Feb. 26

Jakarta, the capital city of Java, is the second largest urban area in the world. There are 32.6 million people….about 9 Oregons. There is a higher standard of living in Jakarta than in much of the rest of Indonesia so it draws lots of people from the countryside.  The center of government, corporate headquarters, and very active port represent the second largest economy in southeast Asia…after Singapore.

The challenges of living in Jakarta are many:

   -dealing with rapid urban growth;

   -an ecological breakdown; 

   -air pollution;

   -gridlocked traffic; 

   -congestion, and

   -flooding

Add to this, with groundwater extraction, the capital is sinking 2-4 inches per year. There are plans to move the capital to Borneo within about 20 years.

Our first day excursion was a visit to a puppet museum, a history museum and a mall. (There is more mall space in Jakarta than any other urban center in the world.) The tour bus fought through about an hour’s traffic before arriving at the puppets. There is a tradition of using lengthy (up to 8 hours) shadow puppet shows not only for entertainment, but for teaching religion and reinforcing values. We saw a brief show and then toured the puppet museum. It was lengthy, but interesting. Our guide related lots of stories which helped us appreciate the heritage. Outside the museum was a huge square where we were able to interact with lots of kids. The historical museum that followed had some pretty good exhibits….lots of Buddhist and Hindu stuff and replicas of the cranial and femur bones of the “Java Man.”  Finally, we were dropped at a shopping center which was impressive…..muliple blocks and multiple floors.

On the second day, we took a shuttle to guess…..a shopping mall. We arrived at 9:30 and learned that most stores opened at 10. There was a large grocery store in the basement level. Very nice. Among our observations were that eggs cost $2/ dozen. Also, it seemed that there were at least twice the number of employees than we expected. There must be an effort to create jobs, even if they have lower salaries. We also saw more workers in the port area and more police (unarmed) than we would expect. The mall was fun to wander through, but the only thing we absolutely had to have was a massage for Karla. She can write about it.

Karla here: the massage was among the best in my life. It was a “hurt me so good” massage as the therapist dug deep into tissues and knots while also stretching my (like the Thai massage) quads, hamstrings, hips, shoulders, arms, wrists, and back. The therapist used oil and when she found a knot, switched to a eucalyptus lotion. After the 90 minute massage (cost about $12), I opted for ear candling.

In writing this, I googled ear candling and am glad I did not do so beforehand. Here is a summary from a Balinese site, followed by Wikipedia excerpts. The therapist held the candle in place and lit it. At no time did I feel like it was harmful.

Ear candling is a traditional holistic practice that involves using hollow, cone-shaped candles to help remove earwax and impurities from the ear canal. Made from natural ingredients like beeswax or paraffin, these ear candles are placed gently in the ear while the opposite end is lit, creating a vacuum-like effect that is believed to draw out excess wax and debris. 

When lit, the heat from the flame softens earwax, while the gentle suction created by the burning candle helps pull the wax and other impurities up into the hollow tube. This process is not only designed to cleanse the ear, but it can also promote relaxation and a sense of well-being.

Wikipedia calls ear candling “pseudoscientific” as well as “dangerous” and “ineffective.” It was a $6 add on service that I wanted to check out. No harm done. Following the spa visit, I toured around the mall and bought some Indonesian batik clothing for myself.

Upon return to the ship, we had dinner with friends, Kathy, Mike, Louise and Kim and then headed to the show to see performances of our cruise directors, Tara and Matt. One of the numbers was “Summer Loving” from Grease and the choir performed the harmony. Following that, the choir sang a rendition of Leonard Cohen’s Hallelujah, to great applause! Matt and Tara are leaving in Singapore so we will get new cruise directors and I will probably switch to more bridge play rather than choir. It bums me out that the timing conflicts and I have to choose. Rough life at sea.

Back to Fred: I would never want to live here, but it was a better stop than we anticipated.