recognize real risk versus perceived risk. The black and white reef tip sharks in the photos above rarely ever attack humans. There are a handful of records of them biting humans, but generally they are shy and remain apart from divers.

There are however three species that account for the most shark attacks: Great White Sharks, Tiger Sharks and Bull Sharks. I have absolutely no interest in cage diving with Great White Sharks, but one resort in Fiji has been offering daily Bull Shark dives for over two decades, and I signed up.

Bull Shark (with two remoras close by)

Remoras are interesting fish with a suction-disk on top of their heads that allows them to attach to the undersides of larger animal. They eat the leftover morsels that the sharks don’t grab, as well as waste 💩 that comes from their hosts.

close up of Bull Shark face, Remora attached to bottom of shark’s head

Bull Sharks have the scientific name Carcharhinus leucas. The first part comes from the Greek karcharos which means sharp and rhinos which means nose. Leucas from the Greek word for white which apparently refers to their white underbelly.

This dive is very different from regular scuba dives. The dive starts with a swim over a shelf and then descends to a viewing platform. All the tourists crouch on their knees behind a rock wall and everyone has a bodyguard standing behind them. Each bodyguard has a metal pole that ends in a triangle shape (see photo below). They use this pole to gently guide the shark away from the tourists when they get too close. Once everyone is ready, other staff members start feeding the sharks fish heads. Tours happen twice a day and the sharks are really good at showing up for meal times.

bodyguard pole, male shark’s reproductive organs called claspers

In the picture above, the male shark’s claspers are also visible. For whatever reason, male sharks have two organs that can be used to inseminate a female shark. They only use one at a time during intercourse, apparently whichever one is more convenient based on which side they are on.

The sharks did get very close and often swam right next the divers. I thought the whole experience was magical and surreal. There were several giant sharks swimming around me, but inside I just felt completely calm. I felt safe and protected by my bodyguard and just very lucky to have the experience.

more shark close-ups (notice the hook on the shark’s mouth)

This video doesn’t fully capture the experience, but it at least gives a small taste of what it was like. (I recommend watching it in full screen.) Also, I want to give a big thank you to the scuba staff photographer who taught me how to properly use white balance at depth so my photos are finally coming out much closer to their true colors.

Fiji – Yasawas Part 2 – Coral Reefs

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Coral Reefs

I slowly made my way down the Yasawas, stopping at a couple resorts along the way back to the main island. It is impossible to capture how stunning it is to swim out from shore and be surrounded by yards of coral reefs in crystal clear waters.

Although corals can grow in a variety of environments, most coral reefs are found between 30°N and 30°S latitudes. Corals are small animals that capture and eat plankton using stinging cells, similar to jellyfish. However, they also host a type of symbiotic plankton called dinoflagellates. These dinoflagellates perform photosynthesis and produce sugars that corals use for energy to grow, build, and survive. In return, corals provide the dinoflagellates with a safe place to live.

A single coral structure contains hundreds of genetically identical individuals living together as a colony. This cooperative structure allows them to sustain themselves and build the protective coral skeleton that shelters the entire colony. Corals require abundant sunlight and nutrient-poor water to thrive. When nutrient levels rise (particularly nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, and iron), algae can flourish, overgrow the coral, and block the sunlight they depend on for survival.

coral reefs stretching forever

The beautiful colors of coral reefs come from the dinoflagellates living within them. When ocean temperatures rise too high, the chloroplasts in these organisms become stressed and release oxygen. This oxygen damages the coral’s cells, and the coral expels the dinoflagellates for behaving badly. This process is known as coral bleaching, and such events are becoming more common as ocean temperatures continue to rise in these regions.

Blackback Butterflyfish with corals, Cauliflower Coral, Black-axil Chromises

If the water cools down in time, corals may allow the dinoflagellates to return. However, if the water remains too warm for too long, the corals can become permanently bleached. This is because corals obtain up to 90% of their energy from their symbiotic plankton and often die when that energy source is lost.

Bicolor Blenny, Fiji Tomato Clownfish, Moorish Idol

Coral reefs cover less than 1% of the ocean floor, yet they are among the most important ecosystems in the ocean because they serve as nurseries for many species. They provide shelter and protection where young organisms can hide and grow until they are large enough to fend for themselves.

Orangestripe Triggerfish, Bridled Monocle Bream

Corals are considered to be foundation species, because the entire coral reef ecosystem wouldn’t exist without their skeletons. These animals create an area that allows all these other organisms to thrive.

Blackspotted Puffer, Specklefin Grouper, Longnose Filefish

The corals in these photos are part of a Marine Protected Area. In this case, this means that people cannot fish or remove species from the area. As fish and other organisms mature within the MPA, they gradually move into surrounding waters, where they can help repopulate other regions or become part of the food web for humans and other animals. Marine Protected Areas allow organisms, especially fish, to grow large enough to reproduce and sustain future generations.

