Taman Safari Jakarta

On Ben's last break we decided to go and visit the Taman Safari Park here in Jakarta.

It was about two and a half hour drive from Jakarta, which I am glad we went on a week day as I heard from other expats weekends are just to busy to really enjoy the experience.

The road leading up to the safari park was lined with carrot sellers where we stopped to purchase a number of bunches of carrots as when you drive through the park you are allowed to feed the animals in some sections. I don't think I had ever seen so many carrots in the one place.

On arrival to the entrance we were given a map that shows the park is made up of a number of different sections one of which you drive around and see all the animals roaming and some will even come up to you car to take the carrots from you. Paige was really excited to see all the animals but at first she didn't want to feed them through the window but after a while she changed her mind.

While driving you enter a section of the park which has the large cats roaming and it suggests to keep the windows up in the car. I was surprised at how many Indonesian people in their cars kept their windows down, as usual many Indonesians don't think about their safety.

Once we had driven around the section we headed to the section where you could hold some baby animals which we did.

I think for Indonesian standards the park is very well done and the highlight for me was to hold a baby orangutan.

Picture: One of the animals going up to a car

Picture: Ben feeding one of the animals a carrot from the car

Picture: Camels on the parks drive

Picture: Zebra on the parks drive

Picture: Paige patting a tiger cub

Picture: Bernadette & Paige patting a white tiger cub

Picture: Paige holding a baby orangutan

Picture: Bernadette holding a baby orangutan

Picture: Baby orangutan trying to give Bernadette a kiss

Picture: The parks lion bus

Picture: The parks rhino bus

Picture: The parks tiger bus

Cooking Class

Having lived in Indonesia before there are curtain food dishes I really like. This time I thought I would like to learn to cook them so with out wasting any time I arranged with a friends housekeeper, Marnie to teach myself and my house keeper, Isah how to cook Indonesian Chicken Curry.

I have tasted Marie's chicken curry before and really liked it so what better way to spend a morning then learning how to make some Indonesian food.

I think the best part of the morning was eating what we had made for lunch.

Picture: Isah and Marnie

Picture: Marnie picking some ingredients from the garden

Picture: Isah & Marnie cutting up the ingredients

Picture: Combining some ingredients in the mortar and pestle

Picture: Frying the curry mixture

Picture: Chicken curry cooking

Indonesian Chicken Curry

1kg chicken drumsticks or fillets, 1 onion medium diced, 3 salam leaves, 4 candle nuts, 4cm piece of ginger, 4cm piece of galangal, 2cm piece of turmeric, 4 large kaffir lime leaves, 3 garlic cloves, 5 lemongrass Stalks, half tsp black peppercorns, quarter tsp coriander seeds, quarter tsp brown sugar, 200ml coconut milk, 4 tbls light olive oil, 2 carrots sliced, 2 potatoes cubed and a handful of green beans.

Start by pounding the peppercorns in a mortar and pestle, in sequence adding the following to each layer, candle nuts, garlic, galangal, ginger and turmeric.

Trim and bruise the lemongrass stalks.

Heat oil in frying pan and add the onion and fry for 2 minutes, reduce the heat, then add the curry paste and keep frying until all the aromas are released.

To this add the lemongrass and salam and kaffir lime leaves 1 tsp of salt, gently stir for a few minutes, then add quarter cup of water and the chicken.

Stir the chicken to coat all the flavours of curry paste on the pieces, then almost cover the chicken half way with water and put on the lid and simmer for 45 minutes after this add the carrots and potatoes and cook a further 15minutes then add the green beans and cook a further 15minutes stirring occasionally.

When the vegetables are cooked stir the coconut milk through and service with rice.

Our Pet

Picture: Rani our new kitten

Introducing "Rani" our kitten. When we arrived in Jakarta we promised Paige that once we where settled we may look at getting a pet. We have found with many expats coming and going there are always animals looking for new homes so I thought this time we will wait and see.

Well it just so happens that a friend of ours cat had already given birth to a litter of three kittens and two had already found homes so we decided to adopt the last kitten and we name her Rani, which means princess in Bahasa Indonesian. We have had Rani for about a week now and she seems to have become part of the family, Paige is enjoying having Rani around but doesn't like her wanting to play when Paige is trying to sleep.

