Tom Pepinsky

Category: Indonesia

  • Back in Jakarta

    I’m back in Jakarta again.  Not much has changed, although at least for now things seem less busy.  That might just be because it’s Saturday at noon and most people might not be out and about…other than that things are as I remember them.  Smells, especially, are quite striking.  I never quite noticed it, but Southeast Asian malls have a particular odor as well.  Not a bad odor, but a peculiar odor, some sort of mixture of perfume and boiling palm oil.

    The hotel is nice, a bit nicer than the Hotel Cemara where JM and I stayed when we first arrived.  It has a business center and a functioning pool, both of which should be useful.  The restaurant looks OK as well.  Our room is small with two small single beds, but it’ll have to do.  I guess James and I are going to get to be REAL good friends over the next three weeks.

    A final note–Singapore Airlines clearly surpasses all other airlines in quality.  My last air trip was on Northwest to Phoenix, which was terrible.  On Singapore Airlines, I’m talking about over 60 (sixty!) movies available ON DEMAND, plus Family Guy, CSI, The Office, and loads more on demand, and even Super Mario Brothers and Tetris, all programmed for your seat.  The wine was good, as was the Tiger Beer, although not quite as cold as I would have preferred.  I will say that the seats aren’t too big.  Oh, and another thing…my plane got in half an hour late and I had to sprint to make my connection in Singapore.  The reason why we were late?  According to our pilot, "heavy traffic" over Afghanistan caused us to be re-routed.  Yikes.

  • Back for a Limited Time Only!

    That’s right, readers, TP here with our first update in six months.  I am heading to Indonesia again for three weeks, from February 25 to March 18, to do a bit more research.  While I’m there, you can expect regular new updates on my travels.

    Unfortunately, this trip will not be much of a vacation, so I won’t be traveling to interesting locales throughout the country.  My priority is to meet and interview as many academics, politicians, economists, journalists, businesspeople, and the like as I possibly can while I’m there.  So that confines me to Jakarta mostly.  But I do hope to get out of Jakarta, hopefully for a trip to Bandung or Bogor, or maybe to the Thousand Islands in the Java Sea north of Jakarta, or maybe even to Krakatau (Krakatoa) in the strait between Java and Sumatra.  We’ll just have to see.

    Hopefully, though, I’ll be able to relate some interesting stories even if I don’t travel too much.  I should also note that JM will not be joining me, which is a real downer.  Instead I will be traveling in the company of James, a college friend who studies colonial American economic history, specifically trade.  He’s had to do research in such hardship places as Mauritius and Cape Town, and now wants to see about ships coming through old Batavia.

    Professional priorities

    • Interviews
    • Data collection
    • Make contacts for future work

    Culinary priorities

    • Ayam Goreng Ny. Suharti (Mrs. Suharti’s Fried Chicken)
    • gado-gado
    • pecel lele (fried catfish and salad)
    • masakan Padang
    • mendoan tempe (breaded and deep-fried tempe)
    • coto Makassar (beef or water buffalo offal soup) from Rumah Makan Losari on Jalan Kendal
    • bakso ayam (chicken and meatball soup)
    • dendeng (deep-fried beef or goat jerky)
    • bebek Bali (Balinese-style duck, cooked until the bones are tender enough to eat)
    • bakut Ahon (Chinese pork ribs, Bandung-style)
    • Bir Bintang
    • sate (satay, all types)