Rain in Jakarta on the 7th of January

Yesterday it was raining heavily in Jakarta. And it was just a single cloud. Over Pulau Seribu we could see that there was light.

Rain, thunder and lightening is amazing in Jakarta. Also here extreme weather is much more extreme than in Denmark!

The pictures are taking from the embassy.

Since North Sumatra

The start into the new year on Friday the 1st of January started with sleeping very long. I was even without a New Year celebration gotten to bed quite late - after I had unpacked my bags at night and been on the Internet.

Towards lunchtime I went to Plaza Indonesia, where I had sushi as my new years dish. Afterwards I wanted to go to Starbucks. The internet at Starbucks seemed not optimal, so I could not post all the pictures on Facebook – which was my intention with going there.

So I went down and shopped food e.g. and wandered around a bit.

But soon after I went back to Casaluna, where I uploaded some pictures the rest of the day and relax.

Saturday the 2nd of January was Maj-Britt's birthday.

However, I started the day by being picked up by Henry. I had packed two big bags the night before with things that I would like to send home from the post office on Saturday. Henry and I went to the post office and he helped me to send things. It turned out however that I had more experience in sending stuff than he.

But we experienced corruption. The costumer asked Henry to give him money. He had tried with me once but figured that it didn’t work. But now where I brought an Indonesian, it did work.

Sometimes I think that the reason why this country is so corrupt is simply because people do not say no. Actually most people don’t want to give governmentally employed people any money. But when they ask for the money they do not say no. They just give it to them.

After the post office we drove around, talking until we found a street where there was supposed to be a Rawon restaurant – but this restaurant had closed down. So instead we had Chinese food.

We went on to a street where Henry had heard that you could buy the typical Indonesian cookie boxes, Kaleng Krupuk, that you see at every small food stall. I bought nine small ones, three big ones and one in between – a mixture of all colours!

Henry drove me back home. And at 17.00 I met up with Maj-Britt to go to Plaza Indonesia and celebrate her birthday.

We went to a massage/fish spa place in Grand Indonesia, where we got a hand/feet/shoulders massage. Afterwards we had sushi at Sushi Tei – it took one hour before we could get a table, it took maybe half an hour to eat, and it definitely took more than one hour to get the bill...

Our desert was yoghurt ice at a great ice cream shop, where you can mix your own yoghurt ice and put on it your own choice of toppings. Afterwards they weigh the ice cream and you pay per 10 g.

We went to the movies and watched “Sherlock Holmes” (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0988045/). It was actually a really good movie – and not at all as expected.

Hereafter home to bed again.

Sunday I went to Starbucks. And I was sitting there for quite some hours – uploading pictures on Facebook e.g., eating at Ranch Market and the like. Around 16.30 Johanna came and we went to ITC – shopping, trying on my Batik dress and back to Starbucks to have a last drink. And that was all I did that day. The evening was again just watching movies back at home and uploading more pictures on Facebook.

Monday was my first day at work after my holiday. After work I went to ITC again. I had to pick up my Batik dress this time and it fitted well! After work home, uploading pictures again again and relaxing.

Tuesday Maj-Britt came with me to ITC after work. This time I had to pick up some necklaces. I also had a frozen yoghurt at a newly opened shop in Mall Ambassador. Besides the good frozen yoghurt in Grand Indonesia, this is the best and cheapest one I have had so far.

Yesterday (which was also the amazing day with Matador Mix at the embassy) we went to Grand Indonesia / Plaza Indonesia after being at the embassy. We were supposed to meet with Johanna and Tanja here around 18.00. But since we had enough time before, we walked a bit around. Maj-Britt got herself a coffee at Starbucks and I decided to try a coffee at Kopi Luwak.




When do you pay 82.500Rp. for a cup of coffee? And where do you have five girls standing around your cup, sharing the work with making a perfect cup of coffee? Where does your small package of coffee come in a nice little bag with a small brochure about the coffee? And where do they ask you to smell the aroma, before they make the coffee?

The answer is Kopi Luwak:

("THE MOST EXPENSIVE COFFEE IN THE WORLD"

"The Luwak (Paradoxurus hermaphroditus) denizen of the coffee (kopi) plantations of Java, Sumatra and Sulawesi, eats only the ripest coffee cherries.

