Crafts store

We visited the largest crafts store in Indonesia . The wood carving section was the size of a gymnasium . Also a large bamboo instrument section, batik clothing, etc, it went on and on...... The row of fruit is painted carved wood . Tomorrow we are off to Bali

Tosh, our grandson

We spent the day with the family. It was great seeing Tosh. Sylvia's family was very kind and generous. They drove us everywhere

Jakarta fast food

We had lunch from a tiny stall, I had steamed rice with prawns served on a banana leaf. Cheap and very good

Jakarta hotel room

Some how we ended up in a huge suite, large living room and bedroom plus 2 bathrooms. The halls are decorated with art and our rooms are mahogany accented. The lamp by our bed made weird sizzling/cracking noises all night (when off). When I went to recharge my phone, another outlet had a smoke/flame path several feet up the wall, I used a different plug.

Jakarta hotel

We are staying in the same place as last year, a beautiful Hotel. A military style check point greets the guests. The guard searches the taxi ahead of us for bombs . Karen is about to walk thru a metal detector at the front door. The terrorists blew up the Marriott 4 years ago.

Jakarta

We arrived at Jakarta airport after 34 hours of travel. The immigration official attempted to swindle me out of $5, I argued and she backed down. When we exited the terminal, the 96 degree heat and high humidity was a bit staggering. It didn't seem to bother the Muslim women all wrapped up. Karen stands with our luggage ( the big suitcase is clothing for the poor)

Off on another adventure

We are in Hong Kong for 4 hours waiting for our flight to Jakarta. We left Vermont 23 hours ago. Our flight here took the polar route, we flew north out of New York passing west of Greenland, then through the Arctic circle, passing over Siberia, Mongolia, and all of China. The flight on Chinese Cathay Pacific was in a brand new 777. Our private cubicle had fold down beds, nice meals on fine china with French wine . The mountains surrounding Hong Kong harbor appear out of the mist at sunrise.