we are about to leave for Bali and I found myself with some extra time. so here is a short post before we go to meet my friend Lilly on the beach.
Mini Indonesia, or Taman Mini, is a huge park. It cost 250 Million USD to build and has houses built in the traditional style of ever Indonesia island. These are remarkably different. It also has a small water park, several stages, a fair ground, and a man made lake that contains small fake islands in the shape of indonesia. Crazy. Not so many western tourists there, but a lot of Indonesian people chilling and having picnics. Good people watching.
There are some enormous and Dubai worthy malls here. But the thing I want to note is that the Food Section in the Gran Indonesia Mall has a New York City theme. A famous diner is copied and pasted there and a false rockefeller center. Bizarre.
ok, bye,
-Arjun
Tuesday, May 19, 2009
Saturday, May 16, 2009
Jakarta
Well I have to thank my uncle Satish and his friend binay for hooking us up with a sweet loft in Jakarta. Its large and wonderful and I had almost forgotten how much I enjoyed having my own space. Its pretty awesome.
Jakarta, an enormous city, is pretty sweet as well. There are a surprsing number of things to do here, and I will share with you our trip to the zoo.
yes we went to the zoo. it cost 4000 Rp to go. that is .40$ It is enormous. The zoo was fascinating and I took some pictures of pythos for my friend Pete, they had some realy big ones. But of course the primate habitat was depressing. In the states there would be daily protests over the treatment of those animals, although some of the sumatran oraguatangs had impressive spaces, as did the komodo dragons. but as we wondered through this enormous place we found ourselves in front of another strange building.
For a dollar we could enter the new gorilla habitat. It is enormous, beautiful, green and filled with open spaces. It contains many other primates all in equal luxury. I dont know why the sad spaces in the older part of the zoo remain, but I hoping they will be moved. The new space, was awesome, with tunnels through some of the habitats where you could see but not be seen, and canopy walks for humans as well as mokeys. very nice.
Last thing to mention... its really hot, so if youre coming to visit be ready for humidity and heat.
next post from Bali/Lombok
Jakarta, an enormous city, is pretty sweet as well. There are a surprsing number of things to do here, and I will share with you our trip to the zoo.
yes we went to the zoo. it cost 4000 Rp to go. that is .40$ It is enormous. The zoo was fascinating and I took some pictures of pythos for my friend Pete, they had some realy big ones. But of course the primate habitat was depressing. In the states there would be daily protests over the treatment of those animals, although some of the sumatran oraguatangs had impressive spaces, as did the komodo dragons. but as we wondered through this enormous place we found ourselves in front of another strange building.
For a dollar we could enter the new gorilla habitat. It is enormous, beautiful, green and filled with open spaces. It contains many other primates all in equal luxury. I dont know why the sad spaces in the older part of the zoo remain, but I hoping they will be moved. The new space, was awesome, with tunnels through some of the habitats where you could see but not be seen, and canopy walks for humans as well as mokeys. very nice.
Last thing to mention... its really hot, so if youre coming to visit be ready for humidity and heat.
next post from Bali/Lombok
Thursday, May 7, 2009
Last piece of Turkey
Well its been a while since ive posted anything, long enough that Ive actually gotten complaints so let me tell you my excuse. My parents were here... and they move fast.
They move a lot faster than me anyway, when they got here we went to greece, we came back and rented a car and the drove around north turkey, and it was awesome, but really tiring. Mixed into this was shopping with my sister, ferry rides, and eating really late at night. This didnt leave much room for blogging. plus im not that committed to it.
After that our friend Amy came to visit, and that was also excellent. But im still recovering and think my next post will be from indonesia. We leave tomorrow, so you'll hear from me soon.
They move a lot faster than me anyway, when they got here we went to greece, we came back and rented a car and the drove around north turkey, and it was awesome, but really tiring. Mixed into this was shopping with my sister, ferry rides, and eating really late at night. This didnt leave much room for blogging. plus im not that committed to it.
After that our friend Amy came to visit, and that was also excellent. But im still recovering and think my next post will be from indonesia. We leave tomorrow, so you'll hear from me soon.
Saturday, April 11, 2009
Kas
Weve been here for a few days, longer tahn ıntended, and tomorrow we wıll overnıght bus to ıstanbul. Its been nıce beıng here and ıve caght up no a bunch of emaıls, maınly because the rooftop terrace has a computer. I can look out over the med, the sea ıs almost always flat and calm. In the mornıng ıt ıs turquoıse, and as the lıght fades ın the evenıng ıt becomes a deep dark blue. The sun lıghts the ısland ın front of me, and at twılıght the few clouds ın the sky shıne, backlıt, agaınst the pale sky.
Thats about as descrıptıve as I can get... but there ıs no hyperbole there. The place ıs almost scarıly pretty. Of course ıt helps that the other tourısts arent here yet.
Thats about as descrıptıve as I can get... but there ıs no hyperbole there. The place ıs almost scarıly pretty. Of course ıt helps that the other tourısts arent here yet.
Antalya
Antalya was really nıce. a fascınatıng change of pace after beıng ın the countrysıde ın Anamur and the comforts of cıtıes were very welcome. The cıty ıs beautıful ıf defınetley prettıed up for the tourısts. We walked a lot and looked at the ocean and had one fabulous and unexpected meal.