Titan Triggerfish, Bushy Feather Star, Oriental Sweetlips

Invertebrates

As always, I went out looking for nudibranchs, and although there weren’t very many, I did manage to find a couple hiding between the corals.

Pustulose Wart Slug, Blue Linckia, Krempf’s Phyllidiopsis

Giants clams of all kinds continue to be my other favorite invertebrate find. The patterns on their mantles are intricately colored and vary dramatically between individuals.

Gigas Giant Clam, Fluted Giant Clam, Gigas Giant Clam

Muck Dive

I had heard rumors of some tiny nudibranchs down in the sandy bottoms, so I signed myself up for a muck dive. This is basically looking through sediment for weird, camouflaged organisms. I didn’t find any nudibranchs unfortunately, but I did see transparent shrimp and this tiny, patterned anemone attached to a blade of seaweed.

Sarasvati Anemone Shrimp, Swimming Anemone, Banana Coral

The most ridiculous muck dive find was a giant yellow sea cucumber that was over two feet long. Sea cucumbers feed on detritus (poop and decaying organic matter) from the ocean floor. They ingest sand, digest the organic material within it, and then get rid of the remaining sand out of their back end. Nearby was evidence of its recent activity, a large mound of sandy poop that was at least a foot across.

Herrmann’s Sea Cucumber (over 2 ft long), giant pile of sea cucumber poop (1 ft across)

Fiji – Yasawas Part 1 – Cool Caves and My First Night Dive

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I went to Fiji in November of last year, but I’m finally getting around to writing it up. The next few posts are heavy on the photo dumps, which seems to be my default when I spend most of my vacation in the water.

Sawa-I-Lau Caves

For this trip, I headed to the Yasawa Islands arc that stretches up in a curve from the western side of the main islands. At the very top are the Sawa-I-Lau caves. Tourists are only allowed in the first two caves, the rest are considered sacred and only locals may enter them. To get from the first cave to the second, guides helped me swim through a six-foot underwater tunnel. One gave me a big push while another pulled me out on the other side, so all I really had to do was hold my breath and kick. It was a bit nerve-racking going in, but easier on the way out since I could swim toward the light. This island is made entirely of limestone, while most of the surrounding islands are volcanic. For me, the most interesting part of the caves was a freshwater eel swimming in the brackish water. I asked a lot of questions about it, but no one had any answers, only assurances that it would not hurt me.

first cave, freshwater eel in the cave, cave skylight after swimming underwater in the second cave area

While waiting to take the boat back to the hotel, I found a cute little pipefish in the sandy bottoms. These are related to seahorses, but have a different body shape. Some people get these confused with the tiny eels that live in sandy bottoms (that I saw later on this trip), but they really do have distinctive postures and head shapes. That purple blob in the photo caught my attention too. At first I thought it was a soft coral, but when I got closer I could see it was covered in tiny tentacles. It is always fun to come across organisms that look completely different that what you expect.

Reeftop Pipefish, Haddon’s Anemone, Spotted Garden Eel

Snorkeling and Scuba Diving – Nacula Island

I went to Fiji because I got a great deal on a direct flight and because it’s at the very edge of the Coral Triangle. I’m always looking for nudibranchs and figured I would find a few. While there, I also decided to get my Advanced Open Water certificate so that I can dive slightly deeper dives (up to 30m / 100ft). I ended up being the only student on this trip, so I had a personal guide who helped me spot all these beautiful sea slugs. I had to learn how to do compass navigation and a variety of other skills, but after those were finished, it was all about taking cute photos of underwater life.

Slender Roboastra, Loch’s Chromodoris, Lined Nembrotha

Sky Blue Phyllidia, Striped Phyllidiopsis, Baby Sergeant Major Fish

In addition to nudibranchs, there were also a bunch of flatworms which are also extremely impressive and come in a variety of shapes and colors. The one in the middle was surreal and only a few inches long. We looked it up in dive book and although the genus is known, it’s still an undescribed species (or was when the book was published).

Sapphire Flatworm, Pseudobiceros sp., Family Pseudocerotidae

Sea stars also come in an amazing variety of shapes, sizes, and textures. All three of these were new to me!

Indian Sea Star, Egyptian Sea Star, Thousand-Pores Sea Star

In addition to all the diving, I also did a fair amount of snorkeling. The corals next to the resort were pretty shallow and most of the days, the waves were calm. Usually I think of algae coming in red, green and brown varieties, so it was a bit of a shock to see the yellow one below. It looked like an underwater succulent in bloom. This species actually grows quite tall, but this one was just a baby. For the record, even though it was yellow and green, it does, in fact, belong to the brown algae family.

