Once we found the bird market, it was easy to orient ourselves. They were selling trays of grubs…View image, bees…View image, bird seed, gerbils, rabbits…View image, cats, gorgeous flowers…View image, one bat hanging upside down in a cage…, no snakes though, gorgeous birds, lots of tweeting and feathers (along with bird droppings) wafting through the air while….again “bird flu, bird flu” isn’t a joke. There have been recent cases of “bird flu”/Avian Flu in Java.

Once out of the bird market, a walk around Alun-Alun park, looking at old dutch houses, elaborate mosques…View image…before beginning the walk back in what we thought was the right direction. By the way, did you know that McDonald’s delivers…View image… in Melang? I was tempted because how cool would that have been to have McDonald’s pull up at Enny’s Guest House with a Big Mac? Past local restaurants with tasty looking food displayed in windows…View image…

inside Malang’s bird market, Java 

I have no clue what the name of this beautiful bird is. e-mail and tell me, Malang, Java
…walking, walking, walking…but nothing looked familiar especially since I wasn’t paying attention in the Bemo that took us into downtown Melang. We flagged two Bemos and showed the Enny’s map. Both were going in the “CG” direction and we needed “LK” or “LG” Bemos. Hot and frustrated, we talked to a couple of Becak drivers who didn’t speak English and didn’t know where Enny’s was. Finally, one skinny little Becak driver said he knew where Enny’s was and it would be 30,000 Rupiah (less than $3.00) for the two of us to squish into his Becak.

beautiful palm-lined streets in the wealthy area of Malang, Java
Off we went with little driver peddling skinny legs uphill, and puffing down streets lined with palm trees and flowers, through a gorgeous neighborhood filled with “Dutch retirement houses” that didn’t look familiar. Ready to go into panic mode, Becak driver turned down our street and there was Enny’s. He came in the back way.

our Becak driver in Malang, Java
ex-Marine generously overtipped the driver and he was so effusively grateful, we felt guilty it wasn’t more! Malang is known for its cuisine but there wasn’t enough time to make the rounds and sample. One specialty is Bakso Malang, a bowl filled with broth, bite-size meatballs, steamed and fried wontons and tofu. Sounds good, doesn’t it? I would have loved at least one extra day in Malang.

We stretched out in Enny’s gardens to do a little Interneting while waiting for the group to leave for Mount Bromo and discovered an e-mail from Capital One (our Visa card) instructing us to call collect immediately regarding a possible identity theft transaction. This is not what you want to hear while on vacation. One collect call, and a multitude of answers to confirm my identity, it was identity theft from a hotel in Kalimantan. Situation resolved by cutting up credit card while Capital one closed the account until we returned back to the United States. This is why we carry two different credit cards! Live and learn…

Enny’s Guest House gardens, Malang, JavaGet the digital chapters you want, ditch the ones you don’t! Only $4.95 per chapter!

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