Fred went a wandering.

Kota Tua (old town) is a tourist area ... for most.

You can get a taxi - Yes, it's a taxi



Other people engage in other work, including this old dude.





and he isn't the only one



People in that situation have little choice but to work until they drop.

Election time sees mass rallies in support of whichever candidate is putting one on that day.
This was for the first dude on the ballot paper, number one, or Pak Agus.
This election has special twist with lots of accusations and rumours, but these rallies don't much change.
The mood was all in good heart and basically a fun day out, but it would be if the taxi driver was telling the truth when he said they got paid Rp100,000 each with free snacks and drinks.

Holding the finger up is saying. "Vote number 1".

Motorcycle safety Indonesian style

If this guy were in England the police hotline (999) would be red hot, but it's nothing to care about here.







and lots of people buy. A knife costs around a quid if it's a good one.

I went shopping in a very good local supermarket this morning.
Supermarkets here are pretty much the same as large places in the UK but they do tend to sell a few items we don't see in western countries.
Indonesia is a still a new country, only having kicked the colonialists out after WWII, and that means developing in many ways, including wealth.
The majority of middle class Indonesians are still only one or two generations removed from the villages their families came from, and that means traditional foods are still popular.

Kulit ayam - Chicken skin



Kaki ayam - chicken feet



Don't forget the head

The way to get a driving licence used to be wait ages in a queue or pay and not wait in a queue but that's changing rapidly.
The upshot is it's harder to get a licence without knowing how to drive and everyone has to wait in a long queue.
It's going to take a long time before the roads are sorted out, but it's on its way.
But, and there's always a big but - 12 year old kids ride motorbikes on major roads.

Would be glad to accompany you or take me with you wandering

23likethis wrote:

Would be glad to accompany you or take me with you wandering

I like to wander alone as I tend to go where the wind blows me rather than have any sort of plan.
The train stop depends on how crowded the train is rather than any destination because I never plan a route unless I have to do something important like buy a new camera.
If I see a tourist crowd to the right, I turn left; If I see a rubbish dump, I walk in.

Yeah I was in Cianjur last week and saw many kids under 13 riding alone or with other kids on motorbikes.  Hey why not if ya gotta get around.  They at least had helmets on.  I went to a beautiful supermarket in Cianjur called Hypermart.  It was as large clean and well organized and any market in California where I live.  I enjoyed looking around there and saw much of the same things you show in your pics Fred.  My friend I was with told me he though velveeta was real cheese until I showed him real cheese he was stunned hahaha.  I wandered around Bandung in the Daco district and made a mini video.

Sorry I haven't posted for a while, things have been crazy busy.

Today sees the preparations for a wedding in a small village close to my place.
They sweep the roads, burn all the stuff and erect a tent for the festivities.

The rain won't stop this guy from trying to earn a living. He won't be on much of a salary doing that work but you have to respect the effort he puts in.

A river opposite McD's in Bintaro sector 9



Hang on, is there someone in the water?
I have no idea what this guy is hunting for but it involved sifting trough the mud.

This row of shops is only a few years old but most are empty.
Businesses move in with happy smiles that soon turn to frowns as they realise they can't cover the very expensive rents. At least one is on its third failed business and even 7/11 has closed down.
No one will believe me when I say Indonesia is on the verge of a financial crisis, or at least a serious slowdown, but it's already happening.

Indonesian food varies a lot but his stuff is amazing.
It's fruit served with strong home made chilli sauce.

Indonesian ladies are so pretty

Very Nice !! Thanks for sharing..

Many of the small alleyways (known as gangs) are tiny roads with no hope of anything bigger than a motorbike ever going down them, so what do they do if a fire breaks out?



Sorted

You just have to love (or hate) the roads here

Business is business .. but I'm unsure these kids escorting people to their cars in the rain is a good business.

Petrol stations aren't always handy when you need one so a lot of these things pop up.
They all used to sell petrol in litre bottles, but more and more are using these mini pumping stations.

The lights are green, the beggars are waiting ..





Red - and they're off ...





These people are rarely dangerous but it's best to make sure your doors are locked. You might also not a lot of these people are fake beggars because they make more doing this than they do working.

http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2017 … ested.html

As for the ones who carry kids about, don't give them anything

http://jakartaglobe.id/news/two-suspect … ggar-case/

Safety first - always wear a helmet.
A lot of people dislike wearing one but they keep it handy in case the police set up a road block.

Internet here is on the up, especially now fibre optics are being laid.



but old fashioned low paid labour puts it in

Street food sometimes get a reputation for giving you a dodgy stomach, and that reputation is sometimes deserved.
Much of the time is it's the food but the way they wash the dishes. This guy is washing them in a puddle of overflow from a drain - I hate to think what's in that bucket.
Much of the trick with buying street food is making sure you know where they wash up.

Poverty in the UK is not having a very nice house, an older TV and probably no car.
It's a bit worse in Indonesia.

Thirty-five pages of what has to be the longest running and certainly the best thread ever on expat.com. 

Kudos Fred!  Selamat! 

your thread has been missed, the pictures and captions are fun and interesting

Slightly sad news in that Photobucket are demanding USD 400 to continue allowing sharing on forums.
The upshot is many of the earlier pictures aren't visible without going to photobucket.
Pity, but their site and their commercial choice.

Oh very sad  to know that.. I finally came to Indonesia after many years and it's still as beautiful as it was

Many western countries insist on child seats in cars.

You see people walking around, this one just having come out from hunting in a bin.



Another wanted a nap on a train

When you sell a product a million other people have and something very easy and cheap to cook, you need a gimmick.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lZydGsfBWBU

17 August is independence day around here, the date the first president gave the Dutch a very notable middle finger and told the world Indonesia was its own country, not a Dutch colony.
He was very much right but the Dutch disagreed and tried to keep it - They lost.

The history of a hard fought battle to get back what they owned after hundreds of years of essential slavery has left a big mark in Indonesia so the seventeenth is celebrated with some vigour.
As this is my first independence day as an Indonesian, I will be joining in with some pleasure.

This year is also special in many other ways, much being down to some groups with more extreme views wanting to scrap the national principles, the ones that guarantee equal rights to all Indonesians, probably wanting to replace them with rights for some Indonesians but nothing for the rest.
The people they seem to want rights for are themselves and no one else.
The government realises these people are against everything Indonesia is based on so they are trying to get rid but violence often goes hand in hand with extremism so security will be tight at many official ceremonies.
All schools will be in on what is normally a national holiday and all MUST perform a flag ceremony.

It's a very popular time and almost all houses will have an Indonesian flag flying, mine has.



You also see a lot of collections at this time of year.

Fred, did you actually go through with it? I mean give up your British citizenship and become a full Indonesian citizen?

abdulkhalil wrote:

Fred, did you actually go through with it? I mean give up your British citizenship and become a full Indonesian citizen?

Yes. I'm Indonesian now.
Takes a long time and a lot of effort.

Congratulations.

But was it an easy decision to give up your British citizenship?

I've often wondered what the advantages and disadvantages of giving up a western nationality for an Indonesian one.

The idea was brewing for a long time but my life is here now and England felt more and more foreign.
The process took around two years to get sorted.