A pathetic update...

So, since the last update it's been a couple weeks, but I've gotten too lazy to update or even collect photos from friends on the events.

After Madiun, I went back to Yogyakarta, to see some temples, art galleries and chill out for the weekend.  It was fun, and we had a relaxing weekend.

The following week, my friend Mary (who was a college room mate for the summer before senior year) met me at work on Wednesday, and we hung around Surabaya for a couple days, then went off for the weekend.  We first went to the Safari Park, which is a big park that you drive through in your car looking at different animals, you can drive right past lions and tigers, and even get stopped if the animals cross the road.  They have African, Asian and other animals all around the park.  At the end you can pet and hold baby orangutans, I even got to pet a 3 year old lion who was huge.  It was really cool, and not too bad for the animals, compared to some zoos in Asia.  

We then went to Bromo, and the waterfall nearby again.  I had been there, but some people hadn't, and no one to the waterfall.  Everyone really enjoyed themselves.  Mary moved on to Ijen, and I went back to work for the week.

The next weekend, I went back to Bali for my friend's birthday, and spent the weekend lazing around on the beach, surfing, and going out at night.  It was a long two nights and I am very tired today.  

I told you it would be a horrible and pathetic update, but thats what I've been doing for the past couple weeks.  I hope to get some pictures soon, but I'm not sure when.

Surabaya news: I moved into a new house, without Aircon, and without the "good qualities" the older house had.  It's new and modern, but meh. I liked the old house, and especially liked the aircon.  They have said for about 3 weeks now it's "going to be installed soon".  I hate that they can't just tell us they're too lazy to get it done right away, then forget, and then try to scramble and sort of get things done later on...  what happens when you work for a big company with too many employees, I guess...

That's all I got, happy Thanksgiving.  Thanksgiving marks my 2 years living, working and traveling in Asia, as I left the day after Thanksgiving 2007.  It's been a great two years, and I expect it will continue to be fun.

I'll update more next week.

Rob

Mediun and Lake Sarangan

To keep with the weekly posts of what I do, I can write about this past weekend, where a couple of friends and I got on a train and headed into the mountains of central Java, in search of a horribly touristy lake that doesn't see any foreigners. 

We took the train to Madiun, where we met out friend Intan's Aunt, Uncle, Mother and Sister, and had a big lunch with them.  We then took a taxi an hour up into the hills to the mountain 'resort' town of Sarangan.  It's HUGE on the local Indonesian circuit, and tons of families and tourists come here.  But none are white, and therefore, we were quite the spectacle for them.  It's a little muddy lake, where you can take "speed boat" tours around the lake (read: large pond), take a horse trot around the lake, or get in a swan-shaped paddle boat to fight the winds in the middle.  It's hilariously small but packed with people.  We spent the weekend relaxing, and as it was 1200 meters above sea level, enjoying the crisp air in the evening and winds. 

The landscape around the lake is better, some mountains shoot up, and the hills all the way down are filled with crops being grown, terraced rice and corn and other vegetables.  I think the drive down was the best view we had the whole weekend, looking up on big mountains shooting up and their sides all terraced and multicolored from agriculture.

It was a quick weekend, therefore a quick update.  As previously mentioned, its just nice to get out of Surabaya.  It's been hot and humid.  The rainy season has yet to come, and we're all just waiting for that little break in the heat, and the floods to start.  We'll see how it goes, as the local teachers all talk about floods and leaving clothes at work because you'll be "soaked" when you arrive.  Sounds good to me...

Sempu Island

ALL OF THESE PHOTOS ARE TAKEN FROM OTHER PEOPLE. MAINLY FROM IAN WHITE, OUR RESIDENT PHOTOGRAPHER. BUT I COULD HAVE TAKEN JUST AS GOOD PHOTOS... SO WE CAN PRETEND THEY'RE MINE... The port where we got boats to cross to the island

Morning on the river

This past weekend was one of the best trips I have done in a very very long time. It's called Sempu Nature Reserve, and it's off the Southern coast of Java. It's an island right off the mainland that is a nature resurve (thus the name) and it is completely human-free.

The lagoonThe Lagoon with small hole entrance (you dont have to climb through this to get into the lagoon, its where the water crashes through) The beach

We rented a van to drive us overnight from Surabaya and arrive at the little port at about 5 am, where we had some breakfast and hired a boat and porter to cross the river and hike into the "secret lagoon".

