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Apedemak
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Posted: Monday March 12th, 2007 13:28 |
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¤º°`º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º°°º¤ø¤º°`¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º°`°º¤ø¤º°`°º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤
9 March 2007
Greetings Sisters and Brothers,
How are you? I'm okay. Today I decided not to visit
any temples or museums. I think that over the past
two days I've seen most of the essentials here and am
pretty content. Truthfully speaking, I am basically
ready to roll out of here. Besides, I figured that I
would just save the money that I would have spent on a
car and a guide. I have a lot of international travel
in store over the next few months and years
(especially in Africa and the South Pacific), and
since I am not the beneficiary of any grants or
stipends a lot of times I have to be a bit frugal with
the dollars. So I am just relaxing today. Truth be
told, if I could make the adjustments I would visit
another country (maybe the Philippines or Malaysia) or
just return to the USA. But sometimes plans made well
in advance are difficult to alter. So here I sit.
Here are a few bits of information for you:
Indonesia is a big place. It consists of more than
13,000 individual islands. Geographically, it
stretches over five thousand kilometers or 3,200
miles(a distance roughly from San Francisco to New
York or from Moscow to Madrid) and fits in southwest
of Malaysia, north of the Indian Ocean and Australia,
and southeast of New Guinea and the Pacific Ocean.
Compared to Japan, Europe, and the United States,
Indonesia could be described as a pretty poor country
with a large population of over two hundred million
people. In the hotel that I have been staying at for
the last three days the average monthly salary is
about one hundred US dollars. Jobs are pretty hard to
find and I am told that national unemployment hovers
at around fifteen per cent. Apparently, the poorest
people live in the rural villages. So far I have only
encountered two beggars.
Theoretically at least, men and women have equal
status here. The former president of Indonesia was a
woman and a couple of days ago I saw a female security
officer. I have heard nothing of rape or domestic
violence or homosexuality. Both women and men work in
the hotel restaurant, the bar, the business center and
in the reception area, but men clean the rooms. The
hotel itself is spotless.
Education is compulsory for both boys and girls until
the age of fifteen. I don't know what the literacy
rate is. Divorce is legal but abortion is not. Drug
trafficking is punishable by death. Generally
speaking, Indonesia seems like a relatively
conservative country. Health care, not surprisingly,
seems to depend upon how much money you have.
There are more than three hundred ethnic groups here
and a lot of different languages and dialects.
English is pretty widely spoken although a good
portion of the time I can't understand what people are
saying, and often I have difficulty making myself
understood. But people are invariably polite and a
friendly smile goes a long way.
I still have not seen but one Black person, although I
am told that a number of people from West Papua New
Guinea have come to Yogyakarta as students and are
well received. The people who are not so well
received are the Chinese. Chinese own many of the
business here and, according to my guide, live
separate and apart from the Indonesians and are not
very well-liked.
Most Indonesians are Muslims, although generally
people don’t seem to take the religion very seriously.
I've only seen a couple of mosques. There are a lot
of Christians here and some Buddhists, and the island
of Bali is mostly Hindu. Although it does not seem
as rigid as India, a four tiered Hindu caste system
exists in Bali with the Brahman caste the highest and
the Sudra caste the lowest. My guide in Bali was a
Sudra.
Indonesia is a crowded country, especially the densely
populated big islands of Sumatra and Java--and
particularly Java. Indeed, Java has more than sixty
percent of the total Indonesian population.
I casually read and was told more than once before I
came here that there was a lot of anti-Americanism in
Indonesia and that I probably should not visit here at
all. Perhaps in the capital of Jakarta or maybe on
the island of Lombok there is overt anti-Americanism
but if it exists in Central Java and Bali I have not
been adversely impacted by it. Of course, I have
heard nothing positive here about George Bush.
The national currency in Indonesia is the rupiah, with
today's exchange rate at about nine thousand rupiah to
one US dollar. Right now, with 900,000 rupiah in my
pocket, I am almost a millionaire.
