Jakarta News : And so it begins

Thursday, 10 December 2015

And so it begins

Not getting out much recently what with family illness, rain and lack of time, I may have missed that wonderful moment in Jakarta. The moment it goes from nothing to 100% Christmas land without missing a beat or providing a reason.

The tree where I work

Commercially of course it does wonders for Malls, Restaurants and anyone else who will be celebrating the idea of people celebrating the festive season and I am sure by next week, that Christmas Trees in ACE hardware will be already at Sale price.

And the sales have started as well with Gap at 60% off, Sports Stations at 70%, Kidzstation upto 50% off and therefore that will mean so will many other places have sales. Hooray for that. That makes the cost of Christmas just that little less expensive.

With Jeremy not quite 3 and still enjoying the 'don't touch, leave it, nooooo, well you were told' hourly conversation, again, this year there will be no tree put up for fear of it being pulled down with in an hour of it up and also any lights which can be pulled at and therefore brought down. But I might do a bit Christmas eve to make Christmas Morning more pleasant. That should work.

Jeremy is now saying Christmas like it means something to him, although it doesn't. He knows something is happening as Youtube has more christmas videos and songs and it is mentioned in the house. I am sure he will be overly excited in less than a fortnight and I hope to capture it all on a camera. Next year we will push the boat out and make it far more special as he will understand it better then.

So back to Jakarta and its mass attempt at being festive. Considering its a Christian tradition but the country is predominantly muslim, the use of trees, and Santas and choirs and snow and reindeer fit really well as that's got nothing to do with religion and therefore works. The concept of giving? I am not sure. The understanding why all that stuff is happening now? Yes everyone knows and I think is happy to celebrate the birth of a religion as it is a happy time and whilst I am sure like most years, there will be a call not to wish anyone happy Christmas or stuff for fear of being converted, everyone will enjoy the sights and get on with life.

Tasteful

Yesterday I was at Pacific Place, an upmarket mall bolted onto the Ritz Carlton and they had 'Christmas'd' it up and made it more jolly. Carols were being piped through through the tanoy system and the Customer Service staff were wearing their Elf hats. Much to securities annoyance, everyone was taking photos despite the sign say 'no photos' and I was followed for a while by a guard as I took a few myself.

A very tall mall, and yes that is a Aircraft sticking out, but no its a model

Pacific Place has a Parisian theme and its OK. Very nice. At some point out came some carol singers dressed in Dickensian Costumes to sing a few songs while fake snow was gently pumped down from above onto them. Yes. Very tastefully done. its 34 degrees outside, But very nice.