Morning on the beach

Waves crashing through the hole

Sunset through the enterence


Awsome shot

The boat drops you off at a little trailhead, and you spend the next hour or so winding through the jungle until you finally reach a blue-green calm lagoon. You hike around the lagoon and come to a little white sand beach. The lagoon is completely surrounded by the little mountains, and their is a little hole where the crashing waves splash water into the lagoon. I think there is also some underwater caves where the water can rise and fall with the tides.

South Javanese Coastline

The crashing waves is where the hole is

The lagoon is really nice, and we spend the day swimming and reading, relaxing and trying out best to stay out of the scorching sun. Right up some jagged rock area is a gorgeous view along the edge of the island, and the rough seas smashing into the cliffs, spraying wayer in all directions. There are also lots of little islands scattered around in the distance.

More lagoon shots

Where the hills came together is a great viewpoint of the ocean and the island's coast

We hung out and really enjoyed swimming in the lagoon, taking photos and playing around on the beach. We slept on sheets out in the open and expect for a little rain, and the tides rising and hitting us, it was a decent night. the next morning I went to see the sun rise over the side of the island from a lookout 30 feet above the crashing waves. I wasn't able to see the sun, so I climbed up to a lookout point, which was a really hard and steep climb straight up (luckily it was short). The view from there was breathtaking. You can see the whole lagoon, and the jungled interiour of the island, and the rough angry seas churning on the other side of the camp and peaceful lagoon. It was about 6 am when I got there, and everyone else was just waking up, so you can see morning fires for breakfast, some people washing things in the lagoon and generally waking up. It was very peaceful and quite.

The lagoon

Lagoon + beach from the viewpoint

We then spent the next 3-4 hours following a little trail that winds along the coast of the island, going up and down the hills and crossing beaches. These beaches are what you think of when you think deserted island paradise. The sand was coarse, and you could actually see the different rocks and shells creating a multicolored beach. The sand was also deep, and each step you suck into it. The waves roared and swirled offshore, and crashed anywhere they could. Its hard to describe, but it was fantastic. We saw three seperate beaches and some cool interior that looked like it was a set for Jurrasic Park. Very real jungle, without humans ruining it.

First unspoilt beach

One of the nicest beaches I've seen

We then hiked out, showered up and drove home for the evening and arrived home late at night Sunday. It was a quick weekend trip, but easily one of the best. I would love to go back and see more of the island.

PPLH and Jogja (all photos stolen from friends)

I'll use this opportunity to update two weeks worth of things that have been going on.  By things, I guess I mainly mean weekend trips, as during the week we normally play pool, go bowling, watch movies, have food nights (which are sweet) or just chill out at home.  Nothing too exciting happens during the week.

Borobudur Temple (Ian White's Photo)

After my long holiday, the first weekend back was PPLH, a natural little resort set in the foothills of a mountain catering to school groups and work outings, set in an idyllic forest with some really cool little rooms to stay in.  The best part about the rooms were the bathrooms.  The door is normal, but there is only one wall, where the door is, and part of another wall with ends in a little garden and grass area.  It's completely open, so its like you do your business in your backyard, and can see the sky, the mountains in the background and had lots of vines and flowers.  I like the infusion on inside and outside spaces that Indo has seemed to perfect.  We spent the afternoon just hanging out, playing games, reading and playing cards.  It wasn't the most exciting weekend, but any chance to get out of the heat, pollution and traffic of Surabaya is worth it!

Prambanan Temple (Dewi Lestiani's Photo)

Following that, the next weekend trip was to Jogjakarta, knows as the artistic soul of Java.  It's one of those towns that just has a great feel to it.  Loads of art, music, great coffee shops and cafes, little bars and a relatively walkable area makes it a perfect place to chill out for a couple days.  Also, there are some great Hindu and Buddhist temples around.  We took a 7 am train, and were at the hotel by 1 pm.  We spent the first day drinking by the pool, lounging around and enjoying being free from work.  It was a perfectly relaxing day.  Needless to say the drinks kept coming and it ended up being a long night as well.  However, the next morning at 445 am we woke up to do a half day tour of the temples.  They were really cool, and being a "local" with working visa, we get in for 10x's less than tourists.  That's always a plus.

The morning and afternoon were spent roaming temples, and then we returned to Jogja for some incredible sandwiches, and afternoon nap, and relaxing evening.  We caught the 7 am train back to Surabaya, and went directly into work.  It's nice being able to do morning transit back and get the extra night when we travel.

