DECEMBER

Monday 31st

The number of cardboard trumpet sellers on the city sidewalks has quadrupled over the last few days. It is new year's eve tomorrow so they are running out of time. I hope they manage to sell most of their stock but at present they seem to be still very heavily stocked. A newspaper story recently commented that a trumpet trader can expect to earn up to 350,000 rupiah a day ($Aus 70). I was quite dumbfounded as this is a lot of money. How much do these trumpets cost? Well I found out today. The really, big fancy ones with buttons that can actually be pressed, can cost around 150,000 rupiah. The trumpets, as I tend to refer to them, are not all trumpets, and if you look closely, you can see that they are fairly faithful copies of a large number of different wind instruments. They are quite cleverly constructed.

Celebration mode is definitely in the air at present in Bandung. On Saturday night there was a huge event with at least five bands, fireworks and a variety of entertainers in one of the city's major streets, jalan Juanda. The traffic was seriously affected but the atmosphere was superb. This area is always a bit of an attraction on any Saturday night as young people in particular like to hang around here, eat roasted corn on the cob and just watch the world go by. The event was just a natural extension of this phenomenon. From all accounts it was very successful and there are plans to make it a regular event.

Yana and his motorcross mates were in an adventurous mood after seeing all the activity in the streets so they decided to head up into the Dago hills. I didn't give it a second thought(when will I ever learn?). Before I knew it, we were off the road, heading up slippery ,pitted dirt slopes and along narrow ledges. I have been offroad a number of times before but it continues to terrify me. When everything gets very scary I shut my eyes and try to sit as still as I can. I always feel quite good about the experience after I in my bed, safely home again. This night was no exception, it was lovely, quite light, full moon I suspect, or very close to it, and the area is very rural. Very beautiful. Every now and then I was presented with a superb view down to and across the twinkling lights of Bandung. It doesn't hurt to stir up the adrenalin system every now and again!

Sunday 30th

As much as I would like to be using my free time to travel and see a bit more of Indonesia, it doesn't seem to be a good idea at present. With new year celebrations looming there are far too many people moving about. Many holiday places, particularly if located near beaches, have dramatically increased their overnight prices. I gather that most buses are booked out and if there are seats they are double or triple the usual price. With all this going on, Yana convinced me that it is simply a much better idea to stay in Bandung.

Yana and I saw 'Harry Potter' at the movies the other day. We tend to watch a lot of videos but I felt like going and seeing a big film for a change. Besides, I like cinemas in Indonesia because they have very comfortable soft seats which are organised into steep tiers so that your vision is rarely obscured by heads. I hadn't been anywhere near the cinema or the Bandung Indah Plaza shopping centre for a number of months. This could be considered unusual by some as it is a favourite spot for many Bandung residents.

A lot of good movies never make it to Indonesia. I tend to be most unimpressed when I check to see what is showing at the ten or so theatres that the city boasts. Thus my irregular attendance. 'Harry Potter', on the other hand, was entertaining and very well received by the Indonesian audience. The theatre was completely full and at times the audience was almost in convulsions with laughter.

It is good to see so many people at the cinemas because pirated video cds, abound in Indonesia. They are big business. I have seen more than my share of them, together with their weird colours, the heads walking past and the film freezing into squares or completely blocking just at an exciting part of the story. Pirating is so rife here that I doubt that anyone could stop what is going on. The same goes for photocopying. Copyright is completely ignored. People regularly get books copied as a matter of course. In fact, this service forms a major part of the income of most photocopying businesses. The books are even presented nicely bound and with a cover. What can one say?

Saturday 29th

Marnie, Bu Empon's helper, who was supposed to be back from her home village on Tuesday, has not yet returned. This is not unusual. In fact I imagine that it is quite common. All over Indonesia, workers, particularly household staff, are sneaking a few extra days holiday. You can't blame them. They often work hard and for a pittance. Besides they can always say that there was no transport available. Sometimes this is actually the case. They may receive a tongue lashing for their tardiness but generally the consequences are fairly limited. Things are now a bit messy in our household but I am not complaining. I could always roll up my sleeves and sort it all out myself, but I doubt whether I will.

Complaining can become a favourite occupation of westerners living in foreign climes. An English friend of mine realised that she was slipping into a very disgruntled patch and so removed herself from Indonesia before she developed a full blown case of dissatisfaction. A wise move. Others are not quite so clever and stay on long after they have lost the fascination that initially attracted them to the country. They don't make for good company and I try to avoid them if at all possible. Sometimes when I reread some of my journal entries I wonder whether I am on the edge of joining them. I think not, but I do find a lot to comment on and this could be construed by some as complaining. Believe me, when I am in Australia I also find a lot to say.

Meanwhile, back to everyday life in Indonesia, where the final death toll for the most recent train disaster has been lowered to thirty. The English language newspaper, the Jakarta Post states that the train driver has been accused of causing the accident. The local Bandung paper, the Pikiran Rakyat, focused on a different angle. They claimed that the train crew sometimes ignore orange lights on the grounds that they will shortly change to green. Further to this, the driver/engineer has been accused of jumping out before the collision. It was said that he had done this after realising that there could still be another train on the track. He had known that the train was not going to be able to stop in time. Nonethless it shouldn't be forgotten that there is something very wrong with the whole railway system at present, particularly with the economy trains. In a trend that is common here, a lowly person can become the scapegoat, but I doubt whether he was singuarly responsible for all the other mishaps that have occurred over the last few years.

In a similar vein, there was a story about a twenty-year old Indonesian woman who had received a death sentence for smuggling heroin into the country. This woman is yet another one of the many who have been completely used in the name of 'love' by their Nigerian boyfriends. Apparently, these girls sometimes have no idea that the shoes they are wearing, or the bag that they are carrying, have drugs inside. This girl was aware but nonetheless she is at the bottom of the pyramid. Has the boyfriend been caught? What about the distributing network? Her death will achieve nothing. The main players will go on with their business as usual. The heroin trade will go on as before. The woman was expendable and no doubt will shortly be replaced by yet another naive, impressionable young girl. Why does the legal system only work with people at the bottom and not with those at the top?

