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Articles tagged with: Sumatra Part 01

Does Budget Travel Skew Perceptions?

December 7, 2015 – 2:10 pm
Indonesia Olympus 838

Monday, December 7, 2015
The rain did clear up yesterday, and I went for a short photowalk late in the afternoon. I went down a familiar market street through the fish district and then to the river. The streets were somewhat quiet. I assume that was because it was Sunday. The riverside, however, was very busy. There were more people there than I’ve ever seen, and …

Markets and Lord of the Flies

December 6, 2015 – 1:30 pm
OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

Sunday, December 6, 2015
A powerful thunderstorm was raging when I woke up this morning and got out of bed. It will probably clear up in a while, but for now I’m inside and drinking coffee. I love the rain, so it’s no problem. And it means that there is a lot less traffic. My room is much quieter right now. I know that my nieghbors …

Tech Talk and More English Students

December 5, 2015 – 1:14 pm
Fadlie and Group

Saturday, December 5, 2015
I just hung up the phone after a 51-minute Skype chat with my brother back in Canada. Those calls are always interesting because I’m intensely aware of the vast difference between Canada and here. I wish I could convey what it was like standing on the balcony here in Sumatra while on the phone and describe everything that was going on around …

A Shipbuilding Yard

December 4, 2015 – 1:01 pm
Wooden Fishing Boat

Friday, December 4, 2015
It appears I may have opened the floodgates. I got a message from someone else on Facebook asking me if I would help them out with a school English project. They needed to interview a foreigner. I noticed that this person was friends with Rama, so they probably attend the same school. Rama told them about meeting me, and this person asked …

Motorcycle English Club

December 3, 2015 – 12:45 pm
Motorcycle English Club

Thursday, December 3, 2015­­
I’ve written a lot and thought a lot in recent days about cross-cultural communication problems, and yesterday was another perfect example of that. It involves the woman, Rismah, who had come to the hotel before to ask me to speak to her English class. I had heard nothing from Rismah since except a vague message on my phone about how she hoped …

Bales of Used Clothing

December 2, 2015 – 12:19 pm
bales clothing

Wednesday, December 2, 2015
I have to concentrate really hard to think back to what happened yesterday. I’m not sure why. It could be because I’m very tired again. I’ve come down with some kind of cold or throat infection, and I had trouble sleeping. I’m pretty sure that I caught the cold from the woman that cut my hair. When I went into that salon …

Irritability and Mango Juice

December 1, 2015 – 12:04 pm
Mango Juice

Tuesday, December 1, 2015
I was a bit tired and irritable yesterday. I keep saying that the noise here doesn’t bother me, but I don’t think I get much sleep. Last night, I switched out my earplugs for brand new ones, and that made a big difference. I slept much better. So perhaps my earplugs were not up to the task, and it might be better …

Giving Me the Finger – In a Friendly Way

November 30, 2015 – 11:52 am
OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

Monday, November 30, 2015
Rain? Yes. Traffic noise? Yep. Hot cup of coffee by my side? Of course. Feeling good? For sure.
Yesterday was a lazy day as far as exploring is concerned. I didn’t do any at all. But it was still an interesting day. I spent much of it organizing a lot of the photographs I’ve taken recently. I’ve also gotten a lot of new …