| Hello again friends. Today I want to talk about what you can expect when you visit us in Indonesia. The first thing that you are sure to notice is that everyone smiles at you...even the Immigration and Customs officers. I must comment that when any of my friends visit the United States, they tell me that they do not feel welcomed there at all! The Customs department, usually don’t even bother checking a Westerner’s luggage but I have to point out to you that there are two things that the Indonesian government is very strict about and those are drugs and pornography. This country is not the one to get caught with illegal drugs as the penalties are very severe and trying to tell them that someone must have placed it in your luggage is a waste of time. Next, the government has recently passed an anti-pornography law which is extremely broad. We are not sure yet who does the deciding whether something is pornographic or not so I would advise you not to bring any Playboy or similar magazines or adult CDs with you. Also, if you are carrying a laptop, please make sure that there are no pornographic images on it. In the West, pornography would probably mean the showing of male or female genitals but that is NOT the case here as the description of porn includes anything that is sexually stimulating. I have not heard of any problems here yet except for youngsters accessing adult sites at Internet cafes. Indonesia is very keen to get foreign visitors here so it is very unlikely that you will be harassed by anyone. You will find that prices are ridiculously low here compared to the west and I’m sure that you will want to do a lot of shopping while you are here. There are also some really talented people here who produce art and wood carvings. Indonesia is famous for hand painted textiles known as Batik. My husband says that he could buy a house here for the same price as a garden shed in the UK. If you decide to stay here, you can rent a house for as little as a couple of hundred dollars a YEAR! Petrol (gas) is currently less than 50 cents a litre. The main transportation here is by motorcycle...you will see zillions of them. In our town there are no taxis but there are three wheeled bicycle type vehicles known as Becak. There are also mini buses, if you enjoy being a sardine :-). For long distance travel we have coaches, trains and ferries. Travelling is simple except during holiday periods. During Ramadan for example you would not like to travel anywhere in Indonesia. Here we drive on the left ala the UK so be careful to look to the right when crossing the street. Driving here takes a certain amount of skill as there is very little control. The credo is “Expect the unexpected.” People come out of side roads without stopping or even looking. They turn without giving any signals and don’t pay too much attention to traffic lights. The buses are the worst and think nothing to forcing you off the road. Cutting in is the normal way of driving here and nobody gets “Road Rage.” Eating out here for the locals means visiting a small native restaurant or buying from one of the hundreds of portable kiosks that people push along the streets. Both of these are extremely low priced. There ARE better class restaurants available however. Fast food places are uncommon but I believe that there is one McDonalds in the town somewhere. You will find that here the food is very, very spicy but extremely healthy as it is fresh and not pre-prepared . Unfortunately I see that the supermarkets are now beginning to push Western style instant foods laced with MSG. It is extremely hot and humid here. You won’t need to bring any Long Johns with you! We only have two seasons...the wet season and the dry season. It is OK to walk around in shorts here but not many locals do as they don’t wish to get any darker. Not many Indonesians go sunbathing but they DO go to the beach in the late afternoons to take a dip and cool down. Well I hope the above was a little informative for you. There will be more coming soon. All the very best...Yuyun |