Friday 28th

After walking around the Sultan Plaza shopping centre in Cihampelas yesterday, an unusual activity for me, I was overcome by hunger. I headed up to top floor food court which is fitted out with a number of open counters that offer a variety of meals. I checked all the signs and displays and settled for a healthy cap cay(Chinese vegetables) and mango juice. It was all very clean, well organised and twice the price I would pay out in the street. It got me thinking. Singapore, if I remember correctly, had many street food carts years ago. They were subsequently all closed down and the operators were forced to move off the streets and into specially constructed food courts and halls.I suspect that the Bandung city authorities would like to do the same here but there are far too many food cart and stall operators and they could not all be catered for. Besides who would build the food centres and where would they be built?

The city of Bandung apparently has about five projects that will involve the purchase of considerable numbers of properties. Bridges and overpasses will then be built and roads will be widened. Once completed, traffic in the city may start to flow freely again. It all sounds straightforward but it appears that the authorities are experiencing difficulty in acquiring the properties that lie in the path of the developments. I know, for Yana's mother's house is marked for demolition. I also know that his mother and all their neighbours are living their lives as though there are no changes on the horizon. They are not looking for alternative accomodation and are certainly not preparing for a move. I can understand their feelings.

Why would anyone want to move from a conveniently located area in which they have lived for years to somewhere on the outskirts of the city? Whole communities will be ripped apart. No wonder these people intend to hold out as long as they can. It is a story that has been heard all over the world and is by no means unique to Indonesia. In fact it has come here rather late in the scheme of things. The Singapore government, for one, ripped apart huge areas of shanty housing and totally redeveloped their city. I imagine that there must have been huge protests at the time. The people have now been rewarded with a reasonable standard of living. Albeit they nearly all live in small apartments in high rise buildings. Progress does seem to come at quite a high price.

Indonesia doesn't have the resources to do anything on a large scale so developments will always take place in a piecemeal fashion. The steps that will be taken will never be really adequate. Perhaps that is the charm of Indonesia. It has character. Just don't expect to move around quickly on the roads!

Thursday 27th

A few days ago I was sitting in a car that was making very slow progress along a traffic-jammed road. As we sat there, stuck fast, I wondered why people bothered with cars at all in Bandung. Motor bikes are much more convenient as you can weave in and out. I know it rains sometimes and you can get very wet but it is nonethless a much quicker way of getting around. But then I may be biased. I just love sitting on the back of a bike. It is cool, you can look all around quite clearly (while breathing in traffic fumes!) and enjoy a delicious feeling of freedom.

Bikes are one of the common forms of transport for the lower classes and for young people. Cars are simply far too expensive as for some reason, you don't seem to find the cheaper, second hand cars in Indonesia that you do in Australia. Bikes can carry a whole family. It is not unusual to see a husband and wife with two or three children wedged inbetween and in front. In areas away from the city centre or at night you often see three teenagers, grinning from ear to ear, all on the one bike. People carry all sorts of things while riding pillion including televisions, pots, bird cages, tables over their head, planks of wood and heaven knows what else. Even I have carried a computer monitor, terracotta pots, a VCD player and numerous bags of shopping. Not all at the one time of course. I don't suppose that this would be tolerated anywhere else.

The authorities try to enforce safety standards but they are only obeyed in form and not in substance. Take helmets for example. Everyone must wear a helmet and so a proliferation of plastic german style helmets have emerged. They provide no protection at all but are, technically speaking, still helmets. If you do have a good quality helmet, as I once did, then you are forced to carry it around with you wherever you go. The cheap ones on the other hand can be left on the bike and tend to be there when you return.

I, foolishly, while enjoying my honeymoon dinner at a top hotel a month or so ago, thought that the place was upmarket enough to leave my helmet on the bike handles. I was wrong. The men supervising the bikes, without hesitating a second, said that there hadn't been a second helmet on our bike when they had moved it from one place to another. They were so quick in their denial that I was very suspicious. We reported the incident, but of course nothing came of it. The helmet had cost half an ordinary person's salary for a month (Aus $30) and probably explains why most people don't have really good helmets. Interestingly enough when I was telling the story to an Indonesian friend he showed considerable surprise when I said that expensive helmets offer good protection and that was why I had bought it. I had knocked my teeth badly in an accident a few years ago and had immediately invested in something a little more substantial. He had apparently never made the connection between safety and good helmets. I wouldn't be surprised if he is not the only one.

Wednesday 26th

Christmas seems to have passed reasonably peacefully, even in Poso and Ambon, where Christians and Muslims are regularly at odds with each other. This year, church sermons were completed without bomb-blasts. The only bad news came from the railways as yet another 'human error' took the lives of about fifty people. About two months ago, in Cirebon, a moving train ploughed into a stationary train. Around forty people were killed. Lo and behold, if virtually the same thing doesn't happen again, within a very short period of time, at Brebes in central Java. Fingers are being pointed in all directions and already a number of high ranking officers have been relieved of their positions.

It would appear that a number of people in Indonesia do not seem to do their jobs properly. In the case of the latest catastrophe a red signal was apparently missed. As a result, many people have lost a dear and loved family member. Did only one person have the responsibility of checking signals? If so then that could easily be rectified by employing more people. If more than one person was supposed to be paying attention then one can only ask what were the others doing?

Responsibility and accountability are often not evident in many aspects of Indonesian life. Roads are not built properly as the supervisors divert some of the funds for road materials to themselves. Not long after roads are completed they start to fall apart. Obviously they were not poperly made in the first place with the right balance of materials. Houses are poorly built as some of the allocated bags of cement, timber and other materials are sold off for private gain. The same story is heard again and again. How can it be stopped, before more lives are lost or endangered?

Many would say that the problem comes down to wages. If people received a reasonable salary then they wouldn't have to trick, falsify, bribe, borrow or intimidate people to get enough to eat. To some degree this is true. Salaries are appalling. Teachers for example, earn between 100 and 200 Australian dollars a month. No wonder they ask for extra money from the students for unofficial reasons. Yana tells me that they sometimes will pass a failing child to the next grade if their palms are sufficiently lubricated. What's more, corruption is to be found everywhere and in all aspects of life.

Tuesday 25th

Christmas Day. I had planned not to celebrate the occasion but felt very unsettled. I suppose it made sense as I have always spent Christmas with my family. I knew that I didn't want to follow my usual routine and asked Yana if we could spend the day together. Most places were shut so there wasn't much of a choice as to what we could do. In the end we went to his mother's house. We watched the movie 'Annie' which was just delightful and then I played with my nephew, young Ricky, who is now about six weeks old.

