A clear day in Bandung

 

We had an over night visit to Bandung a few weeks ago and were very pleased to wake up to this great view. It is not often that you get to see the surrounding mountains, usually the pollution and tropical haze obscures them.

The kids were excited when a helicopter flew right towards our room windows before landing on on the helipad next to the pool. After seeing more than ten trucks rolled over, smashed and in the ditches on the way there and back, as well as getting stuck in horrific traffic, I would think it would be a great way to travel to Bandung in the future.

Traditional Indonesian street markets

Ciawi markets. 

Ciawa is south of Jakarta.

Traditional Indonesian markets, the day before Idul Fitri 2009

Jakarta Earthquake 2009

All is well here with the Qld family, just another unusual experience to be filed away in our memories! Depends which news you read but yesterdays Jakarta earthquake was between 7 and 7.5 scale earthquake...this is apparently pretty big!

As per usual, there was no immediate news online or on TV, but Twitter was instantly full of updates...as with the bombing here and in Mumbai it only takes seconds for the info to start rolling out. This morning I can find out more details; villages closer to the epicentre have been flattened and there was a landslide which killed people. There are no reliable details yet on the number of people killed or injured, Aljazeera has got good coverage with images and video here. It is tragic how much Indonesia suffers from natural disasters, my heart goes out to those who are suffering.

At 2.55pm the kids were still at school, finishing their after school activities. Georgia was on the sports field running and fell over, luckily no grazing just a shock. Chelsea was in the computer lab when all the screens started to jiggle! Ben was the worry for me, he was in the only 2 story class room, one that has a rickety steel stair case bolted to the only exit. A teacher ran up and got all the kids from Mad Science and then all were assembled on the field like a fire drill; good thing we did a fire drill practise last week at school! The driver and the nanny were one block away from collecting the kids and felt nothing as they were driving!

Georgia is still a little freaked out, she is now old enough to suffer from the “what if’ syndrome. She had trouble going to sleep last night in case there were aftershocks - which there weren't:- well that we know about or felt. Georgia had her new phone in the car and was able to ring me just as I went back inside after the earthquake. Poor thing was shook up (literally and figuratively).

The feeling was really strange...like sitting in an inner tube going over irregular waves. It was definitely not a rattle type of shake. I can see a roof top and a building out of my office window, both were swaying...but in different directions! That was freaky. I had no idea what was going on at first...Once I realised it was an earthquake I waited for it to stop, but oh my gosh it did not! The eerie thing is that the quake was silent…I expected to hear loud noise with so much movement. The glass was rattling in the window, but that was all.

My study is upstairs and standing in the door way (remember the old advice always stand in a door way-bollocks) was ridiculous. It never occurred to me to get under the desk; it seemed to start to slow down so I decided to get outside...the huge window over the stairs has always been a concern. We have discussed in the past with the kids that it is the weak point...the glass falling would be super dangerous. Of course as soon as I got under the window more waves came, I ran down those last steps! I met up with the staff and guards and the next-door neighbours in the street just as it stopped. Over 1.5 minutes of rocking and rolling! I was shaking so badly...but I did manage to plan cocktail party for next week with my neighbour (I am Martha Stewart to the bone). Only a week ago we discussed earthquakes with the kids, under my bed is our upstairs safe spot...it is so solid. There are more cracks in the house, but no damage. Only a few light things fell over, and the pictures are all crooked.

I was very pleased to find that the power stayed on but after an hour the internet went very slow, probably as everyone rushed on the get info.

So all is well...what an experience to talk about when we are all old and gray and in the retirement home!


Below is my stairway of potential doom, the cracks that have been around the window for the last 2 years and the view from my office window.

Indonesian Independence day 2009

The street parade between Carita and Anyer, west coast of Java.

Hester Basoeki Guest House, Bogor

We spent the day filming the Indonesian activities for the Trans 7 Homestay program at a guest house in West Bogor.

This would be a great place to take out of town guests to see what rural Indonesian life is like. The guest house arranges kampung (village) tours and other cultural things such as cooking classes, rice planting, garden tours and music recitals.

In the below collage, the girls are washing, then riding a water buffalo and playing Indonesian games with the Kampung kids
Below the girls are cooking traditional Indonesian cakes and making hot ginger drinks.

It was a long, hot day which didn't finish until nearly dark. My idea of relaxing in the car for a 2 hour trip home with the AC on full was unfortunately aborted when the driver decided to fall asleep with in 5 minutes of leaving the guest house, whilst driving the car with the kids and I inside. (This was the second time this had happened with this particular driver, it has happened to us before though, so I am extremly viligent)

I debated leaving him in Bogor, but had to take him, as I had no idea how to get home.

My head was about to explode with all the swear words you could imaging but couldn't say in front of the kids!

I can now drive all the way from west Bogor, through Bogor in peak hour traffic, on the toll way to Jakarta and through its peak hour traffic and get home.

On this Indonesian toll way, I discovered that trucks find head lights (in full dark) optional and a speed of any where between 35- 160 km/hr is acceptable.

It was a very scary drive, but adrenalin and maternal instinct can make anything possible.

