Swot For Dunkin Donut

Sunrise on volcanoes and arrived in Bali

After Yogyakarta, a bus drove me ten hours to Mount Bromo, east of the island of Java. The area includes several volcanoes Mount Bromo and s'explore usually in the morning to watch the sunrise sun. After a short sleep, around 3:15 am the guide knocked on my door to wake me up. With few other tourists, we climbed into a jeep that led us to the point of view, in front of Bromo (the kind of smoking crater in the middle of the picture). Dozens of other jeeps accompanied us in the end we were hundreds to watch the first rays. The sunrise was gorgeous, and the views of the volcano has been incredible, with several huge cones rising in the middle of the vast plain black. Deep inside the landscape, Mount Penanjakan rising to nearly
2800 meters. After one hour of visual delight, we took the jeep to reach the foot of Mount Bromo. From there, a little path and some steps can be accessed in a small half-hour at the top of the crater. Because of the thick smoke loaded with sulfur, it is impossible to go around, but the landscaped platform offers a great view over central volcano. At 8am we went downstairs to the hotel for a (very) breakfast, and re-Belote, 12 buses and a ferry to arrive in Denpasar, the capital of Bali unattractive. With four other tourists motivated, we pushed a taxi to Ubud, a half hour from Denpasar. We had to wake the poor tenants of the guest house to find a home, it was already 1am ...

Ubud is the cultural heart of Bali. It is a beautiful small town where temples and buildings adorned with sculptures and bas-reliefs are everywhere. Many streets are unpaved, and there are dozens of art galleries and restaurants that are worth a look even if only to admire the interior. One example among many others, my guest-house is composed of a dozen houses with marble terraces, with carved pillars and lots of little details, from colorful patterns on the walls to finely crafted wood shutters. All in a very green garden, a little mystical, crossed by walkways half covered with moss. There is even a very small pool hidden in a corner:) And the city is full of these places. In the surrounding landscape of palm trees and rice terraces. I got a walk yesterday and today, pausing from time to time to let the showers. Invariably, in mid-afternoon, a good rain shower soaks the streets and fields. This afternoon, I took refuge under the awning of a tiny art gallery lost a little north of Ubud, and peasants working in the field next door joined me a few minutes later. Unfortunately our conversation was limited to exchanges of smiles, I do not speak a word of them Balinese and not a word of English (except "You speak Indonesian?").

Heading South of Ubud, a small dark, dense jungle, rightly called Monkey Forest Sanctuary, will visit an hour. There is, apart from the hundreds of monkeys, one or two modest-sized temples, statues scattered through here and there, a sort of mini-cemetery and ancient trees. One of the temples is surrounded by a small river, and the foam covering all gives the impression of discovering a place abandoned for centuries. In downtown, there are also several temples and the palace of the local royal family. The Hindu influence is everywhere, although strongly influenced by tribal culture. Is also found in most temples storey towers erected at above doors resembling gopurams southern India. Cons by the statues do not represent the Hindu deities, but local adaptations heads chubby and friendly. Food level, it's still not the top, many dishes of rice and chicken ... Tomorrow I leave my 4 companions and settled on a beach east of Bali, a priori less traveled. I should finally be able to taste the famous beaches of Bali dream:)

San Diego Glory Hole 2010

overly welcoming atmosphere in Java

It is only 4 days I am in Java, Indonesia, and I have the impression of having seen billions of things. The capital, Jakarta, has nothing remarkable, except the kindness of its inhabitants. Looks like a great Western city with skyscrapers, clean streets, I even saw a Carrefour! Except that closer inspection shows some precarious bamboo houses hidden everywhere and open sewers, to recall that we are still in a developing country. The traffic is intense, especially 2 wheels which are legion. There are generally fewer people in the streets in India, no one harasses the few tourists, the atmosphere is much calmer and not against a single second. Every 100 meters someone says hello, including the police, some wonder if all goes well and if you please you Indonesia. A pleasant surprise, I thought I would have to fight for a minimum they leave me alone, and not even bin. It is very hot and humid, weird telling me that a week ago I was fighting against the elements in Hokkaido. Otherwise, there is not much to do in Jakarta. I fought with the Indian Embassy to finally denied my tourist visa: / Too bad, I went for a tour of India, I must postpone my visit to the North-East of the country to other holiday. After this failure, I took a train to Yogyakarta in central Java island. The 8 o'clock train, I discovered the beautiful landscape of rice fields, palm trees and mountains in the background. Rice cultivation extends over hundreds of kilometers, and you see hats "Chinese" there colored tunics and bustling.

Enchantment arrived in Yogyakarta. The tourist district is composed of two tiny streets, pedestrian, very quiet and very green, with options birdsong and cries of children playing. In fact everything is green in Java, in addition to the dense vegetation surrounding the houses and balconies decorated with plants. I started with the shopping mecca of tourism Yogya, namely, the street Malioboro. A straight street lined on one side of the shopping mall, another tiny souvenir shops and rickshaw that offer their service. Down the street, the sultan's palace, Kraton, built in the 18th century. The current Sultan still resides there. I did not find exceptional architecture is pretty basic and all exhibits only focuses on the life of the sultan. The portraits of the sultan. The stripes of the Sultan. The spoons of the Sultan. The fact remains that the palace is nice, a dozen buildings is disseminated. Around 10 o'clock I was treated to a mini concert of traditional music provided by some of the 1,000 employees of the Sultan. I then headed to the area bordering the palace, where stands a bird market. Just side, the Water Palace is a small recreation area established by the Portuguese in the 18th. There are two or three large basins blue sky surrounded by white walls, with short walks around. Arches decorated with guardian spirits can pass from one to another basins. I entered the palace through a tiny entrance unofficial, when I lost in the maze of the surrounding neighborhood and I did not have to pay the ticket (it reminded me of the Peloponnese Mythos, stakeholders include: D ).