Childrearing practices are certainly a little different in Indonesia. In the west, babies are kept in their own bed in separate rooms. Ricky, like most lowerclass babies, doesn't have a bed of his own. He sleeps with his parents who also don't have a bed. They sleep on a mattress that is unrolled on the floor every evening. Sometimes children sleep with their parents till they are quite big. If the family is very poor then all family members always sleep in the same room.

Ricky doesn't wear a nappy, instead he wears a thin piece of cloth that looks very much like a bib. The bib is changed every time he wets it as there are always people around to check whether he is dry or not. He lies on a plastic mat so that only the bib and bunny rug need constant replacing. I imagine that nappies are probably not very comfortable in warmer climes. He always sleeps on his back and basically receives milk on demand. He is weighed every month and appears to receive the same combination of injections and vaccinations that my girls had when they were young. He is healthy and appears to be thriving on his present regime.

Childrearing would seem to be a very timeconsuming occupation here, at the village level anyhow. Babies are rarely on their own. Mothers tend to almost devote themselves entirely to their children. Nunung is now back at work, which probably isn't all that usual but Yana's mother looks after Ricky while she is away. All Indonesians seem to really love children and hence most youngsters get a lot of attention from the people around them. Men, even when hardly out of their teens, are a lot more comfortable with babies than most males are in the west. It must be nice to be child in Indonesia.

Monday 24th

Christmas Eve. It certainly doesn't feel like it. Having celebrated and enjoyed Idul Fitri I feel that the festive season is now over and hence done with. Many people in Indonesia, especially the Chinese, celebrate Christmas, although sometimes at considerable risk. Last year some bombs exploded inside a number of churches nationwide and fifteen people were killed. This year security measures have been stepped up and police will be patrolling most churches, particularly in the Jakarta area. It is a shame that such measures are necessary.

I don't think that I will even be tucking into a special Christmas meal because at present I am really enjoying Indonesian food. For such a long time even the smell of rice, let alone sambal (a spicy condiment)or fish, made me feel ill. I suspect those awful tablets I was taking didn't help either. Eating had become quite problematic but not now. It is western food that is uninspiring. It is too bland and lacks taste. I can now appreciate why Yana is totally unimpressed by my culinary skills.

There are so many small but cheap places to eat. Big bowls filled with a variety of dishes line the front window so I can check what is available. If I want to take the food away the shop operator takes a piece of plastic lined brown paper and forms a cone. A large amount of rice is placed in first and then I usually select some tempe, tahu, egg and vegetables. The paper is niftily folded over to close the packet and then a rubber band is wrapped around to fully secure everything. Then the packet is placed into the ubiquitous black plastic bag. I could never cook anything as good and certainly not for the equivalent of one dollar!

Sunday 23rd

Once I left the internet cafe yesterday I started to notice more and more 'informal workers'. For starters there were those who offer absolutely nothing for the money they receive, that is the beggars. Some are obviously handicapped, they lie on the road and move about as best they can. Others have lost body parts due to leprosy or they may be very old. However, there are also a large group of women who seem able bodied, always with a child in their arms, who operate at the traffic lights. Many people say that the children do not even belong to the women and have actually been rented. I don't know if this is true or not. Begging, according to those who work with street people, is actually fairly lucrative and a person can make twenty or thousand rupiah a day. This is much more than they would earn if they were labouring.

There are also a considerable number of children who work on the street. The authorities say that giving money to these children is more destructive than constructive. They generally do not attend school and so use their earnings for day to day living. These children are not gaining any really useful skills and hence are not being prepared for the future. They will presumably go on working in the streets as this is all they know and can do. Many sniff alcohol and the girls are at risk of being sexually abused. A 'lost' generation is emerging. In Bandung alone there are apparently at least three thousand street children. Many of these do have a family and live with them, but are sent out by their parents to earn extra money. Only a smaller group actually live on the street and have no family contact. The situation, fortunately, has not gone unnoticed and a number of groups have been formed to help these children.

A few of the children can be spotted amongst the aqua sellers, newspaper sellers, cigarette sellers, and map sellers that come out at intersections whenever the lights are red. They tend to sell vitamin C tablets or something small. Others sing, often badly, with a bottle top attached to a piece of wood in their hand to beat the rhythm. They compete with the teenagers and young men who can play guitar and sing quite competently. I never venture out without a pocket full of small change. As a westerner, and hence an incredibly rich person, I feel that I cannot refuse to give something.

It will be odd to be back in Australia next year and find intersections that are totally free of traders. At times it is actually better here in Indonesia because you can always find something to eat and drink. Even when you are in a bus going between cities you don't have to worry about having enough provisions. At regular intervals the bus will stop and a number of men will board, offering a variety of goods for sale. As well as food and drinks they sometimes offer things like belts or doorbell systems! People exploit every possible market. Indonesians are very enterprising.

Saturday 22nd

The days are just racing by, just as holidays have a tendency to do. The relaxed spirit and atmosphere still prevails. I read yesterday that 900,000 of Bandung's two million plus people come from areas outside the city itself. This could explain the present quietness. They, along with the students, have gone home. Apparently a large number of these people work in the 'informal' sector. Don't you love the use of the word informal? It actual means that these people have found their own way of earning money. Unemployment is rampant here. Statistics say that forty million of the country's two hundred and twenty million inhabitants are unemployed. The chances of finding a real job are very slim so many people set up a food stall or go around selling things. Trading is an integral part of everyday life here.

It is quite normal for people to sell things to their friends. Yana's mates are forever buying clothes, shoes and other things in bulk and then offer them around with a slight markup. I don't think that this would be really tolerated in the west as people often avoid friends if they have joined Amway or some other marketing activity. Here it is a matter of survival. The people are actually quite resourceful. Some people don't even offer products. On many busy streets you find people who help ease cars from a parking area back into the traffic. Others help people turn right to go in the opposite direction by stopping the traffic. In some very narrow streets men control the traffic flow. Others try to find customers for the public transport vans. All work for a few hundred rupiah at a time. Sometimes the aid given is minimal and I suspect that most public transport drivers can find sufficient passengers without assistance. However the 'assistants' have grouped together and the drivers are virtually forced to pay.

