In Aisa

Child Worker (Busking) in Jakarta

2012-02-06T07:01:00.005+07:00

While you read this, maybe your children are playing with their friends or getting some after-school tutoring to improve their grades. But for 10-year-old Bagus, his extracurricular activity involves jumping from bus to bus, singing the latest song he can remember while plucking along on his ukulele, hoping to receive some coins for his effort. My Jakarta ran into Bagus on a Kopaja bus while traveling from Slipi to Grogol, We asked him how he felt being a busker, what he did with the money he earned and his hopes for the future. While most children dream of being an astronaut or a celebrity, all Bagus dreams of is a steady job in an office.

When did you start working as a pengamen (busker)?

I don’t remember exactly when, but I think it might have been around when I was still 7.

Do you go to school?

Yes, I’m in the second grade, but I don’t want to tell you where I go to school [smiles].

What’s the matter, don’t your teachers and friends know that you are a busker?

Yes, my teachers know, but they never say anything about it at all. But I never let my friends know that I am a pengamen on buses.

Why is that, do you feel embarrassed?

Yes, nobody wants to do this for a living. Deep down in my heart I feel really embarrassed having to sing in buses and ask for money. But there’s no other choice. Having a side job that I wouldn’t be embarrassed about would be a luxury. All that matters is that the job pays.

What do your parents think about you singing on buses for money?

They both know that I’m a busker, but understanding our situation, they say that the decision is up to me whether I want to busk or not.

How long do you sing every day?

After school ends at about 4:30 p.m to 9 p.m.

So how do you make time to study?

I study and do my homework in the morning.

What do your parents do for a living?

My dad is a tukang parkir [parking attendant] and my mom takes in laundry from other people. I also have two younger brothers and sisters.

Do your parents ask for your money?

Never. They never ask how much I earn or how I use the money. As long as they know I’m not using it for something bad. I consider it my allowance.

How much can you make a day?

Around Rp 20,000 [$2]. Most people will give me Rp 2,000, but once I got Rp 50,000 from an old auntie. Sometimes I can only make Rp 10,000 a day. I ride from Slipi Kemanggisan to Grogol and from Grogol back to Slipi Kemanggisan again. This is my only route.

And how do you spend your money?

I save all of my money. I plan to use it when my school has its annual trip later. But sometimes I use my money to buy some Indomie [instant noodles]. I really love eating instant noodles [laughs].

Do you smoke?

No, I am afraid to smoke, I don’t think that my throat can hold it. I’m afraid that I will cough uncontrollably if I do.

Great to hear that, but does that mean you will smoke when you are strong enough?

Mmm, I don’t think so. I am pretty afraid to smoke [laughs].

But you’re not afraid of jumping from bus to bus?

Not at all. I am used to doing that.

What about preman [thugs], do any of them ever come and take your money?

Luckily no, I never have any of them asking for my money, but I get scolded a lot by the bus drivers. I don’t really know why they get so angry at me, but I am really afraid when they do.

And do you have somebody to protect and organize you?

No, I don’t belong to any groups or anything like that. I am doing this alone.

When you think about the future, what is your dream?

I want to work in an office.

I notice that you aren’t wearing any sandals. Where are your sandals?

I lost them a few weeks ago [smiles], but I don’t want to buy another pair. It’s too expensive and it’s better for me to save my money.

Bagus was talking to Edison Lestari on a Kopaja 88 from Slipi to Grogol.
source

Mountain hiking in Indonesia

2012-01-31T08:51:00.000+07:00

Indonesian Hiking in the Bag
Catriona Richards | January 30, 2012

For anyone looking for a challenge in the New Year, here’s a record to beat: British hiker Daniel Quinn climbed 14 mountains in Indonesia last year, bringing his total number of conquered peaks to 49 since he arrived here three years ago — and that’s not including the 21 hills, volcanoes and other peaks he attempted along the way. His motivation? To upload information on Indonesia’s lesser-known hiking spots to the Web site Gunung Bagging (gunungbagging.com), started by Quinn and fellow hiker Andy Dean in 2009.

The name comes from the century-old British tradition of “mountain bagging” (gunung is the Indonesian word for mountain), whereby hikers challenge one another to conquer a checklist of peaks categorized by topographic prominence. It is called “bagging” because each peak conquered is another one “in the bag” for the hiker.

The tradition started with Sir Hugh Munro’s 1891 list of 915-meter plus peaks in the British Isles, known as the “Munros,” and spread to the creation of a list of worldwide “Ultras,” mountains with a minimum 1,500-meter elevation drop on all sides.

Indonesia doesn’t have too many Ultras, but there are plenty of peaks worth bagging in the mountainous archipelago. That’s why Quinn, 30, an English teacher working in Jakarta, and Dean, 34, a geographic information systems specialist working in Bogor, decided to establish the Gunung Bagging Web site — to bring the British hiking tradition to Indonesia, and the hiking possibilities of Indonesia to the world.

The bagging list for Indonesia centers on the “Ribus” — peaks of at least one “ribu” (thousand) meters in topographic prominence — and was compiled by Quinn and Dean after they met on a hike up Gunung Lawu in East Java. On the Web site, Gunung Lawu falls into the category of “Sangat Tinggi” (“Very High”), at a height of over 3,000 meters, but the accompanying information describes it as “a great hike for those new to hiking in Indonesia.”

So how hard can the Ribus be? “They can be quite tough,” Quinn says. “Like following some local guys hacking your way through, and there’s no trail, and you’re falling all over the place.” Not to mention the slight problems of muddy tracks, no promise of a view at the top, and some very nasty strains of local stinging nettle. But the greatest challenge of all, Quinn says, is finding information on the peaks in the first place.

“Indonesia really should be the No. 1 hiking destination in Southeast Asia,” he says. “It really is tremendous, but the infrastructure is not really there, and they don’t seem to be very good at promoting themselves, either.”

While other world-class hiking destinations provide maps, experienced guides, campsites and toilet facilities, Indonesia’s hiking sites are notoriously inaccessible and overgrown, or poorly maintained and full of litter.

Existing groups in Indonesia, such as the highly popular Java Lava (javalavaindonesia.multiply.com) volcano-climbing group and other local hiking communities, do provide fairly comprehensive information on the most popular peaks in the archipelago. But for hikers who want to explore further, the trail of information soon runs out.

Outside of the usual tourist trails, information on Indonesia’s lesser-known peaks is almost impossible to find, and the intrepid hikers who attempt them have only local guides to rely on, some of whom have never even walked the trails themselves.

That’s where Quinn and Dean come in, going where no hiker has ever gone before and bringing back information for others hoping to explore Indonesian mountains off the beaten track.

The Gunung Bagging Web site contains a list of Indonesia’s 226 Ribus, including a list of 50 Ribus under the category “Belum Bagged” (“Not Yet Bagged”).

For the mountains that have been bagged, Quinn and Dean provide GPS tracks, contact details for reliable local guides and trekking advice to consider before attempting some of the more dangerous peaks.

Aside from the Ribus, the pair also provide information on a list of interesting hikes that don’t fall under the Ribu category, which they call the “Spesials.” These include peaks of geographical or historical interest, or those that only just fall short of Ribu status.

Dean himself has conquered 27 Ribus, 25 of those with his wife Gill. He says the spirit of adventure and the reward of spectacular views is what drives him to break new ground in Indonesia’s mountain ranges.

“For anyone who likes hiking and adventure travel, Indonesia is hard to beat,” he says. “Some of the things that make travel and hiking frustrating in Indonesia also make the travel so interesting.”

Dean was hooked on hiking in Indonesia after he and his wife enjoyed a stunning view from the summit of Gunung Rinjani in Lombok, West Nusa Tenggara, during a full moon. But he says that one of his most memorable hikes in Indonesia was up Gunung Tambora on the neighboring island of Sumbawa.

“The hike had everything: Porters who had never hiked the mountain and couldn’t carry our bags, perfect weather, camping on the crater rim, almost getting blown off the rim by the wind and a volcanic sandstorm in the night, views of Rinjani on Lombok,” he recalls fondly.

As for Quinn, he’ll always remember taking a weekend hiking trip to Ambon in Maluku. Working full-time in Jakarta, Quinn had limited time to add Ribus to his list. Determined to reach Ambon’s highest point over the course of a weekend, he took a 1 a.m. flight from Jakarta on a Saturday, met up with a local guide to climb the highest mountain at 10 p.m. that night, and was back in Jakarta by 6 p.m. on Sunday night.

“So, stupid things can be done, it just depends how stupid you are, I suppose,” he says with a laugh.

Quinn says he has tried to contact national tourism authorities in Jakarta many times about the Web site, but has never received more than recognition of receipt for his e-mails.

For those wishing to follow in the footsteps of the Gunung Bagging trailblazers, all the information is there on the Web site. Like-minded enthusiasts are also encouraged to contribute their own entries, and many have provided detailed accounts of their hiking escapades.

A handful of contributors have even made it onto the Web site’s “Hall of Fame,” also titled “Gunung Bragging,” but Quinn still tops the list, followed by Andy and Gill Dean.

Quinn says that for him, the driving factor is still the urge to provide useful information on new frontiers.

“Once I put up information on something, it’s great. Especially when there is really no information on the Internet about it,” he says. “Then I think I’m really doing something new here.”

For more information, visit www.gunungbagging.com

2012-01-30T14:29:00.001+07:00

One can often see random herds of goats wandering around in Jakarta, sooner or later they're destined for someone's dinner.

Gong Xi Fa Chai or Happy Chinese New Year

2012-01-24T15:30:00.001+07:00

The Chinese Lunar Dragon Year starts on Jan. 23, 2012.
(Photo: REUTERS / China Daily)

Here is a roundup of the superstitions surrounding the Chinese New Year:

1. No Cleaning - The household has to be thoroughly cleaned before the New Year's day because it is believed that cleaning sweeps away bad luck from the last year. However, all cleaning equipment should be put away before the New Year's Eve so that good luck is not swept away. Even though sweeping is allowed after the first day of a New Year, the garbage and dust shouldn't be carried through the front door, as it may result in death or estrangement of a family member.

2. No Ghost Stories - According to Chinese beliefs, what happens on the New Year's Eve sets a precedent for the rest of the year. Foul language and unlucky words are a taboo on the first day of the New Year. Since ghost stories essentially involve mentions of death, children as well as elders are not allowed to tell stories related to spirits, zombies or the undead.

3. No Washing Hair - Though you are encouraged to get a hair-cut on the first day, you're not supposed to wash your hair to ensure that good luck is not washed away.

4. No Books - Book stores remain closed on the New Year's Eve as buying books is not allowed. The reason stems from the fact that "book" is a homonym for "lose" in Cantonese. However, apparently, there is no restriction on reading.

5. No Shoes - Shoe shopping is restricted on the first day because "shoes" is a homonym for "rough" in Cantonese.

6. No Crying - Crying is also a strict no-no on New Year's Eve which is why children are spared from spanking or punishments on the first day.

7. No Sitting in Bedroom - It is unlucky to meet anyone in their bedroom on the New Year's Eve, which is the reason why everyone, including infants, elderly and even those who are sick, are made to dress up and sit in the living room.

8. No Sharp Objects - Handling sharp objects is considered bad omen on the first day of the New Year, as they may "cut off" good fortune. It is recommended to put away knives and scissors the previous day.

9. Red is Good - Bright red clothes, decorations and ornaments are highly recommended for the Chinese New Year. Children receive money in red paper envelopes from parents who wish them a healthy and happy New Year. Red paper-cuts and couplets with popular themes of "good fortune" or "happiness," are used to decorate the household.

10. Songbirds are Good - The first person you meet on the New Year's eve holds great significance on how lucky you would be throughout the year. It is considered lucky to see or hear songbirds, red-colored birds or swallows on New Year's Eve.

Street Jockeys - How to beat the traffic

2012-01-18T13:22:00.000+07:00

Though many people consider Jakarta’s traffic a necessary evil, people like Martini look forward to their daily commute. For the past 13 years, Martini has made a living helping drivers meet the city’s ‘three-in-one’ rule that requires private vehicles to have at least three people to access some major roads during rush hour.

As a joki, or jockey, every morning and afternoon Martini heads to the Plaza Semanggi area and helps office workers to work or home by hopping a ride with them. The job is illegal and Martini has been arrested twice, but she insists the three-in-one jockeys are providing a valuable service, not disturbing public order. In any case, the former maid has no intention  of leaving her post, unless it’s to hasten someone’s commute while making some small talk along the way.

How much do you get paid for being a three-in-one jockey?

I get Rp 10,000 [$1.10] to ride from Plaza Semanggi to Ratu Plaza and Rp 20,000 if the driver wants me to stay until Blok M. Sometimes I also go back from Blok M to Monas [the National Monument] for another Rp 20,000. You actually get paid for having a free ride around Jakarta.

How many rides do you take in a day and how much do you earn?

I arrive early at my station around the Semanggi area on Jalan Prof. Dr. Satrio, or as people call it, Casablanca. In the early three-in-one round, between 7 a.m. and 10 a.m., I can get two cars at most. Later, during my afternoon round from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m., I can get up to four drivers in need of my service. So on average I usually make Rp 40,000 to Rp 80,000 a day. Definitely not a bad way to earn extra cash for my family.

Is this the only job you have?

Yes. I need the extra money for my family. I have three children and my previous job as a maid wasn’t able to put enough food on the table. So when my younger sister asked me to join her out here doing this in 1999, me and my husband definitely jumped at the opportunity with no hesitation.

You know that working as a three-in-one jockey is illegal, right? Have you been arrested?

Sure, I got arrested twice last year by public order officers. They said I was violating local laws and was therefore disturbing public order. They made a record of my identity and took me to a shelter and locked me in there for the whole day.

I felt lucky because I heard another jockey got locked up there for a week, maybe because he had been arrested a number of times before.

On one memorable occasion, a traffic police officer stopped the car I was in. The officer asked the driver to open the side window and told me to get out. He threatened to turn me over to the public order officers if I didn’t admit that I was a jockey. I was afraid so I admitted it and the officer let me go while the driver got a ticket.

Knowing the consequences, why you still do it?

I know that my job is illegal, but I have never understood why the government thinks that we disturb public order. Drivers need us to use the major streets after work. Without us, lots of drivers would have to take long detours to get home, and that’s before even mentioning the traffic. Besides, the money I get from being a jockey helps my family survive in Jakarta, and is better than the other jobs that people like me usually do. We never chose to be poor, and the government hasn’t done anything to help us survive or make our lives better. So we take any opportunity that presents itself.

It seems like you have met lots of different kinds of people in your line of work. Have you ever met any ‘naughty’ drivers?

I haven’t met anyone who’s done anything indecent. Most of them are office workers who drive alone. Many of them like to make small talk with me. They ask me where I live and how many kids I have. One or two have even shared with me problems they are having with their work or family. But there are times when it’s just quiet in the car.

Do you ever get a good tip for just being nice to a driver?

Some nice drivers have paid me more than the usual rate. Others sometimes pay more because they’ve just gotten a big bonus or promotion at work.

Martini was talking to Carlos Situmeang.
http://www.thejakartaglobe.com/myjakarta/my-jakarta-martini-three-in-one-jockey/491081

Jakartans protesting against Street Monkey Abuse (Topeng Monyet)

2011-09-19T07:45:00.000+07:00

Jakarta Animal Aid activists protest the treatment of monkeys in ‘topeng monyet’ shows during a demonstration at the Hotel Indonesia traffic circle in Jakarta on Sunday. (Antara Photo)

Rugby World Cup 2011 Calendar Downloads

2011-08-31T08:51:00.000+07:00

Outlook

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GWK : Garuda Wisnu Kencana (Huge Balinese Temple)

2011-06-30T08:16:00.001+07:00

The beautiful and serene park, overlooking Jimbaran Bay, was originally meant to be the best cultural park in Indonesia, and maybe, one day, the world.

The 100 or so visitors milling around the 20-hectare Garuda Winsu Kencana cultural park in Jimbaran looked small in comparison to their surroundings. “It’s like visiting a cemetery,” said a young girl watching the sunset from the park, which sits on a hill south of Denpasar.

But now it is just another remnant of the New Order regime, part of an ambition to build world-class landmarks to compete with iconic structures like the Statue of Liberty in New York. Under the auspices of Soeharto, local artist I Nyoman Nuarta was commissioned to create a huge statue of Wisnu, the god of creation, sitting on Garuda, the mythical bird that carries him, with a final height greater than that of the Statue of Liberty. The project was started in 1996-7 and came to an abrupt halt on the 14th of May 1998 when the Rp collapsed along with the government.

The park was also to be equipped with a performance center with 7,500 seats, and ampitheather, a street theater, galleries, restaurants and other artistic attractions. Problems began to emerge almost as soon as construction started in 1997, with the budget ballooning to hundreds of billions of rupiah.

The park was initially the idea of the Garuda Wisnu Kencana Foundation, a grouping that included then minister of tourism and telecommunications Joop Ave, then mining and energy minister IB Sudjana, along with Nuarta and several other influential individuals and businessmen close to Soeharto.

It was to be built in the rocky and hilly area of Jimbaran, which present new logistical problems. The hills had to be cut flat to create the area required for the statue, which is still not finished today. Only the head and torso of Wisnu have been completed.

Land clearing was also an early problem. A 250-hectare plot of land, 100 hectares of which belonged to Badung regency, and the rest to residents, was required. Ten years later, there are still disputes over the matter.

“The clearing program with the local residents has not yet been solved properly,” said Anak Agung Ngurah Rai Riauadi, the park’s public relations manager.
Management of the park’s construction was not effective because so many people shared their ideas and wanted to see them put in place, “which were of course very difficult to accommodate,” he added.

The monetary, social and political crises between l997 and l998 worsened the situation. The fall of the Soeharto administration badly affected the project badly. Today, only 20 percent of the original project has been completed, and construction was halted entirely in September 2004.

Only a few years ago, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono promised to find investors to continue the project. “I promise to you that we will finish the project. It is the pride of the nation,” the President said in a speech. Nothing has happened since then.

I Made Mangku Pastika, former head of the Bali Police, was then appointed chairman of the foundation, while Edi Sukamto, owner of the Kuta Galeria Shopping center, was made the park’s director. “We will continue building the park in May 2008 to commemorate National Awakening Day,” said Mangku Pastika.

However, money will always be a lingering problem for the project. Only a very few investors are eager to invest in cultural projects.

The Use of Shoes Made in Indonesia Campaign

2011-06-14T08:31:00.002+07:00

Bandung. Some civil servants in West Java are welcoming a proposal barring foreign-brand shoes at work — even if the provincial governor floored others by proposing push-ups as a penalty for defying the rule.

The plan, set to take effect on July 1, was meant to encourage the use of locally made footwear at government offices, based on a 2009 presidential decree promoting domestic products.

“I am [not afraid of the] sanctions that come with the rule because I already use locally made shoes every day. I have three pairs,” said Nana Adnan, secretary of the province’s animal husbandry office.

“There are many upsides to the policy — helping entrepreneurs, encouraging purchases just right for civil servants’ pockets,” he said. “And quality-wise, they are not inferior to imported products.”

Ade Sukarsah, employed at the provincial headquarters in Bandung, also said he was in the habit of going to work in plain-toes from Cibaduyut — a shoe-producing subdistrict.

“I don’t have many [foreign-label] shoes, maybe only two pairs,” he said on Saturday, a day after the proposal was announced.

“But if it’s for work, I only wear shoes made in the country,” the officer added.

West Java Governor Ahmad Heryawan had said on Friday that routine shoe checks would be conducted at government offices once the plan was implemented to ensure that the thousands of provincial-level employees would abide by the new policy.

