For the past month, my parents have been visiting and the collective Lee-Helminskis have been making their way around Indonesia and Hong Kong. Since Brian and I had never really explored Jakarta, we took this opportunity to learn a bit more about the history of our new home. Our first stop was Old Batavia, the colonial name for an area of Jakarta where the Dutch set up shop and began to spread their influence in Java over the next several hundred years.
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| Fatahillah Museum - once the city hall of Jakarta |
Yes, the Dutch. They're the people from the Netherlands, best known for being the make believe place where Peter Pan and Tinkerbell come from. What does one think of when they think of the Dutch? Apple pies? Wooden shoes and wind mills?
Well, thousands of years ago, before the Dutch backed themselves into obscurity and bad pop culture references, they colonized the shit out of the modern world. Back in the day the Dutch really shut it down. They'd typically settle around Africa and the East Indies. Much like the British they'd be all,
"Hey I really like your country and the amount of prosperity it can bring to my people. I think I'll trade your natural resources and stay here for a few hundred years."
Most notable of its colonies is South Africa whose national language to this day is Afrikaans, a daughter language of and 95% cognate with Dutch. But despite the Dutch being in Indonesia for 3 centuries the language is barely present, save for a few words here and there.
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| It says something about being Austin Powers Fasha... |
The reason is because Dutch was considered language of power and so it was reserved for the elite, highly educated and those who worked in legal and government roles. As a result, very few Indonesian can still speak Dutch. It wasn't until the local nationalists decided to start using Malay as a weapon against the Dutch that they started teaching it in schools to the locals. However, it was right about this time that the Japanese came along to occupy Indonesia and well, you know what happens when the Japanese come to town...
So the last generation who could speak the Dutch are two above our generation. But many of the people here have mixed Indonesian Dutch heritage. As a matter of fact, many famous Americans are of mixed Indo-Dutch heritage as well. For example, the Van Halen boys and Zach Morris (Mark-Paul Gosselaar - his mother is Dutch Indonesian, from Bali). I know right?!? The all-American teen heartthrob we all grew up fawning over is Asian!!! Take that Justin Bieber. You'll never be as sexy and exotic as Zach. Plus being Canadian probably deducts 50 points anyway. Anyway....
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| Green sequins and Peace Signs ALWAYS win. |
At any rate, this old region of Jakarta boasts some great architecture of European influence but sadly it is not very well preserved. There are several beautiful crumbling buildings despite being in a very heavily populated area with many visitors.
There are also a few museums in this area and the neighboring area that house some beautiful cultural artifacts both from the Dutch Colonial era and from native Javanese culture.
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| A Becak, still used throughout Indonesia as a form of public transportation |
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| An old jail cell - Brian couldn't even stand up straight in here. |
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| It's not a full day with my pops unless there's food! |
Old Batavia has a special place in my heart, though not because of history or culture. Rather, this is where we learned that Brian is sexy! Hordes of teenager girls taking pictures of him following him in the street and giggling. Snapping photos with their smart phones and running away. Oh, but that's not all.
We also took an hour to visit the Istiqlal, the largest mosque in Southeast Asia that boasts a maximum capacity of 120,000 people.
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| The main prayer hall or "musalla" |
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The minaret from which the call to prayer is made
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| A Muslim woman praying |
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| Beautiful dome |
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| What do you call a bunch of Catholics in a Mosque? |
During our visit, a lovely Indonesian family approached Brian with their camera and rather than having Brian take the photos like we thought they were asking, they all posed for multiple family portraits with old Whitey by their side. This happened repeatedly over the next several weeks of visits around Indonesia.
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| Everybody in! |
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| Now with this family... |
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| and that family... |
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| Even my dad couldn't resist |
So if somewhere in the far distant future, you see a photo of Brian somewhere in Indonesia, you'll know why.
So that's all for our Jakarta exploring. Next stop, Yogyakarta. Until then, Peace out!