Walking along the streets of most Indonesian cities are a band of mobile workers. They walk in an unnatural manner carrying a bamboo yoke with something in a box or basket at each end. They could carry a litle kerosene stove in one side and a box with plates and sauce bottles in the other, or two baskets of vegetables. This morning I saw an elderly man carrying two stacks of stone mortars and pestles. I sympathised with him because his load would have been very heavy. Dried prawn crackers, pillows, plants, goldfish, brooms and many other things are sold house to house in this manner. Similarly there are mobile shoe repairers or even enamel bowl menders with small portable welding equipment. Others are collectors and search for newspapers or cardboard.

Women are an invisible part of this informal workforce. They are not out in the streets but work indoors as maids, take in laundry, cater, offer massages and do anything else that will help increase the family income. Taking in students as boarders is also a good income earner for those with a few extra rooms in their houses. I suppose it is inevitable in such a world that some people earn their income by exploiting, deceiving, tricking and robbing others. The amazing thing is that the numbers are relatively low when you consider how poor some people are. Perhaps the knowledge that death is a common consequence of such behaviours is a sufficient deterrent. Just recently a man who stole a motorbike was chased and killed by a group of very angry villagers. This happens time and time again.

Friday 21st

I get very hot under the collar whenever I read anything about Soeharto. You may have noticed this! Apparently his team of 23 doctors are presently very busy keeping him stable and so he is still in hospital. Not one doctor, or three or four, no, he has a team of twenty-three. This leaves me speechless. The ordinary Indonesian only goes to a doctor when he is very ill, and may not even go then. He simply can't afford to pay for the consultation let alone the subsequent medication. What sort of doctors are they? Do they all specialise in different areas of the body? I can't come to grips with it at all. Do these people get job satifaction in keeping alive an old man who grabbed billions that he had no right to? Have they no concern about the high infant mortality rate in Indonesia and the thousands of people in the country who have a genuine need for medical assistance?

Since I have started venting my spleen I may as well continue. The newspaper recently reported that a group of legislators from the Indonesian House of Representatives are going on an official trip to study the salaries of members of parliament in cities throughout Asia. Obviously a worthy topic for them personally but of no consolation to those people who can't even afford to send their children to school. They are even coming to Australia! Do they actually believe that they have a right to a salary similar to that received by Australian parliamentarians? The Indonesian government is virtually bankrupt and the taxpaying population is very small. Similarly the amount of tax paid is low. Perhaps a trip to study the taxation system in Australia would be a far more sensible alternative. Indonesia has to learn to support itself.

These same legislators along with their mates all received a washing machine worth seven million rupiah each as a bonus recently. What a complete waste of money. Indonesia is a country where washing machines have not really become popular. In fact they simply are not needed. There is an abundance of cheap labour about that would be more than willing to accept a little extra income by washing clothes. Who justified this gift? Have they forgotten that an ordinary Indonesian would be ecstatic about an income of seven million rupiah spread out over a whole year!

All is not lost though for I was pleased to read that a small group of legislators have formed a group to promote the virtues of living a simple life. They feel that Indonesians are far too influenced by material things and are obsessed about showing their wealth. If only the leaders can set an example to the people then perhaps values will slowly change. Judging by the greediness of a large number of prominent figures in this country I think that the group will have an uphill battle encouraging others to take up their point of view. Still, Megawati has given them her personal support and I wish them the best of luck. It is an issue that I also feel very strongly about.

Thursday 20th

The newspaper delivery person has returned but things are still very quiet. I went to the local market this morning and found that only one out of the usual ten or so stalls were operating. Everything was very expensive too. Much more so than normal. Internet cafes are still generally closed. I am presently patronising one that I had previously abandoned because it was hopelessly slow. Cyberspace traffic must be very quiet now because I am able to upload my daily ramblings there without any problem. It makes sense. Internet cafes tend to be used by students. Bandung is essentially a student city and as these students come here from all over Indonesia then they probably go home sometimes too.

In Bandung the streets are looking a lot tidier as the majority of street traders are not operating and even the air is cleaner. Last night we could actually see stars! If all the sidewalk cafes and moving food stalls were actually all taken away I suspect that the city would look so much better. Not that I am suggesting that this should happen for it would deprive thousands of their only form of livelihood. It does show though that poverty, overcrowding and dirt go together.

Jakarta, meanwhile, is still trying to sort out its rubbish problem. A temporary solution has been arrived at but the basic issues will need to be confronted very soon. Interestingly, it has now been discovered that there has been massive corruption in the waste disposal area. Things were not done or only partly done and the allocated money diverted for personal use. Why does this not surprise me!

So the master corruptor and colluder who obviously inspired all the smaller fry, former president Soeharto, spent Idul Fitri in hospital. I am sorry but I feel little compassion for him. In the same time that Singapore rose to become a first world nation he singlehandedly built up Indonesia on a very shaky foundation. Many blame his children but what sort of man allows his children to run rampant, giving then everything that they want and more besides, and ignores the needs of his other family, that is, the Indonesian people. These ordinary people are now feeling the results of his selfishness more and more. I actually think he is getting out of it very lightly. His lawyers are still smugly saying, as you would if you were being highly paid, that he is legally incapable of answering to the charges against him and so they should be dropped. What about the billions of dollars involved? Money that belongs to Indonesia.

Wednesday 19th

We are not having the evening meal delivered to our house at present because Marnie, our household help, has gone home to her kampung for a few days and Bu Empon, her boss, is very busy. Finding food is not as easy as it usually is. Many places are still closed and I refuse to eat at MacDonalds or Kentucky Fried Chicken. The other night we found a sidewalk cafe and enjoyed a fairly pricey meal. Afterwards we caught up with some friends who were enjoying some fried rice that they had bought off the street. Yana jokingly told them that his meal had been better and was probably cleaner too. He said that they would get sick. Well the joke was on us. Within three hours I felt ghastly and I knew that it was just a matter of time before everything would come up. I didn't even get home. In a very undignified manner I threw up all over the street. Yana was perhaps not so lucky. He had a major stomach ache that eventually turned into diarrhoea. That will teach us for gloating!

Apparently this time of the year is a very stressful one for many middleclass and upper class women. Their maids go home and suddenly they are confronted with the reality of having to cook, clean and look after their children by themselves for a week or two. No time for shopping, tennis or drinking coffee with their friends! When I was an English teacher my students, who were generally university students, used to wonder why I liked Indonesia. They thought that Australia was the promised land. I told them that people there paid fairly substantial taxes and had only part-time household help. They were quite horrified.

