Michelle K

The second half of my trip was much more what I was expecting from Bali. Wednesday morning the dive bus picked me up at my hotel and we drove 2.5 hours up the coast to Tulamben. We parked at a beautiful resort on the rocky shore, and the water was pure blue with a pristine infinity pool meeting it. We geared up and made the trek over the rocky beach carrying our tanks on our backs. Once you finally fell into the water, the trick was getting your flippers on. Tulamben is the site of the US Liberty, a ship that was bombed by the Japanese during WW2. It’s just off the coast, so probably the easiest ship wreck to dive because you do not have to go very deep. The coral is beautiful and the ... read more

I made it to Bali. It’s not quite what I was expecting, except for the heat and humidity. I guess I had this image of it being similar to Fiji because it’s a honeymoon destination—very romantic, very tropical, very remote. But in reality, it’s quite over developed. I’m in the town of Sanur, which is where the first Westerners settled over 100 years ago (aside from the colonists). I’m staying at a place called Sativa Cottages off a little side street. It’s nice enough, but a bit outdated with its yellowed sheets and dishes and worn furniture. The food in the restaurant sucks. But I have AC, hot water, and electricity, which is more than I can say for a lot of the places I’ve been. There is a nice beach in front of the sprawling ... read more

I left Bogor on Saturday since our work there is finished and the left for Palembang in South Sumatra yesterday. The work in Bogor ended kind of strangely. Friday afternoon 2 of the fieldworkers were meeting some anti-tobacco advocates at an office at the train station for an interview. Shortly after I got there, I got a call that the media was there and wanted photos of me. Great. So the driver picked me up and brought me to the station. We were ushered into a room marked VIP, and as soon as I stepped in I saw about a dozen men and one woman, all of them with cameras. People were shaking my hand and speaking to me in Bahasa, but I wasn’t quite sure what was going on. One of fieldworkers translated for me. ... read more

I am very pleased with my research team. They are super organized and are getting through all necessary interviews quicker than expected (which means I get to go back to my oasis in Jakarta a day early). I also don’t feel like I have to hover over them to make sure everything goes according to protocol. The research capacity here in Indonesia is quite high. But as in other countries, data collection is often an uncomfortable process. My research manager called yesterday evening to say he was going straight home rather than meeting me for a debrief meeting because he just spent the last couple of hours doing an interview while sitting next to a chicken coop and was not smelling so nice. Yesterday morning I sat in on a focus group with women from a ... read more

My time in Indonesia this trip has been a bit frustrating so far, mostly because the IRB (in the U.S.) delayed our start. I spent an extra few days in Jakarta waiting for paperwork. My team was trained and ready to go, already having scheduled several interviews. But, bureaucracy requires extreme patience. Right now I am sitting in a little community center in the backstreets of Bogor, an hour outside of Jakarta. One of my fieldworkers is leading a focus group discussion with 8 men. They are all sitting on the floor on a rug, eating snacks we brought, half of them wearing a traditional Muslim head covering. They hardly notice me sitting in the corner of the stuffy room. The field worker is leading them in a photo elicitation exercise where he shows them photos ... read more

The “countryside” was an hour drive outside of Seoul. My friend (Y.) and I took the subway to the outskirts of the city to meet his pal (J.), the other guy I met on the Everest trail. He came into the city just to see me, which was sweet (although his parents live there as well so his family had a chance to visit). He lives about 4 hours from Seoul and is a physician (traditional Eastern medicine and acupuncture) in the army. He has a wife and 2 small girls now. Y. is also a physician, but is in between jobs—he will be managing a clinic starting next month. We hopped in J.’s KIA and drove an hour out of the city through the mountains to a place called Namyang Ju-Si. Korea is really beautiful, ... read more

Seoul, South Korea. Hadn’t really pictured myself coming here ever, and was not really sure what to expect. I just knew it was a big city with lots of people in a developed country. It is clean, organized, safe, and very populated. There are poor people, very wealthy people, and most people are working hard just trying to live their daily lives. KIAs and Hyundais, mostly in white, black and gray, are everywhere. Koreans love signs and hang them all over the place. They love pop stars and rice. They respect their elders, to the point where some older people are rude to younger people on the street and there is no recourse (someone old woman on an elevator snapped at my friend). Baseball is the most popular sport, and I keep seeing men in what ... read more

The last few days were spent in Bogor, a city about an hour outside of Jakarta that was the first to implement a policy banning smoking in public spaces. In 3 days we had meetings with the City Health Department, walked through a local clinic (where many people had TB—good thing I get tested for it after each trip), talked with the chief of the civil police, visited an anti-tobacco NGO, and met with the local media. We were at the NGO when the media came for our meeting We just wanted to ask them a few questions about their coverage of the policy and enforcement and community reactions, but they ended up photographing and video recording us, furiously taking notes when we were the ones looking for information. The journalist from an online news source ... read more

Yesterday was a lovely end to the week. My colleague sent her driver (who spoke no English at all) to pick me up at 9am to take me to a highly recommended spa. For less than $75 I had three hours of a massage, body scrub, body mask, and a mani/pedi. It was so relaxing! The place was beautiful, with private spa rooms complete with a shower and tub. And the scents of burning oils strategically placed in corners were delicious. After the spa, I had lunch by myself at a Thai restaurant called La Na Thai. Some of the best pad Thai I have ever had. My American colleague who is here for another project later met me at the restaurant, and we went shopping at an antique market. The market was a long line ... read more

Is it possible to fall in love with yet another country? Indonesia has impressed me so far, and I can tell I am going to enjoy working here. Jakarta reminds me very much of Bangkok with its humidity, terrible traffic, migrating food carts, and Southeast Asian faces. People are friendly and pleasant, and the Asian hospitality is a treat. There are no electricity problems, good internet connections, and you can find delicious food wherever you go. I am staying at a high-rise hotel called Hotel Mulia in a neighborhood called Senayan in Jakarta. When you pull in to the hotel, guards use mirrors to check for explosives under the car, and they peek in your trunk and glove box. You have to go through a metal detector and have your bags scanned each time before going ... read more