The Haze is Back

There is a lot of coverage on the air pollution levels in Beijing at this time. We're not quite as bad as that (yet) but the annual haze season has started in Indonesia.

During the dry season, the farmers clear their land by burning it. There are literally hundreds of fires burning throughout Indonesia at this time. The burning saves them money in terms of labor, equipment and time. Right now, there isn't any mention of this on the news yet because the air quality hasn't reached dangerous levels.

This same burning happens every year and its effects are felt throughout Malaysia and Singapore as well because the winds will carry all the fumes over there. It is such a common occurrence that people have become a little too complacent about it. The Malaysians complain about it but all they can do is put up with it. It doesn't make the headlines until those dangerous school-closing levels are reached. I have no idea whats really being done about it at the government level apart from yakity yak yak yak.

Here in Indonesia, the people around me don't even notice it. I get responses like "What smell?" and then "Oooooh Thaaat. Its the burning by the farmers". No big deal. In 2006, I saw some CNN footage of Palembang itself, with the haze so thick that it looked like there was a sandstorm taking place. Last year was an oddity and things didn't get so out of hand in Palembang because it rained more than usual.

I'm a little worried this year because it hasn't been raining much this week and already my eyes and throat are itching. I'm keeping Aaron indoors mostly but if it gets much worse, staying inside isn't really going to help.

I finally feel at home

This is going to sound strange but for the first time since moving here in February 2007, I actually feel at home. Normally, after a trip away from Palembang, I find myself complaining about how inconvenient this house is and how 'difficult' it is to live here. This time, I actually have an unusual feeling of familiarity.

Instead of grimacing at the wet bathroom tiles, I enjoyed my cold mandi and marveled at how smooth the water felt. Now this is particularly strange because the water in Palembang is so dirty that if you let your clothes drip dry, they'd be able to stand up all on their own from all the impurities that came along with the water that washed them.

There have been some 'casualties' in my garden but it sure felt great to be playing around in the garden with Aaron again this morning. We'll have to do some major replanting and repositioning but I'm looking forward to that.

I did enjoy lots of Malaysian food during the break but I find myself enjoying my mainly vegetarian diet here just as much. I missed the simplicity and supposed healthiness of it all.

After a year and a half here, we were the people welcoming two new families to our neighborhood yesterday. Both had young children and both the women I met spoke English. Yay for me!

So, after telling my friends and family in Malaysia that Palembang is the most boring place in the world and giving them the impression that I'd rather not be living here, I now have a complete change of heart and feel that I can almost call it a great place to live. I know the lack of activities here will get to me soon enough but apart from that, I LIKE IT HERE.

The Indonesian Rupiah

Today's post was inspired by the horrible stench that attacked me when I unzipped my purse a short while ago.

It only happens when I've got an especially dirty batch of notes in there. The worst notes are the smaller denominations. They get so grubby and smelly that your hands stink after touching them for just a few seconds. Those were the culprits in my purse. Obviously, the larger denominations (RP50000 and RP100000) tend to stay much cleaner. I always carry a bottle of hand sanitizer to clean off that smell after each transaction.



The photo doesn't really do justice to the filthiness of the top two notes. And if they had some smell mechanism embedded with the internet, you'd all be knocked off your chairs.

In case you were wondering about the pictures:

RP1000 - Captain Pattimura who led a rebellion against Dutch forces.

RP5000 - Tuanku Imam Bonjol. Another hero against the Dutch.

RP50000 - Beratan Lake in Bali.

RP100000 - Sukarno (the first president of Indonesia) and Hatta, (vice president)

In the end, money is still money, so no matter how much it stinks, we're still not going to be throwing it out or giving (too much) of it away.

Would you like to come over?

This weekend has been very enjoyable for the whole family. The theme was 'New Friends'. We invited some new friends over on Saturday afternoon and they brought along their 4 year old daughter. She was a little shy at first but eventually, we found out that she shared a common interest with Aaron; The Wiggles. Later, we all went for a walk and let the kids play around with Aaron's tricycle in the basketball/soccer area in the neighborhood.

