Beautiful Bali

Here in Jakarta, on 6th July, Muslims began the celebration of Eid-al-Fitr (Festival of Fast Breaking), marking the end of Ramadhan. This is a joyous occasion and a public holiday, so many people take 1 or 2 weeks holiday, to make the trip to their families and friends in their home towns to celebrate.

During the days leading up to Eid, there is a mass migration of thousands leaving the city, leaving Jakarta relatively quiet.  The traffic is definitely less, some of the restaurants close and the usual  security and gardening team at our apartment complex are replaced by hired help.

As Ian was on holiday, we decided to take a short break in Bali.

We left on the Saturday morning.  We had been warned that because of the mass exodus the 45 minute drive to the airport could take up to 2 hours.  So, we set off early.  However, much to our surprise, and more so by our driver, the roads were virtually empty.  We made it to the airport in record time and on arrival were through security and checked-in in only 15 minutes.

The domestic flight to Bali took just under 2 hours and after a short taxi journey from Denpasar Airport, we were in our hotel at Nusa Dua on the south of the island by early evening.  There is a 1 hour time difference between Bali and Jakarta.

On Sunday, we decided to take it easy at the hotel, reading our books under trees on the beach, taking strolls and simply looking at the clear blue skies (no Jakarta air pollution here) and enjoying hearing the birds singing (no constant traffic noise).

On Monday, we set off to explore more of the island.  We used a private tour guide, Agus Bali Private Tour which we had booked via email a few weeks before.  Agus was a great guide.  He is from Bali and speaks excellent English.  Together with him and his driver we set off for our tour.

We starting by visting the Wenara Wana Monkey Forest.  Here we saw many of the Balinese long-tailed monkeys - Macaques.  There are around 600 monkeys living in this sanctuary which also houses 3 Hindu temples.  I was pleased to hear from Agus that these monkeys are very friendly and do not try to steal your camera or other items.  They were very well behaved and let me get up close to take their pictures.

 

Then we drove up into the hills to Ceking Village to see some of the smallest rice terraces in Bali.

We drove further upwards and stopped for lunch over-looking Kintamani, Mt. Babur, the active volcano on Bali.  You should be able to see in the picture below the remains of the black lava flow from an eruption in 1963.

In 2012, UESCO made Mount Batur Caldera a part of
the Global Geopark Network.

View from Penelokan over
Mt. Babur, Lake Batur and Mt. Agung

We then continued on to The Mother Temple of Besakih.  The largest and holiest Hindu temple in Bali. 

The Mother Temple of Basakih or Pura Besakih

Here we were lucky to see many Hindus visiting the temple wth offerings for Amavasya - New Moon Day.

Some of the temples musical instruments

Some local boys giving us a tune

On leaving the temple our guide Agus took delight in showing me the many spiders in the power lines by the lights.  There were thousands of them.

We also stopped of at Seribatu Village.  This is a plantation where we learnt much about the plants important to the Balinese.  We learnt about the process of making coffee and the unusually processed Coffee Luwak, the most expensive coffee in the world. 

Roasting coffee beans

And much to our delight getting to taste it, and also many types of local teas.

Coffee beans

Guava

Durian fruit - an acquired taste

Finally as we drove back to our hotel we passed many Hindus returning home carrying their offering baskets on their heads.

After our long day on the road exploring Bali we decided to spend Tuesday relaxing down on the beach and around the hotel.

Monitor lizard in one of the hotels many ponds

Cooling off in the bar

We also made a quick trip to the local shopping mall, Bali Collection for a little retail therapy and tried a fish foot spa - which was not as ticklish as expected.

Wednesday came all to soon and we had to leave our island paradise and return to the busy city.

We only saw a very small part of what Bali has to offer and look forward to returning some day soon.

Pond at the Hotel Reception with a glimpse of the sea

Various Sights of Jakarta

Now we are settling into the daily routines.

Ian heads off to work early in the morning to avoid the traffic and I start my day by taking a run around a jogging track in our apartment compound.

On my run, I have been watching the steady progress of a new apartment block being built close by.  It is currently going up a floor a week.  They work from early in the morning to late at night and all weekend.  They had only just started on floor 6 when we moved in and now they are making a start on floor 12.


















I find the building progressing at this speed quite amazing especially as here many of the population are celebrating the month of Ramadhan.  This is the month during which Muslims observe fasting from dawn to dusk.  Here that means around 5 in the morning to 6 in the evening.  During fasting they are not allowed to eat or even to take as much as a drink of water.  How they work in the 30+ heat all day is hard to imagine.

Away from our apartment block you can see another side of Jakarta, shopping malls.

There are many modern, flashy western style malls full of designer boutiques and there are also slightly older, cheaper malls where the local Indonesians go shopping. I visited one of the latter recently with a friend who was in search of a new pair of glasses.

We ventured to North Jakarta and found ITC Mangga Dua.  This mall was a bargain hunter's paradise.  It was filled with hundreds of shops crammed into 6 levels.  Everything to be had from handbags, shoes, clothes and of course the glasses my friend was looking for.

The picture below shows just about half of the glasses on offer in this mall.
Here you should always be prepared to bargain and never accept the first price!















On another of my shopping adventures, this time in the search for food and only 15 minutes away,  I came across one of my favourite snacks from Sweden, Cheez Doodles. This is just one of the many international foods you can find here.  You can also find things like Marmite, Typhoo Tea and Stroopwafels to name but just a few. We will not go hungry here.

