Questions about Indonesia

I think therefore I am - Thank you Descartes. It could not be put any simpler. I wonder what was he was thinking about when he said that. Travelling around the city gets you thinking and so here are some more thoughts or things to challenge the brain.

1. Why are all trucks either Yellow, Brown or Lime gree?

2 Why are old Kijangs blue?

3. Why are those little pickup trucks black?

4. How come you never see a frozen or refridgerated truck yet Ice cream is always frozen

5. Why are lots of buildings the same shade of blue?

6. Whats with just grey as waterproof paint?

7. Why are my rugs full of dust (looks like volcanic dust to me) when there is never a window open?

8. How come the island of Banka has motorbikes from Taiwan?

9. The man carrying the portable scales around the place, does he make any money?

10. Why are 5 year old kids given black berries?

11. Why do Indonesians never stop eating?

12. Why do motorcyclists smoke while riding?

13. Why does 'opening soon' mean at least a year?

14. How come, every time you go to a Permata Bank ATM in a mall it is out of order?

15. Who is in charge of the bemos, angkoks, buses and why are there so many always riding around empty?

16. How deep does a pot hole need to be, before it is filled?

17. If there are 2 different rates of postage stamp, how come post arrives at the same time?

18. How can HBO justify showing Pacific on HBO, HBO signature and Max at the same time?

19. Does the man in the basement handing out parking tickets for motorbikes ever sweat?

20. How does the man cleaning the swimming pool at 2am see, when there are no lights?

Some musings from the week.

Other highlights.....

There is a parkir in Tanjung Duren who wears sunglasses and huge headphones and moves cars in and out of a car park in the dark who always waves hello to me every thime I go past him. Which is astonishing. I also enjoyed the synchronised fuel attendants at the local pertamina working in unison and in almost perfect timing, watching that was amazing.

The security guard who got upset when I got out of a taxi in a huge queue of traffic outside the apartment as he would not let the taxi turn into the street outside it. He did not like the fact the taxi stopped and I got out. He probably did not like what I told him either!!! Serves him right.

The parking people where I park my bike at work also seem to be full of rules. I finish at 9pm and that means someone has to sit and wait for me to finish at my bike and hand him the ticket before he can leave. When I tried to move my bike and park it next to the school 5 minutes to 5 they got very angry. 

(its free after 5)  And then at 9pm when I tried to leave they wanted me to pay. Middle fingers whilst rude helped me that time.

Then there were the 2 boys in the elevator both playing psp's,  stood next to each other and both got out on the wrong floor as they were playing their game and had no idea what was happening around them.

The overly helpful girl at the pizza counter in Carrefour who just blushed her time away with me and then the cashier in Carrefour who spoke just Indonesian at me all the way through scanning my goods and then anything that did not scan, putting to one side and not letting me have it. I must have saved 100k and had to go else where!

Everyone in Central Park stood in the way of everyone else while waiting for a new restaurant to open and then looking confused when you have to push through to get out of there.

I decided taking the bike from home to Puri then from Puri to Cengkareng and onwards to Sunda Kelapa via PIK and Pluit was not the best idea so I went back via Kota, Monas and Tanjung Duren. How sweaty, smokey and smelly. Taxi next time. Sod the cost.

I read somewhere riding around Jakarta is the same as smoking 40 marlborough a day. I am going to get me a cowboy hat. *cough* my lungs, I apologise.

The general election in the UK was exciting. I missed the right to vote as no-one knows where I am so I never had the chance. Its a hung parliament. 

The TV stations here told me the results before the government knew them .Good old news channel Asia.

What's with the stories that there will be a huge earthquake on the 13th of May? Rune stones and chicken bones cant predict the future can they?

Bottles of Carlsberg (small) cost the same as Bintang now in the local Hero. The pricing on beer has gone crazy. 

My students are great. One said, I was too tired to go to school so my mum said I could stay home? what? Mind he brought a pen with him finally after 5 weeks so that was something.

Another was told off for taking photos of the teachers from the windows, Immigration spy maybe?

