Pekalongan

Pekalongan was a blast! We had an overwhelming time there. During our visit at the University in Bandung, the local professor suggested us to join the trip to see the seminar in Pekalongan, where 2008 a LERD project had been set up. When we arrived, to our greatest surprise we met our Dutch professor who enthusiastically welcomed us. This was as unexpected for him, as it was for us, it seemed. Besides him, we were also welcomed by the Local LERD team and the two assisting people from the Dutch Research team. During the weekend, we had enough time to get to know Monique and Ad well and to exchange stories. Both are very interesting individuals from which we could learn a great deal.
After a 7 hour race, not just a boring car ride, more a Nascar racing type of journey, we were quite “used” and actually needed some rest. I mean just imagine a driver on speed, acid, ecstasy or any kind of drug you can imagine, which makes you lose any perception of speed and distances, can be very exhausting. However, the LERD team had set up an extensive weekend program, so we immediately had to leave again. To our greatest surprise, another astonishing event would take place this weekend. It was the yearly Batik week, the local product, which is also the issue of concern for the LERD team. Therefore, we gladly accepted the invitation to attend the evening activity, a dinner at the Major’s house, including fashion show, light show and a typical Indonesian dinner. Besides the super-spicy dishes we could fully enjoy this relaxing evening. When I watched an interview with a Minister from South Korea on BBC recently, I was surprised to hear him explaining that the next booming industry sector will be design. I always believed fashion trends are set at the catwalks in Milan, Paris, London, NY, Tokyo, but not in South Korea, or as we were witnessing this weekend even in Pekalongan, Java.
The next day we attended the main event, which was the seminar. During the long-lasting session which was held in Bahasa Indonesia, we could not do much more than observing the reactions of the different parties. However, this did not really matter that much, because we were still struggling with the dinner from last night. After some hours, Santiago lost his fight and returned to the hotel. So the first Padawan was defeated. That moment I swore I will not let the Indonesians defeat the other one as well. I officially declared the spices confrontation, and it was clear only one of us could win!
Sorry, I sometimes get distracted from the main issues. Anyway, we had to wait until the very end of the meeting to get some translations. Nevertheless, it was an insidefull session. Afterwards, we (I mean theoretically “us”, but Santi was of course sleeping at that time already, getting his stomach back to normal) were invited to join the Carneval. And by join I mean…. “JOIN”. This was not really clear to me at the beginning either, and it seemed as if Professor Pennink did not fully realize the situation either! Once we arrived to the city center, we were told to search for our wagon…. “our wagon”… I thought I misunderstood. What do they want to tell me? I did not order a wagon? And I am not trying to sell anything either? But they insisted. We had to search our horse and wagon. From the distance I read Netherlands, Korea, Bolivia, but it did not make click yet…. Yes sometimes I am quite slow! … Germany… Germany, who is from Germany? “OHHHHH”, “holy shiiiiiiiii……” “no way”, not Norway, Germany! I could not believe what I was seeing. Eventually, we all got our own little wagon to participate in the Carneval, and as if that would not have been enough, they also clearly announced us! So here I was, a student, who had to learn how to swim, who was thrown in the freaking North Sea to learn to swim, and now that same student had to join the Carneval…. The nightmare turned out to be very joyful in the end. We all only had to sit and wave hands. Smile and serve as puppies to take pictures of. So just what we, as Bule (foreigners), do hear every day anyways ;) The Carneval was a very creative and entertaining 3 hour ceremony.