Unable to digest the coffee beans, the Luwak graciously deposits them on the jungle floor where they are eagerly collected by the locals.

The stomach acids and enzymatic action involved in this unique fermentation process produces the beans for the world's rarest coffee beverage."

http://www.kopiluwak.org/)

It was definitely an experience. And the coffee was ok... A bit warm, tasting like coffee and like a lot of places in Indonesia, they didn’t filter the coffee away – it was in the bottom of the cup. But now at least I have tried it!

We walked further around and looked at shops until Tanja called us that she had already arrived, so we went back to our classic meeting point, Starbucks.

Also Johanna arrived soon after. Together we went to Johanna’s favourite Thai restaurant, eat and went to the cinema to watch “Whip It” (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1172233/). Also a really good movie and I’m looking forward to see my skates again, when I get back home.

Today I’m back at the embassy. And there are no other plans than this.

But tomorrow I will be going to K.L.! And I’m quite excited about that!

Medan

Back in Medan I took a becak with a very nice driver (like many others during these days he didn’t speak a work English, but we managed anyway) to a shopping mall. Here I was walking around, having some cold to drink and an ice cream and looking for wet tissues, a t-shirt and some other stuff that would make me feel more clean again. I did definitely not feel clean after the bus trip!

At around 17.00 Yeti came to pick me up at the shopping mall and we drove to Medan’s palace to look around here.

Apparently Medan only has two attractions: The palace and an old house.

After the palace we went to the oldest house in Medan – a Chinese house. And a big one - fourty rooms they said. (We had a guide around the house.)

Here it was really clearly that Indonesia had been under Dutch colonialism. A lot of the pictures and books e.g. in the the different rooms had either Dutch people on them, were written in Dutch or had a small note in Dutch. But otherwise - very Chinese...

Before Yeti took me to the airport we drove to a street that she wanted to show me. A street full of small shops selling Bika Ambon (http://menumakanan.com/content/view/22/1/). And since Bika Ambon is a typical present to bring from Indonesia, I had to bring it to Jakarta.

And compared to other cakes in Indonesia, this was actually a really good one.

Officially my flight was leaving at 20.05 on new years eve. It didn’t. It was three hours delayed. It was supposed to have taken around two hours, which had meant that I would have been able to be back in Jakarta for new year. I wasn’t.

So after Yeti had brought me to the airport and I had checked in, I went to the lounge, spent time on the internet and checked my mail.

The lounge closed at 21.00. From here I went to the gate and stayed here the next two hours.

Back in Jakarta I got home, took a shower, unpacked my things and went to bed.

Bukit Lawang

In the morning of the 30th I got up at 6.00, packed my stuff, checked out and took angkot number 64 to Pinang Baris, from where I got a small taxi to Bukit Lawang. The taxi seemed weird and I seemed to be the only passenger, which worried me a bit. But when we finally came closer to Bukit Lawang, there were more people joining on the taxi! And I no longer felt as if I would be kidnapped!

The closer we got to Bukit Lawang there were more palm tree plantations and rubber plantations around. We drove through a few small cities, but otherwise there were mostly trees: Palms and Rubber.

When I arrived in Bukit Lawang I couldn't get around the guides standing at the bus station to be the first ones to "welcome" the tourists... I took a becak into the city, but Mudhi from the Indonesian Guide Association (the guide nearly pulling me out of the bus at the station) followed me all the way. And soon I realised that I wouldn't get rid of him. So I made sure that I at least got all the good information out of him.

He took me to a cheaper hotel than the one that I had gotten recommendations on before I left Medan. But in fact the one he took me to was really cheaper and it was located in a much nicer place: Eco Lodge Bukit Lawang Cottage.

When he later gave me his business card it showed that this was also where he had his address as a tour guide...

He tried to pull as much money out of me as possible. There was always something more that he could show me. And since I was only one person, I should usually pay the price of three people, but he would do the tour with me for a price of two people. I told him that I would do the tour with him, but only I he made the tour with me for a price of one person and I got what I wanted in the end.

They have price lists and all the tour guides from the Indonesian Guide Association have to stick to these prices. But than they have a lot of additinal criterias, which makes it easy for them to pull money out of peoples pockets.

We left from Eco Lodge right away for a three hours trek in the jungle.

