MULTICULTURAL PIGEONS IN PARADISE

Good guess. You got it. Your right. Kuala Lumpur (KL) was our first and last stop. Did a few other places in between. This was my (our) first trip to KL. And easily fell in love with the place. It's so green and clean and has pretty much everything and anything a person could ever want. And the rest of the world could definitely take a lesson in multiculturalism from them too. Everyone just simply fits in. Black or white. Great place and I'd definitely go there again.

......... and so this is why we had to wait in the Jakarta airport to get home.

A Lion Air airplane flying from Makassar, South Sulawesi Province, skidded off the runway at Soekarno-Hatta International Airport on Monday, but no passengers were injured during the terrifying ordeal. It was the latest in a string of incidents within the country’s troubled aviation industry.

Heavy rain which showered the Greater Jakarta area had caused the runway to become slippery, and at around 3:30 p.m. as the MD-90 aircraft was landing, it skidded across the runway, going into a 180-degree spin before eventually stopping tail first in an open field.

Rescue workers immediately evacuated all 166 passengers and crew on board. Although traumatized by the ordeal, no one was hurt.

....... and to think that we were actually there at time and didn't even know. Hmmmm??? Hard to believe no one was hurt. On this side - everyone is seat belts off and up and out of their seats as soon as a wheel touches the ground.

Looks like we're going to have the perfect weather day around here. Suns out, a few fluffy popcorn clouds and a nice bit of wind. Just like living in the tropics - this is half of what it's all about. Love it. Great way to do a day.

The "Girls Night Out" was a total success - at least as far as I can tell. Open House was great. Good pick. Next time though ....... maybe I won't stay out quite so late. Was a bit of a s-l-o-w start to my day today.

Today: Oh heck it's Friday the 13th. Again? And possibly a BBC Night tonight.

Have some errands to run this afternoon and need to get out and collect some new pics. I should make a TO-DO-LIST too, but then that would just make way too much sense.

Good to Go!

HOLIDAY TRANCE

Ok, so a bunch of you have been wondering about the holiday.

For starters I have to tell you - living in Balikpapan is great - but, it is a very isolating place, and every once in a while a person just has to get out. Out of here. And right now flying is super cheap to almost anywhere from here. (One of the few pluses to the Global Slowdown - all the airlines are trying to get people o fly.) And hotels etc., etc. have some pretty good deals going on right now too. For us - that's great!

To say the least our holiday was fantastic! Except for plane ride #1 with the kids from HELL. I'm sure 6 kids should NOT be jumping over top the seats on the plane or screaming their heads off the whole trip. No wonder their parents had to fight with them to put the seat belts on when we landed - "..... you let them go wild the whole time leading up to it". Doh!

Everything got better after that. Even all the time spent waiting in the airports didn't match that. We had a fabulous view of the Andaman Sea for the majority of our trip. (yesterday's photo) And even did the photo thing in front of some very, very tall towers. (today's photo) Can you guess? Collected sand, sunburns and loads of photos too. Did some real shopping, ate lots of pizza and just pretty much acted like tourists on the loose. It was great. And the best part of the whole trip - was hanging out with some of our very best friends. Thanks so much to both of you guys - you're the best!

Today: Still working on coming out of the holiday trance. Maybe tomorrow? or maybe the next?

I have no idea what I'm doing today. But tonight is Girls Night Out. Going to meet up at a place called Open House. And we'll see what happens from there. Sorry other Me - you're on your own tonight.

Good to Go!