Horrible Virgin Flight

Home again and already homesick! However my homesickness began with my first step onto the virgin aircraft as we discovered that the 3 of us had been split up. Both Bec & i had window seats behind each other and Kate had an aisle seat 2 seats back. I spoke to the steward about it as we were boarding and she promised to look into it after everyone had sat down. It was obvious she had either forgotten or had no intentions of following it up when nothing more was done about it and then we were well and truly airborne. So as soon as the seat belt sign was off, i raced to the toilet (2 for the entire economy class!) via the kitchen where i was told that as i had been the 139 passenger to check in out of 200 it wasn't surprising! What absolute crap. He then finished with saying that i would have to organise a seat change myself if i wanted to sit next to Bec. At that point i was so furious and upset with their lack of care that i sooo wished i had the guts to stand at the front of the plane and take them up on their suggestion by using a loud teacher voice to ask if anyone would mind swapping seats with me so I can sit with my unwell daughter and also include an explanation of why i am doing it instead of one of the useless stewards. But instead i returned to my seat and fumed.
Then it was meal time. Seated towards the back of the flight we were all told that just about everything had sold out Cheese and cracker packets like kids take to school were 2 for $5!
But the worst thing about this flight was the total lack of entertainment available. No screens and no earphones. Absolutely nothing. How ridiculous for a daytime flight!
It was certainly cattle class for those of us in economy.

Heading Home To Australia

We are on the flight home after a lovely relaxing morning. A much better option than the horrible midnight flight we have always done in the past.
I woke up early this morning at 5:30 & my first thought was that i will have to get used to this next week! Decided that it was too early and slept for another hour. We all then got dressed and walked down to the Kuta Pasar Pagi - Kuta Morning Markets. Not far from our hotel, only 10 mins, and lovely being out and about so early while the traffic is reasonably quiet. The pasar was in full swing with most people buying their goods in large quantities which made me guess that it was hotel staff doing most of the shopping and only a few shopping for their families. Probably the family shopping had been completed much earlier so it could be done before work. I found a couple of places which only sold bananas and took some more photos. I found pisang tanduk (horn bananas), pisang hijau (green bananas) and pisang raja ( king bananas).
We then headed back to the hotel for our last breakfast in Bali. I would've loved a swim but once again, the water was way too cold. Instead I paid my hotel bill which included the $50.00 phone bill to my credit union to unfreeze my card. Expensive phone call but well worth it.
Our hotel included free airport transfer which was great. Back again to Ngurah Rai Airport which is undergoing major renovations. Hopefully it all will be finished by late next year! Massive multi story carparks being built just like in Adelaide! After the beautiful new international airport in Lombok, Ngurah Rai is looking very shabby.
Goodbye Indonesia. Looking forward to being back real soon.
Sampai Jumpa...

Friday, last day in Bali @ Cozy

Have spent the morning shopping. Started at Discovery Mall which is a newer version of Galleria with all the same shops although more expensive.
Now we are relaxing at Cozy; about to treat ourselves to a facial and creme bath.
We began at 3pm and finished at 6:30! Three and a half hours of pure relaxing. Can highly recommend Cozy2 on Jln Sunset.

Surf Shop Outlets, Jln Sunset, Bali

Following 2 teenagers along Jln Sunset as they search for bargains!
Remembering when this was a dirt road with the most impressive potholes that truly tested the suspension in all my rental cars!