The newly launched campaign was dubbed “The Use of Shoes Made in Indonesia.”

But the exact punishment for violating the rule had yet to be worked out, he said.

“The penalty can take various forms, including push-ups,” Heryawan said. “What is important is that there will be sanctions.

“This way, we are asking all people, especially civil servants, to side with the people” who work in local shoe manufacturing, the governor had said.

He said it would be up to officers-in-charge to ensure that their employees were toeing the line, adding that checking shoe brands would be “easy.”

However, Heryawan said district- and municipality-level officers will not be required — but encouraged — to follow the rule.

Ali Rahman Sidik, a cobbler in Cibaduyut, said he supported the initiative, but lamented that the government could have helped the industry more by specifying shoemaking districts where civil servants could buy shoes.

“I expect revenues [for Cibaduyut producers] to rise by around 25 percent [with the new rule],” he said.

“But if our subdistrict had been specifically mentioned in the circular as a place to support, revenues could rise by up to 75 percent,” Ali added.

Cibaduyut has 460 shoemaking businesses which produce an average of 4 million pairs of shoes a year and employ around 3,500 workers.

The shoemaker also said he hoped the same policy would be implemented at schools in the province and nationwide because this could boost the domestic shoe industry further.

Jakarta Animal Aid Network

2011-05-22T11:09:00.003+07:00

New story in the news about Jakarta's monkey's.

SBS Dateline | Monkey Business

Posted by Administrator on 5/02/11 • Categorized as Jaan News,JAAN on Media

Source : SBS Dateline | Monkey Business

Link : http://www.sbs.com.au/dateline/story/transcript/id/601091/n/Monkey-Business

There is a common sight on the streets of Jakarta, trained monkeys who beg for food for their often impoverished handlers. It is a trade that seems harmless enough until you realise that the primates were not long ago swinging free in the jungles of Sumatra. David O’Shea has been examining the monkey business that has animal rights activists up in arms.

REPORTER: David O’Shea

It is a new day in the Indonesian capital and for millions of people struggling to eke out a living here, it is back to the daily grind. In the procession of human commuters this long-tailed macaque is off to work as well.

Born wild in the jungles of Sumatra, she is now forced to beg by the side of the road. Her handler, who makes her wear a doll’s mask, targets the areas with the worst traffic jams, and then waits for passing motorists to give money. There is little reward for effort in this business, so far only a mandarin.

REPORTER (Translation): No one’s giving you any money.

HANDLER (Translation): I have to be patient when it is like this.

REPORTER (Translation): Is it usually like this?

HANDLER (Translation): Yes it is but one or two people are sure to give me something.

Not far away, another long-tailed macaque is getting ready for work. To get there, Atun and her handlers have to dice with death on this chaotic streets. Atun is not a roadside beggar, but instead, works the neighbourhoods performing for children. She is reluctant to get started though, and needs to be egged on with a yank on the chain.

FEMKE DEN HAAS, JAKARTA ANIMAL AID NETWORK: In Indonesia, the attitude to animals in general is that you can do anything with them that you want, what life is there for us to use.

Femke Den Haas is from the Jakarta Animal Aid Network, she is campaigning to have the macaques listed as endangered and to stop them being used in this way.

FEMKE DEN HAAS: Macaques are just like great apes. – they are self-aware and they are highly intelligent and social. We do not have to look at the data on are they endangered or not. Just for ethical reasons, they should not be used on the street and going through so much cruelty. They should be living in the wild.

The whole dancing monkey’s performance is a wrong type of education. It is showing children that it is OK to exploit animals, to beat animals, to put them in chains and to use them as a toy. They are being used as a puppet. These monkeys are so frightened that they would do anything their owners ask them. You see their frustration – sometimes they are biting themselves. Children think that is funny – they say look they are biting themselves because they see them as puppets. They never get any education that this is a living being – they used to live in a family and has feelings or nothing.

Today’s performance finishes early because a link in the chain has broken and they do not want to risk her escaping.

REPORTER (Translation): Is there a danger that she will bite someone?

HANDLER (Translation): Yes, when she is not chained up she bites a lot of kids. It’s tiring work, we are out in the heat and we earn at most Rp 10,000. We go home and spend it and do the same again the next day. It’s like this every day.

They earn only a little over a dollar a day but the boys say they do not have other options. They are both orphans and this is the only life they know. They have been working with monkeys since they were just three years old.

HANDLER (Translation): We have no parents, so we earn money for food, now we are grown up we still work with the monkey. We earn Rp 1000 or 2000 so we can eat.

They tell me that Atun is like an old friend.

HANDLER (Translation): We played together as kids and now we are grown up, we have never changed monkeys, we always work with this one – she’s our mate, a real mate we are a family.

Not all monkeys there are as lucky as Atun. Femke Den Haas tells me that the Jakarta Animal Aid Network is desperate to stop street kids using monkeys to beg. And this means stopping those people who prey on the street children by renting them the trained monkeys as begging props.

FEMKE DEN HAAS: The children have to pay a certain amount of money each day to the owner of the monkey. The owner is just this guy that keeps monkeys in poor conditions next to his house in different locations in Jakarta and he brings them out to these poor street children and if the street children do not come back with enough money, or if there is a problem with the monkey, or if the monkey escapes or whatever, the street children have a problem.

Hartono is one of the men she is talking about. He has been in the monkey business for 14 years. He keeps them in cages next to his house and rents them out at a day rate. He even has baby monkeys, born here in a cage, although I’m told the survival rate is not good.

REPORTER (Translation): I hear they often die, why is that?

HARTONO (Translation): They get old and sick.

REPORTER (Translation): But young ones die too.

HARTONO (Translation): Sometimes it is stress or they are fed the wrong thing, sometimes they find leftover mosquito coils, they eat it and die.

Hartono buys monkeys which have already been trained by this man, Panjul, I joined him at the animal market in East Jakarta. He is on the hunt for new stock. He looks for monkeys which are about 3-4 months old, because he says they are the easiest to train.

PANJUL (Translation): This one is already too old, the one down there is an adult – it would be difficult.

For a country with so many endangered and protected animals, it is incredible that they are all for sale down these side streets. Panjul eventually finds a suitable monkey but because the vendor did not want to be filmed making the sale he only shows me once we have moved away. In four months’ time, once he has taught him a repertoire of tricks, this monkey will be worth five times what he just paid. So now it is off home to start the training.

The first thing the new monkey has to learn is to stand like a human, with his hands tied behind his back so he cannot climb the chain, he will be kept like this until his leg muscles develop.

PANJUL (Translation): We hand them up like this for a week to ten days so they can stand up and walk like humans – it is the first stage of training. When they are strong enough, I hang them up overnight. They are fine, they can cope.

Panjul starts them off like this for two hours and then gradually increases it to five and then 10 hours a day. At that point the chain will be so tight he will be standing on tiptoes.

REPORTER (Translation): Don’t their legs hurt when they are like that, monkeys are not used to standing like that, are they?

PANJUL (Translation): No, they are not used to it, they just get stiff, it doesn’t hurt.

He says he understands why people think it is cruel. Panjul has monkeys at various stages of training. This one has been learning the ropes for a month now, it will take another three or four months before it is ready to work.

PANJUL (Translation): I’ve been introducing him to different toys, but he is still stressed and crying out because he hasn’t been doing it for long.

He is currently learning to do a somersault and to salute, eventually he will be as competent as Panjul’s smartest monkeys. He can be easily distinguished by the boot polish that Panjul has painted on his head. He knows the whole routine and can do all the tricks, including the military commander pose, but best of all he is not frightened of the children. In short, for the man who rents him out for the day, he is a money-making machine.

REPORTER (Translation): Do some people complain “The poor thing belongs in the jungle.” What do you tell them?

MAN (Translation): I tell them it’s terrible in the jungle, here they are tamed.

REPORTER (Translation): Why is it terrible in the jungle?

MAN (Translation): They haven’t been trained.

The long-tailed macaque is not yet listed as an endangered species even though the Jakarta Animal Aid Network has lobbied for this. Femke Den Haas is so frustrated with the lack of progress she is about to broaden the campaign.

FEMKE DEN HAAS: We really wanted to solve this locally. We never wanted to set up a big campaign, but now we are – now we are at the point of saying – we have tried everything on a local level – it is all empty promises – nothing is changing – more and more monkeys are being used. We see baby monkeys, we see mothers with weaning babies on the streets. It is unacceptable and we do need international pressure to end this.

But for Atun’s controllers, this is just the way it is done.

REPORTER (Translation): Do some people get angry and say “poor monkey”.

HANDLER (Translation): Yes, sometimes when we perform people say “Be careful. Poor monkey. Don’t torture it.” But she is a performing monkey and it’s a tradition. This is how we do it.

MARK DAVIS: David O’Shea filming and reporting there. Go to our website to tell us your thoughts on that story, and any of tonight’s other reports. And there is a link to more information on the Jakarta animal aid network at sbs.com.au/dateline.

Reporter/Camera

DAVID O’SHEA

Producer

VICTORIA STROBL

Fixer

Kanthi Andayani

Editor

NICK O’BRIEN

MICAH MCGOWN

Translation/Subtitling

ROBYN FALLICK

Original Music composed by

VICKI HANSEN

1st May 2011

here.

Special Report: Cruelty Behind the Mask of Jakarta’s Monkey Circuses

2011-03-29T07:49:00.002+07:00

It is a pitiful sight, but one that Jakarta residents are used to and that tourists encounter within days or even hours of arriving.

By the side of the road, a small, skinny monkey, sometimes fitted with a grotesque mask and garish costume, juggles or rides a toy bicycle or rocking horse, all the while tethered by a chain to a handler squatting in the shade a meter or two away, waiting for the occasional coin tossed from a car window.

In one South Jakarta spot, a nursing monkey is forced to perform, her infant clinging to her desperately while suckling, as motorists line up to enter the toll road. Every minute or two, her leash is yanked and she remembers that it’s time to change the act.

The sight of topeng monyet, or masked monkeys, is so familiar, and the long-tailed macaques trained to perform like this often seem so world-weary, that it is tempting to imagine that they have always been around.

But the monkey acts really only began in the 1980s as traveling shows to entertain poor kids in the kampungs. Only in recent years have monkeys been seen in the city center.

Since then their numbers have grown steadily, and as their visibility has increased, so too have concerns about the welfare of the monkeys.

For this special report, the Jakarta Globe looks behind the mask and investigates the hidden suffering and torture that the monkeys endure — suffering that becomes more and more entrenched with every Rp 1,000 note that passing drivers hand over.

Where It All Begins

The story behind the often light-hearted shows starts in the East Jakarta slum area of South Cipinang Besar, famously known as Kampung Monyet, or Monkey Village, where at least 150 macaques are kept in cramped wooden cages.

After having endured hours of agonizing “training,” the monkeys sit stuck in cages, waiting for their turn to be taken out to the street to perform. They live among the roughly 200 households in a shantytown built on disputed land behind the Prumpung toy market. The majority of residents in the area work as monkey handlers.

Cecep, one such resident, shows the Globe the grotesque way that a monkey that normally walks on four legs is taught to stand upright.

Behind a shanty on a riverbank filled with garbage, Cecep puts a metal ring around the neck of Toal, a male macaque with a broken arm from a previous training incident. Two ropes tether the ring to poles erected on either side of the monkey. Cecep also ties Toal’s arms behind his back while the monkey screeches in pain.

This “hanging the monkey” method, Cecep says, forces the animal to rely only on its feet to get better footing on the ground, strengthening the monkey’s leg muscles and giving it an erect, human-like posture.

“We usually hang the monkeys for half a day before we release them for a few hours to feed them and let them rest,” says Nanang, another handler.

“After that, we hang them again for a few hours until the day’s training is over and we put them back in their cages.

“But we have to hit them, too, sometimes.”

Cecep says some handlers let their monkeys hang all day without feeding them or giving them breaks, risking medical problems or even death.

The hanging training begins as soon as a monkey stops nursing, or when it is at least a year old. It takes a week to a month for a monkey to get through this basic training, the handlers say.

Cecep, who has been in the trade since 1999, says peranakan monkeys, those born to performing monkeys, have a better chance of surviving the training than monyet pasar, or those caught in the wild by poachers.

“The peranakan ones can take a week to train while the monyet pasar take at least a month,” he says. “Sometimes they don’t make it and they die.”

The peranakan monkeys are considered more hardy than the pasar monkeys because trainers can be sure they have finished nursing. Monyet pasar, on the other hand, might not have had the chance before they were snatched by poachers. As a result, they tend to have less strength and stamina.

Once the monkeys have passed the hanging training and can walk upright, the handlers train them to use various toys and props, such as a toy motorcycle, for their performance.

“We also train them to lift toy weights to check if they can really stand erect,” Cecep says. “If they can’t, the toy training period takes longer.

“We don’t teach them to use all the toys at the same time,” he adds. “Once the monkey knows what to do with a toy gun, for example, we start training it with another toy.”

Dying in Training

Cecep and Nanang both claim a success rate of 60 percent in getting monkeys to complete the two phases of training.

“The other 40 percent [of monkeys] end up dead,” Cecep says. “If they’re not physically strong enough, they die during the basic training, though some die later in the toy training phase.”

Cecep thinks of himself as being gentler with his animals than the other handlers.

“If I fail and one of my monkeys dies during training, I give it a proper burial,” he says.

“Many others just toss the monkey’s body into the river or a garbage dump.”

He adds that he has had two monkeys die on him during training. Then there are the non-lethal training accidents, like the broken arm he gave Toal.

Cecep demonstrates how he has trained another of his monkeys, Odon, to ride a small wooden motorcycle and salute a flag.

As Odon walks back and forth with the toy motorcycle, Cecep gives the command for it to perform by yanking on the chain attached to a collar around the monkey’s neck.

It’s “normal” to pull hard, he says, and there’s a certain way to do it without breaking the animal’s neck. “I don’t give a sudden jerk while the chain is lax,” he says.

“I pull the chain straight first and then I slowly yank it to signal to him to start. That way, it doesn’t hurt his neck and he doesn’t lose his balance.”

Cecep and the other handlers train their monkeys to play with the props or perform other stunts in whatever free space they can find. Often this means the training occurs in the narrow alleyways of their neighborhood, among residents milling about and stacks of monkey cages.

Some of the smaller cages house two or more monkeys each, while the larger ones cram up to 15 monkeys together.

One of the caged animals is a female macaque named Atun. She is carrying a nursing infant on her neck.

“Atun is probably eight years old and she has had three babies, but one of them died after it got sick from being bitten by another monkey,” says another handler, Dede Irfan Saputra, who has just returned from panhandling with another monkey and is undressing it before caging it.

Cecep says the bigger cages are owned by the local “monkey bosses” who rent out the primates to handlers for Rp 15,000 ($1.70) per monkey per day, with the basic props of a mask and a costume.

The monkey owners charge an additional Rp 20,000 to rent out extra props such as a toy bicycle or musical instrument.

Handlers like Cecep and Nanang can expect to take home Rp 50,000 to Rp 70,000 after several hours of daytime performance on the sides of some of Jakarta’s busiest roads.

“That’s the net amount I get after transportation and monkey rental,” Cecep says, adding that he can make a little more during weekends.

Most of the time, the macaques’ diet consists solely of plain white rice. During performances, however, their handlers give them pieces of fruit or snacks that passersby hand out.

Both Cecep and Nanang say a distressed monkey poses some level of danger to the humans around it.

“The monkey can be dangerous if it’s handled by an unfamiliar handler who doesn’t deal with it on a daily basis like we do,” Cecep says.

“Unlike us, the foreign handler won’t know if the monkey is stressed, hungry or tired,” he adds. “Sometimes the monkeys can get irritated when children make fun of them. If we understand the monkeys, they will understand us back.”

Ending the Cruelty?

Pramudya Harzani, a spokesman for animal rights and welfare group Jakarta Animal Aid Network, is campaigning to put an end to the cruelty.

Pramudya says JAAN is frequently contacted by animal lovers indignant about the way the monkeys are being exploited in what is essentially a panhandling scheme.

Members of the group have traced the monkeys and their handlers to Kampung Monyet and identified at least three major bosses who own several monkeys that they rent out.

“Those monkeys go through hell to be trained to perform,” Pramudya says.

“They’re even poached from their mothers while they’re very young. This is obviously against the five principles of animal welfare,” he adds.

These five principles are guidelines relating to freedom from thirst and hunger, freedom from pain and disease, freedom to live in a suitable environment, freedom to express normal behaviors and freedom from fear and distress.

“We are very concerned about this situation. This is not entertainment, this is cruelty to animals,” Pramudya says.

He says it is important that people stop giving money to the monkeys or their handlers because doing so only encourages the practice.

He adds that JAAN has tried to raise the issue with the government by pointing out that ignoring this situation could have an adverse effect on human health, given that monkeys are potential carriers of numerous infectious diseases.

The long-tail macaques are not categorized as a protected or endangered species in Indonesia, but Pramudya says this is no excuse to overlook the trade and leave it unregulated.

“Don’t wait for them to become endangered or to cause a bigger problem before regulating them,” he says.

source

Domodedovo blast: Explosion rocks Moscow's main airport

2011-01-25T08:15:00.001+07:00

Moscow's Domodedovo airport - the busiest in the Russian capital - has been rocked by an explosion that has reportedly killed 31 people.
More than 100 more are thought to have been injured in the blast, which reports suggest may have been the work of a suicide bomber.
Russia's chief investigator said the explosion was the work of terrorists.
The airport is 40km (25 miles) south-east of the city centre, and is popular with foreign workers and tourists.
Police have stepped up security across Russia's capital and at other airports, says the BBC's Steve Rosenberg in Moscow.
Dozens of ambulances Early local reports suggested Monday's blast had hit the baggage reclaim area of the international arrivals hall.
Dozens of ambulances rushed to the scene where emergency services are tending to the wounded.
A RIA Novosti news agency correspondent at the scene reported that a lot of smoke could be seen in the area, and there was a smell of burning.
The UK's Foreign Office said it was checking if any Britons were involved.
Last March the Russian capital's underground system was rocked by two female suicide bombers from Russia's volatile Dagestan region, who detonated their explosives on the busy metro system during rush hour, killing 40 people and injuring more than 80.

VIDEO REPORT

Yogyakarta Crop Circle Stirs Curiosity, But Experts Rule Out Aliens

2011-01-25T07:10:00.002+07:00

Yogyakarta Crop Circle Stirs Curiosity, But Experts Rule Out Aliens

Hundreds of curious visitors have flocked to a small rice field in Yogyakarta to witness what could be Indonesia’s first documented crop circle, an occurrence attributed by some to close encounters of the alien kind.

Ngadiran, one of six farmers who owns the land in Sleman district where the crop circle, measuring 70 meters in diameter, was found on Sunday afternoon, told the Jakarta Globe on Monday that he had not seen what had caused the distinctive pattern but others may have.

“According to several residents, they saw a tornado on Saturday evening,” he said.

“On Sunday afternoon, we saw the design in our fields.”

He would not say if he believed that an unidentified flying object was behind the crop circle, which contains a number of symbols.

The farmers have fenced off the area to prevent their fields from being trampled by sightseers, while police have cordoned off the area.

The latter have declined to speculate on how the circle was made.

“We photographed the trace evidence found in the rice field, but we’d rather not comment on that yet because the case requires further research,” said Sr. Comr. Anny Pudjiastuti, a spokeswoman for the Yogyakarta Police.

Thomas Djamaluddin, the head of atmospheric sciences and chief of astronomy research at the National Aeronautics and Space Agency (Lapan), doubted, however, that the Sleman crop circles were an indication that humankind had been visited by aliens.

“We won’t be sending investigators to the scene because we suspect the crop circle involves human invention.

