Masih lebih untuk datang--(still more to come)

<Having fun with Google Translate!>


Kami telah rumah selama lebih dari seminggu sekarang dan itu masih sulit dipercaya. Bahkan menjadi kembali bekerja dengan terlalu banyak hal untukdilakukan di sana adalah kenangan sehari-hari orang, tempat, dan petualangan.

Kami secara perlahan bekerja pada memperbarui blog untuk menambahkan informasi lebih lanjut dan foto juga. Ada beberapa topik baru seperti Kredit Karbon yang perlu ditambahkan juga. Saya menemukan diri saya masih mencoba untuk mencari tahu situasi lalu lintasdi sana dan melihat banyak orang lain telah juga. Berikut adalah beberapa videolalu lintas sepeda motor.


 Tinggal dicari, lebih untuk datang!



We have been home for over a week now and that's still hard to believe.  Even being back at work with too many things to do there are daily memories of people, places, and adventures. I find myself still trying to figure out the traffic situation there and see lots of others have been as well. Here's some video of motorbike traffic.

Another creative food cart

We are slowly working on updating the blog to add more information and photos too. There are some new topics like Carbon Credit that need to be added too.

Breakfast & Kopi Memories

Stay tuned, more
to come!

Back on the ground

We headed back home with a heavy heart and mixed feelings about leaving our friends and family in Indonesia at the end of our incredible trip there. Although it was extremely hard to leave, we also missed our family and friends back home. We arrived back in San Francisco after over 19 hours in the air starting Thursday afternoon in Jakarta then on to Singapore for a short stop, Hong Kong with a rushed change of planes, and home to SF. Singapore Airlines treated us well overall; we had time for three dinners, ice cream for dessert, and Laurie even managed to collect more playing cards.

Ellie and Theo picked us up at SFO and drove us home in great style. It was great to see them again. And, somehow, all of this travel took place in a single day...we were home 5 hours after we left, after 19 hours on the plane.

Nana took time off from work to see us off

Dale & Laurie saying goodbye to "home"
(Iin and Reza's house in Jakarta)

Reza, Iin, Reza's mom, and Nana took us to the Airport

Nana rode with the luggage to make sure it arrived

Last meal on this trip at the airport coffee shop. 

Creative packing to get the Bali Starling
painting home (it worked)

Laurie will miss Reza's mama very much.

(not) Ready to go

Our baggage increased over the 5 weeks of the trip.

Our bags are packed and ready to go. We fly back this afternoon after five amazing weeks that have gone too quickly as we look back on the people we've met and places we've been in this too brief introduction to this diverse and incredible country.

We leave with much sadness at leaving behind so many new friends and people we consider family now. They have given us help and warmth and love as we stumbled about.

We aren't saying goodbye, only "see you later." We have many more things to do when we return and the list keeps growing as we learn more about Indonesia. Lien kali!

Last supper

We had a slower day at Reza and Iin's home relaxing and getting organized to fly home tomorrow. I think everyone was ready for some down time after all the activities of the last few days. Plus we were feeling melancholy about leaving.

In the afternoon we headed back into Jakarta traffic. We made our way to a large older shopping mall that consists of two connected tall buildings. Inside, there were more small shops squeezed into at least 6 floors. No space was wasted as I found when I tried to take a break on a small plastic stool and quickly determined that this was someone's "shop" with a tray of snacks and drinks tucked into a tiny space next to the stool.

We agreed it would be impossible to count the number of shops in this place. Many of them seemed to duplicate each other and I don't think I've ever seen so many watches, shoes, or shirts. Reza's mom is an excellent shopper who patiently examines each item she pulls from the rack before deciding on her bulk purchase. With 15 grandchildren, she has a lot of shopping to do. Laurie was also working from a list of gifts to take back. She's done a fine job of that too, only limited by our luggage space and the 23 kilo per bag (and 2 bags per person) limit we are held to.

After hours of shopping in this complex place we met with Nana and Eko and all packed into Reza's van (Nana and Eko in the very back) to head for another great dinner. Parking is a limiting factor and much creativity is needed to solve it. Reza is a master at this and we arrived in fine style.

Out on the town for our last night in Jakarta.

Reza presents another mathematical puzzle. No one got
the right answer.

Butterfly time in Bandung!