Tuban, Bali: Financial Advice For Travellers

We checked out of the Hotel Ohana yesterday straight after breakfast. We'd chosen a new hotel from Agoda that we liked the look of and had 50% off so we made a booking.
We drove to the Quest Hotel which isn't far, still in Tuban. However they didn't have our booking and i still hadn't received the booking confirmation email, so we headed out to Simpang Siu to shop while waiting.
I can't believe the change at Galleria. So much more upmarket now and full of western and very rich Indonesian tourists. Prices too have risen but the variety is better. Found an amazing shop which sold everything and reminded me of Big W, but with much more class! As usual, Graemedia shone and i had a ball going through the books available there for Indonesian students. Found a couple of really great books on the bargain table and ran into the Mann's! Great minds etc.
At 2pm, we met up at Starbucks for its free wifi where i discovered an email saying my paypal payment for the hotel booking had been declined.
Herein lies the information i wish to warn all potential overseas travelers about: notify your bank before you travel overseas! My credit card was frozen after my 3rd ATM withdrawal and this has been incredibly frustrating. I acknowledge the security aspect but wish i'd known about it before i travelled. Luckily i am traveling in a large group and also that i put a bit of money on my travelers cash card before leaving Aust and that i can still transfer money into it via internet banking. However there is a 1-4 day clearance time! My first payment took 4 days, my 2nd took 1 day and the 3rd 2 days! I transferred some money in yesterday and have my fingers crossed it goes through today as i have only $19 left and have to pay car rental today and a hotel bill to pay on Saturday.
2 hours later.....
I bit the bullet and rang my credit union in Australia and after about half an hour on hold, verified my identity and then was put straight through to ASC who unblocked my card instantly. My visit to a nearby ATM reintroduced me to the lovely sound of money being counted inside and then being delivered through the slot. How sweet the sound!

Back in Bali

On the flight home to Bali last night, bec & i decided that driving out to Negara at night in the rain was a really dumb idea, so using the iPad as a gps, we headed to Tuban to find a hotel that had a hot bath. The first hotel we found is the Hotel Ohana in Kuta and the girls ran in while i stayed in the car. They were doubly delighted to not only discover a bath in the bathroom but also that the room was only Rp600,000 - $60.
Hotel Ohana is a very new hotel with mainly Indonesian guests and only a few bule and the provided breakfast is nasi goreng, mie goreng and watermelon. There seem to be only 8 rooms and luckily we have one of the bottom rooms as it is now pouring and has been most of the night. The floor everywhere is wet and slippery and the roof in the kitchen is leaking. I am sitting in the breakfast area overlooking the pool which would only get about an hour of sun which explains why it is soooo cold! The breakfast area is an open area adjoining a kitchen. Two of the 4 tables here are unusable with the rain but luckily there is also a lovely upstairs area overlooking the pool where people can also eat.
Last night we went to a place set up like warung murah but is for locals and we discovered why it was called nasi pedas! For Rp14,000/$2, we had a plate of absolutely beautiful food but it was soooo pedas/spicy. We all struggled with it and thank goodness they sold water too. Would highly recommend this warung for the experience however i recommend you taste it before accepting sambal! Nasi pedas is on Jln raya kuta at the Tuban end.
I also bought martabak for the girls to try. It was just as yummy as i remember however i'd forgotten just how oily it is. I'd love to return to the kaki lima tonight and film the lovely Javanese man from Semarang making it. First he made a huge 40cm crepe which he fried till puffed up like a pappadam and then he put an omelet mixture in the very centre. Next he folded the crepe over the egg/ shallot mixture like an envelope to make a rectangle the size of my iPad. This was then fried until golden brown, then sliced into 8 pieces. It was absolutely delicious; especially the crunchy edge pieces.

