Day 7, March 15th

We started this day out very early at 4:00. This was a picture I took in the cab.

We flew from Jakarta to Lampung using one of their domestic airlines. To say that we were stared at in the terminal would be an understatement. This was the way the airport looked around the gate area.

The flight was only 35 minutes long and we only got to 12,000 feet. I found out later that these were fish hatcheries on the coast.

More pictures from the plane.

Brent had told me that because the winds were bad sometimes and the runway wasn't that big, that the planes had to land pretty hard sometimes. He said that sometimes the overhead bins even popped open. So when it happened to us, I had to laugh. I am glad I snapped a picture of it. I am also glad that he had warned me, because everyone screamed when we landed.

This was our plane.

This was our luggage heading to the "baggage claim" area.

This was my first glimpse of Lampung.

We were already late for bible class, so we dropped our things off at Brent's parents house that they still own, (and that Barry is staying at right now), before we went to worship. This was a picture I snapped in their neighborhood.

When we arrived at church everyone, AND I MEAN EVERYONE, came up and greeted us. They were so friendly and kind. Even though I don't speak the language, you still felt welcomed and that they were glad we were there. I found out a few minutes later that we came in while they were still having bible class, because they went back to class after we arrived. So if that isn't a greeting, I don't know what is.

I am so glad that we got to worship with the members in Lampung. What an experience to know that even though our worlds are completely different, we are united in Christ. We sang "Love Lifted Me" but it was in Indonesian. I don't know what it was about hearing the tune that I was familiar with, but the words were different that made me feel a real connection with everyone. It was such an illustration to me that we are all one in Christ.

Brent spoke for worship services. He had an interpreter, but he also spoke to them in Indonesian too. (I bet you can't guess where I am. Oh yeah, I am the bottle blond in the middle of the room.)

***Side note: There were probably about 65 people at worship services that morning but the singing was like none I had ever heard for a group that size. We could all take lessons from them because they apparently know that singing comes from the heart and the true meaning of worship. I was so uplifted!

Here is Brent speaking with Victor interpreting.

Here is a short clip of Brent speaking. Of course, he had to mention me:)

(I have to mention that the "prison" comment came from Brent talking in his lesson about when he visits the prisons, that everyone wants to sing "Count Your Blessings." That the prisoners are always joyful when they assemble to worship. He was making the point that it doesn't matter where you are, or who you are, that we should always be joyful in our worship.)After worship we headed to the city of Metro. Along the way we passed many rice patties.

We also passed some goats. You just never know what you will see.

We ate at Sulis and her husband's house for lunch. Sulis and her sisters are Brent's parents' adopted daughters. Sulis has two children, Gabi age 4 and Amanda age 3 months. I didn't get a picture of Amanda because she was napping by the time I thought about it.

We had a wonderful lunch as you can see below. The rendang was wonderful. The best I can describe it is beef tips over rice but with a hot, sweet, coconut flavor. I make it at our house, but it is nothing like eating it over there. We also had wonderful fruit. The yellow on the table was little bananas. They were sweet and good. We also had pineapple. Over there, they don't have to core it because it is allowed to ripen longer. It was sooo good.

This is Suningsih and her son Hazekea age 2.

This was Gabby. His mother said that he was so excited about us coming, and then the whole time we were there, he stayed in the other room because he was too shy. He is cute!

This is Suningsih, Sulis, me, and Lidia.

Later that afternoon, we went and did a little sight seeing. Barry took us to a place where we could overlook the city. It was just beautiful there.
We then went to the grocery store to stock up on some snacks. Don't you want some of these?
Later that evening, we ate at the Sheraton where we were staying. EVERYONE that worked there knew Brent's dad because him and his mom would eat there so often. It was a nice treat and delicious.

Day 6, March 14th

We spent our last morning in Singapore just walking around downtown one last time. We went to the airport to fly to Jakarta aboard Qatar Airlines. It was the nicest plane on our entire trip. I will have to admit, being surrounded by that many people wearing burqas, and dressed in a traditional Muslim style made me a little uneasy, but that just shows my insecurities. While we were in the line at the gate, we were pulled out and put at the front of the line. I asked Brent why that happened and he just said, "Why do you think that happened." I didn't want special treatment just because they thought we were Americans.

Anyway, our flight was nice. When we arrived in Jakarta, I had my first taste of a whole different world. This was a picture of one of the parking lots at the airport full of motorcycles.

A smoggy look at the city.

We drove the back way to get to our hotel and by the time we got there it was already dark. Indonesians like to set up their kiosk stands and make shift restaurants all over when the sun goes down. I have never seen that many people...everywhere you look. I was a little unnerved, but I didn't want Brent to know that I was a little nervous. We decided to walk down to Chili's I wanted to tell Brent that we could just stay in the hotel and eat crackers, but I also didn't want to be that person. So we walked to Chili's and once we were inside, I felt like I was in any Chili's in the U.S. (they even have the same tiled tables) Here were two pictures I snapped. The first one was just funny to me because it was my first time seeing prices like that on a menu. There currency is called Rupiah.

