My Last Two Weeks in Indonesia...

  The last two weeks in Jakarta have been amazing!  First of all, words do not express how grateful I am and how wonderful it has been to stay at the Pesona Homestay again.  Nana and company go out of their way to make me comfortable, and I recommend the Pesona to anyone that is planning on passing through Jakarta…and tell them I sent you.  They are truly my Indonesian/Canadian family, and I look forward to coming here again and sharing this experience with my family.  

Over the last couple of weeks I have been monitoring a project being carried out by the Office of Secretary of Defense (OSD) with the Indonesian military to improve the budgeting and procurement process.  To put it bluntly, Indonesia is a country composed of 13,000+ islands, but their procurement strategy is very Army-centric.  The problem is that the Services weigh in on what they need first, and then the Defense Dept(based on strength of argument) allocates funds for those weapons systems.  Sadly, this is how we do business (a lot more complicated and detailed) in the US military.  Now, where DIRI (the initiative that I was helping with) comes into play is it takes a more of a capabilities-driven procurement strategy and helps develop the military budget around that.  So, instead of The Air Force coming up with their own procurement requests and the Navy doing something separate, it brings all the services to the table and looks at mission/core areas and the capabilities required to complete the mission.  This reduces the amount of redundancy and overlap which quite often plagues military budgets.  So, I got to spend a couple of weeks sitting in on this process, and I was able to help do some translation when it came to showing the Indonesian officers how to run through the program.  It is amazing how many of them do not know how to run simple functions in Excel…I guess they still need to attend Excel and Powerpoint Ranger school.

That weekend I met up with my DLI buddy, Travis Walter and his wife Maren and their little boy William, down in Bandung.  My previous trip out of Jakarta was quite adventurous, but I decided to take it easier this time and I was able to use the Cipagante shuttle service.  This was a great idea, because the minivan had a lot of leg room, and there were hardly any stops, oh, and it cost about $10.  I got to Bandung in theafternoon, and after relaxing for a little bit, we went out to eat dinner at this Sushi restaurant at the mall known as Paris Van Java.  Those of you who know me know that I am not a huge sushi fan, but I just became one…I had this “alligator roll,” and it was delicious!!

The following day I headed out on my own to check out some of the sites that were in last year’s The Amazing Race, where the contestants went to Band

ung.  I started off by going up to Tangkuban Perahu Volcano that has a crater with natural boiling water.  When I got up to the top, I had Travis’ driver (how cool is he!  He let me use his driver for the day) go down below and I would meet him down there.  Well, in order to get down, you have to use a guide, which costs about $25.  I was quite upset that this was not advertised before having my driver drop me off.  I swallowed my pride and just paid for the guide.  After about a 30-45 min hike down the volcano, we came to the natural boiling springs.  The water descends down in small ponds and each one is a different temperature.  People actually take off their shoes and soak them in the sulfuric warm water…supposedly it is very healthy.  At the end of the tour, I tipped the guide, and he asked me for more money…which I did not give in, because he was already taking a cut from the original “guide” price.  No one likes a begger!

In the afternoon, I headed over to Saung Angklung Udjo (the place where they had to build the angklung on The Amazing Race, and the self-righteous doctor lady tried to cheat….but I digress).  This place is incredible.  I met with some theological students who were there and they asked me where I was from.  I said, “Texas,” and they said, “us too.”  They were from Hardin-Simmons University in Abilene, TX, which is about 90 mi north of San Angelo…small world!  As for this cultural excursion, if anyone is looking at getting an overview of Indonesian culture and you want to watch a very entertaining show, this is the place.  At one point they have the audience members take one note of the angklung and proceed to have the audience play a song like “All my Lovin” by the Beatles or “Do, Re, Mi” from Sound Of Music.  The highlight was the angklungorchestra that rocked out “Bohemian Rhapsody” by Queen.

On Saturday, I took part in a 12K Trail Run that was sponsored by the Garuda Runners and hosted by the President’s son, Army Maj Agus Yuduhono.  Travis and I got a couple of pictures with him, and the whole venue was very impressive.  There was actually a little remote UAV that had a Go Pro attached to it filming the event.  There was music, food, different booths, and of course 12K of trail running.  Sad to say, I was not able to finish this run in a good time, in fact I was so tired, I had to walk some of it…but so was everyone else.  It started off downhill on asphalt streets, and then after 3-5K, we entered the tea plantation and started uphill on muddy, uneven terrain.  At one point we had to cross a river, and we finished back where we started in the Dusun Bambu Family Park.  It was cool to see the camaraderie among the Indonesian Army guys and specifically between the Indonesians and (what few there were) Westerners.

