What a gift to take a break from work and fly across the world for two weeks!
Spencer and I had been talking about going to Indonesia for a while to visit our friends Kim and Luke, who have been living there for the past year.
We finally made the decision to go in October, bought our tickets and began planning.
Our first several days there were spent in Salatiga, which is where our friends were in language school.
We were able to spend quality time with them, meet some of their good friends, and get the lay of the land.
The travel to our destination included a 1.5 hour flight to New York, then a 14 hour flight to South Korea, and finally a 7 hour flight to Bali. We stayed in Bali for the night, and did the last 1.5 hour flight to Yogyakarta in the morning, where our friends picked us up at the airport and drove us 2 hours to their home in Salatiga.
A bird shop. Exotic birds are commonly kept in cages by people on the island of Java, and some are used in songbird competitions
Spencer and I putting our feet into the water at an amusement park of sorts in Salatiga- here small fish nibble at your feet and get rid of the bacteria.
From Salatiga, we all flew to Bali, which included a 1.5 hour car ride and 1.5 hour flight.
Once in Bali, we hired a driver to take us to the village of Ahmed.
On the way there, there was a torrential downpour. We were getting concerned when we were driving in a van through water almost up to the tire welds, but it seemed to our driver and the moped riders around us that is was just another day in Bali.
Kim found this crab in my hair while we were snorkeling- then it hitch hiked the rest of the day on her sun shirt- until she discovered it later when we were back at our villa.