Page 47 and a strange fruit.

[Indofred]

Most of Jakarta's rivers are filthy, full of rubbish and raw sewage.
Kids still play in them.

 

[Indofred]

Food stalls are everywhere, including in shopping malls.

I was informed it was killer spicy but, whilst it was hot, it wasn't that hot.
It did taste lovely and I can recommend it to all.
It's in Pasar Festival, Jalan H.R. Rasuna Said, near the big Immigration office.
There's also an Indian food stall in there I fully intend to try next time around.

 

[Luddly Neddite]

I love your photos. Nothing I love as much as traveling and if I'm not actually going, I'll pour over photos for hours.

Thanks very much for taking them and posting them here.

 

[Indofred]

Just around the corner from the binmen, you can wander into a top end mall with top end everything for sale.

Not that a Lamborghini is any use out here.
Potholes, illegal road humps and traffic jams make them a waste of time.

 

[Indofred]

I love your photos. Nothing I love as much as traveling and if I'm not actually going, I'll pour over photos for hours.

Thanks very much for taking them and posting them here.

Thank you for your kind words.

 

[Luddly Neddite]

You can see a similar scene around US fish packing companies - except its eagles.

Your outdoor cooking scenes remind me of the desert southwest. Native Americans and Mexicans cook the most wonder fry bread with all the fixin's. Its delicious although never to be confused with health food.

This scene is just fascinating. The sewing machine on the left ...

Again, the desert southwest. In northern AZ, when electricity finally made it to the Navajo and Hopi reservations, all the homes had TVs. The power of advertising is enormous. In one village that I saw, there was one electrical cord that went to a central spot and individuals then strung cord to each of their homes. The electrical cord entered the home at the center, one light bulb hung from there and then a maze of extension cords like a huge skinny octopus.

Most Americans have no clue what much of the world has to do just to be clean.

These are very attractive people, btw.

I could go on and on but wanted to let you know how much I have enjoyed your ongoing travelogue.

 

[Luddly Neddite]

The third world does our real recycling. I recently read a photo essay about the recycling of our technical refuse. All the computers, cel phones etc we throw away are killing the people who are so poor they have no choice but to work recycling it. Like the leather producers in India using chemicals that cause testicular cancer - if they want to work, if they want to support their families, they do the work.

 

[Luddly Neddite]

Before I say anything else, DO NOT click on this link if you don't like blood.

My posts are what I see here, and not designed to be nice, tourist inspired or anything other than reality.
The video shows the halal killing of goats and a cow in a coupl eof local mosques.

The first place took care of the animals and didn't let the others see the one that was being killed; I can't say the same for the second place.
That was a production line and many of the animals were clearly stressed.

Produce - YouTube

This thread is purely to show life over here. I make little comment on the content, just post what I see.
Clearly, this post is potentially controversial but I would prefer, if you want to engage in debate, you start a new thread and leave this one clean to do its intended job.

Thank you.

The US is SO much worse.

 

[Luddly Neddite]

Rat in a mango tree

rat mango - YouTube

In the Caribbean, there were gazillions of tame but loose horses on the island. They had a great way of picking up the mango, biting into only the skin and then bobbing their heads up and down to skin it before very deftly eating the meat down to the large seed. Even a little orphan colt had the technique down.

They would come up to us when we parked but when we didn't have mangoes for them, they would move on.

 

[Luddly Neddite]

Village life is simple.
Combing the kids' hair

Feeding the kids with a bit of rice.

both of them

Kids ride their bikes

Looks liek they love their kids. Same kind of thing I would see in the southwestern US. Mexicans and Native Americans have very close families and adore their kids. You especially see macho looking guys playing with, dandling, cooing, loving their little sibs or their own kids. Very charming.

 

[Luddly Neddite]

Oh UGH.

Sad that its not just cigarettes we're exporting. Garbage "food" too. How long before they're diabetic from crap American food?

 

[Indofred]

Most Americans have no clue what much of the world has to do just to be clean.

These are very attractive people, btw.

