In a press briefing in 1999, Singapore was once described as "a small red dot on map" by Mr. B.J. Habibie, former Indonesian president. His words caused quite a stir in Singapore. True, for city states as small as Singapore, 20KM long and 30 KM in width, Indonesia is such a giant in geographic terms. With more than 17,000 islands, 300 ethnic groups, and a population of over 230,000,000, it is literarily a world in itself.
I have been off and on living in Singapore since 1997 but never set my foot on Indonesia, the 2nd nearest neighbor of Singapore. In early January 2006 I finally got a chance to visit Indonesia. With only 3 days to spend (48 hours to be accurate, exclusive of transport ), I chose to sample only 2 cities, Jakarta, the capital,, and Yogyakarta, one of the major Indonesian tourist destinations.
Security is always the 1st concern. The haze of 1998 riot still is in mind. It's reported many Chinese shops were burned and hundreds of Indonesian ethnic Chinese women systematically raped. With more than 2 major terror bombings every year, I was forewarned to take cautions. When heading to the Changi airport I felt more or less like a war correspondent.
It turned out little to worry about. The streets of Jakarta were peaceful and the people friendly. However one can still felt tensions in the atmosphere. Luxurious hotels were checked carefully with airport means. While visiting the Monas, Indonesia national monument, I happened to see a small student group demonstrating towards the presidential place, and they were soon outnumbered and surrounded by efficient police forces.
Jakarta is hard to be quoted as a tourist city by either natural or historical standards. It is in my view a typical upstart metropolis of a developing country, skyscrapers and slums sitting side by side, pushcarts and BMWs fighting for roads. As I am used to a number of similar cities in China, little surprised me in Jakarta while walking around, except the language they speak, which left me completely in the dark. Wait, there was one surprise, some wire nettings safeguarding Inter-Continental Hotel has been moved to the lane next to the hotel and used by locals to hang laundry. This is a good demo of sense of humor of the people: bombing or not, life is as usual.
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Jakarta Street 1. Photo ID: Jakarta001
Jakarta Street 2: laundry on wire netting . Photo ID: Jakarta002
The day in Jakarta I visited Taman Mini, a huge miniature park in Jakarta suburbs. While I am not interested in anything not real, it nevertheless permits me a glimpse of the many thousands of Indonesian islands I will probably never visit, plus there is a Museum Indonesia, a 3-storey Baliness place filled with many splendid traditional stuffs, definitely worth seeing.
Roof of Museum Indonesia, Taman Miniature Park. Photo ID: Jakarta005
Museum piece1, Taman mini museum Indonesia. Photo ID: Jakarta007
Museum piece2, Taman mini museum Indonesia. Photo ID: Jakarta008
I have been off and on living in Singapore since 1997 but never set my foot on Indonesia, the 2nd nearest neighbor of Singapore. In early January 2006 I finally got a chance to visit Indonesia. With only 3 days to spend (48 hours to be accurate, exclusive of transport ), I chose to sample only 2 cities, Jakarta, the capital,, and Yogyakarta, one of the major Indonesian tourist destinations.
Security is always the 1st concern. The haze of 1998 riot still is in mind. It's reported many Chinese shops were burned and hundreds of Indonesian ethnic Chinese women systematically raped. With more than 2 major terror bombings every year, I was forewarned to take cautions. When heading to the Changi airport I felt more or less like a war correspondent.
It turned out little to worry about. The streets of Jakarta were peaceful and the people friendly. However one can still felt tensions in the atmosphere. Luxurious hotels were checked carefully with airport means. While visiting the Monas, Indonesia national monument, I happened to see a small student group demonstrating towards the presidential place, and they were soon outnumbered and surrounded by efficient police forces.
Jakarta is hard to be quoted as a tourist city by either natural or historical standards. It is in my view a typical upstart metropolis of a developing country, skyscrapers and slums sitting side by side, pushcarts and BMWs fighting for roads. As I am used to a number of similar cities in China, little surprised me in Jakarta while walking around, except the language they speak, which left me completely in the dark. Wait, there was one surprise, some wire nettings safeguarding Inter-Continental Hotel has been moved to the lane next to the hotel and used by locals to hang laundry. This is a good demo of sense of humor of the people: bombing or not, life is as usual.
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Jakarta Street 1. Photo ID: Jakarta001
Jakarta Street 2: laundry on wire netting . Photo ID: Jakarta002
The day in Jakarta I visited Taman Mini, a huge miniature park in Jakarta suburbs. While I am not interested in anything not real, it nevertheless permits me a glimpse of the many thousands of Indonesian islands I will probably never visit, plus there is a Museum Indonesia, a 3-storey Baliness place filled with many splendid traditional stuffs, definitely worth seeing.
Roof of Museum Indonesia, Taman Miniature Park. Photo ID: Jakarta005
Museum piece1, Taman mini museum Indonesia. Photo ID: Jakarta007
Museum piece2, Taman mini museum Indonesia. Photo ID: Jakarta008
