What next for Padang's beach?

Since I was last in Sumatra they've been through a few natural trials and tribulations. A few more volcanoes have erupted, and they've had some massive earthquakes and a particularly devastating tsunami.

The city of Padang in West Sumatra is very much in the firing line for the next really big earthquake and tsunami, of the scale of the 2004 magnitude 9.0 event in Aceh to the north. Needless to say they're very conscious of it.














In 2009 Padang suffered a 7.6 magnitude earthquake, which killed over a thousand people, and destroyed a large number of buildings. When there recently I met someone who had lived through it, and was still traumatised by the memories. She said she was working in a ground floor office, and was able to get out before the building was destroyed. Some colleagues died. Fearful of a tsunami (which thankfully didn't come), the survivors ran several kilometres inland. The nearby high ground was avoided because it would have meant crossing a bridge, which they feared might collapse.

Jakarta's moving again!

Since I was last there, Jakarta has introduced its TransJakarta busway system. It's quite an improvement on what was available previously.

It works like a Metro railway system, but with above-ground buses. They're comfortable, air conditioned ones, they run on dedicated lanes on major roads, with well-located stops where you tap on and off with your TransJakarta transport smart card. You don't get lost, and it all seems to work well.

Sydney talks often about introducing these. I think there's supposed to be one coming to the Northern Beaches one day. As ever though, we'll believe it when we see it.



I discovered one little quirk about the Jakarta system when I boarded my first bus. The front section of the bus is reserved for women only. Telepathy told me something wasn't quite right. Nobody said anything, but I soon shuffled awkwardly down to the back!

Schooners

Here's the old Makassar schooner harbour at Sunda Kelapa, northern Jakarta. They still use these terrific old boats for a lot of the inter-island trade throughout the country.

I got my view from the old Watchtower, which used to be for keeping an eye on all the harbour traffic. I wasn't able to stroll around the harbour for a close-up view this trip. The gates were closed and there were signs prohibiting pedestrians.











When I was here in 1984 it was a different story. I was able to stroll around the place, and on and off several of the vessels via scary narrow gangplanks. Below is one of my pictures from that trip.

A spicy museum with maritime monsters

In Jakarta's north, in the Sunda Kelapa area, is the Museum Bahari, the Maritime Museum. It's a nice place to spend a couple of hours, housed as it is in a series of fine old colonial warehouses.

It tells the story of Batavia and its maritime history, and lots more.

It's even got rooms full of sea monsters, mermaids, and other sea legends from around the world.

And here are a couple of  'English travellers', who passed through Batavia at some stage, looking very imperious.





It was largely spices that made the Dutch East Indies what they were. I particularly liked the spice room. It smelt terrific.

Monument merriment

Indonesia's National Monument, 'Monas', in Jakarta, is dedicated to the nation's struggle for independence. So it takes itself very seriously.












Most visitors are there for a good time though. Indonesians love their day out, and they're probably world champions at selfies and group photos in front of things.



And if there's a foreign tourist around, so much the better!

This footpath's made for ............ parking

In some places footpaths (also known as sidewalks after all) are for walking. Not in Indonesia though. There might have been some sort of intention like this when they were constructed. But in real life, footpaths are for running your food stall or some other business. Pedestrians can just fight it out on the roadway with all the cars, trucks, and motorbikes.

I watched one entrepreneur run his car parking business on a busy road in Jakarta's congested Kota district. Not on the road of course, but on the footpath. The grey Daihatsu in the middle of the top picture has been reversed painstakingly against the traffic, to where the parking wallah wants him. He's told to swing out to the right, regardless of the cars trying to come past him.



A steady stream of motorbikes hurtle through on both sides, completely ignoring the instructions of car park wallah, who's frantically blowing his whistle to no avail.

 Positioned all wrong. Better go forward again.


Wait for a gap. Back you go again. Hurry! Lots more whistles. Some rocks are positioned to help mount the curb. Oh dear, missed them. Scrape the bottom as we mount the footpath.

No wonder Jakarta's traffic is a total mess.

An empty Jakarta's a good Jakarta

Like most visitors to Jakarta, I've always found it to be a bit of an ordeal. It's hot, crowded, busy. Traffic's a nightmare. It's very hard to get around. You mostly just want to escape back to the peace and comfort of your hotel room.

Not when I was there the other week though. Look at these pictures! It was during the Idul Fitri post Ramadan holiday. Most Jakartans seemed to be out of town, visiting their home towns and villages, as you do. A good time to visit, I thought.

Dodging 'cat poo', finding temples

On one of my Bali days I joined a minibus day tour, taking in a few of the places of interest to the east and north of Ubud. I had the pleasure of the company of a selection of young international backpackers, every one of whom provided delightful, intelligent company. Nobody spent any time at all playing with their mobile phone!




The first three stops were at nearby Hindu temples, known in tour guide shorthand as 'Cave Temple', 'Rock Face Temple', and 'Water Temple'.









