Moving Faster Than a Monsoon

The rain came down while the children played.We left Manila last week but not without getting slammed by some serious rain. Yes, the monsoons, they are a coming! And when it rains it pours in Manila. Here, the street kids get themselves a bath in the fountain to the left of our hotel. They romped and frolicked to their heart's content while the city got flooded, although not by Bangkok standards, mind you.
Indonesian Traffic: The same day or night but not as crazy as Bali.Then we were off to Jakarta, on the island of Java, also part of Indonesia. So many islands, so little time! Now Jakarta is a place that could use some rain because the canal system that weaves around the city is basically an open sewer system that stinks to high heaven. You can see the water flowing into one of the canals here that we crossed trying to find a good breakfast at the Four Seasons Hotel, which has a spectacular view of this slow-moving sludge. What's missing from the picture is the smell. That part is really hard to recreate.
Art amidst the devastation.Yes, this is a super quick catch-up entry because right now we're in Yogyakarta, where last year a volcano erupted sending another form of sludge down the mountainside. We walked up hoping to see some aspect of its glory but mostly there's just a massive amount of devastation. This house with the picture of the boy turned away from the viewer says it all: What happened?
Tomorrow we're heading back to Singapore because that's the hub of our universe here. We get to stay in a hotel in Little India so that's it. Our flight departs at 7:30 because it's the only direct nonstop from here to Singapore so it's up at 4 AM for more plane rides. Yeah!