Added to the ever growing list of mild annoyance of the things that this pandemic has ruined this year is the celebration of Eid al-Fitr. Like Ramadan, this Eid al-Fitr was my first time experiencing this celebration and even thought COVID-19 hindered this too, I am here to write about the one I got on sale.
A bad picture of «Putri Salju»
First of all, I came to realize that every human celebration ever is basically an excuse to stuff our faces with food and not feel overly guilty about it. Of course bonus indulgence points if we are not the ones cooking the food. My first thought seeing the jars of cookies placed in careful order in the living room table was «That looks like Christmas», which was followed by my friend’s remark that it looks like Holi too. They even had a type of sweet called «Putri Salju», which looks a lot and tastes similar to a sweet we have in Greece for Christmas called «Kourabies».
BBQing on the second day
The feast, like everything here, starts early in the first day of celebration. Before I had the chance to sleep, I was called out my room, to have breakfast. Of course breakfast, lunch and dinner were the same and they were always accompanied with a generous portion of white rice. The savory food was not a lot to my taste -too much coconut milk and unidentified meat chunks- but the sweets…oh the sweets. Many biscuits to eat like there is no tomorrow, with one being the Queen of them all, Nastar. Nastar is a pineapple tart and when homemade, it is delicious. So delicious in fact that I am pretty sure I ate half of the bowl on my own.
Samarinda, Indonesia
Of course celebrations always have the downside of having to socialize. That might not be a drawback, if you are indeed social, but when you throw me in a room full of people I don’t know, I just stand in the corner, eating whatever I can find to keep myself busy, while praying for this to be over soon. The other common affairs that follow such celebrations in Greece, like music, are not really present, at least to my experience. I, honestly, found the whole thing rather dull, after I was done with eating, which to be fair it is the best part in any case. There was nothing much to keep us entertained except for long drawn small talks, with the occasional board game. I also found peculiar that people don’t eat all together, but each one, whenever they want, take their plate, fill it with food found in the open skillets placed in the kitchen table and eat without any coordination or team spirit. Oh, there is also praying, but this is an activity I will not be participating in, any time soon.
Navigating the humble home with friends
Generally, although not a full experience given the circumstances, Eid al-Fitr was not my cup of tea, as I was mostly bored. I have to say, however, that food was great and I often got the feeling of Christmas at these days. So maybe the issues was not the celebration itself, but the fact that it is difficult to properly celebrate, when you are not with the ones you want to.
Coming to Indonesia, I would be defending the choice of women to wear a hijab in any case. That has not changed, I still believe that if a woman wants to wear a hijab, she should, whenever and wherever she pleases. The argument of choice however was changed. Apart for exemptions, before coming here, I would say that it is the choice of the woman herself to wear the hijab (at least in democratic countries, like Indonesia). After living here for a while I have come to realize that it is actually a choice only in exemptions.
First of all, I think that there is one occasion when it is absolutely not acceptable for a female to be wearing a hijab and that is when she is a child or even a baby. I have seen so many two year olds running around with hijabs on their heads and I can never stop feeling appalled by it. In a conversation I had as to why, they told me that it is for training. You train, as a parent, your girl, to get used to the hijab and then when she comes to an age when she can make her own choices, she decides whether she wants to continue wearing it or not. I do understand that this might not be the reasoning for everyone, but that was the one I got. It is ridiculous that there are parents that feel that they need to train their kids in such regards. You are forcing a child to hide themselves, you are intentionally taking away from them the ability to play or run around as they want and you are clearly making them suffer in the heat, for what? To train them like their upbringing is some sort of moral experiment? If parents want their children to truly choose whether or not they want to wear a hijab, then they should give them the information and actually let them choose!
That brings another issue as well. Why do we only choose to train girl this way? Yeah, of course boys are also trained in praying or learning the Quran but it is mostly girls in every religion or society, that we feel we should reform somehow. It is girls that should always be the responsible, pure ones, while boys can go play around. I understand that this attitude is slowly changing, in some areas faster than others, but it is sickening to see such bland examples of unfair treatment towards girls. So, even though no one asked, I will say that I don’t agree with little girls wearing hijabs in any context and no excuse can change my mind, because that’s all they are, excuses. The reality is that girls wear hijabs because some parents feel that they should grow up with a stronger sense of purity, cause you know «boys will be boys». Well girls will be girls too and that means absolutely nothing.
The matter of choice it a general issue in this subject. First of all, a lot of things we believe that we are choosing, we are really not. Do you think for example, shaving your legs is a choice? It seems logical that it should be right? You choose to buy a razor and you choose to use it, so it makes sense that it was a choice. But if tomorrow you didn’t have the social pressure of having shaved legs, then would you still do it? And if this is true for something purely cosmetic, then how can it not be true for something with moral and ethical implications like wearing a hijab? I mean a hardcore fan of determinism would say that nothing really is a choice, but maybe this is taking it a tad too far. But except for that, my main issue didn’t come from the lack of conscious choice, but more from the realization that some women who were wearing the hijab did not really know why.