Picture: The mother cat with the three kittens

In Indonesia we find many cats wondering around the housing complex and you can tell if they are a local cat by their tail as many local cats are missing part or all of their tails. Something I have always wondered when it comes to pets many Indonesians don't like dogs or cats but others do. It is sometimes hard to find staff to work in your home when you have pets so its always best to let them know at the interview stage that you have pets because they will either say yes or no to working for you.

At times I find it a very confusing issue in Indonesia the two main religions are Muslim or Christian and depending on how religious a person is will depend on their tolerance of having animals around.

I decided to do some research on the Internet and found the following explanation:

"It is perfectly acceptable to have dogs outside your home as guard dogs for your house,farm, property, animals ect. It is preferred to not have them in the home in order to keep your home clean and pure for the reason of making salat (prayer) because the angels will be witnessing your salat (praying) and angels are know in Islam to dislike unclean places. It is a kind of respect for your angel to keep your area, room apartment, house clean and free from animal hairs, debris, dirt and even dust. Even owning an indoor cat is permissible if the cat is clean, house trained and you clean up after it. If the cat is causing your home to be unclean then even a cat indoors is haram if it causes you heath or cleanliness issues"

In reading the above I realised why the house maids always like to keep the houses so clean and that might explain why before praying Muslim people wash them selves clean.

Picture: One of the local cats roaming around the housing complex

House 21 Waiting To Move In

What is it with living overseas and finding somewhere to live, that is always such a pain in the bum?

After we arrived having looked at different houses in the different locations in Jakarta we decided that we wanted to stay on in the housing complex we are currently staying in with the apartment.

I decided that I would look at the different style housing here and see what would meet our budget. When you view houses they don't really tell you the rental costs until you choose something. What I did was I viewed about ten different houses, some empty and some that would be free in about four six to eight weeks and rated them from my first choice to last choice. Then I had to wait to see what was in our budget. Most where out of our budget being the first price quoted from the complex. Then we had to start negotiating the prices down hoping that one of the houses on the top of our list would be in budget.

Here in Indonesia you also have to consider VAT which is a tax not included in the rental so that always makes the TOTAL cost of rentals quite high.

Other quite common practises here in Indonesia is landlords would rather have a house remain empty then to bring the rent down, empty houses are never maintained until someone decides they will rent the property then and only then will any extra money be spent fixing it up.

We did decide on one house which we could of moved into straight away but the complex wouldn't come to the party in meeting our budget. So it felt like I was back to the drawing board looking again. Another day another couple of viewings. This time a couple of houses that had been vacant for quite a while and in need of some repairs looked promising.

You always ask for items that you want done in the house before signing a contract here because once a contract is signed you never get extra things done. After submitting a five page list of requests which ranged from minor to major items I can say that the decision is made and we have found a house. We have been in the apartment coming up to four weeks now so I am hoping at the longest it will only be another three weeks until we move in to the house. There is so much to do from painting, knocking out a wall, replacing the bathroom and kitchen the finish line seems a long way off. Below are some pictures of the progress so far.

Picture: House 21 is were we will be living


Picture: A wall in the kitchen is being taken out




Picture: Lounge room ceiling being repaired

Picture: Old kitchen is being replaced

Picture: One of the bathrooms is being re done

Picture: Cupboards being built in


Picture: Louver windows being replaced with other windows

Picture: Air cons being added to the main bedroom

Picture: Ceiling and windows being fixed in small second living area

Picture: Side garden needs cleaning up

Picture: Back yard needs cleaning up

Picture: Back area needs cleaning up

Mine Site Location

The main reason we are living in Indonesia is because of Ben's new job. Here is some information about where Ben is working.

Ben writes;
I am currently working at the Satui Mine Site. Satui is one of a number of coal mines run by PT Arutmin Indonesia. The others are Senakin, Asam-Asam, and Batulicin. They are all located in southern Kalimantan, Indonesia.

Picture: Map of the area

Picture: Mining at Kresna Pit at Satui

I won't go into much detail, but the Satui project has an overall length of 40km with multiple pits over this distance (not all working simultaneously), so it's not small. It's being operating now for ten years and has quite a few years left in reserves. There are over 2000 people working here, most of whom live at the nearby town of Sungai Danau (5 minutes from site) or in Banjarmasin.

