Thoughts on Indonesia

Thoughts on Indonesia

June 15 to July 17, 2019

I loved all of the orangutans in Borneo.  We got up and personal with them.

Our four day river cruising was great fun. We watched monkeys and orangutans all day long.

"Where do you sit?  is the question asked by strangers to determine your cast.

Every citizen must practice and identify a religion.  otherwise, they are view as atheists and that concludes that they are communists. But they are limited to being a Buddhist, Hindu, Muslim, Catholic or Protestant.

I bought a silk, blue batik scarf.

I'm walking a shitload of steps but it doesn't seem to have any effect on my weight.

My right knee is killing me, particularly when I go down all of those damn steps.

I loved the little Bali dancers.  i loved their eye rolls.

I loved the mask makers.

I loved the shadow puppet makers.

We went to a basic factory and tried our hand at it.  All of our work was ugly and not worth saving.

I loved the little girls in the traditional dance classes.  They practice three hours a day, five days a week.

I drank several turmeric drinks and it seems to be receiving some of my knee pain.

I couldn't believe how hard it is to harvest rice.

They eat a lot of rice.

We wasted a lot of rice.

We watched women make rice cakes.  They sit all day and make these little cakes, just using one hand.

The 68 year old brown sugar farmer works too damn hard.  Some days, he is climbing 15 trees just to collect the sap. Then it is cooked for five hour and stirred the whole time is he has to bend over all damn day.

The food has been great.

The beer is mediocre.

Jakarta is not worth visiting. It's a big, ugly blah city.  I loved Borneo and Bali.

We went to the Monkey Forest and walked amongst hundreds of monkeys. They can be aggressive.

We went to a temple that had monkeys that were so aggressive that we couldn't wear our glasses, flip flops or anything else that they could just grab from us.

We went to a Bird Park and walked with the birds.  They were magnificent and regal.

The rice fields were beautiful.  I think I took 200 photos just of them.

Every home has a private temple so there is never the excuse that you don't have time to go to the temple.

I bought two batik sarongs and I wish I had bought more.  I love them.

I had four decedent body treatments.  I had a 2-hour massage for only $18.  I was embarrassed by this low cost and when I tipped the masseuse, she was stunned.

My friend bought a painting and then decided that she didn't want it so she offered to sell it to me.  I loved it and was thrilled to buy it.  But she wouldn't take any money from me.  So I took her out to dinner.  And then she gave me the museum book that came with this painting.  It must have cost her a fortune.

We met a woman who was in prison for 10 years because her father was a communist.  And in 1965, there was some sort of coup and the communists were blamed.  She is 79 now and she still tears up when she talks of this time in her life.

we went to a ballet and I was excited when it started and received when it finally ended.  I couldn't follow the story.

We went to the circus.  The venue was sit but the performers were fantastic.

We went snorkeling in Bali.  I felt sick when I was in the water and then I got terribly sick on the hour long boat ride home.  A few days later, I found out that we had an earthquake that day. Maybe that's why I got sick.