Singapore Day 8

Jakarta container port

We arrived in Jakarta in the early morning, but the port was very busy. This is the largest port in Indonesia, and we are surrounded by container ships and thousands of containers. I did not realize that Indonesia is the 4^th largest country of the world in terms of population (The first three being China, India and the United States.), but there is certainly an indication of it in port activity.

Typical Jakarta traffic

We boarded a nice coach and set off on the extremely crowded streets for our first stop on the tour. It turns out that Tuesday and Thursday are container days in Jakarta, so there were a myriad of trucks leaving the port. Pollution of the air was very noticeable, as is trash...just like India, no shock to me, but shocking to some on the bus.

Preferred transportation

Barry Obama

Our guide, Diana, was very enthusiastic about her country and her city of Jakarta. Her English was a little interesting, but not too bad. Our first stop was at the primary school, Menteng 1 Elementary, that Barack Obama attended for five years. There is a bronze statue of a 10-year-old Barry Obama at the school entrance. This was a tea stop, and we had coffee, tea, and local snacks, lots of sticky rice and unknown other “pastry,” very interesting. 

 The school is in a nice leafy section of central Jakarta, and is an English standard school, so the schoolchildren spoke English, and acted like typical 9-10 year olds.

The minaret at the Istiqlal Mosque

Next we drove to Istiqlal Mosque through motorcycle laden streets. I can see why the motorcycle is so popular here, it is the only way to navigate the streets with any speed at all. A lifesaver that helmets are required. The most popular, Honda, followed by Yamaha and Kawasaki.

See the man in the front center?
This place is huge!

Indonesia is the largest Moslem country in the world, and has the third largest mosque (following Mecca and Medina, both in Saudi Arabia). Constructed in 1978, this structure honors Indonesia's independence and is large enough to accommodate over 200,000 worshipers!

Veggies at the market

Leaving the Mosque, we went to a “traditional” market. I was expecting a general sort of market, selling nearly everything, but this market sold vegetables, fruits, meat, fish, shrimp, turtles, frogs and rabbits. Upsetting to some to realize that all these animals are nothing more than food as they were still alive. Very messy and very smelly. I finally smelled a durian, which is supposed to smell like hell and taste like heaven. I didn't think it smelled that bad, but I didn't get to taste it either.

Pinisi

Our final stop was in Sunda Kelapa harbour, dating from the 14^th century to see the pinisi, which are the traditional wooden boats that transport goods to and from some of the 17,000 islands that make up the Indonesian archipelago.

Some excitement tonight at dinner. Got the announcement “Man Overboard” made by the Captain, and it wasn't a drill. Apparently someone had fallen off a railing while sitting on it, something you're told not to do. He yelled and it was noticed, thank goodness for him. Ship stopped and a tender was launched. He was found swimming and is seemingly OK. Bet he gets a bill for that.

Trivial tonight was great. We won, not once but twice, and this after not winning anything for days!