Along the way, Aaron stopped by his new friends house to ask them out to play. It was funny to see this little (almost) 2 year old standing on his tiptoes and pressing his face through their gate. He called out in Indonesian for the girl (Pani) and her brother (Fredo) to come out to play. Later on, he invited them (un-prompted) over to his house to play. He has done this for several days this week now. Soon, he's going to have to learn to ask me first but for now I'm still thinking its cute.

This afternoon, we went over to our Korean friend's house. Their 6 year old daughter wasn't home but the 1 year old boy was. It was so cute to watch the two little boys. On the way out, Aaron, again, tried to invite the little boy over to his house. We'll have the whole neighborhood over in no time :)

Well, 1 year olds are still too young to follow 2 year olds home. But, when we got home, Pani and Fredo were waiting at the gates to play with Aaron. I'm not sure if its Aaron they're interested in or the stash of new toys they have discovered.

Pempek Delivery

I might have mentioned in the past that pempek is the food that Palembang is famous for. Its a sort of fishcake that is popular with almost everybody I meet here. Whenever we meet new people and they find out that we're not from Palembang, they'll almost certainly ask if we have tried their famous pempek.

Yes, we've tried it but its not something that we like. Its a little too fishy for Richard and me. So, because we don't eat it, I haven't had any photos of it until today.

Here's a photo of our driver, Iwan, with the door to door pempek vendor. Iwan is a self proclaimed pempek addict and was literally jumping up and down with excitement when he heard the pempek guy approach the house. The vendor uses a little gong to let people know he's about as he rides around the neighborhood.



I've heard a few people say that they have bad teeth because they eat too much pempek. Its not the pempek itself that they blame but the vinegar sauce that its dipped into. You can see the little red bowl of vinegar in Iwan's left hand. He drank it all up like a soup.

Here's a close up of the pempek.



If you've ever had fishcakes at a Thai restaurant, similar. Except a lot fishier and starchier.

There are no winners

We finally got to the bottom of things last night and all the lies are out now. We thought we would be satisfied when we finally found out the truth but in the end, its lose-lose all around.

What did the truth bring us all? Disappointment for Richard and I. Shame for Aini. I think she genuinely felt very ashamed and very sorry. We were in no way harsh with her and simply said that she had to stop with all the lies. After all, we had no complaints about her work itself and none of the lies were to do with her work. It all had to do with a teenage crush and what it drives irrational teenagers to do.

Here's the irony: She risked her job to be able to hang out with this guy, while the guy (who was interviewing for a job with Richard yesterday) exposed all her lies in the hope of securing a job for himself.

I really treated her as a friend and enjoyed her company. A part of me wishes that I left the issue alone and just be more aware of potential lies in the future. But then, thats what I have always done in the past and it has always proven to just get worse when overlooked. I'm the sort of person that will forget a situation like this as soon as its 'aired', but, she couldn't be convinced to stay on.

There is no joy and definitely no satisfaction in finding out the truth here.

You know you've been watching too much CSI when....

... you tell your husband not to 'contaminate the crime scene'.

... you leave the lights turned off and use a torch to look for evidence.

... you re-enact the supposed crime.

... you question a person from different angles and at surprising times.

... when you tell your husband to be the 'bad cop' while you're the 'good cop'.

... you try to see if a person's pupils are dilated or not, if they have their arms in a closed position, if they're scratching, if their pausing too long, if they're breathing too hard, if they're repeating your questions back to you, and the list goes on....

All this may mean that I just really need to get a life. Or its what happens when you no longer trust somebody.

Things have escalated since my 'Benefit of the doubt' post and now there are allegations of voyeurism and lots of he says/she says. Lots of drama. Tears. Accusations. Denials. A fake cousin who is really a boyfriend. Its like my very own live soap opera.

I hope we can sort it all out tonight.

Thursday Thirteen #16

13 Facts about our house and our neighborhood
(Bit of a long one this week)

1) When we have a power outage, it also means that we have a water outage because the pump won't be working to get any water into the house.

2) These beautiful lilies have been blooming around the house for 2 weeks now. I didn't plant them and there weren't this many last year. All of them are in little ledges of that stick out of the walls outside.


