Sunday September 5th
Apparently all over southeast asia there is a cock roach problem. We found that one out quite quickly. Bjorn told us we would get used to it. We went with Nadia to meet 2 of her friends, Grace and Julia. After some tea and crumpets we went to a Chinese temple in downtown Jakarta. It was an interesting place with extreme amounts of inscence burning. We then took a cab to the Dutch square. We saw some weird act of crazy Indonesian men. The head guy had put 2 others into a trance and they were being whipped with loud ropes, and the 2 boys were paraded around the circle eating glass for money. After it ended we went to Café Batavia, the supposed best café in Jakarta. We saw some of Graces friends who had just come back from drinking Cobra blood. They even had the video of the head being chopped off. Supposedly it was good for hangovers.
We sat around drinking tea for a few hours then headed back to Grace’s apartment in Kemang to have pizza. We also watched Woody Allen’s Vicky Christina Barcelona. What an interesting and odd movie. After the movie we went to catch a cab. Once back we watched some British FX channel show called Peep show and went to bed.
Monday September 6th
James woke up early to go take advantage of the Gym Nadia had at her apartment. Mark tried to sleep in. We experience our first tropical downpour and holy crap did it rain. You can watch the rain move in and then the visibility drops to almost nothing. Streets flood easily, and traffic slows down. Tried to upload our photos to blogger again, but the website still did not work. Nadia made a lunch of pasta and meat sauce, we ate and watched Toy Story 2. We packed up our things and caught a cab to Ries’ house in Cinere. This ride should take only 35-40 minutes but with Jakarta traffic it took us 3.5 hours to get there. Mark watched a movie on his Ipod he was so bored. The cab total after 3.5 hours was only 170,000RP (about $18). If you sat in a cab in New York City for that long you would go bankrupt. Upon arrival we met Steve Woodhouse, Ries’ husband. He is a very funny man. We had dinner, and met some of Ries’ family who lives and works for the family. Ended the night talking about our future plans and concluded the night watching a few episodes of Its Always Sunny in Philadelphia. This was Nadia’s first time and now she’s hooked. Goodnight.
Tuesday September 7th
Woke up late morning, had breakfast, which is prepared every morning for us. We then chatted with Ries about our next few months in Indonesia. Checked out some books on Indonesia, then went to lunch at a Thai restaurant in the mall near the house. In the mall’s here they actually have good food courts. Once back we talked about British and American slang curse words. Then Ries took us to the mall to do some food shopping. Walked around the mall for a little. When we entered the market we noticed a horrendous smell. It was the fruit, Durian. A fruit that smells horrible but supposedly tastes good. After we sat down for some fresh fruit drinks, where James tried avocado juice for the first time. It was delicious.
Wednesday September 8th
We woke up and took showers. Not a regular shower though. You fill a bucket with water from the bathtub faucet then take a smaller bucket and dump water over yourself. It is quite interesting. One good thing is when you get out of the shower, you dry off in no time. We unpacked and settled in. We then went to go check out the National Monument in downtown Jakarta with Nadia. The entrance was underground. The history of Indonesia was expressed through little exhibits that showed the reenactment of important events in history. Nadia said that they were made to make it seem as peaceful as possible when in reality there was much war. We then took an elevator up to the top where there were 360 degree views of the city. After we took a cab to a restaurant in the most upscale mall in Jakarta called Social house, where we met Nadias friends Maeve and Andrew. Maeve is from Australia and Andrew from Philly. Good food, and awesome ice tea’s. We went to try to go get massages but the place was closed for Idul Fitri, the end of Ramadan.
We ended up taking a cab to a bar called Caz Bar, where we played pool and drank some Bintang (Indonesia’s Beer). The bar filled up with greasy old expats and younger Indonesian women. A few of Nadia’s friends joined us and we drank some more, had some food and played lots of card games. It was pool tournament night so the place filled up, with people and cigarette smoke. It is still legal to smoke indoors at many places, straight up disgusting. Cigarettes are dirt-cheap here as well, about 3 dollars a pack. Bar tab ended up being about 3 Million Rupiah, oops. We finally left after about 8 hours. Stopped by Nadia’s apartment to pick up some things then went back to Cinere. No traffic at 1am at night, only took us about 40 minutes. Got home, grubbed some food, watched more Sunny and went to bed.
