Quality Hotel Solo

... the equivalent of Sahid Kusuma.

Holidays are of course still on so there are many shops that are closed as well as tourist sites. I wanted to visit the Puri Mangkunegaran which is a place usually occupied by the second house but it was closed and I was told that the following day it would be open. So I went to see if I could get into the Rady Pustaka Museum but it was also closed. While I was there I decided to check out the Lonely Planet's ...

... journey, who can complain!)

Again, the kind Indonesians stepped up. Waiting for our train we sat at the station next to an older couple who spoke not a lick of English. Through the wonders of a phrase book we managed to have some limited conversation. Before the train even arrived to begin our journey they offered to take us to our hotel once we ...

... exciting as the Balinese dancing in Ubud, but cool in an entirely different way. Cool just to see who was there around me, and at what parts everyone laughed. I had wanted to sign up for a Batik-making course for tomorrow, but my favorite little restaurant (which runs this course) is closed today because it is Sunday so I can't sign up, so I suppose this means I will be off to Yogya tomorrow, where I hope this will also be possible!

... happy. I guess that I hope that this blog is read someday and it warms someone's heart. When it comes down to it, I do feel lucky. I do feel like I am living a fantasy, however my fantasy is rooted in reality and it comes with bad days and loneliness. But the days don't compare to the days that I feel so lucky and am absorbing this new world around me. Chris meets me before I become to absorb and we are headed to Solo ...

... like my 100.000 Ruphiah (7 Euro) lodge here with worn out mattresses and peeling paint may not be for everyone's taste. It was so hot and humid here today that walking around this now provincial town of Solo became quite a task. It felt like around 40 Centigrade. Fortunately I don't mind heat nor cold so much, but like everyone I was relieved when it finally started to drizzle and cool off a bit under the usual afternoon thundershower. Now enjoying a cool evening with intermittent ...

... Yogyakarta at 10pm tonight to start the climb to the summit for sunrise. I'm trying to do as many mountain treks as possible before I leave Indonesia. Australia is not renowned for it's big peaks, the biggest on the continent is Kosciusko just south of Canberra at a little over 2000 metres. I'll be climbing it of course, but it's suppose to be a walk in the park, there's even a cable car most of the way up. Trying to get my mountain fix ...

... tienda...hardly resembles a restaurant to my western eyes....and there's a sign identifying it as the snake place. After this point its all about the snake man. I see a bunch of snake heads on the floor next to a hatchet and above which is a bloody counter. Undoubtedly where the snakes have met their demise. Then the snake man, who's clearly in charge of everything including all the snakes, starts pulling cobras out of a wire cage...first one ...

... the ritual and colours. The constant stream of Chinese tourists to the bathroom is only a minor distraction. Back in the car, we head to various factory shops in and around the cultural centre of Ubud. Batik cloth, wood carving, silver smithing and painting are all important parts of the Balinese culture, and I get to look at some good examples. We carry on north of Ubud, uphill all the way to the lookout point at Kintamani. Situated on the edge of a large crater which shapes the ...

... around with Istana Griya sponsored shirts on and the guesthouse even has its own tour van, so it must be doing something right. We wandered up the main street and then dove out of the heat into a little place for lunch: a thin beef stew called "Rawen", served with rice; and the ubiquitous 'Gado-gado' for Rach which is basically vegetables smothered in peanut sauce. Come to think of it, I have a feeling R already told you ...

... airport we discovered we were flying on a subsidiary airline called "Wings"(a budget airline's budget airline?). The airplane had the slogan "fly is cheap" painted on the side. This was more amusing than disconcerting. Grammatically incorrect english signs are so common in Asia that we figured it was unlikely that poor grammatical ability equated poor mechanical ability. We arrived here safely and have done a variety of things so far. Two days ago we went to a ...