Bus stop, Salatiga, Indonesia

We waited for a looooong time here for an overnight bus that was several hours late in coming, but it was actually quite pleasant, because of several features that you can observe in the photo above:

1. Ysa is sound asleep
2. The boys spent the entire time trying to catch small guppy-like fish from inside that stone basin that you see Xander just starting to look at.
3. The vendor sold - oh, dang, now I forget the name of it - but a way cool warm drink made with lots and lots of ginger.
4. There were all sorts of local characters and happenings, all coming and going for our viewing pleasure. People watching rocks!
   

I've gotta get part of my house looking like this someday

A detail of a store in Ubud, Bali, which is very similar to Santa Fe, Bar Harbor, or any of those other kinda artsy tourist towns loaded with yoga studios and cool pricey botiques that you'd like to spend all your money at, but can't. (Except that it's in Bali, of course...)

Another snippet

Continuing on with randomly selected photos from the trip, this is Wat Arun (the Dawn Temple) in Bangkok, seen from one of the many river taxis we took back and forth while we were there.

Arrangements of things in no particular order, part 1

Starting the day right

Had a quite chaotic day yesterday, which started off with finding that my very old glasses were broken, and also included my wallet getting stolen at a bus stop, a very long wait to fill out the required (and universally useless) police report, and lots of time on the internet to the States canceling credit cards. So this morning, I'm beginning the day on the beach:


Oh yeah, I was there, too! Okay, yes, life can be pretty good as well. Now off to teach an 8:00 class. In a cold unheated classroom. But I'll be imagining palm trees....

The boat is back!

...well, kinda back, anyway. Got back into town last week, and have been plunging back into the swing of classes, clammy fog, familiar food, and having our internet down in China.

Am I ready to start blogging again? Ummm, no, not at all, as a matter of fact. No clue where to start. Nada.

Can I post a few purty pictures for all of you in the meantime? Sure - coming right up!


First is proof that, yes indeed, our family still exists, and that our kids are still waaaayy into trains.

Oh, and the Low Cost Carrier Terminal at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport played a pivotal role in our story. Here we are around Chinese New Year sometime.



And we've got pictures of us scooting around in buses, a cars, a ferry, an overnight train, the backs of various pickups, and even an elephant or two, but you'll have to wait for those. For now, it's good to be back - we'll be in touch...

Happy New Year!

..okay, give or take eleven days or so.  We're now in Salitiga, Central Java, Indonesia.  Jane and I are sitting in the English department where our friends Danielle and Brandon teach, which is up on the fifth floor, even with the tops of some palms and other tropical trees (Truffulas?) being blown back and forth by a hard rainy season wind.  No rain yet, but layers and layers of clouds are zoomnig by in the distance, obsuring a volcanic mountain or two in the distance. 

Our internet connections (and my writing motivation) are of the on again / off agin variety, which is enough to write the occasional email or two, but not enough to upload any pictures, which seem to be my motivation for blog writing most of the time.  (Notice, also, my lack of stress about this...)  Still, just wanted to hop on the blog quickly here to wish everyone a safe and happy 2011!