I was a bit sceptical, cause we saw an orang utan after only five minutes in the jungle... Weird...

Mudhi had brought some carrots and he called the orang utan and it came down to us.

I had heard and read that you should never feed the orang utans, but Mudhi said that is was normal to do with this one.

And it was an amazing experience. But later that day I found out that all the guides do this. And they do it with different orang utans. Another Danish couple had also had Mudhi as a guide for a three days trek and here he had fed an orang utan mother with her baby.




The trek was hard. The jungle is in a very hilly area and it goes up and down all the time.

We saw another orang utan with her baby, but here Mudhi told me to stay on a distance and be careful.

Otherwise the trek was characterized by sweating, sweating and sweating! I saw three kinds of monkeys: orang utans, white gibbons and leave monkeys. Later that day I also saw some Thomas Leaf Monkeys. So all in all four species of monkeys that day!

On our way back to the hotel we went through a rubber plantation again. On the picture above you see some dried rubber, ready to be sold.

Back at the hotel I had a short shower and then I went out to discover the city, which took me the rest of the day.

I found a nice little restaurant/souvenirs shop, where I bought some post cards and had my second pisang goreng on this trip.

I talked to another Danish tourist.

I crossed some challenging bridges.

I had a really nice day!

Bukit Lawang is not fancy at all. No big shops. Nothing. You can't really feel that it is a tourist city. And mostly the tourists also just step by Bukit Lawang on their way into the jungle or to see the feeding centre.

But still there is a nice atmosphere in the city and it is very relaxing.

On the way back to the hotel I had a nice juice and a fruit cocktail (including avocado) at a restaurant down to the water. And back at Eco Lodge I had my real dinner together with and Australian couple and the husbands father.

They were all biologists and used to travelling in Indonesia.

And the most frightening thing was that they had their room next to mine. And they had found a huge bird spider in their room the same day. Apparently they got attracted by light, which made them come into the hotel rooms. And there were plenty of small wholes and cracks to come in through.

They also told about dangerous snakes and malaria mosquitos e.g.!

SO, when Catharina went to bed that night. She took her sleeping back from her backpack, pulled it all the way over her head, had no light on doing this and took the mosquito net around her.

I got very hot and I nearly didn't sleep. But no spider, no snake, no mosquito came to me that night!

Next morning I had an early breakfast (I got up quite early, since I hadn't been sleeping anyway...) and then went to the feeding spot.

There is a Orang Utan Reservation Centre in Bukit Lawang. From here it is possible to go on trips into the junge, to the feeding spot, with some guides and a ranger.

There were a mother and her baby and two elder babies and then another male, so five orang utans.

All together I think that I've seen 10 orang utans during these two days.

At the feeding spot they get milk and bananas.

We were around 25 people and we were there for around 45 minutes. Then we went back to Bukit Lawang. There were a whole Danish family, some Germans e.g.! A lot of northern European tourists!

Back at Eco Lodge I had my early lunch, packed my stuff and checked out.

I wanted to walk to the bus station, where there was supposed to be a market that day also. But I wasn't allowed to. I had gotten by all the becak drivers and ojek drivers, but on the "big" road a motorbike stopped and the man kept saying that he really wanted to drive me and talk to me, to practise his English. And in the end I said ok and got on the bike.

The market was nice, local and not to big.

Below there are some pictures of the market: A man selling fish (Lele and goldfish), the market for rubber and Duku (a very delicious fruit).

The bus was leaving soon after. And here I was, on the way back to Medan, in the public bus: Pembangunan Semesta.

Again we drove through palm oil plantations, rubber plantations and small villages. And I even managed to sleep a bit on this very dirty and hot bus.

Lake Toba

On the 28th of December I went to the airport very early. I was there around 5.00 and I was first flying around 7.00.

The flight went well and I arrived in Medan. From the airport I went to a small shop to buy some juice. Here they advised me, on which side of the shop the becak were cheapest. I took a becak to Tobali Taxi, one of the two companies that Yeti (Anjelita's friend in Medan) had recommended me - since the other one apparently wasn't driving that day.

Tobali Taxi was driving and I got a seat in the front. We made two stops on the way. One stop to buy Oleh Oleh (small snacks that Indonesians bring as souvenirs) and another stop to eat lunch.

