© 2010 kimyfa

The state of Indonesia

Well here we are in Indonesia and I am finding it really hard to say much of a positive nature about the place, well at least any of the places where people live. This country must have been exceptionally pretty in 1800 when only 5 million lived here but now with 130 million the towns and cities are really choking, the filth is quite incredible.
Some countries you can forgive for their dirt and filth like Cambodia after all it is like 30 years behind the rest of the world thanks to Mr Pol Potty and his murderous friends, mmm I remember somewhere hearing the the US helped Pot to power but thats another story.
Indonesia is not supposedly poor so why is it in such a bad shape, in Jakarta I saw a Mercedes SLS, Murcielago and a Ferrari 599 outside The Plaza, a big modern high class shopping complex whilst 50yds away people are begging on the streets, the rubbish piles up and its pretty squalid; the wealth gap in incredible.
This is a dirty place in all the towns I have visited so far people here appear to have little respect for the beauty around them, I watch as bags of rubbish were thrown into a river and they bobbed merrily on their way to the sea, so sad.
On a brighter note once out of the towns and the cities away from the population this is a most beautiful country, the rice terraces are awesome as are the forests and the jungle. Without all the people this could be a most idyllic place.
Ah yes and they should fix the roads, never will i moan about roads in the UK. The main roads here are nothing more than slabs of tarmac with lots of potholes at best, I have driven on better dirt roads.

Ahhh it makes one so angry the state of this country it could be sooooo much nicer, as I said this country is not poor it just appears 99% of the wealth belongs to 1% of the population (please not these are not government figures or have any real grounding in financial accounting) whilst the rest have bollocks all.

I guess you need to get away from the filth and the degradation to really enjoy Indonesia, it sure is not Thailand and the beer is bloody expensive 🙁

On a brighter note 🙂 one did get to go to a turtle rescue centre and got to hold a real live turtle, which was pretty bloody cool and yes the Green Canyon is a sight not to be missed in Pandangaran. So there is some bright spots and its not all bad I just think the country could do with a kick up the ass and get organized if they ever want to compete with Thailand as a holiday destination.