I know, only bitched about this place so far... but I do love it!

The countryside is lush & green with rice fields & palm trees. Jagged mountains surround you... plus several active volcanoes... took a motorcycle thru the jungle to the base of one.

City's just the right mix of old & new. Bicycle rickshaws & horse drawn carriages are the transport norm. But there's a nice air-conditioned mall with free wifi... where I've spent too much time :)

Oh, & the weather... it is monsoon season, but a good monsoon... rains just an hour. It's hot... but cooler than the other countries I've been in... only use my sweat rag every half an hour instead of 10 minutes! (Lovely, I know...)

The people are really, actually, very nice. Without asking, they'll go out of their way to help. The lady sitting next to me on the train this morning kept forcing to take her food! PLUS!... have had people around the world talk to me about religion & culture... but not as genuinely as they seem here.

But the BEST PART is the arts! Stuff I'd only studied... saw a dance performance based on the Hindu Ramayana... a style of dance I'd signed up to learn in college but chicken out of. Also saw a puppet show...high art, not kiddie stuff. And Batik textiles which are an art in themselves.

And lest I forget, Prambanan, a huge Hindu temple complex & Borobudur, a massive Buddhist monument, which after Angkor Wat in Cambodia, is the 2nd most impressive thing I've seen!

And back to the annoying men, between the ring & snubbing most of them the first few days, at the end, it was fine. But checking out of my hotel, one of the guys I'd apparently snubbed on the street said, "You from New York? You very rude." Right back at 'ya fellow!