We're in a small village on the west coast of Borneo, working with a new community health clinic called ASRI. ASRI (an acronym in Bahasa Indonesia for "environmental health") is operated by a US NGO with a unique program: they provide discounted health care in return for conservation work in a national park endangered by illegal logging. The park is one of Indonesia's least disturbed lowland rainforests,

After a few weeks here in Indonesia, we feel we've had a crash course in developing world transportation issues! Romania taught us a lot too, and there are numerous parallels between Bucharest and Banda Aceh... but first we should describe the local situation.

The other day, as we were riding the motorbike to get some groceries, and needing to ask where the store was, I was suddenly struck by a case of the linguistic giggles. I could not recall the name of the grocery store, even though I'd successfully remembered it all afternoon. All I could think of was "panty pirate*." I almost fell off the back of the bike.

It was a good reminder of how very funny language can seem when you don't have an allegiance to certain words having certain meanings.

The sun was hot already this morning at 9, and pressed heavily on our backs and shoulders as we walked the short distance to the office along the shoulder of the road. We paused at the bridge to look down on the oily, mud-colored stream below; we were looking for the narrow triangular head of the most notable denizen of the krueng, a 1 meter-long monitor lizard who we've spooked into a splashing retreat on other strolls over the bridge. Today, a smaller cousin paused on the shore, half in and half out of the water.

We arrived in Jakarta on a steamy afternoon a week ago, and have spent the last 7 days walking, working, playing, looking, learning, and asking a lot of questions. We're starting to get our bearings here, and we're finding that Indonesia is absorbing: vast, diverse and different from anywhere we've been before. We're also finding that we're absorbing Indonesia: sea water, humid days, heavy afternoon rains...

We meant to be back on the trail yesterday. Then today. And it will finally happen tomorrow. But there was a flurry of travel arrangements to make, and it just took the time it took...to make up for it, the day gave us a little gift. Bitter orange preserves.

A curl of bitter orange peel preserved in a light syrup, with strawberry preserves accompanying it. Delicious on bread with butter...

Now that we're aware of them, we see fossils on our trail most every day. Here are a few snazzy ones from the first discovery:
http://pooleweb.com/travel/image/tid/380?from=9

I find it fascinating that

Hi all -

A few news items about our site:

1. I just noticed that people (we know) are posting comments (without logging in) that have accumulated in a queue awaiting our approval... no need for that! You should now be free to post comments without logging in and without waiting for me or Brita to review & approve your comment.

Turks do a lot of good things with wheat, their staple starch... delicious pide and Turkish style pizza make for good, cheap eats; fresh Italian-style loaves of bread can be found most everywhere; and bulghur (cracked, par-boiled whole wheat) is used in

İn our travels in Turkey, people everywhere, all the time, ask us about the election situation in the US - it's been almost everyone, from young professionals to taxi drivers to bolt makers in a poor neighborhood of Istanbul. This is kind of embarrassing considering that the politics of countries like Turkey are not on the radar screen of most Americans, if they even know where Turkey is in the first place...