Here and There Blog

I find it amazing that Jakarta can go from peaceful batik to 1000% chaos on the streets. I'm back in the hotel room and even above the streets, all I can hear are non-stop sirens, horns, and police mega-phones. It can take 30 minutes to transit around the traffic circle, longer if you don't have 3 people in the car.

 This man had the most business of the day with our group. 6 of us (not me) posed for silhouettes and that attracted more business. Above, Thania and below Daisy and Ana all try to stay still.

At the Jakarta Art Market, there are dozens of small art shops featuring traditional Indonesian work. Nothing is mass produced, each item is unique. This artist specialized in batik paintings which is all done on cloth. Makes for an easy purchase since the cloth folds up and packs neatly in the suitcase.  We all had our pictures taken with our batik art and the artist. Below, Ana and Eugenia with their batik paintings.

July 28, 2010 at 1:08 pm was a good day to start a business. Our business did not start that day but the family came in to make sure that when we do open, sales and business will go great. Part of this was to pass out good luck packets to the employees and the placing of the oranges near the cash registers. Food is also key. All the food meant something. Some cakes were for luck in money, others were to increase your knowledge. I was bummed as I ate the money cake but didn't realize that the other cake was for knowledge. Obviously my knowledge of this ceremony was lacking! It was a feast.  I'm sure that with this much family support, the business will be successful. The team is assured of good fortune!  I'm fortunate to have such a great team!

It was an easy 90 minute flight from Kuala Lumpur to Jakarta.  It was a hard 2 hours, 30 minutes to exit the airport. Jakarta has a Visa upon arrival program. You get off the plane and stand in a line. Yesterday that line was 47 minutes. People around me said it was the worst they had ever seen the line but others said this was normal. After that, you get to stand in line for another 60 minutes to get stamped in. That was one jostling, queue cutting, stressed out mob. One immigration agent would process 4 people to another's one, and the lines would jump and shift. Once inside baggage claim it was time to hunt for where your luggage had been placed since it had been sitting around for a good 90 minutes waiting for you to show up. Then, a 20 minute line to get out and have your bags screened.  When you're this late, of course the hotel pickup is behind schedule and there's the scramble to find a car. 3 hours after arrival I was finally in my room with a deceptively nice n...