My last week in Indonesia was pretty relaxing.  There was Memorial Day, a muslim holiday, and Ascension Day (the latter 2 considered national holidays), so I only had to go to the Embassy on Wed and Fri.  I was able to get my visa to Vietnam (huge relief), and it looks like my trip this weekend should go smoothly.  On Wednesday, I attended another venue at the @America club, which focused on the role of American peacekeepers around the world.  They showed the film “Whistleblower,” which is a very raw and dark film about atrocities that were in direct support of US/UK private security firm companies.  This film was very hard to watch, but it really brought to the forefront of my mind Edmund Burke’s famous quote, “wickedness triumphs when righteous men do nothing.”  On Friday we had a going away for the Office of Defense Cooperation (ODC) Chief and LCDR Giocomoro (the guy who showed me around last year).  It was very nice to hang out with some other US military officers and of course the Foreign Service Nationals in ODC.

Getting Around...the Night Safari

13 May 2014

                The first week in Jakarta was pretty relaxed.  I got to meet some of the new folks working in ODC (the shop where I was attached to last time I was here), and one of the guys was my pseudo-sponsor when I was reporting to DLI.  We lost contact because all of the correspondence was on govt email, but now he is stationed here in Jakarta.  I got introduced to several projects that they are working on, one of which is a large exercise for the Indonesian Army and US Army.  This portion of the immersion is always interesting, because there is no structured schedule like the language classes.  I will probably take some time to see more of Jakarta while at the same time helping out where I can.

                During the weekend I decided that I wanted to hit Taman Safari again, but this time stay for the night safari.  This meant I needed to stay the night, so I decided to book a guest house sponsored by the State Dept, which was a little more expensive than your average hotel, but I heard great things about it.  The pictures looked very nice anyway.

No one likes a monkey that begs

                So, the weekend trip will be known as the trip where I almost took every Indonesian mode of transportation.  I could have easily just rented a car and a driver, but that would have been too EASY.  Plus, I wanted to give the ‘ol motorcycle rental a second try.   Since I did not want to drive a motorcycle in Jakarta traffic, I decided to take the train (mode of trans #1) until Bogor (the southern tip of Jakarta), and when I got there, I found that there was not a motorcycle rental place.  I instead took a taxi (mode of trans #2) to Taman Safari.  On the way, we were stopped at a police checkpoint…where they were checking to make sure people were wearing seatbelts, or as I like to call it, trying to get money from people in anyway possible.  The cab in front of me had two Middle East guys and they were arguing with the cops.  The one cop escorted them out of the car, and led them back to my cab, where he showed them…”Look! This is good! (pointing to me wearing a seatbelt); he knows! He is good!”  Apparently the two guys were not wearing their seatbelts.  I showed the cop my ID and passport and was free to go.  After about an hour or so, we made it to Taman Safari.  I decided to try out the safari again, but this time in a public safari bus; I have to say, a private vehicle is way better!

                After lunch at a faux Rainforest Café, I decided to head over to the Baby Zoo to see the baby animals.  I was able to hold a baby orangutan, a baby lion, and a baby leopard.  The baby orangutan was the best; he kept trying to steal my hat, and in the end he reached up, grabbed my neck and gave me a kiss.  Afterwards, I went to watch a couple of shows to include a various animals show, a circus, and a dolphin show.  I found my experience so much better this time, because there was a lot more time to relax and enjoy Taman Safari.

                I went ahead and stayed for the “Safari Malam” (night safari), which was a separate admission price, but both came out to about $25 USD, which is well worth it.  The night safari was cool, but I was pretty tired, so I ate dinner, went on the safari (in the dark), and decided to head to the guest house.  Everyone had told me that the guesthouse was pretty close to Taman Safari, and boy are they wrong!  I had no transportation and it was close to 8pm, so I was forced to ride (mode of trans #3), the ojek, or motorcycle taxi.  I rode on the back of a motorcycle up the mountain, through various switchbacks, which took about 1 ½ hrs.  I was pretty sore sitting on the back of a motorcycle for that long, but it was nice to get to the guest house.

                Aww, the guest house, how wrong I was to book this place.  Ok, it was nice, but for what I paid, I could have gotten a really NICE hotel, and furthermore, a hotel close to Taman Safari.  This place had no internet, very little amenities, and a freakin annoying cat that meowed ALL NIGHT LONG.  If I wouldn’t have been so tired, I would have searched for it and punt kicked it off the side of the mountain…it was that annoying!  I will probably never stay there again, and I am still upset with the bad judgment call.

