Page 47 and a strange fruit.

[Indofred]

This is a tree, a basic, common and ordinary tree, but with bamboo learning against it.
Bamboo is cheap or free here, so it's very common to see the stuff being used for building work.

This tree has more hanging around in its branches.

Flying chickens aren't the norm here, but they're not that unusual either.
They can fly up to the branches, probably about 3 meters, and can manage short flights of 10 or 20 meters.
and they're pretty big.

 

[Indofred]

These have been around for a while now, but they've expanded to sell all the types of petrol available in Indonesia.

 

[Indofred]

It's holiday season here, and that means traffic jammmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmms ~ less, that long.

In turn that means misery, overheating cars, overheating people and business opportunities.

 

[Indofred]

Many of the street vendors are extremely poor, meaning their shack is commonly their home as well.
An early morning jaunt allows you to see things most people never do.

 

[Indofred]

Bread is surprisingly popular here, so it's sold in all supermarkets, most mini markets and by many street street sellers who run about in/on everything from a pushbike to a van.

 

[Indofred]

Many shopping centres have food courts with a wide variety of what many consider junk food, but we also have to admit it's delicious.
One of my favourites is Doner kebab. Seriously, I don't often get the chance to buy one but I leave the big places alone if I know there is one around.

If they aren't to your taste, there's a wide variety of other stuff available or you can dine at one of the many 'sit down' restaurants in the malls.

 

[Indofred]

I finally got around to trying the bus from Bintaro to Ratu plaza in Jakarta.
It's cheap at Rp14,000 (Less than a quid or a bit over a Dollar), and it's fast, but, and there's always a big but, it was really bumpy to the point where even I felt travel sick

 

[Indofred]

I saw my first lady motorcycle taxi driver today.

 

[Indofred]

Indonesia is a country of extremes.
Here's a guy trying to earn an honest buck by making brooms to sell at the side of the road.

The owner of this old car probably doesn't make brooms for a living.

 

[Indofred]

The local government in Jakarta is seriously worried about the terrible traffic jams, as is pretty much everyone who gets stuck in them.
I'm guessing the free bus service is an attempt to get people out of their cars, but I'm open to correction.

The buses are 'functional' but clean and tidy ... and free

 

[Indofred]

Kelapa muda (Young coconut) is a popular drink here, and mostly profit for many as the vendors just harvest wild coconuts for free.

Here's how they prepare it (Watch your fingers)

 

[Indofred]

Seafood is quite common in Indonesia, but there are restaurants every couple of hundred meters as you go down the roads near holiday resorts.
They vary wildly in quality, but I have yet to visit any that were better than 'acceptable'. Some are brick buildings but many are bamboo structures. The food is usually cooked to order so is generally fresh.
This one in in Anyer, and could be said to be pretty typical of the sort of thing you'll find there.

 

[Indofred]

The big holiday season has come and gone, and so have all the tourists from the major resorts, but they left their rubbish.
This scene was pretty much the same at every rest stop and a good few of the beach side parking areas and markets.
There's little by way of local habit here as far as throwing rubbish in bins is concerned, and very few bins anyway.

 

[Indofred]

Many people have no access to piped water, so wells are very common here.

 

[Indofred]

The same goes for toilets, many people have no proper sanitation.

A house ... sort of

The toilet

Some are even worse.
The drain is the river.

 

[Indofred]

The lady of the well was outside a house who's owners have a little cottage industry going.
People here who are unable to find work or feel they can do better by starting a micro business conduct a variety of trades, this one making fish food.

This attitude to work and their determination to look after their families strengthens my admiration for the Indonesian people.

 

[Indofred]

Another very interesting cottage industry is this one. I discovered this place the same day as the fish food.
The old way of calling Muslims to prayer was a drum as well as the vocal call. The drums were louder than the voice so would attract more attention over a greater distance. Many mosques still use the drum, and many more keep one as a nod to the past

[

Goat skins are used as the cover

and old oil drums as the soundbox

 

[waltky]

Granny says handlin' a toad'll give ya warts...

Bangladesh treats first case of 'tree girl' syndrome
January 31, 2017 - A young Bangladeshi girl with bark-like warts growing on her face could be the first female ever afflicted by so-called "tree man syndrome", doctors studying the rare condition said Tuesday.

Ten-year-old Sahana Khatun has the tell-tale gnarled growths sprouting from her chin, ear and nose, but doctors at Dhaka's Medical College Hospital are still conducting tests to establish if she has the unusual skin disorder. Less than half a dozen people worldwide have epidermodysplasia verruciformis but none so far have been women, said Samanta Lal Sen, the head of the hospital's burn and plastic surgery unit. "We believe she is the first woman," Sen told AFP.

Her father, a poor labourer from Bangladesh's rural north, said he didn't worry too much when the first warts appeared on his daughter's face about four months ago. But as the growths spread rapidly he grew concerned and brought Khatun from their village to the capital Dhaka for treatment. "We are very poor. My daughter lost her mother when she was only six. I really hope that the doctors will remove the barks from my beautiful daughter's face," her father Mohammad Shahjahan told AFP.

Sahana Khatun, 10, poses for a photograph at the Dhaka Medical College and Hospital​

Another of Khatun's doctors said the young patient was displaying a milder form of the disease, and it was hoped she would make a quicker recovery than those in the more advanced stages. The hospital has been treating one man with a serious case of the disease for the better part of a year, conducting 16 surgical procedures to remove giant warts from his hands and legs.

Huge growths weighing five kilogrammes (11 pounds) each had consumed the hands of 27-year-old Abul Bajandar, the first recorded Bangladeshi to be suffering from the disease. His plight has captured national attention and the interest of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, who promised the patient would receive treatment free of charge. Doctors told AFP last month that for the first time in a decade, Bajandar had been able to touch his wife and daughter, and was almost ready to leave the ward.

Bangladesh treats first case of 'tree girl' syndrome