Ordinary people, unstressed by domestic upheaval, having already visited family and friends are now going out visiting recreational places. Zoos, beaches, theme parks and mountain resorts are presently full to overflowing. Record attendances have been reported. Large groups of village people often hire a truck and travel together en masse in the back. Traffic congestion has occurred in specific spots and I had been wondering why Yana was deliberately taking a long route to his mother's home. He was avoiding the zoo.

Tuesday 18th

Idul Fitri is now behind us but a lot of the spirit still remains. The streets are relatively quiet and there still are family groups dressed in their best clothes walking around with their arms full of produce and gifts for families and friends. Most shops and businesses are still closed. Shortly, people will start returning home. I heard on the news last Saturday that some of the traffic in Java was paralysed for up to six hours at a time. Imagine sitting in your car for that period of time and not moving a centimetre. Just as well that most Indonesians like to take lots of provisions with them when they travel.

My newspaper didn't arrive this morning so I am not really up to date on the latest in depth news as yet. Perhaps the deliverer has gone home to his village for a while. Oddly enough, he didn't mention anything to that effect when he came to collect his money last week. I will just have to cope with the television news. Speaking of which, there was a story from a number of hospitals on Saturday night which stated that the wards were full of casualties from firecracker mishaps. Some of the injuries were quite serious and I gather the number of victims was quite high. Very unfortunate because most people seem quite unaware of the possible dangers of these supposedly harmless things.

Yana and I did a lot of visiting of family and friends over the two official holidays. We ate till we were bursting and drank more of that awful oversweet coloured cordial than I ever hope to see again. One afternoon we rode on the bike through the ugly, dusty and dirty streets of south Bandung. Yana's uncle lived in an area of rice paddies that was being swiftly encroached upon by new houses. We had been invited to have some grilled fish. My heart sank when I saw the pool from which the fish were to be caught. Much of the water had been diverted to a neighbouring pool and huge amounts of rubbish and debris were everywhere. Two men proceeded to catch a number of fish. One used a small frame with a net and the other was able to grab the fish with his hands. It was interesting to watch and must have been fun if you could tolerate wading through the filthy black mud. Fortunately there was a lot of other lovely food and so I only ate a small amount of fish.

Monday 17th

After Idul Fitri many unemployed people come to Jakarta in order to seek a better future. Or so they hope. Unfortunately the reverse usually happens. The new arrivals are inevitably people without specific skills. They end up scratching together a living by fair means or foul, putting together a house from scrap on land near the river or railway lines and often can't even afford to send their children to school. The authorities in Jakarta are talking of trying to pass a bylaw that will stop this freee movement.

The city governor has certainly made his feelings very clear and has already initiated the clearance of thousands of slum dwellings. Becak (trishaw) drivers have had their becaks forcibly taken and have received no compensation for losing their sole source of income. Even the fact that probably the only money that these people have, may have been invested in the vehicle, has been overlooked. As a result of the recent action taken there will be many Jakartan residents that have faced a bleak Idul Fitri.

The city is overcrowded and this cannot be denied. However, many feel that asking for proof of assurance of support or a fixed address from all new arrivals is actually violating human rights. Perhaps it is better to try to get across the message to Indonesians that life in Jakarta can be very hard. For many it will result in greater poverty than they had experienced before. Unfortunately once they have reached that point they will be unable to return to their home villages. Their money will have been spent. In Jakarta there is no room for poor people. This fact has to be made clear.

Sunday 16th

Idul Fitri, the day that millions of Muslims have been waiting for, has finally arrived. The fasting month with its praying and introspection has come to an end. In the morning, millions will gather in open places for the six o'clock Idul Fitri prayer meeting. Then people will ask each other to forgive their sins and shortcomings. It is a day for being with your family. Many people have travelled large distances and have experienced considerable discomfort in their attempts to return to their homes. Food and cakes have been prepared over the last few days and everyone will be able to eat together during the daytime. New clothes and other gifts will also be exchanged.

On the eve of Idul Fitri some people stay up all night. The month of fasting may have resulted in tiredness but the prospect of the following day will exclude the possibility of sleep for many. They will go round the streets and villages banging drums for hours on end. Not always a pleasant night for those that do want to sleep.

Over the last few years when Idul Fitri has been celebrated I have been in Australia as Christmas and Idul Fitri have been very close together. As the Islamic calendar is shorter than the calendar used in the west, Idul Fitri will gradually come earlier and earlier each year. This year I am pleased to still be in Indonesia. Next year, optimist that I am, I will spend the time in Australia.

Saturday 15th

Bandung was once a very attractive city. A little over a hundred years ago when the Dutch decided to develop a town to service the ever-expanding tea farms in the hills, it was just a collection of villages. The emptiness allowed plans on a grand scale. Wide tree-lined streets and lovely new residential areas with villas were envisaged and then built. There is still considerable evidence of these original plans but unfortunately time, overpopulation and development have taken their toll.

Many of the the villas have been either been knocked down or changed beyond recognition as people convert the houses to business premises. Substandard housing, kiosks and simple eating places have mushroomed in front of and around the lovely large roofed structures. A myriad of unattractive signs visually pollute the vista. Furthermore, time has not been kind to some of the houses, as the shingles on the roof have disintegrated, plants and mould grow on the sagging walls, and gardens have been replaced with concrete. The trees, now mature and beautiful, have saved the scene. The streets have remained cool and leafy.

You can now imagine my horror when I discovered that a considerable number of trees have been cut down in Dago and jalan Pasteur to make way for new major road developments. Almost simultaneously with the chopping, the area has become become arid and hot as it has been opened up to the sun. I know traffic is a problem in Bandung but it is such a shame that progress comes at such a price.

This brings me to a related matter. In Indonesia it is now recognised that there is a massive problem with the wholesale cutting of trees. Ten percent of the world's forests are to be found in Indonesia but they are disappearing at a very rapid rate. Illegal logging has apparently increased by well over one hundred percent. It has been estimated that within ten years, Kalimantan's presently vast stretches of forest could be a thing of the past. Something has to be done shortly. Yet another problem for the poor government to contend with!

