Every once in a while I like to have a quick look around the countryside without numbing my behind on the hard seat of a crowded rickety bus or elbowing my way through often hopeless crowds at railway stations. But best of all I enjoy flying short domestic legs on exotic airlines, the stranger their logos or hopelessly odd their aircraft the better. Indonesia is serviced by a great number of domestic airlines, most of them making use of the ubiquitous Boeing 737-200, presumably inherited from larger airlines such as Garuda or Malaysian that got sick of them or bankrupted. My favourite trick is collecting time tables and trying to puzzle together an itinerary that will take me in a sweeping circle back to my starting point within the same day. It is no easy task, ... read more

My first real solo trip in Jakarta is an expedition to the distant Ragunan Zoo deep in the southern suburbs. It takes almost an hour for the taxi to reach it and I give up trying to keep up with all the parts of the city we ride through. Instead of getting stuck on a major toll road the driver takes me through lots of interesting neighbourhoods past markets, schools and upmarket office towers, all mixed for great effect. As we arrive at the gates I am starting to wonder if we have really arrived where we are supposd to be, as the place looks very peaceful. The Ragunan Zoo seems to be very large, and the signs seem to be appearing completely at random. You could be walking down a route looking for crocodiles only ... read more

After a comfortable late morning noodling in my room I meet up with Vanessa over at the Sarinah Busway platform and we head towards the National Museum, a stone throw from the MONAS monument (well, a pretty exhausting throw, considering the size of the MONAS compound...) to inspect the latest announced additions to the collection. Being the cartography nerd that I am I find the gigantic relief maps exhibiting the country's topography and population the most interesting, while the rest of the collected historical items leave the same bland impression I get from visiting Bronze Age exhibitions back home (it's been a while). Seeing all the imposing volcanos strewn across the islands I feel a bit bad about not having scheduled some time to see at least one. If I could pick one though, it will ... read more

After the best sleep I've had in quite some time I slowly drag myself out of bed. I have arranged to meet with my friend Vanessa in the afternoon and spend the time up until then by doing the laundry and catching up on my journal. I cast an eye at the traffic below from time to time, at one point I see a funeral cortege led by a yellow truck with blaring loudspeakers pass by. The regular calls to prayer from the many nearby mosques also add to the exotic flavour. As Vanessa arrives at the hotel around 2 pm she asks me where to go. For some reason I always seem to be attracted by a city's waterfront so we get in a taxi and head north towards Ancol and the Sea World aquarium. ... read more

My last full day in Timor Leste, and even though I wouldn't mind slacking some more down at the waterfront I pull myself together to make my long overdue daytrip to Baucau. I have decided to try to find a car with driver, and the most obvious choice is grabbing a taxi off the street. The bus is not an option, as my main objective is not really the city of Baucau itself, but a chance to take some photographs along the extraordinary highway along the coast, and there is no way a crowded bus could do me any justice. Manuella gives me a ring at 9 am so I take the opportunity to ask if she knows any agency where I could possibly rent a car with a driver. She advices me to try at ... read more