Tuesday, Nusa Alam School, Montong, Lombok

As we had time this morning, thinking that we didn't have to get to school by any particular time, we accepted the bemo offer to take us to Nusa Alam for Rp10,000 for all 3 of us! Two elderly women caught it soon after us and chatted to us the entire way. I loved the way the more chatty one of the 2 women constantly referred to herself as 'Bibi'(aunty). Made me wonder if she was unmarried.
The bemo took us right to Nusa Alam's door which is down a lane way off the main road! After signing in, in the visitors book, we headed straight to Febi's room where students were preparing to head out for a primary assembly. Fantastic that we were in time for it. I was able to do quite a bit of filming which i hope works out as each class was asked to stand so it gives a good picture of the number of students in each class.
After assembly was an English lesson which i missed because i was really keen to get some video footage of the baruga. Luckily Derek was there for a while and i was able to video him teaching physics in it with some senior students.
At recess i had fun in the yard filming students playing and filmed an alphabet game played by small groups. Students were amazed to hear that some Australian schools and universities provide iPad's for all students!
After recess, Febi gave us all her students so we had about 40 mins to do some filming. I did some kenalkans and had 3 students also work together to say subjects in Indonesian and then say which is their favorite subject. So much we wanted to do but still the students were so cooperative and helped us even though it was difficult in front of the camera. Looking forward to finishing the videos and then sharing them with Diane & Febi through the dropbox.
After this Sharon & i spent half an hour in the senior prep class (receptions in their 2nd six months) observing a letter land lesson. This class are now at school for a whole day so they were very tired and hungry during this lesson which finished at midday!
After a quick thank you to everyone at Nusa Alam who had in many ways made our time their sooo enjoyable, we caught a taxi back to the hotel where we finished packing and headed off to the airport via Sukarara, a traditional weaving village.
There we observed several women sitting on a small deck with looms on their laps, weaving original designs. It was well set up for tourists because not only could we watch them, but we were also encouraged to have a go. Kelsey and Kate both had a go. It gave us an opportunity to ask questions too. Apparently it takes a week to just set the loom up and then depending on the size of what is to be woven (sarong/tablecloth/wall hanging) it takes from 2-5 weeks to weave just one article. I bought some wall hangings: one for Elizabeth and one for myself. Feel like i paid way too much but i really liked them and interestingly enough at the next place i learned that the 2 i bought are made from pineapple leaf fibre!
As we still had quite a lot of time till we had to be at the airport, we asked the drivers to take us somewhere else to look at woven baskets. We were taken to a huge building which sold all sorts of things and out the back were several people doing batik. One girl was penciling a design onto material while another was using a cap to wax over designs with melted wax refilling her cap from a pot of hot wax heating on a kerosene stove down by her feet.
While there were many interesting photo opportunities we took advantage of, nobody bought anything here.
We got to the airport with heaps of time thankfully because Garuda had only processed one of the 2 bookings. Seems they are having a few issues with this part of their website. They claimed the booking timed out yet from our end it was all processed even to the point where Sharon received an email with booking numbers! Thankfully this happened at the brand new Lombok airport where we had a very lovely young guy, Wawan, who bent over backwards sorting it all out while simultaneously dealing with all the other problems that arose. He patiently and politely dealt with it with Sharon & i following him around asking questions! I was so impressed with his efficiency and courtesy. With about half an hour till boarding, the bags were loaded and finally boarding passes issued. What a relief. Unfortunately all remaining oleh-oleh were in the suitcases!
Thus ended our time in Lombok with Febi and the fantastic staff and students at Nusa Alam.

Monday - Sekolah Nusa Alam, Montong, Lombok

After a very quick breakfast, we stood by the road outside Windy's waiting for a bemo. When one didn't arrive, we walked up the road more to escape the smoke from the rubbish being burnt in the roadside ditch and discovered just around the corner a bunch of taxi's in what looked like a rest area.
Unfortunately we arrived at school
just as the whole school assembly finished and felt terrible when Derek said he'd hoped to introduce us to everyone!
We headed straight to Febi and Dianne's room where the 6's were seated at tables and the 5's were on the floor. There are about 12 students of each.
Interestingly though, it was the boys who contributed the most in class and the girls who looked unconnected. One girl in particular was off in her own world and when Dianne talked later about how difficult it is to teach science using an inquiry approach because some students are so passive, i could see what she meant.
Before we knew, it was recess. After recess Dianne worked with the 6's and Febi did a civics lesson with the 5's. Once she had introduced what they'd be doing this term, she handed the students over to us and we each took a couple to do some filming with them. I tried my keluarga dialogue hoping to show Aussie students how multicultural Nusa Alam student backgrounds are. Sharon did a school tour while Ann focused on personal pronouns.
Afterwards on the way to observe Febi teaching a ICT lesson, we fluked an opportunity to speak a little more with Derek. He reiterated how keen he is to utilise skype as a means for both his and our students to communicate. It is wonderful that he is so interested in continuing the links between our schools.
During the ICT lesson i showed the students the "lupa, lupa ingat" video that is on the PEPS website. They loved even though there was no sound available in the ICT room yet. Hopefully they'll download it again at home and enjoy it more completely after school.
Then it was lunch time already! The morning had gone by so quickly. We stopped by a warung where Sharon and Annie enjoyed a veg nasi campur for lunch. I was very tempted as it included gudeg (jackfruit curry) but had felt queasy all morning so didn't want to risk eating. Apparently it was delicious but i think we were charged the tourist price: Rp9,000 ($1.20).
We came back to Windy's via bemo - which we all agreed is the best way to travel. Not only is it significantly cheaper than taxi (Rp5,000 vs Rp30,000), but it is also a great way to talk to people. When we hopped on, the bemo was choker block full of SMP kids going home from school. Soon afterwards all but 1 hopped off and we then had fun talking and filming him and the old fellow that remained on the bemo. Luckily for us, the bemo driver stopped at a bengkel to pump up the tires, change a tire and fill up with fuel, so we had the perfect window in which to film.
All up, it was a great day and reinforced for me just how I miss living and working in Indonesia. So much opportunity to collect resources for Australian students studying Indonesian.

