My wife Z and I are visiting her maternal family in Bandung for a week and then vacationing in Bali and Komodo for almost two weeks.

Sunday 08/23/2026 – Vancouver → Tokyo

  • take out waste, tidy last few things, say bye to Baxter and my sister M
  • get dropped off at YVR by Z’s mom
  • get rejected by check-in machines and wait almost an hour in line to get checked in
  • breeze through security with our Nexus cards – except that for the second time in a row the bodyscanning machines at YVR were convinced I was smuggling something dangerous between my legs so that a security worker had to frisk me in that area
  • find out at the gate that the seat requests we made on Chase Travel never reached Air Canada so we’d been each assigned middle seats on opposite sides of the plane
  • sit in the wrong seat by accident, something I’ve always wondered how people manage to do
  • fly to Tokyo
  • chat during takeoff and landing with the old man next to me who was returning home from a fifth annual trip to Vancouver to study English and get away from Japanese summer weather
  • watch four movies on the plane: Sentimental Value, The Secret Agent, My Father’s Shadow, and Midwinter Break
  • arrive at Narita aiport, get boarding passes for our next flight, eat ramen, buy snacks and drinks, and go to the gate for our next flight

Monday 08/24/2026 – Tokyo → Bandung

  • board flight to Jakarta, take melatonin, move to free row with Z, and sleep intermittently for the whole flight
  • arrive at Jakarta airport, pick up baggage, buy Visa on Arrival, go through fancy new Customs machines, and meet Z’s aunt and cousins at the West Lobby parking lot
  • chat with Z’s cousins and snooze on the ~three hour midnight drive to Bandung
  • arrive at Bunda’s (Z’s grandma’s) house, eat a snack, and go to sleep

Tuesday 08/25/2026 – Bandung

  • wake an hour after Z at ~9am, eat breakfast, shower, and get dressed
  • hang out at the house, wait for Z’s family to come over
  • hang out with Z’s cousin Re in the living room
  • meet Z’s baby niece, 8mo daughter of her cousin Di
  • spend time with Z’s family
  • drive to Paris Van Java mall (PVJ) with Z and her cousins Re & Di
  • eat dinner at Rempah Bistro PVJ and browse stores
  • get drinks from Djournal PVJ and visit a few more stores
  • return to Bunda’s house and sit in living room with Z’s family
  • write a first email to my friend Hik about movies I watched recently, mostly the ones on the plane

Wednesday 08/26/2026 – Bandung

  • wake at 6am and spend 2-3 hours doing admin, mostly reading and writing emails to fellow Strata council members, property manager, and lawyer
  • make coffee and eat breakfast with Bunda and use Google Translate to communicate
  • watch English soccer highlights in airconditioned bedroom
  • shower and dress
  • walk with Bunda’s maid to nearby tailor to request repair of drawstring on my shorts that tore the day before
  • walk back to the house and research what to do in Bandung
  • walk to Makmur Jaya Coffee Roasters and have two different iced coffee drinks while researching more about Bandung
  • meet with Z and take Grab to Pasar Baru
  • eat lunch at the hotel restaurant across the street
  • browse Pasar Baru stalls and Jl. Tamim shops for fabric but they were closed or closing
  • walk to Pasar Barang Antik & Lawas Cikapundung
  • buy Lucy Pearl and Spice Girls tapes, old stamps and French paint brochure
  • look at the neighborhood from the third floor balcony and listen to the evening prayer call
  • buy tea and water and take Grab back to Bunda’s house
  • read Dubliners before bed

Thursday 08/27/2026 – Bandung

  • eat breakfast and drink tea
  • watch Carabao Cup and EFL soccer highlights and look at FPL stats
  • shower and get dressed and take Grab with Z
  • eat lunch at Greens & Beans
  • drink Mont Belang (Mont Blanc) coffee drink at Eskalasi Space (really nice interior architecture)
  • spend an hour or two at D’Fashion looking at fabrics and then discussing with tailors price and time of making a yukata
  • buy batik dobby fabric and decide to find tailors elsewhere because D’Fashion wanted to charge 750,000
  • take Grab to Paskal 23 Shopping Center
  • eat dinner at Sushi Hiro
  • sit in a bougie tea shop and read Dubliners and reading responses on Reddit
  • walk around mall and listen to FEAR by Jarred Mattson and Ruban Nielson
  • research what water bottle to buy to replace my broken Nalgene
  • help Z decide what to buy
  • get boba iced tea drinks to go and take Grab back to Bunda’s house
  • read Dubliners before bed

Friday 08/28/2026 – Bandung

  • wake and reply to emails from our Strata’s property manager
  • research how to get the Development Permit for our building
  • eat breakfast and get picked up by Z’s aunt
  • get iced coffee drinks to go from Kopitera
  • spend a few hours walking through Tahura Dago (park) seeing monkeys, eating snacks and drinks, and walking through colonial caves
  • eat perkedel (fried dough balls filled with potato) with fresh sambal with Z and her aunt and drink bottled orange juice while they drink fresh coconut
  • drink cincau before leaving
  • eat lunch at Wheels
  • visit two stores searching for wood kitchenware then return to Bunda’s house
  • hang out with family and eat snacks
  • shower, watch soccer highlights, update FPL team, and go to bed

Saturday 08/29/2026 – Bandung

  • wake and catch up on Strata emails and eat breakfast
  • hang out in airconditioned room, write an email to Strata council, and order iced coffees from Makmur Jaya Coffee Roasters
  • drink coffees downstairs in kitchen with Z and Bunda
  • fill out application forms for requesting documents from the City of Vancouver and email them to our property manager
  • hang out with Z’s cousin who came from Jakarta with his parents, teen brother, and young son
  • ask Bunda’s maid to do my laundry
  • walk to three different local barbers but the first was permanently closed and the other two didn’t do shaves
  • get shave at Captain Barbershop Premiere
  • get Mont Blanc to go from Makmur Jaya and walk back to Bunda’s house
  • walk back to Bunda’s house to get a change of clothes then take Grab bike to Padela padel courts
  • wait for Z’s family and then play padel with them for an hour and a half
  • walk back to Bunda’s house with Z and her cousin Res
  • hang out with Z’s family before they left for dinner an hour drive away
  • watch Liverpool 2-2 Nottingham Forest
  • eat fast food and bubble tea ordered in from Grab
  • shower and watch rest of Everton 1-1 Bournemouth before bed

Sunday 08/30/2026 – Bandung

  • eat breakfast: curry soup with rice cakes and susu tofu then a bit of sheep head served in a spicy arabic broth with cherry tomatoes
  • get dressed and head out for Kawah Puti with Z and two of her cousins, Res and Re
  • get coffee drinks and pastries to go from Sarijadi Mandja Coffee
  • sit in backseat reading Dubliners while we drove south out to Bandung’s countryside
  • visit Kawah Puti
  • meet with Z’s family visiting from Jakarta and hang out at hotsprings resort for an hour or so
  • eat lunch at Bambooberry Resto & Cafe, a restaurant on the mountainside
  • say goodbye to Z’s family leaving for Jakarta before driving back to Bunda’s house
  • read more Dubliners along with discussions on Reddit
  • watch Chelsea vs Brighton