And my best thing from the students is this phrase... 'Its a Jesus day' - referring to the 13th May. Love it. 

Swimming with sun

Outrageous and totally suited to life here. What am I talking about? Savage Beach, a totally over the top movie with ninja's, big breasted women in bikinis with guns, Muscled up male actors, rubbish acting, superbly silly explosions and immediate forgetful dialogue. Still its making me chuckle.

Ah life on an island, wasn't that a book or something? anyway in other parts of the world, life on island would be somewhat different. Lets think Whicker Man and the like.

Being a rather personable person and I am still smiling warmly over that, thank you Simon I am compelled to write more about whats been going on.
Wow its hot, I need to get that one out, It is getting hotter and hotter with no break in the weather in sight. Sweating while swimming is always a weird feeling.

I have taken up swimming again and there is the word gym on the horizon, something I need to get back into as I have not been for 4 months. There is a need for mental stimulus and a physical need to burn some fat and some energy so sleeping will be easier and I wont feel as big. So I have been waking up and staggering into the swimming pool, swimming lengths for about 30 mins and then drip dry back to the apartment. It has felt fantastic as it allowed me to clear the head before work, feel my muscles ache and make me more tired in the evening. The trouble is, I dont know how long I can do it until boredom creeps up again. Swimming has to be the loneliest of activities. Luckily last week there was a man doing something to the concrete tiles around the pool to keep me company of sorts.
I wont stop its too nice. To say I have my own pool and often my own empty pool is too good not to have or use on a frequent basis. It's a shame my gf does not like swimming otherwise I would go more often.

Nothing to say about work as it was its usuall rag tag bundle of adventure, shock, laughter, disbelief and absurdity so thats that. From students who cant speak English wanting lessons to get them a total score of 550 to  5 year boys calling the teachers their parents and hugging them and not letting them go. OH and 5 year olds with their own Blackberries, that is something else.

Had a few scrapes on the bike as in being hit by other bikers. Why? Well I guess it is also important to be getting to anywhere as fast as possible to then saunter around. But knocked about I have been. Still with the invisible presence of the police cracking down throughout the last month on motorists I should have been safer. Still the absence of any police checks or anything in West Jakarta demonstrates the effectiveness and usefulness of this crackdown.

Still as I like to think, the duck closest to the wheel will always die a most disturbing death.

I managed to open a bank account on my own on Friday, well with a little help from the Premiership and Liverpool losing over night. It is so useful that Indonesians lke football as that helps you get things. Mind as expected it never went well. The computers crashed and so it took even longer than it should. No surprise there.

I also have been dabbling with travel agents and more flights around the archipelago. I got very cheap flights to Bali for the GF in August so that was good (Air Asia) and then started looking around for something in June.
June is expensive thats for sure. Lion and Air Asia are too pricey. So I looked at Sri Wijaya, Mandala and Batavia for flights. How confusing are their websites. You can look up flights and get prices but cant book you have to phone, then the price is different and oh thats just too confusing for me.

Still what I did discover is that like Bali there are still places that dont need deposits for rooms before you book and so I have lined up a lovely place by the sea for June. That is all for now. The photos after will tell you all. It looks amazing.

Saturday I did one of those damm heroic things and took a day off work. Taxied it to FX and met the gf for coffee and then to a travel agents to pay for my tickets with the very confusing Sri Wijaya air. No commission from them and the place was awfully posh. Still they never took debit cards so I had to go the ATM and get piles of cash to pay them. Aduh...............

From there we went book shopping at Pasar Festival and I came away with more used and old books to read, it feels great doing that. I will set up a book club in the school with books and encourage the others to bring in their books to swap and read so there is always something extra to read. Any books for anyone would be more than welcome.

