Tidung Island, Jakarta, Indonesia

What do you know? A midst the congested metropolis that constitutes Jakarta who would have thought that you aren't far from one of the most beautiful places I could imagine. Wake up early and catch a cab to either Ancol Harbor or Maura Angke fish market (and you know we left from the fish market!) and you are but a few hours away from absolute paradise.

Dressed to impress of course at the crack of dawn (kind of) you can hop on one of these bad boys and arrive at an island of your choice in under two hours.

Welcome to the bridge of love....... scroll down

This is a view from the bridge

Some people live in these houses, I heard it's a great way to avoid Jakarta traffic...

Here is 'the bridge of love. As you can see this bridge which is probably around 200 meters, connects two islands. You can jump off the bridge into some snorkeling or you can walk across. However, you can also walk from island to island...

Coral and sea urchins surround the bridge which is filled with tropical wildlife.

Two types of sea snakes? Scary...

Postcard?

Just kayaking around trying to get some kicks for free...

Amazing sunset

This may be one of my favorite photographs that I have ever taken. 

Our boat ride back wasn't aboard the nicest boat on earth, though it had a lot of personality, trust me....

Indo update from the end of January

Perhaps it’s time to update my blog because I feel an obligation to my seven readers. I am going to list a bunch of FAQ’s that I am asked by a number of people and then answer them as best as I can while trying not to sound like a complete douchebag. Here we go:

Q: How’s Indonesia?

A: Great!

Q: Who are you teaching and how old are your students?

A: I actually teach a number of different ages. The school I work for works with students from five years old and up. At the moment I have two classes of students who are between seven and ten, one where the students are 12, two where they are between 14 and 20 and one class where the students are between 16 and 45 where we solely focus on conversational English.

Q: Do you enjoy teaching?

A: I really do. I occasionally learn a new thing or two myself and have been shocked by the politeness of my students. It is a bit odd being called Sir and Mr., all the time but it’s hard to complain. I have had to almost force my older students to just call me Tony. Most of the time kids are kids and they can get on your nerves one second and be cute as heck the next. However I usually have an excellent time in my classes and after being here for over two months I do not feel like I am working, so yes I am enjoying it a great deal. The students, either out of fear of their parents or by understanding the benefits of fluency in English, (Lingua Franca?) are by and large extremely well behaved and hard working.

Q: Where is Indonesia?

A: Google maps is fairly effective when you have these types of questions so pop that into Google and I’ll ignore this ever happened? Okay!

Q: What is your living situation and do you live anyone else?

A: I live in an extremely nice gated community inside this little guy right below

Now she doesn’t look like much but I promise it’s frisky. I haven’t seen any rats and the air conditioning is excellent. The house came with a maid (is that fucked up to say? She’s definitely a great lady though we have had our run ins. Am I an ass hole for being upset about a free maid? Obviously, but we’re off topic now…)  I have a few cats that like to meow outside my door at night and it makes me feel like Charlie from ‘It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia’ but he;s great, right? Last but not least my temporary room mate and Finnish friend Olli who mostly stays with me here in one of the extra rooms and he’s a great guy.

Q: What is your daily routine like?

A: I usually teach from 3-8:45 pm on the weekdays Monday through Thursday. I teach Tuesday mornings as well from 8-noon and on Fridays I usually work for a couple of hours interviewing students and placing them into appropriate class levels.

Q: What do you do on the weekends?

A: Yes.

Q: Aside from the teaching do you like it there?

A: I could simply say yes but I’ll vent a little bit and elaborate on why I do like it quite a bit. Everyone is friendly. Nearly every Indonesian I meet is warm and welcoming and generally happy no matter if they are wealthy or if they are working on the street selling food. White people or ‘Bule’ are treated very well here. I’ve said to people before that at times it can feel a bit like being a D-list celebrity, let’s compare it to being Pauley Shore. You definitely stand out and people recognize you BUT you aren’t sure if it’s because they think you are special or just a stupid ass hole wandering aimlessly in a foreign country without the ability to communicate to most people. Either way though, it’s great, especially when girls ask to take your photo with them for no reason besides the fact that you are white. The nightlife is fantastic and the clubs are top notch. Indonesian food is rather good and I even enjoy certain foods that that locals themselves won’t eat. Of course things being quite cheap here mean that even on a salary that would make me a welfare recipient in the U.S. I can live pretty damn well here. As for the negatives the traffic is bat shit crazy. It has to be one of the worst in the world. Public transportation could be a whole lot better and at times certain areas can be a bit smelly but then again some places can smell wonderful. In the U.S. we are spoiled by having the ability to get nearly any type of food we want at any time and there is not nearly the same variety here. Of course I miss some friends and family a lot but I miss my friends from other countries while in Seattle anyways so it isn't a huge difference. Miss you Mom and Dad! In the next 9 months I will have more time for traveling there really are a million places I want to visit but I am not sure if I will have the time during the next year.

