Monday, March 3, 2008

Jakarta

JAKARTA SYNOPSIS
The Jakarta blog is long. For those who are not particularly interested in Jakarta, I offer this synopsis.
Jakarta is big and grubby with a population of 12 million+. It is a city of extremes: abject poverty to great wealth. The infrastructure is totally neglected with some of the main thoroughfares more like dirt roads. The streets are badly congested with cars and motorcycles. Many of the motorcycles carry as many as four people, a mother with her baby at the back, And an older child, who sits in front of the father. In spite of this we were able to find an upscale department store with pleasant clerks. The Indonesian people are very nice. My impression is that politically they are very backward.
I was very glad to say good bye to Jakarta.

PORT AND CITY OF JAKARTA
On Sunday 24th we entered the port of Jakarta, the third largest port in Asia. We were surrounded by thousands of containers, extending as far as the eye could see. So began our Jakarta adventure.
Jakarta started as a small fishing village in the mid fifteenth century.Almost one hundred years later the Dutch conquered it, named it Batavia, and made it a pivotal port of the Dutch east India Company. After world war 11Indonesia gained independence and named it Jakarta.
Immediately after breakfast Mal, and fellow passenger Paul, hired a guide for the day. Immediacy is not a word in the Indonesian language. The immigration office called our Captain and told him, “There has been a death in the office and we are temporarily closed for the funeral.” With only one day to spend in Jakarta we, with the other passengers and off duty crew members, were left to languish until one o’clock. The captain was furious.We were philosophical. Welcome to Indonesia.
When we finally disembarked our faithful guide, accustomed to such delays,was waiting for us. After traversing some dirty, oily muddy ruts dockside we boarded a van with a driver, hired by our guide. After some jolting,rattling and bumping we accessed the main road. I know it was the main road because there were traffic lights at the intersections. However the road surface didn’t change. We rattled, shook and plunged in and out of potholes for most of the day. The roads are also filled with motorcyclists. They flit and dart in and out of traffic like dragonflies. At the intersections they weave their way to the front of the traffic and, when the light turns green, they burst out in a cloud of exhaust and speed away……Totally unnerving.
Outside the port the streets are lined with small flea market style stores hawking everything from mobile phones to groceries. Our road traveled along a canal filled with floating detritus. On the opposite bank is a,“cardboard city”, a huge slum of homeless people. Their water supply has to be from the dirty canal, and I dread to think about their sanitation arrangements. The smell tells the story. This is one of many such slums throughout the city. Our guide explained that there is no employment for these people in the rural areas. They migrate to the cities where life is,unfortunately, equally harsh. The population of Jakarta is over 12 million,and there is no welfare system as we know it. Next to these slums are tall modern buildings with signage reading Toyota, Nikon and Sony etc. There is no transitional area. Even wealthy residential areas stop and start just as abruptly. Jakarta is a large sprawling mess. Periodically a large,colorful, windowless building, (an enclosed mall), or a large white edifice,(a modern hotel), rise out of the grey, dirty, concrete jungle, isolated from their surroundings by their height. There are no glass fronted retail stores as we would know them, only a multitude of small, grubby open fronted stores. Interspersed between these stores is every variety of Western fast food restaurants. Even McDonald’s looks shabby. We drove past a Starbucks cafĂ© on one of the corners of a major intersection. Little do the people of Jakarta know how many more are on the way!
Our first sight seeing stop was the old port. Our literature describes this as restored, but, like everything else in Jakarta, we found it dilapidated and dirty. The boats, however, are fascinating. Made of iron wood, they are direct descendants of the original sailing ships. They are still being built at a cost of $250,000 per boat and still continue to carry a token foresail. Nowadays they are powered by a diesel engine. With a captain and crew of 16 they transport rice and cement to Borneo and the Indonesian islands. All the crew members come from one island and are called Bogeymen.They are responsible for sailing and maintaining the boat. Cargo is loaded by hand by stevedores who run up and down a plank. The boats carry 1.5meters of free board when fully loaded. Not a happy place to be in a storm.
Next we stopped at an antique flea market comprised of block after block of small shops 20 feet deep and 10 feet wide. Paul, who claims to be knowledgeable about maritime antiques, commented that the prices were very reasonable, but I had a little echo behind me that kept repeating,“Remember, no more stuff!” I looked but didn’t buy.
Finally we decided to do some shopping. Mal wanted to buy an inexpensive printer. Our guide shunned the large colorful malls and took us to one that had a large upscale department store instead. Here we saw another side of Jakarta. It was clean and the store clerks were delightful. The stationary department, which sold office equipment, was on the sixth floor. Mal purchased a H.P printer for $70. This floor also housed the bathrooms which, like the rest of the store, were also spotlessly clean with lots of running water, soap and a hand dryer. The first toilet I entered had no toilet paper. In the next toilet the toilet bowl was on the floor! The next toilet was normal but I now realized that there were no toilet paper dispensers. Mercifully I was not in a hurry and was able to purchase some tissues in the stationary department. I assume Indonesian women know to carry this indispensable item with them.
It was time to eat. After a few false starts we found a restaurant where the food was excellent, the price reasonable, and we were able to wash it down with pitchers of locally brewed Carlsburg beer, chilled to perfection and served in iced mugs.
Later in the evening Mal and I shared a nightcap with Heiner, another passenger. Heiner and I both agreed that we would be very happy if we never returned to Jakarta.
We sailed for Singapore the next morning.

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