22/7/10 Bondowoso, Java

Shockingly, we were on the right bus and actually made it to Bondowoso. Unfortunately, it seems to be the Indonesian way to put the bus terminal on the far outskirts of town. We are not opposed to walking a bit but when it's 35 degrees, 90% humidity, you don't have a map and you don't speak Indonesian very well, it can be painful. Good news is that there are rick-shaw drivers all around town and we hired one to take us to the hotel. Rick-shaws are designed for Indonesian sized people, which we are not. Add our very heavy bags to the equation and this poor dude had his work cut out for him. Jeff tried to get off and walk to lighten the load but the driver would have none of it.

Thus commenced the slowest ever rick-shaw ride through the centre of town. Our lack of speed gave everyone in town a good opportunity to stare at us. In the end, the three of us in the rick-shaw were having a good laugh about the ridiculousness of the situation.

After settling in the hotel, we decided to go out and have a look around. Lucky timing since there was a parade going on as part of the Indonesian independence day celebrations (not sure what the cell-phone dudes we're about or how they related to independence, but it was funny). We grabbed a snack at the corner vendor's stall, much to the delight of the locals, which was comprised of very tasty mystery meat and the hottest relish I've ever had. After the parade wrapped up, we were the main entertainment. Everywhere we walked people stared, often open-mouthed, at us. One smile from us and they were smiling back, waving and taking pictures, trying out their few words of English on us and welcoming us to town. After less than one day here, I've decided that these are some fantastic folks.

At one point, Jeff went across the street to look in a store and I was left alone. A high school English club found me and surrounded me. Once they established that I was happy to talk to them, they followed me back to the hotel taking pictures and videos the whole way. Maybe this is what J-Lo feels like? Pretty crazy. Later in the evening, a group of young men spotted us. The ring leader jumped up, fixed his hair, smoothed his shirt and came over to say hello (pretty much all he knew how to say). It transpired that he wanted a picture with Jeff and pretty soon there were 15 men squeezing around him to get into the picture.

Staying here, I feel like the people of Bondowoso have confused us with someone important and famous. As strange as it is to have people so fascinated with you, I've rarely felt as safe and welcome as I do here.