Post #198 27 November 2019

Gentlefolk,

This post describes our time in Indonesia 26 October - 15 November 2019.

The main reason for the visit at this time (and the highlight) was the Sim Family reunion held on 1 - 3 November at Pancawati Resort near Bogor.

In round terms we spent a week in Bandung, then the Sim Family reunion, a few days in Jakarta for a wedding, and finally five days in Bali on the way home.

Our abiding impression of Java (where Jakarta, Bandung and Bogor are located) is 'crowds' - it is one of the most densely populated places on earth! The Island of Java has an area of 139,000 sq km and a population of nearly 150 million (in contrast, the Australian State of Victoria - our most densely populated State - has an area of 238,000 sq km and a population of 6.5 million!).  There are people, houses, trucks, cars and motor bikes everywhere in Java.


Here are some photos of our visit to Indonesia:

At Sydney Airport on Saturday 26 October 2019.  Andrew and the kids were flying off to meet Caroline in Seoul, Korea (K-pop time!), while we were off to Jakarta. 

Our Qantas jet from Sydney to Jakarta (6.5 hours).

Jakarta to Bandung

Map of Banten and West Java. Greater Jakarta, with its population of around 20 million, dominates political, social and commercial life of Indonesia. The population of the whole country is now estimated at 263 million (4th, after China, India and the USA). It baffles me how this country survives and prospers. Most people are poor, of course, but they good natured, smile and laugh a lot, and seem content (or resigned?) with their lot. 

Big infrastructure projects in Jakarta include building light rail and overhead expressways. Construction is disruptive, but hopefully will mean improved transportation in the future.

Iis picked us up at FM7 Hotel near Jakarta Airport where we stayed overnight. We took the toll roads via Purwakarta; took us 2 hours to get through Jakarta, and then another 3 hours to Bandung (including a one hour stop for lunch).

We stopped in Purwakarta for lunch at this outdoor restaurant. Huge, and popular. "Haji" means that the owner, Ibu Yetty, has made the pilgrimage to Mecca.

The restaurant was packed with families enjoying a meal out - Sunday lunch. The crowd was pri-bumi and all the women were wearing hijabs (head scarves).

The guys cooking beef and chicken sate (meat on skewers) were busy. We were told that the restaurant goes through 6 cows a day!!!

Anyone for fried bean-curd?

Ice cream with durian - who could resist that combination?

Bandung, West Java

In Bandung, Vera decided to get a Huawei P30 Lite on special for A$350 (it is about $500 in Australia).  a lovely phone, with an excellent camera and 128 GB of storage.

The battery in Vera's old Huawei was playing up, so time for a new smart phone. Here she is with the sales attendant and Iis. We returned the next day and they transferred all the data and contacts from her old phone to the new phone.

We bought snacks at the Tous les Jours outlet.  We came across this chain when we were teaching English in Qingdao 

A road-side fruit stall. Food is plentiful and cheap (by Aussie standards).

The number of motor bikes is just amazing - motor bikes are certainly the best way to get around these congested cities. I was told that Bandung is the 12th most-congested city on earth (even beating Jakarta which was ranked 17th!).

Vera with nephew Richard and niece Masca.

Family reunion in Pancawati, near Bogor

The Sim (aka Simadibrata) Family reunion took place at Pancawati near Bogor 1 - 3 November 2019. A lovely time, full of friendship, laughter and warmth.

We occupied two of the residential buildings in the Pancawati Resort. Beautiful views across the valley to a big extinct volcano. There was a nice pool and I swam every day. The drive from Bandung to Pancawati (via Pucak, about 130km) took 5 hours! We decided to take the toll-roads back, longer in distance (180 km) but hopefully quicker - took 6 hours!

Everyone had name-tags.  The reunion was very well organised with name tags and t-shirts (colour-coded by generation).

Photo of Vera's parents, Dr Gunawan Adibrata (aka Dr Sim Guan Siew) and Juliana Umbaran, shortly after getting married in 1944. He was from a family of 9 kids - which are regarded as "Generation #1" for the purposes of the Sim Family reunions (although the first immigrants from China arrived in Indonesia over 150 years ago).

About 80 people turned up for the Sim Family reunion. The generations wore colour-coded t-shirts.

Here is Tante Ottie, the oldest participant (90 years old), cutting the cake. She is Vera's father's youngest sister and the only one of that "Generation #1" still alive. She is a wonderful old lady, still gets around by herself, uses a computer, etc.

Vera's immediate family group: from left Audy, Wanga, Vera, Farida, me, Frans, Tience, Elly, Albert.

Tience, Hermanto, Frans, and Albert.

Felix Simadibrata, me, and David Simadibrata. For many years David provided printing services to the Australian Embassy, Jakarta.