After two nights in a proper bed, we felt reborn, fresh and energetic, loaded with curiosity and zest for action. That very day, we would visit our first real project. No more theoretical research, interviews with officials, NO… it was time to get dirty! … and we were prepared!.... Sort of :P
We visited a local production site, the waste management system and some Batik locations. We got to know the team, understood their dreams, but also saw reality. Somehow, those two seemed to be quite far from each other… but we were surprised by their eagerness, in that way we felt quite as them! The main problem is that the industry as a whole is not acting as a strong group who strives to achieve something. The issues are on all layers and improvements can be down in the marketing, in the environmental in the creative as well as in the environmental, production area. A lot to do!
For us, this weekend we met many interesting people, which was very helpful to get the big picture. We are convinced that we will be able to get a good Thesis done, based on all these experiences.
Till next time… cheers

Picture Gallery

Hey,

Santi set up a picture gallery. So far we uploaded some impressions from the first days.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/santim/

Jakarta to Bandung

Time flies!! It is stunning that we already spend three days in Indonesia, but did not find the time to write down some short stories. We are still surprised every day by new things that we see or simply by the way the Indonesians live. However, most of the time we are just overwhelmed by the supportiveness and friendliness of the local people. But now, let’s share some experiences with you.
Santiago fell in love! Not in the conventional sense though. Whenever he sees a Bajaj (small 3-wheeler, sort of a taxi) he smiles, wants to take a picture and starts talking about his dream to be stuck in Indonesia so he would have to start a Bule-Bajaj Service (foreigner Taxi business). His love is deep. You won’t believe it, but every time we need a cap, he tries to bargain with the driver to let him sit in the front and master the traffic. The only thing that saves my life from being exposed to Santiago’s driving skills in the traffic of Jakarta, is the fact that we cannot communicate with the driver… luckily! I believe they are so surprised by the request, in universal sign language, that they cannot believe that it could be true and therefore try to tell us something else. Another passion of Santis’ is train-surfing. He hopes we will get the chance to join the couple of hundreds sitting on top of train right next to the high voltage power stripe :P
Talking about myself, I am more fascinated by the food… not a big surprise for many of you I guess :) The variety if Mie, and Goreng meals and the extreme tasty, thus spicy, sauces make my day. I could eat all day long, and I guess I would, but time is very restricted.
The 2 days in Jakarta we were somehow always in a hurry. The first meeting we had at the Bappenas, which is the local planning agency. They are the initiators of the Local Economic Development Projects which we are going to visit. Without prior notice we said we give it a shot, and went to their offices. They were extremely friendly and made time available right away. We got a clear understanding of their role in these projects and even joined a meeting of the Head of Office with their Japanese partner universities. What we did not know beforehand is that not only the Uni Groningen is involved but also Japanese Unis. The Professors from International University of Japan were as surprised to meet us in the meeting as we were to meet them :) … but after the meeting we said, next destination JAPAN. Really cool what they had to tell!
The next day we went to see a private consultant who is specialized in supporting public-private partnerships. The meeting was very different from our first. Not only because people working for the government have a different way from the private sector, but also because of his different perception of those projects. In the end Santiago got really excited by the new insights. The meeting was very helpful because we saw the business opportunities in the area of urban development. Public-Private Partnerships are way better than Privatization! <- main conclusion ;)
For those two meetings we spend hours on the road or in Internet coffees but we still had some time to be tourists and go local. Our host Anne, gave us a crash course in Bahasa and the local habits. Her family is extensive and friends are always coming over. Whenever we came home somebody was sleeping somewhere. The Indonesians are very social and they share everything. They have a much stronger community feeling than us in Europe and even in Latin America. The second night in Jakarta we even had the chance to go to a local bar. Some Couchsurfers joined and we felt like being in the most relaxed chill-out bar in the world. Awesome :)
Yesterday we went on. After some rescheduling, we were supposed to meet Pa Heru, the counterpart of our Professor here in Indonesia at the ITB Bandung, a university in Bandung. The Jakarta crew was so supportive, that they decided short hand to drive us there, a 2,5hrs drive. Cool ain’t ?!! In Bandung the professor invited us to join the LERD seminar this weekend in Pekalongan so we would have another fruitful experience for writing our thesis. Therefore, we basically had the day off, which was really nice. With some more Couchsurfers from Bandung we went to do a real a shopping tour. Randy, now we understand your addiction! The designs were amazing and we did some fotosessions. Jakarta style! Yeah!
If we find some time we will write you a bit more and upload some pictures to the internet!