The popular way of getting around here is on a
motorcycle. Indeed, I am not sure if I am ever seen so
many motorcycles in one place before! At traffic
lights, for a few coins, guys with guitars serenade
the drivers.
Some aspects of US society, like the popular US fast
food restaurants, are common here. I have seen at
least one McDonald’s restaurant and several KFCs.
I've seen a couple of Pizza Huts and one or two Dunkin
Donuts. I confess that I broke down two days and
stopped in a Dunkin Donut. I got weak. What can I
say? Just don't tell my doctor!
Indonesia has a tropical climate and it has been hot
and humid from the time I stepped off the plane from
Guam. There are a lot of rice paddies and much lush
foliage. I've seen a lot of fruit trees, more than my
share of cock roaches and a handful of lizards. I'm
told that cobra snakes are pretty common.
I like the food here and rice is served with virtually
every meal. My guide told me that rodents are
frequently eaten and even dog meat is regularly
consumed.
Speaking of food, it is about lunch time now and I
think that I am going to grab a book, go down to the
hotel courtyard and order some fresh juice and a good
steak. Maybe tonight I will go somewhere and check
out a cultural performance.
Apparently, for brother Runoko, for this day at least,
life is in the slow lane. Tomorrow I return to Bali
where I intend to walk on the beach and maybe do a
little shopping.
Talk to you later.
In love of Africa,
Brother Runoko, chilling out in Central Java
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Happiness
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Posted: Monday March 12th, 2007 14:03 |
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Hi Apedemak - this was an interesting read. Are you sure that steak is really a steak?  bow wow wow!!
Have a safe journey home.
Happiness
____________________
"What is your life worth?
If you think that the only way you can survive is in the misuse of people,
then you haven't even begun to think about what it means to be human" ~ Dr C.T.Vivian
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Apedemak
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| Joined: | Sunday October 17th, 2004 |
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Posted: Monday March 12th, 2007 14:05 |
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.lol.
This is an article from R.Rashidi, haven't read it yet but I'm here in London wishing I was in Java.
Last edited on Monday March 12th, 2007 14:06 by Apedemak
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Happiness
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Posted: Monday March 12th, 2007 14:08 |
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oh dang - that's too bad. It gave me a whole different impression of you!! Oh well...just have to go back to thinking of you the way I used to!
(enlighten me on who R.Rashidi is)
____________________
"What is your life worth?
If you think that the only way you can survive is in the misuse of people,
then you haven't even begun to think about what it means to be human" ~ Dr C.T.Vivian
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www.blacksearch.co.uk - Helping to promote Black African and Caribbean Websites
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Apedemak
Villager
| Joined: | Sunday October 17th, 2004 |
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Posted: Monday March 12th, 2007 14:25 |
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Hes the No 1 Pan-Africanist.
Travels the world looking for evidence of any native Africans that may still be around in various countires like the African Native Americans, Africans in the middle east on the understanding that we are a global peoples who travelled the globe well before the ''europeans'' and other races came about. Made a whole heap of topics on Mark Washingtons archelogical findings in various countries probably towards the bottom of this room.
http://www.cwo.com/~lucumi/runoko.html
^ Mr Rashidis website ^
http://www.beforebc.de/index2.html
^ Mark Washingons website ^
You really have to explore Mark Washingtons site click about and stuff, posted most of the intresting stuff but theres loads there like info on the Chinese Sphinxs and stuff. Last edited on Monday March 12th, 2007 14:27 by Apedemak
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Happiness
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Posted: Tuesday March 13th, 2007 10:37 |
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Thank you A for the info - some interesting reading ahead for me.
Happiness
____________________
"What is your life worth?
If you think that the only way you can survive is in the misuse of people,
then you haven't even begun to think about what it means to be human" ~ Dr C.T.Vivian
____________________
www.blacksearch.co.uk - Helping to promote Black African and Caribbean Websites
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