Liong and his wife Pina.  We visited them in Penang last year.

Frans in wheelchair was assisted up and down stairs.  Frans suffered an aneurysm 16 years ago. The doctors gave him 6 months, but he is a fighter.  Can now feed himself, understands a lot but slurred speech.  His left side is paralysed. He can walk, with assistance, for short distances, but needs a wheelchair to get around.  He was such a great guy, now a shadow of his former self.  His wife, Tience is an angel the way she looks after him.

Tience is an aerobics instructor and led us on many dances.  Good fun.

I went for a walk around the neighbourhood, and lo & behold, came across a cricket pitch.  Hard to believe, in the middle of nowhere, suddenly a cricket pitch.  

The cricket pitch (and a small building for spectators and change rooms) was opened last year. Founded by a group of cricket lovers in Jakarta, and supported by various cricket clubs.

Another view of the cricket pitch - sometimes used for rugby games - quite a substantial undertaking.

Bandung again

Street scene in Bandung.  I went for a walk from Andre's house, but the streets are crowded and have little or no side-walk, so not comfortable for walking.

Small restaurant - you can have a meal from A$1.50+.

A local community have erected a welcome sign, also celebrating the 74th anniversary of Indonesia's Declaration of Independence on 17 August 1945.  But it took 4 years of fighting before the Dutch surrendered their hold.

Cigarettes are cheap - e.g. A$1.50 for a pack of 12, or A$0.10 for one cigarette if you want to buy a single piece.  Smoking is widespread.

Family reunion at Andre's place the night before we left for Jakarta. From left: Chapong, Dini, Tience, Frans (partly hidden, holding his grandson), Albert, Vera, Wayan, Masca, Sherry, Richard, Iis, Andre, Farida, Cynthia, and Rahman.

Vera with Sherry and son Moya.  Sherry's 3 kids attend an International School (mainly Filipino and Singaporean teachers). Last weekend Moya made the finals in a Bandung-wide English Spelling Bee competition.

Dini, Vera & Frans.

The following day: Fauzan with his cat. Fauzan has finished Medicine and is currently doing 18 months "practical" at a hospital in Medan, North Sumatra (he is here during a two week break). When he completes his practical, he will graduate as a doctor, but then has to do two years internship at a hospital before he can practice.

Andre, Iis, Vera and Fauzan. Andre and Iis have both been to Mecca.

Serpong (a district of Greater Jakarta)

We stayed four nights at the Hotel Santika Premier at Serpong, for the wedding of the daughter of Vera's cousin.  While there we took in two Indonesian movies: the first was "Susi Susanto - love all" about the life and career of  the Chinese-Indonesian girl who won the Badminton Gold Medal at the 1992 Olympic Games; the second was "Love for Sale #2" about a Batak family in Jakarta. I preferred the first, Vera the second; both good movies, gave us insights into life in Indonesia.

A Xmas section in the AEON Mall near our hotel in Serpong.

Durian (aka The King of Fruits) is popular.

We attended the wedding of Eunike (aka Nike) and Charles. Nike is the daughter of Vera's cousin, Linda Simadibrata. Charles is originally from Pontianak. They live and work in Serpong.

Vera & me at the church service.

Vera with Nike. She looked stunning in a beautiful backless dress.

Pre-wedding photo of Eunike and Charles. They are both sporty. Eunike is into dance, rock climbing, etc.

Another pre-wedding photo.

Nike and Charles belong to a Pentecostal Church. First we went to the church service, then later the reception/dinner held in this large hall. More than 200 people came to the reception.

The happy couple arriving at the reception.

The bride and groom on stage, with parents. Charles made a fine speech.

All the guests meet the family first, then have dinner, and finally everyone says goodbye to the bride and groom again - they must be exhausted by the end of the event.   

The bride and groom - happy days!

Vera with some of her cousins.

Bali, enchanted isle

After the wedding in Jakarta we flew to Bali and had five nights at the Jayakarta Hotel on Legian Beach.

The Jayakarta Hotel's main entrance and reception. Cost was about A$110 a night including breakfast - good value. Most of the guests were from Australia - we were surprised how many Aussies have tattoos these days, and how many seemed to smoke (smoking in Australia is pretty rare - only about 15% of adults smoke regularly).  

A view of the swimming pools from the Hotel's Reception area. The Jayakarta is an older style hotel, the rooms are a bit dated, but it has good facilities and is across the road from the beach. 

Some guests playing chess.

Beautiful gardens at the Jayakarta Hotel.

One of the accommodation blocks in the Jayakarta Hotel. This is an older-style hotel, these days it would be high-rise and use every bit of land.  