                The next morning I left pretty early because I was still pissed off that I did not get any sleep.  The security guard secured me (mode of trans #4) an ANGKOT (small public trans van) that would take me to Bogor.  The fare was less than a $1, which is way cheaper than what I was paying for the other modes of trans.  I decided to pay the fare of everyone in the van (maybe 10 people), because I figured it is more beneficial to have 10 friends than just 1.  They were very grateful, and I at least was able to put a smile on 10 people’s faces…hey, it was my good deed for the day!  In Bogor, I walked to the train station and rode the train back to Jakarta…what a crazy trip, but an awesome experience!

The Final Days in Jogja...

5 May 14

Me and some of the teachers 

This was my final week in Yogyakarta, and it was truly an awesome experience studying bahasa here.  The Javanese culture is the backbone for Indonesian culture and it is so interwoven in all aspects Indonesia.  My final days of Wisma Bahasa were spent talking about military and political topics.  I was also assigned to give a 30 min presentation as a final "test" for the course.  I talked about the importance of airpower in military operations, and compared the capabilities between the USAF and the Indonesian Air Force.  It was very interesting doing that little bit of research, and it allowed me to realize that I don't know a lot about the Indonesian Air Force.  Hopefully while I am attached to the embassy, I can get more engaged with Indonesian Air Force operations.

To reward myself for the "hard work" and dedication towards advancing my language skills, I decided to plan a trip up to the famous Buddhist temple, Borobudur.  Borobudur is about an hour away by car, my friend from class and I saw that renting a car and driver was a little expensive.  In the end we decided to rent motor scooters and we would leave after class on Friday.  We got to the motor scooter place at around 4pm, and it started to downpour.  So a couple of things are going through my mind: A) I haven't ridden a motor cycle since I was like 15; B) I am not exactly sure where this place is, much more the possibility of finding it in the rain; C) how are we going to stay together, and not get lost, especially when the sun goes down and amongst the Indonesian traffic?  One other factor came into play: my friend had misplaced his bank card, so he now he had a limited amount of cash.  Luckily with the rain storm, it gave him some time to figure out a way to still do it.  He managed to borrow some money from one of his homestay mates and were off!

We made it about half a mile before we got spilt up in the Yogyakarta traffic.  The exit that would take us to the highway was closed, so I took a back road, and I was not able get in contact with my friend, so I had no idea where he was.  Luckily, he was able to find the main road, and I just continued on the back road, using the Iphone GPS as my guide.  Once I got onto the main road, it started pouring again, so there were a lot of starts and stops.  I will say that it still was quite an adventure and I am glad that we took the scooters.

I got to Borobudur around 7:45pm, and my friend got there a little later.  The Hotel Saraswasti was out of this world.  It really enhanced the Borobudur experience, and all in all it was nice just to have a place to rest and get dry again.  We got up at around 4am to go see the sunrise at the Borobudur temple.  When we got to the temple you could tell it was going to be a foggy morning.  Once the sun did show itself though, it was truly majestic, and well worth the time, money, and journey.  After the sunrise, we went back to the hotel to eat breakfast, and then decided to go back to get some daytime pictures, and see more of the temple.  

Part of our temple experience was being in probably over 100 junior high/high school students' pictures, being interviewed by most of them, and meeting a lot of new people.  I actually was asked by one high school girl to sing the National Anthem.  I decided to do it, but very quietly; I didn't want to draw attention to myself or others.  My friend is from Australia, so he thought this was hilarious.

The ride back was sunny and pretty smooth.  Driving through the Central Java and Yogyakarta countryside was really icing on the cake...such a beautiful country!!  We got back to Jogja at around 12ish.  I went home and started packing my bags for Jakarta.  In the evening, I went over to the Hyatt and attended the Night Market, a traditional Javanese cuisine buffet along with a traditional Remayana dance/show.  The Remayana show was very similar to the Kecak dance I had seen in Bali...stories were almost the same.  Following this, I met some friends at the karaoke place, and we hung out for a couple of hours.

I met some really cool people in Yogyakarta, and I will miss my time there.  Since the contractor can't book me on an Indonesian airline, I have to take SILKAIR all the way up to Singapore and then slingshot down to Jakarta on Singapore Air.  Needless to say, it took most of the day to get to Jakarta, but I have been able to settle in nicely at the Pesona.  I am once again staying in the lap of luxury down here in South Jakarta.

Me with Pak and Ibu Sunarto

Water Parks and Scuba Diving

When I was studying Intl Relations with Webster University, I produced a paper on the effect of McDonalds on globalization.  It was fun to write and I remember reading about how McDonalds created the concept of a “line;” Tom Friedman made mention of this in one of his books.  In Indonesia I have seen remnants of mass chaos when it comes to waiting in a line, but nothing compared to what I witnessed at the airport this weekend.  I was flying to Bali, so I arrived at the airport 90 min prior to the flight, which was really worthless.  You have to wait until a certain time to check into your flight, but people still crowd the counters until the destination is called.  So you can imagine what happens once they call out a destination.  You have to somehow get up to the counter so you can get your plane tickets and check in your baggage.  It was pretty crazy, and I can’t imagine getting away with that chaos in the United States.