They don't have ketchup on the tables, you have to ask for it. But they do have
sambal, which is a sweet hot sauce.

Our supper was really good and we left to go back to the hotel. This was a picture I snapped or a traffic jam. Brent told me that it was pretty typical.

My first taste of Jakarta was a little unnerving, but later in the trip I realized I had nothing to be nervous about. Brent said later I had severe culture shock. There is just no way to describe to someone what it was like. Brent said you can't tell someone what a city of that many people is like, that you just have to experience it. I have to agree.

Thomas Detour

I have enjoyed reliving our trip and plan on taking the posts and transferring them to a book about our trip as a memento. But, we are taking a detour to post about another trip.

We went yesterday to Calera to see Thomas the Tank engine. This is the fourth year in a row that we have been. Brooks was always infatuated with Thomas, but sadly he is growing up and is slowly growing out of it. Then there is Reese on the other hand. He likes Thomas just fine, but could take him or leave him. I am starting to wonder if our trek to see him each year is coming to a close.

Sir Topham Hat
Playing putt-putt.
Reese would take his ball and put it right by the hole and then knock it in.

The boys got tattoos. Even I had to get a tattoo after the boys insisted.

All four years:

Day 5 continued

After a lot of walking, and just enjoying the sights, we headed in the direction of the Fullerton Hotel. We got to where we could see it. The buffet didn't start until 8:00 and it was 7:15, so we found a bench and waited.

And waited.

And waited......


"Well that is a pretty view.""And that is a pretty view. But oh my, it is showing up too dark."

"I think I will walk around this corner and see what is over here.

"Well look at that, 3 Buddha heads."

"Now what is Brent up to?"

"That picture was too blue. Let me try this..."

"Well that was much worse."

"What about this?"

"That is better."

"What time is it now?"

"7:40?"

"Ugh!"

"I wonder what the boys are doing."

"I guess I will play with my camera some more."

"Ooh, that was nice."

"Kind of artsy fartsy."

"Let's start walking to the Fullerton."

"There it is!!!!"

"Chocolate Buffet, here we come!"

"Oh, be still my heart."

(There were no pictures of Brent's plates, nor of my second, because I was in a trance.)

"Let me sneak a picture of one of the tables without trying to look like "the country girl coming to town.""

As much as we didn't want to leave, we went back to our hotel and slept happily ever after!

Day 5, March 13th

We started this rainy morning by trying to stay dry. We had already planned to go to the National Museum of Singapore, so the rain wasn't going to mess up any plans.Once inside we walked under these beautiful chandeliers, that began to swing back and forth! Brent and I just stopped and stared. We got to learn all about the history of the country. The sad part is that not much is known about the history prior to 1800. They only have stories that were handed down by word of mouth. The picture below is of Sir Thomas Raffles who came from Britain and set up Singapore as a British Colony. It was a long process involving different sultans, etc. that we got to learn all about.

Below is a bell that was a gift that is from Boston.

They did not allow flash photography inside that part of the museum, so I was limited as to what I could take pictures of. It was well worth the visit to understand more of what brought Singapore to the country it is today.

We went back to a mall that we had visited previously in our trip so that I could get some more Roti Prata to eat. I love this stuff and now just need to figure out how to fix it here. It is a Singaporean dish that derived from an Indian dish (paratha). It is a thin pancake like bread made from flour, water, and egg. It reminded me of a crepe, and you can have different things inside it. I had egg and onion. Then the best part is that you can dip it in curry sauce. It was so good. I had it three times while in Singapore.

After lunch we went to the Botanical Gardens. They like to say that it is one of the only free things to do in the city. We walked and walked and walked inside it and only covered about a fourth of it. It would take all day to see all of the beautiful scenery inside.

I would have loved more time to see all of the garden.

Day 4 continued

We went to Sentosa which is an island right next to the mainland, that has a beach, and lots of things to see and do. We were mainly going to see the laser show that was shown each evening. This picture was on the drive there. We had some time to kill before the show began, so we enjoyed the sunset. I can say that I have put my toes in the Java Sea, which I believe is a part of the Indian Ocean.

It was a gorgeous sunset!!!

If you have been to Stone Mountain, then you know what a laser light show is like. This was somewhat like that, but instead of showing it on a mountain side, they shot a wall of water into the air, and that is what they lasers were aimed at. I couldn't get any really good pictures, but at least you can see a little of what we saw. I think this was supposed to be some kind of fairy.

More of the water show.

Fireworks at the end!

We had a great day, but we were exhausted.