Big fun in Yogya

Taking advantage of free wireless for this quick post. More to come!

We arrived back on Java late yesterday and are staying with Nana's parents in Ygogakarta. Nana and Eko, and Iin have joined us exploring this fine city. Bapak and I started the day with a 20 km bike ride including a good climb up and a fast return all while dodging quite a bit of traffic of course.

After a big breakfast we were off to see the sultan palace grounds and had some fine guides to help us understand all the history here. We also visited a batik workshop and selected a fine one for our home. We had an excellent lunch on the grounds with the sultan menu.

Down to the bird market where I was stunned with the diversity of animals available for purchase as well as the conditions they are kept under.  We are in the hotel Resturant where Nana and Eko are staying complete with a pieceful creek below. I'm taking advantage of the free wireless to send this quick note because we haven't had any internet access for days and it may be a while before we can get online. Meanwhile, more fun to come tomorrow.

The large batik we wanted but couldn't fit in our house.

A Perfect Day (except for the very end)

This goes back a few days to our time in Jakarta. I'll post it on top now but move it back in the blog to the correct chronological order in a few days. I'm very much behind on these blog posts so time may seem a bit warped for a while.

Junizir in the cactus garden.

We'll go back to Monday, two days after the wedding. Daniel had gone home the day before so Dale and I were the only remaining guests. The family wanted to take us to Bogor, a place we knew nothing about. We went in two cars--Nana, Eko, Dale, Nana's Mama and Papa, Iin, Reza, Kiki, and me. It was about an hour to Kebun Raya, 87 acres of amazing botanical gardens that opened in 1817 with more than 15,000 species of plants/trees. There is much more that we didn't have time to explore, including important plant research and a zoological museum. Dale and I were in heaven and could have stayed for days but it was hot and we knew that not everyone in the group shared our passion for all things biological. We stayed about 3 hours but we filed this gem away as a place to visit our next time Jakarta, maybe even at the end of the trip.  A few highlights: flying foxes high in a tree, a plant (Amorphophallus titanum ?) related (we think) to the giant Rafflesia (smaller, not in bloom, but still fun to find), the cactus garden, a palm forest.

Flying foxes at rest.

Bogor has a climate all its own and is cooler than Jakarta--very nice. We headed up the mountain amid some rain showers. On the way we stopped at a Sundanese restaurant for lunch where we sat in a beautiful wooden stall on the floor around a large table in a building open to the outside. The wonderfully delicious meal wasn't as spicy as Padang food, but was rich with flavor like all the Indonesian food we've had. (Dale and I have been cautious about eating spicy food just because it is so different from what we are used to but so far our stomachs have been happy.) The meal came in many dishes that covered the large table and included whole fish (Bapak always gets the head), vegetables, and brown as well as white rice. We ate happily with fingers. Very cozy meal with lots of laughter and joking.

A note on languages: Eko speaks Sundanese so he was right at home here. Indonesia is a land of countless cultures and just as many languages. While Bahasa Indonesia is the official language, it is the native language of only about 10 percent of the population. Nana's parents speak Padang and Bali has its own language. Most people here know multiple languages. 

Lunch in a Sundanese restaurant.

In the mountains overlooking tea plantations

After the lovely meal, we went on farther up the mountain to an area that grows tea. We couldn't go on the tea walk because of the rain but enjoyed the beautiful sight of tea plantations on the mountain. We drove to a great vantage point for photos and went to an open-air cafe for hot drinks. I got both tea served in a special ceramic pot and a ginger drink that is much stronger than a tea and quite delicious. While the rest of the family went into the mosque to pray, Dale and I watched an amazing sunset.

Sunset in the mountains above Bogor.

The day ended at Kiki's house, where we all spent the night. Kiki was so generous to give up his bed to us so Dale and I had the best night's sleep ever. It's not possible to portray the mellow happiness of the day in a blog but we have very warm memories of our trip to Bogor.