Coal is hauled to the port at the estuary of the Satui River where it is loaded via conveyors onto barges (20,000 tonnes/day) and towed to its destination (a ship, or other port). Over 120 million cubic metres of waste and ore is mined annually using a variety of large mining equipment.

Picture: Coal exposed in the pit floor. The trucks on the left are Cat785's

So, to get to site on a Monday morning after my four day break, I leave home at 4am, drive for an hour to get to the airport here in Jakarta (the return drive in the evening takes around one and a half to two hours depending on traffic), then I catch a Garuda flight to Banjarmasin and then a contract company driver picks me up at the airport and drives for three hours to get to the Satui mine site.

Picture: This is what it's all about, "Batu bara" (Coal)

Picture: Coal loading onto barge

One thing that is a little unusual for me here is there is a problem with the local population of monkeys. They have grown a bit too aggressive and can be heard running over the roof of the office.

Picture: A cheeky monkey looking through my office window

Picture: A safety sign

Fabric Shopping

Today I went out with my friend Marina fabric shopping. Here in Jakarta you can have any piece of clothing copied but finding the right material is the key. Indonesia being such a humid climate it is best to try and wear cotton but to find any material made of cotton is quite hard. Wanwan, Marina's driver said he knew of a good market that we could visit to find what we where looking for so we thought "why not, lets give it a go".

Picture: Some of the market stalls

Picture: Some pretty materials on show

Picture: Marina taking a closer look

The market was called Cipadu Market. There we found a number of stalls selling all types of materials. We walked along hearing "masuk Mrs" (come in) if something caught our eye we would enter to see and feel the material. From satin, polyester, lace and fleece we made our way along the stalls looking for that holy grail of cotton. I found the locals quite friendly and helpful offering suggestions without really knowing what we where after. Flower patterned material seemed quite popular because that's what the shop keepers kept pointing out to us to see. There where some beautiful materials that maybe would been worn by the local ladies when they got married, so much choice but not what we wanted. Our persistence paid off as we did manage to find what we think is cotton in a colour we liked so I am sure our next visit will be to the tailor.

Picture: Marina & Wanwan, Marinas driver surrounded by lots of material



Picture: A little girl I met on the visit to the market


Picture: Wanwan happy we found some cotton material

Visiting The Museum Indonesia

Museum Indonesia looked interesting in American Women's Association directory so we thought we would take the time to visit.

As we arrived at the address that is written in the book we where surprised to find that there was a entry toll for parking and that the museum we wanted to visit was located in a large park and later we found out the park was called Taman Mini Indonesia http://www.tamanmini.com/

The area surrounding the Tamin Mini Indonesia also housed other museums in separate buildings. Our driver dropped us off at what we thought was the museum we wanted and as we walked through the wooden building we where quite disappointed and thought 'We have spent an hour in the car for this?' With no map or information in English we where left standing there a bit shocked.

We ended up stumbling onto the information building where we where given a map and pointed in the right direction towards the museum of Indonesia. What we didn't realise was where our driver had dropped us was at one of the houses that was on display and that the building we wanted was around the cornor. What can I say except "the I factor" got us. I think I will explain the "I factor" in another blog.

Picture: Ben & Paige being shown the park display at the information building

Once we found the Museum Indonesia we where pleasantly surprised at the displays and information which where housed on the three levels of the building. Arts crafts, traditional costumes from the different regions of Indonesia, musical instruments, masks and a large variety of utensils and equipment used in every day life was on display and we where able to get a taste of the different regions that make up Indonesia as a country.

Picture: Ben & Paige sitting on the steps to the museum

I think you need more then just a couple of hours to discover the park "Taman Mini Indonesia" so I am sure we will take another drive out this way.

Picture: Outside of the Museum Indonesia

Picture: Paige paying the entry fee

Picture : Paige standing next to a carved garuda

Picture: Paige looking at some of the costumes


Picture: Ben & Paige listening to the different musical instruments

Picture: Some shadow puppets

Picture : Display of fishing equipment

Picture: Display of rice covers

Picture: Display of baby caring baskets

Picture: Display of jewelry

Picture: Ben & Paige standing next to the tin carved tree of life

Picture: Sail boat made out of spun silver

Picture: Ben & Paige walking over the bridge in the surroundings gardens

Picture: Ben & Paige having a cool drink at lunch time