A day at the zoo

The Sandbergs in Indonesia

Claire and I just got back from the most amazing day at the Ragunan Zoo. We stopped by a snake house where the man who ran the place spoke very good English. He showed us an enormous boa constrictor and then got out a smaller (but still big) one and offered to put it around us for a picture! Had to take that opportunity! They even had a cobra in a bag that they took out and just had slithering around on the floor a few feet from us. The same man offered to take us around the rest of the zoo and it was wonderful. He knew all the animal names and would call to them and they would come over. He showed us how to feed the elephants straight from our hands, did you know that the trunk sucks up just like a vacuum? We hand fed giraffes too. We went into the primate area and got all the monkeys howling and screeching, it was hilarious! Then he showed us where some of the monkeys are kept and we feed a huge orangutan and Claire got to hold a baby orangutan. It was unbelievable! The zoo was practically empty so we almost had the place to ourselves with our very knowledgeable guide. Watch for pictures to come!
Today begins 2 weeks of having our own driver, Hasyim. He is very sweet. Some friends are gone for 2 weeks so they loaned him to us. We thought we would be getting one too but it turns out the "driver" for us was the shuttle Joel is offered to get to work each day. I have a feeling I may get used to this.