I recently traveled to Indonesia for work, visiting our Embassy in Jakarta and our Consulate General in Surabaya. I have complained in the past about the time it takes to travel from DC to Bangkok or Hanoi, but neither is as far as Jakarta. From DC, it’s a 14 hour flight to Seoul, a quick overnight at a hotel, and a 7.5 hour flight the next day. By the time I arrived, I was completely discombobulated. However, I quickly recovered through my foolproof strategy to defeat jet-lag - I simply cannot sleep on planes – Therefore, I arrive at my destination completely exhausted, drag myself around until the early evening and then collapse into bed, which normally puts me onto the normal local rhythm.
While in Jakarta, I had the opportunity to see old friends from my foreign service entering class, and from Embassies Bangkok and Hanoi. I spent one evening with our friends Ted and Clayton at their beautiful house, down the street from the school Barack Obama attended in the 1960's. I photographed the statue recently unveiled in front of the building portraying young Barry in shorts.
While in Jakarta, I stayed at the Kempinski Hotel Indonesia. The first international hotel in Jakarta, the original Hotel Indonesia was the setting for much of "The Year of Living Dangerously," Christoher Koch's fantastic historical novel about an Australian journalist covering the upheaval in Indonesia in 1965. Though much changed from how it appeared some 45 years ago, it still bears a resemblance to the fascade featured in the movie version starring Sigourney Weaver and Mel Gibson (pre-Nazi vintage). As I sat down for a drink in the lobby bar I tried to picture the book's hero, Guy Hamilton, meeting with his journalistic competitors and (spoiler alert) as I walked out to my car I tried to locate the window from which Billy Kwan met his end.
Superficially, Jakarta reminded me somewhat of Bangkok. A huge, sprawling city with various groupings of modern skyscrapers, set off like mountain ranges among valleys of low and mid-range construction, Jakarta boasts all of the top end hotels and many luxury malls. Food also seems to be a priority, ranging from high-end European to thousands of street stalls selling local fare. However, Jakarta has never constructed the transportation infrastructure that Bangkok boasts, though it still retains some of the greenery that Bangkok has lost over the years. While many Indonesian women don the modest jilibab or headcovering, I encountered some extremely short skirts (and quickly looked away) while navigating some upscale areas.
After 4 days in Jakarta, I flew 400 miles across Java to spend 2 days in Surabaya, Indonesia's second largest city and the gateway to many of the outer islands. While there, I stayed at the historic Majapahit hotel, constructed a century ago by the Sarkies brothers, who also built the Raffles in Singapore and the Strand in Rangoon. Renovated in the 1980s, it has returned to much of its colonial glory, with stained glass windows set into carved, wooden walls, white painted gables, and well-manicured lawns. Though now set on a busy street, within it is a return to world that no longer exists.
On Saturday morning, I joined some of our consulate staff on a tour of old Surabaya. Surabaya is an industrial city and while containing many modern conveniences, it’s not an overtly beautiful place. However, our guide, a 20 year resident of the city who teaches at the international school, took us through the old quarter, where we viewed several early 20th century Dutch buildings, several of which remain remarkably well-preserved, complete with original art-deco advertisements. We also visited the local market, where friendly market ladies ran stall after stall selling garlic and shallots. We then walked through the Chinese quarter, with its streets named after the goods that used to be sold by in stores on the thoroughfares. We passed down Chocolate Street, though, alas, chocolate was no longer sold there. We then walked through the Arab quarter and its market filled with dates from around the Middle East, skull caps, and Arabic music. Finally, we stopped by the Sampoerna museum, dedicated to a local Sino-Indonesian who made a fortune in cigarettes. The facility contains a still-operating work floor where hundreds of local women roll the kreteks (clove cigarettes) so popular in Indonesia and American college dormitories. Paid by the number of cigarettes they roll, the women are almost mechanical in the operations, hypnotizing viewers with their quick, precise, repetitive motions.
Then, after a quick 2 day return to Washington and the cold, it was back to work.
