Robbed in Jakarta part 2

At the square of the old town. We visited museum and we are able to touch touch the displayed items because they have replicated it. We noticed that 90% of the visitors were viewing the artifact through the screen of a camera or a phone.

There were stalls selling food. One big guy came over and commanded a few words. the hawker quietly shifted to another boundary line. This big guy doesn't seems to be from any officials but was wearing big chain around his neck. Then the ladies from other stall would flirt with him, end up they still have to move.

These are the prison cell balls... really heavy. Left by the Dutch. They have lots of uses...

For decoration,

For photography,

For a resting place,

For blocking road and restrict movement.

This little street sells interesting product but none of our attention except for the Keropok.

Scene from the old town.

 think its better to walk on foot.

In Singapore, it will be the Long Bar at Raffles Hotel. In Indonesia, it would be the Cafe Batavia in Jakarta.

It was once award the world best bar in 1996 by Newsweek.

with lots of interesting wall pictures to view at.

We wanted to taste the coffee luwak for a very long time... in Singapore, it cost about S$20-30.

We are not sure if we have to stir it, lots of powder.

World best bar.

@ the staircase.

In the toilet.

When sitting.

For a night's out.

Too much tourist! we decided to take a walk out of it, just follow the map towards some Mall. the streets are very hard to walk. lots of obstacle. Blessed Singapore that we have a very good walkway to stroll on, other than little india.

We saw a artist lane.

Along the way, we asked the locals for direction. All of them that we approached replied in a sincere manner.

Its odd to see big mall not operating on a sunday.

What caught our eye was the Novotel Hotel. It seems to be built above an old house.
Our guess was:
1) the hotel wanted to buy the land to built a proper hotel but the old house owner refused to move.
2) might be due to some 'feng shui' geomancy issue.

the wind chime was super big.

looking up the ceiling, it looks like the ancient coin of China.

M took us for a dinner on the eve of her wedding. We got to know her family better. It was the very first time for us to have a proper chinese food in Indonesia, thou we have traveled from Timor to Sumatra on Hope Too.

We were always lost while navigating. there would be kind soul coming up to us to check if we need any help. We can't understand any Bahasa Indonesia but from the feel, we could point to them where we are going and we observe their body language. Those that came forward to give us direction were usually the younger ones.

Simply to say, we love the the way how Indonesian worked. Pace are much slower when we arrived at the airport. We could really catch some breath out of Singapore. Time was never promised.

Seeing how a security guard deal with a local smoking in a shopping mall, it tells me that human relation is important. There were no big hoo haa, no arguement, no photo taking, no phone call to the unknown. both parties would quietly settle on the spot.

People are easy going and helpful. I ordered a beer, something else was served. I couldn't blame them because I couldn't speak their language. I learned and tried again.

Our favorite past time in Indonesia is to eat a Bakso and drink the Teh Botol. All the Bakso tasted so differently. There are rumors that the bakso from the roadside stalls were made from rats.

During our RTW travel, the nearest we got was to reach Bogor. The Indonesian friends came all the way from Jakarta to Bogor early in the morning and wanted to fetch us into Jakarta. We rejected them at that time because Hope Too was around. Thank you all our Indonesian friends. We love it! 

We learned to say:

Tidak ada apa apa

Hati hati

Robbed in Jakarta... part 1

M invited us to her wedding in Jakarta... we went by budget airline... about S$100 per person 2 ways. but on the way back, we have to pay a fee for the departure tax. i questioned the counter person and he said it is compulsory for all departure tax... with a receipt. so, whats that airline saying that EVERYTHING IS INCLUDED or what is included?

thats not the point...

taxi at airport... as usual, touts. make our stand. my face has a stamp from singapore. just keep cool and join the public taxi queue.

we would made an estimate of US$0.10 is 1000 Indonesian Rupiah.

Bluebird group taxi is more reliable in indonesia. Easy to understand their charges.

checked my GPS, they are honest to bring us without turning round and round. fee is about Rp30000, but minimum charge is Rp40000.

