This summer we decided to visit Asia for the first time. I was expecting to be surprised by the cultural differences, but Jakarta was a pretty intense way to start. The noise, smells, apparent chaos... caused quite an overwhelming impression the first few days. It was a wonderful experience to start with. I felt as impressed as a child seeing everything for the first time, a feeling I hadn't had for a while.
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We had a great view of a swimming pool from our bedroom window.
I loved watching the tiny people play and swim around every morning. |
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| Offerings. |
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| This was about as good as it got in terms of sidewalks in Indonesia. |
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| Nature took over wherever it could. |
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One of the things that I was least used to was being a minority. People would stare and point at us for being white. Asking to have our photo taken with them became very normal towards the end of the trip. Phil was specially popular amongst the girls. After some photos taken of us, I started taking photos
of them too. |
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| No smoking, no eating, no skirt lifting. |
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| Walkway over the busy traffic. |
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| Busy traffic. |
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| Tennis court next to busy road. |
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| Wall of staghorns in the city. |
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When I took a photo of the staghorns, this man asked me to take a photo of the wall in front of it.
I asked him to pose for me. He is unlimited. |
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These kids really wanted me to take several photos of them.
We were supposed to meet someone at a gallery called Komunitas. We were two hours late because of how public transport works. Obviously the person didn't wait for us. In the bus we were sent to the back in order to sit together. The front of the bus was reserved for women only.
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| Phil happy after a two hour ride to Komunitas Art Centre. |
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In this exhibition we learned some interesting facts:
- Indonesia is one of the biggest palm oil exporters, it's represents 11% of their exportation.
- Deforestation is a sad consequence of the palm oil industry, affecting animal extinction, farming economics, ecosystems...
- Birds can die from noise polution; baby birds aren't heard by their parents.
- The vivid yellow that bananas have when we buy them is due to artificial ripening.
- "Adam" became the first proboscis monkey with human speech ability. |
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| The Komunitas building was beautiful and reminded us of Bofill's architecture studio in Barcelona. Concrete and plants. |
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| Komunitas had a nice café that offered simple dishes and mosquito spray. |
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| Beautiful textiles at the Textile Museum. |
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| Stray cats everywhere. |
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| Batik workshop. |
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| Chilling in the textile museum gardens. |
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| Amazing pineapple!! |
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We visited Istiqlal mosque. Very impressive architecture and incredible open spaces. We were asked to put on these fancy robes. This man offered
help with the robes and asked for a voluntary donation. |
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| Istiqlal mosque is the biggest mosque in East Asia and can hold up to 200.000 people. |
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| Next door to it was a cathedral. This was intentional and means to symbolise Indonesian tolerance. |
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| Hand-propelled ride. |
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| Relaxing horns. |
After a couple of days we took the train to Yogyakarta. More photos on their way!
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