Mmm, Mock Indonesian!

Okay, are you a vegetarian sitting around your house in China over the weekend and not really inspired to have the same old same old rice with some kind of vegetable for lunch or dinner? Is your 10 pound bag of pasta that you bought at Metro five months ago starting to run low? Don't want to stick around for the couple of hours that it takes those pinto beans that you found one time at the local market and bought, like, a wheelbarrow full, to boil?

Well, my friends, have I got the answer for you. Mock Indonesian, a cuisine whose moment is about to arrive. Detractors might say, "Hey, wait a minute! This is just leftover Chinese food presented in a different shape with a bit of peanut butter thrown in as it's reheated." To which I say, Hey. This is China. There are no detractors here.



Here's how you do it:

1. Make some rice. If you're doing white rice, add a little more water than usual to make it stickier. Fried rice is cool, too, of course. Add in all them other leftovers that were starting to migrate to the back of the fridge, while you're at it.
2. Make some veggies. Leafy greens are the best. A peanut sauce is even better than the best.
3. Pack the rice into a small bowl, then invert the bowl onto a plate. You should have a perfect mound of rice right in the middle. Did it fall all over the place? Oh-oh, that one's for you. Repeat until you get three perfect servings for the kids.
4. Arrange the veggies artfully on the side. Top with a bit of peanut sauce and roasted peanuts, if they're handy.
5. Serve to great fanfare, and watch your kids gobble it down repeatedly, weekend after weekend.
6. Of course, you're welcome.
   

The plane is coming! Let's have a picnic!

Some related notes about flying in Indonesia before moving on - there aren't very many flights scheduled from Jakarta to West Papua, and the ones that are scheduled are a bit more, um, rustic than flights we've taken elsewhere. First, the distance from Jakarta to Jayapura is pretty huge - four or five hour's flight time, about the same as from LA to Florida in the US. (Okay, that's a rough guess - please correct me if I'm wrong.) It's made longer by two stops in between, during which everyone gets off the plane, the crew is changed, and then continuing passengers get back on the plane again for the next leg of the trip.

Second, the plane has seen a little more wear and tear than most airplanes that are flying around in other places. From the look of it, our 737 probably started its career flying between Dallas and Omaha sometime around 1977, and hadn't had any new seat upholstery installed since then. We made it there safely, stopping first at Makassar on the island of Sulawesi, then the small company-owned gold mining town of Timika in West Papua before arriving in Jayapura in the late afternoon.

The best part of the journey came on the way back, as we made our first stop on the small island of Biak. What made it? As we taxied around for takeoff, I noticed that there were all sorts of people, grouped along the edge of the runway. I was curious for a bit, then noticed the blankets, baskets of food, and even a vendor or two. Everyone was coming out for a picnic, and to watch the plane take off.

I was just starting to think how many milliseconds somebody would be able to even be inside of the security fence in an airport in the Sates before the National Guard would be called in and every single airport in the country closed, when we started our takeoff. As we accelerated, I watched the two kids in the picture above running alongside the runway, waving and smiling and (I assume) screaming with delight at the top of their lungs. Would that every airport in the world could be so...

Indonesia from the air

A selection of cropped pictures from our flights in Indonesia from Jakarta to Jayapura and back.

Keepin' it simple

A very nice small portable kiddie carnival, seen at the market in downtown Jepara, in north central Java, Indonesia.

Some signage, most excellent...

Bangkok, near Chinatown in a neighborhood that specializes in automobile engine reconstruction


"Fried Chicken, Tofu, Tempeh"
Indonesia is full of roadside restaurants like this one with their specialty animals painted on them. Did I photograph any? Of course not, except for this one in Bali, near the end of our stay in the country.


The sign that pointed to our restaurant on the beach, on Bali's north coast. (Well, okay, actually the place that we ate at a lot - you know what I mean)


..and another sign from Bali to round out the group. Happy noticing, everyone!

Gasp, graffiti!

Another autopost for your viewing pleasure - this street mural from Jepara, Indonesia, which has a little turn-of the century Mexico feel to it somehow. Anyone willing to do a bit of Googling for the back story of this mural? It was surprisingly refreshing to see graffiti on our trip, as it's fairly absent in China...

Arrangements of things in no particular order, part 1