Some of the group I have joined up with are finishing their contracts, and moving on, which is a sad time, but the longer I live abroad the more I get used to people coming and going, meeting up again later on and keeping in touch with people all over.  It's great to meet such like minded people roaming the globe as I am, happy to just be out there experiencing new things.  Ruth and Rachel will be missed, and next week a new set of people leave.  But more will come and I hope they're up for the challenge of weekly trips around East Java... we'll see...

Snacks from a Bu (Bu means mother)

Thanks mom for sending me my divers card.  The best part was that Maggie says hello.  I don't know if you knew this, but she's dead. Your dogs name is MATTIE, and I bet she wanted to say hello too. But I bet Mags would have said hi if she could.

Shelley I love your blog and being able to keep up with Dom.  It's weird how much he's grown and how much he can do, and I thank you for posting so much to keep me informed (and the other people).  I hope to meet the little guy sometime in the next couple years... promise.

Selebriti (guess what it means in English)

Sampai Nanti! (until later)

Idul Fitri!

So for the past month, the month of Ramadhan, the whole of the country has been fasting during daylight hours (no food or drinks) and it finally ended. Did I mention that they stop serving alcohol during Ramadhan and the bars close down? BUT IT ENDED!!! SELAMAT IDUL FITRI!! yES.....

The Locals

So for the holiday, our ONE WEEK HOLIDAY OFF FROM WORK, friends and I traveled to the Kalimantan district of Indonesia, set on the southern part of Borneo. You may remember Malaysian Borneo from earlier posts, and also Brunei. But now I have made it to all parts of Borneo, and had another fantastic trip.

A rainbow around the sun, never seen that before...

It started off with a night in Banjarmasin, the southern Capital. It was the main day for Idul Fitri, and there were tons of food stalls, and a HUGE parade of vans and trucks filled to overload with people and semi-float like trucks. We watched them all parade by us for about an hour, and then decided to take up an offer to jump in the back of one and just see where we ended up. We jumped in the back of one particularly keen on having us, and grabbed the drums and tambourines and played along. We sped around the streets and sang whatever little bits of Indonesian songs we knew. We requested the only two we actually know, which most Indonesians enjoy singing along to. Needless to say, our presence in the back of the truck was a huge hit, and people in the street were pointing, and motorbikes would follow us as close as they could trying to get a picture of the kids in the back of the truck. Luckily, at the end the driver dropped us off right back where we started, and we got some iced teas and snacks (it was midnight) and went to the hostel to be invited to a birthday party by the owner and his friends on the roof. The party consisted of a nice bottle of scotch they traded from a ship (alcohol is illegal in Kalimantan, and everything is bought from the black market) and singing karaoke from his computer.

Probably the best shot I got all trip: Proboscis monkey jumping

We then woke up and went to the airport where we started a 4 day three night boat trip down the rivers of Tanjung Puting. It's a national part on the western side of Borneo. We took a small plane for two miniature flights and ended up across the island, where we met out driver and went to the boat, loaded up and were served lunch. The boat is a small ship, that can sleep 6 on the deck, and 3 staff below. They are equipped with a little kitchen and bathroom in the back, that flushes into the river. The boat was about 35 feel long, and about 8 feet across. Perfect size for a lazy trip up the river into the jungles of Borneo.

Sad slave monkey

For 4 days we watched orangutans come down from the canopy for feedings, glided along the rivers searching for crocodiles and proboscis monkeys, and walking through some deforested areas where they were replanting trees to replenish the forests. It was a great 4 days, and something I think almost anyone would enjoy. We got some great photos, had some amazing food (banana pancakes in the morning) and would wake up to the sounds of the jungle and river, and fall asleep to the noises of the night. We would stay up late staring at the stars and listening for Flying foxes (huge bats) which would soar around. Really really cool.

Tom: the biggest Orangutan I've ever seen. He was bigger than most gorillas I have seen in Zoos

When the trip ended, I followed everyone to the airport in the morning, but left them there, as I didn't want to pay for a flight, and had a bus ticket already booked. It would be about 20 hours on buses until I got back to the other side of Borneo, but before my trip I had about 10 hours to kill in Pangkalan Bun. I walked to the river, hoping to just walk for a while and sit the day out observing people just living their lives. The river was a city build upon stilts right on the banks, and tons of river taxis ferrying people all over. The edges of the houses were lined with a walking path that followed the river, and all the outhouses floated on the banks. Not the cleanest water, needless to say.

