Page 47 and a strange fruit.

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A new life, very likely to be not much of a life.
Mostly because the baby's chances of an education and an escape from poverty are almost zero.

 

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Cars can be fun out here. This thing would be rejected by most scrap yards in England, but is still on the road here.

 

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In small villages, families tend to marry out of their home area these days, but, even a very few years ago, it was very common for villages not to travel much.
I know people in my old village that have never travelled more than 15KM from their home, thus they tend to marry locally, and that means within extended family.
Epidermodysplasia verruciformis is a nasty disease that requires the victim to have 2 abnormal EV genes (one from each parent). This would be seriously unlucky in an out of area marriage.
Various European royals had haemophilia for the same reasons.
With careful treatment, the growths can be removed as they appear, and before they turn into cancers that will probably kill the victim.
That requires cash, something that people from villages are less likely to have.
If you have a deformity, you have very little chance of a real job, so directing traffic for whatever drivers give you is one of your few options.

 

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I like messing about, so I got my smaller camera and fitted it to my helmet, then rode from McD, Bintaro to McD BSD.

I edited a little before I uploaded.

 

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I went for a wander into Jakarta on Tuesday, going in by train...

But went home by taxi. Other people were working.

Other people use the bus. A while ago, the local government decided to import a few London double decker buses.

 

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Seatbelts should be worn at all times.

OK,not this time. Collecting rubbish is a serious business.

 

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Last week in Jakarta - a demo in support of Prabowo.
TV crews a plenty were coving the non event, including Bloomberg.

The lady with the autocue

The cameraman

How they set up against the sun

and we can't forget the talent ...

These were taken whilst the team were doing a live broadcast to Hong Kong.
I found it most interesting to see the way they set up the kit and the clear professionalism they displayed in their work.

 

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Back to those seat belts.

Recycling is hardly government policy here, more a means of the very poor making a little money, but they're making a start.

No seat belts are required for chilling out with a newspaper.

 

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17 August is independence day in Indonesia, so locals tend to celebrate their kicking out of the Dutch.
The Indonesians did an amazing thing against a foreign army, far bigger and far better equipped than theirs, so I have to take my hat off to them.
The new channels all show the big events, with a bunch of important people all saluting the merah putih (The red and white - the Indonesian flag)
The villages also have their version, along with games and fun.

One little event was climbing a pole, a greased up pole, to get prizes. I didn't stay long enough as my wife would shout at me if I was out too long, but I managed a snap of the pole.

 

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The kids had a bike decorating contest.

The men had a tug o war

Come to think of it, the kids had one of those.

With the parents cheering them on.

 

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Oh, yes.
I almost forgot the ladies' contest.

 

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A man started stringing balloons to a bamboo pole.

Women were blindfolded

and given sharp sticks

They had to find and burst the flour filled balloons.

 

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Everyone was having a really good time.

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A couple of snaps from the roads.

My wife went mad when she saw this, asking why I didn't buy them

Early model BMWs are still on the road here.

I wonder what would happen if the white car caught up with the bamboo.

 

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Accidents are very common out here, most caused by gross stupidity.
In turn, much of that is caused by the system where you buy a driving licence, never seeing the inside of a test room in many places.
In this one, the motorcyclist overtook the microbus, ramming the van that was coming the other way.
He went sliding and, as I understand it, the new looking Daihatsu van he hit, slammed his anchors on.
A microbus behind the van swerved to avoid that accident, only to hit the microbus the motorbike had overtaken in the first place.
The only serious injury was the biker, who had a broken leg in the form of an open fracture - the bone sticking out of the skin.
Nasty and very expensive; probably enough to put him in debt for a lot of years.
No idea who will end up paying for the rest of the damage.

One microbus, the least damaged one.

The second suffered a lot more, losing a bit of the front and the windscreen.

The bike was stuffed inside the microbus; I assume it will end up in the police station,probably with both buses. No clue about the van.

 

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Mmmm, I wonder if this is the same woman as a few weeks ago.
Each time she's been with an able bodied person.
I smell a scam beggar.

 

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Dogs need a walk, but men don't always like to walk.

 

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Indonesian food comes in many types, but I like most of the spicy stuff best.
There are literally millions of restaurants but my favourite is still a chain called, SS, or super sambal.
Sambal is a spicy sauce common in Indonesia and Malaysia, and it's lovely.
There must be thousands of varieties, but my absolute favourite is a sweet sambal made at the restaurant above.

The food.

 

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Pertamina is the Indonesian national fuel supplier. There are other types about, but they're hardly playing on a level field, so don't get very much trade.
If you see a petrol station (Gas station), fair chance it will be a Pertamina.

But maybe not this one.
Yes, they are soft drink bottles.

 

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Bakso (Also baso) is a very common food here.
It's meatballs, made of mostly fat, slop, brains, intestines, flour, almonds and a few other things, all boiled until they reach a nice dead looking grey colour.
They are then served in a soup with a bit of veg and a lot of chilli, the latter being to hide the taste.

I almost forgot, they add noodles as well.