Thursday September 9th
Woke up and checked out a world atlas with ries while Steve made us his famous scrambled eggs. Internet is horrible here so we can’t finish our blog yet again. Headed back to Nadia’s for the day. Headed down to the pool, Mark forgot his board shorts so had to borrow her friends pair which were purple with numbers and letters on them, sort of like sesame street. We went to the gym to run before the pool. Never made it to the pool because it started to pour. James suggested we take the stairs back up to Nadias. 16 flights. Not the smartest of ideas we both almost threw up, but it was a good workout. We ordered lunch and watched a show on Sumo wrestling.
Once night fell, Ramadan finally came to a close. Fireworks were seen all across the city, and everyone was very loud. Took a cab back to Cinere. Ate some dinner, we are addicted to rice now. Goodnight
Friday September 10th
It was a rough nights sleep as the celebrations of the end of fasting, lasted all night. We both felt homesick for the first time today. Excited to start our travels here and then get back to the states. Met Ries’ cousins Aan’s and took a ride to his sisters house, where we met more family and had some traditional food. We also drank an orange drink which tasted quite similar to TANG. Left to head back to meet guests coming to Ries’ house for dinner. Her family started to arrive, we met many family members and chatted a bit. Steve set up a talent show, and Mark and I were judges. We were each given 100,000 RP to distribute amongst the best performances. After we played world trivia. Ate dinner after everyone left. Tried to blog again, but it still would not work. Both excited for thanksgiving already. Booked a plane and planned our trip to Yogyakarta. Watched Sunny and went to bed. Goodnight.
Saturday September 11th
9 years since September 11th. Time flies. Steve left in the early morning on a business trip until October 16th. We packed out bag for Nadia’s and went to pick up her friend Will who was just near Mount Merapi a volcano that was actively erupting. We went for lunch at social house and met up with some more of Nadia’s friends. Had breakfast then shopped around for a bit. Once back at Nadia’s we watched Jurassic park, then headed down to the pool. After we watched Australia verse New Zealand rugby match, it was brutal. Went over to graces for a pot luck dinner. A bunch of friends showed up, we played some games, ate some food and had some fun. Took a cab to this bar, where we spent about 2 minutes and walked right back out, it was not exciting. Goodnight.
Sunday September 12th
Woke up went to brunch at a restaurant called 99, much better than the crappy 99 in the states. Tried to go get a massage again, but the place was closed still. Went back to the apartment and hung out for a bit at the pool. James made an appointment at the 4 seasons Jakarta for a massage and body treatment. James had a 2-hour traditional Lulur treatment and massage, consisting of traditional herbs, a lemon honey body wrap, rose pedal bath and 45 minute massage. While James was on cloud 9 mark and Nadia ate pizza and watched the Jersey Shore. When James got back, we found the Yankee Ranger game on ESPN. We explained the game of baseball to Nadia. Then we researched tours to Mt. Krakatoa, They were way too expensive. Mark ended up finding the Giants Panthers football game. He stayed up until 3am, immersed in it. Goodnight.
Monday September 13th
Woke up and went to one of the biggest second hand markets in Jakarta. We lost each other numerous times because it was so large. The owners were all yelling for people to by there items. We found a material shop away from the market and found wool to buy so we can make suits for cheap. 25 dollars for 3.5 meters of material. After we headed to a restaurant called the Apartment. It was a restaurant where each different section was a different part of the house.; bathroom, lounge, kitchen, library (where we sat), living room. The food was very good. After we headed to a hair salon where we got hair crème baths. They washed your hair, massaged cream in then stabbing your pressure points with their meaty hands. All and all it was an interesting experience. We thought head massages would feel good but it was the opposite, that shit hurt. The boys waited for the girls to get pedicures and for their damn hair to dry. When we paid we saw on the bill that they charged us an extra $3 dollars to blow-dry our hair. Ridiculous. Absolutely ridiculous.
After we met Nadia’s friend Andrew for coffee we walked back in a light drizzle to the apartment. We ordered food into the apartment. After our failed attempts to go to Krakatoa and the jungle, we planned a trip to a little beach town called Pangandaran. This place supposedly was the best place to learn how to surf. Took a cab back to Ries’s, Skyped a few family members and went to bed.