Away from the bustling air conditioned shopping malls, another side to Jakarta can be found.

This weekend we visited a street in central Jakarta which sells antiques, things made to look like antiques, suitcases, shoes, vinyl records, etc, etc.   Again bargaining is the key to a successful purchase and makes for a fun couple of hours.

Down the many crowded and dusty streets you can find examples of what must have once been beautiful buildings crumbling away before your eyes.

Ending on a lighter note, you see some amazing things flying past the window of our apartment on the 6th floor.  Not often you get to see a flying dinosaur..... !?

Air Quality

As mentioned before, the traffic here in Jakarta is extremely heavy and this has an impact the air quality.  From our apartment window we can see an indicator of this by simply looking at the high-rise buildings in the distance.

The quality levels can change dramatically throughout the day.

In the morning, when rush hour gets underway, the levels rocket and the buildings disappear into the smog.















The levels typically drop around mid afternoon and you can start to see the buildings much better.

But by late afternoon they slowly disappear again, as the afternoon rush hour traffic builds up.  Sadly, I report there are some days when the smog does not seem to lift at all.

To confirm the visual indications seen, I came across an interesting website recently which shows a real-time air quality index.

Here is what it was like at around lunchtime today.
At its highest this morning we had an ACI of 161.

To give you some comparisons, as I write the following cities have an Air Quality Index of:

• Stockholm AQI 38
• Manchester AQI 56
• London AQI 27-60 depending on the area of London
• Beijing AQI 184
• and Södertälje AQI 18

Another aspect to this is that indoors, the apartment needs cleaning on a very regular basis otherwise you notice it on your feet or our once white socks.  Whilst outdoors, when I wipe down the furniture on our balcony the cloth comes away black, but I suppose that makes a change from the yellow birch tree pollen that I have become used to in Sweden.

On a personal note, in an attempt to get fit, I have taken to running around the grounds of our apartment compound, in the mornings, before the temperatures rise.  Whilst doing my runs, I wonder what affect the poor air quality is having on my struggling lungs and whether I can use this as an excuse to explain my red face and slow running pace  :)

I normally enjoy being outside and I like have the balcony doors open most of the day, to let a breeze in but some days the smog is so bad you can nearly taste it, so the doors remain closed and the air conditioning on and I long to return to the fresh air of our home in Sund.

However, today is not one of those days, the AQI is surprisingly low, I can see the high-rise buildings quite clearly and the balcony doors are wide open!

Have a look to see how the air quality is near you and around the rest of the world, by going to aqicn.org, they even have a phone app.

Traffic Jam - Macet

Jakarta is famous for its traffic jams, they even have their own word for it in Bahasa being 'Macet'.

With Jakarta's daytime population estimated to be over 12 million and with having a poor public transportation system you can understand the traffic is bad.

Journeys are not measured in distances but in estimated time and the time can be affected by the time of day you are travelling and even whether or not it is raining.

It is highly recommended that before setting off on any car journey that you have with you something to drink, that your mobile phone is fully charged, something to read and maybe even have something to eat.  You can expect to sit in a traffic jam for part of your journey wherever you are going, however short the distance.

One of the common sights to be seen whilst sitting in a queue on the motorway are vendors walking up and down in-between the tightly packed cars, trucks and buses.  They sell a variety of things such as water and snacks like tofu, nuts and fruit.  They continue selling their wares even when the traffic starts moving again.

Today, on a motorway journey of about 1 hour, I must have seen at least 20 of these men walking up and down between the vehicles, carrying their various snacks at shoulder height, knocking on windows, breathing in the noxious exhaust fumes and this in temperatures of 35°C.  Even when a sudden heavy shower of rain started, it did not deter them.

BOTTLED WATER - AQUA

Coming from Europe it is easy to take for granted how accessible fresh water is.  It is valuable commodity here in Indonesia.

We have quickly learnt that even though we are fortunate enough to live in a new apartment complex that we cannot drink the water from the tap or use it for cooking.  Much of the ground water here in Indonesia is contaminated with heavy metals and bacteria such as e-coli.

So a must have gadget for every home and office here is a water dispenser for bottled water.  We have an electric version which not only chills the water but also boils it which is perfect for my regular cups of tea.

We buy the water in 19 litre containers.  When buying we have found it is easiest to ask for Aqua - which the name of one of the most popular brands from Danone. When buying the big bottles you need to make sure it comes with the antiseptic wipes to clean the tops before replacing the bottles.  It is also necessary to check that the plastic safety seals have not been broken, as you don't want a bottle that has been refilled cheaply somewhere outside of the factory.

Not being able to use the tap water for drinking or cooking presents a number of challenges which we had not really thought about before.

For example, you cannot brush your teeth with the water from the tap in the bathroom. So, part of the new teeth cleaning routine here includes ensuring that we have the necessary bottled water by our toothbrushes ready to be used.

Also when preparing food at home, when you want to wash fruit, vegetables and salads you have to use the water from the dispenser. You can't just run them under the tap like we do in Sweden or the UK.

This is also something to be considered when eating out.  You do not want to risk eating fruit, raw vegetables or salads which have been washed with tap water, nor for that matter, ice cubes made with it.

As the traveller's saying goes, 'Cook it, boil it, peel it or forget it'.

So next time you run the tap, waiting for the cold water to come through, for say a glass of water or to brush your teeth, take a moment to remember how fortunate you are to have fresh water.  I know I will next time I am back in the UK or Sweden.