Chameleon showing off his ability to turn yellow-ish

I sat watching people walk down to the floating wooden docks to hail taxis, and women run their children to the outhouses in a continual attempt of potty training (no diapers would be horrible). I saw people leave in one direction, and come back the other with groceries from the nearby fish market. A man came to sit on the bench with me and talk, and within no time, his kids were hanging around watching me, and his wife had brought us out cookies and tea to have. He then invited me into his house, where I spent an hour talking to him and his cousin about the Dayak magic. The Dayak are a tribal people of Borneo. When I thought I had worn out my welcome, he went on to ask me to stay for lunch, where we had eggs, chicken, vegetables and rice, sitting on the floor. Men in the living room, women in the kitchen with the kids. We ate on a huge rug with our hands, and used bowls of water to wash them at the end.

Cinimon waiting to be dried

Then we went back to the river to hang out, and he ended up getting a taxi to show us all the way up and down the river, from the new bridge they build to the logging station at the end. He was really really nice, and so was his wife, and I cant thank them enough for showing me one of the most genuine days I have had in a long long time. It made me think of going to friends villages in Thailand. I couldn't have asked for more.

Proof that humans are cooler than apes, even in death

I then got to my bus and spent the next 19 hours travelling overnight to Banjarmasin, where I met up with my friends, got in a hired car, and spent 5 hours getting up into the mountains to a city called Loksado, where we based the next couple nights, doing day hikes to villages and waterfalls, and looking for ghosts.

Pangalan Bun, where I was adopted by the family for the day

Loksado was much cooler, and we could use blankets and sweatshirts at night to stay warm. We walked around, and enjoyed the attention such a big group of foreigners always gets, and how much warmer then took to us once they found out some of us spoke Indonesian. We did a 3 hour hike one day to a waterfall, swimming in the river on the way when we got hot, and swimming in the pool at the end. We also spent a night in a village on the floor of the information hut, and spent the evening and morning playing cards with the guys of the village and watching pigs and cats and children play around.

Pathways leading to the feeding sites in Tanjung Puting

On the way back, we did a night sleep over in a little town that claimed they had no alcohol. We did some investigations and found that the only place to buy was under or near the bridge. We walked around, looking, and finally a woman asked us what we were looking for. We told her we heard there was beer under the bridge. She laughed hysterically and brought us to her door, where we bought some of her illegal whisky, and spent the night having a nice drink watching crappy movies. They hotel had HBO, we were hooked.

Lazy morning on the boat

On the trip to the airport home, we stopped a a huge market selling all sorts of precious stones and diamonds and also stopped at a diamond mine. It was like something out of a set of an old movie. Barren lands, ravaged by mining, but not by machines. People stood neck deep in thick muddy water, pulling out land and rocks in the hopes of finding a small diamond, and making it worth their luck. They worked in groups of 10, and would pump water out of these machines deep in the holes to contraptions made of wooden planks. It was very makeshift, but served its purpose. Besides the unbearable heat, it was really quite interesting, and we learned how they spend hours and days and weeks searching the rocks, but if they find a good diamond, will be payed very very well for it. Its quite a dangerous job, too, and they told us of the accidents and deaths they have had in recent months.

Cool bug, no idea what it is

Now its back to work... :)

Ijen Crater

This past weekend we spent over 8 hours (one way) to get to our newest weekend location. This was Ijen Crater, an active sulfur mine, where (i assume) active lava flow under the earth is heating up and expelling sulfur at a high rate. Sulfur comes out in the form of gas, and the technicians have build pipes to channel the sulfur into one area, where it condensates into a thick yellow liquid and then oozes out of the tubes, where men are waiting to let it cool, then chip big bricks of it off and carry it up and out of the crater to sell.

The view of the valley in the morning (5am)

The trip started bright and early and we drove for hours, only stopping for the bathroom and when getting lost on the way. We arrived just before sundown far far away in the Ijen area at a little home stay hotel. The car ride actually went by fast, as we kept ourselves busy playing games, puzzles, listening to music and napping. Good company makes the trip fly by. Also, usually when we hire cars there are 7 of us crammed into every possible seat to make it cheaper, but only 4 of us went this weekend, so we had room to spread out and really enjoy the trip.

Hooray for acidic sulfur lakes!

Once at the hostel, we walked around the little town set up next to it and looked around at the local scenery. In the area are lots of agro-tourism places and farms where the tourists can sleep and enjoy lazy afternoons in a semi-cooled atmosphere. We hung out at the hotel, played cards and had some dinner before an early bedtime.

