Trouble Posting to the Blog

Note: Blogger is not loading correctly on the computer I am using. This post will probably get made, but there are no editing tabs for me to use for making items bold, for making links, etc. It's just another example of how difficult it has been to maintain the blog in Indonesia. Even though I am in the capital of the country, I am still getting slow computer connections and having problems with computer settings. It has taken me 27 minutes to get to the point of being able to start this entry since logging onto the the computer. It is frustrating!!

Friday, July 13, 2007--Jakarta

I walked far northward of where I am staying to the older part of Jakarta called Koda. It's the old Dutch center of town. Mainly, it consists of a square, a canal and a port area. I toured a couple of museums that were interesting--one in the old town hall housing historical exhibits and the other in an old government building housing an art museum. The historical museum was the better of the two and had some really nice examples of old teak furniture. The canal was smelly and filthy. An old Dutch drawbridge across it is falling apart. It's not an attractive part of the city. Many of the old buildings are like the drawbridge--in such bad condition that it may be impossible for them to be saved.

I took the train back to my part of town. The local train is slow and crowded. Most westerners would consider it to be terrible service--not frequent enough, not fast enough, and not clean enough. It was better than walking back in the heat, though.

I stopped at a neighborhood restaurant that looked fine. But my soup was not very good. The rice for it was dry. The meat was not good quality. I did have a wonderful glass a fresh juice, though.

After being frustrated on the computer, I returned to the room to rest. I finally went out in the evening for a late dinner. I went to a westernized place and had spaghetti carbanara. It was okay, but not great.

Saturday, July 14, 2007--Jakarta

It's been two months now since I left San Antonio. Another week will put me at the halfway point in my travels for this year.

I went to the nearby National Museum today. It's a wonderful museum. It is large with very nice exhibits that are well organized. One of the things I liked was that they would often have a photo graph to go with an exhibit. For instance, if they were showing face masks, then there would be a photo showing a native person in one of the masks (or a similar one) when it was being used as a part of their routine life in the country. They museum had a new addition with lots of exhibits to see. There were also treasury rooms with the nicest things. It's one of the better museums in Asia, I think.

In the afternoon, I bought my air ticket to fly me to Medan on the island of Sumatra on Thursday. I stopped by the travel agency to check on times and went to my room to consider the possibilities. I discovered there will be a bus from Bogor (where I am going next) directly to the airport, so I decided to get the ticket for approximately 2 p.m. When I returned to get the ticket, the prices had gone down, so I saved about $7. That was a pleasant surprice. That will pay my airport departure tax and buy me a good meal here!

Later, I walked to Plaza Indonesia. That's the fanciest shopping center in Jakarta. It is filled with all the international designer names. It was clean and attractive. One thing I noticed was how many Indians were shopping there. I haven't seen many Indians in Indonesia, but there were plenty of them there at that mall. Guess the Indians are among the upper class here.

On the way back, I stopped at a new center that was interesting from the outside. It consisted of multiple boxes juxtaposed at different angles and painted bright colors. Inside, it was obvious that it is a mall built specifically for young people. There were no major department stores. In fact, stores selling clothing and accessories only take up about 1/4 of the mall, and they are all things like jeans shops, costume jewelry, etc. The rest of the mall consists of stores selling electronics, food establishments, a blowling alley, a cinema complex, and a central count with a massive sound and light system for hosting concerts. It's a unique idea that seems quite successful. I haven't run across such a mall elsewhere before, but I bet they get built everywhere in time.

I had skipped lunch, so I had an early dinner at a streetside stall. A woman was serving soup, and I had seen lots of people there the night before. Well, I know why now. It was one of the best soups I have ever had. It had a nice dark broth, noodles, chunks of beef, cabbage, tomatoes, what tasted like pieces of pork skin, and thin rice crackers. It was wonderful. I'll probably go back there tomorrow night to eat again!!

I stayed inside in the evening. I'm still waiting for my ear to clear. It is still stuffy and popping. I can't really tell if there is any improvement or not. I'm at the end of Day 7 of my 10-day regimen of taking amoxicillin for it and my other cold symptoms. Essentially, the stopped up ear is the only problem remaining. It's a frustrating one, though, especially since it is a constant irritant and it interferes with my hearing.