Friday, November 16, 2007

Chet & Carmen

It's been way too long since I last posted some music. Here's something worth listening to any time of day



Monday, November 12, 2007

Bye bye Jakarta

How traffic jammed can a city be? Travelling from any A to B in Jakarta takes you at least 30 minutes, but it's better to count on an hour instead. The first thing the taxidriver says is 'maceeeet' or crowded, traffic jam. Yeah well, get used to it. The Indonesian newspaper Kompas runs a daily series on the issue. One of its conclusions is that the congested city is costing a whole lot of money. All these hours that highly paid staff spend inside their car are wasted - because it sure isn't advised to write a little something on your laptop with all those sudden stops. Since the expansion of the buslanes - which can only be used by the TransJakarta buses - the roads have gotten narrower which led to a lot of complaints. Only one of the many things to solve here... but it does make for a few nice pictures. Look here, Jakarta by night:

Friday, November 9, 2007

Sick of Jakarta?

Who would have thought I'd be caught with a flu in Indonesia? Well, from the huge amount of medicins available for this illness, it is not all that uncommon here. The typically Indonesian questions: "Sudah minum obat?" (Have you already taken medicine?) has of course been posed many times. I have taken some freaky colored tablets and mostly try to sleep a lot. My sister has come over to take care of me, so all will be well soon.

As I have not been so good in actually writing updates on all that I have been doing here, I refer to the blog of my (until recently) travel partner Marc Visch: http://www.blub.web-log.nl. Where he found the time for these reflections on Indonesia, I am not sure. For the Dutch readers among you, it is recommended reading material! Enjoy! For now, I am stuck here:



(c)Marc Visch

Sunday, November 4, 2007

Republic of dreams - Republik Mimpi

How to step into the republic of my dreams? Without being aware, I entered it last Sunday in Jakarta. In the studio of Metro TV, the leaders of this republic came together to spread their word of good governance. Even though they looked a lot like the politicians ruling Indonesia, their policies are very different. Suciwati, the widow of human rights activist Munir, reported to the president of the Republik Mimpi about the current situation in Indonesia, where impunity still reigns. Perhaps one day, Indonesia will be more like Republik Mimpi...





Thursday, November 1, 2007

View from my hotel in Jakarta



Hotel Le Grandeur... I am not complaining