Surabaya, Day 3

I know I skipped Day 2, but there was just no time yesterday. We didn't get back to the hotel until about 8:30 pm and I was too exhausted to keep my eyes open. I'm feeling about the same now, but I'm determined to post at least something. I'm sitting outside Coffee Bean, exploiting their free WiFi :)

This morning we got up once again to witness the Muslim call to prayer. It hasn't gotten any less creepy or eerie. Darren and Braden came over to film / record it. Hopefully that'll turn out. I think that'll be a cool piece for the film. It's something I won't soon forget - definitely one of the most memorable parts of this trip so far.

Surabaya at 4:30 am

Our day started with a trip to a huge mud pit that's being caused by an inrush of water coming up from the Earth. I'll have to get a clearer explanation later, but from what I understand, an oil company was drilling in an area outside of Surabaya and they struck something that caused a huge explosion of water and now there's nothing anybody can do to stop it. It's destroyed hundreds of homes and caused many people to become refugees. Really tragic. The smell is overpowering and almost scary - a strong chemical stench that burns both the eyes and lungs. If this were happening in America, it would be cordoned off miles away and no one would be allowed anywhere near the place. But here in Indonesia it's a bit of a tourist attraction. Just another example of the polarity in cultures.


After the mud pit we drove out to a huge camp / compound on the side of a mountain about 2 hours west of the city that Phillip (the pastor we've been following around the last few days) and his church call The Prayer Mountain. It's absolutely beautiful - and huge.


When we got back from the Mountain, the group dropped me off at the church. I had been volunteered (and I gladly agreed) to help out the audio crew with their sound system. I had a lot of fun working with the guys at the church - what a great group! They really know their stuff too, which made it fun. I was expecting a small system being run by a bunch of guys who had no clue what they were doing. I couldn't have been more wrong. They've got state-of-the-art equipment and they're using it to its fullest potential, so it was fun to show them a few tricks (although I really don't think I taught them much).

Some images from our drive through Surabaya

I'm too tired to think any more tonight - I'm off to bed. I'll try to get some more written tomorrow.