Bogor

Bogor was the most spectacular of revelations.  A hill-town-style jungle village, set on the side of a hill with a morass of shanty town below.  I found a guest house that I will never forget on the edge of town, next to a church, surrounded by transvestite prostitutes.  All of the rooms were set around a covered courtyard with battered lounge furniture to....lounge upon.

Bogar's botanical garden is the town's only 'sight' and is little more than a municipal park.  That said, it's surprise sight was a leafless tree, covered with bats.  The people, from one end of the town to the other, are consistently charming and welcoming.  I have my picture taken endlessly and a multitude of invitations to come and see homes and meet families.  I accept a couple of these invitations, to find myself deep in 'suburbia', sometimes acting as 'cover' for an illicit meetup between boyfriend and girlfriend.

I decide, at one point, to start learning Indonesian - on the suggested of 'Teddy' in the guesthouse, the terrible weather and hearing numerous travellers having picked it up with seeming ease.  I spend a couple of days on 'cat' and 'dog' and the numbers and 'that's expensive'.

And then it's time to go back to Jakarta to meet E who couldn't be more excited to arrive.  She's also terrifically well prepared for the trip (unlike me a number of months ago).  That said - her pre-travel nerves are quite similar to those that I experienced.  I had been very much looking forward to seeing her - by this point in proceedings I was feeling a little lonely and a little homesick.  Although I was talking, in my diary, about coming back soon and the 'chitchat' with others was much more pleasant and numerous than in might have been in the past.  E brings many things to the game - from someone to tell my 'tales' to (including a full photo viewing) through to someone to have a drink with - having long been a little teetotal.

After a terse exchange with the Jalan Jaksa guesthouse about their enthusiasm to get rid of us rather quickly, we headed straight back to Bogor.  E was particularly impressed and, it turned out, would have preferred to stay there instead of Bandung.  Because stay she must - on her own - I was headed to Singapore to renew my visa.....