A couple of days in Jakarta

 

Since we are in the “neighborhood” we travelled to Indonesia (name comes from the Latin and Greek Indus, and the Greek nèsos ; meaning “island”). It took us a full day to get there but that was including the seven hours flight. Since our stay would just be five days, we stayed in Jakarta, the capitol of Indonesia. This country in Southeast Asia and Oceania consists of an archipelago compromising approximately 17,508 islands and is with over 138 million inhabitants the world’s fourth most populous country.

When we arrived it was raining cats and dogs but we were prepared for the weather forecast was horrible: storm, storm, storm, storm and storm! But lucky for us the weatherman was wrong at least three days!

We learned that the first regular contact between Europeans and the people of Indonesia began in 1512, when Portuguese traders sought to monopolize the sources of nutmeg, cloves, and cubeb pepper in Maluku. Dutch and British traders followed and in 1602 the Dutch established the Dutch East India Company (VOC) and became the dominant European power. In 1619 the VOC conquered the West Javan city of Jayakata, where they founded the city of Batavia, which today is Jakarta. In December 1949 Indonesia got its independence.

Many of the places we visited where a remembrance of the Dutch period.

Surely like most of the tiger economies in this part of the world the contrasts are huge.  We had interesting and fun days, but we both were glad we’ve lived in Korea the past years and not in Indonesia………….



 Not much "pool time"


 Some "smoking time" and


 Little "shopping time" at the Mall of Indonesia.


A mall not only for shopping but also entertainment.



We saw beautiful apartment buildings and mansions and lots of....

poverty!

 

 

 Visiting "Stadhuis Batavia" (Town Hall)













Biking on the Town Hall square, one can hardly be more Dutch!

 

Having afternoon "Ramadan Tea" at Café Batavia.

The Gereja Santa Maria Pelindung Diangkat Ke Surga (Translated from Dutch: De Kerk van Onze Lieve Vrouwe ten Hemelopneming, in English: The Church of Our Lady of Assumption)

Now called the Jakarta Cathedral

The first built Catholic Church of Our Lady of Assumption was blessed and inaugurated in 1829 by Monsignor Prinsen and renovated in 1859. However, in 1890 the church collapsed and the present church was rebuilt between 1891 and 1901.

 

 

 

The Jakarta Catheral is located in Central Jakarta near Merdeka Square and Merdeka Palace and right in front of Istiqlal Mosque.

 

  

Merdeka Square, in the center of Jakarta is, if the surrounding fields are included one square kilometer, and considered the largest square in the world or at least one of the largestJ. At its center stands the National Monument. During the Dutch East Indies era the square was called Koningsplein (King’s square) Merdeka is the Indonesian or Malay word for freedom or independence.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Merdeka Palace (Indonesian: Istana Merdeka, Dutch: Paleis Koningsplein, English: Independence Palace) is used as the official residence of the President of the Republic of Indonesia, now: Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono. The Palace is located in front of Merdeka Square and served during the colonial era as the residence for the Governor-General of the Dutch East Indies.

  

 

 

National Museum or popularly known as Elephant Building (Indonesian: Gedung Gajah) after the elephant statue you see here in the forecourt.   

 

 

 

 

Once more a visit to Stadhuis.

 

 

 

Upstairs at Café Batavia we saw many celebrities and 

 

King Willem-Alexander, Queen Beatrix,  Queen Juliana, and Queen Wilhelmina whom we couldn't get on this picture but she was there too!

 

Yayasan Buddha Tzu Ci Indonesia
Spiritual Center and Convention Center in Jakarta

 

 

 

Sunda Kelapa harbor

with its iron-wooden boats.

 

 

 

 

With Boat-taxi to Penjaringan Village. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Penjaringan Subdistrict is crisscrossed with water draining channels, canals and water reservoirs to protect the land from sea flooding. This area contains several historic Dutch colonial buildings such as the remains of the city wall of Batavia and the 17^th century warehouses now used as Maritime Museum.

 

"Dwellings" build with anything usable.

 

 

 Care for some dried fish?

 

 

 

Bram, our guide showing us were we have been.

 

 

Museum Bahari (Maritime Museum)

These large buildings were originally built as warehouses for spices (specerijen pakhuis).



 

 

 

 



 

 

Those below five we've met!

China Town!

 

 

Chinese people do not have... Ramadan!!!