3) The bathroom next to the kitchen must have been what the original owner designated as the maid's bathroom. It has a squat toilet and no flush. The other two bathrooms are normal toilets that flush. Just another reminder of how some people can have such low regard for another person who helps them out 24 hrs a day with chores that they'd rather not do. Plenty of people like that around...

4) The drains in the neighborhood are filthy and mostly so bogged up that water flows nowhere. We stupidly cleaned the muck out of the drains immediately in front of our house but unfortunately we're now at a lower level than other places 'down-drain' so we have even more water stagnant. Still working on a solution.

5) These horrible drains have a lot of wildlife in them. In addition to the germs and diseases, there are also little crabs, fish and supposedly some sort of small eel. The eel is something that Richard told me about but I can't imagine that it really is an eel. Maybe just some big worm....

6) The neighbor's son recently caught himself a pair of doves and has been 'training' them. The doves are a craze amongst the kids this year. They're all walking around with a bird in hand. Last year it was kites.

7) I'm supposedly getting a new neighbor, two doors down, that is from Singapore. Don't know yet if its just a single guy or a family.

8) I live 200m from a mosque. Five times a day, when the prayers are broadcasted, a neighbor's dog howls his own prayers. He does this 5 times a day, every day. None of the other dogs are as disciplined as he is.

9) Directly opposite the mosque is a house inhabited by a Canadian man, his Indonesian wife, 3 daughters and about 5 maids. The man is oldish and has been in Indonesia 30 years. He's friendly with lots of good stories but its hard to chat with him long because he never wears a shirt (and has a HUGE beer belly) and his pants are always falling off him. One day, we drove past the house and were treated to a view of his entire behind. EEW!

10) All the names of the roads here are animals. We live on Bear St.

11) The clanging has stopped but the past few nights have been noisy with cats mating.

12) The housing area we live in is 'gated' and takes about 30 mins to walk the perimeter at a leisurely pace.

13) So far, we've only heard of 3 thefts in the 16 months we've lived here. Haven't heard of any other types of crimes in the area.

Pimped Up Motorbike

We saw this bike while out for a walk in the morning.



Over here, not everybody can afford cars but most people have a motorbike. I'm not referring to those huge rumbling biker gang type motorbikes, just scooters (think vespas).

Anyway, whether a person here owns a bike or a car, most of them cherish it as their most valuable possession. And I mean 'cherish' as in 'loving and adoring' it every single day for its entire lifespan. Not just the first few weeks when its new. I'm always seeing people cleaning and polishing their bikes or cars. It doesn't seem to matter how old or new it is, they really take pride in its cleanliness and shininess. The only time when I don't see this behavior is when the person owns a truck. Those seem to always be left dirty.

I've no idea who the owner of this motorbike is. I do wonder if it belongs to a person who can't yet afford a car but has a bit of extra cash to splash out here instead. The bike looks a little feminine to me but I'm pretty sure that the owner (and rider) is a guy. Its only the guys who would put so much work into a motorbike. Would he then give it to his wife/girlfriend/daughter?

Shop Assistants from Palembang

The thing I dislike most about shopping in Palembang is the 'helpful' shop assistants. These are the ever present, in your face or right up against your backside shop assistants that tail you around the store until they finally drive you away with their breath down the back of your shirt. They're chatty too:

"These are blouses."
"Here's a white pair of shoes."
"We also have the long T-shirts."

Whatever! Leave me alone if you want me to buy something! I can see for myself. I know they think they are being helpful but it is just so annoying. Especially when you finally have to ask them for something important, like if they have it in a different color, they usually only answer in the negative.

Today, I went to the pharmacy to get a simple bottle of Vitamin B complex. They have a sales assistant for each brand they carry (as if one wasn't enough!). Each time I ask if they have a different brand of the B available, a new person showed up. Eventually, I had 4 different people around me, flashing their brochures and telling me that their product had more of such-and-such blah blah blah. I told them I could read it for myself so, they all crowded behind me. Why? I don't know. To give me moral support as I made my decision?! Now I can just imagine the next part in a scene from some cheap movie. I tell them that I can read it alone. So, they all look at me, and then take one step back, just one, but continue staring in anticipation. Its as if they will win some prize if I picked theirs. In the end, I said I had to go across to a competing pharmacy to see what they carried.

