Busy day today. First went to a volcano about 25km. outside of city. It is classified as one of the most active in the world. It last erupted in 2010 killing over 500. Visited the Sultan's Palace. He still serves as the ceremonial president of the Yogyakarta province. Large and interesting complex but starting to be a bit run down. Next went to the Water Palace, a swimming pool built by an early Sultan 200+ years ago but not used for over a hundred years. ...

Finally arrived in Yogyakarta (or Jogjakarta) Indonesia. We'll need some time to adjust from 10C to 35C plus high humidity. Met by our guide and driver at the airport and checked into a neat little Indonesian hotel with mahogany everywhere (see one of the pictures I have posted). Didn't do much in the afternoon other than find an ATM. We went to a dinner show in the evening. Great indonesian buffet. The performance was a dance program described as an Indone...

This has been a tough two days. It is now over 36 hours since we got up in Odessa and are now at the Residence of the Singapore Recreation Club in Singapore. We are here overnight and then off to Indonesia tomorrow. We spent all of yesterday killing time in Odessa waiting for our flight that left at 9:45pm, then connected in Istanbul at midnight and arrived at 4:30pm in Singapore. The flights on Turkish Airlines were fine--everything on time, good connection,...

Our last day in Odessa. Yesterday it rained all day so we did not do much. We leave at 9:45pm tonight for Singapore so we are just killing time downtown today. The picture is of the Potemkin Steps (192) linking the harbour to downtown Odessa. It was featured in the classic old movie "Battleship Potemkin" about the Russian Revolution.

A busy day in Odessa. Weather is a bit cooler, around 10 to 13 but not raining. Today was a busy day. We did a city tour, visited the catacombs and attended a ballet at the Odessa Opera House. Odessa is quite a beautiful city with much of the downtown preserved. It is a UNESCO designated heritage site. It did not suffer much damage in the war and many of the buildings are original from the 18th and 19th centuries. The city and area in laced with hundreds of catac...