Well havn't wrote for the last few days so will start with a few last things about Bali. In Ubud we managed to get a full body massage for an hour for $20 bucks for the both of us-they call it reflexology oohhhh yeeeaaaa. We also managed to catch some authentic grub from a guy selling food from the back of his scooter-all the locals were gobbling it up so had to worth a try. It was called Bakso and was a fish ball soup with rice the best food we had had.The Bintangs provided relief from the pains we were experiencing and served cold is up there with New Zealand Beers(nice and cheap as well Dad($3 for a 750ml bottle)
Made who we stayed with in Ubud was a life saver. He was so nice and always ready to help out, so much peace love and respect to him.Our room resembled a sort of half way house clinic where we would clean our wounds, try and shower and have the odd minor wallow of our sorrows. We maintained positive throughout thou- Remember do nice things for people because you never know when you'll need it back.We went back to Legian for a night after Ubud and heard a few harrowing stories about other bike crashes that didnt make us fell all that bad about our predicament.
Well on to Jakarta and by this stage I have made a run for team co-captain. We fly into Jakarta at around 11am and after catching the bus into town(after having to stop at 3 other terminals to pick others up) the sheer magnitude of this place becomes apparent. The traffic flows at around jogging pace at best and there is a thick layer of fogg constantly hovering over this megatropolis.The heat here is new level-the humidity sticks to the back of your throat and you can smell the filth covering your body. The poverty here is absolute, we are not talking the bad parts of South Auckland here but living in shacks by a river I wouldnt advise a rat swim in. It is a place of contrasts the haves and the have nots. The haves have alot and the have nots live on around US $2 a day.
You cant phathome 17 million people even when you are inm the thick of it.The strange thing is how western it is, its almost like America but everyone is of Asian decent. We stayed in a place called Jalan Jaksa which is supposably the tourist part although travelers seemed in short supply. The room we stayed in was around 3m by 3m a bed that was to be infested with insects(I think we were attacked by fleas while we slept. We had a small window that overlooked shacks and skyrises. The toilet was interesting with tiolet paper not used here so you use a shower nosel to-you know what after you know what. Actually its quite invigerating haha.Way to gross for Kirsten though so she reorted to buying toilet paper.
We expected a hard line Muslim city but turns out after talking to some expats that its relatively moderate. We did get woken every morning at 5am for the prayer that blars out across the district. This happens five times a day. We did get stared at alot like not a quick glimpce but a wow im going to look at you for a while. This made us feel rather uncomfortable but we learnt this is there custom. The people here definately look big city depressed and not as friendly as the Balinesse.
That night we traveled two minutes down the road where some chiller had set up a stall selling our beloved Bintang which was dirt cheap and there was an American guy sopinning more yarns than Barry's dad-turns out he's writing an autobiography about his caotic life. Drinking on antibiotics probably is a good call but bugger it we need to have some fun after what weve been through.Back to our scum pitt room though
The next day we caught the bus out to the old city. Lucky the buses have their own lanes because once again the traffic moves at jogging pace. We got out to the old city-dont forget we get starred at whereever we go so imagine what the bus was like especially with our Balinesse tattoo's. We got out there which supposably has some good old Dutch buildings from when the Dutch ruled the roost but we got out there had a wee look around and thought"what are we doing out here its too hot and this place is an absolute hole. we got right back on the bus and got the hell out.
We stopped off at the National Museum which is the best I've seen. We saw all the types of tribes that inhabitied the island(200 all up) and they all look distinctly different. From their clothes customs and faces you could expect them to be from other sides of the world-not just from the next island over. The museum also went into alot of detail regarding the role Indonesia played in human evolution-200,000 years ago humans were rolling around here. I was rather stunned at the scientific emphasis on evolution considering this is the most populus Muslim state in the world.Later that night though I talked to a guy from Malaysia and it turns out humans have only been here for around 5000 years and I quote "we just dont know, the human brain cant measure back that far". This maybe was the reason why know one was at the museum.
Next was the national monument aka the national erection. It is a fortress to get in with fences surrounding the gardens and the monument complex itself. There is a high presence of polisi(police) as well so things must go down here as there are a few extremists that lurk in the shadows of Jakarta ready to go boom or as they call themselves-defenders of Islam. We went to the top and there was a man employed who sat on the seat in the lift and pushed the buttons to go up and down. He looked as though all life had been sucked out of him. I just wanted to give him a big hug. As i explained about Bali there is alot of pointless employment here. We got to the top where the viewing platform was and cracked up alughing at how little I could see. You could only see about 1km out and we were 130m up. Dont know whether it was because it was cloudy but I assume it was the fogg. We also got asked buy some girls to have their photos taken with us-celebrity sooo. I have been telling people I'm Tom Cruise after the motocycle accident.
Nothing much to talk about after that other than we didnt want to go back to our insect infested room and get bitten to pieces again. The resturant down the road served up some great food and we were partial to the Malay pancake they served.
We got up in the morning and unusually for me I was up for killing 7 hours at the airport as oppose to staying in Jakarta. The fact there is an international airport with outbound flights is one of Jakartas best traits. Dont get me wrong if you stayed in hotels and had money to go out and spend copious on drinks you would have a great time as there is a club here that plays acid trance that can hold 4000 ragging Jakarta hipsters.Im glad I came here though because it makes you feel like a choosen one to be born in a country like New Zealand, but at the same time you get the feeling that the world cannot support this type of intence human existence. There are another 50 million people in Indonesia that will soon be living like us.
Even though we had 7 hours to kill at the airport we managed to get through how we have been keeping ourselves going over the last five days-my light style of comic relief and the fact we are going to Borneo. Our excitement levels are in the stratosphere-we deserve some good luck now.