It was the same scenario over there. And, since they had almost exactly the same products, I didn't need to do any more comparison and just picked the cheapest one. In a flash, all the 'losers' suddenly had sullen and slightly resentful looks on their faces. At least the 'winner' still had the smile, a genuine one too.

I may sound ungrateful but it is really really annoying....

T-Shirt Marker Pen-ing

A couple of days ago, Aaron was invited over to the Kims house. I was thrilled when I got the SMSed invitation but was hesitant to go because it mentioned T-shirt painting and I could just see him walking all over their house putting his little hand prints everywhere. Well, they were smarter than that. It was actually T-shirt drawing with permanent markers. And it was FUN.

He did the front and I did the back:


There were about 6 other Korean children there and the activities were led by two Korean college girls who had taken a year off to travel around Indonesia. Supposedly, they have been visiting all the Korean communities and organizing a couple of days of kids activities at each of their stops. Aaron even got presents at the end of it all - a whole big stack of Korean snacks (guess who'll be eating those?) and a Magna Doodle board. I tried to pay them in the form of a Chinese Red Packet but they returned the money (keeping the Red Packets) saying that they had sponsors.

This year is really turning out to be a year of new friends and new activities for us here in Palembang!

Blogging led me to an English Library !!

I had such a surprise when I checked for comments on my previous post. Comment #4 contained directions to an English Library, right here in Palembang. I've always found blogging fun and it has led to many new friends but I never guessed that it will lead me to this little gem. I called the number right away and spoke to Ria. She was so friendly and spoke flawless English.

We headed over there in the evening and I signed up right away. Its name is actually 'Chit Chat Corner & Library'. True to its name, there were lots of people in there chit chatting, practicing English. Talking is not usually allowed in libraries but thats what makes this particular one fantastic. I won't need to keep telling Aaron not to talk. I think Ria mentioned there were about 7000 books there, including a huge collection of children's books. Aaron was getting a little too 'enthusiastic' with the books for comfort so I couldn't browse for too long. I was so excited about the prospect of being able to introduce new stories to Aaron that I forgot to ask how this wonderful place got started or where the books come from.

I still can't believe how lucky I am to have Ria stumble upon my blog. I was really running out of fresh ideas to keep Aaron occupied in the house (hence the previous post) and this new infusion of books is definitely going to help. And who knows, maybe I might have a new friend too. One that I can ask questions to about Palembang and get answers that I actually understand fully.

Ampera Bridge Again

We had a friend visit us for a couple of days and I took her to the touristy side of Ampera Bridge. Since this bridge is famous throughout Indonesia, I thought this girl (an Indonesian from a different city) would like to go check it out. The esplanade over looking the bridge is supposedly where all the dating couples of Palembang can be seen in the evenings. Thats where we went.



We went in the late afternoon when only a few snack stalls were up and the area still devoid of anybody except the people who worked there. These two buskers creeped up behind us and started singing.



They were AWFUL (but don't you think the guy on the right has a head of attention grabbing hair? tee! hee! hee!). All I could hear was a couple of murmured words here and there and the occasional twang of a guitar string. I gave them a tip thinking that they would go away but instead, I found out that because I paid them, they were obliged to finish the entire song they were murmuring. And then, because of me tipping this particular duo, we were approached by several other duos. All we could do was stand around uncomfortably until they decided to leave.

1, 2, 3 o'clock, 4 o'clock, *CLANG*

I've got a bit of a rant today.

For the past couple of weeks, I've been woken up at 1am, 2am, 3am and 4am. This happens almost every night and it isn't Aaron thats waking me.

The security guards do their rounds every hour and supposedly, their way of telling the main guard post that they are at their stations is to bang on a lamp post in their area. Haven't they heard of walkie talkies? Its not just the one *CLANG* each time either. They do it to each of the lamp posts they walk past. Lucky us for having one right outside the bedroom window. One *CLANG* for 1am, two for 2am and so on for EACH lamp post.

We've complained and were told that we have a new guy in the area that doesn't know how to *CLANG* softly. And, that he will be 'trained'. I'm wondering what the point is if he does it softly and nobody hears. How come I never heard it before? I think its a new practice that the guy in our area is having fun with. Still, why haven't they told him off yet!