Q: Best memory so far?

A: Swimming with sharks in Karimunjawa. I am infatuated with sharks and think they are so beautiful. I was a bit scared to be surrounded by them but it was unbelievable and watching them underwater from so close was absolutely amazing.

Christmas in Karimunjawa

Merry ******* Christmas! Before I write anything else look at these seven photos of unreal beaches throughout Karimunjawa and its surrounding islands.

Well I started off my Christmas holiday by taking an eight hour train ride, followed by a two hour bus ride, and then a four hour wait leading to the finale; a six hour crowded ferry to a string of remote islands in the Java Sea. Here’s me on the ship and if this photo doesn’t scream ‘I’m from the suburbs!’ then I really don’t know anything anymore…

If you look at a map of Indonesia first find the biggest Island, Java. Just above Central Java and Semarang lays a number of islands. Karimunjawa is the biggest of the bunch but even it is extremely small. A number of motorbikes but only a handful of cars and half a dozen streets are claimed by this paradise. Here is the main road; I think this captures the kind of quaint, homely, relaxed environment surrounding Karimunjawa

Here was our homestay, a cute two story house with a beautiful balcony. There were eight of us in total here’s most of us in front of the house.

Here was our boat, her the name was the ‘Asian Lady’ (they get points for originality and creativity) and she was captained by the gentleman in the Kayak, I know what you’re thinking; do they get any better looking than that? And no they don’t. Unfortunately Captain Jack wasn’t a huge fan of photos and although I could talk about him for days….

Here are some of the stops we made throughout Christmas day 

Here is our Christmas feast. Obviously I caught all of these fish by hand and grilled them myself.

I hopped right in with the sharks. The guide said they were too small to bite any of us but I am willing to bet he’s never seen shark week. Either way watching the sharks up close and underwater was incredible. Sharks are such beautiful creatures and the way they move so gracefully really is amazing. I was awestruck the entire time.

Phenomenal scenes from the second day

A day in Singapore

I was extremely impressed with Singapore. The city is spotless, the downtown vibrant and futuristic and with English as their official language no need to use hand motions to ask people where the bathrooms were. Unfortunately since I was only there for a day I wasn’t able to travel out to the islands just off of the coast but some of the beaches on East Coast Park were beautiful

A Japanese friend of mine told me she felt Singapore was plastic, plastic, meaning not natural, not real, or lacking culture in this context.

Perhaps the official language being English or the blend of a number of Asian, and European cultures contributes to that viewpoint. However, I don’t believe you can look at a culture and seek out the negatives. If you do that you'll always be disappointed. Occasionally the differences will smack you in the face but that wasn’t the case in Singapore. Singapore is a beautiful city with beaches all around and that’s hard to beat?\ my friends.

Basically, I landed in Singapore around 9:30 am went to meet the guy dropped off my passport to get my work visa for Indonesia then took the train to the beach. There I fell asleep for the majority of the day and then had some dinner and took the train to the airport.

 This picture is of one of the many mall entrances on Orchard Road and the first sign of a Christmas tree in Southeast Asia, though at 87 degrees Farenheit it didn't feel like Christmas in the Northwest

East Coast Park is shockingly located on the East Coast of Singapore City and though my cab driver told me the beaches here were nothing compared to the beaches on the island I found them absolutely beautiful.

Thankfully I was leaving the beach as this rain cloud came through.

I can't give a specific number but I would guess more than a half dozen connected large beaches form East Coast Park. I was standing on a rock walkway when I took this.

This fantastic looking dish is called Kway teow. Unfortunately I found it awful, looked great though.

Strolling around the city

This little beauty is known as "Sukarno's last Erection," seriously. Sukarno was the first president of sovereign Indonesia after years of colonization from the Dutch and the Portugese though primarily the Dutch. Sukarno wanted a memorial built commemorating the new republic, a museum to educate its people on the struggles of colonization and the culture that united the thousands of islands that make up Indonesia today.

With white skin and not much else you can often find yourself in a position similar to a D-list celebrity. At malls, or in this case at a museum a number of girls took photos of me, and with me. I couldn't leave without getting one of these adorable girls, right?

Here resides the president of Indonesia, currently his name is Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono (Yes it's kind of fun to say)

A local told me that many of the people in metropolitan Jakarta feel that this tree has some sort of mystique around it whether it be good luck or a calming ability in times of duress, but yes we are all thinking the same thing... AVATAR!!!!!

These jack fruits are about the size of my head and although I wanted to get one, I was far too lazy to be bothered by a bit of exercise....