Another One Bites The Dust...

'I should have stuck with baseball,' I thought to myself as I was sliding across the pavement. That was my only thought as I crashed my motorbike on the way back from Tomohon. As is tradition with Indonesian drivers: No turn signal.  No checking of the mirrors. No look over the shoulder. With any motorbike spill, the whole town stopped to check the situation. After picking up my bike and bleeding from the majority of my right side, one local knows enough English to say "drive slowly." Because there's no way to convince them that it was NOT the bule's fault, I start my bike and take off.

Alright, enough complaining from me. Let me not mask the fact that the spill was after visiting Tomohon Market. This famous market (signs entering translate to "Extreme Market")  is known for having some...unique goodies. What you see pictured on the right are vampire bats. Yes, bats. Wingless, died-screaming-while-being-cooked vampire bats. You couldn't pay me to eat bat, so I moved on....when I really should have left. Walking past the severed pig's head, anaconda and skewered jungle rats, I find the dogs. If only they had been cats...I'd be okay with that. But a charred, wild dog on a spit for sale almost did me in. Surely that's the worst of it, yes? False. The cooked dog was facing the still living dogs in a cage, just waiting. For all those PETA peeps and avid dog lovers, probably not the place for you.

After a couple days in Manado, I hopped a long-awaited boat to Bunaken Island.  This is still a relatively remote island, even though Bunaken is starting to gain a reputation as a world-class diving destination. Our day trip was led by our fantastic guide who was decked out in an orange polo, pink/green board shorts and a blue fishing hat (which looked more like a bonnet). I'd feel bad for the guy if he wasn't wearing the biggest of smiles. Classic Indonesia. I'm not a huge diver, but snorkeling was as you'd expect in Indonesia: fantastic.  High levels of visibility, great walls of reef and...turtles! Suck it, Andrew.

This trip came on the heels of my trip back to the states. As busy as I was, I thoroughly enjoyed my visit and was thrilled to see so many people.  Wedding season was in full swing and I was proud to welcome Anne to my family. My brother did something right, finally. My congrats also to Kellen and Caitlin, Jamie and Allison, Jimmy and Megan, Alex and Naomi, Kenny and Whitney (name your son Josh and I'll bring you more poop coffee!). What a mouthful. That's all I can muster right now as the large Bintang on my right calls my name. It's no diesel, but it will do as I lay on the beach looking at this...



'Til next time, folks!