Bandung - JKK - Singapore (and wait) - JKK - Bandung - and onwards....

I found myself deeply troubled by leaving E alone in Bandung - a feeling that was exacerbated by a terrible dream which I can still remember to this day.  E was, in the first scene, surrounded by all of the people we had met in town - but I couldn't see her face.  The next and final scene was to see her rise towards me - face first - with dark eyes and hollow cheeks.

It turns out that my fears were unfounded - although she would have preferred to have stayed in Bogor, it wasn't so bad - she took a trip out to see an artists studio and, in general, hung out with the other backpackers that had swung by this area.  I found it particularly amusing that the guesthouse staff were particularly nice - something that I found contradictory when thinking about how unpleasant the town was in general.

My journey to Singapore was pretty uneventful - lots of uncharacteristically smooth connections.  I stopped by the old JKK guest house in one of their dorm rooms with the successful intent of leaving at 330am.  The bus to the airport was waiting for me but the destination was closed.  It seems I was particularly looking forward to a Dunkin Donuts breakfast there - alas, the disappointment!

The lack of legroom is all that appears to have been notable about the flight and I do remember sitting in the airport lounge for 5-6 hours waiting for my return flight.  I read the Daily Telegraph and worried about the state of the world.  I wondered about the cleanliness of the airport and my contradictory appearance.  My return to Indonesia was met with a raised eyebrow or two from immigration but I proudly sported a new two months visa with little trial or tribulation.

And back to Bandung.  A long-ish 'stopper' train that was notable for a long chat to a student for the duration - only to be criticised by another passenger, after he got off, for it being too long and noisy!  I also, by the way, got chatted up by two boys in Angie's restaurant in JKK.  I called them 'fags' in my diary - something that made me frown disapprovingly on reading it.  I simply can't remember (but doubt) whether than was an acceptable term even then.

And, as I said, E was perfectly content - the room was a little noisy but she had gotten herself into an early habit of being somewhat uncompromising on such things.  There was nothing holding us there so - so were were straight on to Yogya with a little ado as possible.