One Week Out

I am having problems loading photos today. Perhaps not Indonesia's doing. So please imagine ....

I arrived in Dumai, Indonesia by a fast ferry. [Imagine photo of a boat that Q would design for James Bond] There was one other person on board that was neither Malaysian or Indonesian: he was a Buddhist monk from Chang Mai, Thailand dress up saffron robes and all. Everyone else cleared passport control on the ferry. The Indonesian official on board the ship put my passport in his pocket and asked that I find his office when we arrived in Dumai. [Imagine me looking composed and in control, or if your imagination is not that good, looking slightly panicky]

Dumai had a really, really good rain storm going when we arrived. Passport control was no more interesting than filling in forms and paying $25. Customs was a bit involved: yes, those are my vitamins; yes, those are my malaria pills and yes I have many of them; no, I didn't know you'd seized a lot of heroin here yesterday .... [No photos are allowed in customs, as the sign on the wall says]

This, somehow, led to me in a taxi in search of an ATM, followed by my spending 90 minutes with two dozen 13 year old kids while I "taught English". [Imagine photo of some really cute Indonesian kids with me in the center, looking haunted] The low point was my demonstrating (i) few Americans know more than the first verse of The Star Spangled Banner and (ii) I should not sing outside of the shower.

That was followed by a truly unpleasant 13 hour bus ride. Indonesia. Bus. 13 hours. [Imagine photo of fairly innocuous looking bus, that really doesn't convey what the ride was like]

That got me to the Western Sumatran city of Bukittinggi. I do not think I can say enough nice about this charming place. The good news started about 5:30 AM with a shower!

Lots of hiking and being guided [imagine photos of pleasant Indonesians] and seeing historic and cultural sites. [Imagine, you know, things, old things but kind of nice] This is hilly country with lots of beautifully terraced rice paddies, broken with plantations of this and that (including the expected coffee and the not expected coco). [I can't take a decent shot of countryside to save my life, so no photo to be imagined] I spent one rather scary hour scampering up and down slippery trails and crossing little streams on slimy rocks to see world's largest flower, Rafflesia arnoldii, a very squat plant that has a deep red bloom that can be a large as a meter across. I did see a bloom. [Imagine picture of me next to a flower, with a tape measure held out in a manner intended to demonstrate something] It was a modest sized flower at about 60 cm across (or about 2 feet for us Americans). If you see rather small very large flower, what have you seen?

Some of you may recall that I have the goal of accumulating the best collection of betel nut cutters in the eastern side of Salt Lake City. I am sure you will all be pleased to learn that I have acquired no less than three excellent examples to add to my collection (to any of you that may have some doubt at to what a betel nut cutter is and why someone might want to collect them, I recommend you review any of the number of excellent web sites devoted to this honored and undeniably reasonable avocation). [Imagine seeing grainy picture of 3 clippers about 8 inches long and two inches high with some decorative messing around]

[Imagine seeing photo with a half dozen conjoined twin animals - there is no reason to this photo except that the extensive display of conjoined twin animals (stuffed) at the local museum cried out for memorialization]

I am off tonight (on a 15 hour bus ride!) to Lake Toba.