Jan 9 8 am Borobudur village, Lotus II Guest House I am very glad I decided to come up here and stay a couple days.SO relaxing, such a contrast to urban Yogya.The upstairs back terrace - where I've spent most of my time here, talking with other travelers - looks down onto rice paddies with jungle and the outskirts of the village beyond, and then mountains.Yesterday afternoon, with two young Brit women, I watched the daily rain/lightning/windstorm, which went o...

Thursday Jan. 6 5 pm,Yogyakarta - watching the rain from the balcony of Tiffa Art House (hostel ), with a couple young German guys I met here last night. I'm happy to say that I'm finally in full 'backpacker mode'again after almost 2 years.I got here two nights ago; routine flights from Pontianak.Instead of an overpriced taxi I caught a TransJogya city bus - like TransMusi in Palembang, compact and with AC, limited stops - at the airport ( thanks, Lonely Plan...

January 2 2011 - Pontianak, west Kalimantan, Borneo Back in the 'big city' after a weekend in Singkarang ( '1000 temples' ) and Pumangkat, a few hours N of here along the coast.We hitched a ride to the former early on Fridaywith a colleague of my fellow ELF Cary, and spent the day wandering through a sprawling traditional market area with lots of covered sidewalks and historic buildings that actually reminded me a lot of the old French Quarter in New Orlean...

I know it's still a bit early to wish everyone reading this a 'Merry Christmas and Happy New Year", but I'm going to Borneo next week and I'm not sure if I will have internet access there. Another of the English Language Fellows has invited me to spend Christmas with him; he's posted in a city called Pontianak on the west coast. It will be the most out-of-the-way place I've ever spent Christmas. Then on the 27th I'll do a teacher training workshop at...

I arrived 3 months ago today and have been teaching for the past 2 months, so it's a good time to step back and look at my life here so far from a 'big picture' standpoint. First, pleasant surprises: before I came I expected to face lots of mosquitoes and terribly stinky air from local industry.In fact I see virtually no mosquitoes and those I do notice don't seem inclined to land on me.And the occasional stinky air is just from my own neighbors burning leaves...