wanderlusting and bandung life

lets see...

so my last post was about the earthquake...even though i've only been here about two weeks, it feels like ages.

we left jakarta on friday and arrived in bandung around noon at the novotel hotel. we were greeted by cold guava juice, fulbright backpacks, and smiling indonesian faces.

the view from my 6th floor hotel room is amazing. the blue shade of the mountains that surround the city can be seen from my huge window facing east. bandung is the fourth largest city in indonesia and is WAY better than jakarta in my unimportant opinion.

the air is cooler here and the blue mountains remind you how majestic life can be.

on sunday (our day off) we rented a car and drove about an hour out of the city to see Tangkuban Parahu--an active volcano about 30 km outside of bandung which last erupted in '83. kudos to kerry for organizing the cars.

the four girls were squeezed in the front seat as raj, michael, and ricky chilled out in the back of the van in their aviators. the car ride up to the site was scattered with bunnies trapped in cages in stands (yes to be killed), fruits stands, and strawberry farms. when we arrived, there was a huge caldera in front of us where, unfortunately, we could not hike down into because of the poisonous gas it emits. so we stared in awe on the rim as the locals stared at us.

we hired a guide after some haggling and bargaining and hiked down to kawah domas (domas crater). the smell of sulfur permeated the air as bubbling mud, boliling hot water, and gas wafting from the broken ground very clearly confirmed to us that we were on a volcano.

yes. on a volcano.

sulfer gas. and excitement.

boiling eggs in the water.

caldera.

after hiking and sweating and picturing and all that jazz, we went to a hotsprings resort and grabbed some lunch.

ab and i decided to get some icecream for dessert. turns out, by vanilla they mean durian flavor.

expecting vanilla and tasting durian is a bit like a slap in the face when one is expecting a warm smile. takes you back a few steps.

durian icecream is disgusting.

but the hotsprings were relaxing :)

i did try durian with a few others the other night for the first time and found it not bad. cheers for exotic fruit that smells like rotting skin.

i have more to share:

bahasa and teaching training

school visits

beirut

erlas mexican cafe

iftar (breaking puasa--fast)

baller muslim fellow "superwoman"

more later.

hope you all are flippin some pages

hahaha

cheers to dinners, new friends that can make you smile when you need it, and the beauty of sacrifice.

huggie.