http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/mrod/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from mrod en-us Tue, 29 Dec 2009 15:47:52 +0000 Tue, 29 Dec 2009 15:47:52 +0000 Twelve hours 4 airports and one hectic takeoff later I arrived back in Jakarta after a week in the field in Ternate North Maluku and by far this was the one week that gave all the work Irsquove done over the summer some perspective. After having my exposure to LEAD Projectrsquos real work limited to highly administrative work I had the chance to accompany some of the team to Ternate fo http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Indonesia/Maluku/blog-424812.html It seems since my time in Paradise I've run into a little string of bad luck. Friday the bombs went off at the Ritz and Marriott here in Jakarta and thus far all the experts are pointing to Jemah Islamiah a terrorist group with a long list of past episodes here in the country including past bombing in Jakarta and Bali which together have killed hundreds. By all accounts since the last majo http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Indonesia/Bali/Kuta/blog-421980.html The one thing that I think I was most surprised with when I arrived in Jakarta was the fact that I felt so safe. This is a massive city full of some of the wealthiest and poorest individuals in Southeast Asia but with a glut of surplus labour and having faced security issues in the past it seemed to me that Jakarta has the situation under control. At the entrace to everybuilding there are gua http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Indonesia/Java/Jakarta/blog-419300.html Yesterday morning was quiet... too quiet in this city of insert over 9 million here. But there was a reason for the silence though perhaps a celebration would have been more befitting the occasion the second ever direct Presidential election.For a country of 235ish million yesterday's election is rendered all that more impressive because it went off without a hitch. Though there were some http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/blog-416723.html So after having seen only one small road incident with a motorbike lightly plowing into the back of a taxi I was in a little dustup of my own yesterday on the way to work.I have to admit that my directions could have been sooner for the taxi to turn I'm trying to learn but my Indonesian is still pretty basic but without looking he geared left and we had a motorbike scrape the side. The gu http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Indonesia/Java/Jakarta/blog-414721.html Transmigration and Big Rock BeerOn the LEAD fronthellipAs every student of Canadian history knows way back in the later half of the 19th century and into the early 20th the federal government sought to ldquopopulate the westrdquo of Canada with offers of free land and great opportunities to build a new life. It wanted to attract further immigrants from England specifically but as most En http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Indonesia/Java/Yogyakarta/blog-414697.html This morning I was watching some English news and a fantastic tourism promo came on. The ad about a minute long was detailing sady white beaches culture shopping entertainment industry etc. of what seemed to be Indonesia. This is great I thought the first Indonesian tourism spot I've seen. And then the ad ended with Come to Malaysia truly Asia.I just finished up a good lunch convers http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Indonesia/Java/Jakarta/blog-411362.html In 20052006 the UNDP and BAPPENAS the Indonesian Governmentrsquos main planning board undertook an evaluation of Access to Justice in the 5 provinces of West Kalimantan North Maluku Central Sulawesi South East Sulawesi and Maluku. The results of their research showed some stark justice realities in the country. In most circumstances the poor and marginalized communities in those provinc http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Indonesia/Java/Jakarta/blog-409659.html After two weekends in the city doing what Jakartans do go to the malls walk around and browse pirated DVDs this past weekend I finally was able to get out of the city to do a little sightseeing in West Java. Luckily some of the members of the LEAD team organized a day trip up to Taman Safari about 2 hours driving early in the morning without the traffic outside of Jakarta nestled in the http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Indonesia/Java/Jakarta/blog-409149.html The problem with blogging from Indonesia is that the instructions for posting always show up in Bahasa Indonesiahellip but thankfully after a few missteps I get to share some info on the fascinating city of Jakarta.My first introduction to the city of Jakarta actually occurred before I even touched the ground as we entered the smog layer of the atmosphere where the sky turned from a brilliant http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Indonesia/Java/Jakarta/blog-409126.html