Misc

It's not that uncommon that locals ask if I speak Indonesian. Which seems kindof strange, like "can't you tell I'm a visitor, of course I don't." But the difference is that in Indonesia, the ratio of expats to tourists is actually quite high compared to other places. Here there are a few expats and a few tourists, whereas other places have a few expats and a ton of tourists.

A few other things I've seen... I saw children playing soccer in a field with goats in it (maybe the goats were referees). I saw a woman on a motorcycle with a dozen or so chickens hanging off the handlebars and other parts, not sure if they were alive or dead. I saw someone driving a motorcycle with one hand while carrying a several-foot metal step ladder with the other hand. Adults wear helmets when on motorbikes (required by law?) but children don't need to, though it's arguably more important for them.

T-shirts

I need a few custom T-shirts. Firstly, ever since I saw Homer wear it on the Simpsons, I find the idea of a "Witness Relocation Program" T-shirt hilarious.

More recently, as I helped a friend move furniture and was rewarded with lunch, I decided I should have a special "Will work for food" t-shirt for just such occasions.

Most recently, for use in developing countries, I've decided I need a T-shirt with giant letters saying "ATM" as that's how many visitors are viewed anyways.

Utensil positions

Was just eating, and noticed the position of my utensils after finishing. Reminded me of something someone said about how you show if you're satisfied or not by whether your utensils are together or at angles or something silly like that. I should have argued that the proper way to do it is to make an X with the utensils if it's bad, or a V it it's good (as that resembles a check mark). And then, at the classiest restaurants, when you've received honest to goodness excellent service, to really show your appreciation, you can bend your fork in half in order to make half-length, so you can form a more accurate checkmark. The staff will feel truly honoured if you do that.

Jogja

I took the train to Yogyakarta (pronounced Jogjakarta for some reason) on Wednesday morning. I like trains for some reason. Had a little concern when it was 45 minutes late showing up, but the rest of the ride was fine. Pretty comfortable actually, even more so as it was only about 25% full, and you could rotate the seats. The scenery along the route wasn't spectacular though, mostly just rice fields. About an 8 hr ride.

The Ibis hotel was walking distance of the train station, and I liked the place. Unfortunately I just booked 2 nights there, with the next 2 nights at Sheraton. Regretted that a bit, as Ibis was about 1000x better location. At least I planned things such that location wouldn't be as important for those nights. Ibis also has better timing with breakfast (starts about 4-4:30am!) and less expensive, and generally a nicer feel in my opinion. Sheraton is "fancier." Main reason I stayed there at all was because of SPG points.

The first night, I headed to Purawisata to watch a Ramayana ballet ($13). It was quite a good performance, and I was able to follow it for the most part. A group of visitors from Jakarta were friendly.

Thursday I walked towards the Kraton, which is the sultan's palace. It was a little confusing, as I guess there are a couple entrances, and a couple sub-features, like the water garden, where sultan could sit on his balcony watching his harem bathe - dude knew how to live! :) (admissions ~$1 each) On the way there I was intercepted by someone who was a school teacher from Medan, his class was with the other teachers in the museum so he was walking around. Tried to convince me that the Kraton was better from 2-5, and that I should go to "Batik Art Center" first as it closes early. I had read that Kraton closed at 1, a little strange. After we parted, I went to the Kraton not the art center (and the Kraton told me they close at 1:30). After looking around there, the provided guide strongly suggested I go to "Batik Art Center." Felt a little more suspicious. Does this place just pay people around town to tell tourists to go there? (someone else that evening also suggested to go there). I suppose that's just advertising, nothing particularly vindictive about it, but still I don't like it. Went around another part of the Kraton, again was a celebrity with local-tourists. A little kid was pretty cute. The palace wasn't particularly special though. A couple neat things were where it showed the family trees of the past sultans, literally represented as trees (fruits are boys, leaves are girls). Some sultans must have been pretty busy, you could tell they had a really large... tree. Current sultan has just 1 wife, 5 daughters, no sons. Somehow I ended up on a side street under a big tree with some locals playing a game where you flick disks on a board. It was nice and peaceful compared to the hectic main streets, and feels good to know there are such places. At the water garden there wasn't much to see, though a couple was getting married. Wandered in the community around it, met an old man who was some community leader, though he mainly just bred birds and grew plants. That was another nice experience. Overall people are quite friendly here. I feel a bit bad that my first reaction is usually to distrust people who want to talk to me, but actually most of the time it's a simple matter of wanting to meet a foreigner, and practice English.

