A Collection of Daily Wisdom by Dennis Sylvester Hurd since September 2003.

As I'm beginning to use labels here more seriously, I can identify areas of my travels that haven't been thoroughly documented. For example, I looked at the tag Indonesia but didn't find adequate references to Bali.



During the summer of 1992, we went to Indonesia for six weeks. We flew into and out of Jakarta but worked our way as far south as Bali. Sixteen years is a long time ago, but I recall even at the time that I'd wanted to return there someday. We got around the island nicely by renting a jeep. It's not a big place at about 95 miles wide and around 70 from north to south. The middle is mountainous with a nice variety of vegetation. We stayed at different beaches with both white and black sands. We also stayed not far from Mt. Batur which is considered an active volcano. The island is unusually Hindu in culture being that it lies in the mostly Moslem Indonesia.

I'd go back in a flash but our travels probably won't lead us in that direction again in the foreseeable future, if ever.

Labels: Indonesia, mountains

My Flickr photos have been viewed over 15,000 times. At first it sounds like a lot but really isn't. After all, as of this morning there are 2,090 of them online. Remember, one is added every day so that's added a sizable portion. There are many more from recent trips. As well, more than 10% of the collection are simply old scanned snapshots.

I am a collector and sorter by heart. Last month I added a fairly large collection of photos taken in 1982 Kuwait. Yet, when I searched my tags for Indonesia I came up with only seven photos and two wall-batik images. We were there for a whole summer so, I figured I might scan another for the online collection. I chose this one:

Labels: Flickr, Indonesia, scanned

I think it's important for me to have a presence on the Internet. As well as letting me maintain some resume information, I can express thoughts that I'd never do if it weren't for a blog. One other important benefit of being online is that it allows long-lost acquaintances to find me.

I got a nice message from a former BCIT student yesterday. It included these paragraphs and went on to express personal information and more about the recent difficulties in Indonesia.

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Hi Dennis, how are you doin? It's been almost 3 years since you taught me.. My name is Guntur Herianto, hopefully you can still remember me.. well if not then maybe you should check your 2003 summer student pics...

I already went back to Indonesia 2 years ago.. here nobody speaks in English, very little people write in English.. That is so sad, in fact I've lost 80% of my capability in speaking and writing skills. I'm working as a Radio DJ at my home town now. The radio called ISTARA FM. You could check the website though if you feel interested.

Well, the reason why I contacted you is simply I miss Canada, I miss Vancouver, I miss Burnaby, I miss BCIT and most of all I miss friends and you...

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I feel extremely lucky to have my teaching job. Often it's easy to merely focus on one's current situation. I need to remember the big picture. Being able to positively affect people is a frighteningly-powerful gift.

Labels: BCIT, Indonesia, Internet, students

This is a fourteen storey condo building and the other tower has a dozen floors. That's a lot of apartments, quite a few people, and a huge source of junk. For the first time, the council sponsored a get-rid-of-junk day. Generally, it's against the rules to dispose of furniture, appliances, or large items in the garbage room. Yet, today the condo arranged for a special place to bring those type of items. It was a great time to get rid of an old wicker bookshelf and a coat rack.

While in the cleaning mood, we went further. Over the years, we'd always returned from vacations with maps and brochures which we didn't part with. That meant there was a 1993 tourist calendar from Indonesia. We had Thai What's On magazines from the 1980's. There were maps from India, Turkey, Kenya and other places we'd travelled. We decided that old in-flight magazines aren't really crucial to keep. All in all, we threw away about twenty-eight pounds of unnecessary paper in bags and boxes.

During the second trip down the stairs, we discovered that somebody had already carted off the bookshelf. I guess the designated area ended up being more of a swap meet than disposal area. Aren't people funny?

Labels: errands, Indonesia

The scene below, which I photographed on October 10th, no longer exists. Sri Lanka's Arugam Bay was smashed by the massive, Asian tidal-wave that occurred on Christmas day (local time). As the news stories are released, the reported number of victims increases. We don't fear for Jay's relatives, but are unable to make a successful phone connection to the island.



The story seems more tragic to us as we'd also taken vacations in some of the other affected areas too. We've vacationed in the Maldives and visited Madras, India during a summer tour of that country. We also spent one summer travelling around Indonesia. On another occasion, we stayed in Phuket, Thailand. It seems to be taking a long time to collect information on the damage across south Asia.

Labels: Christmas, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, the Maldives

On Wednesday, I was talking about the discomfort in lugging around a heavy camcorder. However, I don't look too upset in this picture taken in Java, Indonesia. We spent a summer travelling from Jakarta down to Bali and back. The Borobodur Temple is an amazing ancient Buddhist site.

Labels: camcorder, Indonesia, temple