At the time of this particular post, we are in the thick of the wet season.

Maybe it’s because we have moved out to Bogor, but I don’t recall ever having seen so much rain in my 20 years in Indo. Not the full weeks’ non-stop rain and drizzle, like you get in Sydney and down the south coast of OZ. The rain still comes mainly in strong bursts that last for an hour or two and then subside , allowing all the bikies to get to their destination a little less drenched.

The afternoon drive home has been great. You can see mountains on all sides of Jakarta at the moment. There’s some really big ones out Bogor way, and I’ve never seen them so clearly.

I’ll see if I can get some photos up.

“How come the ‘bule’ men like to go out with black girls ?” A question I often hear from female friends who are interested in foreign men. (you can find legions of them on Tagged or Facebook – looking for Mr. Right – ‘preferably rich, preferably white’). Well for me, your fairly average Australian bear, skin colour has never been high on the priority list for qualities to look for when choosing a life partner. Call me old fashioned, but I was attracted to my wife because of her personality. She may well have been green or purple for all I care.

Many indonesian women find it extrodinary. ‘How could he choose a black girl, over a white princess like me ?’ Being dark skinned it seems has connotations with working outside ; dirty, lower class, un-educated – ‘Kuno’ (from the village) as they like to sum it up over here. So for many of the girls who are born on the browner side of the spectrum – and it’s a whole lot of many – there is a great desire to change their colour and thus distance themselves from the ‘poor person’s’ stereo-type.

Well the Bali beach sports games is under way with 30 odd countries participating. No doubt the government will have had a big campaign and drive to clean the beaches to ward off international criticism. At least the beaches will be clean for a while.
The main problem for nearly all of Indonesia’s beaches is that most peoples sewage goes straight into the river, untreated, and then straight out to sea. My surfing mate Ben often jokes about ‘dodging the brown sharks’ ( eeyyww) when reporting on surf trips in Java’s Pelabuhan Ratu.
The second worst polluter to human waste is plastic bottles and cups.
Danone Aqua is the main producer of drinking water in Indonesia. There bottles are literally everywhere. And I don’t just mean in the market shelves. Empty bottles and aqua cups possibly comprise 20% of most rubbish tips and litter that is frequently thrown straight onto the street in this country.
What is Danone Aqua doing about this ? Their water used to come in glass bottles, but these days Pep-bottles are the go – drink and throw. Ironically Aqua has a new TV commercial that preaches of a brighter , cleaner future for Indonesia’s children. Why can’t they put some of their marketing budget into an anti-litter campaign to educate people not to throw bottles in the river or onto the side of the road ? Why doesn’t the government or the people hold Aqua responsible for the garbage they generate ?
Here is a link to Danone’s website ;