This is where the Sultan would select his bride

Earlier in the week I was able to take a field trip to Taman Sari, an R&R site that goes back many centuries.  Today there are remnants of the many baths and pools that used to populate that area of Yogyakarta.  The guides like to point out the fact that it was also used by the Sultan to pick his next bride.  The women would bathe, swim, whatever, and the Sultan would go up to the tower and peek through the windows.  He then would pick a lucky candidate and she would be escorted to his private chambers just below the tower.  Another fascinating aspect of this “vacation home” is that there is an underground mosque with several tunnels that lead in many directions and can be used to flee or hide from the enemy.  I was also told that the tunnels could be flooded, and with thick walls and sentry posts, this complex actually makes a pretty good military fortification.

You have to wear sunglasses with a radiation suit

After class one afternoon, I decided to go downtown to see the Children’s museum.  One thing about museums in Indonesia is to expect the unexpected.  I was thinking it would be a two-story museum with a couple of exhibits for kids to play around with.  This place was like 5 stories with an IMAX theater, a splash pad, and a lot of interactive exhibits.  Later that evening I was invited out to hang out with one of the Australian Army guys who I have hung out with a couple of times.  We have had some really good dialogue about military life and some the similarities and differences.  We went to one of the large fields that is south of the “Keraton,” (the main government building where the Sultan resides), and just hung out and participated in some traditional Indonesian night life.

One of the places that I have always wanted to visit ever since studying Indonesia is Bali.  This weekend I was able to go to Bali, and boy do I want to go back!  I left late Friday evening and got in around 11:30pm.  The following morning I had to wake up early, because I had a shuttle come pick me up for the scuba diving trip.  I got to the Atlantis International –Bali dive shop, and they had everything already to go for me…very professional and customer-friendly.  The shop employs “bule’s” or white westerners, but a majority are from France.  We left for our dive site at around 9am, and it took 2 hours (by car) to get to Tulamben.

      Tulamben is known for the coral garden and the USS Liberty that sunk back in 1942.  The coral garden was really cool because there were some sunken Bali-like temple statues that are covered with coral.  The garden had so many different types of fish and it was a very cool experience.  The second dive was to USS Liberty, which was hit about 10mi southwest of the Lombak Strait back in January 1942.  It was en route to the Philippines from Australia, loaded with railway parts and rubber.  It was tragically torpedoed by a Japanese submarine.  It was then towed by the Dutch to the beach, but slipped into the ocean after the eruption of Mount Agung (1963), a volcano on the northern part of Bali.  Needless to say, I was able to get a lot of cool pictures and video thanks to my GoPro camera…that thing is awesome!!

            In the evening I checked out the Bali nightlife, particularly at Kuta Beach.  I ate at the Hard Rock Café and walked around talking to the numerous people lining the streets of Kuta Beach.  It is really funny, because once they see that I can speak the language, their attitude completely changes; I guess they have had some bad experiences with rude westerners.

On my last day in Bali I was able to hire a driver (Madi) and he showed me the countryside and villages surrounding Ubud.  He first dropped me off at “Bale Udang,” and Balinese restaurant that specializes in ginormous shrimp….and other things.  I drank jus alpukat, had a shrimp and mushroom soup in a coconut, rice (of course), and 10 huge BBQ grilled shrimp.  It was a little pricey (for Indonesia), but I had to eat here…it has my name written all over it.  There are two restaurants in Bali and both are set over large coy ponds, so you can actually sit on these bamboo platforms that allow you to dip your feet in the pond.  It had a really cool ambience.

               I was able to visit the “Goa Gadjah,” (Elephant Cave), which is an old Hindu temple, and a very interesting tourist attraction.  I went ahead and bought a black/white checkered sarong, since I was going to have to rent one anyway.  There was also a section of the park that had a broken Buddha statue.  I am amazed of the religious integration that exists in Indonesia.  While there is intolerance in some areas, for the most part everyone lives in peace and harmony.  Bali is also known for its handicrafts, especially woodwork.  I will have to come back another time and consider purchasing some souvenirs.

To end the evening and my trip to Bali, I went to see the Kecak dance on the southern coast of Bali at a temple called Uluwatu.  This temple is populated by small monkeys that have been know to steal your stuff, sometimes break it and then return it back to you.  I got there pretty late, just in time for sunset and the Kecak performance.  Words cannot describe the awesomeness that is “Kecak.”  I don’t like dance, and artistic theater is not my cup of tea, but throw some fire in there and lovely dressed Balinese women, and we are good to go!!