Spotlight on Indonesia

Hi Friends!

Today we bring you our last Spotlight for our Fall 2011 trip to Asia. While all of you in the U.S. were getting chilly to start your winter, we headed to Indonesia!

Kirstie and Isaac explore an alien device, er, a lighthouse artifact at a maritime museum in Jakarta.
(C) Isaac and Kirstie Bickford

No Room in the Inn?
Due to the Southeast Asian Games (SEAGames), most hotels in Jakarta were full when we arrived on November 19th. Instead of having to stay in a manger, though, we got to stay in a very nice hotel. Bonuses: a super amazing breakfast buffet, and free cake on your birthday! We spent Kirstie's birthday here and were able to enjoy both of these culinary blessings.

Kirstie and her fabulous cake. Three people could hardly finish off this sugar bomb.
(C) Isaac and Kirstie Bickford

Throughout our stays in Jakarta, we stayed in a number of (decreasingly expensive) places as SEAGame participants and spectators moved out, including: a Halal guesthouse, the home of some new friends, and a hotel that was a mash of Dutch, Hindu, Buddhist, and U.S. art and tradition.

Thanksgiving: Rainforest Ride and Fish for Dinner
On Thanksgiving, we took a motorcycle ride through the jungle of central Sulawesi to a little group of villages known as Lindu. The lack of Thanksgiving tradition was fun, especially egged on by our translator, Rindu. He poked fun at our Thanksgiving dinner of fish (tiny little things that they cooked whole) and rice. But even though we lacked mashed potatoes and turkey, we found many things to be thankful for. Here are a few of them:

Lake Lindu, only 100 meters from where we stayed, was a very large and beautiful mountain lake.
(C) Isaac and Kirstie Bickford

The rainforest is more than just beautiful--it holds an abundance of food and products that these people use daily. Here's some cacao (though it smells like rotting flesh while it's drying in the sun!)
(C)Isaac and Kirstie Bickford

We saw and learned about so many new things, like this unidentified (to us, anyway) tree with fuzzy, triangular fruit.
(C)Isaac and Kirstie Bickford

Lindu has great kids. This troupe followed us around constantly when they weren't in school. We taught them some new games and they taught us how much we don't know about Indonesian culture (mostly by laughing at everything we said and did).
(C)Isaac and Kirstie Bickford

Do You Like Sunda Kelapa?
Between our trips to Sulawesi and Sumatra (two of the bigger islands of Indonesia) we stayed in Jakarta. We took a day to visit Sunda Kelapa, the old harbor. We visited an old watchtower, the museum, the fish market (SMELLY!), and a delicious restaurant (not smelly). It was a good place to learn a little more about Indonesian history without getting too overwhelmed by the vastness of it.

Present-day Sunda Kelapa. The ship next to the truck was being loaded with bags of cement.
(C)Isaac and Kirstie Bickford

Captain Isaac in the maritime museum.
(C)Isaac and Kirstie Bickford

Kirstie and her new walrus friend.
(C)Isaac and Kirstie Bickford

Clean Water Issues
On Sumatra, we were able to visit a very different kind of project than the others we'd seen on this trip. SIL Indonesia assisted the village of Ketenong in a clean water project, to bring water from a nearby waterfall to the town through a 1.7km pipeline. The village did a great job with the construction, and it was encouraging to see a completed, fully-functional project and its effect on community members.

The pipeline stretching through the jungle.
(C)LEAD

Ketenong is beautiful, surrounded by the mountains and jungle, and with a waterfall and enough flora and fauna to satisfy any biologist for the rest of his life. And the people here were wonderful and welcoming. We stayed at the village leader's home, and he took time to tell us about his people. He even took us on a bushwhacking adventure to the waterfall!

Isaac playing near the waterfall.
(C)Isaac and Kirstie Bickford

Jungle trees with vines and moss growing on them. And vines and moss growing on THEM.
(C)Isaac and Kirstie Bickford

The leaves of this tree were enormous, and the edges were like serrated knives. Luckily, we weren't under it when any of the leaves fell...
(C)Isaac and Kirstie Bickford

Second level of the waterfall. There were five above this one. In all, the water falls about 250 meters.
(C)Isaac and Kirstie Bickford

The only drawback: leeches. But we'll let Sara tell you about that...

The Beach
On our way out of Sumatra, we stopped for a few hours at the beach in Bungkulu. Words cannot describe what it was like, so here are some pictures. And if you ever can, go there yourself!

Isaac and Kirstie and the sunset over the ocean.
(C)Isaac and Kirstie Bickford

A father and his daughter chat with Isaac on the beach.
(C)Isaac and Kirstie Bickford

Quiz Time
It's time for the quiz! Leave your answers in the comments (or send us an email and we'll put them in the comments for you). Show your smartness! Don't let us down!

1. What does "kelapa" mean? (hint - it's Indonesian).
     a. Old
     b. Cement
     c. Coconut
     d. Port
     e. Smelly

2. On which island do most Indonesians live? (If you say "the one that has the most people," you fail.)

3. Fill in the blank: Papua New Guinea + Papua = _______________

..Kirstie and Isaac..