This dawn in Palu the muzzeins in the coastal Sulawesi city minarets called the faithful to the morning prayer. The Fadr broke my slumber and the crowing roosters helped open my eyes. The overhead fan stirred tge tropical air colling the room and I pulled back to the mosquito netting to go to the window. Palu was still asleep. There seems to be no sense of urgency in this town, the largest in the northwestern Sulawesi, and I responded by returning to bed. My bus to Lake Poso was leaving at midday.
Later
The bus to Pendalo left an hour late. Basically on time. I had a window seat to view the thick jungle. The Villages small. The people few. The passengers stood in the aisle. I took up enough room for two people. I smoked kretek cigarettes to help me staring out the window. This morning I cashed two Travelers checks. $100 each into almost 400,000 rupiah. According to the Rough Guide there are no banks ahead. The bus climbs upward to Tentena, where I'll catch a ferry to the southern end of the lake. There are no roads between the two. So tomorrow I'll be crossing Lake Poso, 1500 meters high and then descend to the to the Eastern Plains of Sulawesi before heading up to Tana Torajah land. It's a long ride, but I have, a thriller about LA lowlifes, The Cross Killer by Marcel Montecino to accompany mr.
There are no English newspapers in this part of the world or even the Jakarta Post. The BBC is my only source of information of the world. I love hearing the Chimes of Big Ben bang out the hour "This is the BBC Greenwich Mean Time." it certainly is comforting to hear that this far away from everything.
The Saddam regime is showing cracks in the Shiite country in the south. Insurgents took advantage of the route in Kuwait. Saddam has gained nothing by that invasion and even less but not agreeing to terms. This defeat is good for the Iranians and Syrians, who can now focus on national problems rather than the threat from Saddam. Saddam's first son supposedly was killed. Whatever this war will prove, this was no Vietnam. There's no Hanoi Jane no MIAs, no Mayday demos, there's a plane shoot him up in the Gulf moving that air powers isn't everything, but no air power is nothing.
I'm about halfway through writing THE BEST IS YET to COME. I'll stay in Rantepao to finish the screenplay and then head down to udon for Don to catch a flight to Bali and meet Corinne coming in from Paris.
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