Friday 14th

I like being out on the streets in the late afternoon. People are lounging about waiting for the fasting to come to an end and it is a congenial atmosphere. The main roads are sometimes a little congested though as many people try to rush home so that they can break the fast with their family. I had a fair battle getting to where I had to catch some public transport to the orphanage. Fortunately, in Indonesia the traffic is very sympathetic to pedestrians. All one has to do is slow down a car by waving your hand gently and it will stop so that you can cross in front of it. I sometimes forget when I am back in Australia and find that it definitely doesn't work there.

One night I was singing Christmas carols in German and the following night I was singing them in Indonesian! The orphanage seems a fairly prosperous one and the children (the girls from my orphanage and the boys from an orphanage down the road) had electric guitars to back the singing. I was caught unawares by the constant clapping throughout the singing and had obviously found myself amongst a group of people that I would have irreverently called the 'happy clappies' a few years ago. Mostly Chinese they were too. Which would explain the relative affluence.

The children, well the older teenagers to be more exact, ran the whole show and did so very impressively. They all seemed very comfortable with a microphone in their hands. There was no apparent sign of stage fright or nervousness. I was so pleased to see this and felt that these confident and competent young woman surely would face a positive future. Later, they further confirmed this impression as they were not slow or shy in asking whether I would be prepared to come to the boy's orphanage to help with conversational English. Good on them. You have to know what you want in life and then go out and get it.

In the middle of the concert, the audience was given the opportunity to have a few snacks. These were given to people individually in cardboard boxes. This is so common in Indonesia. At all manner of celebrations or special occasions you can be presented with a small white box that can contain anything from a full meal to just a few savouries or cakes. At my little nephew's 40 days celebration the other day the cardboard boxes were piled high upstairs before all the guests came. Even at our wedding over 75 boxes with a complete meal were given to family and friends. A nice practice.

Thursday 13th

It has been a busy last few days. The German school, where I teach English a few hours each week, had their Christmas concert yesterday and a breaking up celebration today. The atmosphere was lovely. Many memories of preparing and presenting plays with my classes in the past came back. It was a very emotional time for me. Last Christmas I wondered whether it would be my last one and here I still am a year later. Now I must endeavour to make it to next Christmas.

This evening I will be attending a Christmas concert held by the orphanage where I help occasionally. It should be interesting. Unfortunately for some people the festive season has already brought irreversible consequences in that a number of fatalities have occurred on the roads. So now there are loved ones who will never be seen by their families again. The whole spirit of the season will be tinged by loss and tears. I feel for those families.

Jakarta is having a problem of another dimension which could indirectly affect this special time of the year. It is a problem of rubbish. A dump was prematurely closed for environmental reasons just a few days again. The local residents may be rejoicing but it has left the city in chaos as a replacement dump has not been organised as yet. On Monday 800 rubbish trucks wandered aimlessly about the city as their drivers were completely at a loss as to what they should do with their loads. Some rubbish was dumped in rivers and on streets and some remained in the trucks. Yesterday the council was telling people to burn their rubbish. Well imagine the smoke and pollution if all of the city's ten million residents take up the advice. What a mess. Particularly so after it was recently revealed that a number of councillors have enjoyed wonderful overseas trips to study waste disposal. Observing .... but not putting into practice!

Wednesday 12th

Last night I found myself at the Ace Hardware store at the new Istana Plaza Shopping centre. The men in my life, my husband and father that is, seem to experience great pleasure in taking me to such places. This shop was apparently part of an American chain and was amazing. It was huge and compared favourably with what I have seen in Australia. Everything a person could possibly want, and a whole lot more besides, was available. Not cheap though. Things are much cheaper in Australia. Presumably the company did its market research and are sure that there are sufficient customers out there. I wonder who these customers are. This is third world country at a time of recession. It makes you wonder.

I think I know who they are. They are the drivers of the BMW and Mercedes Benz cars that clog the roads in Bandung. An innocent visitor would be staggered at the number of recent model cars on the road. In fact it is the old, wornout car that stands out. It looks out of place. Sometimes I wonder why so much aid is given to a country that obviously does have some wealth. Perhaps if the money was distributed a little more evenly then it would be a lot more self sufficient. It is a land of contrasts as there are the obscenely rich and then there are the desperately poor.

I have a conversation appointment with a Chinese Indonesian couple once a week. They are just lovely but are clearly very well off. They take overseas holidays regularly and are presently applying for permanent residence in Australia. Today they surprised me with two Christmas presents. Not one but two big parcels. I was very touched. I also felt a bit guilty because I am usually suspicious of people in Indonesia who have a lot. In their case I know that they started with nothing and have worked hard for years so have deserved their success. Not all rich Indonesians have gained their money dishonestly. I must be careful that I don't overgeneralise.

Tuesday 11th

Fortunately I have managed to find a new internet cafe and it is not so far away, just a few doors down from my old one. The environment is not so nice and I suspect that most of their customers like porno because they close curtains behind me. They also give me a disc. What on earth I am supposed to do with that I haven't a clue. I do know that there is a racket whereby some cafes provide discs with credit card numbers (stolen generally) so that you can book up your porno watching time at someone else's expense. One day when I have a spare moment I may check the disc out.

Yesterday was blood test day. Always a scary day. I found myself late in the afternoon walking towards the orphanage and realising what a magnificent day it was. It hadn't rained for days and there was a lovely breeze. I was feeling fit and well and not experiencing any pain or unpleasantness. I told myself that even if the results were not good it would still take some time before there were any physical consequences. Meanwhile I had to enjoy every moment of every day to the best of my capability. Things at present were just wonderful. Nobody could take that away from me.

Nonetheless, the results still did effect me, even though I thought that I was fully prepared for all possible outcomes. The cancer had virtually doubled and so the tablets had not worked at all. Very disappointing. It took some digesting. I was now on a downward road. The path was clear. From now on, the cancer would continue to double every month. The egg yolks and water had apparently not made any inroads whatsoever! Yana was more positive. He said that something would work, we just hadn't found it yet.

Oddly enough I woke up full of purpose and direction this morning. Everything was clear. I could stay in Indonesia to the end of February without any real worries. At a push and I felt that I was prepared to push it I could stay for some of March. I would try to live as healthily as possible. I didn't want to return to Australia prematurely. I wanted to extract every possible moment out of my time in Indonesia. Who knows when I would be back. The chemotherapy might not work next time. One doctor had actually said as much to me. Besides I wanted to be with Yana for as long as possible. I know that he wouldn't be able to go to Australia with me quite yet. Everything will fall in place along this timeline. There is even the relief of not having to take those awful tablets again! You always have to find the bright side.