“It’s not a natural phenomena nor the non-scientific phenomena associated with outer space creatures commonly referred to as aliens,” Thomas said.

“The existence of aliens is unconfirmed and cannot be proved scientifically.”

Budi Waluyo, head of the Meteorology, Climatology and Geology Agency (BMKG) in Yogyakarta, said the agency had no reports of a tornado in the province or its surrounding areas on Saturday or Sunday.

He said even if a tornado did occur, it would leave a distinctive snaking trail, not a crop circle.

He added the two closest weather systems — Tropical Storm Vince in the Java Sea and Hurricane Anthony in Australia — were not effecting the weather in the area.

“We always communicate with aviation authorities at the Adi Sucipto Airport in Yogyakarta, a few kilometers from the site,” Budi said.

“If anything suspicious was caught on radar, we’d have been notified, but the fact is that there were no reports.”

Thomas said crop circles had been — what else? — cropping up since the mid-1600s all over the world.

“However, the facts show that the majority of crop circles can be attributed to human activity,” he said.

“The motives for creating crop circles are many, ranging from fun, to attention-seeking, to art and for commercial purposes.

“I believe what happened in Sleman was similar to the phenomena we’ve been seeing for centuries. There’s no scientific development or new facts to be drawn from it.”

Thomas said there were several reasons why aliens or other phenomena could be ruled out as being behind the crop circles.

First, he said, the existence of extraterrestrial life on Earth could not be scientifically proven, with no traces ever found of a spaceship landing.

Second, any spaceship hovering over a crop field would leave behind telltale signs such as a crater or residual radiation.

Third, the crop circle in Sleman was found to be almost perfectly symmetrical, indicating it was made by humans rather than a landing UFO or a tornado.

Thomas added that speculation high voltage power transmission lines above the field had created the circle were absurd because it was not possible for an electromagnetic field to effect rice stalks.

“We’ll wait and see,” he said. “Hopefully, someone will come forward to claim responsibility for the crop circle.”

He said the hubbub surrounding the discovery was the results of being accustomed to “a delusion generated by movies.”

“In England in the 1990s, two young men admitted to making crop circles, which reinforces our views that there’s a human hand behind all this,” Thomas said.

from here

Komodo Out of Favor With Voters in 7 Wonders Polling

2011-01-24T07:57:00.000+07:00

C'mon Indonesia, get those votes in! I read this article in the Jakarta Globe recently.

Indonesia’s Komodo Island is currently sitting at 26th place on the list of 28 finalists in a competition to name the seven natural wonders of the world, a tourism official said.

“Among international votes, over the past four weeks, Komodo has only been able to reach a 60.28 percent support level, ranking it at 26 of the 28 finalists,” said Ubaldus Gogi, the head of promotions at the East Nusa Tenggara tourism office.

The New7Wonders competition ranks the entries according to how many votes they receive from outside of their country of origin.

Speaking in Kupang on Sunday, Ubaldus said that the two finalists coming in below Komodo were Jeju Island in South Korea and the Sundarbans mangrove forest, which is located between Bangladesh and India.

Topping the votes was Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania, with 99.96 percent of its votes coming from outside of the country.

Rounding out the top three were the Mud Volcanos of Azerbaijan, and the Galapagos Islands.

Ubaldus said that rankings continued to change with time and Komodo could still hope to get more votes before the seven finalists are named at the end of the year.

He called on all Indonesians to campaign both at home and overseas to gather support for Komodo in the New7Wonders poll.

“The organizers are targeting a total of one billion votes for this event, so we should aim to get at least 200 million votes for Komodo,” Ubaldi said.

On Friday, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said he would also take part in promoting Komodo. He said he would call for more votes during National Press Day celebrations in Kupang on Feb. 9.

The first round of the competition narrowed the list of 440 participants down to a shortlist of 77 entries. After a public online vote the list was again whittled down to just 28. The winner of the contest will be announced on Nov. 11.

The tourism ministry estimated that 25 percent of Indonesians who had access to the Internet had voted for the national park.

Antara.

Source

Floods in Australia

2011-01-15T07:48:00.002+07:00

Just a small comparison to show you how extensive these floods in Australia really are!

Floods in Australia - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Belmont Common flood, Belmont, 1952. Flooding in Newcastle. QLD 2010-2011 floods. This is a list of notable recorded floods that have occurred in Australia. ...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Floods_in_Australia

BBC News - Floods force mass evacuations in Queensland, Australia
29 Dec 2010 ... About 1000 people are evacuated as the worst flooding in decades wreaks havoc across north-eastern Australia.
www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-12087870

Australian floods may boost RIs coal sales |
7 Jan 2011 ... Floods inundating Queensland have disrupted Australian coal production, and in turn may offer opportunities for Indonesia to boost coal ...
arsipberita.com/.../australian-floods-may-boost-ris-coal-sales-132714.html

Australian floods look set to get worse | euronews, world news
29 Dec 2010 ... world news - The worst flooding for decades in northeastern Australia has turned towns into lakes – and there are warnings that the worst is ...
www.euronews.net/2010/.../australian-floods-look-set-to-get-worse/

More Topeng Monyet (Street Monkeys)

2011-01-01T08:26:00.002+07:00

You can see topeng monyet on the streets in Jakarta, almost everyday begging for some money for their owners. Their life is but a pale significance of what they once where. I feel sorry for them, but do not know what I can do to help them.

Once they were part of Javanese culture, traveling around neighbourhoods performing tricks and shows for admiring children. Now they are stuck on a chain, at a smoky, polluted and hot traffic intersection.

The Ashes Cricket Jokes

2011-01-01T07:44:00.000+07:00

Boxing Day at the MCG. Australia's lowest ever score against England in an Ashes series.

A guy walks into a brothel, and says:
'I am a bit kinky- how much for total humiliation?'
The madam replies $60
'Wow, what do I get for that?' he says.
'A baggy green cap and an Australian cricket shirt'.

What do you call an Australian who can handle a bat?
A Vet!
Ho Ho.

What is the difference between Cinderella and the Australian cricketers?
Cinderella knew when to leave the ball

And why isn`t there anybody drinking bottles of wine in Oz right now ?
Because they don`t have any openers..

Q what do you get if you cross the Australian cricket team with an Oxo cube?
A A laughing stock!

Q. What is the height of optimism?
A. An Australian batsman putting on sunscreen.

Q. What would Jimmy Anderson be if he was Australian?
A. An all rounder.

Q. What is the main function of the Australian coach?
A. To transport the team from the hotel to the ground.

Q. Why don't Australian fielders need pre tour travel injections?
A. Because they never catch anything.

Q. What's the Australian version of LBW?
A. Lost, Beaten and Walloped.

Q. What do you call an Australian with 100 runs against his name?
A. A bowler.

Q. What's the most proficient form of footwork displayed by Ponting?
A. The walk back to the pavilion.

Q. Who has the easiest job in the Australian squad?
A. The guy who removes the red ball marks from the bats.

Q. What do Australian batsmen and drug addicts have in common?
A. Both spend most of their time wondering where their next score will come
from.

Q. Why are Australian cricketers cleverer than Houdini?
A. Because they can get out without even trying.

Q. What does Ryan Harris put in his hands to make sure the next ball almost
always takes a wicket?
A. A bat

You don't need a maid. The dangers of DIY housework.

2010-08-31T10:14:00.002+07:00

You don't need a maid. No-one needs a maid. I don't have one. You don't need one

Hmmmm, one may hear this sort of comment from friends and family back home, who have not experienced living in Asia with home help. I have been inspired me to write this. Last week our maid informed us that she has a 'swollen heart' and needed to rest (and visit the hospital again) so she has a month off.

Being so close to the Lebaran holiday, which is not dissimilar to Chinese new year in that the entire country all go to their village homes for a week it is next to impossible to get a temporary maid.

So up to us to do it ourselves, both of us work, so Sunday was a big housework day. The Mrs mopped the floor with gusto, perhaps too much gusto, by early evening she was complaining of a sore lower back.

Not surprising really.

Yesterday, she could not get out of bed. So I took her to the local hospital thinking we'd visit the local GP and get some anti-inflammatory's and painkillers till it got better.

We got that, but we also pretty much spent the day in the hospital, her in a wheel chair she needs help walking, sitting and simple things like dressing and going to the bathroom.

She also needed some X-rays, and the specialist said yep, she's actually done some real harm, her muscles are holding her spine rigidly straight, the natural curve of the spine is gone right now.

We also had to visit a physiotherapist and needs to return each day for a week and lots of bed rest.

I took the day off yesterday and fortunately her mother is coming over to visit today to assist.

Poor old driver has been given the job of mopping today...

I pray he doesnt bladdy well do the same thing to his own back.

So, there you go, we do need a maid! Tis no laughing matter!

Istiqlal Mosque, or Masjid Istiqlal, (Independence Mosque)

2010-06-19T12:46:00.004+07:00

Istiqlal Mosque, or Masjid Istiqlal, (Independence Mosque) in Jakarta, is the largest mosque in Southeast Asia in terms of capacity to accommodate people. size of building structure and land coverage. Apparently up to 80,000 people can worship in this mosque.

Just north of Merdeka square, in sight of Monas it is roughly in the centre of Jakarta. A small parking fee applies, and a donation is appreciated, but not compulsory.

This national mosque of Indonesia was build to commemorate Indonesian independence, as nation's gratitude for God's blessings; the independence of Indonesia. Therefore the national mosque of Indonesia was named "Istiqlal", an Arabic word for "Independence". Work started in 1960's and it was finally complete in 1978

School Trip Tragedy

2010-06-10T07:55:00.005+07:00

2 bodies have been recovered after a flash flood. The British international School were attending an outdoor pursuits program when the flood happened.
(Antara Photo/Jafkhairi)Cameron Bates

The British International School on Wednesday confirmed that two bodies, including that of a Year 8 student, had been recovered after a flash flood during a field trip in the Puncak mountains a day earlier.

BIS admissions director Lee Bretherick said the bodies were still being formally identified.

Antara news agency reported the body of Outward Bound instructor Arpan Palindungan Ade, 30, had been recovered in the Cisadane River. It also identified the missing student as a South Korean national.

West Bogor Police Chief Hadi Tjahyono said 10 police and military personnel had assisted in the search along the riverbanks.

“The search focused on two spots in Bogor and West Bogor districts,” Hadi said, adding that the weather had been unpredictable and the rain had caused a sudden rise in the river.

Ade’s body was taken to the Indonesian Red Cross Hospital in Bogor.

West Bogor Police chief detective Budi Santoso said the victim had been found naked and with extensive bruising.

“It’s possible he sustained his head wound and other bruises after being dashed against the rocks when he was swept up by the current,” Budi said.

A statement on the school Web site from its CEO and principal, Peter Derby-Crook, said: “A group of students under the supervision of teachers and an experienced guide were caught by rising water levels while hiking through the Gunung Gede area.

All the students and teachers were able to avoid the situation except one student who ran into difficulties. The guide immediately assisted the student but both were separated from the group by the force of the water and swept downstream.”

The other students have returned home and are being offered counseling.

The BIS statement added: “The British International School regularly conducts residential trips as part of the course work for its students to different locations in Indonesia, and over many years these trips have been free from any serious incidents.

“This month’s residential trip to Pancawati, West Java, for year 8 students, was organized in conjunction with Lembur Pancawati Outbound, who the school have been using since 2002 with an excellent safety record.”

Indonesian Car Troubles

2010-06-09T07:54:00.005+07:00

My car will not start this morning, grrrr, it was just at the bengkel (service station) yesterday. Ho hum, Mrs has to take a taxi to work. The driver called a tow truck already.

Yikes, I panic, but he explains you get a free tow to the service centre in Indonesia, thank goodness, because in Australia to would cost you hundreds of dollars.

Actually, the driver also knows the problem ? Oh yeah ? Masuk Angin. Now I've heard of masuk angin before, literally it means air has entered, more specifically it refers to any manner of non-specific ailment, such as a cold or flu or generally unwell. But I have never heard of it in relation to a motor vehicle before, perhaps my car has 'gone native' also!

haha.

Sailing Terms

2010-06-02T06:02:00.001+07:00

This new T-shirt should help you learn your sailing terms!

Diving courses, Liveaboard in Sunda straights

2010-05-09T11:10:00.006+07:00

http://www.kristalkleardive.com/

I want to go diving again, I havent been for a number of years, which is crazy considering that I live in one of the best diving places in the world. I just found this place, so that my better half can get her licence also.

A basic certificate is called an Open Water course, takes two half days in the swimming pool plus a weekend in the thousand islands. Not bad for $500 or so.

Then we can join on a trip on the Cecilia Ann, :)

And trips up to Manado for some of the best diving in the world

Two Dead After Plane Hits Motorcycle

2010-04-20T10:45:00.001+07:00

Read this in the news this morning....

Two Dead After Plane Hits Motorcycle

The Indonesian Ministry of Transportation launched an investigation on Monday after a training aircraft landing at the Curug Airport in Tangerang hit a motorcycle and killed its two passengers who may have been using the runway as a short-cut.

The two occupants of the Socata TB-10 Tobago training aircraft were injured and have been rushed to Siloam Hospital in Karawaci for treatment.

Darwis Amini, chairman of the Indonesian Aviation Institute (STPI) in Curug, said that the single-engine plane was landing when the motorcycle drove across the runway.

“It is illegal for motorcycles to enter the runway,” he said.

The driver and his passenger were killed instantly, he said.

Ministry of Transportation spokesman Bambang Ervan said that bikers often used the runway as a shortcut, even though it was illegal to do so.

“There are wire fences and gutters installed around the airport,” Bambang said, “but people still manage to find ways to break in.”
http://www.thejakartaglobe.com/home/two-dead-after-plane-hits-motorcycle/370254

Of course they were and of course they did ! Bike riders hear are the pits!

The vegetable food vendor in my neighborhood

2010-02-17T11:30:00.002+07:00

The vegetable food vendor in my neighborhood, he comes to you!

Showing sympathy to bereaved familes.

2010-02-15T08:56:00.002+07:00

In a slightly different manner, well wishers and family, not to mention companies, send large polystyrene and flower contraptions to the house of someone who has recently passed on.

2010-02-12T12:43:00.002+07:00

Sunset at Tanjung Lesung

Topeng monyet or performing street monkey's

2010-01-25T09:07:00.001+07:00

You can see topeng monyet I feel sorry for them, but do not know what I can do to help them.

Once they were part of Indonesian culture, traveling around neighbourhoods performing tricks and shows for laughing children. Now they are stuck on the end of a chain, at a smoky, polluted and hot traffic intersection.

Saving videos and animation for your classes

2010-01-21T10:33:00.003+07:00

As a teacher I love the 'net. There are thousands, more, millions of great videos, tutorials and animations to use in classes. But the problem with the internet is that nothing stays the same, pages come and go, problems happen, schools block youtube and then you loose that great 5 minute video explaining photosynthesis.

So save them, copy them, download them and then share them. But some sites do not allow you to copy them. Here's how, use firefox and add these two neat add ons.

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/3006 for videos.

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/201 for animations

Buchan Caves in Victoria

2010-01-02T03:09:00.005+07:00

Are a set of caves in Eastern Victoria created by underground rivers cutting though limestone rock almost 400 million years ago. They are about 360 kms away from Melbourne. One can camp nearby in the Buchan Caves reserve.

They were discovered by Frank Moon in the earlier part of last century. (he called his daughter Fairy Cave, and she even arranged a secret wedding in Fairy Cave.)

A tour of one of the caves will cost you about $20 and takes 45 minutes.

Teachers VS Students Touch Rugby Official Match Report

2009-12-16T16:39:00.002+07:00

Teachers VS Students Touch Rugby Official Match Report

Conditions were perfect for this long anticipated showdown between youth and experience. A cool wind and zero humidity ensured that perspiration never impacted on ball handling and player skills could really shine through (Even butter fingers Liam managed to hold on to a few balls).So yeah thanks to the weather. The match was marred only by the late showing of the Barbarians captain. Yes, the Anzacs had to start the fight without the full Pomie contingent, bloody typical..Lest We Forget. There was much talk going into this truly international affair and it didn't fail to deliver. I even heard the sweet sound of sheep late in the second half which was a highlight for me especially. Beautiful animals that they are. It didn't take the Indonesian teachers long to pick up the intricacies of the game and to stamp their mark on the match. Final Score: 20-10 to the Teachers..

Cheers for fronting up, especially those who hadn't played before ..the students really enjoyed it.

Protected Eagles and Owls for Sale

2009-12-08T07:16:00.008+07:00

What to do about this man who sells Eagles and Owls each day by the roadside in Jakarta ? :( They are supposed to be protected birds, what sort of idiot would buy a bird like that to keep in a cage ? I assume he pays off the police.

links
Wild Life trade in Javan markets still high

Black Shouldered Kite

Reviews The Best New Science Books

2009-12-01T11:49:00.004+07:00

Reviews The Best New Science Books

Neil deGrasse Tyson, Area 51, modern life vs human nature, and more
From the February 2009 issue, published online February 20, 2009

The Pluto Files by Neil deGrasse Tyson (Norton)
What did Pluto ever do to Tyson? In his latest book the energetic astronomer and television host taps pop culture and breaking research to explain why he led the charge to banish Pluto from planetary status.

The Well-Dressed Ape by Hannah Holmes (Random House)
Holmes ignores our self-congratulatory tendencies and gives a witty, detailed look at Homo sapiens through the eyes of an evolutionary biologist, exposing us as a thin-skinned, dull-toothed, small-clawed, and pitiable species.

The Crowded Universe: The Search for Living Planets by Alan Boss (Basic)
The space race is on. No, not back to the moon. The next great achievement for humanity will be to find alien life on another planet. Astronomer Boss gives an inside view of how new space telescopes like Kepler and Corot are on the verge of finding Earth-like worlds around other stars.
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It Takes a Genome: How a Clash Between Our Genes and Modern Life Is Making Us Sick by Greg Gibson (FT Press Science)
Is modern life corrupting our DNA? Gibson’s cautionary tale points to the alarming rise in diseases like diabetes, asthma, and Alzheimer’s, warning that more than half of us will die from our genetic vulnerabilities if we stay the course in our do-nothing, eat-a-lot lives.

Blank Spots on the Map: The Dark Geography of the Pentagon’s Secret World by Trevor Paglen (Dutton)
Area 51 is probably the most famous place that doesn’t exist on a map—at least not any map the U.S. government wants you to see. But it’s far from the only one. Paglen pulls back the curtain of secrecy on the military’s classified locations, from downtown Las Vegas to Kabul, Afghanistan, to the Washington, D.C., suburbs.

Remarkable Creatures: Epic Adventures in the Search for the Origins of Species by Sean B. Carroll (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt)
Darwin is the public face of evolutionary biology, but he doesn’t deserve all the credit. Carroll, a noted evolutionary biologist himself, gives a nod to the scores of underappreciated researchers who have filled in the gaps. In this exhaustive history, we learn the true extent of evolution’s influence on the way we think.

Cyberabad Days by Ian McDonald (Pyr)
The advanced technology of the near future runs smack into a millennia-old culture in McDonald’s clever imaginings of life in 21st-century India. This anthology includes previously published short stories and an intricate new novella that explores the digital divide in surprising ways.

