Malang

Michael's house was located within walking distance of Malang's "alun-alun" (Central plaza). Or at least what somebody from Western Europe calls "walking distance". During my four weeks I got the impression that whwn it comes to distances beyond 100 meters nobody in Java is walking at all.
Stop at this point! My dear Indonesian readers, I do not want to offend you! Almost everybody was going by car, lorry or mostly by moped. It was just us walking around. About every two minutes a becak (cycle rickshaw) would come along us with the driver shouting: "Hey Mister, becak?" And I would answer: "Tidak. Saya ingin berjalan!" Which does mean: "No, I want to walk." That earned me a lot of head-shaking and usually an uncomprehending smile. But Oof course I had gathered information about becak driving, though. :-D So we took a becak back to our house afterwards. :-)