That's just the way it works

Tuesday, June 6, 2023

We're headed to a meeting in the big city. Jakarta is Indonesia's capital and home to almost 30 million people. Bandung is small in comparison, with hundreds of neighborhoods totaling 5-8 million people, depending where you draw the borders.

I heartily distrust travel on the toll road between Bandung and Jakarta. Unrestrained by traffic laws, the lane striping is a suggestion for the direction in which to drive. Traffic weaves across, in, and out. Trucks move most goods from one place to another. Some trucks are in such disrepair or laden so heavily that they strain up the hills at 10 mph/16 kph. Others boast kamikaze drivers who dart between lanes, dash into a small space to pass slower cars, shuttle vans, or buses ...

The toll road was built as a freeway or autobahn and is kept in good repair. However, the "fast lane" is clogged with slow and scared drivers who never move over. So others go around.

Trucks, cars, and buses use the parking shoulder as "an extra lane" when it's particularly slow. Then they slam on their brakes and dodge quickly back into a regular lane if they spot a parked vehicle ahead. There could be a truck beside them but if their bumper is even slightly ahead, the other vehicle will have to give way. It's exhausting to watch as we are thrown around the seat for 3+ hours. (W catches a photo of the highway from the train.)

Thank God, so far we've had only 2 manageable hits from behind, where a driver loses focus and bumps into our car. Even without serious damage, it shakes up our driver. We shrug it off, tighten our seatbelts, and pay a shop to repair the bumper or scraped side the next week. (No one's stopping to exchange numbers! That would be dangerous in such unpredictable traffic.)

Today we take the train. Hurrah. The station has been upgraded - we no longer have to schlep our luggage across the tracks plus climb up and down the platforms between trains. They've built travelators to get passengers up and over the tracks.

Indonesians rarely move once they get onto an escalator or travelator. They stand still across the whole width. If your train were leaving and you were in a hurry, forget about catching it. You wait with everyone else for the thing to haul you to the top or bottom, and then you might run for it! Or you'd probably just shrug and catch the next train.

As we start moving, we catch glimpses of life along the track.

We wind through beautiful countryside for several hours. The tressle beside us spans one of many valleys.

Rice is planted between volcanic mountains.

Small rivers wind through with runoff from tropical rains. The government made rice the primary starch  food decades ago. It's easy to grow, requires minimal land compared to casava and other root crops, and feeds many at a low price.

Sowing and harvesting is mostly done by hand.

Some villages dam creeks and rivers beside their houses.

Then you don't have to walk far to work.

The closer you get to the center of Java, the higher the mountains.

Everywhere, there are people. A 2020 survey counted 151.6 million people!

Before we leave the train, employees begin to turn the seats the other direction for the return trip. Clever. The train runs back and forth on the same track but passengers may always face forward. They can also choose to sit in a group if they turn their seats toward each other.

Our first stop in Jakarta is Sun City for dim sum.

The owner wanders over to chat and treats us to a discount, free coffee, and the flakiest egg tarts we've ever tasted.

The manager hands us her card. It's safe to go there during the day but there's "executive karaoke" at night. We patronize the restaurant during the day.

In the taxi to the hotel, we pass the skyscraper that housed the office when we arrived in Jakarta 9 years ago.

Some of Jakarta's architecture is eye-catching, like this pseudo-Italian skyscraper named Da Vinci.

Geometric balconies make this one a milestone. What you can't see from below is that most of the terraces are planted, so it feels green. The fake palm hardly disguises the communications pole out front, though.

The city has been built up, even since our last visit a few years ago. Traffic continues day and night. This was shot between rush hours. Then cars are at a standstill or crawling. 

Carpool jockeys used to be the norm: you could only drive in the restricted central zone if you had several people in the car. So moms with toddlers in their arms or those out of work would line up at either end, jump into your car for a small fee, and jump out when you got to your destination.

I haven't seen that since the government instituted "odd-even" days; the last number of your license plate determines your access. Of course, some people have 2 license plates, one numbered odd and the other even. Their driver will affix one or the other, depending on the day.

The Artotel reminds us that there's a lot of marble in the world.

The hotel features Indonesian artwork. The framed jade sculptures on the wall are one-of-a-kind.

As we walk toward the elevator to our room, this installation catches my attention.

The artist has painted, gessoed, and used matt medium to affix 48 books to a a canvas. Then the grid was painted between.

I take a closer look each time we pass. I like it!

I need to look up this artist.

Wednesday

Our midday meeting is with friends and coworkers. We're the only ones not based in Jakarta. One of the fun things we remember about this team is that when someone travels, they return with snacks. We bring two kinds of goodies from Bandung.

Lunch includes one of W's favorite foods: sweet and sour chicken. I especially like the home-baked walnut cake from Micha. This creative, inclusive, and artistic group inspires us to think beyond past ways of doing things.

The dear Bramonos drop us at the triple-mall downtown. I'm looking for for some not-easy-to-find vegan food. We don't find it there, either. The third mall in the group is a conglomeration of luxury brands from cars to jewelry to fashion. Not our style.

