Resources for Learning how to Visualize Data on Maps

Posted on June 15, 2013 by Bettina — No Comments ↓

Density Map of Graffiti Sites in Vancouver Mapped Using Leaflet and Stamen

In my attempt to map orangutan and forest cover on Borneo over the past 50 years, I’ve been reading tons of stuff online about mapping technologies. There are some good tutorials on specific mapping programs like D3 + TopoJSON and TileMill, but before I get attached to a platform, I wanted to know all my options for mapping programs. To my delight I found a great overview of mapping tools in the Mack Hardy‘s following talk: My notes from the talk Simple maps Google Fusion Tables, MapBox, cartograms create non-interactive maps through layers of information. Google Fusion Table is an…

Tagged with: coding, data visualization, learning how to program, mapping
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Wild Orangutans at Kutai National Park in East Borneo, Indonesia

Posted on May 21, 2013 by Bettina — No Comments ↓

Longboat on Sangatta River in East Kalimantan

Check out this Pen! Above is a slideshow* of my search for wild orangutans in Indonesia. Click on the first photo, and then press the arrow pointing left < — to advance through the ten slides. A surprise is waiting on the last slide so keep going to the end. Ok, so I did not take that last photo of the spear-wielding orangutan. But every other photo I took myself while at Kutai National Park. And the spirit of discovery among spooky outsized nature I tried to capture in my slideshow is real. Getting to the Wild Orangutans’ Home…

Tagged with: borneo, east borneo, Indonesia, kalimantan, kutai, kutai national park, orangutan, rainforest, wild orangutan
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Lakshmi, the Elephant of Hampi

Posted on April 27, 2013 by Bettina — No Comments ↓

Blessed by Lakshmi at Virupaksha, Hampi, India

Hampi, full of Dravidian Hindu temples scattered among huge boulders, was the capital of the medieval Vijayanagar Kingdom in the middle of India. Abandoned in the middle of the sixteenth-century, Hampi retains most of its grand monuments, temples, palaces, and canal irrigation system. Virupaksha Temple, the oldest and main Hindu temple in Hampi to which I hitched a ride, has an elephant-in-residence named after the Hingu goddess of wealth, Lakshmi. For a mere rupee Lakshmi the elephant will bless you and every other pilgrim with her trunk. Lakshmi takes a bath every morning. When I first saw her in…

What I learned about Networking by Hitchhiking

Posted on April 25, 2013 by Bettina — 2 Comments ↓

How do I tell you about a journey of 56257.084 kilometers? I start with the kindness of strangers I met on the road. Literally. When I traveled alone in India and Indonesia, I hitchhiked. I started when there were no other options, and hitchhiking was my only way to stay on the road. Then, I hitchhiked for the fun of it. Now that I’m considering my next step and pulling on everyone I know to help me out, I see so many parallels between hitchhiking and networking. If you think networking is icky, try seeing it through my perspective of…

Tagged with: hitchhiking, hitchhiking in India, hitchhiking in Java, networking, travel
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Back to Berlin–and looking for what’s next

Posted on April 22, 2013 by Bettina — 1 Comment ↓

Petrified Forest, Curio Bay, New Zealand

So I’m back in Berlin after six months of traveling. I am surprised at how cold I find springtime in Berlin. I’m wearing (fake) fur-lined knee-high boots and long wool coats while real Berliners, the ones who survived the winter, sport short sleeves. I don’t know how I can complain when it’s apparently been hell frozen over this past winter. Actually, I do know why I’m complaining about the weather in my first blog post in months: I don’t want to write about and face what’s going on in my life. It’s so much easier to just complain about the…

Posted in Writings

Attica, the best meal ever

Posted on February 8, 2013 by Bettina — No Comments ↓

Vegetarian Fine Dining As a vegetarian since I was 16, I’ve been mostly disappointed in my fine dining experiences. Of course, most restaurants are willing to accommodate vegetarians, but it is not hard to see that vegetables are not given the same amount of love and thought as the meat. Even in restaurants with Michelin stars, I sometimes get the same dish as the meat-eaters but just without the meat! Egregious, isn’t it? I mean, if you consider the dish complete with the meat, isn’t it missing something without it? So I love that Attica, one of the top restaurants…

Tagged with: bush tucker, restaurant review, vegetarian, vegetarian Australia, vegetarian food, Vegetarian Melbourne
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Vegetarian Car Camping Recipes Roundup

Posted on February 7, 2013 by Bettina — 6 Comments ↓

After a week of overnight hiking and car camping in Gippsland and Wilson’s Prom in Eastern Victoria, Australia, I realized that if I want to eat more than muesli bars for breakfast and cheese sandwiches for lunch, I better plan ahead. For my upcoming week on the Great Ocean Road and the Grampians, two well-loved nature spots outside of Melbourne, I have put together a link roundup below of simple camping meals using only a few ingredients. Camp Stove Cooking, not Campfire Cooking Because of the risk of bush fires, most Australian campsites do not allow open camp fires (goodbye,…

One Day Layover in Abu Dhabi

Posted on February 5, 2013 by Bettina — No Comments ↓

On my way from Germany to India, I planned a one-day layover in Abu Dhabi, since I was flying with Etihad Airlines on miles from American Airlines. Planning the layover I debated for a while whether I should book a business-class or economy seat on Etihad. I usually book economy so that my miles stretch further, but the Pearl business class on Etihad offers incredible perks like door-to-door chauffeur service and fold-out flat beds as well as entry to their lounge at the Abu Dhabi airport. But I decided to forgo the business class flat bed in the end. All travelers…

Tagged with: abu dhabi, abu dhabi layover, etihad, mosque, one day layover, uae, united arab emirates
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Cheap and Practical Souvenirs from India

Posted on January 25, 2013 by Bettina — 2 Comments ↓

Since I knew that I was traveling for four more months after India, I only bought practical souvenirs in India. Pictured above are some of my goodies on an embroidered silk skirt that was custom-made for me. Clockwise from bottom right is a handmade paper journal, a rudraksh mala, Himalaya Herbals Neem Face Pack, fragant sacred ash in a little copper pot, charcoal soap, citronella-based herbal mosquito repellent, and a copper cup, all around an unfortunately unidentifiable package of black salt aka kala namak to re-create an eggy taste in vegan recipes. I didn’t want to carry anything on my back that…

Tagged with: cheap souvenirs, Indian souvenirs, practical Indian souvenirs
Posted in Writings

How to deal with Sexual Harassment in India as a Single Woman Traveler

Posted on January 23, 2013 by Bettina — 2 Comments ↓

Interior of South Indian Bus in Tamil Nadu

I had an awesome two months in South India. I will write later about the temples, elephants, and all the other magical things I experienced, tasted, and saw in Tamil Nadu and Karnataka, because, frankly, the most pressing thing to write about India right now is how I felt as a woman traveling alone in India on public buses and trains. Because the horrifying thought when I first read about the terrible gang rape in Delhi on a bus was that it could have been me. I left India on December 15, one day before the it happened. The first…