I met many young Indonesians, who were wearing the hijab on their everyday life. When I was asking them a question, that as an ignorant non-religious person did not know, like what are you celebrating in Eid al-Fitr, they did not really know to answer. They would also frequently mention that they are such bad Muslims or they do not really care a lot for their religion. Of course there is nothing wrong with that, if the only people that were allowed to identify as Christians, were the ones actually having read and knew the Bible, then in Greece we would probably have five. But I always got this question whenever they said that: «Why are you wearing the Hijab then?». If you are not that much interested in the religion then why are you wearing an extra piece of clothing? I never asked that of course, it might have been too offensive or sensitive of a question to ask. My question still stands however, why are women wearing that if not for religious purposes?
Of course I am not that oblivious not to understand that religion and society are moving hand in hand. If you grow up in a society were everyone is wearing a hijab and you are raised with the idea that this is the right thing to do, of course you will wear it too, even if you don’t care about the religion as much. That goes back to the question of choice of course, since if you just grow up knowing something as right, yes you are going to do it no matter what. Again, everyone, everywhere does that with everything, even if it is with superstitions like knocking on wood. But at least people should have the curiosity to know why, right? I shave my legs and I don’t like, but I know that I am doing it to please some societal standards, so why are women wearing hijabs when the reason is not religious? Do they know the societal pressure or they just convince themselves that it is because they want to? I am not of course here to pretend that I am superior for partly understanding my own lack of choice and open anyone’s eyes to it. I am, myself, wondering how much we understand this lack of choice, especially in serious matters like this one.
Of course, I still believe that any woman has a right to wear or not wear a Hijab and no one should take that away from them. A choice or not, in the end it is for her to decide what she wants to do with her body in any context. Feminism is all about choice and let’s not all pretend that we haven’t done things just to please some stupid standards. I also know that I am not part of this community, I am an outsider trying to pick in and understand. Naturally, I do understand that Muslim women very much differ from place to place and cannot be painted with a single brush. What I have realized, however, living here is, of course, that wearing a Hijab is not a choice (but again many thing aren’t, so that’s not the issue), but also got me wondering in why is it still a thing? Trying to phrase the next sentence as carefully as possible, I want to say, that in my, as biased as everyone’s, opinion, a hijab is still a sign of oppression and indoctrination in religion. That doesn’t mean that women, if they want to, shouldn’t wear it, but it might mean that maybe we should talk about this part of religion. The part, in almost every religion, when men and women are often not treated equal, because of a passage or of an interpretation. Of course religions are thousands years old, they are going to be sexist, but how are we adapting today? In the end I know that this is a controversial topic, but it is okay, we should still be talking about it.
My first experience of Ramadan was suppose to be fun, interesting and challenging, but instead I just got the «You are still doing the same as before but now you won’t eat for half the day». But what I am telling you? It is not like this new and trendy pandemic had left anyone unscathed. Whether you lost your trip or… well… someone you loved, we are all moving along to the rhythm of this Dance Macabre, which seems never ending.
I had no religious obligation to fast during Ramadan, but I though it would interesting to challenge myself by not eating or drinking for plenty of hours during the day. Since I am living with a family that would be following it, it would also be a bonding moment when I could better understand their traditions and culture or at least not offend them by eating glorious food in front of their face. I was also promised that Ramadan is a fun occasion for the whole community. In the evening when the sun sets, they all go out, where they are welcomed by many food stalls at the side of the road, inviting them with their smells and with the sound of their empty stomach complaining. But you know, social distancing and all. So, I lost the little motivation I had to follow the fasting and I just ended up eating whenever and whatever as always.
I am, however, surprised that people are still following it, even though the do not get the communal satisfaction at the end of the end. I was always surprised that people were willing to give up one of the greatest pleasure of life, food, to follow some arbitrary rules (doesn’t matter were these rules originated, whatever religion it is), just because they believed they had to. Of course this has to do with my own beliefs more that anything. I personally do not see any point in it, whatsoever (not that anyone is asking), not to just this fasting but any religious fasting. Are there any health benefits? Maybe, but to me, it seems that you are just forcing yourself to revolve around food, more than before, which I guess would be a side effect of any restricting diet. People are just waking up early cause they have to eat and then wait over a clock to be given the permission to eat again. I does seem very hard, but I guess you do get the satisfaction of self-restrain? Maybe..
This whole situation also got me wondering, why is fasting a thing to begin with? Fasting from animal products, I always though could be good for health, helping with cholesterol levels for example. Although one Easter in Greece and you are probably having a heart attack after the 40 days fasting. Of course people just go cold turkey without ever reading of the side effects of not consuming meat and animal products all of a sudden, like B12 deficiency and how to prevent them. On the other case, intermittent fasting has shown to have some positive effects at least on the short term, but that still does not answer why was it written in a book more than a thousand years ago, because clearly they were not up to date with the latest dieting trends then. Maybe they were aware of some benefits, maybe they asked people to do it to prove their restrain, who knows? Maybe I could find out by reading some religious books, but I have not even read Harry Potter yet, so I will pass.
So in the midst of my ignorance, blasphemy and scattered brain thoughts, I just want to ask if in our society, corona or not, fasting really has still a place. Or even not just fasting but its origin as well
PS. Did you know that there are also rules for Astronauts on how to fast for Ramadan?