Monday, October 4, 2010
Hello Sweden!
Tuesday, August 24th
We got off the plane in frankfurt around 7am am. We breezed through customs with our United States passports, then watched as Russian and ukranian men were asked to step aside and searched. Thanks Obama. We then boarded a plane to Copenhagen, Denmark. Once in Copenhagen we hopped on the train to Malmo, Sweden. The train was a normal commuter train, but because Sweden’s railway system is much better than ours it felt first class. The seats were comfy and the train reached speeds of about 75-80 miles per hour. The acela fast train from Boston to Washington barely averages those speeds.
We arrived in malmo around 10am. We took a taxi cab to bjorns apartment to drop off our things. We headed to a small café near the apartment for a welcoming breakfast/lunch, then got settled in and took a nap. Bjorns mother arrived that afternoon, we all went to the center of Malmo and walked around the Malmo Festival, the biggest festival of the year. We walked around for a bit, checked out some of the sights, many different ethnic foods (ate smoked moose), lots of candy and some of the women. It really is true, tall, blonde and beautiful. We started getting hungry so we hopped in Bjorns mom’s car and drove to his cousins house. After some conversation, we went to a small restaurant on the water and had a good meal. Salmon and soft serve ice cream with hazelnuts. After, we went to the candy/movie store and headed back to the apartment. Instead of a movie we watched one episode of fawlty towers, “the germans”. (Don’t mention the war, I mentioned it once but I think I got away with it). Classic.
Wednesday August 25th
Today we had our first “real breakfast” of the past month. It was delicious. After we wrote a few e-mails to some organizations, we headed to the festival again, shopped around in some stores, picked up some new threads, and watched Brazilian samba dancers do what they do best. Bjorn then picked up his work car, and we drove around a bit then went to grab a bite at the best burger place in town. This was also delicious. James got in the habit of eating as much food as possible at each meal because he was deprived in Tunisia. After dinner we digested with a ride through the ghetto of Malmo, then headed home for the night. Goodnight.
Thursday August 26th
Around 12pm, while bjorn was at work, and the weather was nice we decided to head to Copenhagen. We took the train, and went to the main shopping strip. After lots of browsing we stopped to get some lunch. We ate at a famous smorrebrod restaurant. A typical Danish restaurant, fat men bursting from their button down shirts, and lots of beer. After we went to get some ice cream, and walk around the harbor, and visited some other sites. Headed back to Malmo around 6pm, Bjorn picked us up and we headed to dinner at Napoli’s Italian restaurant, where we enjoyed bruschetta, and pizzas.
Once home we decided to watch the men who stare at goats. For any Ewan Mcgregor, george Clooney, and Jeff Bridges fans, we caution you from seeing this movie, it was crap.
Friday August 27th
Made breakfast at the apartment, and tried to upload pictures to our blog but it did not work. Lora headed out to get her haircut. When she came back, she was a different person, eastern European, Svetlana. She cut her hair short and dyed it black. We were all quite surprised. Bjorn took a half day, and we took the train and headed to his Mothers apartment and summer place in a town 1.5 hours north called Bastad (pronounced “bostad” not bastard). Arrived at the apartment complex, where we had a nice pool and ocean view. We settled in, changed up and went to the beach to jump in the frigid water. It was cold! For dinner we ate traditional Swedish meatballs. We played some cards to pass the rest of the night. Gin rummy, 500 rummy and Hi Lo Jack. The boys headed out on the town, except since it was already fall in Bastad everything was closed by 11pm. Goodnight.
Saturday August 28th
Woke up, went to a small café where its traditional to sit outside under blankets. The café was on a large hill over looking the ocean and the city of bastad. The food was good and we had lots of company, bees. Took a drive across town, went to the spot where Bjorn and friends would cliff jump in the summer. We snapped some pictures, and lora tried to befriend a cow with some grass. It did not like eastern Europeans so it almost charged at her. On the way back we drove past old Swedish gun turrets, erected to watch for the Germans who never ended up attacking.
We went back to the apartment, met Bjorns little cousin oscar, played some American football and met the rest of Bjorns family. After showering we met up with the family had some snacks and went inside to celebrate our first crayfish party. You eat mass quantities of crayfish, sing Swedish songs and take shots after every song. James was unaware you were not supposed to take a whole shot, and ended up taking full shots after the first few songs. Good thing he was stopped. After everyone started leaving, Bjorns uncle started playing piano, he was able to freehandedly play some of “Piano Man” by Billy Joel, it was very good.
