Andrew's impressions from Indonesia, July 2013

Flying to Jakarta from Medan in Sumatra, I caught a short glimpse of Lake Toba from the air.  It is huge. 
To cite from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_Toba it is 100 kilometres long, 30 kilometres wide, and up to 505 meters (1,666 ft) deep. Located in the middle of the northern part of the Indonesian island of Sumatra with a surface elevation of about 900 metres (2,953 ft), the lake stretches from 2.88°N 98.52°E to 2.35°N 99.1°E. It is the largest lake in Indonesia and the largest volcanic lake in the world.

Arriving back at my familiar hotel in Jakarta, the rising costs of labour (still not that high) are reflected by an automated parking boom.  After the driver obeys the instruction to take a ticket, a sweet voice beckons:  “silakan masuk (please enter)”.

Next morning, the nice and petite girl making the bed in the room asked me if I was an Arab !!  The last time anything like that happened when I was asked directions in (I presume) Urdu walking around Lahore in 1982.

Then as I went out for an evening stroll, I saw a big bus, proclaiming itself to be a 5-star tourist bus.  It was parked with its luggage compartment doors up, so the landscape painted on its side became a bit abstract.  Then I saw a man sitting cross-legged in one of the compartment eating a snack he had unwrapped.

Later I was passed by a motor-bike, trailing a long Balinese decoration made from plaited and folded leaves, perhaps to supply a ceremony tomorrow.

Big banners in Bahasa Indonesia:  “support the success of Indonesia as host (tuan rumah) of APEC 2013”.  I do what I can.

Sunday morning, the main avenue (Jalan Thamrin) is reserved for walkers, joggers and cyclist.  Among the last group were some locals dressed in colonial garb of the Dutch, wearing toppees and hooting to clear the “natives” out of their way.

Near the MONAS, the giant tower to commemorate Independence, my first sighting of a bicycle built for three (probably rented for an hour).  Some other sightings near MONAS (dubbed Soekarno’s last erection):

about 20 other erections represented by arum flower spikes pointing at a unnaturally vertical angle.

some very gentle-looking lasses in hijabs protesting silently against liberalism in morals – better than a “stamp out intolerance” attitude:  their posters were near a statue of four naked men (missing genitals) raising the national flag.

not far away, among the hundred of vendors, was a display of very fine gold-thread embroidered hijabs and clothes on lady torso dummies – one of them with no clothes on at all.

and a comic show of skilled acrobats, one pretending to be frightened, with great repartee I could not understand making the spectators roar with laughter and donate coins.