TV American Experience: The Polio Crusade

PBS, Monday, February 2, at 9 p.m. (EST) In the early 1950s there were more than 20,000 cases a year of poliomyelitis, a disease that causes paralysis or death. But on April 26, 1954, researchers began administering a vaccine in what would become the largest public health experiment in American history. The experiment paid off: By 1960 the number of annual cases had dropped to about 3,000, and by 1979 there were only about 10. This intimate PBS documentary chronicles the story of the polio vaccine’s success—a triumph of science over disease

from http://discovermagazine.com/2009/feb/best-new-science-books

Idul Adha: a time of sacrifice and sharing

2009-12-01T11:35:00.005+07:00

This goat will have been sold and already sacrificed for Indonesia's Idhul Adha ceremony (last Friday), in memory of biblical Abraham's readiness to sacrifice his son to God. The meat is then distributed to poor people. I like this concept.

More information here.
Under the Knife For Islamic Holiday

Asep Syaefullah is quite renowned around the streets of Bendungan Hilir in Central Jakarta. The 53-year-old has worked as a caretaker at a privately-run high school in Benhil for 33 years — but it’s not his day job that has given him special status among Benhil residents.

For the past 15 years, Asep has been moonlighting as a butcher, particularly for Idul Adha. On this day, Muslims around the world sacrifice animals to commemorate the willingness of the Prophet Ibrahim to surrender his son, Ismael, to God.

It is said that the prophet dreamed he had killed his son. Believing it was a command from God, Ismael asked his father to carry out his dream. Just as Ismael lay down to be killed, God told Ibrahim not to do so and to sacrifice an animal instead.

“Go to Pak Asep. He’s the man for the job,” said a member of the Idul Adha committee at a Benhil mosque, when asked if he knew of any butchers in the area who would slaughter an animal as a sacrifice.

A young mother gave the same answer.

“Just go and see Pak Asep. He lives over there in the school compound,” she said.

Short and stocky, with a mustache and beard, Asep seems to fit the general stereotype of a butcher. Together with his younger brother, Usman, the father of two has been a member of the Idul Adha committee at Muhammadiyah secondary school for years.

“It’s pretty simple,” said Asep when asked about preparing for Idul Adha. “Just sharpen the machete. That’s all.”

He said a well-kept machete was the most important tool when slaughtering an animal. The animals, he added, should not suffer too much and a keen blade helped to hasten their death.

“You know how it feels when you accidentally cut your skin on bamboo? The animal should not even feel pain like that,” he said. “That’s why it is very important to prepare the machete.”

Asep has a special way of checking to see if his machete is up to scratch, one he said he learned from other butchers many years ago.

“Just run the blade along your hair like you are trimming it,” he said, his right hand drawing the machete over his head. “If you can cut some hair, then you can be sure the machete is ready to use.”

When slaughtering a goat, he said, one slash is usually enough to cut its throat. But it can take twice the amount of force for cows.

“A cow’s skin is very thick. You have to slash it a couple of times,” he said. “I can slaughter a goat by myself, but for a cow, I need at least three people to help me.

“A cow will struggle to free himself. And that’s when they can kick you really hard.”

Asep knows this all too well. During last year’s Idul Adha, he was kicked in the chest by a cow.

“[The bruises] didn’t fade for weeks,” he said with a rueful grin.

Every year, Asep slaughters no less than eight cows and 40 goats on Idul Adha, which falls on the tenth day of Zulhijjah, the 12th month of the Islamic calendar. The backbreaking work is usually completed within three hours.

“There are two important things when slaughtering an animal for Idul Adha. First, we direct the head of the beast toward the qibla [the direction of the Kaaba, the sacred building in Mecca, to which Muslims turn for prayer]. Second, we have to say ‘Bismillahi Allahu akbar’ [‘In the name of Allah, Allah is great’]. These two things are compulsory.”

His main duty as a butcher is to slaughter the animals, and he leaves the other tasks, such as skinning and cutting the meat, to other members of the committee.

“But when I’m done with slaughtering, I can help them with that, too,” he said.

Krisnandana, a veterinarian from the Veterinary Public Health division at the Ministry of Agriculture, said the ministry recommended butchers follow its guidelines for Idul Adha.

“In general, the slaughter of an animal should be conducted in a slaughterhouse. However, for religious or personal reasons, it can be done outside, but it should be supervised by a qualified person, such as a veterinarian.”

He added that the slaughtering should meet the ministry’s hygiene and sanitation requirements: The area should have clean water and holes dug in the ground for blood drainage and to bury the entrails.

Before Idul Adha, the committee at a local mosque registers the names of poor families in the neighborhood and distributes coupons so that they can receive the meat of the slaughtered animals. The members of the committee are also given some meat for their efforts.

On the night of Idul Adha, many people use the meat to make holiday dishes, such as sate kambing (skewers of meat with peanut sauce) and goat’s meat and bone soup.

In addition to Idul Adha, customers also call upon Asep to slaughter goats for aqiqah, the Islamic ritual of shaving a baby’s hair for the first time, usually on the seventh day after birth.

Asep’s skills with a knife have also taken him further afield, to Bogor, as word of mouth advertises his reputation for slaughtering animals.

“People tell other people,” he said.

However, Asep has one rule — he never charges his customers.

“But they always give me money for doing it,” he said.

When asked to slaughter a cow, he said, he usually receives Rp 200,000 ($20), and a minimum of Rp 50,000 for goats.

“But really, I don’t ask for money, let alone set prices,” he said. “It’s for lillahi ta’ala [for the sake of Allah Almighty].”

When asked if he ever felt bad for the animals, Asep smiled and shook his head.

“I guess it is part of their fate as an animal,” he said. “I know that slaughtering an animal is part of Islamic teachings, so I don’t regret doing my job.”

Asep Syaefullah is quite renowned around the streets of Bendungan Hilir in Central Jakarta. The 53-year-old has worked as a caretaker at a privately-run high school in Benhil for 33 years — but it’s not his day job that has given him special status among Benhil residents.

For the past 15 years, Asep has been moonlighting as a butcher, particularly for Idul Adha. On this day, Muslims around the world sacrifice animals to commemorate the willingness of the Prophet Ibrahim to surrender his son, Ismael, to God.

It is said that the prophet dreamed he had killed his son. Believing it was a command from God, Ismael asked his father to carry out his dream. Just as Ismael lay down to be killed, God told Ibrahim not to do so and to sacrifice an animal instead.

“Go to Pak Asep. He’s the man for the job,” said a member of the Idul Adha committee at a Benhil mosque, when asked if he knew of any butchers in the area who would slaughter an animal as a sacrifice.

A young mother gave the same answer.

“Just go and see Pak Asep. He lives over there in the school compound,” she said.

Short and stocky, with a mustache and beard, Asep seems to fit the general stereotype of a butcher. Together with his younger brother, Usman, the father of two has been a member of the Idul Adha committee at Muhammadiyah secondary school for years.

“It’s pretty simple,” said Asep when asked about preparing for Idul Adha. “Just sharpen the machete. That’s all.”

He said a well-kept machete was the most important tool when slaughtering an animal. The animals, he added, should not suffer too much and a keen blade helped to hasten their death.

“You know how it feels when you accidentally cut your skin on bamboo? The animal should not even feel pain like that,” he said. “That’s why it is very important to prepare the machete.”

Asep has a special way of checking to see if his machete is up to scratch, one he said he learned from other butchers many years ago.

“Just run the blade along your hair like you are trimming it,” he said, his right hand drawing the machete over his head. “If you can cut some hair, then you can be sure the machete is ready to use.”

When slaughtering a goat, he said, one slash is usually enough to cut its throat. But it can take twice the amount of force for cows.

“A cow’s skin is very thick. You have to slash it a couple of times,” he said. “I can slaughter a goat by myself, but for a cow, I need at least three people to help me.

“A cow will struggle to free himself. And that’s when they can kick you really hard.”

Asep knows this all too well. During last year’s Idul Adha, he was kicked in the chest by a cow.

“[The bruises] didn’t fade for weeks,” he said with a rueful grin.

Every year, Asep slaughters no less than eight cows and 40 goats on Idul Adha, which falls on the tenth day of Zulhijjah, the 12th month of the Islamic calendar. The backbreaking work is usually completed within three hours.

“There are two important things when slaughtering an animal for Idul Adha. First, we direct the head of the beast toward the qibla [the direction of the Kaaba, the sacred building in Mecca, to which Muslims turn for prayer]. Second, we have to say ‘ Bismillahi Allahu akbar ’ [‘In the name of Allah, Allah is great’]. These two things are compulsory.”

His main duty as a butcher is to slaughter the animals, and he leaves the other tasks, such as skinning and cutting the meat, to other members of the committee.

“But when I’m done with slaughtering, I can help them with that, too,” he said.

Krisnandana, a veterinarian from the Veterinary Public Health division at the Ministry of Agriculture, said the ministry recommended butchers follow its guidelines for Idul Adha.

“In general, the slaughter of an animal should be conducted in a slaughterhouse. However, for religious or personal reasons, it can be done outside, but it should be supervised by a qualified person, such as a veterinarian.”

He added that the slaughtering should meet the ministry’s hygiene and sanitation requirements: The area should have clean water and holes dug in the ground for blood drainage and to bury the entrails.

Before Idul Adha, the committee at a local mosque registers the names of poor families in the neighborhood and distributes coupons so that they can receive the meat of the slaughtered animals. The members of the committee are also given some meat for their efforts.

On the night of Idul Adha, many people use the meat to make holiday dishes, such as sate kambing (skewers of meat with peanut sauce) and goat’s meat and bone soup.

In addition to Idul Adha, customers also call upon Asep to slaughter goats for aqiqah , the Islamic ritual of shaving a baby’s hair for the first time, usually on the seventh day after birth.

Asep’s skills with a knife have also taken him further afield, to Bogor, as word of mouth advertises his reputation for slaughtering animals.

“People tell other people,” he said.

However, Asep has one rule — he never charges his customers.

“But they always give me money for doing it,” he said.

When asked to slaughter a cow, he said, he usually receives Rp 200,000 ($20), and a minimum of Rp 50,000 for goats.

“But really, I don’t ask for money, let alone set prices,” he said. “It’s for lillahi ta’ala [for the sake of Allah Almighty].”

When asked if he ever felt bad for the animals, Asep smiled and shook his head.

“I guess it is part of their fate as an animal,” he said. “I know that slaughtering an animal is part of Islamic teachings, so I don’t regret doing my job.”

Goat Seller Makes A Killing on Holiday

An elderly woman stopped by a bamboo pen filled with goats. She stood for a while, her eyes roaming over the beasts.

“A few days before Idul Adha, people will just look around, comparing prices, but they don’t usually buy until two or three days before the big day,” said Abdul Hamid, a goat seller in Benhil.

Pak Haji, as he is known by his regular customers, has been selling goats for Idul Adha for 15 years. Throughout the rest of the year, the 45-year-old sells chickens in Pasar Benhil, a traditional market in the area.

About 150 goats are brought from his hometown in Cirebon, West Java, usually five days before the festival. The goats, brought to Jakarta in large trucks, are purchased from a middle man who buys them from individuals in several villages in Cirebon, he said.

Abdul said that over the last 15 years, he had only once failed to sell all of his goats for the Muslim holiday.

“I guess I just bought too many at that time,” he said. “I don’t know why I insisted on buying more than 200 [goats] that year.”

The prices, he said, range from Rp 800,000 for goats weighing 15 kilograms and Rp 2.5 million for those between 50 and 60 kilograms.

“I don’t actually like to play with prices with my customers,” he said. “But I know they like negotiating, so I usually add Rp 200,000 [$20] [to the original price] at the start of bargaining.”

Over the years, Pak Haji has gained a following of loyal customers who return year after year for the holiday.

“An Islamic foundation in Manggarai [South Jakarta] purchases 30 to 35 goats every Idul Adha,” he said.

“But all customers are the same,” Abdul said. “Selling all of my goats is what matters the most.”

http://thejakartaglobe.com/culture/under-the-knife-for-islamic-holiday/343771

http://thejakartaglobe.com/home/meat-flukes-and-runaway-cows-all-on-the-menu-for-idul-adha/344212

West Java Inundated by floods

2009-12-01T11:31:00.002+07:00

The regular trip down to the sailing club took twice as long last weekend. But I guess these people living here had more problems than me!

A casestudy “The Ecological Footprint Dilemma”

2009-11-24T11:03:00.002+07:00

This case study is a “clicker case.” It combines the use of student personal response systems (clickers) with case teaching methods and formats. The case is presented in class using a series of PowerPoint slides punctuated by questions (called “clicker questions”) that students respond to before moving on to the next slide. In this way, students work through the material to understand (and usually also solve) the problem presented in the case. Specifically designed for use in large introductory science classes, the method integrates lecture material, case storylines, student discussion, (clicker) questions, clarification of answers to those questions, more lecture, and data.

The world’s resource base is quickly becoming depleted and a steady increase in the human population is a concern as we seek long-term solutions to a global, environmental crisis. In addition to this, affluence in industrialized countries constitutes another challenge for a more equitable distribution of resources in the pursuit of a better quality of life for more people. For these reasons, this case study will be of interest to students in an introductory biology course. As they work through the case, students calculate their ecological footprint. They are then asked to decide whether a new parking lot is more effective in accommodating the needs of an expanding university campus than a community garden. Campus greening is becoming a challenging component of the experience of millions of college students throughout the world. Many institutions of higher education are committed to reduce carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions as a way to educate students to become better stewards, and are actively seeking viable strategies to better control global climate change. The American Association for Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE) counts among its membership hundreds of colleges and universities in the U.S. Moreover, since 2006, about 400 presidents of institutions of higher education have signed a petition to reduce CO2 emissions from their campuses.

Written for a non-majors introductory biology class, this case would also be suitable for courses in ecology, environmental science, conservation biology, environmental studies and general biology. The case is designed to be taught at the end of an ecology unit of the curriculum. Students should be familiar with population ecology concepts (richness, distribution, carrying capacity, competition, symbiosis), including human population ecology, growth, and competition.

Using Word Clouds as a teaching activity

2009-11-18T13:09:00.004+07:00

Whether they’re mastering scientific vocabulary, writing poems, or analyzing presidential speeches, students are immersed in words. Encourage lively conversation about words with the help of tools that turn text into visual displays.

Wordle (wordle.net) is a free tool that turns a block of text, or simply a list of words, into a cloud pattern. Words that are used most frequently are displayed most prominently. You can play with layout, font, and colors to change the appearance or highlight certain vocabulary.

Teachers across subject areas and grade levels are finding good uses for this simple to use tool. For example, as a prereading activity, you might use Wordle to highlight key vocabulary. Are there unfamiliar words here that students will need to understand? Patterns to pay attention to while they are reading?

Students can create Wordle displays using their own writing, too. They will gain new insights into word choice. Are they using certain words too often? Or is their word repetition deliberate? This information can lead to more productive writing conferences and will help them as they move on to the revision stage.

Some teachers recommend Wordle as a tool for reflection. By combining students’ reflective entries into one Wordle display, you can see at a glance what students are
thinking about. Their “hot topics” can be the jumping-off point for a lively classroom discussion.

from http://www.edutopia.org/files/existing/pdfs/Edutopia-10-top-tips-for-teaching-with-new-media.pdf

Its MOvember.... raising money for prostrate cancer research

2009-11-12T16:49:00.003+07:00

Movember is an annual, month-long celebration of the moustache, highlighting men’s health issues, specifically prostate cancer and depression in men.

Mo Bros, supported by their Mo Sistas, start Movember (November 1st) clean shaven and then have the remainder of the month to grow and groom their moustache. During Movember, each Mo Bro effectively becomes a walking billboard for men’s health and, via their Mo, raises essential funds and awareness for Movember’s men’s health partners – The Prostate Cancer Foundation of Australia and beyondblue – the national depression initiative. At the end of Movember, a series of Gala Partés are held to thank Mo Bros and Sistas for their support and fund raising efforts.

The idea for Movember came about in 2003 when a few mates were having a beer in a small bar in Fitzroy, Melbourne. Inspired by the women’s health movement, it was recognized that men were lacking a way to engage and actively involve themselves in their own health. During a conversation about fashion and past trends, the idea came up to bring the moustache back for one month, and in doing so, have some fun, raise a small amount of money and hopefully encourage men to talk about their health with each other.

Since this time, Movember has continued to grow each year, both in terms of participation numbers and funds raised. In its first year, 30 Mo Bros took part in Movember and last year, in Australia alone, 125,000 Mo Bro & Sistas got on board, raising more than $8million for each of Movember’s men’s health partners.

http://au.movember.com/about/

2009-11-12T16:44:00.001+07:00

The Jakarta Schools Football is about to start again... http://twitter.com/JakartaFootball

Bangkok Sixes

2009-11-12T16:36:00.002+07:00

The Jakarta Gonads gave it a good crack, the cricket was excellent craic, now back at work waiting for the next tournament ! More info here. http://www.thailandsixes.com/

Getting your drivers license in Jakarta the easy way!

2009-08-30T20:08:00.004+07:00

I know we shouldnt support KKN (Korruption, Kullusi, dan Neoptism) but I've heard stories of even Indo friends being given the run around when doing to get their license. (one chinese indo friend took 3 days to get her drivers license).

Using agents may cost more, but it gets the job done.

This year, I used a local friendly sergeant in the area.

For 600,000 rupiah, I had a private police escort, we took the tollways and busways, drove through every red light.

At the office he jumped every queue and it literally took me 29 minutes from start to finish!

FOR SALE – TROPHY DISPLAY CABINET

2009-08-25T06:45:00.002+07:00

FOR SALE – DISPLAY CABINET, one of the most elegant and functional display cabinets currently on the market.

Features
Fine timber details
4 leadlight options
4 side access doors (there is maximum frontal display)
Adjustable shelves are extra deep to accommodate large items
Halogen down lights
Mirror back with glass shelves provide max illumination of collectables from top to bottom.

To give indication of size of the Cabinet it previously held the following:
The Ashes Trophy
Tri Nations Trophy
Super-14 Trophy
Rugby League World Cup
Rugby Union World Cup
International Rules Trophy
Rugby 7
Davis Cup
Hockey World Championship Trophy
and the
Bledisloe Cup.
2008-2009 SA / Aust Test
All these trophies are now overseas and the Cabinet is excess to requirements.

To make an offer call R Stuart, R Ponting, S Mortlock or P. Fitzsimons who once commented “…the Australian Cabinet is groaning under the weight of all the trophies!”

They can be contacted on: 1800-LOST-THE-LOT

Fish Spa Therapy

2009-08-24T12:44:00.006+07:00

Ichthyotherapy is the practise of using fish for spa and theraputic massage. Being at the mall today we thought we'd try it out. 120,000rupiah each for 30 mins, pics to follow later.

The fish nibble the dead skin and also release an enzyme which promotes healthy cells to grow. The sensation is ticklish but relaxing. The fish act like pumice stone rubbing off the dead epidermal layer of the skin leaving behind baby smooth
Skin. The feeling of the fish biting is quite relaxing and acts like micro-acupunture.

The fish are of a type called Garra ruffa, apparently a type of carp from Turkey and Iran

Did they really say that?

2009-08-12T17:01:00.004+07:00

And in part 735 of 'Did they really say that?' I bring you a story told to me today.

A local landlord of a western style bar here noticed one day that a workman was standing on a ladder fixing an outside light, in pouring rain.

So, he queried the manager allowing this to happen, you know electricity and water and all that dangerous stuff.....

They reply was, "Oh, it's ok, we have another guy here just in case"

!!!

my boat

2009-07-12T16:16:00.001+07:00

this is the life aint it?

Playing Rugby in Balikpapan

2009-06-10T13:24:00.001+07:00

French froggy frogs get beaten 10-0 playing Rugby union against my Aussie rules football team!

Did I mention the friendly rugby game that we put on, aussie rules blokes vs the french bastards? and that we won 10-0 !

