Hilton Jakarta

... radiates from them - it is fantastic. After buying a few more necessatioes I walked back - got some more nice food and did my laundry and uploaded my photos. Now today (15th) I got up late trying to improve my health by sleeping a bit, ate a very nice noodle breakfast and now I have caught up on a couple of weeks worth of this log. Now I have 5 hours till my train takes me out of here to Yogyakarta - chess anyone? :-)

... cultural heritage is fast disappearing. Our basic mud map didn't help us find a place to eat unfortunately, so we hopped in a becak to the train station and then caught a taxi. Finding a cool and clean restaurant we enjoyed a meal of sates, soto, rice and kangkung. Very fresh and popular with locals. After five hours out and about, we headed back to our hotel. We've eyed off what looks like a good padang restaurant, close to the bus terminal which we'll try tomorrow for lunch.  

... the destination. I was the only westerner on many of these buses, and the driver of the last one decided it was an opportune moment to make a bit of extra cash. After everyone else had disembarked, I started to sense that maybe things weren't as they seemed. He indicated that the only way I'd make it to the Volcano was if I stayed on his bus and he took me directly there. Along the way, he stopped alongside buses going in the ...

... restaurants ). The thing is: For us to travel to that restaurant, he has to take a completely different route from our itinerary, and it wastes our time a lot, we almost missed our next destination: Sunset in Tanah Lot. Man, that man really is a rodent! Well, luckily, we arrived just before Sunset in Tanah Lot. Tanah Lot is a temple built on Rocks, and it has a very good view. If you are with your spouse or your boy/girlfriend, come to the temple at +/- 4.30 PM to explore ...

... juice. Couldn't be dehydration. On the MRT ride back to the hostel, I began to feel faint and a bit queasy as well. Fearing the worst, I opened up the guidebook that I was gong through a rough patch with and searched the health section. "HEAT" bingo. It wasn't recommended to engage in strenuous physical activity (like walking across a city on foot) during your first few days in SE Asia, to give your body time to adapt to the unreal humidity. Since I failed to heed this ...

... boat. It's inland a good 100kms but on a river which, i assumed the ferry would chug on up, but at the ticket office the guy says something about a bus transfer. Yep, turned out he was right, everybody got off at the coast and jammed into these two pint size buses... Some days pedaling is really hard work, its sweaty and uncomfortable in the saddle and i watch jealously as other tourists woosh past in air cond buses in total comfort, arriving at their destinations hours before me ...

... see... Not too much other news- have started plans for a decentralised recycling project at work, which i think is going to be fantastic! Am also thinking about marketing some stuff that the sewing workshop produces to OxFam or fair trade shops overseas. I've attached some pics to get your opinion, so send it to me!! Have a good ANZAC day on Friday (especially to you nan) xxxx

... paintings of a Balinese nature. Fierce looking, grotesque stone statues were everywhere and the lighting was dim and candle-lit. Felt a bit spooky actually. But of course, the expatriates love it and the place catered for them. At one point, I said, "Geez.. this place is full of foreigners!" (I meant white people) when Dr Bambang Negruho told me, "Well, you are one too!!". Dinner was served in seashells and the mix grill was on a 1.5 metre long "perahu". The presentation was ...

... and started walking to find a cab. No Where. It was dark, the street I went down turned right and got even darker and narrower with people whispering "Bulay" amongst themselves and I was walking with my back to speeding traffic with 2 months "salary" in my short's pocket and only an open sewer to catch me if/when I got clipped by a side mirror. So I flagged down one of those Indian trike taxis and told the driver where I was ...

... On the way back we saw where we had been and it was such a beautiful walk through farmers hillside fields. they grow mostly potatoes up here but they don't eat them. they eat rice which they have to buy?! So, Paul and I went crazy with the potato ordering and had boiled potatoes for the first time in some months, and oh it was good. there is loads of geothermal activity up here as well so we wandered past an enormous pool of bubbling ...