Sunday, Mataram, Lombok

Playing cards and enjoying kelapa mudah and mango juice in a small warung on the street next to the Mataram Mall for lunch.
The Padang food in the window looks great - coconut shreds, tempeh, pecel vegetables, fried fish and chicken and eggs. Could seriously be tempted with the non meat options for lunch; it looks so yummy. What do you think?

The Mann-sion @ Windy Beach Cottages

The Mann's have moved into their new room which is a 2 story cottage. Double bed & verandah upstairs & 2 single beds & bathroom & verandah downstairs. Both verandahs looking straight towards the beach!

Saturday, Sekolah Nusa Alam, Montong, Lombok

Here i sit at the breakfast table with a Lombok coffee on a very brisk dry season morning. It is quite chilly for me which is a worry because this time next week i will be back in winter weather!
Our time yesterday morning at Seklolah Nusa Alam began at 9 where we met the new principal, Derek Pugh, on the steps to the front office. We briefly explained the history to our connection with Nusa Alam and then even more briefly outlined what our plans were while at Nusa Alam and again apologised about the timing - being there for the first 2 days of the school year!
We then headed towards the new senior building towards the back of the school while Febi quickly pointed out classrooms. Half way through the school, we had to step aside for a stream of elderly local men arriving for the selamatan (blessing ceremony), almost all wearing peci's (muslim hats). We then met two of the 4 original founders, Pak Peter, and his wife whose name i've forgotten. After chatting briefly, we headed upstairs to the classroom where many people were already seated cross legged on carpet on the floor with their backs to the walls and others too forming an inner circle. Most there were men and the only women were the indonesian and white staff.
As i was one of the last to arrive, i sat with my back to everyone in the inner circle and felt very uncomfortable. I can not cross my legs and so was sitting sidewards with my soles facing those behind me. Thankfully Febi was also sitting like this but it didn't help my unease. I wondered if i should be sitting holding my legs so my feet were flat on the floor but it didn't feel right so i remained as i was.
I'd asked Febi about filming during the ceremony and been given the ok however with my back to everything, it was too awkward. I did pan the teachers who were seated along the wall in front of me and got a little footage of the imam intoning from the koran.
It was absolutely lovely listening to the imam and watching the locals gesturing appropriately or echoing what sounded like the anglican 'glory be to god' equivalent. I especially loved the background noises of the ducks softly quacking in the rice field behind us and the occasional rooster crowing.
Towards the end of the selamatan Febi was told that some visitors had arrived and guessing it to be Sandy & Peter, i followed Febi out and we headed back to the front office where Sandy & Peter were waiting.
By the time we had left the office, the selamatan was finished and the stream of men was in reverse and they were all carrying a plastic bag of food and drink.
We then wandered back to Feb's classroom which is in the new block and is new in that it existed before but without walls as it was more like a verandah. So now it is closed in with a connecting door to the next classroom.
There we met Dianne, Febi's team teacher, who thankfully was very relaxed about us spending time with her on Monday & Tuesday. We talked about observing lessons with different year levels and attending the whole school assembly on Monday and then withdrawing their entire class of 12 year 5 students (4 students each) to borrow for 50 mins or so to film some kenalkans and a school tour on Tuesday.
We also met the JP principal, Ibu Eni, who has kindly agreed for one of us to observe her teach a senses science lesson to a kindy class Monday afternoon although she did warn us that this lesson could be disrupted if students are not coping! Reminds me of teaching receptions last lesson on the first day of school!
We then left Dianne in peace to get her head around sorting out her new room and finish her teacher prep while we headed outside. There we met Pak Mark (is that right?) and his wife, Ibu Sopan, the other 2 founders. Mark is from Tasmania which explains the constant reference to Tassie.
I then dragged Peter Bevan to the baruga i have fallen in love with to get his technical perspective. On his advice i have taken lots of photos however Sharon warns me that there are many design aspects that the Dept will not accept, so i will have to keep that in mind. I love the elevated table area in the middle! What do you think?
Febi can seat about 12 students at this which would be amazing for group work! So now, i need to fund raise the $10,000 to build it - built here it cost $1,200.