Amorphophallus titanum as we saw it.

Amorphophallus titanum in its glory. It opens for 4 hours
each evening for 4 days every 3 years (?) and emits a
putrid smell to attract its fly pollinators.

The only damper--at the very end of the day Iin came down with a fever and was sick enough that she was taken to the hospital to make sure it wasn't something serious. We missed much of the excitement, tucked away obliviously in Kiki's bed, but I believe there was a lot of worry and they went to pick up Didid who had stayed behind at Reza/Iin's house during the day. Iin was quite sick for a few days but always told us she was doing better. I trust she's completely recovered now.

A Busy Day in Ubud

We had some tasks to accomplish today. Among other things, we need to extend our visa as we misunderstood the process to do so when we arrived. Finding it slower and more complex than expected we need help getting the extension. We are working with an office here that will represent us with Indonesian immigration an assures us that this can be done in time before our 30 day visa expires. There are some holidays coming up so that will cut it a little closer but we got the necessary steps started and seem to have it under control. Good timing too as we are heading back to Java tomorrow to visit with Nana's parents, Nana and Eko, and Iin for a few days in Yogyakarta. We've been looking forward to this part of the trip for some time as it will let us get back together with family and see some great sights there. We'll be coming back to Bali afterwards.

We've had a very good time in Bali so far but have lots more that we want to do. Today was busy with getting flights and visa extensions and felt like we might miss the chance to see some of the culture and color that make Bali so great. We didn't have to worry for long as a huge cremation ceremony was soon parading down the street as part of the process to send an important priest off in style. Everyone encouraged us to follow as much of the event as possible. We had to settle for watching the people and floats march by and it was very worthwhile.

This evening we went back out to catch one of the dance and music performances scheduled. Wow! we saw and heard an amazing performance and had front row seats for the whole thing. There was so much color and energy in the story performed I felt exhausted from just watching it. We also managed to cover quite a bit of ground in Ubud today and enjoyed great food along the way. We also met a woman from Canada who has started a program to bring reading glasses to children and artist who need them to continue their studies and work. Her program seems to be taking off and we were quite impressed and inspired by meeting her.

It's been another long day and tomorrow we pack up and head to the airport. We are already looking forward to coming back to Bali and then hopefully some of the islands beyond as we are just about at the half way point on this amazing adventure.

A float carried during the cremation parade

Rider hanging on for dear life!

The Casket

One of the main performers in play

Dance Performers

A confrontation 

Smoked Duck Dinner

We had a great dinner at the Okawati last nite under the new moon at dusk outside. A bottle of homemade rice honey wine, Brem, topped it off in a recycled big Bintang bottle. Whole tomatoes were carved into a flower along with peppers and carrots & cucumbers also carved around a whole duck that melted in our mouths. Rice and, an excellent savory tomato rice soup, and delicious salad rounded out an excellent and inexpensive meal.

Only chocolate cake for dessert was missing from this fine way ro celebrate the year of the dragon. Enjoy!

Birds, butterflies & dragonflies in Bali

We planed to join a famous local bird walk today after breakfast and were surprised to find we've been running an hour behind local time and had to rush to get there. Our navigation is getting better and we made it with time to spare.

Our local guide, Su, was trained by Victor Mason and grew up locally here. We joined one other couple and spent a great morning walking a small public footpath that twists through community rice fields and an effort to preserve a way of life and nature.

The weather was better for insects and we made many close sightings with lots of photo opportunities. Su seems to know nearly every plant and animal we saw and is a great advocate for nature study. She aspires to publish books on dragonflies and more and hopefully will be able to do so as things are changing face.
We saw homes being constructed in the rice fields to take advantage of the great views but alter them at the same time. She makes the walks free for people from Bali but never gets anyone. All the youths we saw were on scooters instead of walking along the fields. She has a very good attitude about this changes but is concerned. There is so much to learn from this long practiced way of life if it can be maintained.
We did see some good signs of organic farming and Resturant activities that might establish sustainable activities before it is too late. The couple on the walk with us live in Malasia and provided much good information about the region and photography.

