small5.jpg)
I arrived in Jakarta via Malaysia, where I’ve been for the last few days getting my visa. The plane ride was just a couple of hours and 1 time zone away. Everyone seems eager to talk with you here, or at least to a female bule (foreigner). The first people I meet are two guys sitting near me while waiting for the bus from the airport to central Jakarta. We strike up a conversation and randomly enough, one of the men attended my same university in the small town of Bloomington, Indiana, but enrolled the year I was born. Needless to say, I never expected the first Indonesians I’d meet in Jakarta to start talking to me about US college basketball. They were both pleasant and quite helpful too, since they were disembarking at the same stop and could point me to Jalan Jaksa, the main tourist street with budget accommodations.
The next people I met were at the guesthouse. I stopped at Kresna homestay, and while waiting for the manager to get back from lunch, started talking with two fellows hanging out in the lobby. After initial introductions, I discover that they both come from Sumatra and work in the tourism industry. They have degrees in hotel management, and training has brought them to Jakarta. Specifically, cruise ship training. Online they had discovered a 2 month training program in Jakarta that guaranteed placements on US cruise ships. After an intense program in English grammar, diction, etc. they have developed fairly good American accents and one already has a placement on a cruise liner that caters only to seniors and departs from Tampa, Florida. Long hours, hard work, and absence of family, they said they are willing to endure for the expected economic benefits. I ask them some questions about the tourism industry in Indonesia. The younger one eagerly responds that Sumatra has much better tourism areas than Java, but Yogyakrta, the Borobudur temple complex, and Mt. Bromo were all good tourist locations in Java. When I ask how environmentally the places were handling tourism, the other one responded, “In many places older people don’t treat the environment right, and younger people follow this behavior.”
“Do you think this will change,” I next asked.
He responded that he hoped so, since the effects can already be seen, like with the smog in Jakarta. “Some places are trying to change this and become cleaner, like Bali and Yogyakarta, and sometimes the government tries to educate people through TV or getting people together to do a town project,” he explains. Also, to my surprise, his friend mentions the UN global climate conference that took place in Bali and how after wards the government has backed efforts to improve the environment by promoting activities such as tree planting. “Everyone is supposed to plant a tree, even in their front yard if there is room,” he commented. I couldn’t help but smile and ask, “Have you had a chance to plant a tree?” They laugh, not yet, they’ve been too busy with thier course.
After the manager gets back and I finally check in, I head back out to find some lunch. I stop at a little place which shows pictures of the food. As I wait I’m joined but another customer who sits down and joins me. Riv Ano Osmar, as his business card reads, is the owner of coco factory in Jakarta and a coffee bean plantation in Papua. I admit I gulped a bit, just the other night I had been reading about Papua and how many of the residents dislike the Javanese business men who come and harvest the islands natural resources and take the profits back to Java. Riv was a stocky man and I ended up talking to him mostly about food, not the complicated issues of Papua (Irian Jaya). We talked about the difference between food on the different islands, Indonesian specialties, and whether the Dutch had left their mark on the food. His opinion, “No!” In fact, he did not have good things to say about people who, like the Dutch, tend to keep their food separated, instead of blending the meat, vegetables, and sauce into one dish as is typical with Asian meals. When I finished, I thanked him for the information and walked a few blocks North to the National Monument.
The monument is a tall white marble obelisk with a sculpted gold leaf flame on top. A guide hanging around the statue fills me in on some details of the monument and what you can see from the top. I can’t help but notice he is wearing a light blue WWF shirt promoting Ujung Kulon National Park, home to the nearly extinct Javanese rhino (around 55 remain) and a plethora of other unique flora and fauna. His name is Andy, a slight and bespectacled man of Sudanese origins. He’s worked as a guide for the past twelve years, despite the slowdown in the number of travelers. Andy is not optimistic that this year’s “Visit Indonesia 2008” promotion is going to turn this around.
On my way back to the Jl. Jaksa guest house I run into 3 young high school girls in school uniforms. They were wearing long blue skirts and white shirts, and two had the additional white head scarf covering. “Can we interview you?” was their question. Their teacher had given them the assignment to tape a conversation with a foreigner. They had a list of questions all ready. I happily cringe, I mean agree, and sit down with the first girl. I think this might have been a little more fun if I hadn’t just been working as an ESL teacher. Anyway, I smile and put her at ease as she sits down and asks me questions. For the most part, all the questions were understandable, except “what you do want with Indonesians?” I was a bit baffled, but decided to go with how beautiful and nice the people are, and I even threw in how beautiful the country is for good measure. This led to a rather rambling answer on my part, and I could tell she hadn’t the slightest idea what I meant. However, she smiled back at me as she asked her final questions. Then her friend put her tape in the tape player, interviewed me using the exact same questions, as did the third girl.
One last thing I discovered during this first day - the sublime taste of an avocado shake mixed with chocolate sauce. Seriously, I had no idea this combination would possibly taste so good. While this is just the beginning of my trip, I hope it continues in this same vein. It’s been a long and interesting day … I just wonder what tomorrow will be like, or who I’ll meet?