Tried to do a little shopping, but, felt too hectic. Also, in one store, the scent of incense and perfumes combined with the local music was enough to drive me crazy in a short time. So I returned to the hotel, then went out to a shadow puppet show in the evening ($3), Yogyakarta is somewhat famous for shadow puppets. For quite a while, it, ummm, sucked. Yeah, not impressed whatsoever. I wondered why it was called shadow puppets, if they didn't seem to be doing anything with shadows. Eventually, the sole other person watching got up, and walked to the area 'behind' the stage. Finally something clicked, I followed, and realized that was the 'proper' place to be, as you could see the shadows of the performance that was happening in the first area. Still, overall I didn't enjoy it much, couldn't tell who any of the characters were, and seemed everything was just fight scenes, which were impressive and well done but quickly lose their novelty. I walked out early. Discovered some fair going on, there were games, and amusement park rides (which passed Indonesia's stringent safety regulations I'm sure) and people selling stuff. Would have been a really cool place to hang out with friends I'm sure. People selling bunnies because year of the rabbit is about to start. I read in the newspaper that every year of the rabbit, a few months later SPCA groups in asia receive tons of rabbits, while streets are also filled with tons of rabbits, as people start to realize it's not just a cute fluff ball but an actual creature that needs caring for and so they discard them.

Friday was Dieng Plateau day. I hired a car+driver to make it far easier to get there. A little expensive though. Too bad I hadn't found anyone to share the cost, as it's one of those things that would cost the same whether there is one person or five people. Mostly farming in that area, nice scenery, I'm amazed at the extent of terracing. Weather was cool, felt a bit like Kananaskis in summer. Visited a couple little temples, it felt good to walk around in the fresh air. Visited Sikidang crater, it stunk, I honestly have never smelled something like that. Makes rotten eggs seem like rose petals. The boiling mud and steamy vents were a bit scary. Went to 'coloured lake' which wasn't very coloured, along with 'mirror lake' which wasn't mirrory. Trail map was unclear so I wandered aimlessly for a long time but evenutally it connected back where I wanted to be. Saw a few other little sites around there, none too remarkable.

On the way back to town we stopped at the highlight, Borobudur. For those who haven't heard, it's kindof like Angkor Wat, but far less famous. Huge buddhist temple, hundreds of years older than Angkor Wat, was abandoned for a long time but today is again used in pilgrimages. Always impressive at these massive places, thinking of how much effort it would take to construct something like that today, then imagining how many times more effort it would have taken 1200 years ago. And despite being in an area of seismic and volcanic activity, it's survived pretty well. I admit whenever I see an old church or temple, I'm a bit saddened to think how many lives and lifetimes were lost to the creation of a religious monument. But still cool to be there, though some parts were closed to clean up Merapi ash. There were school groups there of course, and as usual people wanted to talk with me and take photos, though this time I found it getting tiring, as for their school assignment they had to interview foreigners, so several times I was asked basically the same set of questions, while being recorded. Still, would feel crappy to say no to them.

I forgot to mention, the rented car was solar powered! Though you will find that far less awesome when I tell you that "solar" is the Indonesian word for "deisel fuel."

Saturday went to Prambanan in the morning, the other amazing temple in this area. It's Hindu, built a little more recently, but also very impressive. There's a Buddhist temple built near it at the same time, kindof nice to see those two religions lived in peace, at least at that time/place. Prambanan got a bunch of damage from the 2006 earthquake so many chunks of it are closed off permanently. After that, went close to Gunung Merapi, got to look at the area where a village used to be until Nov 2010 when Merapi wiped it out. Already seems like people are trying to rebuild a bit. From there, went to a silver workshop, apparently this area is famous for silver jewelery and other stuff, it was pretty intricate. Then I checked out a nearby crop circle from a couple months ago. Most likely it was not created by aliens. My driver pointed out that the power lines right above it might have gotten in the way. After a little shopping downtown, I returned to the hotel. Next morning headed to the airport to return to Jakarta.

Hati Hati Busway

I used to think that was its name. But, hati hati actually just means warning.

Haven't done much since the last post. Went to walk around the old wharf area (sunda kelapa) and wanted to see a crazy fish market, but couldn't explain to the taxi driver, so just went to the general area and tried to walk. Unfortunately it was quite rainy, and some areas had such poor drainage that the roads were just flooded. I saw children actually swimming in the street. Luckily I was not stranded, but after a couple hours wandering and not really finding much interesting, I finally grabbed a taxi. Good thing, as I wouldn't have made it out on foot. In the centre of the old town there were a couple of museums, but not very impressive. Batavia cafe has old architecture and wood and such, but I didn't find it that interesting. I was adventurous and managed to take one of the few busses here to get back to the hotel.