Like a Benetton Commercial (Before Corona Virus, now we are socially distancing)
Before coming to Indonesia, I knew that in countries like India, there was a need by some people to have as white skin as possible and that there were many practices that could help one achieve that. Yes, I am gonna write about skin color, a very chill and non controversial topic.
I quickly found out that skin whitening is a big thing in Indonesia as well, with people buying skin whitening products and wearing full covering cloths at 30 degrees (although there might be other reasons behind that). The need for white skin, although not a positive side-effect of social norms, is not very surprising to me. I mean with the majority of top grossing movies, many famous models and even athletes being white, it is not wonder that people are pushed to believe that white skin is more beautiful. It is also not that we, in the west, are not going even to cancerous extremes for a good tan. People often want what they don’t have and what they are told they need. There is also the colonizing past of the country, which had certainly left many underlying scars, one of which might be manifesting with skin whitening, but I don’t feel very qualified to analyze it further. What did surprise my however was the names given to the products or the adverting of them, with logos like pure white or white beauty. How can you name your product something implying white superiority, even when taking about a skin tone and not feel ashamed of yourself?
This trend was also ever present in television. Although I would admit that I have not spend many hours in front of Indonesian television and this observation might be easily disputed, I would have to say that the presenters in it are much more fitting with western standards than the percentage of people you will see on the street. Except of the lighter, if I may, skin, which many have, the majority of women are not seen in hijabs, despite them generally being, outside of the small box. That is not to berate them for showing people that are considered beautiful in television, everyone, everywhere, will have attractive people as presenters and not your average Joe, so that is a global issue. That is to say that it seems that the more «western» you are, the more beautiful you are considered, or so it seems, even though Indonesian people have their own looks, which are and should, be equally attractive.
I know that it is very easy to be labelled as an SJW, which talks about non-existent issued with this article, but the truth is that trends like that show, that «white privilege» and even supremacy doesn’t only exists in obvious «Please speak English» ways but also in small ones. Even though if we, as white people (which is clearly a very wide and general term), do not necessarily cause this privilege, we are still the recipients of it. And even though it seems that this is a very small and insignificant issue, when people do not consider themselves beautiful because of their inherit skin color and they go to great extents to change it, then is shouldn’t be.
Going to New York was always a destination I wanted, but never though I would actually go to. I had seen it, like all of us I bet, in so many movies and TV series so I could always picture myself walking down the streets that Miranda Hobbes did. But long and behold and in a mist of disbelief, but also a recent rain, I had arrived to the city that never sleeps.
A helicopter view of a famous statue
Well to be completely fair, we neither arrived nor stayed in New York, but a bus ride away in New Jersey. New York seemed to be too expensive to find a decent place to stay in and since we could easily be in Manhattan with a bus we decided to stay there. Our first stop was a supermarket. One of my favourite activities when visiting a new country is to visit their markets and see what weird or different I can find. Given that, this was the USA and most of their products are well advertised, I had a lot in my list I wanted to try, like lucky Charms cereal and weird flavors of OREO. After a senior discount which my dad liked, cause he didn’t understand they thought he was over 60 and an overload of sugar, we headed for the city.
Times Square
The bus ride was not without incident, since the driver was only accepting exact amount, which we did not have. Thankfully, my mom, opposite to me who would have just paid more, asked for change from another bus rider (is that what they are called?). After arriving at Port Authority, nearly avoiding being scammed by a fella, that was trying to be too helpful in the ticket machines to obvious tourists and a magnificent glimpse of the New York Times building, we have arrived. Where exactly, the question might be. But of course in Times Square. Every guide I read was talking about what a tourist trap it was and how it was not worth visiting, but I am either a tourist enjoyed being trapped or it was actually worth seeing. I could just stay there looking at their big billboard ads for days, which says a lot when I am always skipping YouTube 30 second ads.
A clearly delicious cheesecake in Junior’s
New York was in general a treat. Walking around in the city, you have the feeling that you are smothered by the tall buildings all around you, with just a small line of blue sky to help the light break in. Doesn’t sound too pleasant, but for anyone liking fast paced streets, city sounds and skyscrapers, like me you are going to love it. You might not love however the Museum of Natural History, cause instead of getting a T Rex night in the museum type setting, you will just get less interesting bones. In Central Park you will hopefully not find bones, but it will be fun for a nice walk. 5th Avenue is also good for window shopping, cause clearly actual shopping would not be an accessible idea for most. As for the Top of the Rock in the Rockefeller Center, which I kept pronouncing wrong, it is just a top of a tall building, you have been to one you have been to most. Junior’s Cheesecake however, was not one of many, as it was the richest cheesecake I have ever had and as an avid cheesecake lover, I have eaten many. I couldn’t finish it thought as the portion was just too big and too sweet for me, which seemed to be a pattern for my whole stay there.
