Indonesia: Bandung and Jakarta

When I arrived in Bandung, Indonesia my host Freddy picked me up from the train station on his motorcycle.He would end up being one of my favorite hosts I've ever had. He bought me a welcome dinner and it turns out he has many fascinating stories and experiences. Over dinner I learned he lived in Banda Aceh on Sumatra for 4 years. Aceh is the only province in Indonesia that has Sharia law.Complete with the special police who come around making sure everybody is covered and beards are being grown, talibanesque! Freddy didn't have to worry about that though, he can flash his license that shows he is a Christian. This is something that bothers me about Indonesia. All the citizens have their religion on their identity cards.
Banda Aceh was hit very hard by the 2004 tsunami. Prior to the tsunami it was a conflict zone fighting for its independence form Indonesia. Since the tsunami they have made a peace agreement and are now a "special territory" with some autonomy. One of the few positives of the tsunami



The December 26, 2004 tsunami killed 230,000 people in Aceh and left another 500,000 homeless. Freddy was sent there by the Indonesian government 7 days later and stayed for 2 months. He then got a 5 year leave from the government and lived there for 4 years working for the Canadian Red Cross. We spent a couple hours looking over and discussing his pictures. They are the most powerful, tragic, graphic pictures I have ever seen. I will share some pictures of the material devastation here, along with the new Aceh. The pictures are not all his, but most are. They all came from his personal album

Some of the pictures in this album are very very graphic, be warned. There are powerful images of dead bodies and very sick people awaiting death, many died from the stress alone. I find the looks on the faces of those alive to be the most powerful. So open at your own discretion.

http://picasaweb.google.com/zeppelinzoso16/TsunamiBandaAcehDecember2004CautionExtremelyGraphic

some more recent pictures of Aceh, including more inland areas (not graphic)
http://picasaweb.google.com/zeppelinzoso16/InterestingPlacesAroundBandaAceh#
http://picasaweb.google.com/zeppelinzoso16/HuntingFotoJovieDaniel#

in line for water

everything has been rebuilt

Told if you go there now you will never know what happened, except for the millions of stories people will tell you

Been turned into a memorial

The new Ache, so colorful

Back in Business

leaving Freddy's house in Bandung

Freddy is full of interesting stories, not all humanitarian. The day before I arrived he had gone to eat cobra, I just missed it! However, he did invite me to eat dog which I respectfully declined. Freddy told me when he was a kid his dad hosted a party. Somebody was missing at this party, the family dog! Apparently his father who was from Sulewesi where they eat everything, cooked him up to serve to his guests. Then a couple years later the same scenario occurred. It was ok though, his father promised him they would get a "better dog". They got a new dog but his fate wasn't any different. After high school Freddy moved to Papua only to receive a phone call from his crying sister telling him their father had eaten the 3rd dog too. Freddy claims he has never eaten his own dog or anyone's pet, only dogs raised for the purpose of being eaten. Hmm


flooded streets in Bandung

Tangkuban Perahu near Bandung

Freddy

Freddy's neighbor, she invited me to a party at her home but sadly was the day I left

Bandung traffic, never seen so many scooters/motorcycles as in Indonesia

From Bandung I took the short mini bus ride to Jakarta. My string of great hospitality in Indonesia continued with Fajar who invited me into his home for a few days. Like Freddy, he also picked me up from the station. We headed straight out to sushi and I was given a lesson on how to use chopsticks. A valuable skill in Asia

National Momument in Jakarta. The 433 foot tall structure symbolizes Indonesia's fight for Independence

Fajar helped to organize a great CS event at the Taman Mini Museum in Jakarta. It is an open air museum slash theme park with sections of the park devoted to the culture of different islands in Indonesia. Each island will display traditional houses, dress, sometimes music etc. Very unique place. Also the perfect place to play "The Amazing Race" which is what we did, or as CS Jakarta called it "Around Indonesia in 1/2 a day". Must admit my team finished dead last, but the concept was great...

map of Indonesia. I can name the islands, can you?

After the game we went to see an Obama documentary since he spent a few years of his childhood in Jakarta and speaks fluent Bahasa. It had stopped playing the previous day, but at least there was directions on how to use the sink or I never would have managed to wash my hands.

This is Panang. It is really cool, they bring out all the food then you pay for what you eat

Brain, lungs, anchovies, cow foot. It's all there :)

Jakarta pictures
http://picasaweb.google.com/zeppelinzoso16/JakartaIndonesia#
Bandung pictures
http://picasaweb.google.com/zeppelinzoso16/BandungIndonesia#