 

 

Kota Intan Bridge

This bridge was constructed in the 17^th century by the Dutch government to connect the West Kali Besar and East Kali Besar. The Kota Intan Bridge is located at Kota Tua Jakarta and was made of wood and equipped with leverage to get to the lower side f the bridge up when ships passed by. In the Dutch colonial time all the ships delivering spices from hinterland to the warehouse would pass by: Kota Intan Bridge!

 

A little walk about.....

 

 

 

 

but where is the sidewalk? 

 

 

 

Well my faithful followers now you've followed me on my trip to Jakarta and soon we'll be back in Seoul and I look forward to seeing you there! Hope all of you take care and enjoy a wonderful summer!

Farewell diner.............

 

 



 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Third time, but for us now also the last time to see so many families moving.

Ones again the period of the military families leaving Korea has started. Everybody is talking about PCS-ing (Permanent Change of Station) and where their new station will be. I can’t say that I enjoy this period for many friends are ones again leaving.

However, this time it is different for soon it will be Anders and my time as well to leave! Within a month our belongings will be packed and shipped to Stockholm and then we only have two months left!

The fact that we too are leaving became very obvious last Friday when the Polish Ambassador HE Krzysztof Majka and his wife Zofia gave a farewell dinner in our and Brian Bishops honor.

It was a very special evening hosted by a very special couple! After dinner we sang songs together accompanied by HE who played the guitar!

Welcome speech by the Ambassador and

Thank you speech by MG Brian Bishop!

 Fun! Fun! Fun! Together with Krzysztof and Zofia!

 Paper kareoke with life music!

Traffic safety in South Korea should be subject to large improvements!

I’ve in one of my blogs mentioned the tremendously heavy traffic and strange driving style here in Korea but especially in Seoul! Driving here is not pleasant and the attitude of the Korean drivers is at the least said, inappropriate!

Pedestrians and all type of bikers are in most danger.  According to the World Health Organization, road traffic injuries caused an estimated 1.24 million deaths worldwide in 2010. Half of all road traffic deaths are among pedestrians, cyclists and motorcyclists, and adults aged between 15 and 44 years account for 59% of deaths. 3 out of 4 deaths are among men, 92% occurred in low and middle income countries, with South-East Asia and Africa having the highest rates.

Our dear friend Jaeyeon Lee was last Monday in a car accident, a truck drove into her from behind, pushed her of the road and the car finally landed in a rice field. Since then she’s in the hospital, subjected to many tests. Thanks to good fortune and a safe car (now totally wrecked), she survived but she has severe pain in all her joints and neck and she is of cause shook up. Her convalence time is uncertain.

 

 

Sung Nam Hospital entrance.

 

 

 Jaeyeon's new "apartment"

 

But she keeps on smiling and being strong! Get well soon! Your SM

 

 

I'm not so very happy!!!

 

That accidents happen we’re all aware off but that the high-tech and well developed country of South Korea is still as high as it is, is not acceptable. I think it mainly depends on the bad driving attitude, overtaking left and right, waving massively on the highway in order to gain a couple of meters in the long queues, taxi drivers watching TV while driving …….. and so forth!

-------------------------------------------------------------------

Korea Times

Korea’s traffic accident rate 1.7 times higher than OECD!

Korea ranked third out of the 34 OECD countries in terms of the frequency of car accidents.

 

By Yun Suh-young

The rate of traffic accidents among the elderly was especially high; five times the OECD average and higher for children’s accidents which ranked number one among the OECD countries.

__________________________________________________

Seoul – A truck driver killed three cyclists while watching television!

A truck driver who killed three South Korean professional cyclists in a road accident has admitted he was watching a television mounted on his dashboard at the time, police said.

The police found the TV switched on when they and other rescuers arrived at the scene of the accident and the 66-year old trucker has been detained on suspicion of dangerous driving.

 “Although the law bans drivers from watching television while driving, there isn’t any specific penalty when caught, so we can’t do anything about it,” a police spokesman told AFP. Offenders can however be charged with another road traffic offence if they cause an accident while watching the screen.

Digital Multimedia Broadcasting (DMB) TVs are not unusual in vehicles in tech-savvy South Korea. They are programmed to cut out when the vehicle is in motion but can be configured to stay on.

Some taxi drivers in Seoul install the televisions and glance at them while driving, apparently unhindered by the police.

A total of 5.505 people were killed in 226.878 car accidents in South Korea in 2010!

Want to read more: http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/186821/death-crash-driver-watching-tv-%e2%80%93-s-korea-police#ixzz2XevzlMYW