The yellow color is sulfur that has crusted all over the place over the years

We woke up at 330 to some coffee and tea and a snack before driving 40 minutes to the entrance of the hike up the side of the crater. It's not a particularly hard hike, and its uphill the whole time. You see some miners also making the trek. Its about an hour or so to the top, where the wind really picked up and we were being blown around. By this time, we had befriended a miner, who was 25 and had been working there for 3 years. We spent the whole walk up chatting with him and asking about his life and working in the mines. Its really hard work, and dangerous, and extremely bad for your health as you are inhaling toxic fumes and the sulfur burns your eyes and lungs, and they do this trip multiple times a day, for weeks and years at a time with only a week off holiday every couple weeks.

Our guide being bad-ass with his gas mask

At the top of the hill, you see how the edges of the crater have gone barren to the toxicity of the sulfur, and can see down into the crater. There is a lake there, which is as warm as a bathtub, and an area where the steam is billowing out. We then climb down into the crater for about 25 minutes to the bottom, where we can see the men mining the yellow rocks and using gas masks and masks in feeble attempts to keep the smoke out of their eyes and mouths.

A death cloud taking my unsuspecting friends

As I mentioned, it was windy, so on the way down it was a nice easy walk, the wind blew everything away from us, and you could hardly smell the sulfur. Luckily, the winds changed, and the clouds floating over the turquoise waters turned, and soon we were enveloped in a cloud of toxic smoke. Your eyes start burning worse than if you rubbed an onion in them, and you have to cover your mouth with a piece of wet material (shirt, scarf, hat). Anything to stop the sulfur. You end up holding your mouth so tight you forget to breath, and when you gasp for air, it chokes your lungs and you start coughing uncontrollably. But, the winds change again, and soon you are enjoying the views, watching what is going on, and almost forgetting about the near pass-out/vomit episode you just had. Then the winds change again. Its a scramble for cover, behind rocks, away from the wind, anywhere you think it may help. We spent about 25 minutes doing this happy/hell change due to the prevailing winds, until we all hit a stage of near vomiting and an inability to see that we aborted the plans and escaped to higher grounds.

My eyes after the event (and after the hour hike down)

It was really cool and I wouldn't have changed the experience for anything. It was worth my eyes burning an additional 2 hours and feeling nauseous for the drive back to the hotel. The miner we befriended was really great, and funny and gave us all the information he would with his English, and even game me a piece of sulfur he broke off from the mine when we arrived at the bottom.

Some Sulfur art the miners make to sell

We then checked out a local waterfall, which wasn't too bad, before we started our 8 hour drive back home. Once again the trip went pretty fast, and we napped as much as we could, because we were all exhausted after the early wake up, hike and sulfur attacks. It was another great weekend, and I cant believe I'm doing so much stuff out here. In a couple days I continue my trips, but this time have 9 whole days of vacation, and a group of us are heading into the jungle for animal sightings and trekking. It should be a lot of fun!

The waterfall near our guesthouse

Kaliandra

For the weekend, 16 fellow teachers and friends loaded up in Bemos (public minivans, with bench seats) and drove about 2 hours up to a mountain resort called Kaliandra. It's set in a beautiful mountain slope, with dramatic peaks soaring up above you and  gorgeously landscaped grounds wrapping around the side of the mountain.

One of the best things about the place is simply its location, and clean air (Surabaya, where I live, is quite polluted). You can see the stars, it gets cold at night, there is fresh air, the smell of trees and flowers, and you can hear wildlife. It was just a great way to relax and spend some time out of the city. The grounds are huge, and in the middle is a private residence, which looks like something out of a hollywood movie set in old england in the 1700's. A manor house. It was unrealistic compared to what we're used to seeing.

The ground have gardens, organic food growing, some exotic animals (private owners) two pools, two restaurants, great views and a chilled out environment.

They have loads of stuff to do also, as they cater to big groups, and you have the ability to do ropes courses, learn Gamalon music (type of music) you can do Batik, which is a traditional way to make materials and designs. We chose to do the Batik the next morning and it was really hard, and we all make horribly done patterns. You start with melting wax, and using a special "pen" to apply designs in wax. Note that it's hot, it drips everywhere, and most of us ended up with a "dotted" look to our painting, not to mention wax all over us. Once you finish the wax, you dip in in dyes to make the colors, and then you put it in hot water to remove the wax, so that the design you made is white against whatever color background you decided upon.