Ornate Turbanweed, Sea Grapes, Pennyweed

Here’s a small selection of fish from snorkeling. The more time I spend in the water, the more different species start to reveal their distinct personalities. I’ve seen porcupinefish all over the world, but they are almost always tucked underneath rocks or along reef walls. If you get too close, they retreat further into hiding, but otherwise they tend to stay in one place, quietly watching and waiting. On the other hand, flashy surgeonfish are zipping around all over the reef like they can’t stay in one place. The morays are always wedged into the rocks, mouths open waiting for something to swim by.

Spotted Porcupinefish, Striped Surgeonfish, Snowflake Moray

Of course, there was coral everywhere and this yellow fan coral stood out because of its bright coloration.

Knotted Fan Coral, Lithophyllon concinna

However, the star of the show was this color-changing coral. These belong to the genus Cladiella and the coral retracts its feeding polyps when it’s touched, which causes its color to change.

Blushing Corals (genus Cladiella)

My First Night Dive

As part of my Advanced Open Water certification, I asked to do a night dive since I had never done one before. I’ve always enjoyed night snorkeling because all kinds of critters come out at night that don’t appear during the day. While waiting for my boat to be ready, the Fijian sunset was incredible. #nofilter

absolutely stunning Fijian sunset – on the way to the night dive

Eventually, my guide and captain sailed us over to the dive site. This was, by far, my favorite dive of the entire trip. Diving at night, illuminated only by bioluminescence and flashlights, is awesome. Here are my top three favorite photos from the dive, especially the one in the middle. Bubble coral is pretty easy to see during the daytime, but the pointy tentacles underneath only come out at night. The clam on the right is actually bioluminescent, and I wish we had turned off our flashlights to see its colors. However, to get that photo, my guide was illuminating it from below, and I was upside down, holding on to a rock, attempting to get my camera into position inside a hole. The fact that we got a photo at all was kind of a minor miracle.

Bushy Feather Star, Bubble Coral, Electric Fileclam

The site is called the Cabbage Patch because of the huge scroll coral. It’s hard to picture how large these piles of corals are, but the giant rosettes are easily two to three times the size of a human. During the day, all kinds of life hang out inside the whirls, but at night, the parrotfish settle in for a nap.

Cabbage Coral (a.k.a. Yellow Scroll Coral), sleeping Blue-barred Parrotfish, more Cabbage Coral

In addition to the sleeping fish, I found an octopus, which ironically is known as the Day Octopus because it’s one of the few octopus species that is actually diurnal instead of nocturnal. The manta rays also get more active at night; this one was roaming all over the place. During the day, these are usually nestled into the sand.

sleeping Yellowbar Parrotfish, Day Octopus, Oceanic Fantail Ray

High up near the top of the cabbage coral, we found this foot-long crab crawling along as we were doing our safety stop near the surface. Earlier, I’d found the cool green and purple urchin and my guide had spotted one of the fried egg nudibranch species.

Sawedged Spooner Crab, Globe Urchin, Phyllidia Nudibranch

I still have no idea what kind of cnidarian is in the first picture below. It looks a lot like the tentacles on a bubble coral, but could just as easily be an anemone. If one of you knows what it is, please leave me a comment. I also saw my first night anemone. My guide didn’t know what it was, so it was fun to be able to identify something for him. Although it’s a super blurry photo, it was exhilarating to see a siphonophore up close. I teach about these in my Marine Biology class and they really are a strange group of colonial cnidarians. They are made up of multiple individual organisms working together as one colony. Some parts help it to feed, some parts keep it afloat, but all of the parts share nutrients and resources. The Portuguese Man O’ War is probably the most commonly known siphonophore, but I always imagine them looking more like the one below.

Anemone or Coral?, Night Anemone, Siphonophore

I wholeheartedly recommend night diving. It’s definitely worth the hassle and cost. Well, that about sums up my first stop in Fiji, more photos of marine life coming soon. 🙂

Fiji Wonderings

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Jet-lagged and still coping with time differences, I woke up at 5am to the tapering end of a massive rain storm. I stumbled out of bed, grabbed my headlamp, and pulled my sneakers on to head out on a “mountain” hike. Mountain is truly a bit of an exaggeration for a steep hill located on a small island in the Yasawas of northwestern Fiji. Winding behind the staff quarters, I glanced up to a see a 4-inch spider hovering around her eggs high up in a web stretching from the fence to the building behind it. As I left the property, the hike headed mostly up at an angle that would’ve been challenging on a dry day, but was made even more complicated by the water running through the middle of the path. I eventually just embraced the squishy mud and started making steady progress to the top. Somewhere along the way, I noticed footsteps in the mud, sometimes in a flat shoe, sometimes with toes spread wide. Yet it seemed to be just one person walking due to the gait and placements of the steps.