We normally had breakfast in the hotel and other meals in one of the many nearby restaurants. But one night we had the buffet BBQ on the terrace above the swimming pools. Cost was A$15 pp.  Live music was provided. Afterwards we went to neighbouring Niksoma Hotel for the Beatles Night - excellent!

Our favorite table for breakfast. We normally woke about 7am, went for a 30 minute walk, followed by breakfast.

Every evening, approx 5 - 6.30pm, we spent on Legian Beach for a swim and to watch the sunset. Great way to end the day.

Big crowd on Legian Beach every night for sunset.

Removing & stacking the beach lounges (rentals) at the end of the day.

Twice a week the local Council has tractors and cleaners to clean the beach.

Many bars on Legian Beach

You can tell that Aussies are the main customers, can't you???

Day trip to Karangasem, East Bali

We hired a car and driver for a day (A$75) and drove to the eastern end of Bali; stopped at Candi Dasa Beach.

The main purpose of the visit to Karangasem was to see Made, who worked for Vera's family back in the 1960s. She is now 86 years old and bed-ridden.

Vera and Made; she is the mother of Wayan who we met in Bandung.

We took the opportunity to visit the Water Palace, built by the Raja of Karangasem in 1902.

The Water Palace has been extensively renovated - much improved on our last visit 20 years ago.

 We also visited the temple and hot springs at Tirta Gangga on the slope of Gunung Agung overlooking Karangasem. Lots of tourists.  The complex includes a swimming pool, but we didn't have time to swim.

The temple was busy for the Full Moon Festival held every month.

Local villagers bringing offerings of food to the Temple - to be eaten later once the music and dancing are over.

I remembered taking a photo at this look-out back in 1973 when Vera and I visited Bali and we hired a motor bike to drive around the island (this is on the road from Tirta Gangga back to Candi Dasa).

...

Would you believe that I had another attack of gout - this time on my left foot!!??
We went to a local doctor who prescribed medicine, and I was up-and-about again in 3 days.  Weird, I've never had gout before and now twice in about 6 weeks - what's going on?

...

We had a quiet time in Bandung (and later in Bali) and I read a number of books:

"Ordeal by Innocence" by Agatha Christie (published 1958). Arthur Calgary turns up 2 years after the event and confirms Jacko Argyle's alibi for the murder of his mother. So someone else in the family must have committed the murder - who? Vintage Christie, food fun.

"The Wilby Conspiracy" by Peter Driscoll (about 1965). British mining engineer Jim Keogh gets caught up in a plot by the South African Secret Police to assassinate a black leader.

"An Ice Cream War" by William Boyd (1982). Describes the trials and tribulations of an Upper class British family during the First World War. Older son, Captain Gabriel Cobb, fights the Germans in East Africa; younger son, Felix, has an affair with Gabriel's wife Charis, who later commits suicide when she becomes pregnant.  Felix is a student at Oxford, first a pacifist then joins up and tries to find his brother but he is too late to save him.

"The Deceivers" by John Masters (1952). In the 1820s the British East India Company is extending its influence over India. Captain William Savage uncovers a huge network of bandits who rob and kill in the name of the Goddess Kali.

"The Sound of Thunder" by Wilbur Smith (1966). Set during the Boer War in South Africa when the local farmers took on the might of the British Empire. Sean Courteney joins the Imperial Army; finally they prevail. He turns to farming and later politics. A family saga, in the style of 'Gone with the Wind', Smith is a great story-teller.

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Some international events of note during our time in Indonesia:

Rugby World Cup in Japan. In the Final played on 2 November 2019, South Africa beat favorites England 32 - 12 (two tries to zip); the Springbok's 3rd World Rugby Championship 1995, 2007, and now 2019. Five-eight Handre Pollard MVP with 22 points.  New Zealand beat Wales for third place. (Australia lost to England in the Quarter Finals).

Lewis Hamilton won his 6th F1 Driver's Championship; now only one less than mighty Michael Schumacher.

The Washington DC Nationals beat Houston Astros to win the Baseball World Series.

Aussie Ashleigh Barty won the WTA Finals in Shenzhen to end the year as Womens Tennis World #1.

UK general election called for 11 December 2019.

Many bad bushfires in NSW and Queensland - over 400 homes destroyed - and it's not even summer yet!

To combat computer games addiction, the Chinese Government announced new regulations restricting access by under 18 year olds to online computer games to 8am to 10pm. Further, maximum play time 90 mins Monday to Friday, and 3 hours on Saturday and Sunday. Only in China.

...

That's it for this (long) post.

Best wishes, stay healthy and keep smiling.

Vera Olah and Alex Olah
Canberra, Australia
Wednesday, 27 November 2019