The roads are very bumpy and in need for repair on most parts.

There are no proper waste disposal. I could see people living next to their trash.

There are no organization to properly locate certain buildings to certain areas. For example, there are little factories making bricks and roof tiles situated next to restaurants. And hotels popping up from unlikely places. The whole thing is just a mess.

The jam is horrible especially in Jakarta. But in all the stops that I've been to, every road is stuffed with vehicles. You have to force your way into the lane in order to go the way you want because nobody will give way. And I thought that the road in Malaysia is rough but Indonesia just tops it by two times. People will just cut into another's lane without any care for safety. There wasn't any need to line the roads because the people will create their own messed up lines. I was seriously scared during the first few hours in Jakarta. And I'm amazed that there are no accidents while I was there. I was even more amazed that most of the cars there are clean! They are so much cleaner than the cars in Malaysia, even though Indonesia is so much dirtier.

There were people selling their wares wherever we went. They know where tourists are likely to show and they will stay there. The ones at Puncak were the worst. We went to this mosque that's a tourist attraction. The minute we got down from the bus, there were people shoving things at us. And the things are always the same whenever we encountered these people: bracelets, necklaces, sarongs, tidbits, little foldable handbags, t-shirts etc. We managed to escape them when we entered within the vicinity of the mosque because they weren't allowed inside. But when we exited, it was like their numbers doubled. They dogged us until we got onto the bus. About 7 or 8 of them hung around the bus and shove their wares to us at the windows. And it got so bad that 1 or 2 of them practically stepped into the bus and insisted that we buy something. They will not let up until somebody buys something. Our tour guide couldn't tell them to go away because he brings tourists there all the time. What would happen if they turned against him?

Almost every man there smokes. I think I can safely say 99%. It's like a social norm. Even teenagers do it. A packet of cigarettes is RP 5000, which is not even a dollar to us. Smoking is allowed everywhere because they don't understand the "no smoking" sign. They really give no regard to their healths.

But the things there are SO damned cheap! You can easily get a pair of jeans at RP 35000 which is about $5 and t-shirts at RP 20000, which is about $3. But the shopping centres where we went to shop for these cheap items were too packed with people. The air was so stuffy, I wondered how they breathed. But still, we couldn't resist the attractive prices. We shopped so much that we had to buy 2 extra bags just to accommodate our shoppings. And even though the things are very cheap, my mother still bargained. She is the queen of bargaining afterall. For myself, I bought a pair of shoes for RP 25000(the plastic shoes that are also sold at Singapore. I knew that if I bought it here, it would cost at least $16), a "BVLGARI" watch at RP 35000, 1 long dress, a plain white long-sleeved t-shirt and a blouse (I forgot the prices). I also bought 2 other blouses and a handbag(these were bought at a more expensive place, but still slightly cheaper than Singapore). And a bunch of souvenirs for my friends.

During our journey back to the Jakarta airport, when the road was narrowing from 2 lanes to 1, there was this big tourist bus which tried to get ahead of our bus but our bus refused to give way. By right, our bus was the right of way. So, in the end both buses were squished together. The buses were so close to each other that the door handle of our bus came loose and we also almost lost the left mirror when the bigger bus went ahead of us. The helper(he helps the tour guide and also helps to carry our bags up and down the bus) got so pissed of that as payback, he took out his pen knife and scratched the bigger bus. And he continued scratching until the bigger bus passed us by. My brother laughed at that but I was still shaken by the whole almost-accident thing.

On the whole, even though Indonesia is in a sorry state, I could tell that the people there were contented at their situation or at least tried to be happy. So if you want to go there, be prepared of the change of pace and go there only to shop!

(I'll post the pictures in my next post)