Through the cover of trees, I walked, stopping briefly to check out a passion flower plant. They all have an outer ring of rounded petals, followed by a ring of slender multi-colored petals sticking straight out. In the scientific literature, these are called corona filaments: corona like the outermost plasma surrounding the sun, filament like the tiny wire that burns so brightly in an incandescent bulb. These skinny petals form a ring around the dangling male anthers, filled with pollen, ready to be brushed away on the back of a visiting bumblebee. The hanging, sticky female stigmas are situated even higher, above the male organs, ready to hold on to pollen from other plants arriving via those same pollinators.

passion flower and passion fruit

I know this plant well since a vine of passion flower grows on my back fence at home. I was confident in my ability to recognize it, but this passion fruit was different. Instead of the round purple fruits that deflate into a squashed balloon when they’re ready to eat, this passion fruit was green and enclosed in a green cage of spiky, sticky protrusions clearly meant to protect. It looked other worldly and yet this was natural armor, created through years of gradual modifications. Whenever I see a new plant, my mind jumps to two questions: Can I eat it? Is it native? 1 Out there, on the “mountain,” I had no phone service, so I shelved these questions for later and kept walking.

I passed the one other person who climbed the mountain before me that morning. He was wearing flip flops and the footprints from the start of the hike started to make sense. When he got to the muddy part of the hill, he took off his sandals when they got stuck and tried a barefoot approach. He nodded a hello and I did the same, silently acknowledging the strange and awkward fellowship of two random people who felt the need to rise before the sun was up in order to solo climb a ridiculously muddy hill during a break in a downpour. No words were necessary, this was not the time to disturb his serenity or mine. I followed the trail towards the open ocean to the north, which was rapidly appearing in my view along the edge of the hillside.

view towards the northern end of Nacula Island

As I squatted to rest and embrace the view, I noticed the reddish brownish rock beneath my feet. Volcanic in origin, probably basalt, formed underwater and then brought up to the surface. I had more questions: How did these volcanic islands pop out of the Indian Ocean? Were they formed from hot spots or is this on the edge of a subduction zone? How long ago did this happen? 2 Curiosity is a restless creature. Once you open the gate, it carries you off with no promise of where you’ll end up.

The view over the north side of the island was stunning. The sun had risen during my hike, but it was hidden behind the clouds. The path forward looked like a solid descent to the ocean on the north side, and I wasn’t in the mood to climb back up, so I turned around and started hiking back. On the way, I saw a millipede crossing my path. Or was it a centipede? Was it poisonous? Is it centipedes or millipedes that are poisonous? I wasn’t sure what I was looking at, so I snapped a photo to identify on iNaturalist later. 3

Before I reached the steep hill back down to the hotel, I came across a hala tree which was identifiable because of its bumpy faintly-pineapple shaped fruit. They’re very common throughout the Pacific Islands because they grow in rough soil and salty environments. On a previous trip to Hawaiʻi, I’d learned that Polynesians used to weave the leaves into giant canoe sails. These were the sails that took early explorers thousands of miles across the ocean.

basalt, Rusty Millipede, hala fruit

Sometimes I just have to laugh. I had gone on this hike to clear my mind and relax. By the time I returned to the hotel, I had ten more questions that I wanted answers for. But that’s also the beautiful part of staying curious about the natural world, it keeps me present in the world around me. All the questions are both grounding and expansive, somehow at the same time. When I make a new friend, it takes an investment of time, energy and care before the other person trusts me. Meeting a place is very similar, and slowly, little by little (with a little help from the internet), it reveals its secrets.

Footnotes

  1. The type of passionflower in Fiji I saw is known as Passiflora foetida, the stinking passionflower. While waiting for the sun to go down for my night scuba, my scuba guide confirmed it is edible, but not during the season that I was visiting. This species is not native to Fiji, but is native to the southwestern United States, parts of the Caribbean, Central America and South America. ↩︎
  2. The Yasawa Islands formed about 8 million years ago as part of a volcanic island arc. They developed above a subduction zone, where one tectonic plate was forced under another. As the descending plate sank into the mantle, it released water and other fluids, which lowered the melting point of the overlying mantle. This caused partial melting and generated magma that rose through the crust and erupted first on the seafloor and later above sea level, building the islands. ↩︎
  3. It was a Rusty Millipede (Trigoniulus corallinus). ↩︎

Biking the C&O and GAP Trail

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Some of you have been following along on this journey through social media, but I wanted to put a record of this trip here. I biked the old Chesapeake and Ohio (C&O) Canal and the Great Allegheny Passage (GAP), which follows old railroad lines from the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, Pittsburgh and Lake Erie Railroad, Union Railroad, and Western Maryland Railway. These trails are mostly gravel, although some parts are paved near the cities, and they are relatively flat or have very gradual elevation increases or decreases. Rail trails like this are so much less stressful than the highway rides I’ve done in the past. Some days, the riding was so smooth I had entire phone calls with friends and family while biking. I never really thought I’d get into long-distance bike touring, but it’s really a delightful way to see the world. Fast enough to actually see lots of places, but slow enough to notice what’s happening around you. One of my favorite part of these trails was the incredible amount of wildlife along the trail that I got to see — owls, herons, snakes, deer, turtles, groundhogs, and more.