Monday 10th

I had great trouble walking down the road the other day because the sellers of coloured cardboard trumpets have placed their wares in the middle of the footpath. Pedestrians are forced onto the road and we all know what roads are like in Indonesia. I started to wonder about these cardboard trumpets. Are they popular? I haven't seen any body buying any. Who buys them? They strike me as a bit of a useless extravagance. Still they must sell because five or six stalls had been set up in close proximity. I will be looking forward to hearing their shrill tunes in about five days time.

It can't be an overly exciting lifestyle waiting around on the street all day for people to buy these funny trumpets. I suppose you could look at the traffic and people watch but I imagine after the first five or six hours the novelty would wear a little. Still I imagine these sellers don't necessarily have much choice. Income is income. Everbody has to try and support their family as best they can.

It is a little ironic that students with roadside fasting month cake stalls that operate in the late afternoon, just as people are breaking their fast, make very tidy profits. They park their jeeps and BMWs up sidestreets and sometimes make up to sixty or seventy thousand rupiah a day. The average 'real' street stall operator would probably make the same amount in a week. I keep trying to make sense of this but get nowhere. I do gather though that the students are patronised by their friends and other students. If it really was so genuinely lucrative you would think that more people would be doing it.

Sunday 9th

I got quite a shock when the young fellow at my favourite internet cafe told me that they were closing until February. February! What was going to happen to my webjournal? I have great difficulty uploading the daily updates anywhere else. How could they do this? I would have to scout around for a new place that was quick and powerful, but this search would inevitably take me further from home and thereby cause more of an inconvenience. It was not good news.

This incident also alerted me to the fact that with Idul Fitri so close everything would close down soon and I could have days where internet access at a public internet cafe would be impossible. A worrying thought as writing this journal gives me something to focus on everyday. I was happy with my daily routines. I really didn't need any disruptions. Still we often don't have a say in these matters and it certainly isn't up to me. There are powers out there that are bigger than me.

I read in the Pikiran Rakyat that the fasting month is sometimes called the month of sleep because people get very tired. This tiredness is apparently more evident in the last ten days. People start to fall asleep while seated in public transport, in offices, in public places, at their stalls and basically it can happen anywhere. Understandably I suppose. Getting up at three to eat does take up valuable sleeping time. Similarly, not eating or drinking during daylight hours, would result in low blood sugar and general lethargy.It can't be easy and it is for a whole month, which is a fair slab of time.

Saturday 8th

The newspapers are very interesting at present. Tommy Soeharto, after being at large for over a year, miraculously appeared out of the blue. He looked remarkably pleased to be caught and was even hugged by the chief of police. As luck would have it all the cells are full at present so he has been spared the indignity of having to enter a cell. They don't seem to have any uniforms his size either and so he has been allowed to continue wearing his normal clothes.

If I overstayed my visa then I am sure that I would be locked up very firmly. I would not be hugged by the chief of police and I am sure that they would find a uniform for me whether it actually fitted properly or not. I would not have hurt or robbed anyone but myself and yet would be treated so differently to this man who has stolen millions and may have planned the murder of the lawyer who found him guilty. He is also suspected of masterminding a number of bomb blasts and other disturbances. The whole matter is a real farce.

The Akbar Tanjung story in which it appears that the Golkar Political party received forty billion rupiah that was supposed to be directed to needy people seems to be turning into a soapie as well. Golkar threatened the government last week saying that if the case continued, names of other connected prominent people would be released. Apparently it could be very embarrassing for all. They are now desperately using as many delaying tactics as possible. Will justice ever be seen to be done in this country? Still if Megawati could achieve a good result with either the Tommy case or this one then they would get a lot of support. Let's hope they can do it.

Friday 7th

Things are in chaos. People have been waiting at train stations for hours to buy tickets to go home for Idul Fitri and have come home empty handed. Ticket scalpers seem to be getting more than their share of tickets and it is commonly believed that they are working in with railway officials. Many people are unimpressed and are starting to show their displeasure. At Tanjung Priok where we had caught the boat just a week ago, dissatisfied would be ticket purchasers had run amok. They were very suspicious about the small number of tickets available and had smashed windows, computers and office equipment. I was pleased that we weren't there at the time.

I suppose the real problem is that there are simply too many people for the facilities available and that is why everything is such a mess. In Australia people also like to be with their family for the festive season but the infrastructure is able to cope with the numbers. It has been estimated that over twenty million Indonesians will be going home over the next few weeks and so we are talking about a huge number of people on the move. Obviously all resources will be stretched beyond their capacity. It makes for a very unpleasant time with very crowded stations, people being ripped off, many accidents and huge traffic jams.

Numbers in Indonesia are immense in all areas. The Mentawai Islands in western Sumatera were in need of qualified personnel and recently advertised their vacancies widely. Applicants were to apply in person. The results must have caught everyone unawares as thousands upon thousands of people arrived. This was no mean feat as there are only two boats a week to the islands and the capacity of each boat was only around 200 passengers. Apparently exceptions were made and double that number was taken on each trip. This was done at considerable risk as the waters can be quite rough. There were obviously many, many very desperate job seekers about! Again it reflects the limited number of opportunities that exist in this country.

Thursday 6th

We are back in Bandung now although I still feel a little disoriented. It was a lovely trip and so many wonderful memories have been stored away. I have done so much travelling by myself over the years that I get very tired of my own company. In fact I drive myself mad. Being with Yana was refreshing as he saw things through different eyes. He wanted to be photographed in the craziest of places and kept me constantly laughing. He laughed when he saw becaks (trishaws) and was amused that Singaporean Indians enjoyed watching films out of doors. He expected Singapore to be very sophisticated and didn't think that they would do things that you see people doing in Indonesian villages.

Yana was impressed with the cleanliness of the streets and the brilliant rail and bus systems. Everything worked like clockwork and was very reliable. He was amazed when he saw empty streets. An unusual sight for an Indonesian. He is going to love Australia on Sundays! Despite the cleanliness and order we we both agreed that Singapore still had character. There were enough lovely little back streets with old shop houses and interesting wares. He then concluded that if I got a job in Singapore he would more than happy to live here. If only my future was assured and predictable. I could live there too.