My suspicion is that he does this to warn any would-be burglars that security is on the way and they should either hide or run. That would save the security guard some work wouldn't it?

These are extremely poorly paid people who have no vested interests in keeping us safe. Why would they risk anything? We know that they sleep on the job because they are still asleep when we go for our morning walk. Note the fact that I didn't mention a 5am *CLANG*

Poor Richard, I'll be sending him out sometime tomorrow morning to go ask the guy "Why?" and tell him to stop. Richard sleeps through the noise but I'm not about to go out there and confront the night guard in my PJs.

Can I bring my groceries in?

Take a look at this photo. See anything that doesn't belong?



Yup. Trolley with add on 'car' for toddlers loaded with our groceries. I caught a few strange looks cast our way but we didn't care that we pushed our groceries into a dimly lit and smoky pool hall. Anyway, we did ask first if we could bring it in.

We happened to have Aini with us for lunch today so afterwards, I asked if she would help look after Aaron for awhile while Richard and I spent 30 minutes pretending we could still play pool. I won the first game but we were so slow that we couldn't finish a second game before the time was up.

The 30 minutes took us back about 8 years to when we were first married and had all the time in the world to perfect our game. Made me feel so much younger that I had to take off my glasses to play. They were in the way!

We definitely need to do this more often. Palembang is littered with pool tables. There are the crappy neighborhood ones (which I am definitely willing to try), lots of middle range pool halls where teenagers hang out and then a few expensive ones about too. We don't fit in with any of the crowds there but who cares? We like playing, even if we have to bring our groceries along.

A mouse, a bird and a boy

Wow! We've had an infusion of excitement into our routine lives these couple of days with three visitors.

Everyday, I put Aaron's high chair near the door so he can look out as he has lunch. Yesterday, I saw a little mouse scamper past. Then a few minutes later, I saw the mouse scamper back in the direction it had come. I thought I saw something in its mouth but I wasn't sure.

A few minutes later, the same thing happened. Back and forth again. This time I was sure there was something in his mouth. And then, much to Aaron's delight, the mouse did the same thing again. This went on several more times before I went out to take a look at what it was picking up but it disappeared. I went back to Aaron and told him the mouse was gone.

I didn't think anything of it until I heard Iwan, our driver, grumbling about something outside. Part of his lunch was missing! That cheeky little rat had broken into his lunch bag and stole almost all his tempeh. Right under my nose!

This morning, a second visitor literally dropped in. This tiny baby bird must have fallen while learning to fly and fell down. Something is wrong with its legs because it can't stand up. We put it on the fence to see if it could fly away but it just fell in the drain, got drenched and started shivering. After drying it out in the sun awhile we fed it some water and powdered corn. It seems healthy now but isn't able to fly yet. I guess we'll have it around a few more days.

Aaron is curious about it and tried several times to pick the bird up but I think he grabs too hard so, I've stopped that. He can just look. I'm a little worried though. What sort of diseases to baby birds have anyway?



And lastly, an old friend came over for an early morning playdate. We met Linmas while out on our morning walk and he followed us home. This was at around 7am in the morning. The both of them seemed to miss each other after not playing together for 3 weeks.

Vote for me!

Today is the election day for Palembang's next mayor. I don't know much about the politics here to make any comment at all about whats going on politically. All I know is that there are 4 parties and all the posters show the leader and the deputy together. We've also been told that it will be better to stay at home tomorrow just in case of people acting out from disappointment.

So, here is a photo of the polling booths in our area.


The process is to go 'sign in' at one of the tables, and I guess they'll mark your name off, then go sit down and wait. They'll call out your name when its your turn.

The individual voting booths are those silver things in the middle of the photo. Over here, the word they use for 'vote' is 'coblos' (pronounced choblos), which also means to pierce. The voting slip has photos of the 4 parties and you stab at the one you want. Those booths are actually equipped with nails!

After you've nailed the guy you want, you have to go get your little finger dipped in some ink. Thats how they make sure you only vote once.