We've finally had a chance to visit Bandung, which we've heard much good about since Nana was in Stockton 12 years ago. Reza and Iin took us up there along with Reza's mom who is also visiting now. We stayed at Iin's Aunt Dia's house and were shown a great time including food, fun, family, friends and much more. This large city is 2 or 3 hours from Jakarta and over 1000 meters higher in elevation with more forgiving temperatures and traffic as we learned on this trip.

We arrived late afternoon yesterday and visited Dia's restuarant for another delicious Padang meal. We've only had delicious meals the entire nearly 5 weeks we've been in Indonesia now. Afterwards, we went over to the home we'd be staying at to unpack and rest before setting out to find a butterfly park there.

Family dining in Bandung

The butterfly park proved to be very difficult to find and by the time we got there a very hard rain had arrived too. The butterflies were smart enough to seek cover so we did too as we headed back on a new route over the mountain and found just how narrow a two lane road can be. In this case the road was also quite steep and the rain came down quite hard as we pressed on to find our way back home.

We had quite a memorable time including some backtracking but eventually got back to town and had a great meal at a roadside stand, one of thousands we've passed in our travels here. We feasted on bbq corn with special seasoning and several other dishes we've never had yet in spite of our efforts to eat our way through Indonesia! We also stopped at a great roadside fruit stand and loaded up with many tasty items for sharing and breakfast the next day. After a stop at Dia's home we went back to her old house where we were staying the night.

BBQ Corn street vendor style!

Iin shopping for fruit

Dinner at another great place to eat
(the English menu was hilarious--we made photos of every page)

I think I know this guy...

Today started early, at least for Dina and the others living at the house (don't remember everyone's names), who prepared and served a large and tasty breakfast before Dina headed off to cook again at Dia's restaurant.

Fabulous family breakfast of nasi goreng, mei goreng,
perkadel (Laurie's favorite!), ayam goreng, and much more

We headed out early to visit the nearby IBM building shaped as a sundial which is home of some great science exhibits and we enjoyed testing our skills and powers of deduction there.

Making water dance

Reza levitating

We next headed back for the butterfly park before the rains got there again and eventually re-discovered it. We had the place nearly to ourselves for hours. We enjoyed many species we've never seen and managed to even photograph a few. Don't know the names, though, and the people there didn't have any books or lists on species. We were also offered some plant cuttings. This outing was a first for everyone in our group so we were happy to give them the excuse to visit the park.

Butterfly garden view

Dia, Mama Reza, and Iin taking cuttings from the flowers.
They gave us hats to wear when we bought the tickets.

Two hats are better than one

A beautiful butterfly

Huge walking leaf insect!

Just emerged

Giant walking stick insect

A great day at the butterfly park!

We headed back on a different route and enjoyed a tasty meal downtown before going shopping in a large traditional marketplace where we made a few great purchases along with lots of "windowless" shopping and turning a few heads. Several more hours were spent running errands around town by "mobile" (auto) before we headed back to say goodbye for now.

Heading down to Jakarta traffic was heavy on the tollroad but we made it with some creative Indonesian style driving by Reza. Normal driving here includes many things that would shock and amaze US drivers like us. Trust me on that.

We got back into Jakarta around 7 and headed for one of the biggest malls in the city where Reza's brother was celebrating his birthday as well as that of his young son. We were welcomed into this family party and had an unforgettable time with three generations of the extended family. We stayed long enough to close out the mall which has to be a first for me and certainly made Nana proud even though she missed the party due to a 5 plus hour global video conference at her office. I don't miss things like that to say the least but I am beginning to think a little about work now that our trip is in the last few days.

Tomorrow we plan to have a slower day and spend time trying to pack our now bulging suitcases and determine how our trip to the airport will go the following day. There may be some last minute shopping or other surprises I suspect.

The household is nearly quiet now as I type this after the long day and hard driving we did. The TV is on and Reza's mom "watches" a program while resting on a mattress in the living room. It's been quite a day again...

Plan B today!

We spent some long hours today in Jakarta traffic with Nana driving, Iin paying tolls and navigating and Laurie and I "enjoying" the ride.

It was well worth it too as we joined a family wedding for Koko's wife Ayu's sister today. This friendly wedding was held at home & partially in the street & allowed us to meet family and friends, visit with Koko who was sick during our last visit, and enjoy more great Padang food.

When we headed home the plan was to pick up roast duck (Bebek) for everyone but traffic delays caused us to miss out as the place closed before we arrived. No worries, we drove on to another family favorite Padang spot where we were finally able to treat after Nana and Iin supervised the selection of dishes for each of us which were then wrapped in banana leaves and paper. We had another feast and struggled to finish the big portions.

