Mr Gono

Another excursion up the hill, blip fishing. A wave from a roadside, seated observer and the fish is on, now I just got to land it.

Introducing Mr.Nono, a charming old man with lots of smiles, I would have loved to capture one, with all the teeth queuing up to get to the front, but as with many of the mature Indonesians, this was his photo look. I tried to relax him, but believe it or not, he was. He pointed to his face and using one of his six English words, he said, "Serious"!

This confirms my theory of the photo look, Mr.Nono likes to appear serious despite his very jolly and friendly character. Never mind, it just means I have to complete the picture with the description, which I was going to do anyway.

It's my first wife's birthday today, so happy birthday Pauline! This will surprise her, as I usually forgot when we were married!

I've put some spider pics in folio. Same type as the Denis spider, for those interested. One feeding on a dragonfly, gives an idea of size.

The Bandung story - part 10

It was at this time that I met Tesa, stunningly beautiful and way out of my league, but we got talking and hit it off. Tesa had quite a calming influence on me, managing to pry me away from the pool table and back to the hotel before too much damage was done. She probably saved me from the slippery slope. Great fun to be around, we became very close, her English improved rapidly too.

After a month or so, she talked me into coming to the village with her, to meet Mom. Ciranjang was a small village about an hour from Bandung. We hired a car and driver and set off. The last leg of the journey was a mile of severe potholes and I was concerned that the taxi was not going to make it, but we managed to just squeeze up the final track and pulled up at the tiny house.

Constructed of bamboo and woven leaf fronds on a concrete foundation, it was very basic but surprisingly solid and comfortable. The most important thing was that they owned the land and so had security. Mom came out and was delighted to meet me, of which I was very relieved, because Tesa explained that if Mom didn't like me then we would be history!

The house was immaculate with the floors squeaky clean. Mom chased a stray chicken out of the house, showing some embarrassment, it was all so quaint. Within minutes, an old lady entered the house, to see what was going on, then another and before long we had a house full, all wanting to meet the big, bald, white guy.

Outside were about a dozen kids who also wanted to see, so I went outside. They all ran off squealing and gradually crept back, becoming braver each time. But the slightest move and they were gone again, it was like stalking deer!

After the neighbors moved on, food was served, quite a spread too. Mom was an excellent cook, the food was delicious. As I was almost finished, more food would appear, then more and more, I must have consumed the legs of ten chickens! How big did they think I was that I needed so much feeding! In the end, I had a quiet word with Tesa and asked why Mom was trying to feed me to death, "well if you stop eating everything then she will stop bringing more" was the answer. I was brought up to finish everything that was put in front of me and if I did not finish it, I would get it for supper. Things work a bit different here!

To be continued.

Dave