Cafe Montong in Lombok

Here we are at Cafe Montong with the Bevans. They arrived at Nusa Alam School this morning half way through the selamatan (blessing) ceremony for the new building which is absolutely amazing. It was lovely sitting on the floor listening to the imam from the local mosque speaking from the koran with the sound of ducks and a rooster crowing in the background.
We have just finished eating, sitting in a lesehan restaurant where we sat at a table cross legged eating pecel, fish, and chicken sate.
Sandy & Peter are now saying their goodbyes so they can head off on a driving tour around Lombok.

Windy Beach Hotel

Here we are at Windy Beach planning what we can do at Nusa Alam School with Febi's students.
We are hoping to catch up with the new principal tomorrow afternoon after meeting Sandy & Peter Bevan for lunch.
We are waiting for Febi to give us a call after her staff meeting. Their school year begins Monday; the day we hope to borrow some students to video them introducing themselves and talking about their school. Unfortunate timing really but it can't be helped.

Lombok - Friday

Here we are back on Lombok! Our trip back was soooo much less stressful but it cost us a little extra. Rp100,000 per person and this included a cidomo from the hotel to the dock then the 8:30am public boat to Bangsal where the owner of Sejuk's grabbed his car and then dropped us at Windy's. The best thing though was it also
included porters to help with our ridiculously unportable luggage. Suitcases would have to be the least practical form of luggage if traveling to places like the Gili's. A backpack makes a lot more sense if having to travel anywhere by public transport. The public boat includes a small wade from the edge of the sea to the boat and luggage which can be carried by back means free hands to grab overhead beams as the boat tips from side to side in one hand and shoes in the other!
I am currently in McDonalds in the Mataram Mall so that i can access the wifi as my carrier is still really slow. But waiting for McDonalds wifi to kick in is also taking a long, long time.
If i can't get this to publish soon, i will save it & publish later from Windy's.

Vila Ombak, Trawagan, Thursday

Caught the 8:30 boat over to Gili T this morning. After a mango juice and a couple of rounds of cards, the girls went shopping while i headed to Vila Ombak to catch up with the Mann's.
So while Bec & Kate are shopping, i am sitting by the pool enjoying the cool breeze while Kyle is checking his emails, Kelsey is mooching in the pools wearing flippers and Sharon & Jason snorkel out the front of their hotel.
I am really impressed with Gili T - it isn't as bad as i thought it would be as far as development goes. I really expected more high story hotels and fancy facilities, but it is similar to Gili Air except it targets wealthier tourists who have a higher expectation of the facilities which should in their eyes be available eg 3 ATM's, lots of internet cafes, chemists, and for younger tourists there are many watering holes. Vila Ombak not only has an amazing pool which includes a spa, baby pool & waterfall, there is also a table tennis table & 2 areas to play chess!
Nethertheless,we all agree that Gili Air is the best and our hotel is awesome.
Our trip back to Gili Air was quite rough and again we went via Gili Meno. The filthy water under the boards under our feet was sloshing right up the side of the boat.

Surabaya Food Court at High Point Appartments

Bec ordered this at the food court. Who can guess what it is?