Still been trying to plan for a few days out of town to see some things, but, I continue to be a poor planner, and end up procrastinating. But, it will be a waste if I don't do at least something while I have the opportunity. Current idea is to see Borobudur and Prambanan. Kindof like Indonesia's edition of Angkor Wat. Hard to figure out what else to do, and more importantly, how to do it.

Got to have dinner with the CEO one night. Got to have dinner with the former CEO the next night.

A little more

Went to the Museum Nasional. Unfortunately, no english tours that day, so I walked around by myself. It was pretty large with some decent exhibits. I find I'm not really a museum person though. There were many school groups there. I found I'm pretty popular with Indonesian schoolgirls. Usually a group would be giggling and whispering and glancing my way, until someone got brave enough to come over and ask me if they can take a photo with me. Of course I agreed, and then they were all excited and gathered around. Actually, it felt really nice. One girl in one group spoke english, she was acting as their guide that day at the museum, though I think she was still in school. Quite friendly.

I went over to Masjid Istiqlal (mosque) afterwards. Had a nice little tour of that, even though it was during prayer time (but not friday). It's the 4th biggest mosque in the world I think, has a capacity around 200 thousand people praying (though depends who you ask, might only be 120k). Just across the street is an older Catholic cathedral.

Checked out the national monument again. This time the elevator to the top of the tower was working, but there was a crazy line-up. I realized this after buying a ticket, so I just gave it to a rather startled looking local before she could buy a ticket. There's a series of dioramas and some other interesting things like a coat of arms and declaration of independence. Got a nice friendly muslim girl swarm again, they were so excited, hard to believe I'm that special.

One morning, exchanged glances with a girl at breakfast. Next day, smiled at each other. I figured next day, were supposed to talk, but instead, she wasn't there anymore. Guess she went home, that's a bit disappointing.

Permits and visas and schedules etc seem to be delayed more.

Not much else interesting to note.

Few days in Jakarta

So far, have done a few things...

First note, the pollution hasn't seemed so bad since that first day. Most days there's a rainstorm which cleans the air somewhat.

Went to Sea World ($8), which was within "Anchol" park. It was pretty good, if you're into that sort of thing (but not so into it that you have very high expectations). The highlight there was "fish dip" ($4) where they have a pool with Garra Rufa, little fish which like to eat dead skin apparently. So you sit with your feet in, and they're super tickley. I also tried putting my face in, though it's hard to relax when doing that. Could also go diving in the big aquariums there ($20-$40) but have to call ahead to reserve a spot. Across the street from Sea World, I visited Gelanggang Samudra ($10), which was better, as there were specific performances, including one with dolphins, sea lions, and beluga, and one with otters and a hippo. The otters were awesome, could hold a ball while standing on a rolling barrel, and also could slam dunk a basketball (well one slam dunked and swung on the rim, the other lamely stood and tried desperately to reach up but couldn't quite make it). There was also a Pirate skidoo stunt show and silly fun performance. Unfortunately for all of these shows, they were in Indonesian, so it wasn't quite as good for me as it could have been. There was a 4D movie, which was a 3D cartoon with moving chairs which was entertaining. A couple girls working at sea world were teasing each other about liking me. Another girl at Gelanggang seemed amused with my height.

Some other times I just wandered aimlessly. Didn't see anything too noteworthy though. In one area, a bunch of kids swarmed me, but my wallet was not at risk. They were just entertained by my foreignness and my height, often motioning their head height relative to me. After a photo, one had a notebook where he found and read "what country are you from?" and wrote down my response of Canada. Maybe some homework to meet a foreigner?

My manager arrived. One meal with him and a couple others startled me a bit when the bill came, it was at an indian restaurant and it ended up costing about $40/person. But that was just that occasion since he likes that place, other nights we've gone out to the back alley and only spent about $5/person. He's been here many times before and is pretty familiar with the language and culture, and was able to point out some of the food choices, like "that's chicken, it's good. That's jackfruit, it's good. That's brain, it's not good." I tried some (goat?) brain anyways though. Taste was mostly just the curry sauce it was in. Texture reminded me of papaya, soft and almost creamy. Not too special, I'm not sure why zombies rave about it so much.

Visited the zoo today ($0.50). It was very large, mostly was nice to just walk around a very large park without all the traffic etc. it was like a maze in there, and I think some of the signs were bogus, as signs not far apart would point to Orang Utan in opposite directions. I never found giraffe or hippo or a number of other animals supposedly there. I did find elephant though. She was separated from me by a ditch. It was awesome to see her kneel down in order to reach into the ditch to grab some grass that had fallen down there. I was a bit startled when at one point instead of putting some grass in her mouth, she threw it at me! Don't know if she had some training to do that, or just didn't like me watching her for so long.

