And so it begins, finally i'm back here in indonesia again with my dad and at the comfort of tropical heat, not to forget the long 9hr plane ride with SQ, airliner that i'm so used to. that blue seat with out-dated media player.
anyways from here onwards i'll be recounting my journey and thoughts on this trip so far to give u an insight of what sort of overseas trip i go through, not implying that its an arduous one nor miami paradise like... but the unique cultural transcent, from being another citizen in a white country, to a slightly higher class minority in a third world country.
waking up at 4.30 in the morning just to get ready for the taxi that was due at 5.30 i took my time getting everything on my checklist to be placed inside my bag, took it, caught the taxi, checked in, all the usual, got to SG to catch a ferry out of this unique island to Batam island, located south of SG, a Free Trade Territory which belongs to the republic of indonesia. to make it clearer, think of Shen zhen, located right next to SG. Batam is very similar to Shen Zhen, only that it doesnt have mass factories.
Ahh~ so i got off at singapore, oh, there are a few irregular things that i noticed. one of which was the fact that many of the blue colar workers here, like those that cleans the toilet and burger king's table cleaner and basically things that require dirty work are all done by the elderlies, believe it or not.
this has occurred to me in the past, but i've never thought to express it here. compared to australia, the ones that would do these are the immigrants from india or middle east and south east asian countries, but YOUNG. which is very different to Singapore since they dont really take immigrants. back to the point, its quite weird seeing them, since you would never see asian elderlies , nor any other elderlies doing any work in australia. there are reasons for that too, but u should know why.
another thing about singapore that i've mentioned in the past, is that they're obsessed with occupying the toilets. again this time around, out of 8cubicles in the males, only 1 were vacant. but as soon as i went it.. obviously all were occupied. see what i just did? i turned my self to be singaporean!! gotta say tho, the toilets were brilliant.
now, i wasnt very much aware of how australian dollars are weaker than singaporean. but i was quite determined to get my self a camcorder for this trip, (it was for you guys!!) but oh abnormality manages to struct me once again. singapore being in asia and cheaper for cargo freights, we should expect lower costs for electronics exported from japan and the US, i thought camcorders would be cheap!! but hell no.
to give u guys an idea,
Ipod nano 8gigs in aus- $200AUD,
here, $231SGD, be reminded that AUD is weaker.
so theres this camcorder that i wanted, dicksmith auburn price; $388AUD
Singapore DUTYFREESHOP - $466SGD. rip. rip. rip. rip.
i dont know why. i guess i'll have to wait till i get to jakarta to get my self a camcorder. . .
day 2 and 3
arriving at my dad's home for the first time i find me self in... well i didnt really have much impression of it, they talk good about it but it wasnt really that great, nor was it anything below their description, so it was really marginary line.
i looked through my dad's wardrobe and hey look what i found, a traditional indonesian head turban, not sure what they're called, similar to the singh indians, but better :) bias much?
first night we didnt really do anythign fancy it was just getting random dinner at nearby eateries and looking for a new SIM card. went home and then rested for tomorow's flight to JAKARTA
day3
jakarta oh here i come, city that never sleeps, bustling with scooters and overpowered moguls living in the shadow of all the slums and poor thirdworld lings, grand apartments and lavish shopping malls comparable of those in L.A, between cramped streets of sheds made out of corrugated iron and woods accomodating beggers and local gangsters.
Jakarta Airport, were at its heights of its architechture marvel during the 60s and 70s, the gateway for its west connections now remains exactly the same way as it was with only a little bit more unnecessary workers, much like mumbai central station. though it still cherishs and maintains the beautiful garden it has.
