Jakarta Part 2

I asked a native Javan, if you had one day here, what would you do. He advised there is a Park called the Taman Mini Indonesia Indah (TMII) which represents all of the cultures of Indonesia including Pavillions, Temples and a lake with miniture islands laid out of the entire region.

We took a Taksi, 4 of us, to the TMII. Here are some photos:

We spent 4 hours there and saw only 30% of the area and Pavilions. Gorgeous work, very exotic and rich. They are master wood carvers here, and the wood they carve is not soft...its the hardest on the planet. Thinking one step further, carving a Buddha out of a chunk of Teak the size of your fist is tough enough. Some of these Pavillions had the entire outside walls not only carved but hand detail painted as well.

Upon native advice we left TMII and took Taksi to Jalan Sarubaya (say Jah-LON Say-ru-BYE-ya). It is a market area near a neighborhood call Meneng. For you Obama fans, Meneng is where your President lived and attended 4th and 5th grade while his Mom worked at the U.S. Embassy here.

A few photos of the Market:

We spent this day with 2 men from the U.S. State Dept. who enjoyed the trip as well. Everyone here tells you "Go To Bali"....that is 2 islands south of Java. Maybe next time. There are business plans to visit Sarubaya which is close to Bali, next year for a future Diplomatic Construction project.

Thats it for Jakarta...I will see you all in N.J. for the Holidays soon!

Where in the World is Dave now?

Where in the World is Dave Wade?

Jakarta Indonesia...Tsunamis, Volcano Eruptions and Earthquakes of recent have had almost no effect on this Capital City on the Island of Java.

Here is a map....I circled Jakarta in yellow:

We are 6 degrees south of the Equator. This is a place of extremes of culture and people. Only observing from street traffic for 2 days, it is a Massive Metro...10 million people in Jakarta.

The Island of Java was not effected by the Tsunami of 2004, that was Sumatra Island that lost 200,000 + in that event. Jakarta is on the backside, not the Indian Ocean side which was impacted. Here is a Satellite Photo of one Neighborhood in Sumatra showing the before and after Tsunami effect on 300 homes (wiped them out completely).

Enough of that, heres a Photo from the hotel room downtown Jakarta:

The above shot tells of Jakarta in extreme diversity. A Muslim Mosque 40 feet from Luxury Condos, next to impoverished shacks in the middle of Corporate Metro. This is about 5 % of the downtown area and the other 95% is all like this...pockets of ancient poverty surrounded by active modern business. There is a type of freedom in this arrangement not existing in most Metro's. The classes benefit each other by proximity at a cost of zero urban planning. IE. nothing matches in the visual.

Huge is a small word for this place. Tomorrow we will have a tourist day before we leave on Sunday, and visit the one place all Indonesian Cultures are on display in a single park.. (Click for link )

Taman Mini Indonesia

More Photos and Updates for you tomorrow.

Overseas Mongolia Part 2

After a full week of work we are leaving the country. The workweek went like this:

• Mon - Meet with Local General Contractor, setup translation and communication process
• Tues - Meet with State Dept in a Hotel, get Project info, meet with Local GC again
• Wed - Tour the Embassy in morning, meet with State Dept @ Hotel
• Thurs - Tour Embassy in Morning, meet with 2nd local GC
• Fri - Meet with Local General Contractor all day

That left us with half day Saturday before the flights out to sightsee. The city is at times hard to take...95% of the buildings in it were Russian Communist built and are unkept.

What areas are not covered in some kind of paving is dusty dirt:

Older residential areas exist in the City that are not tenament buildings. These vast areas are a mixture of "shanty" type shed structures, old house shells with tarps on them and the Mongolian "Ger" homes. A Ger is a round fabric covered wood stick shell where an entire family lives. See if you can spot them below (yes we had snow today):

We had found another Monastery today of interest:

We had a chuckle, the woman in this photo was dressed just like a Bhuddist Monk except for one thing...She had 5 inch leather Stilettos on.

There is significant Air Pollution here, as five Coal Power Plants surround the City and if there is no wind, this is what you experience:

Yes I am sure outside of Ulaanbaatar in the summer the country is wild and undamaged by man. Inside the Culture here, evidence of universal values does display, like the love of a Mother:

Thats a wrap....next time Jakarta in December.

