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“Medan Merdeka is dominated by the towering National Monument. Local wags have taken to calling the Russian-built tower commemorating Indonesia’s independence “Sukarno’s last erection.” Some of this bitterness may stem from the fact that the World Bank supplied funds for 77 pounds of pure gold to coat the “flame of freedom” atop the column while many Indonesians starved.”Read more

Staring Into the Heart of a Volcano

Staring into the heart of a volcano. Makes you feel a bit insignificant. Continuation of the images posted yesterday from the active volcano above Bandung, Java. It’s actually much farther down than it looks – I’d say it’s about 1km across to the ridge seen before the green trees. I wish I could show scale – but it’s simply not possible with this photo. Where the ridge is, you can walk along a rough trail – something I’ll do nextRead more
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Moonlight At Noon

I just returned from three days in the volcanic region above Bandung – a city about 80 miles east of Jakarta. The fresh, cool air is amazingly clean after breathing Jakarta’s gunk. Spent some time at the volcano named Tangkuban Perahu – still very much active, but equally beautiful. This is taken from the rim of the crater looking away from the volcano into the land below. Breathtaking doesn’t remotely begin to describe the visuals found here. Highly recommended toRead more