The Jakarta Indonesia tour was one of the most memorable ones I’ve had in my life. Not because of the beauty of Jakarta and Indonesia but because of the quirky nature of our hosts and the people I met.
All cities are beautiful in their own right, and Jakarta is no different, but it’s the people you meet there that makes it memorable.
Something About the Japanese in Indonesia
Now how did I bump into Japanese when I had gone to Indonesia? The thing is, the Japanese have built their dominating presence in Indonesia. They’re not just reticent partners in the Indonesian manufacturing industry but active ones who manage pretty much everything there is. Whether there’s some ancestral link between Indonesia and Japan, I can’t say, but the Japanese have managed to blend in quite remarkably in the Indonesian culture.
The Japanese are a strange breed. No doubt they’re very hospitable but they send out very strange vibes, especially when they’re in a state of stupor.
One strange habit of theirs is that they love to get drunk each night, be it a weekend or work-day. At least they did it throughout the length of our tour.
And the infuriating thing about it all is the next day they’re up and running on the dot as if nothing happened the last night. The weird creatures just don’t have any hangovers in spite of consuming barrels of liquor. Compared to them, we seemed to be having a hangover just looking at them drink like a fish.
One thing that I pissed me off the most was their lack of ability to speak English. If you think Pakistani cricketers speak funny English, just have a conversation with a Japanese. Whether it’s disliking for the English or some other reason, can’t say, but there’s one thing the Japanese fail miserably at, it’s this skill.
Indonesians on other hand fare better than their Japanese counterparts in this department.
The most frustrating thing about this tour was that we weren’t left to our own devices once the work-day was over. The Japanese guy from our own company who accompanied us on this tour – let’s call him Nagasaki – was on our case the whole damn time. He just wouldn’t leave us online. The poor guy on his part was trying to be hospitable by arranging dinners for us and all, but all we wanted was to have the freedom to explore the city on our own.
The Japanese like to have an early dinner. Unfortunately for us, while the dinner starts early, there’s no end to it. The food and booze just keeps on coming.
While this maybe Manna for any other person, for us it was a nightmare because no one from our party consumed liquor, so it usually ended up as a very uncomfortable dinner that while Nagasaki and the Japanese team in Indonesia lost their mind under the influence of alcohol and started acting stupid, we sat in silence waiting for the ordeal to finish.
And then by the time the ordeal was finally over, which was around 9.30pm, there was nothing left to do as Jakarta closes up by 10pm sharp every night.
The rest of the articles in the Jakarta Indonesia series would be about each day proceedings. That would give you a better idea of how tragic the tour went as far as making the most of it for pleasure was concerned. The only consolation was that the business end, the primary purpose for which we undertook the Jakarta Indonesia tour and the subsequent Bangkok Thailand tour, was a success. But that doesn’t make for good reading on a travel site, isn’t it?
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