Day 1: Washington DC to Brunswick, MD – C&O – 58 miles

What a wonderful day of wildlife along the C&O Trail. I saw 2 owls, at least 5 great blue herons, 1 snake, 1 great heron, at least 4 deer, and a couple woodpeckers. 🚲 58 miles

Day 2: Brunswick, MD to Williamsport, MD – C&O – 51 miles

Delicious breakfast followed by lovely forest riding before I stopped in beautiful and historic Harper’s Ferry. Took a hilly, hot detour to the Civil War battlefield of Antietam before heading back for a lovely afternoon along the Potomac. 🚲 51 miles

Day 3: Williamsport, MD to Little Orleans, MD – C&O – 46 miles

Slow, steady uphill grind today on muddy, gravel trails. Stopped to see Fort Frederick (built for the French and Indian War), a cement factory, as well as admiring all the tilted rock layers and cool reflections in the water. Lots and lots of deer today and one adorable turtle. 🚲 46 miles

Day 4: Little Orleans, MD to Frostburg, MD – C&O + GAP – 64 miles

After last night’s rain, it was a muddy mess of a ride this morning, but 2 turtles came out to play and I saw over 10 deer. The walk through the pitch black Paw Paw Tunnel was surreal. Finished up the C&O Trail at the 184.5 mile marker in Cumberland and then started a long grueling climb to Frostburg. Cool sculptures on the way into town but then I found a black widow in my shoe. Life is always exciting on trail. Onwards to the Great Allegheny Passage. 🚲 64 miles

Day 5: Frostburg, MD to Ohiopyle, PA – GAP – 58 miles

Foggy climb crossing the Mason-Dixon Line up the rest of the hill. Top of the hill is the Eastern Continental Divide and all the water on this side empties into the Gulf of Mexico. It was a long day of tunnels and waterfalls and an afternoon of riding in the rain. Very pretty. Very wet. 🚲 58 miles

Day 6: Ohiopyle, PA to Connellsville, PA – GAP – 34 miles

Highlight of the day was obviously my trip to Frank Lloyd Wright’s Fallingwater but then everything started going downhill. I got a flat on my front tire and fixed it, but then after a nice ride through lots of waterfalls I arrived in town and got a flat on my back tire 2 blocks from a bike shop (that was unfortunately closed). Fixed it and started onwards to my original stop for the night before I got another flat and realized that my tire wall had actually busted. I was out of patches and out of tubes and very unsure about my bike making it another ten miles, so back to Connellsville I went since I knew there was a bike shop here. Found a cute B&B for the night and life is good. You never know what’s going to happen on a bike trip and it’s best to roll with the punches. It’ll be a long day of riding tomorrow after the bike shop opens at 11am, but for now I’m going to enjoy the cozy, lazy morning of sleeping in. 🚲 34 miles 

Day 7: Connellsville, PA to Pittsburgh, PA – GAP – 61 miles

Spent my morning enjoying this working miniature railroad reproduction of the town inside a local canteen. I got a super late start after I bought my new tire and then still ended up with another flat 20 miles out. Got it fixed up and ready to go with the help of another biker and off I went. Plenty of waterfalls, lots of whimsy, and some cute groundhogs. Finally made it to the end of the GAP Trail in Pittsburgh at 8pm! So grateful to be able to do these intense and beautiful rides. 🚲 61 miles 

Total: 7 days and 362 miles

West Coast Trail

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In August 2023, I hiked the West Coast Trail on Vancouver Island. It’s probably my favorite backpacking trail to date and I would do it again in a heartbeat.

So many folks on the trail were surprised when I told them I was doing the trail solo and how that took a lot of courage. But what I think it really takes is trust – trust in yourself and your abilities (both physical and mental) and also trust in other people you meet on the trail. I gained a whole trail family as well as a bunch of bruises and blisters (yellow jackets are evil and so are my boots) but I couldn’t be happier. Forever grateful for this healing journey and thankful to the Huu-ay-aht, Ditidaht and Pacheedaht First Nations who continue to steward this land. 

Day 1: Pacheena Bay to Michigan Creek – 12 km

Day 2: Michigan Creek to Tsusiat Falls – 12 km

Day 3: Tsusiat Falls to Nitinaht Narrows to Cribs Creek – 16.5 km

Day 4: Cribs Creek to Walbran – 11.5 km

Day 5: Walbran to Camper – 9.2 km

Day 6: Camper to Thrasher – 7.8 km

Day 7: Thrasher to Gordon River – 5 km

Total: 7 days and 75 km

Xiao Liuqiu & Kaohshiung

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Xiao Liuqiu

This mini island (off the main Taiwanese island) has a bazillion spellings of its name, but regardless of the name, going there had to be one of my favorite parts of the trip. We were there during Thanksgiving, which was just a regular week day in Taiwan. Our first stop was renting scooters. Chalida was a bit fearful of the scooter, so she ended up on an e-bike and her daughter Rory climbed on board behind me. The first day, we went snorkeling and had a delicious BBQ dinner, with Chalida’s friend Nate joining us. The day of Thanksgiving, I got up early to go scuba diving (more on that below), while the rest of the group slept in. That afternoon, Cassy had a special request that we go to karaoke and after a slow start, everybody got into it.

biker gang, Rory bbqing, Nate & Cassy with amazing karaoke skills

The whole time we were there, we ate so much food, drank so much boba, explored so many beaches, and saw so many green sea turtles.