From the zoo, I tried to meet an incoming coworker at the airport. Aborted the plan when after more than an hour I was still many miles away. Took another hour to get to the hotel. Luckily, I was expecting a long taxi ride (not that long though) and had a podcast to listen to. I've heard others say they've lain down for naps in the back of taxis before, when it takes a few hours to get across town. More coworkers arriving tomorrow.

Still haven't made any plans whether I will go and travel around a bit, or stay in Jakarta the whole time.

About Jakarta

Polluted. Well, I knew that already. Still, I find I can't walk around outside for very long before starting to feel a bit ill. Instead of the bright green of plants and trees in singapore, those here seem a bit dull and blackened.

The other thing that feels a bit uncomfortable is all the security checkpoints... When arriving at the hotel by taxi, you stop while they open the hood and trunk and do a quick check for bombs. Usually a K-9 unit is there to assist. Whenever you enter a hotel or mall you have to pass through a scanner. All that implies that there is an real risk of bad stuff happening. Still, I don't feel particularly worried.

Corrupt, I knew that too. Luckily I don't have to deal with that directly, just hear about it from the coworker who does. Lots of systems designed to take money from foreigners. Lots of people demand money for work upfront, then decide they don't want to do the work or return the money, etc.

Not sure what else to describe. Traffic's bad, cause there's virtually no public transportation. (a monorail was being built, but the government changed and all the money set aside for it magically disappeared so there are just a bunch of pillars with rebar going rusty). Food is rather cheap, and can get a fair variety. Found a super gigantic shopping mall, picture something easily twice the size of chinook, then imagine a 10-storey version of it.

Visited the Intermap Jakarta office, I was pretty impressed with it... I mean, I don't really know what I expected, maybe part of me actually did picture it being like an uneducated sweat shop, but overall I felt it was a respectable place, as were the employees.

Haven't really done or seen much else here.

Oh, and I got some Pandan cake.

YYC-YVR-NRT-SIN-CGK

Airport codes...

On saturday I learned that either me or my coworker should head towards indonesia on monday. We were both actually interested in going, but my coworker let me go ahead. Ended up being a bit stressful getting ready, and headed out not really knowing what was going on, and still trying to get over a cold. Maybe it wasn't the best idea. anyways...

Calgary-Vancouver not too interesting.

Vancouver-Tokyo I was lucky enough to be sitting next to a friendly Korean young woman. Firstly, I'll tell you she's married, to a guy in vancouver, though apparently this was her first time back there in a year and a half, and only stayed a week. Anyway, it's really nice to have someone to talk to on those kinds of flights. I can get lonely, especially when lacking sleep. Being an air canada flight, the entertainment system for my seat wasn't working, and the AC socket for our pair wasn't. But, since she was going to slepe much of the time, she switched seats with me. There wasn't a lot to watch, so I checked out the Expendables, which was a lot of fighting and explosions, then How to train your dragon, which was cute. Climbed out from the window seat without disturbing her, and hung out at the back of the plane a while, where a young woman was with her 9 month old son who was pretty cute and smiled a lot. Actually, there were a lot of young children on this flight but none were annoying. Maybe cause of being Japanese?

Tokyo airport was cool. I made sure to check out the toilets, oooh, heated seats :) and other automated functions. I learned a new word, "equipped with ostomate facilities." I also found that there were detailed instructions for everything in Japan.

Tokyo-Singapore I was sufficiently tired to actually sleep a little. Not much else to say about it. Was singapore airlines so I guess it was good.

Landing about 2am and reaching the hotel about 3am, I was completely exhausted, so besides giving my passport to the local guy to get an indonesian visa, I pretty much just slept the whole day. Was really happy to be able to meet up with an old friend from singapore for a short time in the evening, too bad it couldn't be longer. Went for a walk, reached "four floors of whores" and just kept walking. Easily fell asleep again for the whole night, and still didn't feel like doing much the next day. So I just walked around the botanic gardens and then packed and headed to Jakarta.

Singapore-Jakarta I took air asia, el cheapo but decent airline. In Jakarta, met a coworker and just headed to the hotel.

google suggestion

Start typing in "what is the difference" and the automatic-fill suggestion is "what is the difference between a pregnant woman and a lightbulb?" Interesting first choice. Others made more sense... "mass and weight," "college and university," "speed and velocity."

Happy New Year!

DVRs are great.
It's approaching midnight, and we turn on the TV, only to discover it's already into the final minute and we aren't ready with drinks and such! What to do?! Someone shouts "quick, pause it!" and someone else grabs the remote and freezes time, with 26 seconds remaining! We calmly pour the drinks and get ready, then permit time to resume passing at it's normal rate, as we count down and celebrate the coming of the new year!