House pets & Gunung Gaja

Lounging on our window bars one morning... I named him Herbie.

flowers baskin' in the warm sun at Gunung Gaja

some sprigs of rice reaching harvest-readiness...

a lady whose ability to peruse these hills and carry large loads puts me to shame!

resourceful use of flora to shade the bike seat and paint....

a backyard visitor

A plethora of PUMPKIN...

This weekend I embarked on the adventure of cooking a pumpkin (given to us by a friend), and all the subsequent baked goods that about 7 cups of puree can make. Here's my pumpkin just after slicing it in two...

The seeds I collected while removing handfulls of inner-pumpkin glop. With some butter, Worcestershire sauce, garlic, and salt, these roasted up nice and yummy...

My post-baked pumpkin flesh and puree...

Twin towers, hot potatoes, woodwork, friends & a swamp

Twin towers in Kuala Lumpur, Malasia

Crispy/chewy outside, soft and sweet inside... Oven-baked sweet potatoes for dinner. Amazing just-baked; no toppings required.

One of the ornate benches being made at our friend's family's woodworking company. They make wood furniture that's exported all over the world.

Two of our new Zambian friends, Boston & Febby, at our picnic dinner halfway up a dormant Indonesian volcano.

Retired riverboats at a swamp in Central Java.

Misc

Jakarta Airport, with its shiny slabs of tiled flooring.

The user-friendly smoking lounge...

Airport restaurant where we had dinner.

Our staple Sunday evening dinner place where they serve varieties of "nasi goreng" (fried rice). Here, the owner wastes no time whipping up the first orders in his large wok... Yum, random chicken parts goodness...

One of the centerpieces at a recent "farewell dinner" for some friends headed back to the States.

Anniversary vacation on Gili Air

Sunset

Sunset off the south part of the island... We walked the circumference of the island in less than 2 hrs...  That's Bali in the distance...

Again, sunset off the south part of the island, Bali in the background.

Crazy shell, still inhabited.  Some kid was hurling large chunks of dead coral at it, in attempt to break it open and look at the creature inside.

Breakfast with a view... Fruit salad (fresh papaya, pineapple, and banana or watermelon), toast with butter and jam, and Lombok coffee.  Mmmmm.

Local kids playing in the waves...

Where we enjoyed many of our meals throughout the week...

Sunrise

My temporary footprint.

Hotel greenery at sunrise, our hut in the background.

One of many interesting shells strewn across the sand.

Low tide.

We took a boat similar to this one from Lombok to Gili Air.  (After 2 plane rides, a 1 km walk, a 45 min. bus ride, a 2 hr wait and many, many price negotiations!)

View of East Java from the plane.