Suramadu Bridge - connecting Java and Madura

2009-06-10T12:26:00.001+07:00

Crowds swarm ahead of RI's longest bridge inauguration

The Jakarta Post , Jakarta | Wed, 06/10/2009 10:26 AM | National
Hundreds of local residents were swarming the Tambak Wedi area in Surabaya, East Java ahead of the inauguration of the Suramadu bridge – Indonesia's longest and first-ever toll bridge – on Wednesday morning.

Antara state news agency reported that people, coming from Surabaya and its surrounding area, had started to arrive at 6 a.m., although they were not allowed to enter the inauguration ceremony area.

“It’s fine. It's enough for us to be able to see the bridge,” said Lukman, who came from Driyorejo with his family.

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono is scheduled to inaugurate the 5.4-kilometer bridge at 10 a.m. in a ceremony expected to be attended by 6,500 people including foreign guests, state officials and religious leaders. (dre)

Jakarta's Red Axe Gang

2009-06-10T12:10:00.001+07:00

In something straight out of Kung Fu Hustle - Jakarta has its very own Red Axe Gang, recognisable due to their red axes they all carry. In fact, their reputation is so fierce, that the very sight of a thug gently tapping a red axe on your car window in heavy traffic will be enough for you to hand over all your valuables, so I've been reliably informed.

How does one differentiate between the real red axe gang and copycats, I do not know. However, after a year or two hiatus they are back.... with rather dubious results....

[quote]

Bati Kartini
Axe Gang’s Comeback Gig Foiled By Police

After a long hiatus, the dreaded Red Axe gang made an unwelcome, and unsuccessful, return on Monday when two suspected members were arrested in the middle of an attempted robbery.

Ahmad K. Permana, deputy chief executive officer of Danamon Sharia Bank, was on his way home when he got stuck in traffic in front of Balai Kartini on Jalan Gatot Subroto in South Jakarta.

From out of nowhere, two men wielding red axes ran up to the car and smashed the right front window.

“They approached the car and immediately broke the front window on the driver’s side with two strikes of their red axes,” Adj. Sr. Comr. Ahmad Rivai, the head of the Mobile Investigation Unit of the Jakarta Police’s General Crimes Investigation Directorate, said on Tuesday.

Rivai said that the gang members demanded Ahmad’s driver, Andi, surrender his cellphone. Members of the Mobile Investigation Unit spotted the incident and immediately pursued and apprehended the would-be thieves.

However, two other gang members, who were standing by with a motorcycle, managed to escape. “The police tried to pursue them but lost them as they sped toward Kuningan,” Rivai said.

The police seized the axes from the arrested gang members as evidence, and also impounded Ahmad’s car. During questioning, the two suspects identified themselves as Hendri Suryana, also known as Aseng, 26, and Sandy Setiadi, 23.

The two members who managed to escape were identified as Hendra and Beni, also known as Benben. “We’re still looking for them,” Rivai said.

The Red Axe gang was a feared criminal group several years ago, but Monday evening’s incident was the first time they have been heard of for almost two years.[/quote]

http://thejakartaglobe.com/news/axe-gangs-comeback-gig-foiled-by-police/311200

White boarding in Science classes

2009-04-29T16:45:00.001+07:00

White boarding in Science

White boarding is a term used to describe the student use of a 3’ x 2’ sheet of tile board to record group work.

White boarding was first used in physics classes (Wells, Hestenes, and Swackhamer, 1995). White boarding requires a small group of students (usually about four) to share their understanding, knowledge, and experience, in response to a specific question or problem. Each group is then required to present their findings back to the class in order to compare separate understanding and conclusions (Henry, Henry, and Riddoch, 2003).

The science department at SGJ ordered a trial set of six whiteboards to be made for one classroom. The initial feedback has been very positive among the students, hopefully, (and we are feeling confident) this will translate into improved student learning. Various classes have been using them, from MYP general science to UNAS and IB students.

Students have reported several benefits in using white boards as a tool in class. When students see their thoughts or another student’s thoughts in writing, the idea becomes more concrete, and they are more likely to develop an opinion about the idea, to agree or disagree. (Henry, Henry, and Riddoch, 2003).

Secondly they foster a classroom of cooperative learning, one of our ESLRs and they allow the students control of the learning, by creating an atmosphere in the classroom where ideas are student-generated.

Finally, the whiteboards can be erased, and thus are easy to change, students are perhaps more likely to discuss and consider ideas, knowing that they are easily revised and modifiable.

Henry, David., Henry, Julie., and Riddoch, Stephanie,. (date unknown) “White boarding your way to great student discussions: Using large whiteboards to facilitate group learning helps students communicate their ideas” Buffalo State University from http://physicsed.buffalostate.edu/pubs/Elem_whiteboarding.pdf date last retrieved 28th April 2009

Wells, M., Hestenes, D., and Swackhamer, G. (1995) “A modeling method for high school physics instruction.” American Journal of Physics, 64, 114-119.

topeng monyet or performing street monkeys

2009-04-21T16:00:00.007+07:00

I saw this article in the Jakarta post today, made me sad. But that's life.

Much-abused macaques may soon face extinction

Anissa S. Febrina , The Jakarta Post , Jakarta | Tue, 04/21/2009 2:26 PM | Lifestyle

They entertain children, feed those with unusual appetites and sacrifice their freedom for the sake of science.

Humans are indebted to the long-tailed macaques, possibly familiar to locals as street entertainment topeng monyet, who are now endangered due to unmonitored exploitation.

A recent investigation by UK-based pro-animal group, British Union for the Abolition of Vivisection (BUAV), has raised concerns of the exploitation of Macaca fascicularis, as exports of the animal have not been in line with international trade regulations.

The BUAV report stated while the long-tailed macaques were not necessarily threatened with extinction, they could soon be at risk unless their export was more strictly regulated.

The trade of the animal is regulated by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Flora and Fauna (CITES), which Indonesia ratified in 1978.

CITES bans the international trade of wild-caught macaques and only allows those that have been captive-bred to be sold.

BUAV accused Indonesia of exporting wild-caught macaques under the guise of captive breeding.

The export of macaques is lucrative and the country has exported a total of 24,811 macaques worldwide between 1997 and 2006.

Indonesia is the United States' third largest supplier, after the Philippines and Mauritius.

Most animals end up in laboratories, as they are among the five species of Macaca suitable for biomedical research test subjects.

Between 3,000 and 4,000 long-tailed macaques are exported from Indonesia every year. According to data obtained from CITES, 6,078 long-tailed macaques were exported in 2005 and 2006 alone.

The country exported 4,007 captive-bred long-tailed macaques last year, data from the Forestry Ministry's directorate of biodiversity conservation revealed.

But are the so-called captive-bred macaques actually bred?

Captive breeding in Indonesia can involve setting free wild-caught long-tailed macaques on remote islands. One of the most famous is Tinjil Island in Banten, where the captive breeding of long-tailed macaques started in 1988, with 520 animals brought to the island from the wild. BUAV argued such breeding could not be categorized as captive breeding as the monkeys roam free and are intertwined in a living ecosystem.

The Forestry Ministry's director general for forest protection and nature conservation, Darori said it was debatable whether captive breeding systems, such as that on Tinjil Island, violated CITES regulations.

Setting debates aside, the increasing quota for captured monkeys is also concerning environmentalists.

NGO ProFauna reported the number of captured long-tailed macaques had continuously increased from 2,000 in 2006 to 4,100 in 2007 and 5,100 in 2008.

According to the Schmutzer Primate Center, there was no valid data on the current population of long-tailed macaques.

Meanwhile, the BUAV investigation revealed population surveys of the monkeys by the Indonesian Institute of Science (LIPI) were conducted by third parties and based on invalid extrapolation methods. The quota for captured monkeys is based on these population surveys.

Such continuously increasing quotas also raised concerns of captive breeding centers becoming a pool for wild-caught macaques later on sold as bred ones.

"Captive breeding centers in Indonesia have always been a failure as they always need a new supply of wild-caught macaques," ProFauna activist Asep R. Purnama said.

In 2008 alone, the Forestry Ministry allocated 2,000 wild-caught macaques to captive breeding centers. The monkeys were caught in North Sumatra, Riau, Jambi, Bali and Central Kalimantan.

Without detailed and accurate measures of macaques' population and a strict monitoring on captive breeding centers, Indonesia could risk completely eradicating the species, Asep added.

For pro-animal activists, it was not only the numbers that mattered, but also how the animals would be treated once their fate as an internationally traded species was decided.

Macaques are subjected to mental and physical abuse, particularly during capture and during transportation between breeding centers.

Hunters usually capture infant macaques after chasing away their mothers with rifle shots.

Arriving safe and uninjured in the breeding centers does not guarantee a comfortable life for the macaques. They are often cramped in cages to be later on transported in small wooden crates. If they are meant for export, they will be kept in the cages for a long time.

For those destined to be test subjects in research laboratories, the suffering continues as medicines are tested on them. Sometimes the primates are intentionally hurt during behavioral observations.

As they are the closest known primates to humans, they are used extensively in medical experiments, particularly those connected with neuroscience.

Since the human race is obviously able to benefit from nature, we should bear in mind that making the most of nature should not involve exploiting it.

Krakatoa volcano trip

2009-03-30T17:59:00.006+07:00

Krakatoa Volcano, probably the most famous volcano in modern history, it exploded in 1883, the resulting sound and waves observed in countries halfway around the globe, allegedly disrupting the earths climate for several years. It is now a World Heritage Site, and thus worth a visit if you are in Indonesia.

wikipedia tells me this ...

Quote:
With a Volcanic Explosivity Index (VEI) of 6, the eruption was equivalent to 200 megatons of TNT—about 13,000 times the yield of the Little Boy bomb (13 to 16 KT) that devastated Hiroshima, Japan during World War II and four times the yield of the Tsar Bomba (50 MT), the largest nuclear device ever detonated.

The series of islands above are the remnants of the Krakatoa that exploded in 1883, the grey smudge in the centre is Anak Kratatoa, (son of Krakatoa), like a phoenix rising from the ashes is growing anew, reportedly at a rate of 5 metres per year. The islands are the edges of the caldera, measuring about 7kms across.

We left from Kalianda, but you can also do the same sort of trips from Anyer, Cerita, or Tanjung Lasung, since Krakatoa is in the middle of the choppy Sunda Straits separating Sumatra from Java.

Of course, it aint cheap or easy. Your looking at 3.5 million rups ($350) for a boat for a day plus lunch, entry fee and guide, a speed boat will seat 4 people and take 2 hours each way or an older wooden fishing boat will seat up to 10 people and take 4 hours each way.

Our first sight of the Volcano, in fact, it is actually, Anak Krakatoa, (son of Krakatoa) was impressive, a belching, smokey grey smudge on the horizon. You can see the other islands, that are part of the caldera.

The volcano, erupted silently, billowing clouds about every 5 minutes or so.

The west side of the island is slightly more sheltered, and has a variety of plant and animal life, growing on soft, black sand. Albeit punctuated with the odd hardened lava flow.

We ate some lunch and set of on a hike up the mountain side. Through the trees which thin out quickly and then onto baking hot scoria and black ash. The views back down were nice though.

this recent activity started in 1994 and according to Reuters Indonesia's Krakatau roars, dazzles with fireworks | World | Reuters

Quote:
A vulcanologist monitoring Anak Krakatau said the volcano was likely to rumble and roar for some time.
"It is still at the third level of alert. It is safe and there aren't any problems. There were approximately one hundred explosions yesterday," Saut Simatupang, head of volcano observation in Bandung, told Reuters.

However, the rangers, told us that someone died last October, walking too close to an explosion.

Anyway, we continued walking up the hillside, baking black scoria, verdant oceans, blue blue skies, all the while Anak Krakatoa belching ominously in the background. Strangely enough, these cloud belches did not make any sound.

We got to about 100 feet shy of a ridge top, close to the mouth, and suddenly with a strange whooshing sound, it sent up a burst of fist/head sized rocks with the gasses and ash, we watched the rocks like slow motion, rise up and begin coming down towards us, I started thinking about needed to dodge this flying debris, Key was just frozen in shock.

Fortunately, much like my fielding skills, I had misjudged the distance these rocks had traveled and we were never in danger of them reaching us, that time. Our ranger/guide was not quite so blase about it, nor MrsKW, with some urging I suggested it would be a shame to climb so far, and not make it 100 feet more.

OK, you have about 10 minutes here and then that is it!

It was worth it, another shower of rocks or two, and then we began the trip back down.

Was there are strong smell of sulphur and what are the chances of another eruption?
not much smell at all.

As we were walking back down, I heard an almighty boom, much like a thunder clap, unfortunately (I thought) we were in the trees, and could not see how much rock or ash had been thrown up this time. But it did cause much excitement, we heard another just before we left as well. I just loved the feeling of being so close to raw power.

this is the volcano saying goodbye to us as we left.

As to the chances of another explosion, who knows really? even the vulcanologists will admit they dont really understand when and why they happen. Apparently some scientists are suggesting that we stay at least 3 kms away from the volcano

An interesting factoid from Wiki:-

The most literal meaning of blue moon is when the moon (not necessarily a full moon) appears to a casual observer to be unusually bluish, which is a rare event. The effect can be caused by smoke or dust particles in the atmosphere, as has happened after forest fires in Sweden and Canada in 1950 and, notably, after the eruption of Krakatoa in 1883, which caused the moon to appear blue for nearly two years.

You could actually do it in a weekend, though a long weekend or week trip might be better.

FRIDAY: Arrive Jakarta airport early evening. Rental car (probably best pre-arranged) pick up airport and drive to Anyer/Cerita which is west coast of Java. There is plenty of resorts/hotels along this area. (about 3 hour trip) or 5 hours to the resort I was staying at in Sumatra, or indeed, catch a second flight to Lampung (30 mins) then 2 hour drive by taxi (cost $25)

SATURDAY: boat trip to Krakatoa leaves after breakfast, returns mid afternoon.

SUNDAY: travel back to jakarta.

or stay a few more days, there is canoes to hire, swimming pool, bicycles, camping trips, ropes course, etc other places of interest include a national park, a beach area called pasir putih that has boats trips to islands and coral reefs etc.

I stayed at a resort called Travellers Krakatoa Nirwana Resort - decent rooms and restaruant a week of dinners, alcohol and accomadation cost about $500

travellers_resortkalianda[at]yahoo.co.id
Welcome to Krakatoa Nirwana Resort Website
+62 727 322 888, 322 900

The resort even had free wireless internet at the dining areas.

From the diary of a Pre-School Teacher...

2009-03-14T12:53:00.002+07:00

From the diary of a Pre-School Teacher...
My five-year old students are learning to read.
Yesterday one of them pointed at a picture in a zoo book
and said,
"Look at this! It's a frickin' elephant!"

I took a deep breath, then asked..."What did you call it?"

"It's a frickin' elephant! It says so on the picture!"

And so it does...

" African Elephant "

‘Tangerang searches hotels for liquors’

2009-03-05T08:06:00.005+07:00

Dangerous stuff: A custom officer holds two bottles of liquor seized during an operation in an illegal warehouse in Jakarta. (JP/J. Adiguna)Dangerous stuff: A custom officer holds two bottles of liquor seized during an operation in an illegal warehouse in Jakarta. (JP/J. Adiguna)

Banten’s Tangerang administration is holding a search operation on hotels suspected of having illegal prostitution or receiving couples who were not married. Secretary of the Tangerang city administration, Harry Mulya Zein said the city public order agency had held raids on “adulterers” in hotels of the area. “Almost every week, the officers searched for hotel guests who were not husband and wife,” he said, as quoted by Antara.

from http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2009/02/28/%E2%80%98tangerang-searches-hotels-liquors%E2%80%99.html

Bloody hell, that's a customs official???

Balaclava and submachine gun ?

:(

One of those crazy teaching stories

2009-02-26T21:13:00.003+07:00

At work today, I got one of those dreaded cover classes, the bane of all teachers. Never mind, I generally dont mind them, and I do not really get them that often, however, a quick check showed that not only did I have a cover class on but I had also been the lucky recipient of an exam supervision....at the same time. Doh, whoever organised that had not checked their own work properly.

I visited the administrator in question's office and politely let him know of his error. He asked me to do the cover class and he would sort out the exam supervision. Next problem, turns out the teacher missing the class had forgotten to set some work for the students and write out the class instructions.

It was an IT class, so I wander up to the room, the year 7's were out the front lined up, the previous class was just finishing up, and the teacher of that class, a regular IT teacher, invited me in.

I invited the year 7's asked them to continue their work and got to some of my work also. Roughly 15 minutes later the same IT teacher came back into the room to talk to me a confused look on his face.

IT teacher: "you have my class"
Me : "Have we both been put on the same cover then?"
IT teacher: "No, this is my regular class"

WTF?

turns out the cover class, I had been given wrong room number, but why on earth would a regular teacher just give me his class without question ? the class i was supposed to cover was next door.

Made me laugh.

Australia vs Indonesia in the Asian Cup Qualifiers

2009-02-10T13:04:00.001+07:00

One perk of living in Asia is that going to the world class sports games is relatively cheaper, about $10 for front seat tickets to the soccer! The stadium, Bun Karno as it is affectionly known as was about 3/4 full and boy did they make some noise!

A-Leaguers grab point in Asian Cup qualifier

THE Socceroos' hastily assembled A-League outfit have pinched a 0-0 draw against Indonesia to start the country's Asian Cup campaign. In a match which was a 90-minute arm wrestle with few chances, the Australian team, featuring seven debutants, battled manfully to take a point from their first Group B qualifier.

The squad was thrown together within the past 48 hours with little preparation, and looked solid defensively but lacked cohesion in the final third. Indonesia had perhaps the two best chances of the match, while Australia put the ball in the back of the net in the second half only to have it ruled offside. The home side, ranked 144 in the world - 115 places below the Socceroos - gave the Australians a huge fright in the 35th minute when striker Talaohu Musafri shot just wide after the Socceroos lost possession in midfield. Then striker Budi Sudarsano found himself in a great position on 62 minutes, but his close range header from a Musafri cross lacked power.

Socceroos striker Archie Thompson tested goalkeeper Markus Horison three minutes later - his long-range shot spilled by the keeper and just falling short of substitute Matt Simon's despairing boot. Adelaide United midfielder Paul Reid went close in the 69th minute, bending a free-kick just wide of the left-hand post, before Central Coast's Simon headed home a cross 14 minutes from time which was correctly ruled offside. In a four-team group comprising the Socceroos, Indonesia, Kuwait and Oman, the top two sides qualify for the 2011 Asian Cup finals in Qatar.

The Socceroos will bring back their European-based stars for their next match - a World Cup qualifier against Japan in Yokohama on February 11. Their next Asian Cup qualifier is against Kuwait in Canberra on March 5, when Australia are again likely to field an all-A-League outfit.

Road Rage - Wonder Warrior

2009-02-10T12:33:00.003+07:00

I hate leaving late for work, the traffic gets blocked up, if i leave at 6.30am the red route outlined is basically empty, if I leave at 6.45 the the traffic is backed up at least as far as the start of the red lines i've indicated.

The road leaving the roundabout has enough room for one car lane, the road entering the roundabout has room for 2.5 cars.

I'll let you figure what usually happens. Anyway today I'm just about to enter the roundabout and some Indo clown comes tearing up the inside lane, he had to stop right next to me (but had jumped at least a half dozen places in the queue.) So then its stop start with the car in front of me, and him trying to push his way in front of my car.

In indo its all a game of bluff, dont hit the other cars, but try and get your car as close as possible to the car in front, dont even leave a 30 inch gap that the other car can nose into.

Anyway, the inevitable happened, our side mirrors brushed, he had to give way, since he was hard against the shoulder, and I was slightly in front.