Needless to say, we now have a new driver!

Home Stay program, Trans7 TV

We spent 2 days last week filming for a local TV program. The Home Stay program is a great cross cultural show joining kids of different nationalities with Indonesian kids for a two day home stay.
Georgia and Chelsea spent two days with three lovely Indonesian girls and spent a day doing Indonesian activities and a day doing Australian things.
For the Australian part we played with our new neighbours, the puppies, played in the pool and had fun with the chocolate fountain all at our house.






If I had known I was going to be filmed I would of gone on a diet, done my hair, put more make-up on and worn flattering clothes. Luckily I did have time to remove the wine and beer from the fridge before they filmed it lol!

More of the wonderful Sambolo beach

We have had another wonderful few days on the west coast of Java at Sambolo beach resort. Sambolo is about 11km north of Carita beach.

This is the kids swimming around the corals and rocks at the beach. The water was lovely and clear, unfortunately with all the fires burning in Asia at the moment you could not see the horizon let alone the magnificent Anak Krakatoa volcano.
This rock formation was exposed at low tide and GJ found a little hole that formed a blow hole. The kids thought that it was AMAZING!!!!!
When the wave went out it was about knee deep down to the sandy sea bed.
When the wave came in, WHOOSKA!

I have mentioned that we have a strong family sun protection policy ( remember the stupid man and his rickets comment LOL) and everybody has to be out of the sun between 11am and 2.30pm. We keep thinking up new craft activities to keep 6 kids amused. This time we added play dough and jelly making to our usual painting, drawing, clay and dvd's. It was a big success and was devoured in 90 seconds flat.

We did our usual trip to the local fish market and this time took the all kids. All were entertained except poor Georgia who was very underwhelmed by the sights and smells.
Once everyone got over the shock of a car driven by two blondes with 6 blonde kids in the back they were all keen to advise us on the best fish and seafood for our BBQ. It was all divine......Red snapper, prawns, octopus, baby lobsters.
The only downside was I was unable to wind down the window to tip the road boy, while changing gears and listening to dancing frog at a million decibels (not by choice, mind you!) and glide out smoothly before being hit by a speeding truck....yes I did car bunny hops to dancing frogs in a black kijang...and missed all trucks and pedestrians.

I love these shots...as it is summer holidays (local schools as well as expats) the beach was deserted. We had our usual bungalow and were gob smacked when a bus arrived and set up outside the only inhabited section of the bay...right outside our bungalow. All was fine until until the motor boat arrived to cash in on all the new potential clients. This is a motor-sports free beach and my feisty friend was quick to remind them of this. Once the boat was gone the kids were able to safely get back into the water and make new friends.

More stories to follow....if I get the internet back on......

Hiking in west Java, Indonesia

I have no idea of the name of this place, all I know that it is about a 20 minute drive from Sambolo beach....doesn't it look great!

I have another confession....I have not been there!

I only bought flip flops and Crocs to Sambolo and did not want to risk my ankle out in the jungle with inappropriate footwear.
J took all these photos of the kids and downloaded them for me, we both have exactly the same camera (Nikon d40X........love it!)


Everyone had a great time and came back covered in mud. It was decided that with 10 kids it was a bit risky for them all to swim in the water hole (it was right on the edge of a 5+ meter water fall) but if you go take your swim wear as it looks fantastic!

I was watching the latest episode of Lost last night (season 4, episode 4 & 5) and realized how similar the jungle where they film is to here.


I am pretty sure that this was a national park. There was a guide available to take you though the park on different trails.

If your ankle is not up to hiking through the jungle, you an always do what I did.......stay at Sambolo and have yet another massage!

Sunsets over west Java

I have done nothing to these photos, this is really what it looked like!

I don't ever think I have seen a sunset this vivid.

I did grow up on the east coast of Australia.....here we were sitting on the west coast of Java.
I wonder if the air pollution contributes to the magnificence of the sunsets?

We all sat and wondered if we went back 2-3 years would any of us guessed we would be living in Indonesia and living a life of adventure? I know that I would of bet money against it! But here we are and so happy to be here!

We were waxing lyrically (well as much as you can with a few glasses of champagne....) and came to the realization that we had taken out family "boat" out of dry dock, we have even left the safe harbour!
We might encounter some rough seas, but wow, how fun life is!

This is still my favourite quote of all time

"Twenty years from now you will be more
disappointed by the things you didn't do than
by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines.
Sail away from the safe harbour.
Catch the trade winds in your sails.
Explore. Dream. Discover."
--Mark Twain

A tropical birthday party

My birthday was the 5th of March and J's was the 10th; we decided to hold a combined party while on holidays at Sambolo on the west coast of Java.

What a GREAT decision!

We decided to make it a toga party as well!

This was J's and my birthday cake.
There is no ovens or shops at Sambolo, and a cake wouldn't stay fresh from Thursday to Saturday evening so we improvised......Tim Tams and Lamingtons (these are Australian icons).

The bottom RHS photo is the table decoration that the girls made for us.
We had a sheet as a table cloth and had covered it in sparkling party confetti when the girls presented us with two half coconuts filled with flowers.

