I know that one or two of you are following me in your Atlas.
This is the final itinerary for Western Australia, Indonesia, Singapore:
* Bangkok to Denpasar, Bali. By air. Southeast over the Java Sea.
* Bali to Perth, Western Australia. By air, South over the Indian Ocean.
* Perth, back to Bali.
* Bali to Yogyakarta, Central Java. By air. West over Mt. Bromo.
* Yogyakarta to Semarang. By bus. North, over the mountains to the coast.
* Semarang to Jakarta, West Java. By air.
* Jakarta to Bandung. By train. South, through mountain passes, on high trestles over deep gorges.
* Bandung to Yogyakarta. By train. East across terraced rice fields; mountains, high mountains and volcanoes in the distance.
* Yogyakarta to Singapore, on the Malaysia Peninsula. By air. Northwest over Sumatra.
* Singapore to Bangkok. By air. Northwest over the Strait of Melaka and the Andaman Sea.
Yes, fellow travelers. Have you noticed that my route was slightly "inefficient"? Well, inefficiency is one of my more endearing personal qualities. Along with "impulsive."
I do think that my youthful personal qualities of impatience, intolerance, arrogance and assertiveness are now mostly gone. They are unaffordable luxuries.Unproductive, unacceptable behaviors here in Southeast Asia.
I am still working on my New-York-style speed and decibel level. Charitably, some might call it "enthusiastic." ("...you can't take The City out of the boy.")
Soft, moderate, reticent, shy are the preferred attributes here.
Except, of course, when on a long-distance bus ride and the video player is blasting either piercing rock "music" or an ultra-violent feature "film" where 79 punks are all dismembered by machine gun fire. Then I ever so gently ask the driver to adjust the volume "nit noy."
But that's in Thailand. Let's get back to Java...
Next letter coming soon.
Jan
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