24 Countries and Counting

According to My Stat Counter.Com I am now read in 24 countries. I am read through Google and other links and websites I spend time trying to attach to. So, what is my final aim? Well it is just to write my thoughts down and my observations and views and share them. That is pretty much it. The bonus of being read over the world is something else and that makes me proud.
Anyway. its another blazingly hot day in West Jakarta and there is no sign yet of it raining or cooling down. It has  been like that for a while and whilst on my bike I am getting a tan and its great.
Speaking of which I now have my new bike. It is a Yamaha Jupiter MX 135cl. Black with 5 spoke wheels, Gold firery gold stripes down the side and on Friday only 1 km on the clock. Nice is the word I would use. Now I have had far too much advice from many people about the bike, dont ride fast, ride fast, rev high, rev low, etc. But at the end of the day I am just riding in the traffic and coping with that. It gets to 60kph very quickly and it looks great too. I also got rid of my rocket racer and that was the best thing to happen.
So there it is. I will provide better photos but thats all I have at the moment. Like it yes.

Thursday was the last day of school and we had a team building exercise, had secret santa. I like secret santa as it allows people to buy gifts without anyone knowing who bought them. Its kinda fun. I got a photo frame. Lovely. I also said goodbye to 2 teachers who I found to be hardworking, focused and happy in their roles and it was a shame to see them go but that is the transient business of ESL teachers. But I am sure that they know how I appreciated them and the work that they did.
The rest of the day was tedious as I waited for 9pm to come and just shuffled papers. My final class cancelled so that gave me more time to complete the reports, cross the t's and do the i's before leaving.
And now I am on Christmas holiday until the 4 January. Bliss. Bali and Lombok are 2 days away. Its great.
Friday afternoon was quite busy. Went to Central Park to relax and sit about for a while. It was very busy and they had a Barney Christmas show which sadly I missed. Almost upset but well no. The mall was not really decorated inside but at night I can the lights all flashing away from the trees and lights they have. JCO was busy but we got a seat. I did enjoy watching someone walk straight into the glass door to go outside and get covered in coffee, sadly it was cold so he suffered no scarring, that would have been better.
They have a luxury car display, stretch hummers, stretch chevs, Big italian sports cars, Maseratis (are they Italian) Lotus and of course a Mini Cooper!!! Not that it really fits, however it is iconic in its own right and whilst it is german in all but the name always nice to see. What was nice however was to see a Mini 1000 bouncing around the city fantastic. No AC no tv screens mounted in the seats, just a classic mini. I do like seeing older cars as they have style and class.
We then (Yovita and I) moved on to Batavia Marina, next to Sunda Kalapa port. The reason was to say goodbye to a fellow Director of Studies from Tebet and also for all of us DoS'es to have a christmas drink and a enjoy each others company. I am sure I have mentioned it before but it is really a nice place to go and you can sit out and stare at the sea and the boats that are moored there. There was a huge boat from bali and then a party boat turned up and everyone got off it and had a meal and then the singers came out and the dancers. It was nice and to sit in the evening sun and then  the early evening with friends drinking cheap beer was great.
Saturday was riding my bike day and so I went to see Yovita and got it washed as it was dusty. The trip over to Pancoran is about 14 km and it was quiet as the holidays have started and people are leaving to take holidays. Now I am supposed to ride on the left and as I found it is almost impossible as taxis, buses and other vehicles seem to stop, pullover, not indicate and generally go slower than I want so I have to keep changing lanes. Also the holes are bigger in the left hand lane than anywhere else.
The sunset Saturday night from the Apartment was awesome. Well, not my apartment but from the corridor. The mountains to the west were visible and the sun and clouds were many colours. It was quite something. As you can see. The mountains are on the right in the top picture, and to take it I had to dangle the camera out

of the window to get these shots but it was a stunning sunset.

I dont really pay much attention to them as I cant see them but I happen to notice the tower blocks all glowing so I went and had a look.

Then we went to Citputra Mall or Citraland, whichever you prefer. Took a taxi as it is next to the apartment and 10k later we were there. Went to eat and then go for coffee.

The mall is normally really busy but it was quiet for a change.

Managed to buy a pair of 'daps' which fitted. I do like converse classics (no photos) and they were cheap so that was good.

Then sat in Starbucks and not much else really.

I did however take some photos of the Christmas decorations as I believe the malls do it better here than in the UK. I am going to take more photos next year and so this is a warmer. I never took many pics this year and I should and now I have worked out how to embedd into my blog, here is one of the christmas decorations.

Makes the mall look nice and it is an older one. I would go and look elsewhere but I cant be bothered. Next year maybe.

Looking forward now to catching the 8.50 flight to Bali on Tuesday, Yovita is all packed and I have thought about it. But then she has to work and I dont so I will pack on Tuesday.

So I doubt I will write until after Christmas, so where ever you are and what ever you are doing. Have a happy Christmas and enjoy...