Banyak Sesuatu Baru Untuk Tahun Baru

Greetings,

Well a lot has happened since our last post.  The year is off to a fast start as we started the New Year in our new place of residence.  Thankfully some of us are adjusting to this move well, but unfortunately not all of us.  We have been without internet now for a week which has made communications a little slower but not impossible.  We have a nice restaurant down the road from us with a killer blueberry smoothie so I (Greg) being enjoying a few more of those while trying to keep up on emails and what not.  I’m thinking I should just cancel the internet altogether and put the money towards blueberry smoothies in a daily run for internet.  But I think I might get in trouble from higher up if they find out I canceled the internet at the house.

                Are family started out the year with a trip to Kopeng to see a tradition celebration of sorts.  If I understood our friend right it was to mark the end of a month however I forget the name of the month as it is from a different calendar than we use.  Included are some pictures from that celebrations.

Traditional music/puppet show call Wayang Kulit.  

Traditional dance done by group young boys

Traditional dance preformed by 2 adults 

I think each dance tells a story but I'm not sure.

Enjoying some warm food and fellowship around the
kitchen fire place.

             














        Then on Sunday morning we traveled again with our friends to Gedong Songo.  Gedong Songo is the site of a series of  ancient  Hindu temples stretched along the mountain side.  Then after hiking and taking in the sights at Gedong Songo we traveled to Borobudur an ancient Buda temple.  According to Wiki Gedong Songo predates Borobudur both of which were built in the 8-9 century.  Which make them the oldest buildings I ever visited.  The architectural complexity was impressive to think they were constructed by hand without power tools, heavy machines and auto-cad.  The trip was great only one complaint, I could have done without the high pressure salesman at the end of the trip at Borobudur.  It seemed like an eternity trying to get to the exit while being hounded to buy some souvenirs.  Lots of pictures taken.

Gedong Songo

Kids enjoying the concrete wildlife.

Gedong Songo overlooking the hot-springs.

The fresh smell of hot sulfur mum yummy.

The grand temple Borobudur, it was massive!

Mt Merbabu or Mt. Merapi from atop Borobudur.

Where's Waldo or I mean Isaac?

Oh there he is again trying to hide.

A good time had by all even Waldo oh I mean Isaac.

                














        The last two group of pictures is from a couple different biking adventures.  The first group were taken on a trip with a friend.  When he was younger he camped out at this camp ground which had a nice pool at one time up by Kopeng.   On this trip he also introduced me to Gule Kambing which is a Indonesian meal.  Gule Kambing is a soup with rice and some vegetables and then goat meat.  It was pretty good and  I enjoyed.  Later I was warned that it’s not a good soup for high blood pressure.  Maybe I will only enjoy it on rare occasions! I quickly googled Gule Kambing, what I ate looks a lot different than that in some of the pictures not to mention that most of the receipts seem to call for lamb instead of goat.  You might have to come visit to try some authentic Indonesian Gule Kambing. 

Swimming pool in what I would consider the middle of
no where at one time looked like pretty nice place.

                













        This last group of pictures is some more landscape from a solo biking trip.  I was trying to find my way to the top of Mt. Merbabu.  Google maps shows a road to the top but I either need to change out my tires for some off road style or better yet change out bikes for a motor cross bike.  Or what I will likely try is return in the dry season when the clay isn’t crazy slippery and try again. 

If you look hard you can see a tiny village just below the
clouds up on the mountain that is my chosen destination
 on this trip.

Vegetation abrupt change yes those are pine trees and it
smelled like I was back home.

Stone road cut through the pine tree.  I doesn't look steep
I had a challenge getting going again after stopping
for these few pictures and a leg stretch.

Here is the village up close built on the side of the mountain.
Maybe only 1/3 of the way up to the top.

Villages crop land.  There is a lot of things that grow here.

Slight up grade to the road with two tracks made from
concrete a little smoother than the stones earlier.

Steep decent on the right and then 270 corner and a steep
climb to the left on the way between villages.

This shows up as a road on Google maps.
It was a little slippery but not to steep so it wasn't to bad.

PS.  If you click on the pictures they should be bigger and a little bit easier to see the details in some of them. This was a large post hope you enjoy looking at the picture, we enjoyed taking them.  Blessings