From there back to Semmangi (yes I know its a a way ) to buy some birthday cards for my parents. A bit late but I have been working and card shops dont grow on trees you know. Sat in Gloria Jeans and filled them and then off to Aphrodites for an afternoon of drinking and chat with a fellow DoS. Buy 1 get 1 free heineken also helps the afternoon. After Food, Beer and lots of laughter, a curry was suggested so we jumped in a taxi to Queens Tandoori where the food was fantastic. That rounded off the night almost perfectly.
Sunday was spent in 2 ways, chasing ants around the apartment who found out I was going to kill them all and so were moving lock stock and barrel, so I followed them to their new home and after a little spray of death, everything stopped moving, the queen had died and ants no more. They will be back they dont give up. That is the 4th colony I have beaten in the last 8 months. Its amazing this building is still standing if there are this amount of ants here.
The afternoon was again in a mall buying a phone with the GF and trudging up and down the escalators in Ciputra.

Still, she got one and the crowning glory was watching the 'Battle of Britain' on Max afterwards. Awesome. I do like it when we stuff the germans.

I phoned my father on Saturday to wish him a happy birthday. Oh how living the other side of the world soon disappears when talking to my parents, its like I  have never been away.
Thank mum for not remembering me!!! and then thanks to Dad to tell me he was feeding the baby birds worms and not much else. That made made my weekend, it really did.

Role on June.......

Air miles and passport stamps

I'm currently in a reflective mood and I feel the urge and need to write it all out. I owe some of it to my current desire to swim in the morning before work and I must say that it is really making me feel more alert and calm for the days ahead.

I have through this blog recorded some strange and interesting events in my life and listed more random things than most people. The best thing about blogging is the fact that essentially its a personal diary shared with the world for the most part, I believe to acknowledged that we belong to something. 

For me it s a brain dump, a chance to clear some space and reduce the thinking. Like a cerebal massage.

When I travelled the world I did 3 things. 1. I took lots of flights. 2. Wrote realms and realms of events and things I did and 3. enjoyed everyday, the long ones and the ones that I quite really remember as it was a bit of a drunken haze.

I have been challenged to why I wrote so much. The answer is simple. When I am 89 I want to be able to sit back and read my journals, blog etc and remember who I was and what I did. Maybe read them to my children, although hopefully not at 89 and have my children read them to theirs as my adventures are a slice of my life. I spent too long sat waiting not doing anything before I did.

So Lets think about flights I have taken from the information in my passport. So from 2003 and I filled it up by the end of 2009, mind that was due to coming in and out and living in Indonesia as they like really big stamps!

Sept 2003 - London to Orlando with Virgin

Feb  2005 - Tunisia with Thomspon

Mar  2006 - Thailand with Thai (Bangkok onward to Chiang Mai)

April 2006 - Thailand to Singapore with Air Asia (Form Chiang Mai)

May 2006 - Thailand to England with Thai ( I took the train from Singapore to Thailand via Malaysia that's                 

                    how I got back to Thailand and well worth it, it was too!)

May 2006 -  Bristol to Malaga Spain with EasyJet

June 2006 -  London to Spain with Iberia

                    Spain to Ecuador and back the same way. (I got a Galapagos Island Passport stamp and I am          

                    forever proud of that one) still with Iberia

Aug  2006 - London to Thailand with Thai (Chiang Mai)

Sept 2006 - London to Malaysia with Malaysian Airway

                   Malaysia to Thailand with Air Asia (Chaing Mai)

