Indonesian safari

Sunday, we all went on safari, Indonesian style. Since arriving in Jakarta we have gone to Sea World (a very miniature version in a not-so miniature amusement park), Taman Mini Amusement Park, the zoo, and now Taman Safari. It is amazing how much this city has to offer, and that we've gone to this many amusement parks in such a short time! Amusement parks are not regular fare for our family, but it's something to do and we're trying to see what this place has to offer.

Taman Safari was quite impressive. It wasn't at all like a safari you would go to in Africa, but rather like a drive through zoo. Many of the animals were quite tame from years of being fed carrots out of car windows (there were stalls upon stalls of carrot vendors on our drive into the park), but hey! it was fun seeing zebras and blackbucks so close, and unlike a safari in Africa, we actually saw all the animals we were meant to see. We saw elephants, giraffes, lions, tigers, leopards, hippos, rhinos, brown bears, gazelles, llamas, orangutans, and camels. The park is outside of a town called Bogor, which is in the hills/mountains. The park was in the forest and it was very lush and pretty, and cool! For the first time since arriving in Indonesia we weren't all sweaty by mid-day. After the "safari" we ended up in the amusement park section, which had a ferris wheel, a carousel, bumper boats, etc. They also had a kids zoo, where we got to pet a baby tiger, baby orangutan and a snake. C was fearless. That is until the orangutan tried to take a bite out of his head. Then C dissolved into tears, quite understandably, and J got ready to rush him to the nearest hospital. He recovered quickly (C that is, I think J is still wary) but I think he will talk about this for quite a while. That was a little scary, but all in all I must admit I really enjoyed it. I've never had the opportunity to touch a tiger, hold an orangutan's hand or feed an elephant before! I think C is going to grow up with a very scewed outlook on normalcy. After all, he's been on 4 different continents, fed giraffes in Kenya, gotten a hug from an orangutan in Indonesia, and seen Big Ben before he turned 3. Not "normal".





Before we left the park we decided to check out the cowboy show. We don't know how this fits in exactly with a safari park...perhaps Indonesians have some fascination with the Wild West, I don't know. It was very odd. There were explosions (real explosions that we could feel the heat from - I think I've ranted before on the lack of safety here), gun fire (not real), horses, Indians, cowboys, a sheriff, and the "town" had a bank, saloon, etc. It was mostly in Bahasa Indonesian so we didn't understand most of it, although we didn't really need to understand the words to understand what was going on. Basically it was just very surreal. Why does it seem there are always these sorts of oddities in developing countries? Do they make sense to the citizens of these countries, or do they seem strange to them as well?

This week J and I finally started learning Bahasa Indonesian. We have both hardly learned any so far and I am quite embarrassed at times when I can't communicate something very simple. We've learned quite a bit already and hopefully over the next couple months we will make some real progress. It is a little strange to take "classes" with J. We work very well together as a couple, at our marriage, as parents, but we decided long ago we could never do anything like The Amazing Race. We can't even move a piece of furniture without getting annoyed with each other and without nasty looks flying between us. We seem to be doing well so far with the classes though. I think we're just both so relieved to really be learning the language. At this point in Mali, after 3 months of intensive language classes, we could already have a conversation in Bambara, bargain in the market, etc. But, at least now we can say a couple sentences in Bahasa Indonesian - it's a good start.

Also, I have added a new section to the blog (on the right side) - Come Learn Bahasa Indonesian. I plan to add a new word or phrase every time I post a new entry. Happy learning!