Grand Bromo Surabaya

As well as having our good friends Yasmin and Farook staying from Hong Kong, we also had 2 amazing surprises on our 40th (!)<br>After tennis and a swim, I was just emerging from the shower, when I heard David answering the door .... I just threw on a pareo thinking it was the house boys coming in to clean, and scurried past the hallway into the lounge, glancing at the front door ...

... of this submarine being completely immersed in water just about brought on a case of claustophobia!! It would have been nice to even have a guided tour inside but none available in english. I noticed that there are quite a few school groups visiting the Monument as well. I also visited another Mosque the Cheng Ho Mosque (no problem to visit without a head scarf here!!) .<br>I also went to an unusual marke where all that seems to be for sale are garlic ...

... the devastating effects of clear-cut logging along the way. We spent the night in a tiny Khmu village overlooking the Me Kong, bathed Jan Ping in the river, hung out with my mahout in the forest and got absurdly drunk celebrating Khmu New Year with the locals. 12) Luang Prabang, Lao: Xmas Eve in Lao: With our motley crew of Neil, Sevan/Tara, Yanni/Annuka, Cory ...

... chinoise) 3 ieme journee, (5 janvier) Finalement, le depart pour Bali suite a une comtabilite ardue pour la facture, nous avons prit un mini-van pour redescendre a la ville puis un autre bus puis un autre bus (un antiquite, pas d'air climatise, pas de ventilateur et tous des fumeurs. Rejean respire tout ca et fulmine) puis un bateau (avec le bus dedans) pour arrive a bali vers 9.30 du soir. Un trajet de 12 heures et pas tres facile parque le chauffeur semblait avoir hate d ...

... to be said that 30 something high school students came out to work ************* a Saturday morning. The students of the village seemed happy, we were there. They were cute and pointed at who they wanted to be in their pictures with. I attached a news article from the habitat for humanity site. If you look closely they have another article about SIS winning an award. Its amazing stuff! http://www.habitatindonesia.org/detailn ews.php?id=304

The school's PTA puts on a couple of huge events. Festival of Nations (FON) is an example of one of them. I had heard that it was a huge deal at the school and it was a treat. I had no idea what to expect. The Festival starts at 5:00. I am dressed in my American outfit, a washington nationals t-shirt and jeans. The festival starts with a dinner ...

... here, along with track homes, traffic, and tree lined boulevards. Even Kathmandu, different and culture shocking as it was, was at its heart a city like any other. The world is a smaller place than it seems, I tell ya... Anyways, I ordered some kind of Chinese chicken dish, it was yummy, and Ary not surprisingly footed the bill against my three attempts to pay it. Now it was time to get me to the bus station to catch my bus to Mt Bromo, via Probolingo. Ary got ...

... that most of them have been doing this job for years; the longest was 30 years. The youngest one was only 26 years old (my age) and he has been doing it for only 5 months and he is working to provide for his family, his wife and 4-year-old child. This job is literally is a backbreaking labor. Their hands were rough and black from handling the sulfur and their face and even eyelashes were covered with yellow soot. The workers would carry two sets of baskets. They would fill ...

... and make visibility nil. Nil visibility makes it hard to get out of the ship before your air runs out. At Tulamben, we also saw a spectacular sunrise. TRANSPORTATION Getting around the island was really easy. There were two bus companies that had regular schedules and went everywhere we wanted to go. The buses usually were not air-conditioned, but the breeze from the windows helped. For local transportation, there are "bemos", equivalent to ...

... Canadian from Montreal (Charlie and Lewis's favourite) in the near-to-collapse hostel I'm staying in has befriended me. He works (tree planting) in the summer in Canada and then uses his earnings to travel in the winter. He has no home in Canada, no home anywhere. Seems like a lonely life to me, he seems quite lonely. Probably why he talks so much. Everything is too polluted, too Western, no equality, too Globalised ...