Indonesian furniture

John and I decided to get some furniture made here before our Indonesian journey came to an end. There were 3 main advantages to getting stuff built here: We knew we'd be getting high-quality furniture made from teak wood; we could play a role in the design process; and the price is much better than comparable items in the US.

I had no idea what teak really was before now: "Teak is a very hard, closely grained wood high in natural oils. All three of these properties help maintain this wood's endurance. If properly made, it will not warp, rot, split or crack and teak withstands the test of time. Teak furniture can be more than 50 years old and still not show signs of aging."

We first decided to get a dining table, 8 dining chairs, and 2 benches made. I fell in love with a table we saw. I found it really unique, as it was a square dining table as opposed to a rectangular one, and because it sits on a center base, it doesn't have legs to get in the way while guests are sitting at it. We thought it would be neat to have the option of switching out the 2 chairs on either side for a bench when we felt like it.

We invited people over recently for a casual dinner, and 2 guests showed up unexpectedly. We had a total of 10 adults eating at the table with plenty of room. (3 people on each bench.) It's also a very social table, since everyone has the opportunity to see and hear everyone else equally, and isn't stuck on one end of the table and getting left out of fun conversations.

We also designed the backs of the chairs. We came up with 4 different designs and had 2 chairs made with each design. We really like how they turned out. You don't necessarily notice they're different, but I like the fact that we have something unique that we helped design.

After the table and chairs were a success, we decided to get a coffee table and 2 end tables made. The same store had a really cool coffee table with two drawers and a glass-inlaid top, which allows you to see into the drawers. I liked that you could sort of change up the decor by putting different types of things inside the drawers of the coffee table (as long as we don't let them fill up with junk!)

We initially saw the coffee table on the display floor of the store, and as they had no end tables that matched, John had the great idea for us to have them design two end tables that were the same style.

I ended up putting our wine bottles inside the drawers of the coffee table to see what it would look like, and I think it's kinda cool!

The scene above is of a street corner we pass every day on the way to work. The streets are jammed with motorcycles, buses, cars and little three-wheel taxis, not to mention food carts and other obstacles. Jakarta's crowded.

But so is the entire island of Java. You would think getting a few hours outside the city would give you some respite from the traffic and the masses. But no.

Java is the most crowded island in the world (other than places like Manhattan island, Hong Kong, etc.). There are more than 124 million people living here. It is more than three and a half times as crowded as Great Britain. Java is around the same size as the state of New York, but more than six and a half times as many people live here. The population density is more than 30 times that of the U.S. You get the point.

This really struck me when we went on a road trip to go surfing not too long ago. We drove for four hours, and the highway was lined with small shops and full of people for the entire drive. There was no break where we just saw countryside. Seeing Java, you see a lot of what makes Indonesia the country it is. Half the population lives here, so this really represents the reality of so many Indonesians. But we've found in our two years here, you really have to get further away to see all Indonesia has to offer.

Suharto's Tailor

We recently took advantage of one of the great benefits of living in a land of cheap textiles and cheap labor: custom tailoring. Much of the material used in the clothes we wear everyday comes from Indonesia, but until recently, we had never bought fabric on our own.

A couple weeks ago, we went to one of the massive fabric markets in North Jakarta with some of our friends. Indonesians of Indian heritage dominate the textile industry here and all the shops we visited sold just as much colorful material for saris as they did traditional Indonesian batik.

I bought material to have three suits made and Hill bought material for a few skirts, dresses and tops. I opted for the cheap wool, unlike one of my friends who decided to fork over the extra cash for Italian cashmere. All told, I spent about $40 per suit for the material.

We were able to take advantage of this because one of our Indonesian colleagues from the embassy recently brought his tailor to the embassy and he'd made suits for some of Hillary Clinton's staff in the short time they were here. He did a good job, so we were willing to give him a try.

The three suits he made for me all turned out great, and considering he charged around $70 per suit for the labor, I really can't complain. As we were talking before he left, he mentioned that he had made an Indonesian batik shirt for former Secretary of State Warren Christopher. You may have already figured it out by reading the title, but we soon learned how he got connected with a high-ranking U.S. official. He was the former tailor of Suharto, Indonesia's second president who ruled the country for 32 years.

Indonesian bathroom lock

Surfin' Safari

One of our friends recently became obsessed with surfing and he talked a group of us into making the trek down to the south side of Java for a long weekend. So after a short drive of 100 miles (5 hours), we arrived in Cimaja.

Hillary and I tried surfing once before in Bali. Let's just say that we were less than successful. But we wanted to give it another try. And even though we said we'd take lessons the next time, we decided to just wing it with our friends.

And we surfed. Really. We're not quite ready to compete if it becomes an Olympic sport, but we were able to ride some waves, which was very cool.





And then on Monday, we got to sit in traffic for 6 hours to get home. But it was a fun weekend.

License to Drive

Jakarta traffic is chaotic to put it mildly. We've gone almost two years here without ever really needing a car. Sure, we thought, it would be nice to be able to hop in the car and drive to a store or out to eat, but the costs greatly outweighed the benefits. But recently a friend had to leave without her car because it's still awaiting a bunch of Indonesian red tape to transfer the title from when she bought it back in July. So we're holding onto it for her.