A night scene
The next day was full of the classic touristy things, that most guides will suggest you not to do, but as a well known anarchist I will be going against them and tell you to do them, cause they were actually fun, if not a tad overpriced. Overpriced seemed to be a general state in New York, however, anyway. So first double deck bus, with a ride in all New York’s famous sights. It is an easy way, despite the traffic, to move around and see most things, even if it is in a hurry. It is also a great way to take pictures of the skyline above you. Then Ground Zero. The water construction was really bringing a serenity to a sight with such tragedy, while the museum itself except for giving a great sense of how things where, was also a very sobering experience. Close to that was Wall Street, which are a bunch of buildings, I guess, with a bull statue which people, for some reason, have the patience to line up for a picture. It is a bull statue, why even bother waste your time? Our most touristy moment however probably was Madame Tussaud’s. Since we had one of these tourist cards, the ticket was included and it was generally a fun experience. I would probably not suggest paying full ticket though. Finally we rode in these buses that have their one side completely covered with windows so you sit and watch the city like a moving theater audience. I had not seen that before and it was fun, although the comedy of the bus presenters was pretty questionable, ranging from audience targeted jokes to «spontaneous» street performances.
Cookie Dough in a pink cone at Do
Helicopter riding seem to be getting more and more popular as there are many companies offering this service. Although expensive we decided to get into one. I mean if there is any city appropriate for helicopter rides, then it is New York, since the Manhattan skyline is simply one of the best. The ride was fun, although I was expecting it to be more thrilling. Since we got our ride in New Jersey, we decided to get the ferry for Ellis Island from there as well, which was a smart choice since it is much less crowded than the one from New York. Ellis Island, like Ground Zero was very emotional with the stories of the immigrants in every room, even for people like me who never had a personal family story related to it. Then Statue of Liberty, Little Italy, Chinatown and Empire State Building, with so many things already written about them, that I will just be repeating someone (like there were not for Times Square). I want to mention my first edible cookie dough experience in Do thought. Eating anything else other than ice cream in a cone seems wrong, but the flavor was actually great if not a little too sweet
Another concrete smothering hug in New York
MOMA or the Museum of Modern Art. Modern art museums are generally a gamble. You never know what you are going to get. You might get a new view of art or just a line on a blue background which someone deemed magnificent. MOMA had both. It had the starry night which was the painting I wanted to see most in my life but it also had a bunch of nonsense. The good probably over-shined the bad however. That Sunday there was also a flee market in the middle of Manhattan as well, with many things and food and most importantly funky socks. Seeing the streets that are usually full of cars, being full of people was definitely interesting. Brooklyn and its bridge was also interesting. It felt more calm and down to earth, like the place you can make all your avocado and quinoa dreams come true. What I did not expect was to find The Grand Central station interesting, however. I mean it is just a station, but its busy atmosphere and beautiful decoration changed my mind. Lastly I wanted to mention the National Geographic Encounter, which is an above water underwater experience with great employees who don’t seem to enjoy their work. Of course lastly what everybody is waiting for, Shake Shack. Well , except for having the pleasure of dipping fries in milkshakes, it was another burger place – please don’t kill me.
A skeleton infested city
Before closing this lengthy article I wanted to give a few random thoughts. First going on Halloween was great as I got to see many spoooky decorations. Secondly, as said American portions and sugar content is too much for one person to eat alone. Maybe that why it is so expensive because it is meant to be split. Bathrooms are weird as you can clearly see in it with the huge gap in the bottom. October seems to be the perfect time to go as the weather was good and the crowds to the minimum ( at least for New York). Lastly people were helpful but not always the most polite, but I guess when you leave somewhere flooded by tourists, stress and high rents all the times it is to be expected.
Buildings with a line of sky
New York was always a dream of mine, but after going there I can say that I liked other cities better. Of course seeing all the famous landmarks and places is always a great experience and I would love to be back. Now that I am writing this article the city is hit particularly bad by the COVID 19 pandemic, but hopefully it will rise above it like it has in other instances in the past and its streets will yet again be suffocated by people, cars and tourists
Following on the previous path of ill-advised and completely irrelevant for the time articles, let’s talk about Singapore. Singapore is great. In fact, Singapore is so great, that the only think that it could improve is having a little bit of a cooler weather, because the tropical one is too sweaty for my tastes.
The Marina Bay at the sunrise
So, my initial contact with Singapore was a transit flight in Changi Airport. Changi Airport has been voted as the best airport in the world for many consecutive years and there is a reason for it. Actually, there are many reasons for it. One could be that it is has a free movie theater. Another that it has many gardens and ponds in it with koi fish and sunflowers. Or maybe that is has a whole space with comfortable chairs to sleep at, while waiting for your flight. Changi is definitely a great choice for a layover (not that you ever choose your layovers, but if you could…).
The waterfall In Jewel at Changi Airport
However, if you happen (after the whole quarantine and impending doom thing) to find yourself in Changi with plenty of time and a visa free entrance in Singapore, then don’t just stay there. I know it would be very tempting to just waste away in the greatness of this airport, but right next to it you will find the Jewel at Changi Airport. Except for a great Mall, the Jewel has the most magnificent artificial waterfall, one can lay their eyes upon. If you get a good vantage point, you will see the terminal connecting train passing in an elevated platform besides the waterfall, for an extra futuristic scene. Even better every hour, there is a light show, with music, colors and all that jazz.
