Saturday, November 30, 2013

A Drive Through the Countryside -

Nick & I took a drive again through the countryside - an outing is such a treat!  Especially on that motorbike!  Love it!  Feeling the wind blow in your face...having close contact with the environment
- and of course sitting close to my hubby! Yes we are celebrating our 17 yrs of marriage this weekend and gosh - what a blessing is that - to share it together here in Nick's birth country and my Poppa's birth country!  So very very special!


So Friday morning - we got up with the "plan" to head out of "Dodge" as the saying goes...ha! Well a bit far away... Dodge... that is!  No - cute little Salatiga!

We headed again towards Ambarawa because we love that windy road - it is cute going through the little towns and doing a little climbing into the hillside too!  We both so' enjoy seeing the countryside with all the palm trees, banana trees, rice fields, people & children smiling and waving and nodding as we "blanda's" drive through on our scooter - and seeing all that beauty, so very lush and seeing so' many shades of green! JUST GORGEOUS! The Sun was not a real bright - a little more overcast but very pleasant out around 70-75 I would say.

We had hoped to go towards Bandungan - this little town northwest of Ambarawa - but actually we turned off too soon on this intersection which we found out later was the highway to Bandung from Semarang!

It was a two lane road (yes highway) and there are trucks, buses, cars and motorcycles going back and forth!  A much busier street!  But we just went with "the flow" and kept going - thinking we were heading towards Bandungan.

We didn't see any signs - which didn't help - but after a while (your bippy starts to tell you - it is time to get off of it!) So we stopped at a restaurant
called Banaran Coffee and Tea ~  A nice place to stop - have some coffee and possibly a bite to eat?
 
Yes a coffee break - nice!


I take pictures of these plates BECAUSE I have this sweet uncle in McMinnville who use to live in Indonesia and he just LOVES Indonesian food......and I am teasing him a bit!
Here we have Mie Goreng (bami goreng) with a BIG scoop of sambal (Ellen's favorite!) chili paste NICE AND HOT!!!!
Served on a banana leaf - chicken Longtong {rice (kind of a sweet rice )wrapped in a banana leaf and then cooked} Tofu & Tempeh.  Oom Paul Like???????

We had ordered lunch and a couple walked into the restaurant with a young lady and her baby.  They sat down at the table next to us.  And he started up a conversation with us asking where we were from?  They were American who have lived here already 37 years! Oh my goodness - !  They had lived in Eugene Oregon - also lived in Salatiga for many years but now in Semarang!  Gosh - such a blessing to meet them!  They were heading to Bandung to a wedding that the young lady family was having!  So guess what????? You got it!  

We figured out we were on the road to Bandung NOT Bandungan like we thought!!!!  

Oh well - another time!  We were BLESSED to meet these dear people!!! John & Marilyn were so kind and John shared with us he has now an Indonesian nationality and passport....would you believe it????
Talk about commitment!!!!  Beefie and her little daughter were excited to see her sister getting married and Beefie husband too would be flying in from one of the islands.  
John invited us to visit in Sermarang and we exchanged cards! They knew many of the new friends we now know in Salatiga! Wow talk about divine appointments!  
GOD is so good...he spoils us continually!!

So we walk out of the restaurant and this young man is on his Ipad and we see 
the name Christ on his T-shirt!  Wow! and on his back - this scripture!  
Pretty cool huh?!!!!!

We walked out to the scooter and our new friends to their car and off we went our own directions!

 Oh we were glad the weather wasn't doing its afternoon "change" ...........................yet!!!!!
 Remember that Jack fruit I had a picture of a few days back?  Yes the Nangka fruit? Well this fruits are KING SIZE!!!


They were lined up along the street - and now I finally see what delicious fruit it is...those that are up in the trees wrapped up with bags - so when they ripen - they don't crash down to the street and break!
Remember the man in the tree when we strolled our neighborhood and he was wrapping the rice bags around something to a branch?  Well there you have it!  Nangka - Jack Fruit!

I am always learning new things...love it!  
We enjoyed our longer ride home - saw some dark clouds looming over the mountains in the distance - but so far so good!
We made it home - enjoying every moment of it - and took several video clips of the surrounding - including the immediate neighborhood into our kampung - so Nick will put that into 
youTube this evening so we can share that with you too!







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