Nate, Rory, Cassy, me, and Chalida at our last lunch; me & Cassy enjoying a Thanksgiving sunset

Taiwanese Food

Here’s a glimpse of some of the food we ate. Most of this was from Xiao Liuqiu, but some of it was from earlier and later in the trip.

turnip cake; the best green scallion pancakes; similar to the scallion pancakes, but filled with greens instead

sesame noodles, sweet and sour veggie noodles, poop shaped waffles filled with chocolate

Scuba Diving

I figured that one of the best ways to keep my fears in check is to keep doing something regularly so the fear isn’t allowed to grow. I checked iNaturalist to see what nudibranchs were around and one of my favorite species had previously been spotted near the island. I definitely wanted to try to find it. It is a beautiful sea slug that looks like its entire back is full of butterfly wings (Cyerce nigricans). I signed up for two dives on the island and had my guide to myself on the first dive. I told her I loved nudibranchs and she asked if I knew how small they are and I assured her that I did. All of these were under an inch small, so she did a great job of finding these.

Black and Gold Sapsucking Slug, Pustulose Wart Slug, Black Margined Nudibranch

I’m still in love with giant clams, and there were plenty of those to see. The colors and patterns on the inside of the shell are so beautiful.

Small Giant Clam, Noah’s Giant Clams x2

There were also a range of semi-transculent underwater gems.

Florideophycean Algae, Clark’s Anemonefish, Tunicates

We have purple sea urchins in the United States, but white ones aren’t that common. Also, as mentioned earlier, there are green sea turtles all over this island. It’s practically impossible to get in the water and not see one.

Indo-Pacific Rock Boring Sea Urchin, Porcelain Anemone Crab, Green Sea Turtle

I actually found the eel in the picture below. I got my guide’s attention to show her, but I really didn’t know the hand signal for eels, since I’m so new to diving. I gestured for her to come over and she was excited that I found it. The signal is to stick your fingers and thumb out and then bring them together so it looks like the mouth of an eel eating.

Moorish Idol, me scuba diving, Whitemouth Moray Eel

Since it was getting close to Christmas, I took some time to capture these Christmas tree polychaete worms. If they get spooked, they disappear back into their tubes, so you have to approach slowly and carefully and stay a bit of a distance away. I realize they don’t look much like worms, but the rest of their bodies are hidden inside the tubes.

Christmas Tree Worms: white, red, and blue

Kaohshiung

While the rest of the group headed back to Taipei, I stopped for a day in the city of Kaohshiung. It’s way more laid back than Taipei and had a lot of nice bike trails. The first night I wasn’t up to doing too much, so I walked along one of the rivers in town to check out the artwork and fancy buildings.

art sculptures near Pier 2, Kaohshiung Music Center lit up in Christmas colors

The next day I got up early and headed out on some bicycle explorations. As I was biking along the river, I stopped to watch a dragon boat race competition. I visited another Hakka Museum that had more information than the one we had visited in Taipei. I also went to the Art Museum and headed over to a flea market full of the most random items: sculptures, rocks, wooden bowls, mannequins, books, antiques, food, cheap souvenirs. It was a total hodgepodge of items, just like flea markets everywhere I suppose.

dragon boat racing, traditional Hakka clothing, goods for sale at the flea market

Cijin Island

Cijin Island is a cute micro-island off the big island of Taiwan. After all of my other explorations, I took a ferry across to the island and then rented a city bicycle to ride the beautiful bike path going from one end to the other (about 15 km round trip). There’s a bunch of art sculptures along the way, as well as one super windy spot where people were flying kites. I made sure to stop in at Douliu Ice Town to try one of their peanut ice cream sandwiches before I got back on the ferry. I grabbed my backpack from the hotel and lugged it to the train station and hopped on the high speed train back to Taipei.

kite flying, giant shell art, peanut ice cream sandwich

Jiufen & Keelung

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Jiufen

I got to Taipei a few days before the rest of the group, so I planned some mini-adventures to nearby cities that I could get to and back in a day. My first stop was Jiufen, a magical little town set in the mountains. The day I was exploring, it was cloudy and rainy all day, so a stop at teahouse seemed like a good idea. A-Mei’s Tea House is rumored to have inspired the bathhouse in the movie Spirited Away, but that’s apparently not actually true. The idea of this, however, does seem to bring in lots of tourists. Their standard tea includes a set of snacks and a giant bowl of tea leaves. A staff member walked me through how to wash the tea leaves and then prepare it. I’m not sure I got all the steps down correctly, but I did enjoy the respite from the rain.