The Merlion
Singapore is not just its airport, though. There is plenty of magnificence in the city too. Let’s start our day trip in a seven eleven, after an easy metro ride from the airport, with a generous breakfast, like any should be (this article sounds more and more like an advertisement). After many YouTube videos of people storming seven elevens, I was so excited to go and try everything they had to offer, with an emphasis on their buns. They did not disappoint. After eating, a walk in the Marina Bay is required. There, except for the great city view, is also the Merlion, which is just a lion head with a mermaid body that spews water. Fun to see, but nothing to write home about.
The Supertree Groove makes a second appearance
Singapore is a perfect amalgamation of traditional architecture and beyond modern one. You will find Gothic churches and traditional temples. The best one to visit is the Buddha Tooth Relic Temple and Museum, which is a Buddhist (I know, you could never guess) temple in China Town, with free entrance and plenty to see. For more modern tastes, there is the ArtScience Museum shaped like a Lotus flower, with a lavish Mall next to it. There are too many buildings and sights to mention and there are all worth the view, but there is one that should not be missed. That is the Supertree Grove in Gardens by the Bay. In these gardens you will see many things, but most importantly, you will see these lighted big avatar-like constructions that look like trees and also look like they are straight out of a fairy-tale, one has not written yet. There are truly beyond our reality and something unique to not just Singapore, but our time period in general. Every night, they also have a light-show with songs ranging from Disney to Star Wars. If I was living in Singapore, I would want to go see that show every night, without ever getting bored.
Walking at the Marina Bay
Singapore might not be a city for many days, given the size, but it is the one city/country that I would definitely suggest visiting before another. So, after all this is over and we are allowed to travel again and we also grow out of whatever crisis follows, pick a good pair of shoes and walk around in the streets of Singapore. There you will find much wonder of future and past.
Contrary to my previous, irrelevant to our time article, this time I will bring it towards a more related topic: Nutrition in Indonesia. It is certain that at this point you have heard of a magic potion that will make sure you do not get COVID 19 or will quickly cure you from it. You can eat ginger, jug gallons of water or perhaps some alcohol will help kill the virus. And even though these tips are clearly unscientific and any adult with working brain-cells should be able to tell the snake oils from the real medicine, one thing is certainly true: your nutrition can help your immune system. So how easy it is to find proper, healthy food in Indonesia?
A typical Indonesian food with rice, noodles and egg in oil paper
To give you an early answer, it is very hard. Well, it depends on where you live. I am sure that in a big metropolitan city like Jakarta, you can even find actual snake oil if you look hard enough and like I have mentioned before, Bali is the Mecca for food you can post with the hashtag #healthfreak (anybody using that hashtag?). But I don’t live in places like, I live in a small city in Borneo, so healthy options are harder to come across. Indonesian food can be rather delicious, don’t get me wrong, but healthy and tasty don’t go hand in hand.
Fried caramel chicken from «My caramel», Samarinda
First, if you are a fan of the oven, then good luck, cause almost all home food here is either fried or boiled, with no oven in sight. I am sure that there are houses with ovens, but it is not the norm. So, boiling can be healthy, I guess, but frying definitely isn’t, especially when frying with Palm Oil. You have to understand one thing, I come from a Mediterranean country, there is no oil, other than olive oil. So, when I am frying or cooking with palm oil, each time I die a little inside. Of course, for deep frying or anything similar olive oil is not great, but toasting bread in palm oil, must be a culinary offense. And fried food is the most you will find outside. Fried chicken, fried rice, fried noodles are the most common and cheap choices and same goes for a lot of sweets, like fried banana. Thus, if you want an affordable meal, then you need to fry it and wave you veins goodbye (or are the arteries the ones clogging?).
A «salad» from Pizza Hut
Key word to my previous paragraph is affordable. Yes, you can still find and buy olive oil or Greek yogurt or fruits and vegetable to make a salad, or you can even buy a salad from outside, but prepare to pay a lot of money. A healthy lifestyle is expensive everywhere, of course. Spaghetti will always be cheap and easy, while making a meal with enough fruits and vegetables to make you full, is much more expensive. But here it is even harder. When a meal of nasi goreng from a street vendor costs 13.000 rupiah and to make a proper healthy meal will cost you more than 20.000, then you can see that healthy eating is not for every day. Of course, you will buy many vegetables that will last for more than one meal, but still if you combine that with the spices and sauces and oils you need to buy, especially if these are imported, the price seems to be more, anyhow. Buying out is even worse. There is literally one salad place in Samarinda (except for Pizza Hut, which their salad sucks, is expensive and pretty unhealthy anyway) that I manage to find in my seven months here and their salads cost 40.000 rupiah. Compare that to the 13.000 nasi goreng, which you can find anywhere, and you see how unequal the choices are. You, however, can also find some type of soups like bakso or soto, which seem to be healthier and are not expensive.
Fried banana with sprinkles with melon milk on the backhround
There are of course plenty of places that offer salad buah. It has salad right in the tile it must be good, right? No! Don’t make the mistake of ordering this thing. I am still baffled about which twisted mind came up with the idea of this monstrosity. Okay, maybe I am exaggerating, but they take fresh perfect fruit and they put it in a weird, semisweet soup of water, syrup and other things with jelly and sometimes cheese or mayo on top. Sounds delicious, doesn’t it? Generally, this is a trend in Indonesia, eating food raw is not really a thing. Maybe that’s why salads are not particularly popular. It could be because the high temperatures and the questionable preservation techniques makes the food dangerous to eat raw most of the time, but after so many boiled and fried food, I am just craving a crunchy carrot.
