Stuck in Surabaya (one of the few cities in the world of over 3 million people that you have never heard of)

Eric and Neil Acsend to the crater at Mt. Bromo

About 2 weeks ago, the travel muse hit me. With a four day holiday approaching, a colleague, Lance Wheatley, sent an email around asking if anyone wanted to climb Mt. Bromo (an active volcano). After clearing it with Janet and securing an extension of the invitation to include Eric and Neil, the idea was consummated with a keystroke at AirAsia.com.

Nothing like a steaming bag of hot instant coffee in the morning

(complete with straw to drink it with)

Our trip was to include a trip to Surabaya, driver, guide, and two nights in a homestay and lots of great memories and photos. While certainly living up to its billing, our hasty planning failed to take into consideration a couple key concepts:

Bathroom at our homestay

No time to follow recommendations on places to stay. Our homestay was a disaster. Grinding into the mountain village of Probolinggo after dark, we were presented with two dirty rooms, which included bathrooms with no running water or sinks and an abundance of dirt, smells and bugs. In conclusion, it’s not that I can’t stay in such places, it’s just that I refuse to pay $35 a night to do it! The highlight of this part of the trip was seeing a HUGE (4 inch diameter) live elephant beetle.

Eric, Neil and I with craters in the background

It's a wee bit chilly at 7,000 feet (even if you at the equator)

What is there to do in Surabaya? Thursday evening- driving up the mountain. Friday morning- sunrise over the volcano followed by a hike up to the lip of the crater (starting at 3:30 AM till around 8:30 AM). However, this ended our planned activities with 30 hours before we were to return home. After a refund from our guide for the lousy accommodations, we decided to drive back down to Surabaya to enjoy the big city. No problem in a city of 3 million, right?

Neil and Lance (with two craters in the background)

The TV in our hotel only spoke Bahasa Indonesia and there was no pool, so we headed off to the local mall where we took in a movie, shot pool (while watching people smoke hookah) and enjoyed some pizza. This worked for the rest of Friday. Saturday morning, we still had a 7 waking hours before our plane left. Our guide first took us to the Surabaya Zoo where Neil and his curly hair was the main attraction.

As a last activity our guide said she was to take us to a “secret” factory. This sounded funny to us and we even joked with her about it (“Is that where all secrets are made”). In the mean time, we waited to see what she meant by “secret.”

After getting there, we found out that what we were hearing as“secrets” was really “cigarettes”. I’m not sure how she got the idea that 2 adults who don’t smoke and 2 boys would enjoy a cigarette museum and factory. Oh well it was something to do. The company we toured ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sampoerna ) is one of the largest Indonesian cigarette companies and was bought out by Phillip Morris in 2005. They were very good at putting a shiny face on their product.

During our trip we also made a quick stop at a mud flow. Check out the following link to read about this human made disaster: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sidoarjo_mud_flow

Hope's ballet recital

Here are a few pictures from Hope's ballet recital:

Beating around the Bush

The ring returneth (cue dramatic music)

My ring was found!

For those of you who didn't hear (and will read below), I lost my wedding ring playing frisbee in the rain about 2 weeks ago.

After 10 days without it showing up, I mentioned to the PE office that I would like to offer a reward. The next day and before I could announce an amount, I received word that the ring had been found. Then, around an hour later, the following email appeared on my school account:

“Dear Mr. Stephen,

It wasn’t easy to find the ring on the yard. Pak M. ( our outsourcing gardening Spv ) felt responsible and has instructed all his staffs to be honest and full responsible.

He has used a special tool to find the ring and they have tried so hard to find it .

Finally, they found the ring . We will give the ring back to you. When you are available to meet us ? Can you come over to GA room ? The person who found the ring will also meet you.

Please let us know as soon as possible. Thanks”

Obviously, the meeting mentioned was regarding the reward I indicated. However, having never been prompted with a fair amount to offer, I didn't want to go to this meeting without money and a good idea of what to expect or offer.

I sought out two sources for advice:

The first stop was to speak with the western expats in the staff lounge. Their response was quick and to the point:

Bruce: “sounds like extortion to me”

Kara: “ I wouldn’t pay more than Rp.100,000 ($10)”

Judy: “ How can you put a price on love?”

The next stop was to speak with an Indonesian man in the PE office named Pak Gideon. After explaining my confusion of what to pay and asking his advice, he just smiled and shrugged his shoulders and said “don’t underestimate the time and care needed to find the ring”.

“What kind of answer is that?” I thought and after an awkward moment and a conviction that 100,000 rupiah was way too low said, while wincing “300,000 Rupiah? “($30).

He smiled for a long while and with a nod of the head said “200,000”. We then arranged for the meeting to take place.

After rustling up a bit of cash (which involved a quick trip to the ATM because the bank was unexpectedly closed), the reward was paid (in a beat around the bush Indonesian way) and the ring is back on my finger.

markets, parties and lost rings

Confession: The life of an expat in Indonesia can be sheltered. We exist in this English speaking bubble of work, home and a few “safe” other places (big western style malls, movie theaters showing Hollywood’s latest and familiar restaurants). We move between these places in air conditioned cars playing our favorite music on the CD player. The biking and walking we do is usually confined to the development we work in which is patroled by security gaurds, called satpams.

This Saturday morning, we asked Ibu Warshi (our maid) to take us to the small traditional market near our house. She has taken us to other larger traditional markets in Jakarta, but always by car. This market is close enough to walk (a mile one way), but feels a long way away from the familiarity of Lippo Village.

Here is a few photos and descriptions of the trip:

Walking to the market along a drainage ditch

(be thankful you can't see or smell the sweat dripping off me)

Eric in front of the market

Hope and vendor following a 30 cent sticker purchase

Ibu Warshi barters for fresh fruit

(she is wishing she left us at home about now)

Eric crosses narrow bridge on the way home

Neil and Ibu Warshi as we get closer to home

(Yes, Neil is taller than her)

End of the year party. As I am writing this, my year 12 students are one week into IB exams. On our last regular day of classes, we celebrated with food and games. I thought I'd share some of the fun:

Is it too cliche to play Monopoly at an Economics class party?

Consider this flavor for your next Super Bowl party!

I lost my wedding ring last Sunday in a story I'll let our friend, Kim White, tell in her blog. Just click on the link below:

http://trisandkim.blogspot.com/2009/05/ultimately-wet-sunday.html

Have a great week!