Selamat Datang ke Medan

I never learn my lessons.

Despite the boredom of living in the "countryside" in Surabaya, a microcosm of how difficult it is to live in Indonesia in spite of its promises - I've relocated to another part of Indonesia, Medan.

Transport problems, living near to the airport, nature places too far away, international newspapers never seeing the daylight of Indonesian skies - all these seem to replicate itself consistently and I never fail to wonder why I'm still attracted to this archipelago.

But at least today, I finally discovered a rustic route for jogging opposite my big abode (my bedroom is the almost the same size as the hall in my Surabaya house) after going on a recce with my poor Indo maid who hardly ever steps out of the house.

A kampung or desa of sorts, the community seems friendly, and highly accommodating to an orang asing who just decides to pop by and ask to buy the orchid in the garden of a private property... Pak Chan and Ibu Yusni showed me their collection of bunga (flowers, including a black flowering plant) , a strange red promegranate-like fruit that can be used for making tea to sooth tired nerves and potatoes - not on the ground but hanging in a surreal featherlike way from vines twirling round the wooden support.