The amazing amount of nature we saw will bring us back to this walk again. The outing ended with a lunch at a warung overlooking a rich forest canopy and we continued to enjoy wildlife viewing as we exchanged stories and learned more of Su's work including an amazing book of Bali butterflies she and her brother helped with. It was quite obvious that much help is needed here and more so that where we live. I expect we will try to contribute to this and similar efforts here in the future and come back to enjoy this walk soon on this trip. We'll add some sample photographs later.

Sitting back on our porch now relaxing after a good outing we are energized about the natural world around us and the need to help conserve it for future generations.

I'm also reminded that nature work and study is a also a thirsty business and am presently enjoying my first Indonesian beer, a very cold and very refreshing Bintang, while I reflect on the day and the rest of the trip ahead. I also tip my glass to Su and others like her working hard to preserve local knowledge and conserve nature for us all. See Bali Bird Walk for more information.

A "hearty" breakfast!

We have been very lucky to be able to try so many great indonesian foods. Nana's dad in particular went to special effort many times to find things for us to try so that we would be better able make good food choices while we were traveling alone.

One morning he came back with these tiny and very tasty eggs. We wanted to know what bird them came from but no one knew. They tasted great in any case. Dale finished off the hearts and could tell Laurie was reluctant to try them.

We continue to try new foods and order our favorites regularly as we eat our way across Indonesia!

Safari hat sighting

My trusty travel hat has been to many places over the years including Brazil, lots of deserts, and now here in Indonesia where I found it very useful at the zoo recently. I expected to make good use of it on other parts of the trip too but it turned up lost the day we packed for the train trip to Sarabaya. A bummer for sure but I was at least happy to know someone else would likely put it to good use now.

While we were on the train I got a message that it had been found and held for "ransom".  I requested proof and of course offered a reward.  I'm happy to report it's confirmed to indeed be in good hands and may return to me before I leave. Meanwhile, I think Eko has a kind of cool, "Raiders of the Lost Ark" looking going and may not want to part with it after all...

Safari hat sighting!

The Road to Bali

Laurie waiting for one of our many travel connections to Bali

Started with an 8 am check out from our hotel which had helped us secure a train/bus ticket from Sarabaya to Denpasar. We had to make a few late decisions on whether to continue with our travel plans or regroup and fly later. We decided to go for it. We had been unable to get the executive class train we rode from Jakarta so we would travel on a business train with upright seats and fans rather than air conditioning. We were given estimates of 6-7 hours for the train trip to Banyuwangi where we were to pick up a bus and cross by ferry to Bali and continue for a few hours on to Denpasar. We had booked ourselves into the Hotel Okawati in nearby Ubud which is about 30 minutes away. The hotel had agreed to pick us up but needed bus details that we wouldn't have until we boarded so we continued text messaging back and forth with our cute little multi-purpose cellphone (tv, fm radio, camera, flashlight, and much more!). A busy but doable plan. It ended up being a little more complicated than this though.

We had a great train trip with many views of rice fields. small towns and villages, forested hills and intensively farmed lands. The train ride was warm at times mostly while we were in the stations but we would certainly take this ride again. It took us longer than expected to reach Banyuwangi as we got in about 5. There was some confusion but we were eventually directed to a small minivan after giving up our ticket. We crammed in with luggage and all for a very tight fit. It turned out this was just a short ride to the ferry where we waited for further instructions and struck up several friendly and helpful conversations. I was a little unsure of the process and a bit concerned about our lack of a ticket now. We got good help though and soon had lugged ourselves and bags up a steep flight of steps to the upper deck of the ferry with everyone else. Loud music, lots of smoking and trinkets for sale made for a memorable crossing as the sun set on the Java sea around us. We realized later we should have eaten some food then.

