Fishy Feet

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We all had a big breakfast and were picked up by Yudi. The journey to Cianjur took about two hours and Yuri taught us a great deal about the Indonesian culture, economy, philosophy and general state of life here. The mopeds overtaking cars that were overtaking was a bit hairy but apparently the level of accidents is surprisingly low.
At Cianjur Homestay we dumped our day sacks and then headed off with a Dutch couple and Yuri to see some floating islands. We had a fifteen minute walk to the lake through fields of cassava, papaya and sweet. At one point the path narrowed beside the lake and Cas took a slip and came out with a.very muddy leg and dress!
These island communities were very different to the ones in Peru. Made from bambo and polystyrene blocks, the houses were owned by fishermen who reared fish in large net holding areas. They were spaced much further apart, yet there were schools for their children. The electricity cables were strung on high poles from the shoreline.
Our red wooden boat took us on a circular tour of one end of the lake which was covered in Lily's with mauve flowers.
We stopped off at one house and were shone the fish and invited to sit down with our feet in the water. The little fish then proceeded to nibble our feet; Ed couldn't take it, Cas, Hat and I got quite used to it. Our feet are now noticeably smoother. We remember that 5-10 years ago this was a very fashionable in many western beauticians.
The fishermans wife cooked us some cassava and it was like delicious roast potatoes. A canoe came along which was laden with snacks, drinks, cigarettes etc and it was their version of the local wholesale delivery van.
It was a very hot day and the little car was baking. A stop at an Indomart for cold drinks was very refreshing.
Lunch was back at Yuri's guest house, a formed rice in a mild coconut curry sauce; very tasty but neither Ed or Hat touched their plate. They need to be more hungry for them to try this type of stuff.

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