WHAT IS ACTUALLY MY LIFE?
I've had an insanely busy week in Indonesia. Liz and I landed in Jakarta on Saturday night local time and spent two days there with family. Then:
- flew out to Bali (with my cousin Ade and her friend/coworker who were on business) for three days wherein we stayed at a beach resort hotel and did SO MUCH EATING. AND SHOPPING. I actually got these awesome awesome bone talons with a wing shaped carved on one side (almost exactly like this pair).
- flew back to Jakarta Thursday night, SAW A CONCERT (the famous boy band kahitna, don't even ask) then drove out to Bandung on Friday for shopping and food
- drove back on Saturday; Liz flew back to NYC
- flew out super early on Sunday morning to Kalimantan (with Ade's friend/coworker for more business)
It's Monday now and I'm sitting in the hotel lobby waiting for Yantri to finish up her business. Our flight back to Jakarta is at 6pm tonight and I'm REALLY REALLY looking forward to being able to sleep without having a specific wake up time. Especially one that's not 4am to catch a flight, or to go to the floating market before it disperses.
Here are a few photosets of some highlights:
- Bali resort hotel
- traditional market in Bali
- driving and traffic in Indonesia
- Banjarmasin Floating Market in Kalimantan
EVERYONE HERE IS BROWN! I've never seen so few white people before, it's kind of crazy! So anyway, I definitely stand out as a foreigner here, lolz. This makes me feel better, actually. It's more what I'm used to, anyway. In the US most people think I'm Hispanic-- sometimes they'll guess Filipino. Here someone has guessed I'm "Arabian", which-- I'm not quite sure what that means more specifically. Some of my relatives said that Liz looked more like my father, and some of them say I do. It's all good, though. One of my cousins has a 10-year old daughter, Mira, who speaks English really well; she's been a lot of fun to hang out with, she's got a bit of a privileged attitude when it comes to money/buying things, but she's also pretty sassy and quick-witted.
The driving is fucking crazy here: families of 4 on a single motorbike (not even kidding); utter disregard for "lanes"; few traffic lights; fewer stop signs; fuck crosswalks. Non-highway roads move at no more than 40kph (25mph), so there's that, but still. In Kalimantan last night it rained and one of the bikes in front of us skidded and fell and it was pretty worrisome (the riders were okay though), but I kept thinking oh no, what if it had been one of the ones with a baby on it? And when I say baby-- I mean, like under a year old. A baby. In Jakarta the traffic is horrendous -- a 20-minute drive can turn into anywhere from 1.5 to 3 hours, depending on the weather and/or what seems to be the will of the gods.
The smoking. Extremely prevalent. SMELLS DELICIOUS. OH INDONESIA, WHY MUST YOU MAKE SUCH DELICIOUS CLOVES CIGARETTES? There are still generally smoking sections inside restaurants/lobbies here (when it isn't just a free-for-all), and people smoke like chimneys. It's like being back in NYC in the 80s, w00t!
It's dirty. EVERYWHERE. A lot of it is just, unpaved earth. But it lends to the general (and accurate) impression of dirt and grime and disrepair. Everything looks washed out. It's all kind of depressing; are people in dry/drab areas immune to the influence of color in their environment? Is it just something you learn to ignore? Do they have difficulties of much higher magnitude and just therefore don't notice these things? My first world privilege is showing, but I can't help but wonder about it.
The floating market in Banjarmasin has vendors who row out on the river with their canoes full of fruits and vegetables and snacks. They dip the vegetables in the water to rinse them. In the water that the people whose houses line the river bathe in. And wash their laundry in. And was their dishes in. Yantri and I were out there this morning and we had pastries and tea with our driver and the ferryman whose boat we'd hired to take us out to the market. Pastries and tea for the four of us cost $1.50. FOR ALL FOUR OF US.
Everything is CHEAP. Not quality, but price. $1.50 for pastries and tea for four isn't typical in Jakarta, but it would probably be something like $5 instead. In Jakarta you can rent a room for $15/month. WHAT THE FUCK EVEN? I mean, I know that salaries are proportional to expenses, but aside from the plane fare to get here, you could take a month vacation here and probably spend way less than $1,000. I mean, as long as you're living like a local.
In Bali Liz and I spent on SEVEN PAIRS OF EARRINGS what I'd normally spend on ONE like the one I linked above. $30. For SEVEN PAIRS. In Bali and Bandung we went to two outdoor restaurants that had delicious food and were shoes-off/low-table style seating with seriously amazing, gorgeous views. In NYC and most places in the US, the price per plate would be at least $18 -- not including drinks, dessert -- you're paying for atmosphere, view, ambiance, etc. There, my TOTAL MEAL, including all of that, was about $10.