DID YOU KNOW?
jakarta was OBAMA's hometown for 4years in his early age in indonesia. he speaks indonesian almost fluently.
and rudd speaks chinese, wow
wats with world leaders and their languages?
day 4
happy chinese newyear.
we family gathered around in grandma's home, where i met my grandmother and other cousins which i havnt met for a very long time. distant as we may be, i feel very much home with them. fun fun fun,
this time took a drive down to parts of the main city of jakarta and, and i must say it took my breath away, jakarta at night is beautiful from the outside. sky scrapers which aren't so compact to each other, yet there are numerous of them from distant, emphasises each of their lights in dark with more individuality. mega apartment complex and malls are even more breathtaking, it was not expected from.. or atleast i did not expect it.
chinese newyear was legalised in indonesia only about 4 years ago or so, fireworks lights up everywhere around the city, fireworks which aren't organised by corporations or bodies of organisations, but by individual families within your neighbour hoods! how big of a firework are we talking about? see for your self from the video before, our one had a 40mm shell, which was pretty big, neighbours had about 60 im guessing, :)
mezmerising. the whole city was lit up with chinese fireworks from 11pm to 12.30am of 25th-26th january. in total, jakarta would've had more than sydney's NYE celebration, only that jakarta was spread out over a period of 2hours or more, and it was not concentrated in one area. if you were to hire yourself a 360view hotel in jakarta, you would be seeing spectacular. yeah,, thats a noun. spectacular.
chinese newyear brings about a lot of red pockets. ^^.
spent it at the new FX malls, which had the world's longest sliding tube, costd me 75000rp, which was about $12AUD during this time. good stuff.
Karaoke, we went to. system and tech was better than those in sydney.
day-5
so i spent most of the day with my cousins going around jakarta, good stuff, exploring proper places to go to like hidden lounges nearby the city, jakarta, again, blasting with imageries at night time, we went to a small hideout amongst the tall sky scrapers and finds ourself in a lounge decorated with trees and outdoor seating plans, very european look, with live entertainment inside and drinks thats more expensive than average bars in australia. which was very pricey for jakarta. though it was worth it.
funzos.
have i taled about electonic prices here? how its ridiculously expensive? compared to australia, you could be paying average of$200-300 more per item. eg, cameras and laptop goods.
i've set my eyes on a certain camera, i'll be grabbing it soon :)
its been far too long herae without proper internet connection and im so out of contact with the outside world, its killing me. not reeli but quite so.s
so i went, and caught a ferry from Tanah Merah Ferry Terminal to Batam Island's Nongsa point. it was very nice n beautiful :) i havnt been to this wharf, iv always been to the larger one. and its not so great.
then i reunited with my dad that i havnt seen for a while, it was nice :)
went to his home, and here i am now typing away, now i shall sleep... or eat, whichever. bbls..
i have a few more to talk about batam n indonesia but ill' continue nxt time :)
day 6 or so...
i've honnestly lost count , supposedly im on day 6 but i doubt it,, i doubt it was even day 5 when i was writing it...
basically on this alleged day6 all i did was shopping, at this mall... which has little to no import commodities, making it very cheap since its almost 100% indonesian and pirated dvds n stuff. i bought quiet a few pirated cds music and dvds alike. listening to one of them right now,
oh lets talk about traffic and how terrible it is. took me about 2 hour in the car from one place to another cus of the traffic. had pizza... did nothing
and ok here's the punch line.
i got my self a camcorder! WOOOOOHOOOOOOOOOO BABBBBBBYY HERE I COME!!
gonna make a movie :p
we're leaving for batam island tomorow,
oh yea did i say that we're staying in a hotel atm.
day 11 ish
i honestly has lost count on days
and neither have i been keeping my logs proper and upto date.
but dont you worry, i've been taking pictures of exquisite cuisines if ever... if its excuisite to any extent.
so right now i'm in batam island, 20miles south of singapore. residing back at my father's house with the fish.
i found a new sport. killing mozzies with this tennis racquet device that has electrical currents running through the strings and it kills mozzies in one go. its beautiful! and fun. there are numerous ammount of mozzies at the backyard and i consider it as a wonderful time filler to the boring moments im having here.
if i'm not out , then ill be home watching pirated movies i bought, but they wernt great at all. and plus they have crappy quality.
batam island... there isnt much to boast about this shenzhen wanna be island. i went golfing, and thats bout it. meh. bored.
and there are little motivation for blog writing.
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