Page 47 and a strange fruit.

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Indonesian level crossings can be fun.

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6oe2cPcNB0I&feature=youtu.be]level crossing - YouTube[/ame]

 

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You see traffic jams a lot in Indonesia. Way too many cars, no driver training and crap roads will do that.

You know when a stretch of road is always jammed because you see people selling food and drinks in the jams.

 

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A road improvement scheme....but they forgot to sort out the electricity poles.
I think this one has been sipping vodka.

This one isn't quite at the side of the road.

This one looks fine

or maybe not

Still, they've sorted it out and made it safe.

 

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Most people in Indonesia seem to buy a driving licence, if they have one at all, and the police hardly ever enforce road law.

 

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Another rubbish motorbike. Again, used on the roads.

 

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Look closely, no, closer.

Yes, he's carrying a tree on his motorbike.

 

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House prices are on the up in Indonesia.
They seem to be rising at about 30%/year in Jakarta and the surrounding areas, making it profitable to build like mad.
Mini estates are everywhere and bigger builders are buying any crap land and reclaiming as much for building as they can.
This field was lower before the builders got to it and always flooded, so they built it up and added walls to the river banks.

I don't think anyone realised exactly how bad the flooding was because it's flooded and, if there's more rain tonight, the lot will be under.
problem is, they can't build it up further as that will flood the three year old estate on the other side and, here's the killer, that may flood anyway because the flood plain has gone and the water has no where to go.
It gets worse.
A lot of building in Indonesia is funded by customers buying before the build starts, commonly using bank loans. The banks have killed that off now but this was before the new rules so I'm guessing a few people will be less than happy this evening.

The wall running along the centre is the flood defence.

There's only one river, the rest is flood water.

I think I'll skip buying a house there and, if they'd only asked the locals about the flooding, no one would buy one.
I had this conversation with people in the village at the other end of this estate only last month. We'd all seen it badly flooded and we all knew this was about to happen.

 

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Markets are fun places. The modern markets are clean and tidy.

Here's looking at you, babe.
(Sorry about misquoting Casablanca so I can get in a reference to a sheep farming porker.)

 

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This bridge is close to falling into the river.
Note the long crack and the angle of fall to the left.

But that doesn't stop cars from using it.

 

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The bridge.

At least he's empty.

But.....

Yep, a full load of sand.

 

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First - that bridge.
Anyone care to wager as to how long before it falls?

I've seen cocks fighting before but the owners usually pull them apart and chase one away.
This was a cock fight and, although I didn't see any money changing hands, they were shouting far to much to be doing this just for sadistic fun
I didn't hang around until the end.
One man shouted, "watch out, camera", but no one much seemed to care.

 

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A man looks up a tree.

It's rambutan seaon again. Rambutan is a sweet, haity fruit that's as popular as it is common.

I hope to be going into Jakarta tomorrow so, if all works out well, I'll have some interesting snaps to post.

 

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An overused Indonesia phrase is "Tidak apa apa".
It literally means, No what what, but actually means, It doesn't matter, it's OK or, It'll be fine.
No one thinks anything will happen to them so anything goes, regardless of how ruddy obvious the problem is.

Sometimes.....oops.......

 

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A high building being renovated.

and a worker, risking his life because health and safety is a bad joke out here.

 

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A slight aside from my usual stuff so I can tell you a little history.
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I've been over here for quite a while now but, every so often, a little reminder of my old life crops up.
I was hunting through some old files when I found this picture of my disco/karaoke stuff just before I left England.
My disco career started when an alcoholic friend asked me to run his show for him while he was on holiday.
He trained me up for a couple of weeks then left me to it. It proved so popular, I carried on for over 20 years.
I made a lot of cash out of that and had some great fun.
I started using vinyl and a bloody great big pair of cloud 9 decks, eventually moving on to a PC based system.
After a while, I moved on to karaoke, mostly using computer files, so I used a second laptop for that.
I also specialised in Chinese karaoke, a big deal that proved a nice little earner.

My last show, sadly, was ruined by a drunk who caused a fight and ended the night rather early. A bad end to a fun 20 odd years.

 

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Zombies, I'm assured, eat brains.
This daddy has nothing to worry about in the event of the undead attacking Jakarta.

 

[Luddly Neddite]

First - that bridge.
Anyone care to wager as to how long before it falls?

I've seen cocks fighting before but the owners usually pull them apart and chase one away.
This was a cock fight and, although I didn't see any money changing hands, they were shouting far to much to be doing this just for sadistic fun
I didn't hang around until the end.
One man shouted, "watch out, camera", but no one much seemed to care.

Sad to see that just like here, men get chickens to do what they are too chicken to do themselves.

Still enjoying your travelogue.

 

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Sad to see that just like here, men get chickens to do what they are too chicken to do themselves.

Still enjoying your travelogue.

Thank you.
There is always something new to see here but this one angered me more than a little.
Of course, as you said, cock fighting is natural behaviour, but I usually see some guy come along and separate them.
Betting on this is more than a little distasteful.

There is always a dark side to any country, as I find out from time to time.
Whilst in Glodok (part of Jakarta) the other day, a taxi driver offered me a trip to a brothel.
This isn't unusual in itself as every country has them but that evil little toad offered me an SMA schoolkid.
SMA is senior high school, age range from around 15 to 18.
I wondered how far he would go so I asked about SMP (12 to 15 years old).
He informed me he had a 13 year old from Sulawesi, an island far away from Jakarta.
He was selling her virtues as being very tight and having nice breasts.
I suspect, from the way he was speaking, he'd taken that pleasure.

I was a little slow on that occasion, probably shock because I'd never been offered that before, or I would have recorded the conversation using my mobile phone camera and handed it to the cops.

Every country has evil little toads, Indonesia is no exception.

 

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People hang around in train stations - mostly for begging or busking.

In countries with free health care, birth deformities are operated on and repaired as much as possible - here, you must have cash or you stay disabled for life.

When you get off the train, transport is easy to find.
Motorcycle taxis and Bajai (tuk tuk) are easy to find but you may not get to your destination in good health.
That area of Jakarta has terrible traffic and these guys are as mad as spoons.

 

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Road humps are way too common in Indonesia.
Most are illegal, badly designed and many are far too high, some to the point of cars getting stuck on them.
They are built in the name of child safety.
However, the steaming morons who build them allow little kids to ride motorbikes.
This is a common sight away from main roads.