Oh my god THE FOOD. I just want to eat everything. In fact, that's what people do here. They just eat, and talk about eating, and food, and eat. And then they go somewhere and eat some more. And buy snacks and eat them. And WTF SRSLY. I'm always having to say I'm full, I'm clearly a bad Indonesian. Neither Ade nor Yantri like spicy stuff so it's kind of hilarious to see them look at me askance every time I add sambal to my food or get something spicy. There's a whole style of food that is just all spicy. Because that's what people from that region eat. SPICY STUFF. AHAHAHAHA. In Bandung I had rabbit sate (satay) a minute up the road from a million shops selling live bunny rabbits. It's hilarious; I love the practical approach to animals and food here. Vegetarians would have a difficult time-- possibly not quite as difficult a time as in Japan, but not far from it either. In that particular stop I had to come to terms with the fact that sometimes you just don't swat flies away because there are too many to even bother.
But the last week has been a huge mix of upper and lower economic-class experiences. As an American with a decent salary, if you wanted to stay in a beach resort hotel the whole time and eat insanely expensive hotel dinners (and I mean it is actually INSANE, considering the standard of living, to pay $20-25 for a single plate when the standard cost for a meal FOR TWO is half that), you could totally do it... in Bali, at least.
Anyway, this has been completely crazy, and it's only been the first week!
And last (for now), but not least... and weirder than I can possibly express... I... didn't realize this at all until about an hour ago, but... Panic! At the Disco is playing Big Wave Festival in Jakarta tomorrow. And... I'll be in Jakarta tomorrow... so, I'm going to try to get tickets.
HOW FUCKING WEIRD IS MY LIFE?!
Like asolarfever said on twitter, I'll be able to say I've seen them in two countries! (Even if it'll be ridiculously weird that those two countries are THE US and INDONESIA. O_O
This totally beats the (probably unpopular) awkwardness I feel about the news of Bden & Sarah's engagement. =/
-----
Feel free to ask any questions you want about Indonesia; I'm sort of keeping things (relatively) brief in this post, but I don't mind expounding furthur on anything you're interested in. =D
- flew out to Bali (with my cousin Ade and her friend/coworker who were on business) for three days wherein we stayed at a beach resort hotel and did SO MUCH EATING. AND SHOPPING. I actually got these awesome awesome bone talons with a wing shaped carved on one side (almost exactly like this pair).
- flew back to Jakarta Thursday night, SAW A CONCERT (the famous boy band kahitna, don't even ask) then drove out to Bandung on Friday for shopping and food
- drove back on Saturday; Liz flew back to NYC
- flew out super early on Sunday morning to Kalimantan (with Ade's friend/coworker for more business)
It's Monday now and I'm sitting in the hotel lobby waiting for Yantri to finish up her business. Our flight back to Jakarta is at 6pm tonight and I'm REALLY REALLY looking forward to being able to sleep without having a specific wake up time. Especially one that's not 4am to catch a flight, or to go to the floating market before it disperses.
Here are a few photosets of some highlights:
- Bali resort hotel
- traditional market in Bali
- driving and traffic in Indonesia
- Banjarmasin Floating Market in Kalimantan
EVERYONE HERE IS BROWN! I've never seen so few white people before, it's kind of crazy! So anyway, I definitely stand out as a foreigner here, lolz. This makes me feel better, actually. It's more what I'm used to, anyway. In the US most people think I'm Hispanic-- sometimes they'll guess Filipino. Here someone has guessed I'm "Arabian", which-- I'm not quite sure what that means more specifically. Some of my relatives said that Liz looked more like my father, and some of them say I do. It's all good, though. One of my cousins has a 10-year old daughter, Mira, who speaks English really well; she's been a lot of fun to hang out with, she's got a bit of a privileged attitude when it comes to money/buying things, but she's also pretty sassy and quick-witted.
The driving is fucking crazy here: families of 4 on a single motorbike (not even kidding); utter disregard for "lanes"; few traffic lights; fewer stop signs; fuck crosswalks. Non-highway roads move at no more than 40kph (25mph), so there's that, but still. In Kalimantan last night it rained and one of the bikes in front of us skidded and fell and it was pretty worrisome (the riders were okay though), but I kept thinking oh no, what if it had been one of the ones with a baby on it? And when I say baby-- I mean, like under a year old. A baby. In Jakarta the traffic is horrendous -- a 20-minute drive can turn into anywhere from 1.5 to 3 hours, depending on the weather and/or what seems to be the will of the gods.