Around 11 we headed to Pepes the main bar in Bastad. It was closing night so it was crowded. We had a drink and hung out and eventually made our way to the dance floor. We danced with some cute women and heard some good saxophone. A transvestite also took interest in stalking us. After it got a bit too crowded for our liking we decided to head back home. Goodnight.
Sunday August 29th
After breakfast we were entertained by spike tv’s most extreme challenge. For those who haven’t seen it, I suggest you check it out. James, Mark and Oscar decided to go play some golf at a little par 3. They got through 10 holes before it started to pour. Bjorn and lora picked us up and we drove home via the beach. Yes, that is correct, on the beach next to the ocean for a few miles. Apparently it’s perfectly legal to do so. We made reservations at a pizza restaurant, and had some more good food. Per usual, we had our after dinner ice cream then watched some tv and went to bed. Goodnight.
Monday August 30th
Bjorn woke up early to head back to work for some important meetings. Lora, James, Anita, and Mark headed to have some breakfast in Torkov, a small, posh, port town. It was empty, so we went to the only place open. While we were sitting outside we were stalked by more things. This time it was a scene out of Alfred Hitchocks the birds. We had probably about 25 birds perched above us waiting to eat our food from our hands, not to mention the slew of bees that were happily buzzing on our sweet Danish’s. We took the remainder to go, and headed to the train back to Malmo. We scavenged for change as we did not have enough money for the train, luckily the train was late so it allowed us to pick some from the wishing fountain in the train station (just kidding). Got back to Malmo, stopped in to the grocery store to pick up some dinner supplies, and then Lora cooked us a meal of lemon chicken and assorted side dishes. Who knew she could cook??
Tuesday August 31st
Woke up and tried to publish our blog pictures, again blogger would not allow it. We wrote some more e-mails in hopes wed have something set up for Indonesia. After, James and Mark headed out to the mall by themselves. Shopped around and then walked around a bit. Lora and Bjorn were having a date night, and we realized we didn’t have a key to the apartment. We rushed back, thankfully Bjorn is a smart man, he left us a key and the door open. We headed back out and tried to look for Best buy to get Mark, or should I say Grizzly Adams a beard trimmer. Apparently James was seeing things when he saw it on the map because no Best Buy existed.
We then headed out for some dinner. We went to the main square in Malmo and looked around for a suitable restaurant. We ran into the happy couple on their way to eat at a restaurant called bastard(prounounced as it looks). After some chit chat we parted ways and we ate a the MooseHead restaurant. We had some good moose burgers. The heated patios were blasting on a 65 degree night, so we were sweating during our meal. Went to look for ice cream for our post dinner treat. It took us over an hour to find one. After ice cream we finished our blog (the Tunisian one) and went to bed.
Wednesday September 1st
Mark woke up and 4 months after beginning the book 3 Cups of Tea he finally finished it (great read for anyone looking for a good book). Got a response from Ashoka, and we replied, also sent in an application form for the International Humanity Foundation. Met Bjorn for lunch at a great restaurant called atmosphere. Bjorns cousin did the interior design. They had really great food. Walked around town for a bit, did a little shopping. Went to the mall again, browsed around and scoped out some chicas. Ordered some pizza for dinner, nothing like sal’s. Too lazy to go out to the bars so we hung around the apartment. Goodnight.
Thursday September 2nd
Had to wake up at 7am to do laundry. Went back to bed. Lora went to meet Bjorn for lunch. We went back to atmosphere and had the exact same lunch we had the day before, that’s how good it was. We then walked up town to Sicilias Gelateria, supposedly the best gelato in Malmo. Hung around in the square while we ate, saw a beautiful business woman (top 10 all time in James’ book) and fell in love. I’d be happy to be the stay at home dad so after proposing marriage…I mean, After finishing ice cream, we enjoyed our last walk through malmo. We walked back along the canal and headed back to Bjorns apartment. Headed out to take a dip in the frigid ocean. Mark, Bjorn and Lora went swimming while James played paparazzi. The platform was about 8 feet above the water, and the waves were big. It was a funny site watching Mark and Bjorn run off the platform holding hands all the way into the water. After a shower mark shaved his beard completely for the first time in months. He looks more like Rich everyday.
