Bawal fish

A spot of shoe shopping this morning, as a visit to the British embassy in Jakarta is looming and they don't allow flip-flops and shorts. It was a painful waste of money in my opinion, but there you go.

I still made it up to the stream for a blip session by 09:30. The gates were open to the concrete pond, even though it is still closed for business. I popped my head in and discovered a large family gathering enjoying a few snacks and they waved me in. Not one to refuse free food, I did not need further persuasion. They were all up from Jakarta for a few days.

Mr Tata, another guy and a boy were in the pond, netting small fish for a barbeque later on. The netting operations were irritating some of the larger fish, which occasionally jumped, so I had a go at capturing the action. My reflexes were not really upto the job, although I did capture one or two, more by chance than anything.

Naturally, Fitri was there, eager to get in on the blip action and held up this smallish bawal for me to photograph. She also found a strange bug, wrapped in a banana leaf. After photographing the bug, it was duly impaled on a hook and thrown to the fishes.

After grabbing my blip material, I sat and nattered with the guests for a while, who all spoke very reasonable English. I shared a few snacks and after about an hour, said my goodbyes. Although I was a total stranger, except to Mr Tata and the kids, I was made to feel most welcome. This is how it is over here. I feel confident that I could walk up to any garden fence and get invited in, such is the nature of the people. Maybe I will try that one day, just for fun.

A put a selection of the blip material into folio if you are interested. A fun morning was had.

Dave