Scenes from Palembang

I haven't posted many photos of Palembang lately. Its not that I've been a hermit, its just that I keep missing the good shots either because I forgot to bring my camera along or I couldn't get it out fast enough. Anyway, here are a few.

Here's the reason why I don't buy meat from the markets. I did enjoy watching the guy hack away at the ribs with his axe though:


A truck laden with all sorts of plastics. You don't need to go out to buy the bulky (or small) items, this truck will drive through the neighborhood and you can shop from the comfort of your front gate.


These two kids have been on my mind a lot lately. I see them almost every time we drive past the intersection. I've been hesitant to give money after hearing some sad stories about these beggars. The first was about adults renting kids from their neighbors to make themselves look more deserving as beggars. The second is of course the common practice of sending the kids out to beg because they get more sympathy. I'm leaning towards buying a big tin of formula and giving it to them but then my driver said that its not unthinkable for the mother to just sell it. I think I'll do it anyway. I can't imagine that a mother would throw away the opportunity to feed her children something good.

I missed a lot of 'good' photos of these two. There have been times that I've seen the older boy pulling silly faces at the baby. And also times when I've seen him rocking the baby to sleep. There was once when I saw him playing around with two other children (yes, in the middle of the road) with the baby in his sling. After all, he's still a kid. Where is the adult??

Edited to add:
I've noticed a group of 2 or 3 women who are always 'camped' under a tree by that roadside during the day time. I think they are the mothers (or maybe renters) of the children. So, thats one place where the adults may be.

Why are they not worried about the Avian Flu?

One of the biggest worries I have about living in Indonesia is about the Avian Flu. It was constantly on my mind last year and because of it, I don't even go near the section of the market that sells chicken.

Obviously, I'm too paranoid to buy any chicken home to cook but I do eat it occasionally when we are out since the danger is when the chicken is still uncooked. However, if I were to let my paranoia go further, I'd worry that the people in the kitchen might somehow have come in contact with an infected chicken when they went shopping for the restaurant. And the worst case would be that they catch the virus and it mutates in them to the strain that can be transmitted from human to human.

Initially, I did have have multiple paranoia induced scenarios in my mind all the time but after awhile, even though I avoided chicken, I 'forgot' that Indonesia has the most cases and deaths (by FAR) from Avian flu. Not a good thing. I'm all fired up again now after a conversation I had yesterday. By the way, as of 28 May, 2008, 108 out of the 241 deaths from Avian Flu was in Indonesia.

Aini asked me why we don't eat chicken. After I told her, she very casually said "Oh yeah, we had that at home. It got a few of our chickens so we moved the others to a different location". She said this with a 'No big deal' kind of tone.

What happened to quarantining and culling the remaining birds in the area??? And guess what else, she's not sure how they disposed of the affected chicken. She thinks they were just buried but they may have been burnt. Not really sure ALL ALL. Wasn't she worried? No, because the affected chicken have been removed.

There was absolutely no worry or a shred of concern from her about the whole issue. She was not aware of the dangers or the potential of a world wide pandemic either. And the ultimate worst part of it all: Even after I told her everything, she doesn't seem to feel the gravity of the situation.

Yes, she is just one person but I am pretty sure that if I were to go ask her neighbors, I'd get similar reactions. There is hardly any mention of the Avian Flu in the newspapers. Nobody talks about it. It is a non-issue here. Even last year when there was more international mention of it, the people here did not have basic facts about it.

Anyhow, my paranoiameter is back up to 'Red Alert'.

The neighbor's ciku tree

The house next to us has been empty for as long as we've been here. They have a large ciku tree that grows over their front fence and it has now become the neighborhood's ciku tree. I call it "ciku" but in Wikipedia, its referred to as Sapodilla.

Just take a look at all the fruit.



All the neighborhood kids help themselves to it. Their parents do the same. I got a bucket full today, as did two other ladies who live down the road.



This fruit is extremely sweet and has a unique texture. I can only describe it as soft, but firm, and grainy, if that makes any sense to you. I was quite surprised to find out that it has no sugar in it because it really is extremely sweet. According to Wikipedia, its also very low in sodium, and very high in dietary fiber and vitamin C. I guess I should take more advantage of this tree right outside our house. So far, we've only been using it as shade to park our car under.