Jakarta...."The Big Durian"..the size and smells

    We decided to skip the Tea Plantations of Central Java since the online reports of the area seemed quite underwhelming.  We spent 5 hours at the Bus Station swatting away the monkeys, also known as the locals.  We finally got on the bus for the 14 hour ride to Jakarta.  In typical Indo fashion we went nowhere quickly, made lots of stops for no reason, drove slow where there was no traffic and fast when there was. 

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     We arrived early in the morning and collapsed in the cheapest place we could find to sleep.  We woke up and moved into a decent place with Internet, AC, cable TV and hot water.  It was nice being back in the city.  We went to Bali Deli and gorged at Chili's.  It felt great to eat like mericans.  Watching CNN and Fox news has been comical.  Fox news is precious, they don't even bother to hide their biases anymore.  I love the way they cover the election, no issues of importance matter, just BS all the way. They couldn't get over the fact that Obama didn't visit some injured troops, so therefore he is against them.  Awesome logic as always that comes from the media.  I love that they can now attack Obama and let McCain take the high road.  The media is officially useless and have evolved into PR people for the government.  Though we can thank Bush for the Obama phenomenon because there is no way he would be here without Bush's absurd abuses of power and that's a fact.

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    Jakarta is an amazing example of the disparities in wealth.  Slums next to amazing high rises.  BMW's whiz by splashing the locals with dirty street water as they brush there teeth in muddy water and wipe their asses with their hands.  Jakarta is much cleaner than Bangkok and I was surprised by its modernity and infrastructure.  The local ex-pats live in Ivory Towers scattered around the city with shopping and entertainment facilities in their building leaving them completely insulated from the local peasants.  The local ex-pat wives do  lunch and cackle with the best nuevo riche suburbanites of America concerning themselves with the finer points of life; fashion, hair, gossip, celebrities, posture, etiquette, etc.  They have a lot in common with the locals, the empathy in their voices was palpable.  I mean they really cared about the local issues; sanitation, poverty, homelessness, unemployment, etc.  It's great to get out and meet the wonderful people of the world.

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    I got offered to buy a toy replica blow dart set by no less than 32 people.  It seems that is all they sell in Jakarta, though I doubt they have much success. 

However, it was time to move on.  We are now leaving the 3rd world of Indonesia and going to the 2nd world of Malaysia where they have less concern with foreigners and things run a little more smoothly.  No more "hello mista" as we walk by or the ubiquitous "JapAneese?" thrown Ana's way.  At some point in history Indonesians thought it was cool or clever to yell at foreigners and guess what country they came from, either to show off their manner ineptitude or lack of global knowledge, either way it's immensely charming to all the tourists I'm sure.  Malaysia has buses that go places, fast Internet, and the occasional bathroom with toilet paper, oh the good life.  Things are looking up.

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monkey on a bike