Dragon fruit
Despite the atrocities done to fruit in salad buah, it is easy to find it on its own, away from weird soups, plentiful all year round. However, although being a personal preference, I don’t like tropical fruits. Except for the amazing bananas, which are the best fruit ever and nobody can have a different opinion, papaya and mango are pretty indifferent, pineapple can good though, then there are the many many small ones, that all look and taste like lychee, like rambutan, which are pretty meh and have a weird texture and of course there is the hubris of durian and the jack-fruit. Most people know durian as the smelly, disgusting one, but jack-fruit is equally as bad. Although not as smelly as I expected after watching reactions online, eating either of them is not a fun experience. There are always Asian pears and apples, but they are as indifferent as they are in the west. In the end there is plenty of fruit, but if you are a berry lover like me, prepare to either pay or miss them. Oh! There is also dragon fruit, which is okay, I guess, nothing amazing, which seems to be the trend with tropical fruits.
Another fried banana, blue with cheese this time with a pink foamy drink in the background from Sana Pisang
Lastly, let’s go to dairy. You wake up in the morning, happy to have a glass of fresh cow milk, oh what a lovely day. But wait you are not in Indonesia, cause here fresh milk seems impossible to find. All milk, I have been able to find, can be kept even outside the fridge and their expiration date is at least a month. Powdered milk is very popular as well. Besides that, it is hard to have plain milk, as all seem to be at least slightly sweetened. Cheese, except for cheddar, will be other nonexistent or extremely expensive and the same goes for butter. You can find margarine, but it is just not the same. That doesn’t mean, that cheese or butter are healthy choices and you are missing out nutritionally, necessarily, but I just want to mention than once I go back to Greece, I will buy 1KG of feta cheese and eat it all.
Zaki Donuts and a Brown Sugar Milk Tea
Indonesia has plenty of culinary interest, especially if you are just visiting. It has plenty of tasty food also, so taste away. But if you are living here and you are tired of eating boiled food and you don’t have lots of money to spend, then finding healthy, not fried food can be a struggle, that you will have to learn to live with.
A magnificent smoothie bowl from Nalu Bowls in Canggu
I have debated a lot whether or not I should write this article. In the midst of the COVID 19 pandemic and the ever-increasing lock-downs and flight cancellations, it feels a little tone-deaf to write about tropical voyages and sipping coconut water under the sun. It is like going to a funeral and gloating about how great your house redecoration turned out. But on the other-hand, forcing ourselves to be miserable all the time just because the whole situation is and not allowing escapism can lead to psychological exhaustion and burnout. Plus this whole thing will pass and after an economic crash and a probable aviation industry collapse we will be able to travel again, maybe not in the same way we were used to, but still the beaches of Bali will be there to be walked with the flip flops of tourists throwing sand all over the place. So we still need escapism, we still need a glimpse of what life was and what it might be again. The point of this long intro is to say that I am going to talk about my trip to Bali, even if it is not 100% appropriate.
An approaching storm in the temple of Tanah Lot
So, let’s get some things clear, if you are going to Bali in search of an isolated tropical paradise, where it will be just you, your babe and the coconut trees, then don’t go. Yes Bali is tropical, yes it is paradise-like, short of, but it is definitely not isolated. Bali is the most popular tourist destination of Indonesia. It is so popular that most people think it is a country rather than an island of a country. Flights there are relatively cheap, especially if you are coming from a neighboring country like Australia and the ever increasing photos of Instagram influences at the swings in Ubud make it a very desirable destination. That is why it is overcrowded with tourists. When you go there, prepare to be sharing the beaches, restaurants etc with many, many other tourists and to be stack in traffic (if you are using a car) for hours. The invasion of foreigners, especially westerners is very evident as you will see more white people there, than Indonesians. All of that, however did not bother me, cause I knew what I signed up for, I knew that I was one among many and it would be ridiculous to complain that there are too many tourists when you are one of them. But I can see the disappointed articles of people going there to get away from the hassle of the city, just find the same but in an island. So now you know.
A very preoccupied monkey in the Sacred Monkey Forest of Ubud
Bali is indeed beautiful, so it is definitely worth a visit. The Sacred Monkey Forest of Ubud was by far the best place I went to. Walking among the monkeys and seeing them stealing fruits from tourists and unpeeling bananas like humans was a unique experience. The ticket for entering was not very expensive either. The only problem is that Ubud is far from the shores, so it will take some time to reach if you are not staying there. In Ubud you can also see some of the Rice Terraces of Bali. There are many Rice Fields around Bali, so there is no point in suggesting one specific, but you should definitely visit one of your choice. There, you can live your insta dreams of taking a picture in the swings of Bali,too. The beaches are also great for surfing. I had never seen such big waves before,except in movies and they were even more breathtaking in reality. The areas of Kuta and Canggu are pretty great as well. Kuta is a very cosmopolitan place, full of tattoo shops, food and a big beach among others. Canggu is a more relaxed, hipstery area, great for surfers, vegan food and nightlife. Tanah Lot is also a great temple to visit, on a a rock, with breathtaking scenery. The sea might or might allow you to get close as it raises blocking the path on occasion. Although if you are not Hindu (or for any other religion reason) you can not go up the temple, or in most temples in Bali for that matter.
