A villager poses for a moment as I pass through his kampung (traditional Indonesian village). Their homes are built on stilts along a river leading to the ocean. The traditional fishing village and tradepost has been around for hundreds of years, with little change evident. Octopus drying in the sun. Interesting smells wafting about this area – pretty much indescribable with words. Sunda Kelapa, Jakarta, IndonesiaRead more
Posts tagged: #Jakarta
Win a Trip to Jakarta!
Ok, ok, that’s not a fair title for a post. But, MY BROTHER DID! He studied gamelan – native Indonesian musical instruments – and has put on a few performances. Ironically, the group sponsoring the event was holding the drawing for two round trip tickets to Jakarta via Singapore Airlines. (valid for a year) – and without any corrupsi, was able to pull the winning tickets! I have no idea when he’ll come, but it’ll be great to have himRead more
Moonlight At Noon
I just returned from three days in the volcanic region above Bandung – a city about 80 miles east of Jakarta. The fresh, cool air is amazingly clean after breathing Jakarta’s gunk. Spent some time at the volcano named Tangkuban Perahu – still very much active, but equally beautiful. This is taken from the rim of the crater looking away from the volcano into the land below. Breathtaking doesn’t remotely begin to describe the visuals found here. Highly recommended toRead more
Sunda Kelapa
A very old Dutch port from which the same style of boats have been built and used for hundreds of years. Surprisingly this is only 20 minutes from my home, and yet this was the first time in 4 years that I’ve been here… I plan to go back with my ‘real’ camera next time. (this was taken with a 4mp compact cam).Read more
2 Live Crew for 5 Year Olds?
So the other day, my Chinese buddy invited me to his kid’s birthday party. Actually it was for his 5 year old and 10 year old (girl & boy respectively). Despite the fact that he’s obscenely wealthy, I had visions of a dozen kids screaming around a flaming birthday cake while the adults got buzzed up in the corner on the spiked punch. Um. Yeah. Wrong. Driving past the gated security in one of the most prestigious (and quiet) neighborhoodsRead more
A Story all too Familiar to Jakarta
I blatantly ripped this off of a post by fellow expat, Indcoup, but found it disturbingly true. She is thirty-two years old. Her real name is Darmasiah. She has five children and is a widow – or to be more accurate she used to be a widow. A year ago she married a builder’s laborer called Asmawi. They lived in a shack and their only possessions were a bedsheet and a rack for storing crockery. Four of the five childrenRead more