We also got a good look at the large University of Indonesia where Obama recently spoke. This event is often mentioned when we tell people we are from America. The campus looks impressive and well appreciated with lots of students and others enjoying the many grounds we saw. This place looks worth further investigation "lien kali". I spotted a solar facility in front of one of the buildings too, one of the few times I'm seen solar panels here even though the conditions seem ideal for more.

We are sitting around now listening to the hard rain that has started again while we twitter about the day and wait for Eko to return from his off-shore weekend work project.

A good plan implemented today.

Note the large squid on my "plate" Yum!

A feathered friend

Caged owl at art gallery

We met this fellow (a barred eagle owl?) up close at an art gallery of all places yesterday. We were heading to Denpasar from Ubud and on to Jakarta. We picked a nice Bali Starling painting unexpectedly that will hopefully survive the rest of our travels as well as it did yesterday.

Unfortunately many of our bird encounters here have been in similar abstract form. One possible plan has us visiting a butterfly park tomorrow and maybe the botanical garden in Bogor again too?

Our new Bali Starling painting

Jakarta bound today

It's been a great time in Bali with lots of memories of the things we've seen and people we've met. There is lots more to see and do but it will have to be "lain kali" (another time) for that.

This morning was a quiet family holiday in Bali with the streets quiet and many fresh offerings on display. We enjoyed the chance to stroll about and take it in after packing up for our Lion flight back to Jakarta to spend more time with our Indonesian family before heading home on Thursday. Tomorrow we have a family wedding to go to there too. Tonight we also needed to root Manchester on for an important match that decides their position for the playoffs.

Our Bali/Jakarta flight was delayed slightly but we arrived to the very warm sight of Nana, Reza, and Iin all waiting to greet us. Our ride home was a happy one with lots of catching up from the last three weeks. We stopped briefly along the way at a mosque and then on to a roadside stand to pick several "ripe" durian for sampling during the game. The rain and thunder returned in full force while we bought several durian and it followed us home and appeared to linger directly overhead during dinner and the soccer match. Both dinner and the game were great and we'll take some credit for the easy time Manchester had with their hated Liverpool rivals!

Durian was a new experience too during as the smell of this large prickly fruit reminds some people of rotting garbage or onions. It was unusual to say the least but not too bad once you got past the smell.

Durian shopping on Jakarta street tonight

It's been quite a day again and it's good to be back among family. Tomorrow will be more of the same with a wedding included!

Quiet Bali Street

Mystery Plant in flower at Mata Hari

Bali Holiday offerings

More offerings

Enjoying the quiet scene in Ubud

Very quiet morning!

A Million Here, a Million There

Today I took out over two million from the ATM; tomorrow I will pay a hotel bill of over three million. Easy come, easy go. Not only is this an inexpensive country to travel in, but the exchange rate is a phenomenal 9000 rupiah to 1 dollar. It's easy to get lost in all those zeros so, like Indonesian people, we learn the bills by color. The red bills are the largest denomination: 100,000 rupiah, or about 10 dollars. It's fun to be a millionaire for the month. I'll miss all those zeros when we get home.

Counting out rupiahs to pay the hotel bill.

Retro Rides seen in Ubud too

Jakarta traffic comes from all directions

Back street traffic in Bali

Transportation is a top priority here and elsewhere in Indonesia. Japanese motor bikes are cheap and I've noticed many that are tricked out for speed or status including tuned exhausts, racing handle bars, decals and paint and some high tech shock absorber boosters for the rough roads driven. Most of the cars driven seem to be small Asian imports, minivans for commercial transport ("taxi"?) or small trucks.

The loads carried and creative uses of these vehicles is an amazing scene as is the way the all seem to merge at intersections and traffic congestion with seemingly minimal use of brakes and constant forward motion and passage through impossible tiny openings. Another creative use is providing instant to any tourist who happens by ("Taxi?" or "Transport?" are the two most common phrases heard on the street followed closely by "Not today? How about tomorrow?")

Hopping on & off a scooter is handy

Suzuki, Jeep, or Harley as the decal says? You decide

There are also some more unusual or "retro" rides seen cruising around or occupying prime parking spaces like these two...

Retro wheels seen in Ubud

Still more to do as we keep up the pace...

