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Another day on the bus with a few stops along the way. First one a tea plantation, did a little walk, looked at some leaves and then drank some tea. Well I paid for tea and tried to drink it but when they bought the condensed milk out again I had a little strop and gave it away-just get me a goat I'll milk it myself.
Lunch was in a really nice restaurant overlooking the mountains and then we stopped to see a floating village. This was definitely the best bit of the day, interesting but scary. We walked to the lake and then got onto the most knackered boat I've seen, I fell on my ass on the way down to it. It took us to a floating house out on the lake, made of wood and they had a fish farm for a garden. Everyone except me walked across a skinny bamboo walkway, to sit on the skinny bamboo walkway and dangle their feet in the water for a fish pedicure. I couldn't go out there I was frozen to the spot, the thought of falling into the fish pen was not a good one. The boat then took us round the lake to look at a the houses and people fishing (not in the fish farm), it was sunset too which was nice. When we were back on dry land we went back to the Cilingcing village and were greeted by the kids, not just a few either, there must have been nearly 100 at one point. They were ridiculously happy to see us, some saying hello and asking my name and others really shy and embarrassed when we spoke to them. We tried to have little conversations and a couple wanted me to write in their school books, they made me sign my name and got very excited at my signature. Gede had bought some pens to hand out and I ended up with the bag, I was completely surrounded by all these little arms trying to get a pen...there wasn't nearly enough to go round I felt awful.
We taught them heads, shoulders, knees and toes, they did a few Indonesian songs for us, I pulled out Gangnam Style when I got really desperate and it went down very well with the boys. My favourite bit of the day, they were all so happy, polite and lovely. It was sad to see some of their little milk teeth though all rotten, don't remember seeing any dentists here yet. I have a photo with a little girl called Fatima and her sister, she didn't speak much English but she was adorable. When it was time to leave we were shaking hands with the children, she took my hand and touched it to her cheek. Gede said it's a sign of affection and respect, I wished I had something I could have given her.
We then moved on to our homestay, compared to others I've stayed at this is a palace. We have a huge house, made of bricks, with tiles on the floor, electric and a roof with no gaps. Dinner was all home made and delicious, even some chicken that wasn't fried!!! We all ate in the garden then you'll never guess what happened next, yes a man with a guitar turned up and set a bonfire. They cooked us some corn on the cob which I've been looking for since Koh Samui so I was happy. I'm easily pleased these days!
All the home stays I've done on this trip haven't compared though to the one in Guatemala where I stayed with an actual family, that was definitely a much better experience than these have been. This was more like a b&b and we had to pay for our dinner which seemed odd to me. There was no interaction with the family at all because they were all put in the outhouse for the night, kind of defeats the object but all in all a nice place to stay.
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