Culture Vultures

Today was a day for Old Town Jakarta Culture.  Graham arranged for a tour guide and tuk-tuks to take us around.  Thank God because it was a pretty warm day.

We started out with a very nice breakfast buffet at the hotel.  First we explored the bridge right outside our hotel that has been there since the 1800s when the Dutch ruled Jakarta.

Then we went to see Bastion Culemborg/Amsterdam which was a 17th-century Dutch colonial fortification and watchpost in old Batavia.  It was the Spice House where they stored all of the spices.

• Nutmeg and Mace: Sourced mainly from the Banda Islands and transshipped or consolidated through Batavia to Europe and global markets.
• Cloves: Sourced from the Maluku Islands (Moluccas) and routed through Dutch-controlled ports to international destinations.
• Pepper: Shipped in large quantities from Banten and South Sumatra through the port of Batavia. 

The trees have overtaken the building.

There was plenty of animal life, but not so wild.

Then we went to the old marina and learned that the city was sinking and Indonesia is going to relocate its capital to Nusantara in 2028.

Then we went back to the square we were in yesterday and learned about hangings and the Portuguese cannons.

Tradition was that if a woman was barren, she could sit on top of this hand and it would help her to conceive.  Ummm... And that is the hand signal for wanting sex.  OK.

Then we went to the Wayang Museum (a Puppet Museum) and sat and watched a show for a bit.  It was weird because only one guy did all the puppets and the voices.  Yet there was an enormous 50 person "orchestra" and three women singing.  And everything was done in a Javanese language that nobody understood, not even the locals.  Then the audience was so far back that we couldn't really see anything but there were closed circuit TVs on each side so we could see what what going on.  I didn't love it but it was good to sit for a bit.

Can you say creepy!  I do love the hands though.

These reminded me of Mr. Rogers Neighborhood.

Then we walked over to The House of Tugu where we had lunch.  From the outside, this place looked pretty crappy.  But on the inside it was spectacular!  Graham arranged a sampling of Indonsian dishes for us in a private room.

David trying the Durian Creme Brulee.

After lunch, we got a tour of the museum on the property with artifacts going back five generations from the owner.  It was very interesting but a LOT of stuff everywhere.  

I did pretty well on this walking tour but I was glad to be back at my hotel and definitely needed another shower.  It was so hot.

We are taking the afternoon/evening off and will be boarding transportation to the domestic terminal tomorrow morning at 7am.