[Leica] Nathan's Plans to Visit Jakarta

[drleonpomeroy at verizon.net (Leon Pomeroy)]

Nathan mentioned Jakarta. That's all I need to share memories. My physician
wife is from Jakarta. For thirty years of marriage we've returned every two
years. Her family is well connected (Father was a General, famous journalist
and author of Indonesian history was an uncle; other uncles headed up
shipping, and another uncle ran transportation on the Island of Bali. Other
relatives are accomplished artists, and we have many friends in government.
We were better connected during the dictatorship. "Democracy" has brought
new faces and we're losing our connections to retirements, etc. However, our
nephew is serious about photography. He conducts lectures, tours, and
reaches others with television. His audience is an expanding middle class.
Many of my wife's medical school classmates now pursue photography with a
passion. When I'm in Indonesia I feel like "somebody." When I return to this
country I feel like "nobody" again. Jakarta has changed and become
congested. Indonesians all want to live there. You need a passport to live
there. The congestion is reminiscent of Bangkok. I shot lots of 16 mm
movies, I have accumulated thousands of Leica SLR Kodachrome 64 slides. I
never had security issue; but today's "new humans" the world over are
changing everything fast.  Not long ago I was assaulted in Amsterdam: "Go
home tourist!" I love the people, and culture of this island nation. Bali is
my favorite island, but it is being discovered by everyone it seems. I'm
reminded that fresh out of Princeton in the 1920s, Richard Halliburton wrote
that Bali is home to the "richest people in the world" because they work six
months a year and pursue the arts for the rest of the year. (i.e., Shadow
Puppet Shows, painting, dance, spectacular funerals, the music of the
Gamelan orchestra with its metallophones, xylophones, kendang (drums) and
gongs; bamboo flutes, bowed and plucked strings). We stay at Ubud. Given my
bias and romancing of the Indonesian islands, I offer encouragement to
others wishing to visit "my" Jakarta and "my" Indonesia.the land of eternal
spring. Of course the monsoon season is real In the Dutch East Indies (aka,
Indonesia) is arrives between December and April. It is also reflecting the
influence of climate change in the form of heavier rain with more frequent
flooding. Our Jakarta home is in the Tebet Section of the city which has
managed to escape recent floods. Dr. Leon Pomeroy, Northern Virginia, USA

         

 

Re: "I may have to go to Jakarta for a couple of days at the end of April,
in the framework of EU-ASEAN cooperation. I have never been to that part of
Asia. What I see on TV does not look particularly inviting, so I am not sure
if I want to do the usual thing when travelling to faraway places and stay a
day or two extra to see the place. I certainly enjoyed doing that in Japan,
Korea and Taiwan within the past few years--but Indonesia has security
issues that those other countries don't. I would appreciate hearing from
people who have been there--are there things worth seeing in Jakarta, is it
the kind of place where I can walk around with my camera etc.? TIA, Nathan "

 

Nathan Wajsman