The whole trip took five hours. And after two hours in Sumatra I had my first car accident.

Drivers in Sumatra drive really bad. Worse than anything I have ever experienced. Our driver tried to pull past another car and he hit right into a car coming in the other lane. The side mirror crashed and since the window was open, all the glass flew in on us.

I was lucky, cause the guy next to me leaned forwards, which meant that he got hit buy all the glass and I didn't. He even got it into his eyes. Somehow I think that he tried to protect me. He was so nice during the whole trip, even though we couldn't really talk, since he didn't speak English.

Arrived in Prapat (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parapat) at Lake Toba (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_Toba) I was immidiately shown to a ferry, which would take me to Samosir Island (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samosir).

The right one below.




On the ferry I met Shasa, a girl from Jakarta. She had been in Medan with her work for some days, and when her colleagues were going back to Jakarta, she was heading for Lake Toba on her own.

We decided to explore the island together, until I had to go back to Medan.

After arriving on the island, we were walking around to find a nice and affordable hotel. In the end we settled with Caroline Hotel, which was also the one, we both had heard recommendations of, before going there. And they only had this one room available - just perfect!

Caroline Hotel had a nice spot for swimming. And the first thing we did: Taking a swim in the lake, while it was raining down on us. Beautiful and nice! And the temperature was great! Just like Denmark!




After the swim we changed and went right to dinner. I was very hungry and it had gotten dark.

The restaurant was open and we could look out over the lake and watch the lights on the other side of the water.

Food was good. I had some curry and ris and before that pisang goreng... Again!

We had an Asian looking girl, Alicia, and a white guy, Erik, sitting next to us. The girl was working on her laptop. And the guy showed to be Swedish. Both very nice people.

And Erik took a walk around Tuk Tuk, a peninsula on Samosir, together with Shasa and me.

Afterwards I went right to bed. I was very tired after a long long day.




Next morning Shasa and I got up very early to rent a motorbike and go around Samosir to see the most important touristic stuff and go souvenir shopping.

A motorbike is not really a motorbike. It is more like a scooter, but it can run as fast as a motorbike. You need a driver licence to drive such one, but none of us had one and no one checks it.




I bought a Batak calendar (the ones hanging down in front of us on the picture below), an Ulos (a typical textile of the Batak people) and a magic stick (The story is that a brother and sister were in love. Since they couldn't marry, they went to the forest to live together. One day the wife wanted her husband to get her some fruits. The husband climbed the tree, but the tree didn't let go of him. The wife climbed up to get him down, but the tree also captured her. Some people of the village tried to get them down, but also they got stuck. The king of the village decided to cut down the tree and it became a magic stick. The magic stick can remove black power and make it rain and similar things.).




The first stop after the souvenirs shopping was Ambarita: Stone Chairs where the King held conferences and beheaded criminals.

We had a local guide showing us around, and here is what we learned:

During ancient times the Toba Batak people of Ambarita practised a form of carnibalism (as late as 1900). What remains today is a small village and the cluster of stone chairs where the village elders held council.

Whenever an enemy was captured, the elders would invite the rulers of neighbouring villages to a conference, to determine the fate of the victim. The victim is held in behind bars under one of the houses.

If it is determined that the victim deserved death, he is taken to a dining table where he is clobbered to death. There is a boulder where the victim is beheaded. After that, he is chopped up, and his organs and blood is served to the tribal council!




After Ambarita we drove through the beautiful nature, took a lot of pictures and went to Tomok:
Traditional houses and si gale-gale.

The Toba Batak people of northern Sumatra create sophisticated puppets (si gale-gale) controlled by a complex system of internal strings and levers that allow them to move in a lifelike manner. Si gale-gale formerly played a crucial role in some funerary ceremonies. When an individual died, his or her soul became an ancestral spirit. For his or her spirit to enjoy the same prominence after death that the person had when living, the deceased's children had to perform the proper funerary rites. If a person died childless, a si gale-gale was created as a substitute to perform the necessary funerary rituals. When in use, the puppets were mounted on the front end of a long, flat box through which the strings passed, allowing the puppeteer, who sat behind the box, to control the puppet from some distance, giving the illusion that the figure was self-animated. Deftly manipulated by the puppeteer, the si gale-gale was able to perform all the required dances and ritual protocols for its deceased parent.