Meanwhile, we have a photo album full of photos of us eating Indian food for breakfast, walking through the Chinese bike shop district, deep in the bowels of the train system under Orchard road, at our nice little Chinese hotel and at the airport. You can pack so much into such a short time. Holidays are grand. Lets hope that we can both get back to Singapore again one day.

Wednesday 5th

Yana and I spent a large portion of the morning standing in a very long queue outside the Australian embassy. It was not a pleasant experience as the streets were full of traffic that covered us in nasty black smoke. It was made even less pleasant because the queue simply wasn't moving at all. Apparently a door had broken somewhere and this had caused havoc. Eventually the problem must have been sorted out and we were admitted into the sacred enclave. We were then able to lodge Yana's application to enter Australia as my partner. Now we will have to wait till the interview at the end of January. At least the long process, and it is long for it can take up to 48 weeks for the application to be considered, has been started.

A friend of Yana had heard about a healer that had helped many people so we went to check him out. I didn't quite know what to expect but was completely amazed to find that I would have to buy water and five small eggs that would later be blessed. Consuming the blessed items would hopefully have amazing results. Western medicine cannot really help me in the long term so I am prepared to give anything a try. I am not sure that my illness falls into this particular haji's area of expertise as his card says that he can help those who can't have children, haven't found a partner as yet, have been possessed by evil spirits or those who suffer from rheumatics! I'll be intrigued to see what happens.

We returned to Bandung by bus. Yana was very concerned about travelling by train. Quite rightly too for earlier on in the week a bomb had exploded on the Cikampek-Cirebon line. A month or so before this incident some grown men had wondered what would happen if they threw a piece of iron onto the train track. They know now and can spend the next few months contemplating the results at their leisure. They derailed a train and caused thousands of rupiah in damage! Even before all this it was well known that the train system was getting old and repairs were not being made. There simply wasn't the finance. A bit of a worry.

Tuesday 4th

Yana and I were staying with good friends in Pejompangan. It was pleasant as we could relax a little. The holiday had certainly taken its toll. I spent most of the day reading an incredibly fascinating book called Kalimantaan. It was set in Borneo about one hundred and fifty years ago and conjures up a fascinating world. Not only were there Dayaks (head hunters) and long rivers but apparently there were a bunch of hardy English and Dutch people who happily lived a life of colonial splendour in very remote spots. They thought nothing of being posted to a fort for ten years. While there they studied the local flora and fauna, learnt Malay and explored the local area as well as carrying out their official duties. They certainly were real adventurers and put the modern day traveller to shame.

Jakarta is hot. Very hot. At times I find it too hot. I tend to walk about with a face constantly beaded with sweat. I have to wash three or four times a day but the water is not really cold enough. In Bandung the water from our mandi is almost ice cold and a wash fairly takes your breath away. You certainly feel refreshed afterwards though. Having a mandi in Jakarta is a bit of an anticlimax.

Monday 3rd

Yana and I were out on the streets at a very early hour. We soon discovered that this was not such a clever thing to do as shops in and around little India, which was the destination for the morning, didn't seem to open till ten or eleven. We had an Indian breakfast to fill in time and then managed to find a travel agent that was open.

Singapore is expensive and we really needed to think about returning to Indonesia. Luck was with us and we were able to buy one way tickets with the Philipine Airways at quite a reasonable price. The thought of going back by boat was not a particularly pleasant one and then we couldn't even be guaranteed that there would be any tickets left. Transport at this time of the year is chaotic. Forty million Indonesians are trying to get home for Idul Fitri. It would be best if we avoided them if at all possible. Besides flying is much less stressful and far more civilised. If you can afford it!

Yana was keen to check out the cost of bike parts and so I fulfilled my life quota for looking at this type of stuff in one morning. It was nice to get this out of the way! Fortunately there were interesting architectural things to look at. Besides I am not a shopper anyway so what else would I have been doing? Interestingly enough though, Yana was so flummoxed by it all that he actually returned to Jakarta empty handed. Then kicked himself.

Sunday 2nd

We decided to move to a hotel in a more central area. Geylang was interesting with its Malay markets extending along every available piece of sidewalk but we felt we had seen what there was to be seen. We opted for the Bencoolen area and found a delightful place called the South East Asia hotel. We were not going to stay in one of the grungy backpacker places. They can be very tacky and we had been warned that they didn't like Indonesians. In fact they often refused to take them. Besides, because my future is so uncertain I felt that we could treat ourself and have a pleasant place to stay. You only live once.

The Christmas decorations in Orchard were a big disappointment. The city had decided to economize and so hung lots of plastic tubes that supposedly would reflect lights. We only saw it during the day but I imagine the effect would have been fairly ordinary. Our Singaporean friend Ginny explained that things here had really gone downhill since the World Trade Centre disaster in New York. We perhaps could not really see any evidence of this but many Singaporeans had lost their jobs and things were not looking rosy for many. The prosperity bubble may have burst.

So George Harrison has succumbed to cancer. Very sad. I think he was actually my favourite Beatle. It made me realise that even if you have a real lot of money you can't necessarily buy your way out of cancer. It is fairly ruthless. I could also appreciate that being a survivor isn't always easy either. Paul McCartney has experienced the murder of his mate John, the loss of his wife Linda and now George has moved on. Surviving is also painful.

Saturday 1st

Our plans to sleep on deck were foiled by rain! Heavy, wet drenching rain that went on for hours. All the good spots on the landings inside the boat had been taken but we found a reasonable piece of carpeted floor that was OK for a while. Then the church expelled its congregation and became a bar and we had to move. Our next spot was smaller, very crowded and the floor covering was lino. We managed to get a few hours of sleep but it was far from comfortable.

Yana enjoyed the mosque. There was very little to do on board and so praying five times a day actually was a diversion that filled in time. For the rest we sat upstairs at the open deck cafe and enjoyed the music. There were always people to watch and conversations to be eavesdropped upon. If you could understand the language, that is! Indonesia is a huge place and there are hundreds of different languages. Then as we got closer to our destination there were a whole lot of small islands to look at and wonder about.

From Batam, which didn't look overly inspiring, we caught a hydrofoil for Singapore. After a forty five minute ride we were expelled at the World Trade centre and then proceeded to Geylang, the Malaysian quarter to find a hotel for the night. Our timing was just a little off and we were completely wet through by a very nasty downpour. Somehow I had forgotten that Singapore was also exposed to the same tropical elements that we get in Indonesia. I had naively believed it was impervious!

marionecp@hotmail.com