We reached very early. 830am. hotel says cannot check in before 11am. after some chit chat, we checked in 10am.

stayed at The Batavia Hotel. good hotel but not much people are staying. lack maintenance. outlook is very grand, carpet lacks cleaning. but we love it because the of the price.

 

Anyway, less of all these details. 

Old town was very nice. lots of museum and lots of people because it is a Sunday. We always tell our friend, the world is very small. For those that has the big world map on your bike, take it down because the world is not big. WHY? we met a common friend in the old town in Jakarta!!!

How did we get robbed in Jakarta?

what we are doing on September 2009, exactly 4 years ago...

 Guess where? 14 September 2009.

Guess where? Which border?

Camping life....

 

Twice a day, we must come to this place.

Tire puncture RTW

I just found an interesting picture in my hard disk.

It was on the way from Texas to Colorado.

The tire just self punctured due to the rusty spoke i had and was the very first puncture for the past 20 months.

Enjoy.

National Day Parade 2013 ticket

I was sitting at a coffeeshop last night, sitting with an elderly couple. They were smoking and watching the news. i had my drink. the old lady suddenly said in Hokkien:

'this guy is useless. the vote for him is kelong. useless chap. do nothing. all belongs to one family'.

i was curious and turned my head to the TV and i asked her:

'are you referring to the President or the Prime Minister?'

In a way, it was funny that even a 85 years old lady said that, in a way, disappointed. Our President needs to be loved by the citizen, not by force but by heart.

Interesting picture to share, not relating to the story. This is a good rest place for me during lunch. Cool, quiet and peaceful. I always come here.


The conversation continues with other topics. She is a great grandmother, having 14 grandchildren and 5 great grand children. 85 this year sharing me the secret of long life:

'is the food you eat. I don't eat chicken, duck, mutton, beef. Rice contain sugar and i only eat a little of that. Take lots of vegetable and I don't consume alcohol.'

She was smoking a cigarette while talking to me, I made a guess about her age at 68-72.

Interesting picture to share, not relating to the story. It is a bird with one leg. I saw this bird limping around, just like any other birds in Singapore, they hang around the food places, pecking onto left over food. But this bird has some disability, with only one leg and this bird is still working to look for food, even working harder than the rest of the other birds. It did not come to me to beg for food, it did not come to me and show me the broken leg, it does the same job as the rest of the other birds.

She shared with me the days living at the 'Fire City', which is around Kallang when she was born and the days during Japanese occupation. As a young lady, she remembered the Japanese were very fierce. her brother was working for the Japanese as a store person so that the family had rice and flour to eat.

During the British times, the days were much easier.

Interesting picture to share, not relating to the story.


Then the topic turns into some transvestite and she mentioned going to Hatyai a few times to watch the transvestite show. The performers were so pretty and after performing, they would undress, remove make up and go around to ask for tips but all the audiences were freak out.

 1st April 2013 marks the end of my National Service for my country, since 9th June 1999. I have been wearing the same uniform, same gear and equipment for the past 14 years. I wanted to continue as volunteer troop for another 5 or 10 years but my request was not replied. It has been almost 4 months and still not of any reply for me to volunteer, so i have to do something about these bulky items that is taking up 5% of my house space.

Every Male Singaporean that holds the SBO only assembled once and never took it apart. I had hard feeling this day when i have to take it apart and never use it again.

I have to throw away the items inside this nicely packed standard item.

In fact, I didn't use the mess tin during the NS days but the mess mug. This tiny mess mug had served me and my comrades for the past 14 years. It provides the motivation when we are low. We shared one spoonful of meal each time I cook. The taste of it is hard to forget when we were out there, wet, cold, waiting for something to happen.

I tried cooking it with the same ingredient at home for Samantha to try but the taste is just not the same. Maybe is the mixture of our saliva?

Since I was not invited to be in the volunteer troop to serve the nation in Military, I found another channel to serve the nation.

Performers at a National day celebration.

Lets forget about all these politics, Nation come first.

Don't ask what they have done for us; ask what have we done to our country, ask what have we done to love our country.


I have a picture to share with you, taken in August 2008, Bolivia, where we set the first record in Singapore history.

Happy National Day Singapore and Singaporeans!