Market

Pick your chicken and they'll do it up for you as you watch, shiver, shiver. They throw the stuff you don"t want on the pile in the back. You have to use your imagination to get a sense of how this hits your other senses.

Testing video

Somebody please let me know if this works.

Tea Break

Iced tea in a bag with a sadotan (straw)!

Out of gas

On the way to the beach Chris noticed that the gas gauge showed way below empty. There aren't many gas stations but there are small kiosks called warungs where you can buy gasoline in 2 litre bottles. You pay for two litres but the bottles are not full. If you question it you hear that it is the same all the way up the supply line. Nobody gets a full measure so why should you. Interesting.

Haircut?

Laura you would not have come near this place. That green cape is pure grease from the thousands that have gone before. That red thing is a sponge that he rubs across your face to pick up stray hairs. Just think where that's been. But it was a decent haircut, shave, and a massage for $1.50.

I said to Chris on the way home. Man, that's cheap. I should have got two.

Funny ferns after disturbing

Funny ferns

These little fern like plants fold up in a protective move when you touch them. Very interesting.

Still working on the bathroom door. Got the veneer on with contact cement. I am now applying what they call Melamine. Equivalent to our Varathane. A few more days and I should have it in. Can"t work too long in the heat.

Paeton

Trying out Grandpa's t-shirt.

Paeton asked his Dad, "What does serious mean?"

Chris replied, "You're joking. Are you serious?"(Paeton says "I'm serious." a lot.)

Paeton: "Dad, I'm serious. What does serious mean?"

Sweet boy.

The Banana Lady

Julene has forgotten how tall she is compared to many Indonesian women, until she saw this picture. The Banana Lady was pleased to see Julene and said something like, "How quickly you have become normal at my store!". Loose translation since I don't speak Indonesian and my memory is not much better. We also bought a custard apple. I haven't one of those in a long time. Not that I recall...

Why flying is quicker

Rivers here wind and wind so boats take forever to traverse them. A plane can get there quicker and is especially useful when there is an emergency.

Today was spent repairing the door they destroyed getting Susan out of the locked bathroom. Sue is flying with Chris this afternoon, enjoying her new found freedom.

Flying over Borneo jungle all day

8 landings. Passengers. 1000 pounds of cement. Good thing we don't have to load or unload. Once in a lifetime day. It is hot here. Flaming hot.

Susan got into more trouble than we did. She locked herself in Julene's bathroom for a half hour. We had to send someone out from the base to break down the door.

Between a swamp and a soft place

A load of sand a soft swampy base spells wasted days for six guys. Shovels, boards, rocks, did not help. This is just below Chris and Julene's place. Made for some entertainment. They dumped their sand to make the truck lighter then couldn't go forwards or backwards. Stuck between a swamp and a soft place.

MAF Hangar

Captured with 360 Panorama in 46.7 seconds.

Um-nuts

You will like this. Makenna (3) asked her Mom what was inside this bun. Her Mom said Little Uhhhhmmm NUTS!  Makenna looks down at her bun and says, "Um-nuts!!"

Here, try some of this

Hard at work

Chris and Tim remove a winshield that came loose. An employee of Quest, the manufacturer is here from Idaho with new windshields that have more surface area for the glue. Glue? Is that all that holds planes together? I hope it's good glue!

Too many bananas

These little bananas are tasty. But you can have too many. Julene and Chris were getting low on bananas so Julene kept asking Chris to pick some up on his way home from work. After a fews days of reminders Julene picked up three bunches while she was out shopping and that was the day Chris remembered. He walked into the kitchen with his two bunches and laughed when he saw three on the table. All ripe at the same time so there was a lot of banana recipes that week.

Orchids

Swimming today. Stopped at a HUGE orchid farm on the way back. This is one of my favorites. Unfortunately you cannot buy one of these because it is a government program. But if you 'ask' with very carefully chosen 'words', there is usually a way to get around the 'cannot'.

Fruit Market

Julene bought the bananas, Tehya went across the road for a pineapple. The cost of the pineapple seemed high so on asking another vendor, he gave us an even higher price. "White tax?" Chris asked. "Yes, he replied."

Flight 6 of 6

Into the night to the ends of the earth.

Gramma and Makenna

Who is happier?

Rainy morning

Just so there"s no doubt...

Flight 5 of 6 - Lion to Balikpapan

We flew right over Will"s oil rig. Three platforms joined together with what appeared to be gangways. I thought this was going to be a long flight. Only 1.5 hrs.

Arrived Tarakan safely

Quite a hard landing in a 737 but got it stopped before we got to the end of the short runway.

We did not see one other white person at the Balikpapan airport or on the flight in to Tarakan. This is truly the uttermost part of the earth.

So great to see the family and grandchildren again.

Time to reconnect with family. Good stuff, good stuff.

Volcano

Lots of volcanoes visible sticking up though clouds.

Flight 4 of 6 - 1 hour

And a lot of waiting around. Today is all day travel/hang. Bali Surabaya Balikpapan Tarakan

Novotel Hotel Nusa Dua

Buffet Breakfast - love that Muesli

Bali Beach Barbecue

Many kinds of fish, australians, desserts.

Bali, Indonesia

Finally…but nice. They upgraded us to a suite with full kitchen, two bedrooms, balcony. 29 degrees.

Banana Boat

I asked for a banana split. She didn't know what I was talking about. So I pointed to the picture. Now you would think that it would resemble the picture when it came. I asked where is the wafer? Where are the strawberries? Again just a shrug from the waiter. I said Like the picture! He said Ohhh, that's only for the picture. And the ice cream balls were well hidden between the banana halves.

Flight 3/6 just pulling in

Doesn't she look like the relaxed traveller?

Nice airport

Cappuccino $42. HK$ that is.

Flight 2/6

Just touching down in Hong Kong. 12 hour flight from Vancouver. Woooooo what a long flight. Watched 4 movies. Listened to a small girl cry most of the way. Good food. Lots of turbulence as we passed over Japan.

Passing time at YVR

Well we've done 16 minutes flying so far. Woooo Hoooo! It's way past my bedtime. At least I've got an iPhone and free Wi-Fi. At 02:45 a 13 hour flight to Hong Kong. Hope they have a few new movies.

Flight 1/6

Caught an earlier flight. And it's on time.

Can't wait

We are about to leave for the airport and we will see you after six flights and a mere 48 hours!

Playfair Park

One more visit to Playfair Park before we go.

Goodbye Brunch

Check out this video on YouTube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o5MBatWjIaw&feature=youtube_gdata_player

Wow, we didn't expect a Goodbye Brunch!! haha

Oops wrong picture…

Leaving the office for warmer climes

Bon Voyage!

Four and a half more Sleeps

The half is because our flight leaves at 2:30 am from Vancouver. Here is a picture of Makenna, Tehya and Paeton  who are waiting to give us big hugs very soon.