Ok, catching up. Before I get into my tales from 25 meters under the sea, let's start with our stay here at an airport hotel at Jakarta as we wait for our onward flight to Sri Lanka.
I tend to forget that Jaeson has never been to this part of the world. Sights that we have seen many times are new to him. So after we asked a half a dozen people where to find our airport shuttle bus to the hotel (after several unsuccessful attempts to call the hotel), we settled in for the 5 km ride in stop and go traffic. Then we turned off onto a teeny tiny road or path or barely a pedestrian walkway maneuvering between an array of little local food stalls. Hmmmmmm. I pulled out the phone to google the hotel for a picture of the $50/ night including breakfast accommodations. Needed to put my own mind at ease....just as I showed Jaeson and Michael the screen, we turned again onto the hotel property...big lobby, valet parking, big sigh of relief.
Jaeson was off at 6a for his flight home. Michael and I have until noon. At breakfast this morning, i glanced at the tv screen ( do restaurants everywhere have TVs now?) and saw the banner "Merapi erupsi largi ". Mt. Merapi is near Yogyakarta. You can see it in the background of photos of Borobudur on a clear day (I.e. not ours). It erupted a little bit a couple of days before we started this trip. Apparently two days after we left Java it erupted again and and has done so 4 times since Monday with some evacuations nearby.
You may have heard of Krakatoa. Yeah, that was near here. And now that I think of it, our first trip to Indonesia in 1991 yielded some stunning sunsets in Bali thanks to the early activity leading up to the eruption of Mount Pinatubo. (You might have heard of that one, too)
Guess we have been pretty lucky in our comings and goings to this part of the world where volcanoes are everywhere you look...
See here....two from the plane landing in Sulawesi.
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