Sumberbrantas, East Java - 13th September

[From: lunisea@netcom.com (SEA)]

On the front is a pciture of a beautiful blue sky with clouds about
halfway down.  In the foreground is a picture of
a volcano spewing forth a big cloud.  The caption reads
"Indonesia Mount Semeru, East Java - a burst of volcanic ash from
Java's highest peak"

(No postcards, so I'm writing this into my notebook and will
transcribe it later.)  Sumberbrantas is a small village nestled
high in the mountains, almost 1600m above sea level.  There are
no hotels or losmen here, so I'm staying with a retired army officer 
who regularly puts up the odd climber who arrives.  He and his wife are
really nice and won't let me pay for the room - I'll take a photo and 
send them a copy instead.  He's just taken me to the source of the 
Brantas (a hot water spring) a lovely walk through some kind of garden/
agricultural project with lots of Australian trees to make me feel at
home (thank you AIDAP) and shown me the start of the climb to
Arjuna and Welirang (since I'm not planning on taking a guide
this time).  I'm going to descent on the other side - to Lawang - 
so I'll be carrying all my equipment.  If all goes well I
weill camp on top and get a chance to use the tent and sleeping
bag.  if things go badly (I break a leg or something) I'll probably get to
use the sleeping bag anyway while I wait for help.  There is a TV in
the house, but thank goodness!, Mr Bean is being screened instead
of some Kung Fu movie.  (It's really sad watching serene,
wise old men and women watching really trite game shows and the
kung fu/kickboxing stuff always makes me think of the 65/66 massacres...

Love to everyone,
Danny

The picture on the front is the next volcano on the agenda.