Berastagi, North Sumatra, Indonesia

This has been an eventful day. First we took a 40 minute flight from Penang, Malaysia to Medan, Indonesia across Melaka Strait and arrived before our departure time. Hmmmm
We had a driver to Berastagi, which is a city founded  by Dutch traders to escape the heat of the lowlands. It's definitely cooler up here, a nice change of pace. Then we headed UP Gunung Sibayak, on a two hour hike to the crater at the top.

Still more to go.

As we were hiking up, our guide noticed an unusual cloud formation, which was the ash cloud eruption from nearby Mt. Sinabung, an active volcano ten miles from us. We decided to keep on hiking to the top as it looked like we were in no danger.

Mt. Sinabung erupting.

At the top of Mt. Sibayak, there were steam vents, stinky sulphur smells and a shallow lake.

Really loud roaring sound.

 

 

 

 

On the way down, the ash rain increased.

Ash on backpack.

We got a ride to town on the local minibus.

First thing to do was to buy masks.

We felt better after putting these on.

Here's the bus we didn't ride.

It was a really exciting and eventful day for us, back in Indonesia. Off to Danau Toba for New Years!

Penang/Georgetown, Malaysia

This island, or at least part of it, is a Unesco World Heritage Site due to the architecture. It reminded me of both Hanoi and Saigon. Penang is noted for it's street food. We've eaten in the old quarter and had some really good food. The Chinese have influenced the food, which makes for it's unique taste. Yum!

Yap Temple

We took the bus to Penang Hill to ride the new and improved funicular to the top. It was a typical grey skies day, so the views weren't very good.

Old funicular

Empty on Sunday morning.

Too long in the steamy heat.

Penang harbor

 

We did NO bus chasing.

 Plumeria trees at Botanic Garden

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Kuta, Bali, Indonesia

It's high season here in Bali. Besides the 4.2 million residents, all hotels are filled and the streets, are packed with tourists. Our plan was to rent a car, but none were available, so we had a car and driver instead. Our hotel is conveniently located just outside the touristy area of Kuta, and is nice and quiet. The rain has stopped after two days, so today we went off to check the surf at Ulu Watu. It was disappointingly messy and knee high, so we didn't go out.These stairs were very steep and slippery. I was glad that I wasn't carrying a board and trying to navigate this route.

We headed north to the Botanic Garden, stopping at several temples along the way.

Hindu Temple at Danu Batur

Botanical Garden

The Botanical Garden is a popular spot for families and groups. The grounds are expansive and it has the feel of Golden Gate Park. Lots of open lawn areas. 
Traffic is very heavy, lots of Javanese tour busses are here from the Jakarta area, after having taken the ferry over, so besides the worldwide tourists, there are many Indonesian tourists. I guess that's why it's called high season.

Rice paddies in middle of restaurant.

Famous duck restaurant outside Ubud.

Satay for Jiro at the table.

Streetside gate near temple.

Balikpapan, East Kalimantan, Borneo, Indonesia

We're in Balikpapan for a couple of days.This area is on the other side of Borneo from Kota Kinabalu and is Indonesian. It is a beachfront town on the Makassar Strait, with the major industries coal mining, petroleum drilling and palm oil. The personnel for these corporations live here in an expat community. We were out and about yesterday and our guide mentioned that the average monthly wage for a worker, shop worker or the like is between $250-$350 per month. If you work on an oil rig or the service boats, your wage might be $500 per month. This is not a particularly inexpensive town to live in, as due to location many items need to be imported by boat, such as rice.
Around 80% of the Indonesian population is Muslim and the call to prayer can be heard multiple times each day over outdoor loudspeakers. There is a great local market here and lots of seafood.

Banana aisle

Boys having fun.

Local Mosque

Your local dentist?

Alligators raised for skin.

Chicken curry eaten Indo style.

Your basic squat toilet.

Mangrove swamp.

Chicken is popular.

Jumping proboscis monkey.

Samarinda, East Kalimantan, Borneo, Indonesia

We're back in Borneo, on the opposite side of the island from Kota Kinabalu via Jakarta in the city of Samarinda.  It is 2 1/2 hours north of Balikpapan on a main two lane highway. This is jungle territory, lush tropical rainforest covers everything. Samarinda is a stopping off point for employees of coal mines, palm (tree) oil plantations, and petroleum oil industries. There are NO tourists here at all. The main floor manager of the upscale hotel where we stayed, said he'd been on the job three months and had never seen a tourist at his hotel. So much for that industry here. We'd planned to go upriver on the mighty Mahakam River, to see crocodiles and orangutans, but evidently it is a multi-day trip. It's at least 5 hours just to get to the place with the boats in order to begin the river part of the trip. We decided to change our plans, since that's too many days on the river. We also did not consider the cross-Borneo hike, 8 hours a day for 5 days straight, slogging through the jungle. Maybe another time.

Mahakam River. Look for coal barge being towed.

Hmmm. What to do???

Who knew Jiro had been here before?

He must be quite the businessman.

Mini-bus from airport.

Samarinda street scene.

Jakarta Continued

Fake Hello Kitty hand sanitizer holder to match daypack trim.

Snakes for sale in Chinatown for eating.

Something from the sea. Chiton?

Little Tokyo in Jakarta. Jiro was propositioned here on a night walk.

Chicken Bridge by the harbour. Near old chicken marketplace.

Bridge crossing the Ciwila River.

Stilt village over harbour estuary.

Washing up, clothes and bodies, including teeth brushing.

Wayang puppet.

Dutch Colonial building undergoing renovation. It's covered with plastic.

Cafe Batavia in the old Dutch Colonial section.

Our bajaj driver. Lot of traffic fumes when riding, as you're at exhaust level.