After the Si gale-gale we went to a place with the the tomb of the Sidabutar Kings.

The tomb of King Sidabutar and the other tombs in Tomok are made of natural stones, intact without connections.
Their bodies are not buried, but stored in the tombs.

The tombs are all covered with a textile with the colors red, white and black. Red = the world today, white = heaven and black = the underworld.
On some of the big tombs there was a face. This face should symbolize the face of the dead person.

We had to have an ulos over our shoulder to enter the "graveyard".

In the "backyard" of the "graveyard" there was a huge magic stick.




We went back to Caroline Hotel and had breakfast.

After breakfast I left for Prapat again, to take back Tobali Taxi to Medan.

I met a European couple in Prapat and we went to Tobali Taxi together. Here they tried to rip us of, but I even got the price further down than what the usual price was according to some of the locals we had talked to... ;)

Again we made a stop at the lunch place.

We were back in Medan at 17.00 and Yeti was picking me up at the office of Tobali Taxi.

Together with Yeti I drove around to have a look at some different hotels (four), before I decided for Gajahmada Hotel.

Then we went out to have dinner at a nice street with only restaurants. And you could sit outside!

Before bringing me back to the hotel, Yeti drove me around the city to show me, what Medan looks like. I think that I got a quite good impression. And there are difinitely NO high buildings in Medan. But the airport is also inside the city - maybe bad with high buildings...

Back at the hotel I was on the internet, took a shower and fell asleep immidiately!

One month left in Jakarta

Good evening!

Today I went to Fitness First again (for the last time, since my membership expires this month).

On my way there I got stopped by the ojek drivers at the entrance to Mega Kuningan.

Now where they know me, they stopped me and wanted to show me something. Now they have three bottles hanging inside their little tent. And in every bottle there is a snake. They opened one of the bottles and started playing with the snake. That poor thing can barely move on the tiles (just like Maj-Britt and me, since they can be very slippery...), which makes the men much faster than the snake.

Then picture session began and every ojek driver now most likely has a picture of me and with me.

In the end they threw a stock over the snake, which made it impossible for it to move at all. And they could pick it up from the ground and put it back into the bottle.

They told me that they eat them and that they are delicious.




The guy here playing with the snake is named Agus. Agus has plenty of pictures of me and with me now... More than I have of him!




After fitness I have only been back here at Casaluna and relaxed, until I went to Grand Indonesia with Maj-Britt at 18.00 p.m. to eat fries and burgers at Burger King.

Afterwards we walked around and I was stupid enough to try a sample of some DURIAN cake... I get more and more convinced that I am one of these persons who hate Durian! I hat to take another sample of some popcorn afterwards, just to get another taste. But unfortunately I chose the sugar popcorn... But stille better than Durian cake!

We had some frozen yoghurt at Sour Sally's and went shopping in Forever 21 and Mango.

A great girls evening!

Now I'm back in my room at Casaluna. I have just had the guards help me with ordering a taxi for tomorrow morning at 4.30, where I'll leave for Sumatra for my four day vacation.

I'm starting to get a bit nervous about the trip and if I will get around ok. But I have had a lot of advice so far, so I guess/hope that I'll be just fine! Maybe I'll get 10 years older during these days, just like Heidi and my trip to Bandung! :)

Tonight 00.05 will also be the time, where there is exactly one month until I leave Jakarta. And tomorrow 17.00 (Danish time) there will be exactly one month until I arrive in the airport in Copenhagen. I'm both a bit scared and sad about leaving Jakarta. I guess I will miss it really badly, even though some annoyances, like the heat and the traffic, have been hard on me. But on the other hand I really look forward to coming home again!

I'll get back to Jakarta on New Years Eve, so most likely my next blog update will be in the new year!

So happy New Year everyone!

And good night here from Casaluna!

Christmas in Jakarta and COBRA's!!!

Since last update, we have had Christmas.

Christmas eve's day was not very amazing. I went to ITC to go to Carrefour and shop some jewelry for bringing home.

The rest of the day was spent relaxing at home, until Andreas, Eva, Maj-Britt, Johan and I left Casaluna at 18.45 to go and have our Christmas dinner.

