mmm...malang

we have arrived in malang, found a hotel with hot water and a fast internet cafe. yay! the last few days have been jam packed with adventure, so i'll try to get my thoughts in order and write separate posts on them.

we arrived in town in the afternoon, found a hotel, grabbed some food and then walked around. there is a lot of dutch colonial influence here and it can be seen quite clearly in a lot of the architecture. not to mention all the tulips in one of the traffic circles! we wandered through a bird/fish/animal market and saw birds, bunnies, crickets, cats, a squirrel (we think) and don't really want to imagine where these animals go when they are sold.

we also had an adventure crossing the street. it's sort of mayhem and since they drive on the left side of the street, it seems like anytime is a good time to make a left turn. the lane markers also seem to be for decoration rather than anything else, so between the cars and motorbikes, it can be much like a game of frogger to get across the street! the sidewalks are also not very well maintained, so you need to keep an eye out where you're walking.

malang is a much larger city than we had imagined from the guidebook. we're not sure how long we're going to stay - maybe leave tomorrow or the next day - before heading to solo or yogjakarta.

well, i'll try to work on the other posts now. hope everyone is having a good october! please comment or email us, we miss you!