Wednesday afternoon on Gili Air

Hired a bike each after snorkeling this afternoon. So after a swim, we headed out to circumnavigate Gili Air by bike. We decided to go clockwise so that we would finish on the north western coast where we could have a fruit juice while watching the sun set over Bali. We also took a pack of cards with us and when ever we felt thirsty stopped for a juice and a game of cards. Bec found a card game perfect for 3 people which we all love - black maria.
The first part of our plan went well and by the the time we got close to the north eastern coast, we'd had 3 juices at 3 different places along the way - banana (bec), papaya & lime (me), and coconut, pineapple & banana (Kate). The sun was setting when we headed off again to find somewhere to eat dinner when suddenly the dirt track around the island became a deep sandy track and bike riding became impossible. Walking the bikes through sand was exhausting and we became so hot & bothered and then to boot, the cloud cover was so thick, there wasn't going to be a sunset worth sitting down for, so we pushed on and went straight back to Sejuk's to offload the bikes and cool down.
We then headed back out for dinner by foot and found somewhere that made the best coconut curry. It was easily the best meal i've had on Gili Air so far.

Snorkeling around Gili Meno

We have just returned to our hotel after an amazing day out. It cost us each Rp80,000 and covered everything except lunch. We left about 9:30 this morning after choosing flippers, masks & snorkels and altogether on the boat there were 10 people; half Aussie & half French with one American.
We headed out firstly to where we could see turtles. We saw many turtles, much more than we saw 6 years ago which is just lovely. We then headed closer to Gili Trawangan and snorkeled almost exactly where we snorkeled 6 years ago. Sadly the coral was nowhere near as good as it was 6 years ago- only very small patches here and there of live coral. The fish swim mostly over dead expanses. We then headed back to Gili Meno where the coral was just as i remembered it to be off Gili Trawangan, so it made me wonder how it will be in another 6 years time.
We had lunch at Gili Meno - gado gado, kangkjng plecing & tepeh/tahu with peanut sauce - on bamboo benches right on the edge of the sand before heading up the beach to look at baby turtles in a nursery setup. 4 small ponds of 5 month old turtles due to be released next month.
Our return to Gili Air included one more stop for snorkeling off Gili Meno at a place which didn't boast much live coral however the number & variety of colourful fish was the best so far.
All up it was a great day and has given me the confidence to just rent flippers & snorkels and head out ourselves in the waters off Gili Air.
Bec took her camera & got some great underwater shots which i will upload later onto the blog. One photo of a turtle swimming in particular.

Gili Air - Sejuk Cottages

It is absolutely wonderful being on Gili Air again although I can't believe how much things have changed and how much more developed it is.
However part of the trip getting here was not so pleasant. Thankfully Febi organised the bemo to bring us to Bangsal, however the bemo was stopped about 100 meters from the dock by a police man so as to force us to get a cidomo for the remainder of the trip at a further cost of Rp50,000 for 2 cidomo. The cidomo then stopped on the way at a 'ticket office' where the fellow tried to convince me to charter a boat to Gili Air for Rp350,000 which he promised could leave immediately otherwise we'd have to wait at least 2 hours for the public boat which would he reluctantly informed me would cost us only Rp8,000 per person. By this point it felt like it was one more scam targeting tourists who didn't know any better. Annie agreed with me that we should be skeptical and that we should chance going by public boat They were not impressed that we didn't buy their spiel and waved us on dismissively to the dock!
We continued on to the dock where i was dropped off at another office and easily bought 5 tickets for the public boat which luckily enough was able to leave straight away with our group of 5. However the next issue was getting our luggage from the dock down to the boat which was moored by the waters edge. I was so fed up by this point as it had seemed that ever since we had been forced to leave the bemo, it had been a steady stream of people insisting on payment for this and that. However it would have been very difficult to get our luggage down to the boat by ourselves before the boat left. I was so relieved they only wanted Rp5000 per piece that i gladly accepted.
The trip on the boat over was lovely and cool however there was yet another fellow in another cidomo waiting at the dock hoping to relieve us of yet more money. He asked for Rp100,000 to take us to our hotel and and the lowest he would drop to was Rp60,000. On principle, i refused his greedy claim that it was the going rate and that there is a limit of 2 people allowed per cidomo. We grabbed our suitcases and struggled pulling through the sand for a while and then tried carrying them. We didn't get far before we ran out of steam. Thankfully another cidomo arrived and we gratefully agreed to his offer of Rp50,000 without haggling. This is the point from which the truly unpleasant part of our journey here finished.
It was just lovely in the cidomo; having
a chance to sit back and truly look at Gili Air, letting the horse do all the work. It was actually quite a distance to our hotel, so in retrospect there was no way we could have lugged our luggage all the way ourselves.
Our arrival at Sejuks was fantastic. We were taken straight to our room and then given an iced coffee slushy. It so hit the spot.
After filling in the check in log, we jumped into their beautiful pool. So good.
I am now lying in a hammock on our verandah with a very placid tabby cat for company while the girls cool off again in the pool. We had lunch at a nearby warung run by a European lady who i remember from last time. (annie/marg - next to where the fish were brought in that morning!) Then while the girls checked out the shops, i headed back with Ann & Tom to see where their place was. They are staying in a place called unzip (surely not!) which is also in the same style as our place here at Sejuks and back on Lombok at Santai. Small chalet styled off the ground with thin woven bamboo walls and an enclosed bathroom out the back.
While out i put a deposit on a snorkeling trip heading out tomorrow morning on a glass bottomed boat. I just hope the girls don't get too sunburnt. Encouraging them to cover up their beautiful bathers has fallen on deaf ears so far.