I could go on and on but wanted to let you know how much I have enjoyed your ongoing travelogue.

So many posts to choose from but this was the one I decided to comment on.

The thread is partially for my fun hobby of messing around with my wonderful Fujifilm HS50 (They didn't pay me for that free ad but they deserve a mention because the camera is so ruddy great at the job I want it for) and partially to inform people about Indonesia.
This place is absolutely nothing like any western country (Except for the shopping malls) and, for all its faults, I love the place.
Apart from the amazing food, the people make this country.
They're friendly and welcoming to strangers and love to talk to the oddball white guy who wanders into places most Indonesians never go.
Out here, white guys have a rep of being very rich (expat wages are very high) so most poor Indonesians never meet us. I wander around rubbish dumps, illegal villages and other really odd places, trying to get a handle on what really makes this country tick.
I post this thread on an Indonesian forum and even locals comment they have never seen many of the things I snap.
That rather makes it worthwhile.

As for attractive, yes, in looks and in outlook.
The people in the photo above probably make in a year what I get in a week but they never ask for a thing (but I often carry a load of sweet to give to local kids).

 

[Luddly Neddite]

So many posts to choose from but this was the one I decided to comment on.

Hey, if I made a post for every comment I wanted to make about a photo, there would be as many of my posts as of yours.

Somewhere, I read that Americans expect and demand "happiness". That we feel its owed to us. So, we keep acquiring more and more STUFF and never feel happy.

 

[Indofred]

So many posts to choose from but this was the one I decided to comment on.

Hey, if I made a post for every comment I wanted to make about a photo, there would be as many of my posts as of yours.

Somewhere, I read that Americans expect and demand "happiness". That we feel its owed to us. So, we keep acquiring more and more STUFF and never feel happy.

That comment fits a lot more than Americans.
The consumer economy is a massive con job that tells us we need more crap and bank loans to pay for it.
I, as most, was sucked into this when I was in England.
I had a fantastic stereo, massive TV and all the other crap but still preferred to listen to the little radio and watch a portable DVD player.
I sold the lot about a year before I moved out of England and missed none of it.

The middle classes here do exactly the same as people in western countries.
Their new car sits in the driveway of their new house where they keep their new LED TV and sit on their new sofa, not enjoying life because it's all on credit they can't afford.

The poor can't afford any of that and,much as they have little money, they generally have little debt so tend to be happier.
Of course, poverty brings many other problems but wasting money brings stress and unhappiness.

Life is funny like that.

 

[Indofred]

I'm often asked why I like Indonesia so much so I thought I'd try to explain.
This morning, a veggie seller walked down the road and, as we needed a few things, my wife asked her to come into the drive.
A few women from the street saw her as well so they all congregated and chatted as they bought the veggie.

This country is so friendly, it's hard to imagine unless you visit.

 

[Indofred]

There are many micro businesses out here, selling little bits and making almost no profit.

Towards new year, they expand their business.

As new year gets closer, half the country seems to follow suit.

This line is a common sight on busy roads.

 

[Indofred]

There was a serious accident out here a couple of weeks ago. A train hit a petrol tanker that had tried to beat the train over a level crossing; the tanker lost in a big way.
There was a crackdown, including more security at crossing and closing illegal crossing.
The sign says (paraphrased), don't make a level crossing here and mentions a massive fine or a year in the nick.

But there's an illegal crossing anyway.

It doesn't take long before you see someone cross. Several went over in the ten minutes I was there.

 

[Indofred]

Disability and poverty are common partners.

A lot of people thing we don't bother with Christmas here; they may be wrong.

 

[Indofred]

Warung is a small shop
Net just means internet.

A warnet is an internet cafe and, as much of Indonesia isn't well served and is too expensive for many to have at home, these places are popular.

As there are few land lines in villages; connection is by radio.

Village life is commonly simple.

as are the drains. You'll notice the washing soap is coming out of the drain, directly into the river, as is commonly the case for the toilet waste.

 

[Indofred]

English is a popular language but many don't actually know what their T shirts say.