W tries on leather mules but can't decide which ones to buy. He leaves them all behind. It's his birthday next week; I think he should splurge on something he likes.

This flower is stunning, one of many along the sidewalk.

We catch a taxi to the train station for a comfortable ride back to Bandung. After 6:00 p.m.as it starts to get dark, a neighbor calls. All 3 dogs are outside our gate on the street. The neighbor's son or his friend has left the gate open again. This is the third time that's happened while we are away. PakG rushes over and returns the dogs to the house.

In the dark, the swaying of the train on the tracks feels rougher. There's no scenery to distract us, just the flash of streetlights as we glide by.

When we arrive, we haul our luggage through the parking lot and to the street to catch a taxi. The first guy says, "Take the taxi behind me. He's next in line." We get into that car.

The driver unlocks, we hop in, and then he says: "Sorry, this taxi was just commissioned to pick someone up. You'll have to catch the parked taxi ahead of me."

We drag the carry-ons to the original taxi for an uneventful ride to our gate. The dogs are ready and waiting - happy to see us come home. We are so glad they're there, too.

By midnight, we're fast asleep.

Thursday

The week's hike has been cancelled: almost no one is available to walk. For safety, we require 4 people in the mountains or 3 in the city. The thinking is this: if someone is injured in the hills, two people will go for help and the other person will stay behind with the injured party. We try to keep each other in sight. Since the jungle trails twist and turn, you could take a fork and never know until you were far away from the group.

W meets someone for morning coffee. I check what needs cleaning and sorting around the house and arrange the lunch menu. Cleaning is a lot of work, but keeping tabs on tasks to be done is an effort, too.

A parade of ants marches around the house. I pour boiling water across the steps to the porch, on the ledge under the window sills, and as far up to the second storey as the water can splash. Ugh. Ants are good helpers in the garden. But they invade the house with every opportunity. As I write, I swish an ant off my computer keyboard; it's come from the garden, across the porch, and up the legs of the table to bug me.

Something is chewing away at the rattan seat I like to use. There's a heap of ant poop when we move the bench, but the damage started with the chewing of rats. Nothing lasts forever. This was free but it's so comfy that I hate to lose it. The helpers don't know anyone who would repair it.

3 big-gish (3"/7cm) roaches showed up in the shower this week. They crawl up the bathroom wall from the back kitchen. Windows are not sealed; in fact, the 2" gap above the wall in the shower assists in air flow. A plague of roaches means they're finding food. Either they're coming over the shared wall from a neighbor or they're munching around in the back kitchen.

The "dirty kitchen" is a second cooking area, where the frying is done. We have no kitchen fans. The wind blows in the entry doors of the house, through the living room and kitchen, and get sucked up the back of the house to a semi-covered rooftop where we do laundry. A stovetop for frying sits under the open funnel to wick away grease.

Today the helpers clean up their main cooking space. They haul out stashed bottles and cleaning supplies. They pull out the "frying" stove and wash away the mess under it. They return the walls to white as much as possible, around the water stains from the last few downpours.

At lunch, W remembers that he walked away from the coffee shop without paying the bill. We finish eating before taking the dogs along for a walk. Today the road workers are shaping curbs around the gutters they cut out and mortared over the past 2 weeks. 

That's going to make a big difference in the look of things. Previously skinny chickens ruled atop the rubbish and building trash that people dumped along that wall opposite the garbage dump and recycling pickup.

In contrast, the mansion just outside the neighborhood is coming along slowly and carefully. When a delivery truck drops off lumber, we pass it by on the street.

A family member of the driver has died so he's gone for the funeral. That makes 19 or 20 paid days off in the last 3 months ... between illnesses, government holidays, and family obligations. 

It's a good thing that W and I like walking. And that language school tomorrow is already planned to happen online. Even with a driver and car at our disposal, we go to our supper meeting in a taxi. It's no surprise that people live day to day here.

Read more:

*Out of the ground the Lord God formed every animal of the field and every bird of the air, and brought them to the man. The man gave names to [all]. Genesis 2:19-20

*You must follow exactly the path that the Lord your God has commanded you, so that you may live. Deuteronomy 5:33

*The Lord is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer; my God is my rock, in whom I take refuge, my shield and the horn of my salvation. He is my stronghold, my refuge and my savior—from violent people you save me. I called to the Lord, who is worthy of praise, and have been saved from my enemies. 2 Samuel 22:2-4

*Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies? Yet not one of them is forgotten in God’s sight. Luke 12:6

*For whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, so that by steadfastness and by the encouragement of the scriptures we might have hope. Romans 15:4

Moravian Prayer: Heavenly Father, you are the way and yet we wander, looking for fulfillment everywhere but through you. Help us to surrender ourselves to you and to listen for your direction.

Almighty God, how lucky we are to live in your world and to be your beloved children. May we do all within our power to care for your precious creation just as you care so tenderly for us. Guide us to your holy word so that we may live the lives you would have us live, always hoping in Christ Jesus, our Lord, in whose name, we pray. Amen.