Nothing more said or down, in fact when we had brushed I'd looked over at him, and he just stared straight ahead, no acknowledgment no eye contact. Mind you he probably cannot see into my car, it has very dark tinted windows.

Ten minutes later, I am turning into my workplace so indicate early, I suddenly hear all this commotion car horn blowing and blowing, someone screaming, I look in the side mirror this same bloke is hanging half way out his drivers window wearing a shit eating grin to flip me the bird, up and down up and down like a fuckn deranged yoyo all the while leaning on his horn as he goes past me.

WTF?

Too scared to make a fuss until he knew I was gone?

Suddenly just thought of that reaction ?

He'd been stewing on it for the last 10 minutes and just suddenly snapped.

The security at my work asked me if they wanted them to stop him, but i dunno what for, extract some money, he has scratched my car after all.... but its only the plastic side mirror. I told them not to worry. I'm wishing i had not now, I should have go them to stop and detain the idiot, and I could have demanded money from him .... (well, maybe i'm dreaming, its always the westerners fault)

I was just too surprised to do anything, and by the time i realised it was me it was pretty much too late.

What would you have done?

Chili (Cabe) trees in Jakarta

2009-02-10T10:42:00.005+07:00

A couple of months ago I noticed what I thought we weeds growing in my front garden, I very nearly ripped them out of the ground. They appeared next to each other right in the middle of the lawn.

They grew quickly, imagine my surprise when I realised that they were Chilli trees!

I do not know what type they are, not endemic to Java, I assume perhaps that they are left over kitchen scraps that were scattered or spilt in the garden.

Should I do anything special to help them grow?

I'm inclined to leave them be, since they have managed this far without my interference.

Contact Sports: Fun or too dangerous ?

2009-01-27T09:02:00.007+07:00

I was playing football (aussie style) over the weekend. Towards the end of the game, one of the fellows injured himself, I was nearby, didnt quite see what happened, I think he just fell funny.

However, he didn't get up, so wandered over to help, his foot was at a 90 degree angle sideways, the tibia bone pointing up. Ouch. It looked like one of those horrible worst sporting injuries emails or youtube videos. (out of respect for the guy we didnt take pictures of him.)

It did get me thinking though, over the years, I've seen a number of damaged knees, torn or stretched hamstrings, a team mate had his head caved in (needed 3 plates in it i think) a few dislocated shoulders, broken nose, and a few concussions.

Makes me wonder, is playing footy (or rugby) worth it? I enjoy the sport, I enjoy playing, I enjoy the contact. But makes me worry about getting a serious injury.

Perhaps I should just work on my golf or cricket instead....

Junior AFL footy in Indonesia

2008-11-16T15:39:00.000+07:00

Junior footy surge in Indonesia

12:19 PM Wed 12 November, 2008

AFL in Indonesia

Chris Bandy has been in the job as Head of Australian Football Development in Indonesia for a year, after an Australian Youth Ambassadors for Development grant allowed for the introduction of Australian Football into Indonesian Schools.

The initial results have been highly encouraging, and it is expected that a fully-functional junior competition will be set up in Jakarta next year. worldfootynews.com recently interviewed Chris on his adventures in what is a challenging, but most interesting and rewarding environment.

WFN: Well Chris, what is you footy background and how did you get into this?

I am from Perth and have played football since I was six years old. I started with the Scarborough junior football club and moved on to the Marist junior football club where I finished my junior career. After that I moved to Claremont football club in the WAFL, played Colts for three years and seniors for two.

As one of those strange serendipitous things in life, through my university studies, I had to take a year off from football to participate in a student exchange program in Yogyakarta, Indonesia where I studied at an Indonesian university and taught English for a year.

It was during that time that the then coach of the Bintangs, Matt Stephens, contacted me to come and play with the team in Jakarta. From that moment I was a Bintang and was lucky enough to participate in the 2005 Asian Championships in Manila and that is still one of my fondest football memories.

Until you play football in Asia, and participate in an Asian Championships you really don’t appreciate the extent of the game here, and the passion possessed by the participants.

The Bintangs had previously had some reasonably successful, though piecemeal development programmes, and were looking to put a more formal programme in place. Whilst I was interested in this I had to return home and finish my university degree. The Bintangs hadn’t given up however, and when a role with the Australian Youth Ambassadors for Development (AYAD) came up and the Bintangs nominated me as their preferred candidate, I accepted and here I am.

WFN: The Australia Indonesia Institute, Bintangs link, how did that come about?

Given that the largest Australian Embassy outside of Australia is based in Jakarta, there is no shortage of diplomats and aid workers that either play with or are associated with the football club. A proposal was developed by the Bintangs to the Australia Indonesia Institute (AII) for a grant to develop the game in Indonesian schools.

Whilst the full proposal was not approved the AII did accept a lesser proposal which included a grant and supported the club’s application for a full-time youth ambassador from Australia through the AYAD program.

WFN: What’s been done so far, where are we today?

The first thing we did, we were able to get on-side three Indonesian development coaches, Boy, Ardy and Rian, and with the help of these native Indonesians we have entered and conducted clinics in nearly 50 schools and had almost 6000 kids, boys and girls, exposed to the game. From this we have obtained a core group of between 200-300 children who regularly come to training at various grounds we’ve hired in the greater Jakarta area. Signs are promising for the establishment of a fully functioning schools based league by the end of next year.

Aside from the Indonesian component and Indonesian schools which comprises 90% of the work we undertake, we’ve also been involved in coaching an under 16 team from the British International School who play under the moniker of the ANZ Jakarta Bulldogs.

They recently travelled to Singapore with the senior team, where they won the inaugural Asian Under 16 Championships. Comprising players from England, Ireland, Scotland, Wales, Indonesia, Finland and of course Australia, this is yet another way of expanding our game globally.

The only issue with these lads is they have do not have enough competition. Their enthusiasm is tremendous, they just need to be able to play more often and that is going to be one of our challenges.

We’re in the process of putting a new proposal to AII and it is hoped that we may be able to secure more funding from them for another year.

WFN: I can imagine the challenges going into the Indonesian school system. How have you managed to penetrate that?

On the one hand Indonesian kids, boys and girls are screaming out for the opportunity to play sports. I believe sports and physical culture comes naturally to all kids on the planet. So getting kids interested is the least difficult part. The biggest challenge is the language barrier, however, due to my own extensive time in country and with the help of three full-time Indonesian Football Development Officers, this hasn’t been a major issue for us.

Moving forward, we will need to look at getting training material, videos, booklets etc printed or dubbed in Bahasa Indonesia, and that is one area for potential sponsorship.

Having said that, development of a junior competition isn’t difficult from a participation perspective, it is however from a monetary one as the majority of these kids are from poor socio-economic backgrounds and as a result there is a real opportunity for sponsorship, which given the way these kids take to the game, and the fact that they are the nation’s future, I am sure will be repaid in full many times over.

WFN: What about Auskick?

Auskick is a great thing but is more geared to the younger kids. Auskick has been taking place for over two years here with ex-pat kids but due to the transient nature of the ex-pat family, numbers have fluctuated. We’re hoping by next year with an increased emphasis on junior development, the next footy season produces a lot more national and foreign kids, enjoying Auskick and learning the game.

After our recent grand final function there was a lot of interest and it is hoped this transfers into solid participation for the club. Again this represents a great sponsorship opportunity.

WFN: And has it been fun? Where do you see it going?

For me, the greatest challenge and the greatest satisfaction has been getting something going from scratch. I’ve had great support from the Bintangs and AII and without that we’d struggle to maintain any sort of programme. We are pleased with the success so far, but see it as a launching pad for a programme that I feel will not only be highly successful and beneficial in Indonesia but will also see our game grow internationally.

All we need is a chance to make this happen. We have the infrastructure in place, the people are willing and the programme will be pursued. Some committed sponsorship would definitely assist, and of course we would like to get both credibility and support from the AFL. Whilst I recognise the AFL is focused on getting things going in South Africa as a priority, let’s face it, Indonesia has a bigger population and is right on our doorstep.

My personal feelings at this point are ones of accomplishment but also anticipation for the future. If we maintain a positive mindset and realise the potential of this untapped market the future is unlimited

WFN: Within South East Asia the Bintangs have always been at the forefront of youth development. Most of the other countries are now starting Auskick and Junior programmes. What advice would you give them?

My advice is to have a crack. If you don’t give it a go you’ll never know what could’ve been. At least if you fail trying something you can’t die wondering. If you think there is even remote interest in a junior program, put out some feelers because I dare say there are plenty of blokes like me who’d jump at the chance to do what I do. Our vision is to use Australian football to promote health and fitness, self-esteem and give children the opportunity to play our great game and learn more about our culture.

Sport is a great leveller and there are no such things as class, poverty, social hierarchy etc and as a result, everyone is equal whether you’re from an international school or a poor third world country. It is what I love about our game, anyone can achieve greatness no matter your background. We’re just trying to give these kids a chance to experience a sport a lot of us grow up taking for granted.

WFN: Thank you very much, Chris and we will follow developments in Indonesia with interest. Hopefully, the other established clubs in Asia will pick up the cudgel and it won't be long before we will see international carnivals for Auskick and junior football playing a major role in the Asian Football Calendar.

Source: Graeme Carey, www.worldfootynews.com

Exclusive to AFL BigPond Network

Padang - Travel in Sumatra II

2008-10-09T14:13:00.005+07:00

Having spent a lazy week or so in Bukkittinggi we travelled back via taxi to Padang. (apparently the lonely planet tells us that there is a tourist train that does this trip, on sundays only, we arrived sunday, left.... hmmm. friday I guess.....)

Padang is supposedly a largish centre on the ocean, so much hotter, but it rained almost every day.

Public travel is quite easy in small vans called Angcots. They like to 'pimp' them up a bit....(though why spend good money on spoilers, body kits, deafeningly loud stereos and large exhausts etc on a clapped out van that is prolly worth less than $1000 is beyond me...

the waterfront in padang had some stalls that you could eat lunch by the seaside (where is the whoopee-doo smilie?) they were not real nice. beach was dirty and rocky.

scenery was lovely, the town was a dump. and quite provincial, dozens of people stared at me, and called out Bule. I just called out Indo and pointed back at them.

I read in the lonely planet that you could get a boat across the river at the south part of town and then walk around past a chinese cemetery (whoopi-doo) to Air Manis ( a famous beach area 10km south )

10 km sounded a bit far for us to walk.... we found a taxi and began negotiating. ( I physically had to pull my partner away from the first one, who insulted her after she told him what she thought of his fare costs...)

agreed with the 2nd one for 120,000 rupiah ($12 return) who told us it would take over an hour each way ( 10kms? turns out LP was wrong) and indeed it did, over a winding mountain road and much traffic, including us driving over a 2 metre embankment after begin stuck on a railway line with train bearing down on us but nowhere else to go due to traffic jams!)

once there, we joined a million other Indonesian tourists to wander in between the cars and stalls selling mama noodles, coral :( or hermit crabs..... :(

Not relishing the prospect of the taxi ride home (no aircon either) we found a boat doing 10 minute joy rides and negotiated a price to take us back tp padang beach instead (200,000 Rupiah or $20) my partner had a fit when I told her the price, but i wasnt too concerned.

was ok but We hired the same boat guys again the next day and spent the day on Palua pisang besar - an almost deserted island (apart from 3 families who rent it for $300 per year) - i'd love to buy it.

one of the local kids climbed the tree and cut down some cocnuts for us to drink from ( 10,000 rupiah or $1)

Padang has a large, well all areas in Indonesia have a chinese influence or area. Kampung Cina Kota (Chinatown). This included a rather picturesque Chinese temple.

outside of Padang (about 10 minutes in a car) we stopped at a little roadside stall for a drink and a wee gander at the view....

Bukkitinggi - travelling in Sumatra

2008-10-09T14:06:00.003+07:00

Sumatra is famous for it's spicey food (Masakan Padang) and buildings. Loads of buildings have the above pictured style of roof, it is said to represent the cow horns that are so ubiquitous here, look quite interesting too.

Travel costs double due to end of Ramadam holiday (idul fitri). :(

You can go via the TransSumatran Hwy, but due to the holiday traffic was mental and the ferry from Java, was severly clogged, [pic to come] flying was a much better option. So we flew to Padang, (no idea of cost my partner paid, I think about 1 million rupiah return, about $100 and then booked a taxi to bukit tinggi via airport travel desk (350,000 Rupiah or $35).

So far so good....I suspected things may not be so good when the two kids driving the car

"two drivers, whaddya we need two drivers for!!!?"

"Jaow!" (=long distance) 2-3 hours? ok, whateva!

anyway they put it into reverse and crashed into the car parked behind them before we even left the airport. :(

in the end they were not too bad…. Apart from playing the same 2 songs on a cassette tape over and over the entire trip.

The scenery along this mountainous road was fantastic, all mountains and winding roads. (just watch out for the crazy buses overtaking at any point they feel like.)

We stopped at a waterfall, just as it started to rain….

Bukkitinggi is surrounded by 27 mountains, or so the local bureaucrat on the front cover of the tourist guide at the front desk tells me. Certainly pretty, right on the equator but at 950metres elevation reasonably cool and pleasant, in fact first night we walked down the street and I froze my ass off. (well shivered a little bit)

Aint really much to do in town itself. A center clock tower. Woopeedoo some clapped out old zoo, (didn’t go there) some broken down old dutch fort. (4,000 rupiah (40 cents) to enter but 100,000 rupiah ($10) to take photos, and another 100,000 ($10) for video)

But it is an interesting town to wander, split level town, little alleys, a couple of mosques. There was a bridge across the main street connecting the old fort and crappy zoo. A busy market place, food stalls. 2 or 3 quiet touristy style cafes and that’s about it. Plenty of horse carts to give you a ride.

Bukit Tinggi is described in the Lonely Planet as the biggest tourist stopover point in west Sumatra….? I think I saw a total of 10 bule here over the past week….local tourists perhaps…it is a small town in the mountains, with not much to do, expect wander. there is plenty of cheap accomodation, but we stayed at the The Hills

+62-752 35 000 hotel[at]thehillsbukittinggi.com used to be the novotel,
good location. Ok rooms. nice gardens

About 750,000 p/n, ($75) good location. there was 2 or 3 backpacker style cafe/beer shops, other than that, nothing to cater for western tastes, plenty of street stalls, sate and fried rice etc.

Due to being the end of ramadan you could buy fireworks all over the place, and the locals having nothing better to do set off fireworks every 5 minutes every night from the main square centred around a stupid clock tower....… got tiresome after the first 5 minutes. I can tell you!

A friendly guy/Travel agent resided at one of the Cafes and ran trips

– sightseeing, trekking, jungle lakes 150,000 rp /day. (on the back of a motorbike, I said no - we wanted a car. he could do it, cost about 500,000 Rupiah a day.

Located at Bedual café

+62 813 7453 7413 or fikar_bkt[at]hotmail.com or uda_karl[at]hotmail.com or Picasa Web Albums - "Fikar" LITE'n'EASY

I didnt use him because he was on holidays while we where there.... in the end we hired a car and driver and exorbitant cost from the hotel (750,000 Rupiah/day due to Ramadan holiday) and followed the tourist trail outlined in the brochures....

you could hire bicycles and ride around this lake (70kms). I wasn't organised enough this time though. definitely an option for next time. Here is the number of a place with accomodation - no doubt they may be able to help, but you'll probably need good BI skills.....

Pasir Panjang Permai
Maninjai
tel (0752) 611111
fax (0752) 61255

there is a few accommodation places around the lake also. we had lunch here.

The area of Bukkitinggi is famous for silver

and worth a visit in town was some quite extensive Japanese war tunnels, complete with Ammo bunkers, mess halls, movie theatre etc. It only cost (3,000 or 4,000 Rupiah to get in (30 cents) and thus was a bit run down and crap.

Harua Valley

The car and driver dropped us off and let us walk a few kilometres up the road, really nice walk and peaceful trip. just watch the traffic.

Lunch spot at a convention centre (100% empty) in the Harau valley, really beautiful spot. lunch was ok. had beer. total price was about ($5) - it was called Lembah Echo (Homestay, cafe, convention) - sorry no number.

there was some big bat cave... quite large and extensive, it had lights, and boardwalks and ladders all over the place. crap photos, so I will not bore you. Entry was about 3,000 or 4,000 rupiah again (30 cents US). some kid wandered into this pic, but too lazy to retake. we had a 'guide' attach himself to us, and we paid good money for some stupid pics inside

of course low entry price means low maintainance and of course the Indo tourists scramble all over the stalagmites....

Cricket in Puncak - mountains outside of Jakarta.

2008-09-22T20:21:00.006+07:00

Global Jaya Cricket Team Report

SGJ entered a team into the International Maddogs Cricket 6’s tournament, played on a very well maintained purpose built cricket ground in the imposing hills and leafy plantations of puncak.

Despite some difficulties in getting a team together due to work commitments, transportation problems, early morning rising issues and the flu, SGJ scrapped together some students, teachers, and a cricket mad librarian, with the addition of a couple of ring-ins in the form of a sinetron star and some local street kids we were a competitive side.

Travelling remained an issue, a certain 16 year old, or was it 17 year old? strike bowler slept in, not answering his phone and having avoided giving out his house number, the cricketers resorted to driving around his complex contemplating knocking on every door, or just shouting out ‘Mark, Maaaaaaaaark, Marky? Luckily, Chief organizer and navigator, Bu Keyren had a better idea; just ask the sapam’s, even then having found his house we were told he was not home! (by his little sister, clearly trying to buy him a few more minutes of well needed sleep.) Fortunately, our coach and captain, has 4 little sisters himself and just said “BS, go and wake him up, NOW!”

Some speedy driving had as arrive at puncak just on time. Alas, the opposition team were the ones who had given us a map of the ground location, should we have been suspicious? An hour and a half, several tours of 4wheel drive roads (poor low-slung BMW) and some interesting turn arounds (think narrow road, cliff side, and 16 point turns) later we were rescued by a bule wife returning from the ground.

A rearranged schedule allowed us time for a few warm ups from the younger and keener members of the team while the older members headed straight for fluid replenishments. WE won the toss, and having a very strong bowling side (in comparison to our batting strength) elected to bowl.

Strike bowler, Mark, lives up to his name getting out their dangerous opening batsman with a superb first ball, cutting in to smash his off and middle stump out of the ground. The remaining balls restricted the opposition to a low score with very tidy opening over.

Bring on Mark II! He gains us a second wicket, then another, the captain brings the field right in, applying pressure for the hat-trick, a slightly slower and looser ball tricks the batsmen into hitting it high and straight to a catcher in a deep backwards square position. Cheers all round as Mark gains his hat-trick, Maddogs were in tatters now, and it was only the second over. A couple of dot balls, and with the final ball of his over cleans up the last of the surviving Maddogs.

First innings complete in 2 overs, we had hardly worked up a sweat. We needed to chase 12 runs. Mark and Liam opened the batting, a single and a few boundaries had us close until Mark lost his wicket, Sledge was facing, planning a big hit to win the game in style was thwarted with a mix up with in the number of runs required, thus letting a legside wide win us the game instead.

The next and last game of the pool, was against the jungle team, don’t let the name fool you, this was a competitive side. We opened the bowling again, and although the heroics of a 4 wicket haul in a single over were not repeated, Mark and Mark did pick us up a couple of wickets. Sledge, no doubt dazed combination of the success of the previous win, fading in the heat of the day and a lack of liquids? managed another record, 6 consecutive leg side wides, (each of which cost us 2 extra runs) apologizing to the team each time!