24hrs Jakarta

FINALLY, Selamata datang Jakarta!!! ( welcome to Jakarta)

 

Now we had to restore to a Starbucks in order to post this thread for you and also this warm weather was killing us, so some iced mocha latte was seriously needed. Yesterday we arrived to Jakarta, we were not really tired because we were lucky and slept like kings cause each one of us got a whole 3 row seats, so it was pretty much OK.

The weather was incredible warm, so mental, it was feeling like in a sauna. As soon as we stepped out of the terminal we drew everybody’s attention and everybody was so friendly, but it was love to the pig not the bacon, everybody wanted us to pay them something for actually nothing.

We got the bus, quite luxury, it surpassed our expectations. While in the bus we got to see Jakarta. We could say, MENTAL!!! Jakarta is the epitome of rampant capitalism; it’s just so different from the whole Americas or Europe. Massive skyscrapers everywhere, construction cranes seemed to be over the whole sky line, junk food in every corner. So much wealth, but under the highways and bridges the reality was another, massive slums so many people living next to the most polluted rivers we have ever seen. Regarding the traffic, OH LA LAAA, so many scooters and BAJAJ (a 3 wheel hybrid of a car and a scooter, indeed my favorite) people flocking the streets in thousands and lines of cars extending as far as our sight can get, bottlenecks seem to last forever. People were so kind and especially when we try to communicate with our few Bahasa Indonesian words, the hundreds of motorbikes rushing through the streets like suicidal drivers, the massive numbers of street vendors and the nice and spicy smell of Nasi Goreng on the streets make Jakarta a very special city that has earned a special place in our memories.

Anne, that’s our host, she is very fun and basically loves every major big beer producer country, so we get a long pretty well.  She lives relative close to the centre of the city, her house has the basic amenities but it’s quite gezellig.  It’s like some sort of a hostel, well she is really into the couch surfing stuff, there is a French german couple as well. We arrived at her home and straight away we decided to discover the city with them. So the Jakarta adventure begins!!!

 We had some nice Goreng Nasi noodles and we were heading to some sort of bazaar. Along the way, we had to cross several avenues, ohh my god, it was mental, no traffic lights and soooo many cars, it felt like suicidal, we crossed the street and we learned that the French girl was actually the one with the balls cause she was fearless and determined to cross the street, while her boyfriend and us, we were really scared and seriously having second thoughts, at the end with some of her shouts we all managed to cross in one piece.

We were heading to a bazaar, but we ended up in the biggest Mosque in East Asia, pretty cool, especially since they allowed us to get in and gave us a tour, quite massive inside. Definitely worth visiting it, oh yeah, and there was a madrasa there, wonder if Obama studied there back in the days, mmm?

Later in the night we got some beers, and Anne got some of her friends over. Indonesian beer was actually very good, even better than a lot of Dutch beers.  We were planning to sleep early but then, Anne and the German dude pulled out a guitar, it was great. Some Indonesian tunes and some backpacker melodies made the night quite joyful. Finally, we went to sleep around 1 or so.

Steffen slept like a baby, he just laid his head down and he was in a deep sleep, ohh I was so jealous. I was fighting with jet lag, it felt so confusing, finally I managed to get to sleep but around 4 am or so we were abruptly woken up. Damn, we thought there was a revolution or jihad sth going on, we just jumped out of our couches and stared each other in wonder. It turned out to be praying time for Muslim. We have 3 Mosques, or so, close to home, but it actually felt as if the ceremony was in our garden, they use massive loud speakers. Just mental, I guess then we had a cultural shock, cause Indonesians seem to sleep so calmly as if nothing would have happened.

The break of morning brought other sort of cultural shock with it. This time it was our WC, it doesn’t work, so we are supposed to pour some buckets of water to make it work, oh yeah, and did we told you that using paper is not common around here, water bucket does it all. I felt a bit sick because of dinner time, must have been Java’s revenge or sth like that, but luckily I had some Etihad nappings, god bless Etihad!