They were stunning...we were all blown away that we were in togas with the sunsetting on a tropical island with volcanoes as a backdrop.............

J is a explosives-mining-thingy-expert and had great delight on putting on the most AMAZING fireworks display( T even had an OHS plan on standby....I have very clever and efficient friends LOL). This would be absolutely, totally illegal in Australia, probably here too, but fireworks are readily available, even on the beach.
Around the cove another group let off a few fireworks before ours...theirs were quite good but ours were the best!


We had a 14 kids at the party......this was the sort of night that makes childhood memories.


How are we going to top this next year?
And when can we do this again????????????????????

Birthdays in paradise

We are just back from our wonderful looong weeknd on the west coast of Java.


When we sort through the many, many, MANY photos I will tell all about

• J's and my all Australian birthday cake...Tim tams and lamingtons.....
• hiking through the Indonesian jungle
• fireworks on the beach
• sunsets so magnificent you will not believe that I have not retouched the photos in any way
• our toga party
• swimming in the ocean looking at Anak Krakatoa......( yes that volcano!)
  

Borobudur Monument, Yogjakarta, Indonesia

Jakarta, Indonesian earthquake 12th September 2007

All OK, didn't feel this one either......
Traffic horrendous and phones are down.
We are all fine.
I hope everyone is also.

Expat Interviews!

I have just been interview at a web site for expats

Welcome to Expats Interviews!

We interview people who are living abroad. Here you will find the thoughts and observations of expats living in countries like Thailand, Philippines, Holland, India, Australia and a lot more. We find that it's always exciting to know about what motivated people to live in another part of the world, how they generate their income, how they manage to live there, and what they’ve learned from their experiences in a land that's become their new home.

Here is the link to my interview

Indonesian wedding.

I was so excited about the wedding we were invited to on Saturday night. It was to be my first Indonesian traditional wedding.
All I got to see was these lovely photos and hear Ben and GJ describe it to me. I stayed at home with my foot elevated and the girls stayed with me to help.

GJ told me how spectacular Lia and Edo looked and how much fun he and Ben had. At the reception the bride and groom sat on the dais and guests walked down the red carpet to greet them. Ben thought that this was great fun and did many "laps". Ben and GJ both wore matching Batik shirts (this is equivalent to a suit and tie) and Ben was once again very popular.




Below here I had a photo of my foot, but I have removed it. It is too disgusting to put on the same page as beautiful wedding photos.

The walls are cracking up

Some earth quake damage........

Some of this cracking would be from the earth drying out during the dry season.
The cracks have gotten huge in the last weeks since the earth quake.



Apparently I should not be worried until I can fit my hand in the cracks.

6th month anniversary

The "W' post

We have now been here over six months.

WOW it has gone so quickly.

When we walk into our home it feels like "home".

We are loving living here!

We can see ourselves here for quite a while.

We have made some fantastic friends.

We feel alive with the diversity and pace of this country.

We are getting used to the traffic and pollution.

Jakarta Earthquake

Edit: Earthquake update for Wednesday 12th September 2007 here

GJ has just rung (he is away again, Surabaya this time) to check that we are all right.
GJ heard about the HUGE earthquake that struck Jakarta at midnight and was worried.
We are all fine as is the house, we actually slept through it.......


I will find out more today.
One mum from school lives in on the 26th floor of an apartment in the city another friend lives up high as well.
So far it is reported that there is no casualties.

Added 9.20am

There was only two of us mums at school that slept through the quake, both of us had a wine with dinner.......
The family that lives on the 26th floor in the city had a great story to tell. The beds were moving, drawers opening and closing, cupboards shaking and J had trouble standing.
The teachers apartments are about 150 m from us and they all woke with the beds shaking.
I can not believe we slept through it all.
Georgia is now claiming to have felt it; she did climb into my bed around midnight so maybe something did disturb her.
I have yet to hear on any casualties, I hope that this will stay the case. Indonesia has had more than its fair share of disasters.



Don't worry about me mentioning when GJ is away in real time, we have the guards as well as our lovely staff with us.

Drive from Semarang to Bandung, Indonesia

This is just a few of the interesting things we saw on our big drive from Semarang to Bandung. Although it is only approx 370 km (200miles) between these two cities it took us almost 10 hours to drive there. This was the last weekend before Indonesian school holidays finished and I think every truck that was in the vicinity decided to travel this route as well.
We followed the coast west of Semarang until Cirebon and then we headed inland (south) towards Bandung. We had to climb up a mountain range, a very busy mountain range, a mountain range with an endless supply of kamikaze truck and bus drivers.
The scenery was breath taking, which is just as well as if you watched what was happening on the road you would turn into a blubbery mess.......



GJ had his first go of driving in nearly seven months. I think our driver, Yadi was very shocked when GJ told him to move over. I love the photo of Yadi in the front holding a map....Yadi doesn't read maps- ever, his way is to stop and ask for directions.
Ben was having a great nap, but his poor little head was being jolted around so we kept propping/wedging his head up with soft toys.