Maj-Britt had ordered a table at Kampus (http://www.kampusjakarta.com/), where they served a nice Christmas buffet. Kampus has a turning restaurant with huge windows. That way you get to see most of the city, if you stay long enough in the restaurant.




An Indonesian Santa was walking around Kampus while we had our dinner. I had seen him giving presents to some children, so I was flirting heavily - until I realized that all children and woman got a present: A monkey teddy bear and two pieces of chocolate.

But I have two monkeys now, since Maj-Britt didn't want hers!




On the picture above you see the sofa style furniture they put in a lot of restaurants. It looks very nice, but it is not good for having a dinner...

In the background of the picture you see some of the lights from the buildings in Jakarta.

After Kampus we were looking a bit around to find another place to have some finishing of drinks. After a while we settled with Ritz (http://www.ritzcarlton.com/en/Properties/Jakarta/Information/Default.htm?om_b=10_information) in Mega Kuningan.

Ritz was very beautiful decorated for Christmas.




And after Ritz we walked home to go to bed. They say that turkey makes you tired... Maybe it is true!

The 25th was relaxation again! And I slept almost all day until Maj-Britt and I left to go to a Christmas party that we had been invited to by Helen, an external consultant at the embassy, at 16.30 ish.

Helen had made wonderful food and she and her husband, Ken, had made sure that everything should be just as "Christmassy" as possible! It was very lovely! And Helen really gets credit for her food. Below the menu:

Drinks:

• Almost everything (but I mostly got white vine)
  

Snacks:

• Mushrooms with Spinach & Ricotta
• Turkish Cigarettes
• Samosa & Spring Rolls

Appetizer:

• Peach-Champagne & Strawberry-Almond Soup

Main course:

• Roast Turkey
• Gravy
• Traditional Dressing
• Cranberry Sauce
• Mustard Glazed Ham
• Mashed Potatoes Casserole
• Maple Glazed Sweet Potatoes
• Golden Dome Cauliflower
• Julienned Carrot & Zucchini with Honey
• Rolls & Butter

Dessert:

• Frozen Lemon Meringue Torte
• Coffee/Tea/Liquer
• Butter Tarts
• Mince Tarts
• Meringues
• Chocolate Snow Cookies
• Mandarin Oranges

Wonderful! And than they had "Santa" visiting, who brought a present for everyone! Maj-Britt and I got a bottle of red vine from Santa. That is something we don't get often here, which makes it even more special to enjoy a nice glass of red vine!

Ken took some of us guests for a little walk around the neighbourhood to show us a "house" down their road. And someone really lost it. A very rich Indonesian has build a copy of Bukingham Palace on a small and poor street in Jakarta. "They must be confused with all that money!"

Today I have been sleeping again! Afterwards I went to Carrefour and ITC, thereafter to Fitness First. On my way there I saw a kind of silent demonstration in front of the Chinese Embassy. Some Chinese were sitting on the sidewalk in a meditation position. I was thinking whether I should stay and watch them and see when someone came to move them. But unfortunately I didn't. And when I came back - they were gone. And I do not believe that they went because they just wanted to...

I went further. And here it was! In front of Ambassador Mall some of the ojek drivers that stand here every day were hunting a cobra they had chased out of a field between our embassy and Ambassador Mall. It is the field where whole Mega Kuningan is supposed to be evacuated to, if there is a fire or and earthquake. And in this field apparently there are cobras... Enjoy!

I must have been looking quite astoned, cause suddenly it was funny to show me how they could make the cobra rise and attack and two men were hitting the ground around the poor animal with stocks, which definitely did not make it less aggressive...

And one of them was offering me to catch one for me for 40.000Rp... I have no clue what a cobra should cost.

They showed me another cobra they had catched today in this field. They had put it into a plastic bottle. And there was poison everywhere around this poor thing in the bottle, since it had been attacking the plastic walls all the time.

The cobras were a bit small and I got the impression that they were baby cobra's. They were not very thick and they have probably been around 40 - 50 cm long (but again I'm really bad at making such estimations...). But when they rose up to attack they got a huge head!

Since that I've been sleeping and relaxing again... So not much new under the sun!

Jakarta is filled with mosquitos lately and on the 25th I really got bitten, so now my legs look as if I have some kind of bad itchy disease...