Indonesia through my Eyes

People keep asking me what is Indonesia like? What does it look like? Where is it (get a map, lazy!)? Well, here you go, some answers to appease your curiosity: Indonesia through my eyes. You already know about my airport experience so I will not bore you with more from that. One important thing to understand, before we embark on this visionary quest, is that Jakarta, the city where I will be for the next two months IS NOT representative of all of Indonesia. Imagine being asked to judge all of the United States on a two month stay in Los Angeles. You would get a very skewed picture of the place…well, that is how it is in Jakarta. Indonesia is massive and thus is rich in culture and traditions –unfortunately Jakarta is very westernized. Here we go.

The drive from the airport to the hotel was fascinating. One second you are driving past beautiful shopping malls next to lovely office buildings and skyscrapers…the next second you are driving past landfills, polluted rivers and slums. It is quite the juxtaposition. There are motorbikes everywhere, street carts selling food wherever you look and people all over the place. I think that the biggest adjustment has been not being able to see the sun or clouds or a blue sky. There is so much pollution here that it is very rare not to see an endless expanse of gray above you.

I suppose there is some beauty here. The people thus far, beside the starring and the occasional judgement for being white, are lovely. Also, at night, when all of the city is lit up and the skyscraper’s lights are able to penetrate the polluted air it is quite beautiful. I am hoping to see some more of Indonesia cultures during weekend day-trips and some weekends we have planned in Bali and Yogyjakarta. So excited. It is for sure nothing like Australia…but alas, if you are trying to “see Indonesia through my eyes” you should understand that I have quite poor eyesight…I wear contacts. Therefore, you should see it for yourself. I will undoubtedly take pictures and share stories until you can plan a trip.