The remaining bowlers learned that they should do as the captain says not as he does and steadied the ship, though our wicket keeper/Libarian discovered that the job is a lot harder when the bowlers aint hitting the wickets, cos you have to stop the ball, though in fairness, he only let a couple through to the boundary. A fine display of keeping and fielding, was nto enough as we still needed 63 to win! (the 2^nd highest score of the day, thus far!)

Some slight changes to the line up, to accommodate slightly stiffer batsmen, Mark, Yoko, Mark and Sledge all contributed runs to the board, but with several wickets falling we still required 12 runs in the last over, unable to get the ball in the air for boundaries, the remaining batsmen decided the only way to win was run, and run they did. The opposition panicked, a couple of wild overthrows, allowed them to run 5 on one occasion. The target looked closer, 3 balls to go, 3 runs needed, a combination of superb bowling and fielding stopped some great balls, that should have been boundaries! Suddenly the last ball, 3 runs needed, 2 runs was all we could get.

The opposition cheered until they realized that the score on the board was the target, not their score, we had a tie! A count back of lost wickets had Global Jaya as pool champions! We were now due to play in the semi finals, some controversial lunch timing decisions, meant that we were forced to snack on rabbit food and play on empty stomachs,

We tried our best but were clearly out classed, some tactical changes in the bowling line up, did not help us restrict their score as much as we would have hoped, the opening batsmen tore apart our lineup, though Dick should have scored more than 20 off sledge. (he had nothing!)

Facing an imposing target of 80 runs, the openers Mark and Yoko, just could not get the ball in the air often enough and with long grass all over the filed were unable to reach the boundaries often enough to charge down the total. However, they played well and neither lost their wicket, another success story as far as I am concerned!

Well down on those who played, thanks to our wonderful supporters, Keyren and Otin, Globaljaya team will be putting on our pads again for the Jakarta 6’s in early November, and are definitely a team to watch!

New Kittens...

2008-09-11T07:50:00.003+07:00

New additions to the family, Cha cha and Tango.

Driving in Jakarta

2008-08-12T07:59:00.003+07:00

Driving in Jakarta can be quite stressful for those not new to it. Often appearing to have a lack of road rules, it is not for the unwary.

YouTube - Jakarta driving - roundabouts and bikes.3gp

YouTube - Jakarta driving - red & white flags line the streets.3gp

YouTube - Jakarta driving - pedestrians walk all over the road.3gp

YouTube - Jakarta driving - off the main road- motorbikes and vendors.

These driving definitions may be of some help, originally published on 4/11/1988 in the San Francisco Chronicle, written by Jon Carroll.

THE ROAD. Includes not only the paved portion of the highway, but also what we might call “the verge”, “the curb”, “the sidewalk”, “the front yard”, “the roadside restaurant”, and “the monastery”. The paved portion of the roadway is generally one lane wide. Not one lane in each direction: one lane.

RESPECT. All animals are granted the greatest respect in Asia. It is presumed that being highly evolved creatures, chickens and dogs and the like know how to sidestep a Mitsubishi going 78 mph on a for-shrouded road during a national religious holiday.

This same position of honor is granted to small children, cripples, men with 30 pounds of hay on their heads, unattended oxcarts and elderly women in mystic trances. Slowing or swerving to avoid these beings would cause them dishonor.

DISHONOR. Getting from morning to evening while remaining in the same incarnation.

LANES. These colorful white and yellow markings wish a hearty “Selamat datang” (Welcome) or “Hi!” to every traveler. They have no other function.

PASSING. The national sport of Asian drivers. Observant motorists may encounter the vertical triple (passing three vehicles in one acceleratory movement,) the horizontal triple ( passing a vehicle that itself is in the process of passing a vehicle,) or even the rare double-double (passing a vehicle at precisely the same time that another vehicle, coming in the other direction, is also engaged in the act of passing.)

TAILGATING. What to do when not passing.

BEING PASSED. An insult not to be endured. The greater the differential between your vehicle (say, a broken tricycle) and the passing vehicle (say, a Boeing 747,) the greater the potential loss of prestige. The owner of the less powerful vehicle must always do everything in his/her power to thwart the attempt to overtake.

SEATBELTS. Absolutely unnecessary. Not only are they not worn, they are not even provided. Passengers are fully protected by the horn (see below)

LIGHTS. Rapidly blinking the headlights can mean many things, including “OK to pass now,” “dangerous to pass now,” or “may you find the thread of gold in the linen of existence.” It takes years, sometimes entire lifetimes, to learn this subtle and intriguing intuitive nonverbal communication skill. Generally, however, you have about three seconds.

THE HORN. When sounded loudly and frequently, the horn sets up an invisible energy barrier protecting the vehicle and its inhabitants from all harm. The faster the vehicle is going, the better the horn works. This is the central concept of Asian motoring.

ACCIDENTS. Rare. Usually the result of a malfunctioning horn.

An Indonesian Wedding

2008-08-02T23:40:00.001+07:00

We went off to an Indonesian wedding this evening, luckily I asked my partner first about the availability of alcohol....

None. Water and icetea only!

right, dug out the hip flask filled it with whiskey.

When we arrived we were greeted with half a dozen sign boards (I've seen this at funerals too, never just one) And they all had sponsor signs on them, upon inquiring this is from companies that wish to publicly congratulate the couple. (and get some free advertising I would think)

The entrance way was then lined with an elaborate arch, and then all their pre-wedding photos.

Sign in books. and a box for envelope with money.

The guy is not looking too happy.

the back of the room had the wedding couple and family on a stage with an MC yelling into the microphone. while everyone else walked around and chatted and ate.

Here was one food cart, plenty around the room, (no pork though)

After the wedding toast, the wedding dance, the wedding cutting cake, we had the wedding photo with friends etc.

Our turn on stage....

and looking back at the (by now much depleted crowd)

Diary tales of some minor house repairs.... or so I thought!

2008-06-17T08:43:00.008+07:00

May 16th
The false ceiling on the carport had some mold growing, (sorry no pics) so I asked the landlord to send someone around to sort it out.

A couple of hours later, I unsuspectingly arrived home to a construction site, front and back, both floors of the house, they've decided to replace all.

Scaffolding in the front yard and back yard also, not sure how long this is gonna take, they've been at it half a week already.

May 31st
it is still going, 6 days a bladdy week! there's about 10 workers here today banging and crashing and fck knows wot! Grrrrrrrrrrr

June 10th
it is still on going. I recently found out that these workers get paid for the job plus a daily allowance.....
It is not rocket science is it? Surely the landlord thought to give them a maximum time frame to complete the job in.
now they are painting the entire house also

June 17th
Honestly, I could not make this up. They have even dug up all the pebbles in the garden and are washing them.
now they have begun entirely re-landscaping the front and back gardens, and a team has started on the inside upstairs, i think they are rebuilding the attic or something (I haven't gone upstairs to look yet.)

Perhaps my landlord misunderstood me, when i asked her to fix the single damp patch in the carport, she must have thought i said could she rebuild the entire house or something....

June 18th
The maid just told me this morning that they found a snake when cutting the garden.

Hardliner Islamic Violence in Indonesia condemned

2008-06-10T12:44:00.000+07:00

A group of about 200 FPI goons (Front Pembela Islam which translates as Defenders of Islam Front, or something) violently broke up a peaceful protest/gathering at National Monument because they were the 'wrong' brand of Islam.

YouTube - FPI Ngamuk di Monas

However, the general feeling across Indonesia is one of condemnation and outrage, last week the government arrested 74 of these idiots, including their leader Habib Rizieq Shihab.

FPI are the same goons that smashed up the Indonesian Playboy office a few years ago and also smash pubs, restaurants and nightclubs for being open during Ramadan each year.

No arrests previously caused arguments to range from them enjoying governement protection to the government being afraid of them.

Recent talk is suggesting that the timing helps deflect backlash on the government for the recent oil/food inflation crisis.

here's an article where they are assigning blame for the whole mess, even the CIA and Mossad get a mention

Explanations for the FPI violence at Monas, blaming the victims, the government, and foreign plots.

Ahmadiyah

Head of the Muslim Lawyers’ Team (Tim Pengacara Muslim,TPM), Mahendradatta, says the Monas incident was caused by the AKKBB side making deliberately provocative speeches, saying such as things as

the FPI are Laskar Kafir (Infidels’ Front) and Laskar Setan (Satan’s Front).

Other provocations included the ‘fact’ that the AKKBB gathering was illegal, without police permission, and that one AKKBB person was carrying a weapon. [1] Tgk Faisal M Ali of the Himpunan Ulama Dayah Aceh (HUDA) in Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam (NAD) says the government needs to see the incident in a fully formed way, that the root cause is the weakness in the upholding of law in Indonesia, that it still had not banned the Ahmadiyah sect.

Presidential spokesman Andi Mallarangeng was having none of it however, and said the delay in the publication of the SKB edict concerning Ahmadiyah could not be used as an excuse for assaulting people. [2]

Conspiracies
Faisal Ali, who was also once the leader of the student group Rabithah Thaliban in Aceh, says he condemned the FPI violence but banning the FPI was not the solution, banning Ahmadiyah was, and if the FPI were banned this would mean the government was allowing the foreign conspiracies in Indonesia to ruin Islam to succeed. [3]

Parliamentarian Soeripto, the Vice Chairman of Commission III in the House of Representatives (DPR) from the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS/Partai Keadilan Sejahtera), says he suspects the FPI violence was part of an anti-Islam American plot.

Soeripto

Soeripto, who has a long history of work in the intelligence field, said Mossad and CIA had already taken over most militant organisations in the world, so they had probably taken over the FPI, and added that Al Qaeda in Afghanistan remained the only “pure” movement left. [4]

http://www.indonesiamatters.com/1805/blaming-victim-others/

Science Musuems in Jakarta

2008-05-21T09:21:00.002+07:00

This news article Schools can't spare time or dimes for field trips got me thinking (and surfing) about what outside resources we use in our science teaching at our school….. I recall a science meeting earlier in the year my staff and I were going to put this together, and I’m not sure what happened. (marking and teaching and report writing, no doubt).

I also found this website click here on museums in the world and they have 162 listed museums in Indonesia! Actually I added a couple of pics for the Zoological museum in Bogor.

Anyway, we are going to get it sorted again, I'll post the results here.

Name	Address	Opening times & cost	comments	Last visited

BOGOR ZOOLOGICAL MUSEUM	Jalan Juanda 9 MUSEUM KEBUN RAYA BOGOR, www.museum.com		Quite old, poorly maintained. Several rooms of old stuffed animals and displays. Has complete blue whale skeleton.	visited term 3 2008

Back to Pramuka Island - lack of conservation. It's all about the $ - and who can blame them??

2008-05-01T10:23:00.004+07:00

Most tourists to Jakarta may visit Sepa Island, linky However, I took a school group to Pramuka island again, which is not as well set up for tourists. (Though they would like to attract more tourists, obviously for $)

Sadly, many of my Indonesian Students said that this was the first time they had seen a sunset or stars.....

We chatted with the local head guy and he has decided to build another wharf on the other side of the island currently housing sea grass meadows (which happen to be good for the endangered sea turtles.)

When we pointed this out to him he replied that they dont care about sea grasses or the mangroves anymore as tourists only want to see coral reefs, so that is all they need. When one of my students replied with a comment along the lines of sea grasses provided habitats for small fish he replied with they dont need or want small fish only big ones!

I kid you not!

The local rangers were also proudly showing us the new jetski that they had bought. (out of their environmental budget) - the plan was to give tousits rides on it for money (presumably into their pockets) - they were proud as pigs in shit. apparently they had also bought a banana boat as well.

Actually I was in the water and thought they were rehabilitating the reef, which although nice was in pretty crap condition, many broken corals etc.

There was loads and loads of these plastic frames holding small corals in plastic bottles or attached to concrete slabs.

But apparently they sell the corals, so these were coral farms placed on a close to destroyed reef.

In an effort to be mindful of conservation they have to rehabilitate 2 for every 8 they sell/take.

and frankly, having gone back this year, i can see a decline in the conservation efforts of the ppl, and its a little depressing...

Song Kran (Thai new year and water festival) in Sydney

2008-04-13T17:36:00.007+07:00

Song Kran is a major festival in Thailand, in Sydney expatriate Thai's and other well wishers joined in the fun with a small Aussie version in a local park at Discovery bay.

Traditional thai dancing, singing, handicrafts and food on sale.

Unfortunately for the organizers, it started raining quite heavily, abruptly ending festivities...

Cricket in Myanmar 2007 - the return trip!

2008-03-10T21:07:00.003+07:00

This time it was a 3 way tournament, SIngapore/Phuket combined team (AKA whining sooky sooky lala's), Siam CC and Irrawaddy CC.

we came 2nd....

Off to Burma again to play cricket, almost thwarted by bladdy Indo traffic!

2008-03-06T12:00:00.003+07:00

This weekend I am playing cricket and golf in Burma with the SiamCC. Now two years ago when i flew there to play cricket I missed 2 flights and ended up paying for multiple tickets to get there, much to the amusement of my mates.

So I didnt want to miss any flights again this time. I ducked out of work early, left home at 4.30pm (that's leaving an hour and a half plus the two hours early at the airport... plenty of time! .... one would think ! )

Peak hour traffic in Jkt sucks big time! Even more so if you have a flat tire!

flight leaves at 19.50 - 2 hours from now! and we are still an hour from the airport, with a flat, so we had to leave the tollway! and stop to fix it.

Easier said than done,

I had to show the driver how to use the jack,

then which way to twist the wheel nuts, then which way to use the lever to get the wheel nuts off!

grrrr...

some other random guy come and helped also! In all the process took 30 mins!

and then the spare was bladdy flat also!

so we then had to drive futher to find a stall selling compressed air, fortunately we did, I got to the airport at 7.10 - check in was closed.

Fortunately, they opened when they saw me and allowed me to board.

A PREGNANT woman in Papua New Guinea..hung from a tree...gave birth

2008-02-26T07:38:00.001+07:00

A PREGNANT woman in Papua New Guinea..hung from a tree...gave birth
From correspondents in Port Moresby
February 26, 2008 11:12am

A PREGNANT woman in Papua New Guinea who was hung from a tree after being accused of sorcery gave birth to her baby while struggling to free herself.
Nolan Yekum and her husband Paul were dragged from their house and hung from a tree by fellow tribesmen who accused them of sorcery after the couple's neighbour suddenly died.
Their ordeal occurred in Kilip village near Banz in Western Highlands Province, PNG's newspaper The National reported today.
The woman and her baby girl, her third child, were doing well in Mt Hagen Hospital after two weeks in hiding, the report said.
Her husband said men entered their house in the middle of the night with a rope and tied it round their necks, accusing them of sorcery over their neighbour's death.
They were dragged outside and hung from a tree, he said.
"We managed to loosen the noose to get our feet on the ground ... we were able to free ourselves.
"My wife, who was about seven months pregnant, delivered the baby while struggling to free herself.
"It was a painful experience for me and her," Mr Yekum said.
He said he pleaded with villagers to wait for his neighbour's post-mortem examination and he accused local police of failing to act.
The couple denied practising sorcery.

Indonesian Safety in the workplace

2008-02-23T09:26:00.002+07:00

notice the ladder does not reach the roof!

Bogor - the city of rain!

2008-02-16T09:43:00.003+07:00

Bogor, about an hour south of Jakarta is known as the city of rain, well it was raining the weekend that I went there. However, it was quite refreshing after the smog and heat of Jakarta.

A mosque being built near Bogor.

Watch out for the traffic, but the locals find it a good source of captive customers.

The botanical gardens in Bogor are right in the centre of the city, and very beautiful.

Playing some golf, fantastic veiws.
In the foothills of an old volcano.

In response to complaining about Asian service

2008-02-04T19:10:00.000+07:00

Previously I posted about frustrations with service here, however, it goes both ways, sometimes the service is terrible, sometimes terrific. Saturday past I had two of the terrific experiences.

Shopping in Seneyan Plaza I wanted to buy some shirts from G2000, they had a promotion on, if I bought 2 shirts I'd get another 2 free, but only if I had a BCA credit card.... unfortunately I did not, but since I wanted the shirts anyway, I told the staff I'd buy three.

I had the case out and was handing it over when the staff asked me to wait a moment, a customer behind me wanted to buy a single shirt, the same as mine, so the staff put all our shirts together on her credit card (with her permission) and allowed us both then to receive the promotion price!

Later that same day I had sunday brunch with a couple of friends, when I received the bill I noticed that the staff had taken notice that one of my friends had not drunk any alcohol and thus charged him less even though our booking was originally for him to do so!

Makes me remember that sometimes the service in Asia is fantastic! :)

Little creatures we find in Jakarta

2008-01-30T11:43:00.002+07:00

Well, apart from various species of rats, cats and dogs we also get other animals sometimes, for instance the other day I received an emergency call from the g/f, come home quick, there's a snake in the window, what she neglected to mention to me was that they had almost killed the poor thing by accidentally crushing it in the window jam.....

I managed to get it out of the window jam....despite the yelling and screaming...

and freed it on the grass outside (well outside...)

and then, the other day we rescued this little critter out of the swimming pool....

I think its a shrew or mongoose, not sure actually but he seemed a little tired and worn out, i'm not sure how long he had been swimming/drowning for...

Puffing Billy Train

2008-01-16T10:44:00.002+07:00

K and I were visiting my brother in the Dandenongs in Melbourne, very picturesque. Anyway Rara was with us so I promised to take him to see Puffing Billy, but of course he fell asleep and I didnt want to wake him.

Unfortunately, I should have realised that was a mistake because as soon as he woke afterwards he wanted to know why I hadn't woken him :( - ah well, next time Dad!

Grumbling about the lack of service one recieves outside of Asia

2008-01-09T21:23:00.000+07:00

In Australia, first of all you have to fill the gas in your car yourself.tonight i get out put the bowser pump into the car and wait for it to be turned on, after a minute or so an attendent comes out and says i'll have to wait a minute becuase he's changing the price, up 10 cents, hang on I was already here, nope sorry you have to pay new price.OK, i left and refused. next station, attendent waves me to come inside, how much gas do you want? I dunno, its not my car, but you have to prepay, can i leave my credit card, nope, tell me an amount, but if i'm wrong do i get a refund? nope.needless to say I drove off away from that dickhead too! gimmi thai and indo gas stations anyday!

Hanging Rock New Years Racing Day!

2008-01-01T18:21:00.000+07:00

Well, not exactly Asia, but Australia. Visited Hanging Rock for the new years day races. A picnic, in beltingly warm weather (over 40 degrees).

But still good fun, we won on two of the horses, (a good Aussie tradition) and afterwards wander around the rock as well.

I'd explained the story of "picnic at hanging rock" already to K, so she was a little nervous.... ;)

The climb to the summit was hot and exhausting, but the views from the top were worth it!

Internet frustrations

2007-12-16T15:10:00.000+07:00

get a call from the internet mob today.

caller:"blah blah blah, you have bill for 417,000 rupiah ?"

me"yes, i know, it's a promotional price for unlimited usage, so it's always that price."

caller"for december bill?"

me"yes i know, it's an automatic debit from my bank account"

caller"yes, but its 417,000rupiah"

me"yes i know but the bill is not due until the 20th, and its a set amount, same every other month, and its automatic debit."

Hmmm, so what was that all about? A sudden out-of-the-blue reminder to make sure I pay my bill? Which I've been doing every month for the last year and a half on the same set price? And actually they collect my bill each and every month anyway....

MRT - Mass Rapid Transportation system, Jakarta Style! :(

2007-11-26T09:26:00.000+07:00

Most Asian countries these days have some sort of Mass Rapid Transportation system, Hong Kong the very efficient subway, Shanghai - the excellent monorail, Bangkok - the MRT subway and the BTS overhead railway...