On the Road...Overseas Part One - Mongolia

Reporting from Mongolia, this is Dave Wade.

You might think such a place so far would be exotic and a treasured life experience. While the City, Ulaanbaatar is in Mongolia, we are not experiencing Mongolia for its vast nature, unfortunately. We are limited to the City due to business schedule. The City is different than western culture in some ways and in most not so good...but first the good.

Mongolia, culturally is all about Ghengis Khan (also as Chenngis Khaan). While he was a wickedly effective Warrior, he is simply touted here as the creater of the Modern World. The First to support Fredom of Religion, Paper money and Free Trade Market economics, in the 1200's. So they put him on Everything...the Parliment Building on Public Square, he sits in the center:

The Culture:

Ulaanbaatar (UB)is trying to be Tokyo or NY NY. Everyone (except the Monks) wear jeans and leather. It has only been free of Russian Socialism (independance) since 1990 and the old buildings and roads/public areas have no maintenance because the tax base has not built up, but the development and population is growing and choking the city. Inside this reality, there are 5 or 6 areas of UB which are walled compounds of Shamanist or Bhuddist Monasteries, open to anyone like Churches. One such area is the Gadan Monastery just a block east of the hotel. On a clear day at sunset, this is what it looks like:

The Bldg dead center in this photo below is the main Gadan Temple, the founding place of Sutra-Tanta Bhuddism .

Here is the Compound entry and some smaller temples and prayer centers leading up to the main temple, look closely to see the Shamanist Monks:

Below, Coming up to the primary Temple, the Migjed Janraisig, Built in 1838.

In 1911 The last the the Khaan rulers had a 75 foot Janraisig (Bhuddist God of Compassion) statue built and erected inside. It was confiscated and broken down by Communists in 1937, shipped to Moscow, melted down to make bullets for the War. A new one was built with Gold and jewels donated from Nepal and Tibet in 1996. It has a complete "Ger" in its base with furniture. Here is the base of the Janraisig Statue:

And the rest of Janraisig, now known as the Sacred Object of the People:

Quite imposing She is. there are Libraries and Prayer Temples here. We observed in a Prayer Temple like this, benches and tables where you can sit in front of a Monk and get counseling for a donation. 10 or 12 of them chant and sing and pray after you tell them your troubles. This is obviously support for them and their Monastery which I found worthy of praise and respect.

Part 2 coming soon..........................

A Move and, doing some Math

I moved to a new "sublet" this past weekend, its a 3 story town home, I have the bottom floor....well its about 2/3 of a floor. Call it a Stoom...(Studio/Room). The last place was a basement room and a single shared kitchen with 3 others, and....I also shared a full bath with 2 other men. I had no freezer space there and maybe one third of a standard frig for food storage. Here its just me and the Owner who is single.

Whats my point?

Let me see how clear I can make it, for 2 months I had no freezer. I didnt expect I would suffer quality of life issues with this minor point. Really, I mean, c'mon man, its just food. I found this attitude didnt work rather quickly when you DO THE MATH.

A standard Frig/Freezer has between 18 and 22 cubic feet of internal space. That is divided 2/3 for Refrig and 1/3 for Freezer. Say 13 cubic feet for the Refrigerator space is normal. Then you have the smaller Refrigerator models which are called "half" (6 cf) and quarter" (3 cf) size units.

Here is mine now.

I did some math, right?....I mean, math is my job as an estimator so this shouldnt be too taxing.

Notice the microwave below it, this Frig is not alot bigger than a small microwave. I measured the inside of the Frig. At a whopping 16 inch by 13 inch by a foot average depth, it is 1.448 cubic foot REFRIGERATOR!?

.....ahem....

Doing the math, 1.448 divided into 13 (a normal Refrigerator space) reveals this a ONE NINTH refrigerator. Hmmm, (I said to self) whats the freezer like?:


Now thats the ticket, Its 3 feet by 3 feet by 3.5 tall....

Nice and wide and deep for a few pallets of Eggos and Ice Cream! Now the challenge...I managed to stuff a week of breakfast and lunch food into the ONE NINTH refrigerator, thusly:

I still had room for Strawberries, and a 2 liter soda. So I am Golden now! The moral of the math story is if you do it, you may get angry but it all works out in the end.