                   Malaysia to London

Oct 2006 -  Luton to Bremen Germany with EastJet

Oct 2006 -  London to LA with Air New Zealand

                   LA to New Zealand with Air New Zealand

Dec 2006 - New Zealand to Hong Kong with Air New Zealand

                   Hong Kong to London with Air New Zealand

Dec 2006 - London to New York with Virgin

Jan  2007 - New York to London with Virgin

Jan  2007 - London to Abu Dhabi with Ethihad

                   Abu Dhabi to Jakarta 

Feb 2007 - Jakarta to Singapore with Phillipine Airways

Apr 2007 - Jakarta to Kuala Lumpur

                   Kuala Lumpur to Bangkok and then onto Chiang Mai, all with Air Asia

                   and back to Jakarta. That was a total of 7 stamps lol

Dec 2007 - Jakarta to London via Abu Dhabi with Ethihad

Dec 2007 - London to Singapore with SQ

                   Singapore to Jakarta with Air Asia

Jan  2008 - Jakarta to Singapore with Garuda

Feb 2008 - Jakarta to Singapore with Garuda

Oct 2009 - Jakarta to Kuala Lumpur with Air Asia

                  Kuala Lumpur to Krabi, Thailand with Air Asia and return

With all that flying it will have taken me around the world at least 3 times, travelled on an areoplane for at least 2 weeks solid and if that was all in airmiles I would be very happy!!!

Domestic or internal flights are slightly different as I never really kept any lists but I did fly twice in Ecuador, Thailand at least 10 times, In Malaysia at least 4 times, England  6 times! As for Indonesian phew, well it has to be well into double figures now.

My next long haul is going to be back to London in December and then home for Christmas before returning in the new year but I am not sure whether to fly into KL and onto either Kota Kinabaru, Krabi or Penang; Singapore and then onto Bali, Jakarta throught he Arab States then home and then straight off to Bali. The agony of choice. But I will have to come back to Jakarta as I have my job to do.

Oh I shall never be rich financially !!!  

Nothing but the weekend and then Bangka Island

The week could not really go much slower really. It seemed to drag on and on. Work was slow as in time although I had far too much to do. In fact I did more last week than I have for a while. Teaching, Workshops, reviews, meetings and helping those that needed it.
All I was hoping was Saturday was going to come quicker for a change.
My girlfriend had her purse and phone stolen on Thursday by some clever and ruthless unknowns whilst on an errand and walking through a crowded streets. That was upsetting and also concerning as she needs her phone and also her money. So I met her and she now is using mine until she can get a new one.
Luckily no cards were taken.

Also on Thursday as I had a free morning, I took the chance to get a hair cut and so rode to Puri Mall to a good barber shop. That was good. Then on return to the bike, I found that my helmet had been stolen (which seems to amuse everyone but me as I had then to buy a brand new one and whats funny about that?). so after procrastinating to the security officer I trudged off to Carrefour to buy a new helmet. They had little choice but choice none the less. The hair cut cost me 100 x more than normal as I never expected to have to get a new helmet as part of the deal.
The strangest thing about all this was once I had had my cut, the barber rubbed baby oil into my head so not only did I smell nice, I also then started to sweat feverishly as oil just blocks the pores and in 90 degree heat cant be a clever thing. Still its nice a cut!!!

I ran out of the school after my last class, throwing caution to the wind and getting out. This was after convincing my teacher who had dengue that he needed a night in hospital to make sure the insurance department paid out, I can only hope that is what will happen, as he did on Sunday night!

The weekend arrived and bang on cue my lack of sleep returned with avengence and so I spent nearly all night awake shouting at my laptop as for some unknown reason, Hotmail, FB and a couple of ither sites would not open due to DNS error. At 6am it was all ok....why???????????/

Shocking.

Yovita arrived at 9 and then after a quick pack check and a trip to the ATM we jumped in a taxi and off we went to the airport.
Jakarta is a great city. You leave early you arrive late, You leave early you also arrive even earlier. You leave late then you will never get anywhere! So it was no surprise that I arrived at the airport in 30 minutes flat and so that meant a longer wait in the airport.
Lion aircheck in is a mess as it is run down, noisy badly managed but the staff are helpful and quick and with 20 mins of being there we had checked in and were walking toward gate A7 for the flight to Panglpinang, Bangka Island.
It was a beautiful day and so the flight was amazing. I was lucky enough to sit by the window and so camera in hand ( sorry I dont have the photos, when I do I will post) clicked my way to Bangka. The ceiling was high, the clouds big and fluffy when there were clouds and the little islands had gold rings around them.

My photos for the trip are here. http://picasaweb.google.com/lreg72/BangkaApril2010?authkey=Gv1sRgCLudy9ndkLHE9QE&feat=directlink, help yourself.