Juanda International Airport - Surabaya, Java

Here we are at the international Airport waiting for our gate to open. About to head to Lombok for our next holiday break before our next & final work commitment.

Sidoarjo Mud Vocano (Lapindo)

Up early this morning to find a taxi to take us to desa Porong to see the mud volcano which is said to be caused by a mining company and has been erupting mud for almost 7 years now and has totally swallowed up 15 villages and continues to erupt mud and shows no signs of slowing down. The taxi driver we talked to insisted on using his meter and said he would be sacked if he did not use it. His estimate of Rp200,000 was spot on.
The drive to Porong/Sidoarjo was very quick with the amazing freeway however i definitely wouldn't feel comfortable driving it myself. While it was a 2 lane highway, the stopping lane ensured it became a 3 lane highway!
As the mudflow has split this highway in half, it was very easy to find. Along the sides of the embankment are several crudely constructed stairways to take tourists up to the top and up there waiting are groups of people waiting to sell dvd's, ojek (motorbike taxi). Waiting at the base of the stairs were 2 guys who demanded an 'entry fee' (Rp40,00 for 3 people) to use their stairs. All the guys touting around
the mudflow had been displaced by the mudflow and their employment now relied on tourists.
We grabbed 3 ojeks and they took us to Porong River where at 9am, the pumps would start pumping the mud from the volcano into the river to try to move it out to sea. They pump something like 120 tons per hour.
It was so desolate there and the vastness of the flow is incredible. Mud for as far as you could see. Have a look on google earth and you will see just how vast an area the flow has covered. The height of the embankment above the road was at least 20m tall. Along the edge of the embankment we saw house shells missing their rooves, doors and windows because the gas leaking from the volcano had caused explosions. One house amongst it all had washing drying in the garden!
I am so glad we did get out there and saw it for ourselves. Could easily stay in Sidoarjo and see More of it.

Surabaya Stopover

Our party divided in half yesterday on arrival into Java. The Mann's have continued onto Lombok (after a 3 hour delay/5 hour layover in Surabaya airport) for some well deserved family time on Gili Trewangan while the rest of us stay here in Surabaya hoping to either finally see the mud volcano in Sidoarjo or shop (Bec & Kate!)
Our hotel is absolutely luxurious - by comparison to the one we stayed at in Pangkalan Bun. However it didn't start well when we realised that the bedrooms which purportedly could sleep up to 8, on reality could only sleep 2. I explained to the 2 guys on the reception desk that i had booked this hotel solely on the fact that it could comfortably sleep 3+ people & showed him my booking confirmation on the ipad. He said that it was a mistake on the website. So i asked for a 3rd room and was given one 3 floors down and had to pay standard rates which worked out to be more than the total cost of other 2 rooms combined ($15 each)! As Bec keeps saying to me, "It's only $30", so i paid up. A short time later while walking the streets looking for a warung selling nasi pecel, i got a call from the hotel saying that their manager has given me a complimentary upgrade to deluxe! This room is even more absolutely amazing and it does sleep 3, so we could have all stayed in this room! So i am all by myself in this huge suite feeling totally spoilt and enjoying the novelty.
In retrospect though, the upgrade probably has more to do with my promise to write a not so complimentary review about the hotel on the agoda website on my return home. Now, i will ensure i write a glowing review!