A amazingly roasted cauliflower with cashew’s sauce at Gypsy Kitchen+Bar in Canggu
The most important aspect of any travel though is one: food! It was the best thing ever! Yes I can not be very eloquent when it comes to that, because feelings cannot be described adequately in words. Bali is a great place for international food traveling. Unfortunately Indonesian food is not very present in Bali, but as someone living in a small Indonesian city where you can only have that and on occasion American burgers or pizza, having the choice of mexican, vegan, greek is a dream come true. Enjoying fresh fruits in smoothie bowls and mexican tacos was a treat for my taste buds, a very welcomed one. But the best of the best was of course the greek food. The meeting of a greek with the feta cheese after a long time of separation is one meant for love stories. The creamy mousaka, the garlicky skordalia and the many desserts were the reason why Bali was a paradise for me. And all that on Christma’s Eve, what a gift it was.
A blurry but delicious greek Mousaka in Santorini restaurant in Canggue
Bali however, is not a representation of Indonesia. Due to its touristy nature, food is more expensive that the rest of the country, especially in restaurants. Accommodation is cheap however and transportation is the same as everywhere. It is also predominantly Hindu, not Musli like the majority of the country, so the scenery is indeed different. Bali has a more Europe in the tropics vibe rather than an Indonesian one, just because it is so touristy and cosmopolitan. So, if you want to explore Indonesia and not just have a tropical adventure for your Instagram page, you have to leave that island and go around. Whether you will like the rest or not however depends on you.
The main beach of Canggu
Finally, two things I did not really like about Bali. First the online transportation has a big adversary in the offline one. What else is new? That is true almost everywhere. But in Bali there are places that you cannot actually order online transport. If you manage to do, you will have to be smuggled in the vehicle as quickly as possible and if you are on a bike, any obvious logos are a death sentence (so no helmets). I was literally stopped while on a bike and forced to get down and leave my ride by an offline driver, who later had the audacity to ask me if I wanted a ride with him. Thank you, I would rather walk. So finding a vehicle without being harassed by the street riders, yelling «Bike, bike» at you, like they were the seagulls in Finding Nemo, is difficult. The other thing I was not impressed by were the beaches. I did not visit many and the ones I visited were the most popular ones, so maybe my experience was not a great representation of what Bali had to offer, but the ones I went to were underwhelming at best. The color of the water was a blurry blue, in the beach it was mostly sand and a lot of open space and the cleanliness of the sea can be disputed. Generally not the characteristics of a tropical marvel, but more of a «It’s 30 degrees outside so I just want to get into a body of water quick».
A Rice Terrace in Ubud
Generally Bali is a place I liked much more than any other in Indonesia. I could find a multicultural atmosphere without redundant conservatism and delicious and healthy food I liked. It is not a representation of the country, however, but maybe that is why I liked it so much. Definitely worth visiting, even if you don’t get amazing beaches or tropical jungles all to yourself.
Summer as it should be, in Psili Ammos Thassos, full of people and high temperatures
I would like to sleep and wake up after all is over. A month-long hibernation is what we all need. I know it is not a matter of personal struggle, because we are all experiencing the same thing. Correction, the health care professionals, the ones struggling under ventilators in the hospitals or these who hope everyday their loved ones will make it and will be put in the green colored number at wordometer and the ones who are still working so that we can have food and toilet paper are those truly experiencing it. We, the rest, have just the difficult task of staying in our couches, staring at a screen all day, which is marginally more difficult now that we are forced to, than before, when we just wanted to.
However, despite the carefree nature of my situation, my selfish human urges cannot help, but make my bones ache under the pressure of an unprecedented situation. I can feel them shiver in pain and agony (which might be the same word). And before I start sounding like an opening of Riverdale, I have to justify myself and my angst by the nature of these peculiar times. I mean, if we are not going to let ourselves be consumed by the Erebus of our times, now, like some sort of teenagers having their first break-up, then, when will we? Hopefully not soon again, hopefully our lives will soon return to getting angry because our avocados are not getting ripe fast enough or other similar situation that any self-respecting adult cannot make a fuss about.
But in all seriousness and devoid of existential dread, the disease is not the one scaring me. I am lucky enough to be young and in good health, so even if I catch it, I will, statistically, be fine. And if not, oh well, it is beyond my power or knowledge to do something about, except when it comes to prevention, and I decided long time ago not to worry about things I can do nothing about. What scares me is the uncertainty of what is going to happen tomorrow. Not in the terms of the disease, but of the obliteration of my way of life. Again, selfish human urges, thinking about the trip I cannot have, when nurses are pulling day shifts trying to save people. But it goes beyond that, it goes to thinking if I can have a job during the summer with which I was planning to pay for my Master’s degree, it goes if the financial consequences of the disease will bring us all to a deep depression that will freeze the economy and any opportunity I or anyone my age or even older would have on the job force. My issue is not how I will survive the disease today, but how I and the world will survive the aftermath.