As of today, we have one week left in Indonesia. We have mixed feelings about that for sure. The time has gone quickly as big trips like this always do but at the same time it feels like we have had a very rich and full time here. We have met so many great people and seen so many amazing places. We've also identified many other things that will need to stay on our "to do" list for our next visit. We've also made many contacts we hope to maintain.


Meanwhile, there is still much that we can still do. Today was a good example. We re-connected with Dewa who is related to one of the hosts at the Mata Hari cottages we are staying at. He drove us around the region yesterday and offered to do the same today with a list of ideas that he could serve as our guide for. We took him up on that and hired him for the day again.


Our day started at a famous old temple in Ubud. We were surprised at the size and age of the place as Dewa gave us history and meaning behind the many statues and features we identified. Among others, the ancient Elephant Cave had many old carvings on the exterior and when you walked inside you couldn't help but wonder how many feet had smoothed the stone floors for centuries before you. We also enjoyed hiking down to a quiet waterfall that included huge rocks with carvings of Budda. This place is visited often by those seeking quiet meditation and to wash with the holy water that pulses from the hillside. This was a great experience.

ancient pools that replaced even older ones

Elephant Cave

Huge Temple Tree

Laurie tries holy water

Dale puts new Crocs to work

Quiet Pool & Huge carved rocks

Next stop was part way up the mountain where we visited a coffee tasting plantation that included many native plants in an excellent garden that took the place of the Bali Botanical Gardens we won't be able to visit this trip. The coffees and teas available for tasting were excellent and included Luwak coffee which is produced by civet-cat digestion. We were able to meet the host and sample the product which is extremely expensive and quite rich in taste. The coffees are hand roasted and ground and Bali coffee is clearly quite special. Fortunately we were able to purchase some products to share when we get home.

Bali Coffee

Dewa making music

Laurie roasting Bali coffee

Famous Luwak Coffee

Civet Cat making Luwak coffee

Luwak Coffee beans & scat

Luwak taste test!

Civet Cat resting

We also made a quick shopping stop and found exactly what Laurie was looking for with Dewa's help and knowledge of the area. From there we continued up the mountain and enjoyed cooler temperatures on this mostly cloudy day that included some light rain. At the top we found a considerable amount of produce for sale along with a number of cafes and restaurants that were taking advantage of the views of a large lake and recently active volcano. We had lunch at one with outdoor seating high above the ground and Laurie's comfort zone where we had a fine buffet lunch and watched the rain blow across the lake while the sun was shining on the lava flows closer to us. Amazing view. We then took the back way down the mountain and into Ubud with some good looks at the farming and wood carving activities the area is known for. 

Volcano lunch view & high above the ground

Mountain market produce

We were back in time to head down for an appointment at the Visa Extension office we've been working with to get an extension and allow us to stand beyond the standard 30 days. This had always been our plan but upon arrival we were quickly schooled on the complexity and issues with getting a visa extension. Fortunately we found this small specialized business on our earlier stop in Bali and we worked with them to start the process in the middle of several big Bali holidays. Today we found that our passports had been returned with the necessary extensions stamped into them and we're OK to be in Indonesia until March 10th! I wish that were possible but we only have a week to go and do really miss family and friends. We especially miss Elle and family and intend to jump right into babysitting those two little guys as soon as we return!


As if this wasn't enough to pack into a single day we picked up tickets for a Lagong dance performance and found it to be an excellent one. We also learned what happens if it rains during the performance. Things stop for a crazy moment or two and everyone is hustled across the street to an old structure with a roof. It was an excellent performance and a huge cast. Our day wasn't over yet as we had managed to leave without our umbrella but the need for it was real as we found just after we finished another great dinner out and took the longer quiet way back to our room. The warms rain drenched us but it felt good and hopefully won't be a setback for the cold Laurie's still trying to kick.

Temple scene

Legong Dance

Dancing

For tomorrow we could have a slower day but if we are up for it we've been invited to Dewa's home for a Bali breakfast. The day after tomorrow is the kuningan day ceremony, and staff at the Mata Hari are planning for us to go to the Tanah Lot temple and Taman Ayun temple (royal temple) where there will apparently be a day of ceremonies concluding at sunset. We don't have a lot of details yet but feel like this is an honor that has been offered to us. 


Things are rushing together quickly as we go over the remaining things we hoped to do. There is a request for us to return to Jakarta this weekend in time for another family wedding and so there'll be more time to visit. We will need to rush and see if we can make travel plans sooner than expected.