Shower time….  guess what was involved? …. Of course.. the bucket. At the beginning its kinda hard and it feels very cold to pour cold water on your body, quite hard to master showering with one hand while pouring a massive water bucket with the other hand, it’s like eating with the hands, looks easy but its quite complicated, trust us, hopefully we will master those arts by the time we will leave. The shower bucket is quite refreshing and helps to wake up, it’s actually kinda cool to go back to the basics, life feels quite relaxed without many things. Definitely worth trying, even though we doubt that could be possible during European winters.

Then we were done ready to head to visit government officials ,we were eager and  wearing our best smiles looking forward to meet them, and also looking forward to have a crazy ride in the awesome TUK TUKs!!!  They rock! If I would be Indonesian, I would be definitely riding one of those!!

Next thread will tell you our great time at the offices of Bappenas (urban planning governmental offices)

 

 

What a Journey...

After a period of careful and well-thought planning :D , we finally left Groningen to get our thoughts on our Thesis. We really had to get out! The last couple of hours, everything went wrong that could go wrong, Printer broke down, so we had to write down quite some stuff, and Santiago’s bike got stolen in front of his place… not to mention that he had bought in only 12hrs before. But besides that, we really had a good plan, at least on paper.

The train ride passed quickly, as enthusiasm and curiosity let the time fly. Besides that we had an entertaining ride due to the 4 deaf and mute ladies traveling to Turkey. As you can imagine they were loaded with alcohol and sometimes did not have their voices under control. They entertained the train and were a magnet for even more drunk travelers. So quickly a bunch of people joined their little gathering. Especially a 50 year old caught our attention, because even though still dry and clean (we hope) it was impossible for me to understand his German. His tiny alcoholic problem had destroyed his voice so much over the last years that it sounded like listening to a 40 year old radio…. but I am sure it was German. Anyhow, time flew with such a companion.

At our stopover in Düsseldorf, Santiago got his first Bratwurst, so I was released from my duty ;) . Later in Mainz, at my brother’s place he got another 3 plus some Jever, which totally made his Germany experience.

The next morning we got to the airport, still on time, after having missed our first train. However, the trip that followed already compensated for all our efforts. I do not exaggerate when I say that we travelled like Sultans. The Arabs have the best airlines we could have wished for. Never again Lufthansa, KLM-AirFrance or any American Airline! From now on we travel with Etihad. You rock guys!

On the entrance we already wondered why 20 stewardesses were lining up for the 30-40 passengers joining. The flight was more than comfortable. We enjoyed Restaurant quality meals, free Beers and Whiskey, Hägen Dasz Ice-cream and a lot of snacks. Besides the culinary program, we had an X-Box, an i-Tunes music and movie library, plus a huge range of TV-programs freely available at our seat. What a service!!! Overwhelmed by the flight we had a stopover in Abu-Dhabi, a decent bling-bling airport…. I guess living in the Arabic Emirates has its pleasures.

Some 45 hours after leaving Grunn, we finally arrived to our first real destination, JAKARTA. When you read Santi’s thread you will understand our small culture shock.

Hey folks!

Selamat datang !!
Apa kabar?

That's as far as it goes :P

So we say Hello to you, our curios visitors!
We would love to invite you to join us on this journey into the hidden, the unknown, the fantastic, the splendid country of Indonesia. (Now is the time for you to get the old Atlas hidden behind your shelf right next to your old school books, and to look it up =) If you are not caught be the pure fascination of untouched nature and unknown culture, check this out.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=topuGZEEg78
... alright, I know it is a promotion video made by the government, but it worked ain't ?!

Coming back to us, for the next three weeks we offer you an insideful reporting on the local conditions of varios Development Projects in rural Indonesia. Our mission is to gather as much information about the prevalent conditions of the LERD (Local Economic Resource Development) projects as possible, which will allow us to write a academically sound but eyeopening Thesis.

We hope you join us on this trip, which will not only be a great experience for us, but will also be one for you :)

So fasten your searbelt, we head of to INDONESIAAAAAAAAAA