An Indonesian Adventure.

[billyboy]

One picture shows the steps that lead up to the raised burial place that is in the centre of the village, another is a view from higher up overlooking the village.The surrounding scenery was beautifull from this higher point. In the other two photographs are a couple of youngsters from the village.

Billy.

[billyboy]

As i made my way exploring the village some of the children came out to see...... 'the farang'...... I took this photo of the two young girls as i entered the village and again as i left, but this time they had a young baby with them.The baby looked distracted....probably from the dog that 'hounded' me from when i first entered untill i left!

Billy.

[billyboy]

On the way to Rhutang and Bajowa the roads where trecherous!We had several near misses,it was scary. I have some photographs somewhere...( i will eventualy find them)..showing a landslide in the monsoon rain that we narrowly avoided with trees and rocks falling down the mountain, small rocks and stones started falling first before the trees and big boulders came but my driver accelerated rapidly and got us through luckily.

The first two photographs show a wagon that narrowly missed wiping a family and there home out,on the other picture note the tyres and the lack of tread on them, they are bald, no chance of road grip with them.Also on our road trip there was a landslide with huge massive rocks that had to be cleared, it was so scary while we waited for permission to pass as the diggers cleared the road, all the time there where pebbles and such falling around us, should the mountain collapse again we would have had nowhere to go, the fall to the side of us was hundreds of feet steep.

The wagon carrying a digger narrowly missed us, he was speeding and lost the grip on the road as he was overtaking, the canbra on the road was quite an angle and he overcompensated resulting in a crashed overturned wagon and the digger he was carrying fell of the truck.Again there where houses and children about which could have been distasterous if not bad enough already.

Billy.

[billyboy]

Still on the road after many hours we stopped to stretch our legs and get some water. We happened to pull up outside a school and it was so funny, as i exited the car i heard the scrape of chairs and all the school children piled out! Teachers following.We where out in the middle of nowhere so to speak and what was to be a five minute stop turned into a half hour one as all the children wanted to give me the ' high fives' hand slap and then the teachers...lol. It was remarkable, everyone was laughing at me the big farang with the white skin...hehe. My next stop on the way to Rhutang will be at a local market, that will follow next.

Billy.

[billyboy]

I do like to shop, well i like to look to buy things i could not get anywhere back home. The markets in Indonesia are a fascinating place where you can easily pass a few hours away in an instant, so many sights sounds and smells greet you as you browse around.On the way to the market we stopped of for a chicken satay meal with a goat curry at a small roadside place.The lady in the first photograph was working hard in the kitchen using a home made coconut removal machine, She placed a halfed coconut onto it and it spun round depositing the coconut flesh into the bowl to be used later for cooking.

Then it was back on the road to the market, as we neared there all the roadsides where full of people selling stuff, mostly wood at first but then vegetables as we neared the market.These three Indonesian ladies where selling fresh chillies which i bought of them.Then in the market there where a large number of fish for sale, some small fishes and also one person was selling what i think maybe small Barracuda.

Billy.

[David_Loves_Ubonwan]

My guess is that the fish you think are barracuda are actually needlefish. Their mediterranean cousins, gar fish, are often mistaken for baracuda too.

David

[Mahindrasarath]

Are those the fresh or salt water fish? Yes,it's the needle fish in fresh water, but above fishes perhaps,"Bpla two ปลาทุ" in Thai salt water fish,but that's the small size.

[David_Loves_Ubonwan]

Needle fish are brackish water not fresh water.

David

[Marie]

I do like to shop, well i like to look to buy things i could not get anywhere back home. The markets in Indonesia are a fascinating place where you can easily pass a few hours away in an instant, so many sights sounds and smells greet you as you browse around...

Yes, there are so many interesting things to buy in Indonesia. I am not sure if I have shared it here (am lazy to check it out LOL, and if I have, I beg your indulgence), but, among others, I picked up folk art-Balinese paintings- in canvas from the market, of course unframed; other exotic-looking wall decors; high quality batik bed and table covers; and dirt-cheap genuine leather handbags. I purposely travelled to Indonesia with a half-empty luggage so I could stuff it with locally-made products that I fancied.

There are small eateries in Bali which serve fantastic fresh juices. My friends were addicted to them. But I didn't trust their water source. If I remember right, Betti wrote in her earlier posts that she herself got amoebiasis and she suspected that it might be because of the drinking water in Bali. I used to bring my bottled water to the restaurant just to feel confident about the quality of water they used for the juice.

[Betti]

Marie: I think it could have been the tap water they used to wash salad, or something like that. I don't think I've ever had a problem with proper bottled water. in Bali, restaurants and homes get 20-liter canisters, just like in Thailand (or here in Burma). what I would also be very careful with is ice outside of Java and Bali (or hi-so restaurants).