The Regent Jakarta

... for a week was a treat I can tell you! Keep the eyes and mouth firmly closed!

And so now I'm here in Jakarta after a week on Java. I saw a fantastic sunrise and climbed a live volcano called Mount Bromo, I went to the largest Buddha temple in the world, Borobudur, and to some other fairly impressive temples too I must say. The natural sights are SOO impressive, the scenery of rice paddies and palm trees and volcanoes is different to ...

... nights we stayed at Istana Ratu which is extremely nice and clean but its right next to several mosques, so if you can sleep thru 4:30am prayers being blasted into your room it's a great place to stay, breakfast is included and you need to get there early because they shutdown early. We did come back to our room and our door was open, we found out the cleaning staff went in after we told them not to but everything was where it should be. We went down to ...

... daun singkong - Belajar membuat layang ...

... price altought rosso a quality is betterno wine list by glass ( this is the problem in jakarta to find wine!!!!)impepata di cozze e vongole was not very tasty ( and vongole almost not found...) and mussels probable from indonesia or australia ( you can recongnize from light green shell) not tasty at all.risotto with asparagi gamberi e basilico: not bad tasty and little spicy but rosso's risotto was bettergreat great limoncello!!!!!price pretty cheapbill around 250.000 rp tex ...

... although that's quicly either receeding or going grey!) I'm also one of the tallest people around - quite a nce feeling, although people do tend to stare... Is this how you feel all the time Jason?!? :o) We then went for a local wander around, taking in some of the shops and also a club called MD's - karaeoke etc - so not for me (at least not sober!) so after enjoying some of the local sights and sounds (as well as being stared at for being the only white man in ...

... Australian govn't have on the do not visit there, since the 2005 bombings in Bali. It's very strong Muslim, almost the national religion, especially Java. SO i asked Yudi if he'd be interested in going to Bali with me. He wasn't making much money currently selling cell phones, and had a friend of a friend in Bali, that might be able to help him find something there, that would be better. So he said, "Sure!" After all of the stuff we dealt with buying ...

... mummified corpse. The keepers too looked Papua-ish but outside, where the souvenirs were sold was an elderly Papua guy in loincloth, feathers, painted and all carving a wooden item. We took a picture of him for RM2. Stopped for a drink - Husnul seemed to have wilted away. Next house which I wanted to see was the North Sulawesi tribe or the Toraja famous for their corpses stored in caves by the mountainside. But it was disappointing. The house seemed pretty normal - furniture seemed ...

... either....OH, did I just throw that in there? but yeah, it should be a cool experience and I'll take some pictures and write about it of course. I have 10 days off from school, so I might be out of connection for awhile, but that should leave quite a nice long blog when I get back. Until then......PEACE! nate p.s. I will try to get some pics of the kids and students soon too, and of course me in my snazzy dress clothes with Lumberg-style coffee cup and dry erase markers....

... to p*ss us off he dropped us just outside the city centre, about 6km after all the public transport had finished for the day. Grumbling and using many profanities we tried in vain to flag a taxi but even this was a struggle and we had to ask a lady to help us, who actually looked at us like we were going to mug her or steal her child. But all worked out in the end. We are off to another big volcano next...