Dec 30....... Long weekend in Jakarta is sweet... cause everybody went outside of the city already by this time.  Most common destination is a place called Puncak, on the way to a city called Bogor.  Supposedly only 1 hour drive from Jakarta, but during holiday season..... expect 3 or 4 hours before you get there.  Last year we went to Puncak for a day trip during the weekdays and it was amazingly quiet.  In Puncak, which is higher altitude than Jakarta, people usually just enjoy staying at a villa or hotel with family.  The Safari Park is also located there.  Today not much to do except for going to my granny's house again for some sunpan, her signature ... ummm..... steamed filled dough.... hmmm... hard to explain but it's soo yummie... and vegetarian 100%!  I also have to try to get USB cable for my camera because I forgot to bring mine, and almost impossible to transfer pics without it.... My laptop conveniently doesnt have micro memory card reader.... so I have to see what my choices are.  Fortunately my dad has a card reader... !

Sunpan

Day started with yummie breakfast... as always ^^ noodles and fried wonton wrap.  Woke up at 0330 cause I'm just not used to having more than 6 hours sleep.... and during the night I either got too cold cause of the air conditioner or too hot... and of course I forgot my ventolin at home.... so the cure for my little bit of bronchospasms is a step into air conditioned room ^^.

Yummies inside the sunpan

As soon as my dad came home from the church in the afternoon, we went to my grandma's place for lunch.  She made her signature dumpling called sunpan.  The dumpling dough made of I think it's taro roots, the fillings are made of vegetables, tofu, mshrooms and chinese fungus.  Very vegetarian ^^.  I think I ate close to 10 of this.... :D I can't described to you how how delicious it was and definitely I had enogh to eat for the day after that enough to eat for the day after that much sunpan ^^.  I really should learn how to make it... Sucks that I live so far away and my time in Jakarta is always very short.
after we went home, my dad and I went to Mangga Dua, which is a big retail/wholesail mall, where you can bargain everything from undies to electronics to the very cheap! There, I bought my dad a router so he could actually get a wifi going and keep up with the demand of time (hehe) but my attempt to get him an android phone basically went down the drain.... Rejected... :D.... My heart's aching... Hikz :D ..... Prior to that we went to the supermarket to get some coffee.. The most important part of any of my days^^.  My dad also managed to convinced me to tried some kopi luwak  at one of the many little stands inside Mangga Dua.  This will be it's own story for my side post ^^.

Kopi Luwak

Night market

When we got to Mangga Dua, right away I saw little children all under the age of 10 trying to make a bit of cash by offering hotel guests umbrella rental.  Very sad :(  life is so tough in Jakarta when one has no money.  Many of these people are those who came to Jakarta with hopes of better employment than the village they came from.  When they arrive, not expecting the city to be that enormous and busy, they had to  scramble with any employments or sell whatever just to make money to eat for the day.  Of course, human nature leads them to find soulmate in Jakarta and they had kids, many times because birth control is not somewhat of a priority when it cost more than food for the day.  Children born in poverty, and the cycle continues as some children ended up working on the streets or garbage dumps instead of going to school.   Some children are orphans living on the streets, some had to sell their bodies in return for food.... not even cash.  So, third world poverty? It means you have to scramble to make money for the day, not booze for the day.  On the opposite end of the spectrum, here in Jakarta I saw people driving hummer.  Wonder what for? Not like it will ever snow here :D ... but that explains the gap  between the rich and the poor.  Allright..... enough with my rambles about poverty in Jakarta....
We headed to the parking lot when we're done, and I thought I should take picture of Indonesian parking style.  Basically where ever there's a space, it WILL be used for parking.  It is not uncommon to park vehicle in front of another car, the parking 'guide' would just ask you to put it on neutral gear without breaks so when the person your car is blocking wanting to get out of his parking spot, he'll push your car out of the way.  Don't forget to give him a little tip as you drove by^^.

Indonesian parking style

We went home, and we chilled for a bit before we go to pick up Shinji.  My tummy was still full by this time :(  Sucks, because I would love to eat more yumminess in Indonesia.  Somehow, I had a feeling that there's no rush to eat them all.... One of my aunt gave us a cake for the new year.  Very pretty and made by what seems to be famous chocolate bakery place, but I can't eat it because my tummy still full from noon :( A quick cold shower and off to the airport to pick up my Shinji!
It was a short trip to the airport (around 30 minutes via the toll is a good time ) and the traffic was smooth, because it's really quiet in Jakarta for this long weekend ! (Err.... mabe not for Saskatoon standard :D).  Finally got to see my Shinji!  Been too long.  We will travel together to Bali on January 2 and return to the village I fell in love with, Munduk.  There we will purchase school supplies for kids who needs them so they can stay in school.  Wish us luck!  I will also try to post youtube links of videos I made of this of this trip Definitely a better idea since uploading to picasa is not as efficient.