Adventures of Isabel

Conversation at a roadside food stall, while waiting for my tempeh to cook (imagine my half in very broken Indonesian):
Bapak:  Where are you from? Australia?
Me:  No, America.
Bapak:  Oh…Obama is from here, you know.
Me:  Yeah…
Bapak:  He lived in Menteng.
Me:  Menteng Dalam, right?
Bapak:  Yes. Practically our neighbor.
Me:  Do you know him?
Bapak:  Hahahah.  I know him.  But he [...]

NB: I wrote this in Hong Kong airport on Friday morning, only now noticed it didn’t make it onto the site.  So, for those who may be interested, here it is.
In the end, my layover in Hong Kong was so long that I decided to go into the city, explore a bit and rent a [...]

I’m settled into a room now, thanks to the kind and patient help of my friends here.   It’s humbling how quickly traveling to an unfamiliar place renders me completely dependent on the goodwill of others.

It’s a bit like being a small child.  My Indonesian is sufficient to convey basic information and hold simple conversations, but [...]

I’m heading out to catch my flight to Jakarta in just a few minutes. And unless SFO has decided to join us here in the 21st Century, I’ll be incommunicado until I reach Hong Kong, where they actually have free wifi.
Yes, I am that cheap.
But really?
I’ll have a nice looooong [...]

The slideshows of the Tax Collectors strike leaders are now available with Spanish subtitles at Egipte rera la Barricada.
Well done. (¡Muy bien hecho!)

So, one of my photographs was the lead image on MotherJones.com today. Cool, right? Except they didn’t pay me, ask me, or even notify me. I just followed the incoming link from my flickr account and saw it up there.

Legally, they were well within their rights. Mother Jones is a non-profit news [...]

I’ve been hard at work making slideshows from interviews and photo sessions Hossam and I did in Egypt, and I’m finally on the home stretch. You can follow my progress on my vimeo account

I think this video is my favorite from the project. In the West, I we’re too often taught to assume [...]