Selamat malam, Malang (Good night, Malang)

We got on the bus south to Malang and paid our approximately $1.50 fare. The road has been rerouted for the last two years because of the mud eruption (go here for a good video), but we made it to the city in less than three hours.

Despite our students' warnings about Malang being cold, we were greeted by very warm temperatures. (It would cool down some later in the day.)

From the bus station, we took a bemo into the town center. A bemo is a crowded little minibus (I think we had 13 people in there) that follows an erratic yet preplanned path through town.Malang has more greenery, parks, and sidewalks than Surabaya, so after we put our stuff in our hotel rooms ($14 for two single beds, and very clean) we went for a walk around the city.

The first day, we saw several parks, including this one with a lily pond.We also went to a small park that had some animals and birds in depressingly small and dirty confines. That's probably why this thing doesn't look so happy.That evening, we went to the one club in town and watched an Indonesian cover band. They played a wide range of music, covering everything from Indonesian pop songs to Shakira to that JT and Madonna song to "Killing in the name of..." by Rage Against the Machine.

We wandered back to the hotel at about 2:30 in the morning to find the gates locked. We ended up having to call some friends at another hotel to have them look up our hotel in the guidebook, and then we called the hotel to wake up the night security guard to let us in.

(As a side note, this experience has inspired us to attempt to acquire cellphones this week; we would have been completely screwed without one.)

In the morning we went to the animal market, where people were selling lots of birds, rabbits, cats, hamsters and guinea pigs, the occasional monkey, and all manner of accoutrements for the animals.We also went to a large plant market, which was also quite interesting.

We spent the afternoon at a nice local hotel.
We had one of the hotel staff give us a tour, and we also spent a lot of time drinking, eating, and relaxing. My sense of cost is getting a little skewed here. I felt like I spent a good chunk of money, but my total only came to about $8.50 for coffee, food, and a rocks glass of Myers's rum, and this was at the best restaurant in town.

Eventually we made our way back to the bus station, again by bemo. We had some difficulties with the driver when he insisted that we pay 500 rupiah (five cents) more than the Indonesians in the bemo (the total should have been 25 cents, but he wanted us to pay 30, probably because we are bule, meaning white foreigners). Some of us paid, some of us walked away.

We stepped into the bus to Surabaya, but then immediately got off because it appeared full. Then one of the bus guys insisted that we get back on. He had our three friends cram together with some other passengers on the long seat at the back of the bus, put Rowan in the seat right up by the driver, and put me on a plastic crate (like you'd put a pile of fruit in) on the floor until the first passenger got off.

The driver drove fast, and we made it home quickly. I can't say that I am that happy to be back, but coming weekends will offer more chances to get out of Surabaya.