We went for a birthday of one of the teachers at my school, and she had a wonderful time. She was really happy to spend a weekend out of the city, relaxing, reading books and hanging out with everyone for the 2 days of freedom from work.

The place we stayed was a bungalow made for 6 people, with a private room upstairs and a communal 4 person bed taking up one whole side of the house. We ended up with 7 people downstairs sleeping like sardines, and the birthday girl and her boyfriend got their own private room. The bathroom was really great, and opened up for lots of sunlight and breezes, and there was a tub outside we filled up and smashed three people in to watch the stars and enjoy the coolness of the night in a hot tub.

It was one of the places I know Nancy and Diane would have really enjoyed. Guess you'll just have to come out to Asia and see these places for yourselves! That's all I have now, as it's Friday, I have class all day and leave at 630 in the morning for my next adventure. See ya!

Solo

This past weekend I went to Solo with two teachers from my school.  One of their boyfriends lives in Solo as a teacher, so she went to meet up with him, and the other teacher and I just wanted to explore Solo and the temples around.

We took the train at 7 am, which would have been fine if I hadn’t decided to have a house party the night before, and made everyone stay up past 4 am.  Needless to say we were exhausted on the train and passed out nearly the whole time.  When we arrived on Solo, we found a nice little place to stay where were the only ones.  It cost $6 between us, so can’t complain on that front.  Basic, clean and nice, with mandi showers (which is where you bucket shower by dumping buckets of water over yourself).

Flowers at our guesthouse

We spent the first afternoon walking around Solo, checking out some traditional clothing called Batik and also checking out markets.  The best was the bird market, where they had thousands of animals, mainly birds but also some bats, owls, we saw a monkey and some dogs and cats, some snakes and squirrels, chickens, hens, crows ravens, sparrows, etc etc.  Its not the best conditions for the birds, but I’d never seen an own up close that I can remember, or even a bat almost 2 feet long, hanging wrapped in itself.  There was also some adorable dogs, very well kept and clean, which were starving for attention so we pet them and hung out with them for a while.

Little stone masturbating man

We ended up going to a “open green” area of all dead grass and watching kids play on the carnival rides set up and did some shopping at the makeshift market they had set up.  For dinner we met a couchsurfer and two of his friends to eat and then go to the night market.  We sat next to Warong Cobra, where you could pick your cobra, they kill it, skin it, and take off the meat which you can have fried up or made as sate (on a stick).  It was interesting to watch them kill and de-meat the snakes, but we didn’t want to try eating it. 

Temples in the hills

After dinner we walked to the night market, which had some live music and loads of local crafts for sale.  They sell some pretty hilarious stuff in these markets so it’s always fun to check them out.

Stone carvings at the temples

The next day we spent touring the temples about 40 kilometers out of Solo and up into the hills, where the weather was nicer.  After spending a couple hours not being able to rent motorbikes, we took the bus, in the wrong direction and had to get off and loop back through Solo on the way out.  Luckily for us, performers get on the busses and sing songs and play their little instruments so it was an entertaining ride.  One band even got off with us and helped us onto the returning bus.  We then asked them for special songs to play that we liked and made sure to tip them extra (instead of coins worth pennies, we gave them 5,000 rupiah, about 50 cents)  They were really appreciative of us and our enthusiasm.

One of the fountains at a temple

The temples were really beautiful and had views overlooking canyons filled with little villages and tea plantations.  It was a great afternoon and we ended up missing the buses back to solo and took the motorcycle taxis all the way back.  We then caught the 2 am train back to Surabaya on Monday morning and were back home, ready to change, clean up and head to work for the day.  

Jump fighting on top of the mountain

On a side note, for the past week I was fasting for Ramadhan, to try to experience a piece of Indonesian culture.  During Ramadhan, the people of Islamic faith abstain from food or liquids (not even water) for one whole month.  Obviously if you are sick, pregnant, breast-feeding, too young (though children at 5 or 6 start full fasts) etc you don't have to fast.  It wasn't as hard as I though it would be, but I had to completely change my lifestyle.  I slept in until the last minute and stopped doing anything remotely physical.  I only wanted to try it for a week to see how it was, because this week I'm back to eating at normal hours and hopefully back to the pool and gym.  I was the only person out of 3 who made it the whole week (we had three foreign staff attempt the fast).  I won a free dinner :)