A-Mei’s Tea House: snacks, tea, cloudy view

Jiufen is a maze of streets going up and down the side of a mountain. The stores are right next to each other and mostly protected from the weather by overhanging awnings. In the morning when I first arrived, not much was going on, but as the day went on, it got busier and busier. By evening, it felt like I was walking through a Moroccan souk: crowded, noisy, and alive.

Every Taiwanese town has its specialities to try and I’m a sucker for new foods I’ve never eaten before. The Jiufen streets are a foodie paradise. A lady was hawking drinks, so I stopped and bought a drink made from apricot kernels, which I didn’t know were even edible. Apparently, the Southern Chinese variety of apricot have less toxins than other varieties, and the drink is made by grinding up the kernels into a fine powder. I also tried the famous Jiufen peanut ice cream roll. It’s basically a very thin crepe, covered with chopped up peanuts, two scoops of peanut ice cream, and a dusting of cilantro. Then it’s rolled up like a burrito and cut in two for the customer. It’s a yummy, savory and sweet dessert all in one.

apricot kernel drink, ridiculously healthy veggie noodle soup for lunch, peanut ice cream roll

Some other food highlights were barbecued mushrooms with a spicy seasoning sprinkled on top and tiny waffle-cake desserts stuffed with different fillings. Jiufen is also famous for its taro balls, topped with a sweet sauce and a variety of beans. I had high hopes for this last one, but it wasn’t my cup of tea.

bbq mushrooms, cake stuffed with taro filling, sweet taro balls mixed with beans

Almost accidentally, I ended up climbing a mountain. I took a bus to the nearby museum about gold mining. As I was wandering around the huge park, I saw a sign pointing up to Teapot Mountain. I’d read about it, and even with the drizzling rain, decided to go for it. I don’t usually hike with umbrellas, but I did on this walk. Taiwanese hikes seems to come in only one variety: straight up with lots and lots of stairs. Fortunately, this one came with nice views. The teapot name seems to come from the shape of the rocks at the top and most of it is roped off for safety reasons. I scrambled around on the new path and made it about halfway up the rocks before I decided they were too slippery to proceed.

lots and lots of stairs, the teapot shape of the rocks, view from the top over the sea

Before it got dark, I did manage to walk through the old tunnels they used for mining gold. I also touched the world’s largest solid gold block, weighing at an impressive 220 kg. Nearby was the Cyuanji Temple with a giant golden sculpture on the roof of General Guan, a Chinese general who lived around 200 CE.

golden mining tunnel, world’s largest gold block, Cyuanji Temple

Zhengbin

This is a sleepy waterfront town that doesn’t have much going on except for its vibrantly painted buildings. There’s a variety of fishing boats parked inside the harbor and the fascinating ruins of a former shipyard, where large boats were once built.

colorful waterfront, old abandoned shipyard

piles and piles of nets, metal squid sculpture, view of the harbor

Heping Island

I stopped in Zhengbin on my way to Heping Island. There’s a large ocean filled swimming pool, but the view of the rocks was my main reason for visiting, They are made of red sandstone, but because of the wind, they have been eroded into some really fun shapes, including one that looks like a nudibranch.

view of rocks, nudibranch shaped rocks, more shoreline

Keelung

As I hopped off the very tiny bus I took from Heping, I heard music and noticed a crowd gathering at the train station. One of my travel rules is to always follow the music, so of course, I went to investigate. After a lot of sleuthing and Google translating, I figured out his name was Qiu Jun (邱軍) and he had won second place on a TV talent show called King of the Voice. After the performance, I headed towards the Keelung Night Market, which is known for its rows of yellow lanterns.

tiny bus to Keelung from Heping, Qiu Jun, second place winner of King of the Voice, view of Keelung Night Market

As with most night markets, there are only a few vegetarian options. I ate passionfruit pao pao bing, which is a shaved ice that tastes like a sorbet. I also found vegetarian spring rolls and scallion pancakes, my go-to when there aren’t too many choices. The Keelung Night Market is several blocks long and in addition to all the food for sale, there are whole sections of carnival games where people can win prizes.

