Singapore, KL & South of Thailand

From Jakarta I flew to Singapore which was overall uneventful. Wish I had couchsurfed there, would have made it a better experience and I would have spent way less money. The only major occurrence is I made the first large change in plans and decided to alter course and head to Nepal in order to do the Annapurna Circuit. This would also add India as flying into Kathmandu is expensive

Indonesia: Bandung and Jakarta

When I arrived in Bandung, Indonesia my host Freddy picked me up from the train station on his motorcycle.He would end up being one of my favorite hosts I've ever had. He bought me a welcome dinner and it turns out he has many fascinating stories and experiences. Over dinner I learned he lived in Banda Aceh on Sumatra for 4 years. Aceh is the only province in Indonesia that has Sharia law.Complete with the special police who come around making sure everybody is covered and beards are being grown, talibanesque! Freddy didn't have to worry about that though, he can flash his license that shows he is a Christian. This is something that bothers me about Indonesia. All the citizens have their religion on their identity cards.
Banda Aceh was hit very hard by the 2004 tsunami. Prior to the tsunami it was a conflict zone fighting for its independence form Indonesia. Since the tsunami they have made a peace agreement and are now a "special territory" with some autonomy. One of the few positives of the tsunami

Yogyakarta, Indonesia: Prambanan & Borobudur

After Malang I headed to Yogyakarta, the center of Javanese culture and home to both Borobudur and Prambanan temples. I stayed at a University for 7 nights with 19 year old Muslim student. He is really a fantastic and caring host though quite young. Staying in a dormitory at a Muslim school is obviously very different from the West. I never saw a female my entire stay there. Instead I could hear kids singing karaoke at 6:30 in the morning (having just woken up, not from being up all night).

On July 31st 2010 I went to Prambanan temple. I copy and pasted the below info from Wikipedia

Prambanan is the ninth century Hindu temple compound in Central Java, Indonesia, dedicated to Trimurti, the expression of God as the Creator (Brahma), the Sustainer (Vishnu) and the Destroyer (Shiva). The temple compound located approximately 18 km east of Yogyakarta city on the boundary between Yogyakarta and Central Java province. The temple is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, currently is the largest Hindu temple in Indonesia, and is one of the largest Hindu temples in south-east Asia. It is characterised by its tall and pointed architecture, typical of Hindu temple architecture, and by the towering 47m high central building inside a large complex of individual temples.

Bromo volcano complex in Indonesia

From Bali I went to Malang on the island of Java, the most populated in Indonesia. The bus ride was supposed to be 9 hours but ended up being closer to 15. It included a short ferry ride between the islands.

In Malang I surfed with Imke and her family which was amazing. The hospitality in Indonesia is world class! Here is the view from our front door.

                                            

Bali, Indonesia

After Israel I went to Egypt for several days, mostly relaxing in Dahab, a backpackers paradise on the Red Sea. From Cairo I had a 12 hour stop over in Doha, Qatar. Flew right over downtown with a window view, futuristic city. Tried to leave the airport to walk around for a few hours, visa was 31 dollars. No problem, don't know if I will ever be in Qatar again. Then they say I need to also book a hotel from the airport prior to going through immigration. fuck that! I just want to walk around for a few hours. So no Doha

Had an 11 hour stopover in Bangkok. Went to the city for about 6 hours. Found this guy (on right) playing some classic rock covers and had a few beers before returning to the airport for my 6am flight to Densepar, Bali.

Israel

I started my current trip June 16th 2010 on Birthright in Israel. Birthright aka Taglit is a free 10 day tour of Israel provided to Jews aged 18-26 who have never had an educational experience in Israel. It is a superb trip and was a splendid way to get myself half way around the world. Everybody who has the opportunity should take advantage. After birthright I spent several more days in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem before going to the West Bank for 6 days. I had been to Israel once before but Birthright provided a greater opportunity to see the country.
Religious or not the history and politics of Israel are fascinating. Covering it all requires a tremendous amount of detail from various perspectives and an expertise of the region. My goal is to present the state of Israel by giving some background to the pictures I am sharing. I fully realize every comment can be both expounded upon and countered. Explaining the complexities of the region or supplying solutions are not the purpose of this post. I do hope to spark an interest in you, the reader.