Java Just for Fun
After my workshop in Japan I had one more stop in Asia before I returned home. This time I was heading to Indonesia, where I'd be doing fieldwork and meetings for a couple of projects. The work part of my trip was... well, let's just say "clusterfuck" would be putting it mildly, for reasons I won't go into because this is a blog about birding, not about the complicated political economy and institutional dynamics that come along with working in international development. Thankfully, I did have a few chances to do some birding in my week in the country. My first stop was in East Java, where I flew into the city of Surabaya. I had been to other parts of East Java before, but Surabaya was a new city for me. I ended up unexpectedly having to overnight in Surabaya, thanks to aforementioned complications with work things, and only made it to the field the second day of my trip, on February 3. The "field" this time was the town of Bangkalan in the eastern ...