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back from indonesia

     dear aroiders,
    =20
     i have just returned from a wonderful trip to java, where i=20
     participated in a gamelan festival=2E  unfortunately, i don't have muc=
h=20
     to report botanically speaking, the highlights of this trip were more=20
     cultural, although i did some hiking and visited bogor=2E
    =20
     in yogyakarta where the festival took place, highlights included=20
     playing at the festival for an enthusiastic audience, then having the=20
     sultan of yogyakarta invite a group of us, foreigners (american,=20
     european and japanese), to play at the palace for a command=20
     performance, which we did decked out in full royal retainer costumes=2E=
 =20
     the sultan himself did not show up, so we played for tourists and the=20
     royal musicians (i think we were more of a freak show, foreigners=20
     trying to play their music=2E=2E=2E)=2E  afterwards, the royal musicia=
ns took=20
     over for a dance concert=2E =20
    =20
     while in central java, we also attended all-night puppetry shows,=20
     visited borobudur, many other temples, solo (central java's other=20
     royal city, where we attended many dance and music performances) and=20
     hiked in kaliurang, which is a mountain resort=2E  the only aroids i s=
aw=20
     were cultivated taro=2E  it is quite a site to see pine trees, banana,=
=20
     bamboo, tree ferns and taro all within the same hills=2E
    =20
     i also visited bogor, cibodas and jakarta, where unfortunately i got=20
     very sick from drinking milk (somehow i became lactose intolerant=20
     after a few weeks there)=2E  at bogor botanical gardens, i saw the=20
     infamous amorphophallus titanum (araceae) in bloom!  i have a picture=20
     of it, although the spathe is not totally unfurled, the spadix must=20
     have been close to 6 foot tall, and there were a few others leafing in=
=20
     the background=2E  no smell yet, when i was there=2E  speaking of=20
     infamous, i also tasted durian fruit while in yogyajarta=2E
    =20
     in addition to the titan arum and taro, i noticed some other aroids in=
=20
     people's gardens in yogyakarta, they  seem to grow a lot of=20
     silver-veined anthurium (crystallinum, clarinervium and others),=20
     aglaonema costatum, in addition to orchids and ferns=2E
    =20
     i didn't bring back any plants but have seeds of mangosteen, jambu=20
     (syzigium), caesalpinia pulcherrima, bauhinia, white calliandra and=20
     another yellow leguminosa=2E  if anyone is interested in them, please=20
     contact me privately=2E
    =20
     now that i'm back, i was wondering how the list has been=2E  i have al=
so=20
     lost a few plants while i was away, so if anyone has spare plants and=20
     would like to trade, please contact me privately=2E
    =20
    =20
     tsuh yang chen, new york city
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