Once we landed we went to look for the man to drive us to the resort, Tanjung Pesona but alas there was no-one so we then went to the travel desk and Yovita got shouty and sorted it out. 30 mins later we were in a bus and on our way through north through the island to the resort.
The trip was great as the road ran through little towns and villages and then over huge bridges and also past swamps and also disused tin mines which left scars over the land.
 The resort was about 45 mins from the airport and by the time we got to the resort it was time to eat. When we got there, we discovered our driver was still waiting at the airport for us as a communication mishap stopped us from knowing that, but still we got there so who cares.
It was very quiet at the resort as it was off season, I believe we were about 2 of 8 people staying there and so it was pleasant wandering around and looking and searching for things
The resort hotel was great really even though it was devoid of people. My review is here.http://placestostayindonesia.blogspot.com/.

We wandered down to the cafe by the sea and took lots of photos and then finally ate and also my first beer of the day. Great.

The beach at Tanjung Pesona is a mixture of golden/white sand with huge basalt rocks scattered everywhere, some look natural some looked placed but however they got there it is certainly stunning back drop and it meant that you could have your own privacy amongst the rocks should you want it. 

The sea was flat and clear and there was amost no stone on the sea bed, it was just sand and so when swimming it was great, warm water, shallow and refreshing. Just what was needed. The beaches on both side of the hotel were beautiful and empty. Swimming for me and reading for Yovita.

A thunder storm came rolling in with some rain and so we retreated to the restaurant for something else to eat and more beer and to watch the rain roll over the sea and then disappear. By then it was dark and the sunset never materialised sadly. 

The evening was spent in the room as well there was pretty much nothing else going on and so room service came and went, the food which was nice eaten and the drinks drank. 

An early night in a peaceful and relaxing place.

Sunday was up with the lark although the 9am one and so straight to the beach for us and to explore more and see more of the rocks and the views and take in the air. The day was cooler and overcast but the fact the sea was flat and the beach empty really did not matter it was idyllic and something else.

Stopping off at a shop to stock up on fish flavoured crispy things Indonesian people like we got to the airport in plenty of time. The airport was like a little shop and that's airports should be like, relaxed, no queues and smiling faces. Also 15,000 rupiah airport tax instead of the 40,000 in Jakarta was also more than welcome. The departure lounge was small and the fact the flight was late came as no surprise but 20 mins is neither here or there in the scheme of things

The flight back was ok and the view over Jakarta was nice and we came into land. Back to the crush.

No kittens in the airport on sunday. 

Getting outside was a fight as the arrival gate was crowded with everyone pushing and shoving. I had several offers of taxis and after a few 'go aways and leave me alones' and 'no, get lost, I am taking a blue bird' the men walked off. We queued for a taxi which never seemed to becoming as there were 3 lanes of nose to tail as there was no clear direction or control. 

We took an Express who got lost at Taman Anngrek and it took longer to get back than it should.

The weekend was brilliant and refreshing and I had a chance to chill by the sea and see something new and on  a different island. I could have gone to Bali but I have been there before and this was a new adventure and place. I will return thats for sure, and Belitung is next on my list of places to escape too.

What noises to do Tigers make?

Busy week. Busy at work, busy around work (apart from today). Teachers sick. 1 with dengue and another with the bad belly syndrome. I worry but they are adults and need to make sure they do the right thing. That makes work a little more adventurous. Ultimately I worked 6 days a week. I had plans for Saturday but as the best laid plans of mice and men go oft awry. So that meant cancelling bits and pieces until I could get away.