The journey continued after we climbed back down the ferry and dodged a line of scooters leaving it too. We watched the only buses in sight drive off just as we got to the terminal but shortly were packed into the back of a 25 person air-con bus located in the dark. We were soon careening down the road to Denpasar and will never forget that ride. The bus driver would often pass several cars, trucks, and scooters at the same time all while negotiating a winding and narrow road at high speed. This continued whenever we were caught behind traffic. Meanwhile we learned that the price for our hotel pickup would be much greater due to our late arrival as it turned out the bus ride would be for 4 hours and we would not arrive until around 11 pm. Hmm, a long day was playing out and we had very little to eat all day. Actually, I had nothing to eat since the night before but that's another story...

The bus ride included a dinner stop which we passed on and people kindly climbed over our luggage stuck in the isle. We did catch a few winks of rest during the ride which was at least in part to avoid the stress of watching all those oncoming headlights seemingly disappear under the bus. This guy could certainly drive but I made a vow then that I would never drive this road! The scene outside was facinating too as there seemed to be small groups of people wherever there were lights and structures. In between there were large dark areas of forest. I was very curious to know more about the routines of people that were out on this rainy night. 

Finally the bus made a few turns off the main road and we were soon in a bus terminal & small shop complex. We quickly became connected with a taxi driver and were loading for the drive to Ubud when another driver came over with his rate sheet showing our ride would cost $150.000 meaning $15 US. Our driver countered that would be his price as well and off we went along mostly dark roads with light traffic. I could tell the driver knew the way and his blue cab was clean and well maintained. I did notice it sounded better when it wasn't stopped and idling. When we reached Ubud and Monkey Forest road we knew we were close but the driver was unsure of the side street to turn out. We dug the address out of Lonely Planet and went down a tiny brick alley until the car could go no farther. A sign pointed towards the hotel so off we went down an even smaller twisting walkway. We were greeted by a nice young man after ringing a bell in a dark lobby. He took our bags and acknowledged we must be tired after a long travel day. We couldn't argue with that or his offer to do the paperwork in the morning. He opened the door to a lovely room and pointed to a pot of tea waiting for us on the patio. After that and hot showers our heads hit the pillows and the day was over. Our travel day totaled about 15 hours including a taxi, train, minivan, ferry, bus, and another taxi before we arrived. 

We are in Bali and managed the whole journey ourselves with some help from the kindness of strangers and probably a bit of luck thrown in. 

Wayang Potehi!

We watched a live and nearly live performance to celebrate the year of the dragon at our hotel in Surabaya. We enjoyed it very much in spite of the lack of understanding as it was all told in Indonesian. The puppet work was incredible and the music was very good too. Many other dolls were also on display in at least four display cases on loan at the hotel in preparation for the new year celebration coming Monday. 

Puppets & band

Behind the theater

Doll Display

Puppet

More Dolls

Another Display

Rain! in Surabaya

It's very good to see that it's finally raining back at home with more expected all week after several very dry winter months.

Here, we can count on some rain nearly every day during the rainy season including some major downpours. It was pretty obvious that this is a challenge to handle all the runoff specially in places like Jarkata that have grown so fast. Usually we just move to cover for a bit or listen to thunder late at night. One night while we were in Jakarta the power went out for several hours and we sat on the floor with Nana's family and shared stories and laughs by cellphone "light" for a great time. I think it surprises everyone here that we don't mind their rain or "cold" temperatures. How could we when it's all so much warmer than our normal.

We are enjoying the fact that the rains are returning at home and a part of the daily routine here now.  The rains came in today at mid day shortly after we returned from running errands. After a quick change in plans we returned to the historic Hotel Majapahit lobby where we are staying in time for a very fine high tea.

We are staying in the historic part of the hotel and it is well designed to handle the rains. Staff also do a good job of taking care of any wet areas that develop.