The smoking. Extremely prevalent. SMELLS DELICIOUS. OH INDONESIA, WHY MUST YOU MAKE SUCH DELICIOUS CLOVES CIGARETTES? There are still generally smoking sections inside restaurants/lobbies here (when it isn't just a free-for-all), and people smoke like chimneys. It's like being back in NYC in the 80s, w00t!
It's dirty. EVERYWHERE. A lot of it is just, unpaved earth. But it lends to the general (and accurate) impression of dirt and grime and disrepair. Everything looks washed out. It's all kind of depressing; are people in dry/drab areas immune to the influence of color in their environment? Is it just something you learn to ignore? Do they have difficulties of much higher magnitude and just therefore don't notice these things? My first world privilege is showing, but I can't help but wonder about it.
The floating market in Banjarmasin has vendors who row out on the river with their canoes full of fruits and vegetables and snacks. They dip the vegetables in the water to rinse them. In the water that the people whose houses line the river bathe in. And wash their laundry in. And was their dishes in. Yantri and I were out there this morning and we had pastries and tea with our driver and the ferryman whose boat we'd hired to take us out to the market. Pastries and tea for the four of us cost $1.50. FOR ALL FOUR OF US.
Everything is CHEAP. Not quality, but price. $1.50 for pastries and tea for four isn't typical in Jakarta, but it would probably be something like $5 instead. In Jakarta you can rent a room for $15/month. WHAT THE FUCK EVEN? I mean, I know that salaries are proportional to expenses, but aside from the plane fare to get here, you could take a month vacation here and probably spend way less than $1,000. I mean, as long as you're living like a local.
In Bali Liz and I spent on SEVEN PAIRS OF EARRINGS what I'd normally spend on ONE like the one I linked above. $30. For SEVEN PAIRS. In Bali and Bandung we went to two outdoor restaurants that had delicious food and were shoes-off/low-table style seating with seriously amazing, gorgeous views. In NYC and most places in the US, the price per plate would be at least $18 -- not including drinks, dessert -- you're paying for atmosphere, view, ambiance, etc. There, my TOTAL MEAL, including all of that, was about $10.
Oh my god THE FOOD. I just want to eat everything. In fact, that's what people do here. They just eat, and talk about eating, and food, and eat. And then they go somewhere and eat some more. And buy snacks and eat them. And WTF SRSLY. I'm always having to say I'm full, I'm clearly a bad Indonesian. Neither Ade nor Yantri like spicy stuff so it's kind of hilarious to see them look at me askance every time I add sambal to my food or get something spicy. There's a whole style of food that is just all spicy. Because that's what people from that region eat. SPICY STUFF. AHAHAHAHA. In Bandung I had rabbit sate (satay) a minute up the road from a million shops selling live bunny rabbits. It's hilarious; I love the practical approach to animals and food here. Vegetarians would have a difficult time-- possibly not quite as difficult a time as in Japan, but not far from it either. In that particular stop I had to come to terms with the fact that sometimes you just don't swat flies away because there are too many to even bother.
But the last week has been a huge mix of upper and lower economic-class experiences. As an American with a decent salary, if you wanted to stay in a beach resort hotel the whole time and eat insanely expensive hotel dinners (and I mean it is actually INSANE, considering the standard of living, to pay $20-25 for a single plate when the standard cost for a meal FOR TWO is half that), you could totally do it... in Bali, at least.
Anyway, this has been completely crazy, and it's only been the first week!
And last (for now), but not least... and weirder than I can possibly express... I... didn't realize this at all until about an hour ago, but... Panic! At the Disco is playing Big Wave Festival in Jakarta tomorrow. And... I'll be in Jakarta tomorrow... so, I'm going to try to get tickets.
HOW FUCKING WEIRD IS MY LIFE?!
Like asolarfever said on twitter, I'll be able to say I've seen them in two countries! (Even if it'll be ridiculously weird that those two countries are THE US and INDONESIA. O_O
This totally beats the (probably unpopular) awkwardness I feel about the news of Bden & Sarah's engagement. =/
-----
Feel free to ask any questions you want about Indonesia; I'm sort of keeping things (relatively) brief in this post, but I don't mind expounding furthur on anything you're interested in. =D