We then headed out to a sushi restaurant for our last supper in Sweden. Ate lots of sushi, had some good desserts and enjoyed good company. Went home, packed our bags and went to sleep.
Friday September 3rd/4th
Lora woke us up at 7am to say goodbye she had an early flight. Went back to sleep. We woke up to e-mail Ries and Nadia to make sure everything was all set for us in Indonesia. We ate left overs for lunch, made sure we were packed. We met Bjorn at the train station, as we were on the same flight from Copenhagen to Frankfurt. On the flight to Frankfurt, somehow we were put into economy extra, which is similar to business class. We got a meal and had tea. The flight was not full so Bjorn tried to come sit next to us but the stewardess kicked him out of the section, back into economy. We arrived in Frankfurt and said goodbye to him as our journey with him came to an end. We anxiously awaited our flight. 9pm came around and we finally boarded our flight. We asked the steward how much it was to upgrade to first class and he told us 9000 dollars. We headed to our assigned seats. James ended up sitting next to 2 Polish embassy workers, and mark 2 younger Asian girls. We got to watch the new karate kid and ate some wonderfully fresh and delicious airline food. Around the middle of the flight, mark heard a lady near him start vomiting constantly. She kept throwing up and one of the men sitting next to her was escorted somewhere else on the plane.
The girls sitting next to Mark, had asked for a glass of wine during the meal. They were clearly underage. They sat nursing the wine for nearly 12 hours and coughed and giggled after each sip. It reminded mark of when he was a child. Behind mark, an elderly lady fell while trying to go the bathroom. Marks instincts kicked in and he immediately jumped to the rescue and helped her to her feet. We had breakfast about an hour outside of Singapore. Arrived in Singapore(hellllo asia) and boarded our final flight to Indonesia. We arrived in Jakarta around 630pm where we were met outside by Nadia. It was hot and humid, but we were finally here. Took a cab to Nadias and had about 20 years of catching up to do. After talking with Nadia and her Australian roommate kerri we went to bed.
We got off the plane in frankfurt around 7am am. We breezed through customs with our United States passports, then watched as Russian and ukranian men were asked to step aside and searched. Thanks Obama. We then boarded a plane to Copenhagen, Denmark. Once in Copenhagen we hopped on the train to Malmo, Sweden. The train was a normal commuter train, but because Sweden’s railway system is much better than ours it felt first class. The seats were comfy and the train reached speeds of about 75-80 miles per hour. The acela fast train from Boston to Washington barely averages those speeds.
We arrived in malmo around 10am. We took a taxi cab to bjorns apartment to drop off our things. We headed to a small café near the apartment for a welcoming breakfast/lunch, then got settled in and took a nap. Bjorns mother arrived that afternoon, we all went to the center of Malmo and walked around the Malmo Festival, the biggest festival of the year. We walked around for a bit, checked out some of the sights, many different ethnic foods (ate smoked moose), lots of candy and some of the women. It really is true, tall, blonde and beautiful. We started getting hungry so we hopped in Bjorns mom’s car and drove to his cousins house. After some conversation, we went to a small restaurant on the water and had a good meal. Salmon and soft serve ice cream with hazelnuts. After, we went to the candy/movie store and headed back to the apartment. Instead of a movie we watched one episode of fawlty towers, “the germans”. (Don’t mention the war, I mentioned it once but I think I got away with it). Classic.
Wednesday August 25th
Today we had our first “real breakfast” of the past month. It was delicious. After we wrote a few e-mails to some organizations, we headed to the festival again, shopped around in some stores, picked up some new threads, and watched Brazilian samba dancers do what they do best. Bjorn then picked up his work car, and we drove around a bit then went to grab a bite at the best burger place in town. This was also delicious. James got in the habit of eating as much food as possible at each meal because he was deprived in Tunisia. After dinner we digested with a ride through the ghetto of Malmo, then headed home for the night. Goodnight.