Laurie enjoys high tea while it rains

Wet hotel grounds

Sent from Dale's iPhone4!

Meet our Indonesian Family

I've neglected to properly introduce our new Indonesian family so let me do so now.

We met Nana when she was an exchange student in Stockton in about 2000. We were her liaison family and got to know her well. Nana was easy to love--she was bright and fun and full of life. We have stayed in touch and Nana came back to visit a couple of years ago. We knew the rest of the family by name and from a couple of phone calls but that was all. Now, after a week, they're old friends.

Nana and Eko

We just met Eko on the wedding day but were fortunate to be able to spend a couple of days after that with him. I think he is a great match for Nana. Eko is very smart, warm, and friendly. He has a beautiful smile and laughs often. We have enjoyed our time with him.

Tiin, nicknamed Iin, is Nana's sister, about one year older than Nana. Iin is lovely and friendly. She's obviously the older sister as she takes care of the others and they rely on her. She is an immaculate housekeeper and the best ironer I've ever known (I'm hoping for lessons). I have had some special times with Iin sitting over tea or talking together.

Iin and Reza at the National Museum.

Reza is Iin's husband of less than one year. He seems very serious at first, but then he smiles and it warms the room. Reza is the one everyone relies on. You hear "we'll ask Reza" or "Reza will know" whenever any question comes up. He carries a map of Jakarta in his head (if you know Jakarta you'll know that is truly a sign of genius) and is often called to direct Nana or Iin through the streets by telephone. Reza is the official photographer for this trip--he knows my camera much better than I do.

Kiki is one of the twins, a little younger than Nana. He is very funny, likes to be silly, and is a hard rock musician. Kiki has a good job in the oil fields and was able to buy a nice house, which we stayed in one night. We were lucky that he was off for about a week so we got to spend some time with him.

Reza and Kiki

Koko, the other twin, is married to Ayu but we didn't have much time with either of them. Koko was sick during the wedding and he's had to work so couldn't come with us on family trips. We may have a chance to visit with him on our return to Jakarta.

Didid is the youngest. He turned 17 last week, which is majority age in Indonesia. He's the only one still living at home. Didid's English is very good but he's a teenager so didn't say much during the time we were there.

Papa Nana, Junizir, in Stevie Wonder disguise.

Junizir is Nana's dad. We were led to believe he didn't speak English so were surprised to find that he has a broad English vocabulary and can talk on any subject. He has been a great friend to us--introduced us to many new dishes, gave advice, explained things, and made sure we were never hungry. Junizir is a strong personality and fills the house with good humor.

Mama Nana and Eko on the wedding day.

Mama Nana is very lovely and lively. A petite and beautiful woman, she dresses exquisitely with wonderful taste. That must be where Nana and Iin get their perfect dress sense. Mama Nana doesn't speak much English so we do a lot of pantomimes with the odd bits of Bahasa Indonesia and Bahasa English thrown in.

Nana has a loving, happy family. They truly love being together and there is a lot of laughter and joy around them. The new in-laws, like Reza and Eko, seem to be absorbed easily into the family. Nana intimates that they are an unusual family, but I don't have any other Indonesian families to compare them to so they are my norm. We are very lucky to have such a wonderful family here. I'm hoping to have the opportunity to show them around California one day soon.

A day at the zoo

Now that the wedding is over we have continued to have great times in and around Jakarta with Nana's family. Her parents needed to get back home to Yogjakarta and have invited us to come and visit before we head home. We intend to take them up on that offer. Everyone stayed over at Kiki's fancy new home after our big day in Bogor. We got Kiki's room (the generous hospitality makes us uncomfortable but we are accepting it gratefully).

The next morning we were dropped off at the zoo so that we wouldn't be caught up in all the hustle to get parents to the airport for their short flight home. This was yet another example of our hosts looking out for our interests and working hard to show us the best time possible. We would have been fine with participating in all the packing and preparation but jumped at the chance to see the large zoo which is well known.

