We’re currently in a shopping mall in Central Jakarta called Sarinah. It features a McDonald’s, a Chili’s, and a Hard Rock Cafe…don’t worry, we’re not patronizing any of these establishments. The main draw of Sarinah is the delicious air conditioning and the cheap internet service.
Our hotel is quite nice. In addition to being only 33 bucks a night, it has a free all-you-can-eat yummy Indonesian breakfast (including their version of oatmeal–bubur ayam, or rice and chicken porridge) and lots of cable. It’s only about 20 minutes’ walk from the Freedom Institute, where one of us will be doing most of his studies.
OK, so on to some observations.
Cats. Cats here are just tiny. Even the big ones are far smaller than the ones we have here. Voltron is going to look like an SUV when we return. And many of them are missing most of their tails.
TV. One of us would like to move here because you can watch soccer at all times of the day on ESPN. And no Stuart Scott. It is hard to be missing football, but it’s bearable. Besides, we get CNN World, so instead of watching some fake newscaster give us the latest lowdown on what Scott Petersen is wearing in the courtroom, we get to watch documentaries of market development in Tajikstan and the like.
People and Traffic. If you think that you’ve ever seen crazy traffic and drivers, you haven’t. Just no. And there are people everywhere, walking around and sitting around and trying to sell you stuff.
Food. Yuuuuuuummmmm. Last night we ate at a West Sumatran restaurant much patronized by locals. West Sumatran (masakan Padang) food is like pizza, subs, and hamburgers to Americans…kinda like the national cuisine that you can get anywhere.
tompepinsky.com 
Sandy September 19, 2004
There was a lengthy article in The Wall Street Journal on Friday 9/17 about Indonesia. It focused on one area of West Sumatra where the a local university professor investigated official corruption. Bringing in the media and students, enough pressure was developed that criminal charges were finally filed and 43 provincial representatives were sentenced to two years in jail. The article lauds the development of peaceful civic activism- in a country so highly ethnically diverse, majority Muslim and with a short six year history of democracy. Also a lengthy piece on NPR Sunday about tomorrow’s election.
Sandy September 19, 2004
There was a lengthy article in The Wall Street Journal on Friday 9/17 about Indonesia. It focused on one area of West Sumatra where the a local university professor investigated official corruption. Bringing in the media and students, enough pressure was developed that criminal charges were finally filed and 43 provincial representatives were sentenced to two years in jail. The article lauds the development of peaceful civic activism- in a country so highly ethnically diverse, majority Muslim and with a short six year history of democracy. Also a lengthy piece on NPR Sunday about tomorrow’s election.
Jeff September 19, 2004
“Cats…many of them are missing most of their tails.”
Wow! How many tails do Indonesian cats start out with? Do they, like, grow back, or when detached are they gone for good? Is this where “cat-o’-nine-tails” originates from?
Julie and Tom September 20, 2004
“The article lauds the development of peaceful civic activism- in a country so highly ethnically diverse, majority Muslim and with a short six year history of democracy.”
You really get the sense here that people want some sort of justice for their elected officials, but that it’s difficult to mobilize people, especially when people have so few resources. It’s the Catch-22 of poverty–you need wealth to escape it.
“How many tails do Indonesian cats start out with?”
So I see we have a grammar Nazi on our hands! Fair enough. They all had one tail, but now they mostly just have one stump. (Very sad for us cat lovers.)