Thursday August 26th
Around 12pm, while bjorn was at work, and the weather was nice we decided to head to Copenhagen. We took the train, and went to the main shopping strip. After lots of browsing we stopped to get some lunch. We ate at a famous smorrebrod restaurant. A typical Danish restaurant, fat men bursting from their button down shirts, and lots of beer. After we went to get some ice cream, and walk around the harbor, and visited some other sites. Headed back to Malmo around 6pm, Bjorn picked us up and we headed to dinner at Napoli’s Italian restaurant, where we enjoyed bruschetta, and pizzas.
Once home we decided to watch the men who stare at goats. For any Ewan Mcgregor, george Clooney, and Jeff Bridges fans, we caution you from seeing this movie, it was crap.
Friday August 27th
Made breakfast at the apartment, and tried to upload pictures to our blog but it did not work. Lora headed out to get her haircut. When she came back, she was a different person, eastern European, Svetlana. She cut her hair short and dyed it black. We were all quite surprised. Bjorn took a half day, and we took the train and headed to his Mothers apartment and summer place in a town 1.5 hours north called Bastad (pronounced “bostad” not bastard). Arrived at the apartment complex, where we had a nice pool and ocean view. We settled in, changed up and went to the beach to jump in the frigid water. It was cold! For dinner we ate traditional Swedish meatballs. We played some cards to pass the rest of the night. Gin rummy, 500 rummy and Hi Lo Jack. The boys headed out on the town, except since it was already fall in Bastad everything was closed by 11pm. Goodnight.
Saturday August 28th
Woke up, went to a small café where its traditional to sit outside under blankets. The café was on a large hill over looking the ocean and the city of bastad. The food was good and we had lots of company, bees. Took a drive across town, went to the spot where Bjorn and friends would cliff jump in the summer. We snapped some pictures, and lora tried to befriend a cow with some grass. It did not like eastern Europeans so it almost charged at her. On the way back we drove past old Swedish gun turrets, erected to watch for the Germans who never ended up attacking.
We went back to the apartment, met Bjorns little cousin oscar, played some American football and met the rest of Bjorns family. After showering we met up with the family had some snacks and went inside to celebrate our first crayfish party. You eat mass quantities of crayfish, sing Swedish songs and take shots after every song. James was unaware you were not supposed to take a whole shot, and ended up taking full shots after the first few songs. Good thing he was stopped. After everyone started leaving, Bjorns uncle started playing piano, he was able to freehandedly play some of “Piano Man” by Billy Joel, it was very good.
Around 11 we headed to Pepes the main bar in Bastad. It was closing night so it was crowded. We had a drink and hung out and eventually made our way to the dance floor. We danced with some cute women and heard some good saxophone. A transvestite also took interest in stalking us. After it got a bit too crowded for our liking we decided to head back home. Goodnight.
Sunday August 29th
After breakfast we were entertained by spike tv’s most extreme challenge. For those who haven’t seen it, I suggest you check it out. James, Mark and Oscar decided to go play some golf at a little par 3. They got through 10 holes before it started to pour. Bjorn and lora picked us up and we drove home via the beach. Yes, that is correct, on the beach next to the ocean for a few miles. Apparently it’s perfectly legal to do so. We made reservations at a pizza restaurant, and had some more good food. Per usual, we had our after dinner ice cream then watched some tv and went to bed. Goodnight.
Monday August 30th
Bjorn woke up early to head back to work for some important meetings. Lora, James, Anita, and Mark headed to have some breakfast in Torkov, a small, posh, port town. It was empty, so we went to the only place open. While we were sitting outside we were stalked by more things. This time it was a scene out of Alfred Hitchocks the birds. We had probably about 25 birds perched above us waiting to eat our food from our hands, not to mention the slew of bees that were happily buzzing on our sweet Danish’s. We took the remainder to go, and headed to the train back to Malmo. We scavenged for change as we did not have enough money for the train, luckily the train was late so it allowed us to pick some from the wishing fountain in the train station (just kidding). Got back to Malmo, stopped in to the grocery store to pick up some dinner supplies, and then Lora cooked us a meal of lemon chicken and assorted side dishes. Who knew she could cook??
