Short Trip Series: Spending the night on Angel Island
Angel Island is a California State Park in the middle of the San Francisco Bay. It has incredible views of the Golden Gate Bridge, the city of San Francisco and Alcatraz. In a previous post, I made a day trip there but this post is about spending the night on Angel Island. Depending on the season, the last ferry leaves the island between 3:30 and 5:20pm (make sure to check the schedule online) and unless you have your own boat that’s your deadline. But for a few hard core planners, it’s possible to secure a camping spot on Angel Island. In that case you will be sharing the island with at most 40 persons (including the park rangers, the kayak groups, and the large camping group). After the departure of the last ferry (which was 3:30pm in our case), the...
Volcanoes of Indonesia: Part 4 – Bali
After more than two weeks on the island of Java, we crossed the Bali strait (1.5 miles) from Ketapang to Gilimanuk. I had 3 days left before my departure to San Francisco. Bali is a mystical destination for many but after 2 weeks in rural Java, it felt busy, touristy and more expensive. Suddenly restaurants were more expensive and offer pizza and pasta on their menu. Hotels were defintetly nicer and I’m not going to complain about it. It’s interesting to note that while the people of Java are in majority Muslims, the people of Bali are Hindus. Galungan marks the beginning of the most important recurring religious ceremonies. The spirits of deceased relatives who have died and been cremated return to visit their former homes, and the current...