'Water Temple' presented quite a spectacular scene, with crowds of tourists, domestic and international, shuffling forward for their turn under the holy water spouts. Some of my group would have liked to join them, but our slightly impatient tour guide didn't seem to be encouraging it.







We then called in at the Santi coffee plantation at Tampaksiring, where they grow coffee, chocolate, and tea, and a selection of spices to go with them. They also produce kopi luak (luwak coffee), using caged civets to do the eating and pooing of the coffee berries. None of the organic, free range, ethical 'cat-poo coffee' to be had here. And none of the group wanted anything to do with it.

But everyone happily got stuck into the tasting tableful of teas, cocoa, and more traditional coffees, some of which were very nicely spiced up.












And I'm quite a fan of the bog-standard Bali coffee anyway, and bought lots.

Dodging Obama

Indonesia had an even more famous visitor than me while I was there. Ex US President Barack Obama and his family turned up for a holiday.

He arrived in Bali on the same afternoon as me, and he stayed with me in Ubud. Actually not quite with me, but in another accommodation place nearby where they charge approximately 300 times as much. Not that my $40 per night place was uncomfortable. Anything but. See pictures here of my excellent little villa and the family who looked after me.







He'd been offered top level security for the duration of his visit, but fortunately had settled for a level somewhere below this, so they hadn't closed the airport for my arrival.

Anyway, the whole country felt a bit pleased and honoured, I think, that one of their favourite adopted sons had come back on a 'mudik'. That's the homecoming visit people make to their village of origin during the big post-Ramadan holiday. I felt a bit honoured too, though he never made the effort to seek me out.

He did visit many of the same Balinese tourist sites though, and the local police were kept on their toes, and maintained unusual levels of visible presence.

When I moved on to Jakarta for a few days, he was there too! Obama spent a few of his childhood years in Jakarta's Menteng suburb, a rather pleasant area full of embassies and parks. He has a half sister in Jakarta and was reportedly catching up with her and other relatives (as well as President Jokowi). I visited his old primary school, where there's a plaque and a statue of the young 'Barry'.

Indonesians are generally very happy to discuss politics and politicians. When I remarked on how sad it was that the Americans had replaced such a capable, articulate and sensible leader with a dangerous idiot, there were no dissenting voices.

Monkeying around in Ubud's Monkey Forest

You have to visit Ubud's Monkey Forest while you're in Bali. Everyone else does after all. It's got all kinds of spiritual significance, and it's rather beautiful, but for a lot of the visitors, it seems to be only about the monkeys.

No matter that they're nasty, dangerous, unfriendly things that bite and probably have rabies. No matter that the clearly posted rules tell you to avoid even eye contact with them, let alone contact or attempts to feed them. Half the visitors seem determined to do the very opposite!

I followed the rules, but I was amazed to see almost everyone else ignoring them. One (Chinese) tourist waved bananas at one, and successfully tempted it onto his shoulder to pose for a photo. The local lady who had somehow been allowed to sell him the banana leapt up, confiscated it, and screamed at him about his stupidity.

I came across a young European man who was cradling a baby monkey in his lap, stroking it like it was a cuddly little pussycat. The crotchety old man in me took over, and I strode over to him."Have you heard of rabies?" I asked him. He looked confused. "If it bites you, you will die" I told him bluntly. It's not quite true. There's only about a 50% chance.

Most of the monkey-watchers took no notice of the colourful human ceremony going on in the forest. The gamelan band was playing, speeches were being made, lots of food had been brought in for the feast. It was being translated into English, and I gather it was a big once-every-210-days ceremony marking particularly propitious times for cremations. The dukuns (holy men) look after all the relevant calculations. Cremations are joyous occasions, allowing the spirits of the temporarily buried deceased to get on with their reincarnations.

Some of us noticed.

Bali then & now - real estate

I don't recall seeing any Ray White real estate ads when I was in Ubud in the 80s.

Bali then & now - good spirits, bad spirits

On a visit to Bali in 1991, I was struck by how well the traditional spiritual ways were holding up, despite the massive deluge of tourists, who were mostly unaware of what was going on around them.

Intricate ceremonies were going on, commemorating births, deaths, weddings, lots of other things too. Every dwelling, every shop, every eating place had a fresh posy of flowers placed every day on the footpath for the evil spirits, (which I understood to be associated with dogs in some way) and on a raised platform for the good ones. There appeared to be a huge florist industry keeping all this going.

And all the time there were processions and gatherings of people in traditional garb, the women carrying fabulous looking food contributions on their heads, in readiness for a ceremony and/or feast. (1991 pics above left.)

Well it's all still going on. In 2017 the dogs all seem to have collars, and I got the impression most of them are fondly appreciated pets. Evil or not, none of them growled at me this time.

The floral spirit offering industry goes on just as before.

Even on the beaches. Wouldn't want too many unappeased evil spirits hanging out there. This is Legian Beach

A bit further south, on Kuta Beach no less, a cremation had just taken place, and a small but colourful funeral ceremony was going on just the other side of the footpath along which walked the usual procession of oblivious overseas and domestic tourists.