The Jayakarta Bandung

... I tell her that the hotel has definitely reserved the seat for me and in fact the company had called the hotel back for a change of schedule. So they tell me there is a bus leaving at 5 pm and I tell them that is too late and ask them to phone the hotel to come and pick me up. Anyway there is a 15 -20 minute back and forth and all of a suddent the driver is showing up to pick me up within minutes!!! By 1:40 I am on the bus that has 1 ...

... and then I continued on to Cupu Manik puppet factory where of course they manufacture the puppets. All puppets here are handmade and handpainted. Quite interesting to observe the work in progress.

Bandung is alsoknown for its cultural performances and there was one at 3:30 today at Saung Angklung about 8 klm from the hotel. This place is very well known ...

... and started hunting for a decent hotel. Being that today is Friday, many hotels are booked or they are asking a week-end price which is at least 100,000 higher than during the week. After searching for a couple of hours, I finally get a room at Vue Palace Hotel for 455,000 incld. breakfast and it is the only hotel with wifi in the room. The room ...

Learned about the earthquake on Sumatra via email from the US. We didn't feel a thing and the locals don't complain to their guests, I guess.

We;re off to Bandung today. Very slow day, waiting for our ride. The route takes us thru Puncak Pass, a resort area for the locals. Its elevation makes it refreshing, but the traffic is a horror. On weekends it is so bad that commercial transport, like our mini bus, has to bypas it and take a long way around.

... an 8hr journey I arrived in Yogyakarta at 4am. I went to the backpacker area and after searching for 25 minutes crashed at one of the hostels, a bit expensive, 70000 rupiah (still under a fiver though). My time in Cianjur was enjoyable, the people were so nice and welcoming, however I wished I cuold have visited the school more and my perception of volunteering was altered as we basically chatted with students for a few hours for those 2 days. but I suppose I did volunteer to do ...

Posted are pics I took from the train window. I had intended to go to Bogor, but 8 1/2 hours of train ended in Bandung at 5:30 PM, and I had plenty of time to read up on this town on the train, so I thought I'd stay here a few days. When I first got to Bandung, everything went wrong. Taxi got "lost" and drove all over town to run up the meter. Restaurant tried to overcharge me. Hotel put me in a room with a 4' wide alley in front of it ...

... 80 000rupiaa ja siihen kuulu toasti-aamiainen. Ekan yon jalkeen tosin saatiin tarpeeks kun vessa ei toiminu kunnolla ja sanky oli aika hirvee myos. Ma olin jo aika taynna koko mustalaiselamaa ja ehdotin et hemmoteltais vahan itteemme ja mentais hienoon hotelliin mut loppujen lopuks vaihdettiin huonetta parempaan Moritzissa, tai no sellaseen missa vessa toimi ja sangyt ja fan oli hyvat. ;) Bandung ei kylla ollu matkan huippupaikkoja, likaset kadut ja kuolleen nakosia ...

... after this unexpected wake up call we were off to a traditional Muslim wedding which I was fortunate enough to score an invite to. The mosque truly was a spectacular sight, from the traditional dress to the hundreds of flowers; everything was done to absolute perfection in true elegance. I did my best to stay inconspicuous, but it's kind of hard when you are half a foot taller than everyone else, and the only one wearing a shirt that says "love 4 sale". At the conclusion ...

... asked if I'd be interested in coming in. He wants me to come in once a week or something, and teach his middle school English class. I don't really know what all that entails, but it sounds like a hoot, so I said that I'd love to. We'll see if anything comes of it...I left our phone number, so we'll see. After our trip to the orphanage we went to an "old folks home". The place had a split personality. The first part that we went into smelled like there was a ...

... not to giggle with the bloke standing next to me as I was set next to the world's noisiest and most frequent belcher...we're talking every other breath!!! Hilarious!!! May even have beat my husband????!!! We arrived in Bogor rather sweatily about 2 hours later and tried to find the Botanical Gardens which ended up being quite alot further away than we thought! Mmmm we love humidity! It was worth it as the gardens were lovely (with its very own colony of bats) and ...