I figured I should get a license if I was going to be driving regularly, so I joined a group of people from the embassy to go to the local equivalent of the DMV. But this is Indonesia. Jakarta has one place for all 10 plus million people to get their driver licenses.

When you enter the building, there's a giant map on the wall that explains the simple 10 steps to getting your license.

Step 1: Eye exam - wait in line to pay the fee and fill out the form for the eye exam (an entrepreneurial old woman is selling pencils seeing as they're not provided). Wait in second line for actual eye exam.

Step 2: Forms - Pay second fee for obtaining the necessary forms. Fill out these forms.

Step 3: Data entry - take the forms to another room to have your information entered in the computer.

Step 4: Fee - Pay third fee (I think this was the fee for our photo and actual card).

Steps 5-8: Learn to drive - we got to skip driving school and video game driving test.

Step 9: Photo and thumbprint - we entered a small room with around 10 other people to wait to have our photos taken, thumbprints scanned and to sign the electronic reader.

Step 10: Driver License - the cards were ready after only an additional waiting time of one more hour!

So after 3 hours at the DMV in a building with no air conditioning, I'm now legally allowed to drive! Next step - mastering driving with hundreds of motorcycles darting out from every direction while people wheel food carts down the middle of major streets.

Celine Dion - leave me alone!

When John and I traveled to Sumatra, we stayed at the Sheraton hotel, which apparently is the nicest hotel in ALL of Sumatra. At breakfast we noticed they were playing 2 different Celine Dion songs over and over. I didn't think too much of it at the time. After John headed off to a couple meetings I went to swim some laps at the pool, and the outside speakers for the hotel were repeatedly playing those same 2 songs.

I joined John for some of the afternoon meetings, and later we returned to the hotel for dinner. I'm sure at this point you can guess which 2 songs were playing for the entire duration of dinner. There was a pool table out in the bar area by the pool, so we went to play a few games after dinner. I now know all the words to "Because You Loved Me" and "I'm Alive". I alternated between singing along as passionately as I could and really, really hating Celine Dion.





As we checked out the next day with Celine in the background, we wondered how much longer the hotel's employees would have to suffer.

P.S. While we realize this is sort of an inane post, it has happened to us on a few different occasions and it's just a funny example of how things can be different here in such trivial ways. While with a group of friends at an outdoor bar in Bali, they let Toto's "I'll Be Over You" play 5 times in a row before somebody got wise. By that point we had all made up a choreographed karaoke performance, and we were actually a little sad not to hear it a 6th time......

Under the sea

So after surviving potential disaster, we did what all rational people do: got on another boat. The weather was clear and it was the only way to get to the island we were staying on.

Some people just love scuba diving. The only vacations they go on are diving vacations. One of the guys at our embassy chooses his assignments based on access to diving. Hillary and I just enjoy it. And don't get me wrong, it's cool. There's nothing else like it. Because when you're underwater, you feel like you're in a completely different world.

And the scuba diving in Bunaken Marine Reserve is really good. A coral wall drops straight down for hundreds of feet not too far from the shore. Indonesia has the most marine biodiversity of any country in the world, so the number of different types of aquatic creatures you see is really amazing.

Between the orangutans, Sumatran tigers, Komodo dragons, birds of paradise and all the things under the sea, Indonesia really is an amazing country to see in so many ways.

Life on the high seas

You would think we'd have learned our lesson after hearing about the other boat sinking between Gili Trawangan and Bali. But no. We decided to take another boat during rainy season.

One of our good friends is leaving for her next assignment in a couple days and one of the last things on her list of "Must Do in Indonesia" was diving in Bunaken Marine Park near the city of Manado on the island of Sulawesi. It's a protected marine reserve (no dynamite fishing), so the coral reefs are still in pristine condition. This was on our list too, so we planned a trip with her a couple weeks ago.

We were staying on Bunaken island, which is about 30 minutes by boat from Manado. As we got on the boat to make the short trip, drizzling rain began to fall. But five minutes later, all hell broke loose on the seas.

Waves were crashing over the walls of the boat. We were rocking back and forth with such intensity that our friend was thrown from her seat onto the floor (where she decided to remain in a fetal position). Hillary kept asking me if we were going to be okay. In the beginning I said yes. Then the motors started stalling. After the second of three motors went out, I too was scared and thought we were going to have to abandon ship (with no land in sight). When the crew started looking scared, we really started to freak out a bit. The boat had almost capsized and we were prepared to fight the huge waves and swim to shore (with a lifejacket) when we spotted land.

Luckily, we were able to limp back to a fishing port not too far from where we'd started. The boat had a couple feet of water in the bottom by this point, but we were safe. We'd never wanted to get off a boat so badly before! The fun part was that we had to get on a different boat an hour or so later after the storm had passed.

And guess what we found out the next day about another boat that was making the trip from the opposite direction: it sank. So, here's the moral of the story: don't take a boat in Indonesia during the rainy season.

True Story

Ice cream shop employee: "Cup or Cone?"

Customer: "Sorry?"

Employee: "Cup or Cone?"

Customer: "Oh, cone, please!"

Employee: "Sorry, we're out of cones."