Anyway, with another of my teachers off to Singapore to get visas and enjoy the day there, it was left me to me to go and support my school with a demonstration lesson at a local kindergarten school. So off I trudge to work early and fail miserably to convince my marketing manager to cancel and take me to starbucks where I would treat her and the driver. 9am classes are not a favourite of mine. 9am classes of 5 years are even less. I not keen on 5 year olds as I used to be one and and I am sure I was no angel.
I had 30 mins to 'teach' them some vocab and some language points. Two groups, 30 mins each and thats teh hour.
So microphone in hand, the children walked in crocodile style, said some prayers and sat and stared at me. So out comes a routine. I owe my skills to a dear old friend who I used to work with many years ago who could charm the birds from the tree and he taught me how to do the same.
A little bad indonesian and then out comes some picture flashcards and to upset the schools teachers have them make lots of noises.
'What noise to tigers make?' silence. 'arrgh' They laughed. 'Whats this?' (holding another flashcard), 'A fish '   they shout, 'what noise do they make?' . silence. 'aarrrggghhhh' 'noooooooooooooo' and so on. Pretty much this went on through the animal cards I brought, including Dolphins, Goats and Cats but the students got.
Then Heads, Shoulders Knees and Toes and some counting and 30 mins was up. Hot
The next group came in singing and that too was great. This lot was a little more quiet and so I had to work a little bit harder but we got there.

That set me up for the day and it was a really good thing for me to do and now its done, I will try and avoid any more!!!
The next day I went out again with the marketing manager to do a presentation to a school to help their teachers with English. That was good also. The presentation was held in a Biology lab so that was strange but it went well and fingers and things crossed we get the job. One can only hope.

So more 12 hour teaching days and work days for me but never mind. Its all for the greater good... the greater good.

Spent some time Blog wandering and read some great blogs. There are some very good writers and educators out there and I am following them now.

Saturday work came and went very quickly which was great. And then I took the bike to be serviced. 2 hours to wait but its ok. The service place was ok, too much noise but other than that alright. I watched firstly intrigued with how they would service my bike, then with horror as the engine was taken apart and the brakes too, and then with hope and happiness as it was all put back together again and then tested. The other great thing about the bikes is that the cost to service them is so little and with a new bike I get free servicing and so all that work for nothing as Yahama pay and so thats even better. I can now relax as the bike is in great condition and serviced and now the brakes work even better.

From there to gfs house via a taxi and wow the traffic was intense this Saturday although I could not work out why, just lots of it everywhere. We went from hers to Pasar Festival to go book hunting. After some crap KFC we found 3 bookstores, 1 full of low price indonesian books and the other 2 mixed. I bought 5 books for 100,000 which is a great deal and so I have lots to read now.
It took forever to get back home where we ordered pizza after the 14th attempt. I do love fast food weekends. Not a grain of rice in sight.

West Ham won. There is a result. 4 points clear now of the relegation zone.

With a fever coming and the flu, Sunday was spent, sleeping, watching too much tv and eating lots of fruit.

I hope its a quick dose of man flu and nothing else. I have been lucky for too long and not been sick for over a year..... I guess all things come to those who wait.

Thank you

Beautiful Blogger Award

I was nominated by Multibrand for the Beautiul Blogger award back in March and only now did I realise it. I am beyond surprised and more than delighted. Thank you.

I have tagged the link and I am passing this onto other blogs which I follow.

This is how it goes:

1. Thank the person who gave you the award

2. Paste the award on your blog

3. Link the person who nominated you for the award

4. Tell 7 interesting things about yourself

5. Nominate 7 bloggers or less

6. Post links to the 7 blogs you nominated.

The 7 bloggers I would like to nominate for this award are:

1. Margaret - a great personal blog

2.Multibrand - I find his blog simply awesome 

3. Umihoney - Want to learn how to cook all things Asian, This is it.

4. Sunday Stealing - I do like lists...


5. Alterity - a great perspective of life here 

6. Stark raving Sober - gritty and so open and honest.

7. Malay ghosts - I love it, just amuses me

7 things about me

My Name is Luke Regler

I am from England and now live in Jakarta

I find blogging a way of clearing the mind and telling the world my thoughts and stories

I have been in Jakarta since 2007 and I enjoy life in Indonesia

I enjoy travelling the world but for now am focusing on travel here

I am curious about everything and always want to know more

I am told I rather serious but I like to think that I am serious but in a fun way!


And thats enough gushing for today :)