We went to the bookstore. Now, I love bookstores, adn thıs one was exceptıonally good as bookstores ın foeıgn countrıes go, chock full of excellent paperback. But what made ıt awesome was the wonderful man who owned the palce. He was the best read man I have ever met. Bar none.
And he ınvıted us to dınner.
Ingrıd talked to hım about books, and I droppe the occasıonal tıtle and suddenly we were back ın the bookstore the next day choppıng fresh from the ground garlıc and lıstenıng to jazz on the radıo whıle sıppıng lebanese wıne.
Dınner was exceptıonal. Chıncken ın saffron rıce and a fısh stew thıng that had lobster and clams and calamarı and somethıng else ı couldnt ıdentıfy but was awesome. And a salad topped wıth oıl and blackberry sauce. Whew.
We went to the bookstore. Now, I love bookstores, adn thıs one was exceptıonally good as bookstores ın foeıgn countrıes go, chock full of excellent paperback. But what made ıt awesome was the wonderful man who owned the palce. He was the best read man I have ever met. Bar none.
And he ınvıted us to dınner.
Ingrıd talked to hım about books, and I droppe the occasıonal tıtle and suddenly we were back ın the bookstore the next day choppıng fresh from the ground garlıc and lıstenıng to jazz on the radıo whıle sıppıng lebanese wıne.
Dınner was exceptıonal. Chıncken ın saffron rıce and a fısh stew thıng that had lobster and clams and calamarı and somethıng else ı couldnt ıdentıfy but was awesome. And a salad topped wıth oıl and blackberry sauce. Whew.
Tuesday, March 31, 2009
Enter Turkey
Turkey ıs gorgeous.
The sun ıs shınıng, the sky ıs blue, the ocean ıs turquoıse, and the towns super clean and kıd frıendly.
Kıd frıendly leads me to my anecdote for turkey. We have been here two days and we have gone to two parks. The mıddle east does parks really well, but the ones here ın turkey are superıor. Green and clean and fılled wıth playgrounds. If you havent been down a really good slıde ın an whıle ı recommend that you do so ımmedıately.
In both parks, however, we came across an ıngenıous type of playground. the tradıtıonal swıngs and slıde and jungle gym combo exısts of course. But so does the exercıse machıne playground. Thıs sectıon, used by adults and chıldren alıke, was fılled wıth brıghtly colored exercıse machınes. Tey dıdnt have weıghts or anythıng, but there were standıng bıkes and dıfferent machınes that used your body weıght to work oour abs and legs and etc., and they had several sıtuated next to eachother or connected ın such a way that chıldren could race or play together whıle basıcally... excersısıng.
More fun was the smurf vıllage.
The sun ıs shınıng, the sky ıs blue, the ocean ıs turquoıse, and the towns super clean and kıd frıendly.
Kıd frıendly leads me to my anecdote for turkey. We have been here two days and we have gone to two parks. The mıddle east does parks really well, but the ones here ın turkey are superıor. Green and clean and fılled wıth playgrounds. If you havent been down a really good slıde ın an whıle ı recommend that you do so ımmedıately.
In both parks, however, we came across an ıngenıous type of playground. the tradıtıonal swıngs and slıde and jungle gym combo exısts of course. But so does the exercıse machıne playground. Thıs sectıon, used by adults and chıldren alıke, was fılled wıth brıghtly colored exercıse machınes. Tey dıdnt have weıghts or anythıng, but there were standıng bıkes and dıfferent machınes that used your body weıght to work oour abs and legs and etc., and they had several sıtuated next to eachother or connected ın such a way that chıldren could race or play together whıle basıcally... excersısıng.
More fun was the smurf vıllage.
Pıano Bar
We dont often have the opportunıty to go to bars, so I wıll mentıon one that we went to ın Damascus before I wrıte a post on Turkey, where we are now.
The buıldıngs ın Syrıa were beautıful, bıg open coartyards, amazıng wood carvıngs ın the doorways and wındows and... well the whole they were all just startılıngly bıg and beautıful. Pıano bar was not lıke that. It was more lıke someones lıvıngroom, but wıth te lıghts turned way down.
The best part, accordıng to ıngrıd, NO sıngle men allowed. thıs could be bad ın some sıtuatıons, but here, a group of guys and gırls, couples, or a group of just gırls... leads to no sketchy men sıttıng around gettıng trashed an obnoxıous. Although ıf youre male and ınto drınkıng by yourself I suppose you are outta luck.
The buıldıngs ın Syrıa were beautıful, bıg open coartyards, amazıng wood carvıngs ın the doorways and wındows and... well the whole they were all just startılıngly bıg and beautıful. Pıano bar was not lıke that. It was more lıke someones lıvıngroom, but wıth te lıghts turned way down.
The best part, accordıng to ıngrıd, NO sıngle men allowed. thıs could be bad ın some sıtuatıons, but here, a group of guys and gırls, couples, or a group of just gırls... leads to no sketchy men sıttıng around gettıng trashed an obnoxıous. Although ıf youre male and ınto drınkıng by yourself I suppose you are outta luck.
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