1h Bus Yogyakarta is a huge Buddhist temple in the 8th century. Lost for 1,000 years, it became very damaged by time and covered with volcanic ash. The British have conducted a site cleanup in the 19th century, the Dutch have partially restored in the early 20th century, and Indonesia took over with funds from UNESCO in the 70s. This temple with a square base, known as Borobudur, has no interior. It is a succession of steps by which wind around a hill. Each floor is a large open hall square, richly decorated with hundreds of Buddhas, demons, and frescoes depicting how to pass the earthly world and vicious all the way down to peaceful nirvana at the top (for short). Reached the summit, after turning around a dozen times to climb the temple floors following the journey of initiation and well explore everything it reaches peak stupas each containing a large Buddha. With background in the jungle and mountains is a beautiful place. Cons by young Indonesian tourists are dozens and all want a photo with a specimen MINIMUM West. In this case myself. I asked countless times, and if the Indians have sometimes a certain restraint, a certain shyness, Indonesians not! It surprised me most from the girls that I found surprisingly free and enterprising. Again, we do not feel pressure or religious tradition in this country yet very practical (at least on the island of Java). People are Zen is very significant.

Today I did a hike on one side of the imposing Merapi volcano erupts regularly and smokes constantly. Only a few roads, relatively low and away from the toxic cloud are open. I went with an Indonesian woman met on the train, a lawyer who already have Western friends that regularly accompanies there. Finally this is what she told me. She brought me up on a scooter and we walked a few hundred yards into the forest before it loses its way. Fortunately a young birder in search of prey came by and helped us find the path. Meanwhile, our friend lost the keys to the scooter. I returned our steps with the type but find two keys in a forest full of ferns and ultra steep, it is really a sport. After an hour or two we decided to give up. Guards the corner we have restarted the machine tampering with the cables, and we joined a locksmith that we redid the keys for 2 euros. So far I have not walked this volcano, so finally, but by returning to the same place 3 times. We did get to see an impressive lava cooled from 2006. A poor guy in his haste had forgotten to lock the door of the bunker where he took refuge where he left his skin.

I continue tomorrow around East Java, to reach the island of Bali after tomorrow. On the way another volcano, Mount Bromo, waiting for me. This time I will go with a true guide, there will certainly be less unexpected, but at least I can enjoy a bit of nature:)

Orbit Car Starter Programming

Brief reunion in Seoul

Here I go again to a new destination! I take my trip to Seoul / Jakarta to post a message. I spent some time traveling in recent days. In Japan, I tried to take a little trip to Hokkaido. The island, some tourist, has some beautiful parks volcanic known. So I made the 4 hours needed to train make the trip Sendai / Hakodate, borrowing including a submarine tunnel of 50km. The city of Hakodate is the sea was an important port and particularly open to the outside in the 19th century. So there are buildings of various influences, Orthodox, Catholics, temples, warehouses, brick red and cemeteries abroad. A small mountain overlooking the city, and small cobblestone streets can explore this strangely harmonious whole. Unfortunately, the weather was really rotten when I left the train (Lonely Planet warned Hokkaido in spring was rather risky, but I tried anyway ... and I lost). Cold winds, low clouds (it was not the famous little mountain), freezing rain interruption. I arrived around noon and it seemed as night fell. In short, I had to stay overnight at Hakodate before advancing further north of Hokkaido, but I turned around and went back to Sendai evening. Too bad, I do think that the place has a great potential! This is an opportunity to go back:) One last

restaurant with a cousin and two of his students, who gave us a taste excellent range of sake, and I went back to Tokyo. I had booked 3 weeks earlier a night in the guest house where I started my tour of Japan in Asakusa, and a ticket to the Ghibli Museum. Ghibli, for the uninitiated, is the studio who produced the cartoons revered Miyazaki (Walt Disney Japan in some ways). The museum is small and crowded, you must reserve their tickets weeks in advance. In the museum, the workshops of the master and his assistants have been restored. You can see shelves full of books for inspiration, the original plates of the author, and some devices allow you to scroll drawings are very quickly to create the animation. The building is fun, a sort of mansion with a large central hall serving on several floors of small side rooms where are the exhibits. I stayed on my hunger, we very quickly around, and we can not even go play in the Cat-Bus with ptits! The ticket can still watch a short sequence of a quarter of an hour in a mini-cinema.

The next day I returned the plane to Seoul, where I spent two nights before returning to Indonesia. The two cousins were visiting their frangine this week, it allowed me to see three for the price of a ! It was very strange to find all as far from France, but very nice:) It was quite moved between Friday and Saturday. The first afternoon, on the advice of Mag, visit a sort of theme park for children in infancy, in a suburb of Seoul almost deserted. Well no it was a little to be said, apart from renting tandems that brought us some memorable races. The next day we walked in the markets in Seoul, between the pig's feet and bags of counterfeit luxury. Two nights, two restaus quite typical and, as always in my short experience in Korean dining. We made a small turn at night the Seoul Tower, where I already went in March to see the city lights. Even though I Were lifted early this morning, I'll get knocked in Jakarta. Too bad, I think I have any time to relax and rest under the palm trees of Bali.