March 29- April 5

Tuesday

Got up at 5am to get our taxi to the airport at 5.30. Waited till 6.15 for taxi to come, then he had to get gas!! Traffic was really bad, and we got to Jakarta aiport at 8.30 , our flight left at 8am!!!! Had to buy new tickets for next flight to K.L. Malaysia, which would give us about 45 mins to catch the flight home to Stanstead. Flight was delayed 15 mins as 3 people had immigration problems, so they couldn't fly out and their luggage had to be removed from the plane. Arrived at K.L. 2 hrs later, with 30 mins to make the flight. RAN off the plane, ran throught immigration, ran to check in office, ran through immigration again, ran to the gate and actually made the flight!! Really ticked off loads of people waiting at each station, as we ran straight to the front of each line! Did not want to miss the flight home, as each seat cost $ 400, and to rebook it at the last minute would cost $1200! Big incentive to run, even with our backpacks on!! Arrived at Stanstead at 10.45pm, with my sister Angie waiting for us. Good to be home.

Wednesday

Met up with family. Here is Cerys, Dylan and Mazie my great nieces and nephew.

Thursday

After a few days of hanging out with my sister and nieces, we caught a train from Ipswich to London, to meet up with Steve ( brother in law) for dinner.

Passed the construction site for the Olympic Stadium.

We all met at Dereks mums house. My sisters Angie and Vera.

Dereks sister Gillian, mum Rose, Derek, Gillians husband James and my brother in law Steve.

Friday

Gillian , James, Vera and myself drove down to Kent to visit my Niece Kelly, who has just moved into a new house there. Kelly, Steven (partner) and Wills ( Steves son ). Couldn't get a photo of Kieran ( kellys son), as he wasn't feeling well.

Saturday

Went walking to the saturday market. Raining and very cold weather! Had to make sure Rose was wrapped up well. She has lots of hats and looked very hip in this one!

Rose lives in Little Venice, which is an oasis in the middle of London. This is a view from the bridge leading to Rose's flat.

Old residences a block away from Dereks mums flat.

We all went out for a Fish and Chips dinner at our favourite Mr Chips restaurant.

Sunday

Went for a walk at Hyde Park, saw this newly erected statue.

Horse patrol through Hyde Park.

Listened to Orators at Speakers Corner. You can see Marble Arch in the top right of this photo,

View from the front of Roses flat.

Fountain area of the park. I love this park at it's huge and has so many areas to walk around.

Daffodils are blooming at the park, so we know we're in spring, despite the freezing weather!

Monday

Went shopping at the supermarket for any last minute goodies. Catching a flight back home to U.S. tomorrow at 2pm. Realizing that our holiday/trek is coming to an end!!!! Great seeing all the family, lovely way to end this trip!!! Not to mention all the great english food we've missed!

March 27th - 29th

Saturday
The housing development was a popular landing site for the pilots. One reasons the city of Sentul wanted a balloon festival here was to draw attention to this growing city, and hopefully people would be interested in investing in one of the many housing developments
In the morning, the volunteers from the Air force, Paratrouper Division ( Not Army, as I thought) marched in for crewing duty. It's go good having 7 crew to lift everything!
Crew looking pleased with themselves after putting the balloon together.
View of launch site, just after take off.
Here is Akari ( Japanese friend) flying over the city of Sentul. We are approx 30 mins away from Jakarta.
Here is Philip from Belguim with his Orange balloon.
The villagers were in awe, as the balloons flew overhead. People were running down the street following them. It was great watching them, as we always knew where the balloon was!
Many Indonesians bury their family in the back garden. At least in this part of the country. This is just one of the many burial sites behind a house.
Derek landed on the 6th hole! Security for the golf course, led us out but was very dissapointed when we didn't have any cigarettes to give him. Must bring cigarettes next year as this must be a token of appreciation!
Saturday nights dinner was hosted by the mayor of Sentul city. This restaurant served traditional Indonesian food, which consisted of sticky rice wrapped in banana leafs, deep fried fish heads and tails, Giant pea pods, lamb satay and hot spicy soup all washed down by Bintang Beer.
Group photo of our very happy pilots .
Sunday
Dereks flight took off over the white Mosque, which was funded by Saudi money. Huge beautiful building.
He landed at another building development.
All the local people ran out to see the balloon. It's great having our crew and numerous other people to pack the balloon away.
The local kids love getting their photo taken. They were all asking what our name is and where did we come from. English is taught in the schools from Kindergarten onwards.
Balloon is packed away and even as this photo was being taken, more people were running into the field! We don't get this kind of reception when we land in America!!

The afternoon flight was cancelled due to the windy weather, and stormy conditions. It seems that afternoons are always rainy and scattered thunderstorms. We did tether for the afternoon, but only for 1 hr, before it poured down. Plenty of people attended this festival, so I think it was a success. Glad it wasn't cancelled, and hopefully there will be another festival next year. The people here are warm and friendly and we've had a great time. Weather was apprx 35c with humidity about 90%. Thunderstorms came every afternoon into the night, but still about 28c at night. This is the end of the event, so after tethering we packed the balloon ready for the shipment back to the States. We'll have an early night tonight, as we have to get up at 4am to get to the airport for our flight at 8am. Heading home to see our family back in the U.K.--Yeah!!

March 25th / 26th

Thursday

Everybody met at 10 am in the hotel lobby and bussed to the convention center where our balloons were waiting for us. We unpacked , but there was no propane so we were assured that propane would arrive overnight, ready for our flight in the morning. The rest of the day was spent relaxing by the pool.

Friday

Everyone met at 4.30am, and were taken back to the convention center. Propane had arrived, so the pilots busied themselves with refueling. Our crew were from the Indonesian Army, and every pilot had 6 soldiers assigned to them. We had police trucks and the local police as our drivers.

Dereks first flight at 7am. Quite a few people turned out to watch. Event seems to be going ahead even though it is unorganized, things seem to be coming together. We just have to work out finances and the pilots will be happy.

This is our crew and chase truck.

As we were leaving the launch field, I noticed this large poster advertising the event, hopefully there will be a good crowd here this weekend.

We are on the chase with another chase vehicle in front of us.

Going through some small villages.

The roads are really narrow through some of these places.

We had to stop a few times and asked for directions.

Passed by the local store.

Found Derek after a long chase. He landed in this Tapioca field, and most of the villagers had followed him to the landing site. He tethered about 30 kids, while he was waiting for us to arrive.

The kids that helped us pack the balloon away.

Good landing site, and for some of these kids it was the first time that they had seen a hot air balloon.

As there were no roads into this area, we had to carry the equipment out. Which was made more difficult because the bridges over many of their streams consisted of 2 bamboo trunks!!! The handrail was broken and the bamboo was covered with mud. Derek didn't fall in, but I was ready with the camera just in case!!!

The locals and our army crew all came together to get the basket and tanks across " the bridge".

Here's the basket being carried out to the road, thank goodness we have a lot of crew.

The village children watched us pack it away. The kids in uniform had run out of the school to see the balloon, so the teacher had to usher everyone back as we left. Great flight. After a lunch time of washing the mud out of our clothes, went back to the launch site for an afternoon flight, which only lasted 20 mins as a storm was coming in, and the landing site ( building development) was to good to give up.