Tuesday August 31st
Woke up and tried to publish our blog pictures, again blogger would not allow it. We wrote some more e-mails in hopes wed have something set up for Indonesia. After, James and Mark headed out to the mall by themselves. Shopped around and then walked around a bit. Lora and Bjorn were having a date night, and we realized we didn’t have a key to the apartment. We rushed back, thankfully Bjorn is a smart man, he left us a key and the door open. We headed back out and tried to look for Best buy to get Mark, or should I say Grizzly Adams a beard trimmer. Apparently James was seeing things when he saw it on the map because no Best Buy existed.
We then headed out for some dinner. We went to the main square in Malmo and looked around for a suitable restaurant. We ran into the happy couple on their way to eat at a restaurant called bastard(prounounced as it looks). After some chit chat we parted ways and we ate a the MooseHead restaurant. We had some good moose burgers. The heated patios were blasting on a 65 degree night, so we were sweating during our meal. Went to look for ice cream for our post dinner treat. It took us over an hour to find one. After ice cream we finished our blog (the Tunisian one) and went to bed.
Wednesday September 1st
Mark woke up and 4 months after beginning the book 3 Cups of Tea he finally finished it (great read for anyone looking for a good book). Got a response from Ashoka, and we replied, also sent in an application form for the International Humanity Foundation. Met Bjorn for lunch at a great restaurant called atmosphere. Bjorns cousin did the interior design. They had really great food. Walked around town for a bit, did a little shopping. Went to the mall again, browsed around and scoped out some chicas. Ordered some pizza for dinner, nothing like sal’s. Too lazy to go out to the bars so we hung around the apartment. Goodnight.
Thursday September 2nd
Had to wake up at 7am to do laundry. Went back to bed. Lora went to meet Bjorn for lunch. We went back to atmosphere and had the exact same lunch we had the day before, that’s how good it was. We then walked up town to Sicilias Gelateria, supposedly the best gelato in Malmo. Hung around in the square while we ate, saw a beautiful business woman (top 10 all time in James’ book) and fell in love. I’d be happy to be the stay at home dad so after proposing marriage…I mean, After finishing ice cream, we enjoyed our last walk through malmo. We walked back along the canal and headed back to Bjorns apartment. Headed out to take a dip in the frigid ocean. Mark, Bjorn and Lora went swimming while James played paparazzi. The platform was about 8 feet above the water, and the waves were big. It was a funny site watching Mark and Bjorn run off the platform holding hands all the way into the water. After a shower mark shaved his beard completely for the first time in months. He looks more like Rich everyday.
We then headed out to a sushi restaurant for our last supper in Sweden. Ate lots of sushi, had some good desserts and enjoyed good company. Went home, packed our bags and went to sleep.
Friday September 3rd/4th
Lora woke us up at 7am to say goodbye she had an early flight. Went back to sleep. We woke up to e-mail Ries and Nadia to make sure everything was all set for us in Indonesia. We ate left overs for lunch, made sure we were packed. We met Bjorn at the train station, as we were on the same flight from Copenhagen to Frankfurt. On the flight to Frankfurt, somehow we were put into economy extra, which is similar to business class. We got a meal and had tea. The flight was not full so Bjorn tried to come sit next to us but the stewardess kicked him out of the section, back into economy. We arrived in Frankfurt and said goodbye to him as our journey with him came to an end. We anxiously awaited our flight. 9pm came around and we finally boarded our flight. We asked the steward how much it was to upgrade to first class and he told us 9000 dollars. We headed to our assigned seats. James ended up sitting next to 2 Polish embassy workers, and mark 2 younger Asian girls. We got to watch the new karate kid and ate some wonderfully fresh and delicious airline food. Around the middle of the flight, mark heard a lady near him start vomiting constantly. She kept throwing up and one of the men sitting next to her was escorted somewhere else on the plane.
The girls sitting next to Mark, had asked for a glass of wine during the meal. They were clearly underage. They sat nursing the wine for nearly 12 hours and coughed and giggled after each sip. It reminded mark of when he was a child. Behind mark, an elderly lady fell while trying to go the bathroom. Marks instincts kicked in and he immediately jumped to the rescue and helped her to her feet. We had breakfast about an hour outside of Singapore. Arrived in Singapore(hellllo asia) and boarded our final flight to Indonesia. We arrived in Jakarta around 630pm where we were met outside by Nadia. It was hot and humid, but we were finally here. Took a cab to Nadias and had about 20 years of catching up to do. After talking with Nadia and her Australian roommate kerri we went to bed.
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