It is the first time in my life I feel uncertain about the future. The first time I have no plan or backup, because I cannot have any plan or backup. Everything is frozen and no one knows when the circulation of things and people will be able to start again. I don’t know if I can do a Master or if I will have to survive on 50-cent ramen for the following year. I know it sounds very melodramatic, especially when we are only in our second week into this thing, but expert opinion indicates that it will continue for months. And I cannot help but sink in anxiety. That is why I want to sleep and wake up when it is over. When we will know how the future will look like and I can plan for it, when I will not get overwhelmed by the numbers and estimations, that I cannot help but look away from.
To get back to the topic of my blog, how is Indonesia responding to all of it and how is it living far from your country in such times? Well, Indonesia is lethargically slow in taking any precaution and most initiatives seem to be coming from the private sector (like Grab Food giving you instructions on how to receive your food without getting in contact with the delivery person), as companies are closing down, events being postponed and many people are trying to stay home. The fact that Indonesia has the largest mortality rate in the world doesn’t seem to bother many, although attitudes seem to be changing. Quite frankly I will not feel safe getting in an Indonesian hospital with severe symptoms, especially as their unpreparedness is sure to cause a situation like Italy, that is why I am trying to avoid the disease or hope that my immune system will prevent me from going there.
Many people in this time have opted to return to their countries. It is not something that I have not thought, but the possibility of contracting it in a 30-hour transit flight seems bigger than in my home in Indonesia. Furthermore, booking a flight that will get cancelled is a lot likely as well. Besides the danger, young people whether in Indonesia or in Greece are very likely not to have to go to the hospital, so either I contract it in Greece or here, I will be spending my infected days at home, so it does not make much of a difference. That is why I have for now decided to stay here and hope that it will pass and I will be able to finish my program and return to a corona free country from one, in June.
A photo from Batu Putih, Samarinda by Agus Mahmuda. The photo gives a feeling of isolation in nature, which is suitable for the current corona situation.
The past week we have all been talking, thinking and hopefully not breathing the new corona virus and Covid-19. Our lives has been intertwined with this microscopic living (and not) organism, that is destroying plans, trips and unfortunately people. We are all making adjustments in our lives, staying in (or going out like crazy, because someone told us to stay in, and we ain’t gonna do what we are told) and trying to avoid human contact. Life has been harder than normal for most of us, who are used to have not finding what to wear as our biggest inconvenience in our everyday life and it will get worse, especially since many countries are slow to act.
Same place, same photographer, same feeling
Indonesia hasn’t been acting like it should and until this weekend (14-15.3) everyone seemed to be ignoring the situation. Indonesian students studying in Italy, which is facing a great crisis, were forced to come back. Coming from a country with the most active cases, one would expect the government to keep them in quarantine to prevent them from spreading the disease. But one would expect too much, cause they just checked if they had it and then told to self-quarantine for 14 days. Self-quarantine in a house with 10 more people, who go out to work everyday and a grandma that will be waving us from above if she gets it. The brilliance of the authorities never seizes to amaze me. Another student who came back was perfectly allowed to go spend vacation time in Java, possible spreading her particles all over the place.
Photos of many people from an art exhibition in Samarinda. We are all part of a whole and our job is to protect each other.
People don’t seem to care much about the virus or the spread of it, besides some scared Instagram stories. Everyday life in Samarinda, Indonesia flows normally like nothing is going on. With the exception of the University switching to online classes, everything else moves on exactly like before (I mean antiseptic solutions are also either sold out or crazy expensive). And yes we are not in a big city or anywhere in Java and yes also on paper the cases are not that many, but the lack of concern from people or the government is alarming and forebodes for a not-so-future spike in numbers and a following collapse of the healthcare system like in Italy. The situation might change soon, but for now the government has been criminally silent and seems mostly concerned with not scaring tourists away rather than protecting its people and preventing a catastrophe. A trust in authorities in crucial in these times and Indonesia doesn’t give us reason to believe they can help.
The traveling past. When people could be all together in numbers, outside. Shilin Market, Taipei
It is not all bad though. Except for the atmosphere getting cleaner since in countries like China and Italy people are forced to stay in and there are not that many emissions, a solidarity is starting to develop that is touching. Of course, one can look at people fighting over toilet paper and wonder what I am talking about, but one can also see Italians singing together in their balconies. We can also see people in Spain and Greece clapping for their healthcare professionals. People leaving notes that they can help the ones who have to stay in by buying for them what they need. There are the ones providing exercise regiments through Instagram so we can all stay healthy and of course the ones still working in supermarkets and restaurants so that we can eat. By looking at helping each other and by staying in our freaking homes for a while, we can get through it and we can protect ourselves but most importantly those who cannot protect themselves.
A crowded Times Square in October, Nowadays the place is more and more empty.
P.S. As a foreigner in Indonesia I cannot follow well the announcements from the government, so I only talk for my personal experience and the feeling of uncertainty I get from them. They might have made announcements I am not aware of, but the fact that they did not quarantined people coming from Italy and they did not made any official announcements about closing down mosques, cafes etc is not changing.
The Indonesian Chronicles 