Now that you've seen the photos of the amazing accommodation that we stayed in, forget them, because we don't live there anymore! Out is the hot shower, toilet roll and pancakes; in are buckets of cold water (aka mandi), err, water and rice rice rice (and a bit of savoury jelly too). All three of us are now staying at a homestay in Gamoh, the village closest to Kaliandra. The hosts spoke no English on Monday night when we arrived, but all 3 of them are rapidly acquiring English words thanks to Randi's (the 12 year old son) basic dictionary. Mullins and I probably going to end up killing each other soon as we have to share a bed, while Will has his own personal boudoir.

We've pretty much got into a routine of getting a lift up to Kaliandra from the village with some of the staff every morning, and then taking it from there. Most days this week have been spent sat outside the Programme Office working by ourselves - transcribing interviews, reading papers and making interview schedules - and only having a break for lunch in the staff canteen at noon.

On Wednesday Mullins and I walked part of the way up Mt Arjuno at 5.30am with our counterparts, Sis and Udin, and found a couple of people to interview and some practices to observe, which was a good start to research... And then on Thursday evening I interviewed the head of the local LMDH group, which is made up of farmers who use the 'productive forest' for their livelihoods.

As part of what we're doing for Kaliandra we have been teaching two groups of local children English on Tuesday and Thursday afternoons. The group of 8, 9 and 10 year olds on Tuesday was quite difficult, but the 5 and 6 year olds on Thurs were much better - we played games to teach them colours in English, and had to stand at the front and sing the 'Rainbow Song' to them, much to our embarrassment.

On Weds afternoon I went 'cross-country' on the back of a trail bike through the forest to Tambaksari (see photo) to look at how the sap is collected from trees in the pine plantation, and then sat and listened to a meeting for over an hour - thrilling!

Not really a lot else to report; new staff are constantly arriving in preparation for this huge multi-million pound wedding that's taking place in about a month's time, and on Friday morning we took part in Keep Fit Friday, which is for all of Kaliandra's staff and this week was yoga.

Tomorrow (Sunday) all three of us are being driven to Malang, the closest big(ish) city, and will spend the day having a look around, and then on Monday we have an appointment to speak with some university lecturers there. For the week ahead I hope to get lots of interviews with local people who are using the forest done, and then plan a bit better where to go from there.

Over and out.