A sad morning. Went to visit Christine's mum's grave. Firstly, we were met by Sendy who joined us on a Sudako (No 24 Yellow bus) Then on to getting flowers for $2. Walking the streets is an experience in itself.  With no footpaths (well, there were - broken lumps of cement covering drains) and traffic that went everywhere, it was difficult to cross the road quickly.  We also stopped in a cafe that was a bit like half a plane hangar rather than a restaurant. Food was good though.

We took the flowers to the grave and broke the petals across it. It still had a wooden cross and the bricks holding it together were broken. The cement was not even put on it properly. We decided that Ibu Ida needed a much better place and some day we would do this. Poor Christine was very upset, as was I. Thanks to Sendy for taking us there.

We walked back and headed on to our next destination, the photographic studio.Christine tried on many and various dresses, then booked our photographic session for later in the week. Should be fun.

[Family photos are a strong tradition in Indonesia. Every house I went to had perfect portraits of the family members plastering most walls. I think the only wall in the house that didn't have a professional photo hung on it was the bathroom. This strong cultural connection continues when Indonesians move to other countries. Personally I don't like to see pictures of myself where I live but I was surprised to actually see pictures of myself in Christine's family's collections on their walls.]

We then went to the plaza and got a mobile phone number as well as lunch. Afterwards, back to the hotel to mundi. Sendy waited until we were ready as she was taking us to her house. It was about 20 minutes by Sudako and the place was very close to everything. I would have liked to capture it on video but it was too dark by the time we got there.

Meeting many relatives and friends that lived in the street was a great experience. Lots of young kids who wanted to know more from 'Mister'. After visiting the kids, then seeing them open their presents, Sendy dragged me over to a friends place nearby. I was given a Batak drink called Tuok and entertained with music. They asked me to sing a song and I didn't really know any so listened to Batak and Dangdut music as well as other songs. Sendy translated a lot for me.

One of the guys playing music was told by Sendy that I wanted to learn the Batak language from Ompung. They asked me do I know what Ompung means and I said 'Nenek' which brought a surprised laugh!

We then went back and ate. Pak had rode his motorbike to the shops to buy food for us. Then the whole street turned up to see him and his new son-in-law. So I greeted a lot of nice, friendly people who didn't speak much English. During dinner I also had a fruit called Salak which tasted like raw grape flavoured potato. I then went for a tour of the suburbs with the kids and got to know them more.

One girl there surprised me as I was sure she looked about dua belas years old (12) and she actually was tujuh belas! (17). No wonder that she was a bit more malu (shy) than the others!

After the tour we taught Australian English to the kids. Sendy translated for me as I taught them very important words like sheila, bloke, brekkie and g'day!

We were then driven home by Pak to collect some clothes and wash soap etc as we were visiting Ria at Tiara Hotel. We met her in the lobby that had a live band. The band's first song, in the room that was small where I was completely visible from where I was standing, was in English. (They started singing as soon as they saw me staning there!) Ria's room was much better than ours and Christine and Ria talked until after 2:00am. (I fell asleep around 12:30am)

Medan North Sumatra continued