Jakarta, Indonesia

Finallly, I had my opportunity to get behind the wheel and drive around Indonesia! And, I got my hands on a Toyota Harrier and and the Avanza.

Believe it or not, driving around Indonesia (especially Jakarta) is much like driving around the streets in Metro Manila: there is practically no order. To make it much harder (for me anyways), they drive on the wrong side of the road.

Driving around Central Java and Jogjakarta was a...fun experience. The roads are very good. There's practically no traffic (compared to Jakarta). But as a person who is not used to theri style of driving, there were hairy moments. Grabeng makapina ang mga drivers 'dun: ang ninipis. Motorcycles are everywhere and and most of them just zip around like flies. Most especially the mini-buses My Indon friend was laughing at me all the time because I was not removing my left foot from the brake pedal. However, after about 2-30mins, I was driving like a native.

We went to all sorts of places. The places I would most rember ar Borobodor and Prambanan. Borobodor is the world's largets Buddhist temple that was built in the 8th century. Prambanan is a Hindu temple complex that was built in the 9th century. For me, going to these two places was....surreal. Whatever calming energy that those places had during their heyday, it's still present up to this day: it has been so long since I felt the kind of calm I felt when I went to those places.

As for driving the Harrier, it was an...okay experience. Great performace at high speeds but at low revs, the acceleration is only so-so. It is a gas guzzler (3.0 V6 DOHC) but damn, that car does look ***y (for my tastes at least).

I posted some of my pics but I ain't a good photogrpaher so pardon if I'm not a good shot.

Next stop: Sumatra.