We were dropped off at the gate complete with our big safari hats and backpacks and some concern by Nana as to how we would do on our own and with a long day ahead. The zoo is large and sprawling. The attendance was very light during our visit in the middle of the week with mostly small families and students, including some romantic couples. We certainly stood out, but only drew a few glances and smiles.

The map provided gives approximate and generally accurate information as we found in our wandering adventures to locate various wildlife exhibits. We started the day there with a little rain but generally had a very warm and dry but humid experience. We saw many animals as we had hoped and I was glad to catch Nana before they left to retrieve my binoculars for closer viewing. We were lost on the grounds many times but always able to relocate ourselves and our quest. We really wanted to see the komodo dragons and after three tries or so managed to do so. At one point a vender offered Laurie a chance to have a photo taken with a very large boa that was not part of the caged exhibition. We turned down that unusual opportunity.

We had a late lunch of nasi goring and mie goring and lots of air botol (water) at a zoo canteen and continued our exploration. Being out under the cloudy skies gave us a better sense of the climate and how to adapt as we drank more water and moved slowly with frequent stops. Laurie had more energy and searched for the perfect butterfly photo often while I rested. Many of the animal exhibits seemed small but there were also larger areas for animal movement. Much of the maintenance seemed to be done manually. There were many highlights but one for sure was a reptile exhibit with dozens of snakes in a pit with trees, water and bare ground. They looked like brown tree snakes and many of them rested in bunches in the trees just out of reach. There were also large iguanas and a few small rabbits and rodents. The information provided with the animal exhibits was in Indonesian and seemed to be limited to a few basics about size and length of time for young to be born. I was hoping for more information on conservation needs and habit loss but didn't detect much. This would be a great opportunity to help indonesians understand the fragile but rich biological diversity their country supports.

We covered much of the zoo with a circling method to find things and estimate we traveled at least three miles and did not come close to seeing everything. This was a reconnaissance visit and we will enjoy more next time! After a very full day we heard from Nana that they would arrive soon after getting through another Jakarta traffic jam (surprise!). It was funny to hear that her parents had been dropped off at the airport and already arrived home before Nana and Eko could get across town to pick us up.

We were next off to Reza's to pack for a big solo train journey. We enjoyed some late take out that included Laurie and Nana going out at night for food and Laurie has now crossed a street in Jakarta and lived to tell about it. Impressive.

The evening was fun and included me learning how to wear a sarong which I am now traveling with. It was a little melancholy knowing we would soon be leaving our new family and friends behind but we were ready to move on for new adventures. Our zoo experience was another great day with only a mild mishap in the "loss" of my well traveled safari hat. More on that later.

Bali Starling

Toad Grotto

Dua Caiman

Cassowary Sitting

Zoo Safari

Small Hippo Sighting

Peacock Show

Binturong Resting

Komodos!

Java Deer

A botanical safari in Bogor!

Laurie, Dale, and Junizir pose with an amazing tree.

Yesterday we caravaned with most of Nana's family up to the Bogor Botanical Gardens outside of Jakarta. The trip was planned to give us a sense of the natural world around us after the first few days were centered in sprawling Jakarta.

The trip started with the ever present heavy traffic of the city but gave way to mostly open toll roads before long. We warned everyone that we can be quite boring when it comes to nature study and this is especially true with the wide range of interests in the group. Everyone was very supportive of us seeing all there is to see in this large and very interesting grounds which apparently includes a summer home for the vice president.

Luckily we arrived on a Monday with very light visitation which allows for car travel on the grounds. We quickly mounted up in safari mode and were soon doing something I hadn't imagined before. We slowly drove across the grounds using our tiny visitor map and made frequent stops to check out everything from flying foxes to pungent members of the corpse flower family. We have much more to learn about the area and have a nice publication to start with. More here too: www.bogorbotanicgardens.org/

The park is very well maintained by mostly hand labor and it appears there is some research underway and it may be possible to stay in guest quarters which we will try to do later when we are back in the area. Nana's father, Junizir or "Bapak" as he is more commonly called, had never been there before but quickly warmed to the role of model for the many photos we took.