Jakarta has long had a traffic problem, so the Indonesian solution.......

Busway!

What is a busway i hear you ask?? Well subways and monorails etc are too expensive for Indonesia so we get the busway.

Yes, yes, yes, but what is it?

Well, you cut a major arterial road in half, place some bluestone blocks in the way to keep cars out of it, and then run ordinary 'special' buses along this 'dedicated busway lane'. Mind you at crossroads and the start and end of each busway the said busses still have to fight with the traffic, oh yes and funding to actually provided buses to travel these routes is somewhat limited. But never mind, Sutiyuso, previous major/governer of jakarta allegedly made US$ 8,000,000 in bribes and kickbacks per busway line he signed off on, hence the possible reason he signed off on as many as possible before his term of office expired.

And what do you think the result of cutting roads in half is.....? Yep, worse traffic. :(

Here's some pics of the magnificent busway being built......

I didnt mean to capture a pic of the worker sleeping, but its perhaps rather appropriate of the Indonesian work ethic....

and almost complete busway in Pondok Indah area.... nice innit?

oh sorry didnt realise, the raised concrete thingy next to my (stationary car) is the busway lane!

actually, those pics were taken in Pondok Indah, which is an area of a lot of new money, palatial OTT mansions etc, locals call them Rumah Pembantu, which translates as the maids house, cos most of these people are never there anyway, just the house staff.

Anyway - these people protested the most out of everyone against the busway being built in their area, so last week some important person sat down and negotiated with them, end result, cars can use the busway line in Pondok Indah during peak hours......

Leaving the rest of us confused as to the point in spending all of that money to put in this lane in the first place....

Jakarta Bintags vs Malaysia Warriors, what a wet day!

2007-11-12T14:41:00.000+07:00

We hosted the Malaysian team to come over and play some footy (AFL). There was a game before between 2 under 18's teams; the British International School team and the Depok (locals) team. The sun was belting down, and most of the blokes were busy applying sunscreen, by the time we started our warm up it was beginning to rain a little.

In the third quarter we actually had to cease play for about 10 minutes due to some close hitting lightening, by the end of the game the field was flooding!

And about 40 minutes later the sun come out!

Adventures in an ordinary day.

2007-10-30T13:46:00.000+07:00

Today started out like any other day, alarm goes off, breakfast, shower dress, travel to work. However, I needed to go into town to pick up some plane tickets, no they couldn't deliver if I wanted to pay by credit card, have to pick up in person!

OK, ok. So after a barrage of calls, emails and sms's I arrange to pick up the tickets Tuesday morning since I have several free hours in the morning. I am to meet this travel agent at a mall near where she works in South Jakarta, and she'll take me there.

Well, I live a good hour away from South Jakarta. So I make my apologies and I leave at work at 7.30am, first mistake, my town/suburb, turns out to be very congested at this time of the morning trying to get out.... grrr. Anways, I send an sms to the agent to say I'm with my driver can you just give me the address and we can meet you there?

Just as we are getting close to the mall in question, I send another sms to this agent since she hadnt replied to my first one that morning. Turns out she is already on the back of a motor bike and headed towards the office already, ok, I hand over the phone to my driver who briefly talks with her while dodgy motorcycles and buses all over the road.

We are still headed North, in fact Jalan Sudirman, a major arterial road has a regulation designed to decrease congestion a ban on all cars carrying fewer than 3 people during peak hours..... and you can bet there will be dozens of police officers on patrol to catch motorists and extort a fine, never mind any criminals that they ignore, car owners obviously have more money that can be extorted.

well this has only served to create a new profession, that of the "street jockey" - hundreds of people line the streets prior to the main roads with their thumbs out as if hitch hiking, however, you have to pay them, they will sit in the car to make up the number, and then get out after the restricted area and travel back to their point of origin to repeat the process. All for a few thousand rupiah (about a dollar).

Since it was only myself and my driver we needed to pick up one, however, this young man and a few others like him didn't really thrill us.

Fortunately we found a well dressed man instead, we were making good time, (relatively speaking, I've been in the car over an hour already) but it was still getting late, turns out this bladdy travel agent is in the North of Jakarta!!!

So we drop him off, of course the cheeky git wants extra money.. "tiga ribu lagi pak!" I suspect because I am 'bule'.

We have arrived at the correct street, we drive in the service lane looking for the travel agent, chinese style shopfronts, numbering not easy to find, looking for numbers here and there.

As we were going through an intersection a disinterested copper waving traffic almost gets knocked over by us, uh oh, we went supposed to be going then he was waving the opposite traffic, that was a red light we went through, uh oh, this street is now one way only, the police man is blowing his whistle and yelling at us to stop, a motorcycle nearly hits us and my driver begins to stop over the otherside of the intersection, I just tell him to go, so he does, at about 80km/hr. still up the wrong way road.

We've definately gone passed the travel agent now anyway, my driver turns down a street and we are now in the back streets, the irate policeman left behind. The traffic is really snarled up down here, cars blocking the road, ignoring red lights all over the place, we spend 15 mins to drive around a block only to find that we cannot turn left to get to where we want to go, so back to do another block again, I get the travel agent back on the phone to speak with my driver again, about the exact location of her office.

He sort of pulls over to speak on the phone.... in front of 3 more police, who gave us a good stare, fortunately they dont seem to be bothered to hassle us for money.

Drive up the same service road as before, this time I get out and walk to almost exactly the same spot we had almost knocked over the irate policeman, lucky he didnt recognize me (well, it was almost an hour later.

The agent in the shop hasnt bothered to print the tickets yet because she was worried the details might be wrong, never mind the 60 million emails we had exchanged already! Its now almost 10.00am

I offer the travel agent a lift back in my care to the original mall she was supposed to pick me up at. I ask her why this office was so far away, and she proudly explains that her office is more expensive and that she has found me the cheapest travel agent in all of jakarta .... by about $10 or $20 ... ! WTF!

So I wasted an entire morning getting a ticket for $1160 instead of $1180???

Green Parrots play cricket 6's in penang again!

2007-10-20T15:26:00.000+07:00

Birds in Jakarata, a status symbol.

2007-09-15T22:51:00.001+07:00

BMW or Merc, Big house in an expensive suburb, plenty of drivers and house staff, after that how else does one show off their wealth??

Well in Indo, caged birds are also a symbol of wealth, they are quite expensive and require constant care, during the day the birds will be placed outside and be gently washed with a house and allowed to dry.

These birds I have seen next door on many occasion, i thought it was about time i took a piccie of them.

Match report for rebels cricket club

2007-08-28T09:55:00.000+07:00

A Season Opener Shocker

Winning the toss turned out to be the highlight of Rebels new season day opener. Marty calling right, the boys padding up, chompin’ at the bit with the chance to stick it up the Ghandi School League Winners from last year.

The “tui’s” Robbie and Baldy strode to the middle confident they could hand out a batting lesson to the GMIS. The youthful, skillful Ghandi boys drawing first blood in the 5^th over, Baldy (13) run out by a direct hit. The next over producing the play of the day. Robbie (9) driving at a well-directed outswinger, snicking it low and hard to first slip. The Ghandi guy taking a superb grab ankle high. Rebels reeling. Marty looked good, one Buster Douglas type upper cut and a couple of text book drives heartening the Rebels fans who’d made the early morning drive to Karawaci. Suresh’s (0) stay in the middle terminated early by a yorker and Rebels were 3 for 30 off not a lot. Yogi joined Marty and they took Rebs to the first drinks’ break without further loss.

The drinks break full with conservations about Evan and how if he doesn’t turn up soon we’ll be short. Early after the restart Marty (26) slashed at a short one only to see it snapped up at gully. Big, bad Bruce walked on the centre stage. Yogi doing a sterling job holding up his end, Bruce punishing anything short or off line. From 4 for 40 Bruce and Yogi looked capable of building a decent total.

It all went pear-shaped with one of those most controversial of all decisions an LBW. Home team umpires had almost taken this most dastardly of dismissals out of the local game but neutral umpires, nah that’s a whole new can of worms. Bruce (34) failing to make contact with “the bat God gave him” and adjudged OUT. The spray from Bruce over the decision could turn into a tidal wave of suspension in the weeks to come – time will tell. Bruce’s main mistake: twiggin’ his calf muscle when turning for a second, rendering himself unable to open the bowling.

Rebels now well and truly in trouble, one short on the team sheet, and the top 5 run getters all out with just 90 on the score board. Yogi (13) the 6^th wicket to fall. Amar (3) clipped one to short midwicket, 7 down. Kookie (1) cleaned up by a straight one and Rebels were 120 with just one wicket left and 7 overs to go. Pito and Kapil only able to get Rebels to 133 in the 30^th over.

Not a great total but maybe defendable – so the Rebels think tank thought. Amar opening up with venom, producing some nasty bounce from a deteriorating Karawaci track. Unfortunately for Rebs the bounce only produced byes not wickets. One of the Ghandi openers too good, the other too lucky. Pito carted early and GMIS were skipping along at 10 an over. In what was a lackluster bowling and fielding performance Robbie produced the highlight with the unveiling of his much talked about out swinger. A true gem that just missed getting a wicket not once but twice. The Ghandi openers riding their luck, many airborne shots passing or falling just short of hungry Rebs fielders. The one chance that did carry to hand, spilled.

In the 15^th over the pain ended. Ghandi 134 for 0. Rebels defeated by 10 wickets.

Professional Protesters

2007-08-23T08:58:00.000+07:00

i'm sure most countries pay people to protest for them, rent a crowd that sort of thing. But sometimes its just a little too blatant. Jakarta appears to have a crowd of professional protesters that for a small some of money can just turn on the indignant rage, regardless of what they are 'protesting' about.

A good book that has some pics of this is called Jakarta Inside out (they have made one for bangkok now also)

In it this one guy has been photographed 3 times for 3 different protests for different sides, he was even wearing the same shirt.

So imagine my surprise this morning when i'm reading BBC and see the same man's face again!

Operation : Cat Rescue

2007-08-07T23:02:00.000+07:00

Here i am, watching tv - messy around on the internet and i hear the cat meowing.....

I look around where is he?

sounds like outside somewhere....

i look out towards a corner of my small garden....
aaah - there he is....
Mind you, after I climb up the ladder I refuses to let me grap him, perhaps he realised those bars where gonna be tricky to pull him throw....

so i left him to keep complaining, kasien loo! (in other words pity for him!)

bladdy hell, now there's another cat on the wall and they fighting,

so i climbed up the ladder stuck me arm through the grill managed to get hold of him, got bitten, then got hold of his collar and started to drag him down but the bastard thing broke!

so he still up there fightin!

ok, i'm gonna try climbing out on the roof, there's a funny little staircase and maids drying room on the second floor,

if i dont post back on this blog in the next week or so , yall know i musta fell.....

anyway - up the windy staircase to the second floor and roof!

there he is.....
a cunning plan, i pushed a piece of flattened out cardboard for him to walk over to the roof...

dont think he was all the interested..... hmmmm

Fun Indo Bureaucracy when running a school

2007-08-07T12:18:00.000+07:00

Our school ordered some text books from overseas for the start of the new year (as we always do!). This year we had 220kgs of books sent from Australia from a supplier. After the books had been sent the Indonesian customs made a new regulation, any parcels arriving that weighed more than 100kgs would be liable for a special tax. The official price was 20 million rupiah (about $2000) plus it would take 2 or 3 months to organise.

The school realised it would be cheaper and quicker (8 days) to send the entire parcel back to Australia, repack the books into 3 separate parcels and return them to Indonesia.... crazy.

A few days later customs said 'NO!' we have already stamped the arrival of the package, it cannot leave Indonesia now......

Fortunately for us, the supplier has resent the entire shipment at their cost (properly packed) and I guess we'll leave the original shipment in the customs yard......

Fun games for the cat - or a big assed beetle!

2007-08-05T09:47:00.000+07:00

You get some interesting insects in Asia, my cat, Smudge loves playing with small animals - geckos and so on, last night i found this big assed beetle (some sort of Rhino beetle, i think) so I brought it inside for the cat to play with!

he played with it all last night - and is still going this morning, every now and then the beetle flies around house and the cat tries to keep up jumping on furniture and up the walls to keep track of it....

thanks Dad!

Daily life in Jakarta

2007-07-31T19:40:00.000+07:00

Different things one might see in day to day life in Jakarta;

1st up motorbikes, now the indo's use motorbikes for transporting almost everything, this guy is carrying chickens in a specially designed motorbike chicken carrying box i was on my way home from work when i got this bike.

and here is how one keeps sun off your face while travelling in the back of a pick up.

this is how they deliver ice to shops and so on. On the back of a treadly, he then hacks off large chunks for each shop or vendor, i find that i get the squirts every time i drink anything with this ice in it for some reason.

goat satay shop (sate kambing).... just behind my boy in the background were 2 legs of goat hanging .....

Keystone Cops Situation

2007-07-25T13:51:00.000+07:00

In quite a number of countries around the world, particularly Asia, the process of schools and teachers getting all the right approvals and permits can be a lengthy one. Quite often a teacher has to start working before they are strictly 'legal'.

Yesterday a rather comedic situation developed at my school. We have about half dozen new teachers whose work/residence permits, called KITAS in Indonesia, have not been fully processed as yet.

Some officials from one of governement agencies arrived (I don't know which one). A message was sent to the few teachers without the KITAS and they had to go and hide in the staff housing behind the school.

Then the officials found a phone list of various teachers and their internal extension numbers, so wanted to know who the missing teachers were and where they were......

so the office staff have also been running around hiding so they don't have to answer questions!

**someone told me I should video this, speed it up 3x and then play benny hill music in the background! :) **

The officials remained in the reception area for a number of hours, turns out that they wanted to speak to our head principal (for a hand out, no doubt) .

Last year some guys arrived and demanded an amount of money (special tax for foreigners workign at our school) - according to them we had 40 odd foreigners working, we said no, how did you get that number? They had merely counted all the white faces in the department photos on the wall not realising that a number of staff were counted twice because they teach in more than one department......

I guess our white faces all look the same! haha

Need a workman...part 2

2007-07-21T11:27:00.000+07:00

As a follow up.

They did come, they looked at it and went "Ooooh"

I suppose that's a bit of a warning sign.

Then they asked me if I had a step ladder? WTF ? Didn't they come prepared? silly me! They arrived on a motorcycle. 2 technicians one motorcyc - I guess not much room for tools to do the job.

anyways, they poked around abit, asked me to sign a report saying they had seen it and they'll check with the owner again .....

and left.

Need a workman...

2007-07-21T09:49:00.000+07:00

In general, getting a homehandy man or repairer around in Asia is much easier and quicker, not to say cheaper than in Western countries.

However, it can have some difficulties also, the 2nd floor bathroom has been leaking water through the ceiling into the living room, I discovered this wednesday evening.

So I asked one of the secretaries at work to ring to get it fixed the next day, a numpty came out looked at it and said broken pipe in the wall.

No shit sherlock - fix it will ya?

He decided they'll fix it Monday - no - i need it fixed now.

So eventually we arrange them to arrive 8.00am Saturday morning - cos i'm going out later to watch the rugby.

8.00am I get a call - what time do i want them to come over. NOW, I says, oh umm ok the technicians will be there at 9.00

9.15 i get a call - the technicians will be there after lunch

Not good enough i said come now!

The water is dripping through an electric light. The ceiling has a metre sized wet patch around the light - i don't want it collapsing in.

anyway - they said they'll call back in 10 mins.....

hmmmmmmmmm.

still waiting.

They did call back, 40 minutes later, this time the technicians will be there, umm, err (I'm sure she is just making up a time from the top of her head) maybe about 11.00am

Is this ok?

Now i wanted to scream and shout and say "NO, it is not ok, whatever happened to 8.00am?"

but that would only have a negative effect.

So I politely sigh and say yes.

She apologised about the times.

Lets see what happens now.....

Hobbies...

2007-07-18T22:22:00.000+07:00

Hobbies.....

Well, more of a project really. As a kid I used to love making plastic model air planes and tanks etc.... I used to always say I'd love to make a wooden model ship one day. And so, one day my wife bought me a kit for my birthday. I have been working on it for years ..... . drilling, hammering, gluing, sculpting etc. I find that I work on it in short bursts.... and other times don't touch it.

Apart from some of the metal pieces, I pretty much need to build, cut to length and shape and generally construct everything.....

Really enjoy it - and it looks good (IMO)

Anyway - last week or two I've been excited again about it - so thought I'd post some piccies. (dont have them all from the beginning tho....)

here is the oldest pic I have - the hull has been completed (internal ribs plus 2 layers of planks) - some pieces on the decking have been built and added.Building the masts.....
building and adding the spars to the rear-most mastan action shot.... me working on the boat.I've been working on the rigging and netting .....will add more as I go, but dont hold your breathe ...haha - this is already a 4 year project!

............................................

some updated pics, i've added the sails for the backmast,

and now began to fashion all of the remaining cross mast pieces!

Be careful with Language

2007-07-17T11:56:00.000+07:00

My school is currently looking at implementing a new house system and part of that involves naming the various houses. The teachers involved have decided to allow the students to choose the house names eg Indonesian Islands, Indonesian folk heroes, etc.

The student bulletin this morning there was a note from said teachers that said some of their best entries so far are related to birds, 'Garuda', 'Cendrawasih' and 'Burung Enggang'.

What they did not realise is that Burung is also Indonesian slang for 'penis' ........

I think that is 1 point to the students and 0 points to the expat teachers.

lost in translation or helpful harry

2007-07-15T21:53:00.000+07:00

There has been a number of house robberies around these parts lately, in one case a mate had everything in the house taken, including his shoes and the chocolates in the fridge....

So when I went away last week (for 2 weeks) I didnt wanna tell the newspaper guy to cancel my newspaper for 2 weeks, bit like advertising you're gonna be away and for how long.

So I asked the maid to get next doors maid to collect my paper each morning.....the 50 cents for a paper not read each day sounded like good insurance...

turns out she explained the entire story to the delivery guy on his push bike and told him to just push the papers each day under the door instead....

Thanks Pembantu!

PS - but lucky i didnt get robbed , this time.

A visit to the Dusit zoo in Bangkok

2007-07-13T13:54:00.000+07:00

We visited the Dusit Zoo last week, now, despite living in Thailand for a number of years I had never been here before. It is in central bangkok on Rama V road, maybe a 70 baht trip in a taxi. 100 baht for me and 50 baht for Ryan to get in. It was certainly interesting enough, the cages were not too small (for a zoo in the centre of a large Asian city) .

It also had a large lake (hire paddle boats, of course), fountains, shady trees etc, so can also be a good escape from the noise and heat of Bangkok.

Enjoying an icecream on a rather hot day!

Fried Bananas in an Orange Caramel Desert

2007-07-10T22:09:00.000+07:00

Orange Bananas Desert

Here is a real quick and real easy dessert to cook up. All you need is some bananas
Oranges
flour
Butter
Brandy
Dark Sugar
Raw Sugar
Brandy
Ice cream or cream

Start by grating the zest of 2 oranges, then squeeze the juice outta them also.

Melt a great hunk of butter in a decent pan ( about 50 or 100 grams, I guess)

Lightly dust the bananas in the flour

Place bananas into pan for about 5 mins on a low heat.

Pour the sugar into the pan over the bananas ( about a handful each )

Allow the sugar to melt and then once it starts to caramelize ( you'll see it bubbling ) pour the orange juice into the pan along with the orange peel.

Allow the sauce to thicken - add a splash or too of some cooking brandy, not too early mind, you dont want to evaporate the alcohol all away...

It should take about 15 mins or so.

Add to a pan, pour sauce over top, add icecream to taste and enjoy.

NB : the maid or wife can clean the mess now.