Javalogue 34:   Barbie, bamboo, Bogor, Bandung, and blossoms
the Javalogue
It's almost summer.

Since the last substantive posting (Javalogue 33), Christmas and New Year came and
went (see Photo Albums 21 and 22), Annaliese returned to Texas for her spring
semester of college, and Christopher went to New York, Vermont and Texas in
January for his first semester of his MFA program. Spring Break flew past (see Photo
Album 24), Alissa went to Houston (no postings on that), Christopher and Alissa
celebrated their 21st anniversary at Anak Krakatau (see Photo Album 23), and
Annaliese and Barbie came for a summer visit.  So that's what this posting is about.  
Annaliese and Barbie.

Annaliese and Barbie arrived on May 13th, via the new Singapore Airlines flight -
Houston to Moscow to Singapore to Jakarta.  It is fabulous to have them here.  They
were suitably exhausted and Barbie was quite amazed at her swollen feet and ankles.
This is Barbie's first trip with a passport, and certainly that was the longest flight she's
ever taken.  

We let them recover a bit and then took off for a quick trip to Bogor and Bandung on
the weekend.  A visit to Bogor means a visit to the gong factory. We bought one and
it should arrive soon.  We also walked through the botanical gardens (complete with
an attack from mosquitoes).  Tales have been told of a large stained-glass factory in
Bogor, too, but we couldn't find (reach on the phone) our friend that had told us of it,
so we did not get to go there.  We became quite frustrated with the crowded roads
(all one way, for no good reason at all) and decided to drive to Bandung rather than
find a place to eat.

Bandung is near a volcano, which we did not see.  Apparently there is also a large,
lovely university there, which we did not see.  So what did we see, you might ask.  
Factory Outlet Stores.  Yes, we drove for over two hours to go to factory outlet
stores.  The stores are quite popular and carry a variety of well-known clothing
brands, such as mossimo from Target, American Eagle, Victoria Secret, Espirit, etc..  
So cheap clothing was purchased by all but Christopher, who managed to find places
to lean or sit while the rest of us shopped.
Score!
Big bamboo -- Bogor Botanical Gardens

Barbie and friends
make our new gong
zizzer-zazzer-zuzz trees on the way to Bandung;  wayang golek puppets

our front door;  various blossoms from our backyard
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