At one point, it was raining pretty hard, so I stopped to watch one game I’d never seen before. After all these years of traveling, I still love the puzzle of trying to understand what is happening, even when I don’t speak the language. Although I’m not entirely sure of all the rules, it seemed like a bunch of mahjong tiles were shuffled around and then the player picked a certain number of them. The player then matched them up on what looked like a bingo board and based on the pattern they made, the player won or lost. I didn’t stick around long enough to see anyone win, but this booth had a steady flow of customers.

passion fruit pao pao bing, spring roll, mahjong-inspired night market game

Taipei

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National Palace Museum

I arrived in Taipei early in the morning and tried to get myself on the right time zone as fast as possible. This meant staying awake all day if I could. My friend Cassy who lives in Taipei and was the impetus for this trip did a great job of feeding me, showing me around her neighborhood, and giving me the lowdown on all the important things I needed to know to navigate public transportation. However, by afternoon, I was ready to crash and knew that I had to keep moving if I was going to stay up. Cassy had work to do, so I headed off for the National Palace Museum. This place was full of beautiful works of art that were moved from Beijing when Chiang Kai-shek and the Kuomintang retreated to the island after being defeated by the communist party. The objects in the collection were a part of the imperial family’s collection and the jadeite cabbage below is one of the museum’s most famous pieces. If you zoom in on the photo, you can see the katydid hidden in the carving.

food inspired artwork: jade bitter melon, jadeite cabbage, Buddha’s hand citron

Giant museums like this are often overwhelming. One approach I have is to just wander into a room, walk around without reading any of the text and pick out a couple objects that catch my eye. Only then do I slow down and read the text on just those few pieces. I’m a person who is very drawn to the written word, so this helps me to focus on wonder and beauty. Below are three of pieces that drew me in. The first was displayed in a room full of beautiful jewels, but it’s emergent complexity from simple iridescent feathers made me stop in my tracks. Perhaps, a bit mundane to some, but I also loved this long scrolling map showing the routes of the old postal system in Taiwan. On special exhibit were a wide variety of inkstones, a common tool where the flat surface was used to grind up ink, mix with liquid, and then it could be used to write. This one looks like the ink started decadently oozing out of control.

feathers on feathers, postal system map of old Taiwan, fancy inkstone

Around Taipei

A few days later, our friend Chalida and her daughter Rory arrived to join us on our adventures. These photos are all jumbled in terms of time, but one of our first adventures was to a Hakka Museum in a nearby town. Chalida’s family is part Hakka, a southern Chinese minority group who were pushed off their land over and over again. Because of their persecution, many ended up in Taiwan and other neighboring countries. They make up about 20% of the Taiwanese population and many large cities have Hakka centers and community gathering spaces to preserve Hakka culture.

We also made it to one of the Beitou Hot Springs spas, which had seven or eight pools of different temperatures and different amounts of bubbles. There was even a giant rock slab to lay down on, which pulled the heat off after a long soak. The nearby Beitou Library is one of the most beautiful buildings in all of Taipei. Cassy and Chalida are both school librarians so we had to get a photo to commemorate the pilgrimage.

Hakka Museum Barbies in traditional attire, Cassy & Chalida & the Beitou Library, fancy tea

me, Chalida, Rory, and Cassy after our Hot Spring dip; Chalida & Rory trying to blend into the mural

Taipei 101

Visiting Taipei 101 is on the must-do list for most tourists. It measures 508 meters (1,667 feet) off the ground and is the second tallest building in the world (after the Burj Khalifa). The inside had an Instagram feel with lots of cute backdrops for taking photos. I really enjoyed seeing the giant mass damper, which is apparently the only one on display in the world. This giant sphere weighs about 1,500,000 lbs and moves in different directions to offset the swaying of the building, which is especially important given the frequency of earthquakes in Taiwan. There are two other smaller mass dampers (not on display) that also help to keep the building stable.

view of Taipei 101, all of us waiting in line to go up, one of the mass dampers

My other favorite part of the experience was the boba shop at the top. Rory and I, being the boba addicts that we are, had to get one since this is clearly the highest altitude boba we will probably ever enjoy. Cassy, meanwhile, got some fancy Taipei 101 themed waffles for us to enjoy. I’m convinced she makes an amazing model and we definitely should submit this photo for their marketing materials.

Cassy displaying delicious Taipei 101 treats, me & Rory and our highest altitude boba, nearby clothing market

Taiwanese Food

Based on a recommendation of one of Rory’s classmates, we made a pilgrimage to Din Tai Fung, a restaurant known for serving up delicious Taiwanese food. The cucumber salad was gone almost as soon as it was put on the table. I was not very impressed with their vegetarian soup dumplings (not very soupy), but their sesame buns were positively divine.

Rory & Chalida & cucumber salad, xiao long bao (soup dumplings), sesame buns

The golden lava buns below also came from Din Tai Fung, the oozing yellow middles are salted egg yolk. Taiwan is a food eater’s paradise and we ate so much while we were there. One relatively recent Taiwanese invention is delicious mango snow, which is basically hardened mango ice cream cut up in a shaved ice machine. It’s as yummy as it sounds.

fried sweet potato balls from a night market, golden lava buns, mango snow

Taiwanese Triptychs

After some time in a new place, certain motifs and recurring images tend to catch my eye. Here’s some of the images I started to notice after a few days.

manhole covers (Taiwan really does have the best manhole covers)

dragons (on ceramics and temples)

temple decorations