This was a wonderful family experience and only one of several we managed to pack into this single very special day of the trip. More on the others soon.

What time is it?

Selamat Pagi and shortly it will be Selamat Siang here! Selamat Malam for folks "back home."

Due to time zones and distance, we are now some 15 hours ahead of Sacramento. As we have started to adjust to local time and work on our blog amidst all the activity here, we have been jumping in and out of time zones whenever we communicate back home or work on the computer, not to mention our own biological clocks. I've attempted to adjust these posts to line up better with "real time." It may not look that way yet but we'll keep working on it and hope to have things straight by the time we return which is only about a month away!

We miss everyone but have many more adventures to come here too. Next, off to the regional botanical gardens and some time on the coast! After that, trip planning for the next leg of this adventure begins in detail.

Woah!

Live to eat

Food is a major focus of this trip for many reasons. First, and most of all, Indonesian food is absolutely delicious. It is also fascinating, provides cultural insights, is part of social bonding, and is fun. Plus I love to eat.

Today I had my favorite, nasi goring (fried rice), for breakfast. Then we visited the old Dutch town of Batavia. During Dutch colonial rule it was the center of government. There was a museum with artifacts from that time and we went to the Cafe Batavia in all its faded elegance. Dale, Daniel and I ordered our food (nasi goreng for me). When our food came we found that none of the family had ordered--they took us to the cafe because we would like it but they prefer Padang food so were planning to go to another restaurant afterwards. Okay.

Padang food is extremely spicy. It is eaten in Sumatra, where Nana's family is from. We went to the restaurant and the food just kept coming. Three large bowls of rice and then maybe 30 separate dishes, some stacked artistically on others. Fish, calamari, beef (I think), cassava leaves, and lots of unidentified goodies. The convention is to take some rice and whatever you want from the bowls, then mix and eat it with the fingers. It's a fun way to eat but messy for beginners. I was full from the earlier meal so only had a little rice and cassava. But if I had been hungry I hope I would have been a little adventurous. Dale did a better job than I and tried several interesting items, although he stayed away from the very spicy.

We've had amazingly good food here. Here are a few items (don't remember the correct names): warm avocado drink, pastries, fried banana, green bread with peanut butter (the bread is made with a plant that is very healthy), porridge (cream of wheat with shredded chicken), and fish in banana leaves.

Old town Bativia

We made our way through the ever present Jakarta traffic today to visit this area of the city which dates back to Dutch colonial rule. Like many places, this one reminds us of the harsh conditions and control that one group often places on another.

In front of the museum at Batavia.

Bikes for rent.

We were there on a sunny but mild day that also included some heavy rain at times. The plaza and museum were packed with families and youths out enjoying the day.good to see how much this historical scene is fading rapidly now. Daniel on the other hand was treated as a celebrity or soccer/rock star with a number of requests for group photo shoots which he good naturedly handled with a smile.

We had some great food today as always and squeezed in two lunches of very different style and brought home not your normal take-out of nasi goreng or fried banannas which is both tasty and filling.

We had quite a two-car carivan adventure today getting about through Jakarta to old town and Nana and Eko's new home in Casa Mexicana. Their small place has little furniture yet but easily absorbed the whole groupe of family & friends for a great visit and discussion on food and such.

We missed the twice a month car-free event in our travels today and it would be a great contrast to the overwhelming traffic scene. Hopefully this event will continue and expand. I've seen some brave souls out on bicycles in the traffic including one fellow with a sewing machine built into a workbench on his bike. We were in the very large textile area of the city so maybe he's in to something? The photo below shows a great collection of older bikes set up for Family enjoyment was either a reminant or hope for the future perhaps?