We are about to leave Ambon after spending the last week here. We came here because some friends on another boat, Momo, were here, and we thought it would be nice to hang out with them for a bit. People don't usually come to visit Ambon for tourist reasons. It is a very dirty city. I'm not sure I've ever seen so much garbage everywhere. During a downpour yesterday, all the rivers dumped more trash into the harbor than you can imagine--it was unbelievable. But it was raining too hard to get the camera out. Nevertheless it is an interesting bustling large town--again with friendly Indonesian people.

On Thanksgiving day we hired a cab to take us and our friends from Momo on a tour for the day. We visited a WWII cemetary, some hot springs, and a strange freshwater river with very large 6+ foot eels where women do the laundry. An old fellow got in the water and coaxed the eels to come out from their hidey holes with raw eggs. They would swim toward the egg then swallow it whole.

When we were ready for lunch we asked our driver to take us somewhere "nice". Its always interesting to see what that means. This time we were taken to the Hypermart -- which is a mall filled with strange copies (most of them) of American type mall stores -- A surf shop, a skateboard shop, coffee shops, a donut shop, camera stores, an American Tourister luggage store, and a food court. We ate at a restaurant on the food court -- fortunately it was Indonesian and quite good.

Our friends on Momo recently asked to be taken somewhere "nice" for chicken (because when you ask about food, they often ask "chicken or fish"). The driver took them to Kentucky Fried Chicken! They got there and said no, no, no, no, no!

In a couple of places along the way, when we've asked for "nice", we've been taken to Chinese restaurants! Including once in St. Eustatius in the Leeward Islands in the Caribbean--because the restaurant was brand new and the local favorite.