Where's the market?

Banjar, Central-Java, June 2009.

Strong arms, beautiful hair

Bawang, Central-Java, June 2009.

Life is a journey

Close to Bawang, Central-Java, June 2009.

Tricycle with guns

Tegal, Central-Java, June 2009.

Muddern zum Geburtstag: Islamic Fashion

Halt Dich wacker.

An kleidsamen solls nicht mangeln.

Kudus, Central Java, November 2009.

Coconut Market

Close to Bawang, Central-Java, June 2009.

The Band

Dieng Plateau, Central-Java, June 2009.

Sheep shearing

Shearer at work in the most tradional way by not even using blade shears.

Dieng Plateaux, Central Java, June 2009.

Clove

Clove or what is needed for Indonesia's famous Kretek cigarettes. Kretek manufacturers some sources say directly employ over 180,000 people in Indonesia and an additional 10 million indirectly.

Central Java, South of Semarang, June 2009.

Graduation parade

Sukorejo, Central Java, June 2009.

Back from the market

Central Java, June 2009.

Sting ray catch

... or better fish alive?

Central-Java, June 2009.

Street beggar...

In Indonesia more than 50 percent of the population lives from less than $2 a day.

Kramat, Central Java, June 2009.

A harbor in Java

Garbage harbor or normality?

Harbor on Java's North coast, June 2009.

Pause & smile

Tegal, Central Java, June 2009.

Working in lime kilns

Lime production dates back to Neolithic times. About 11,000 years ago lime was produced in Göbekli Tepe (Turkish for 'Hill with a potbelly'), well before the advent of sedentism. As seen above, production of lime may not have changed considerably throughout these millennia.

Close to Subang, West Java, June 2009.

Religious road warriors: Gimme a Rupiah

Everywhere; all over Java, Sumatra, Sulawesi, Kalimantan...., June 2009.

Back into the past

Close to Subang, West-Java, June 2009.

Celebrating circumcision

Riding high.

In parts of Indonesia (but very rarely) female circumcision is practised: A cutting tradition...

Around Subang, West-Java, June 2009.

Flying Javanese trader

Close to Subang, West-Java, June 2009.

Rubber plantation work

Close to Subang, West Java, June 2009.

Where's the driver?

Cirebon, West Java, October 2009.

No eternal peace: Clock still ticking

Sufism?

One of the burial grounds around the tomb of the important sufi saint Sunan Gunung Jati. Cirebon, West Java, October 2009.

Eggman on the road

Cirebon, West-Java, October 2009.

Batik from Cirebon

Cirebon (3 hours by train from Jakarta) is a multicultural place: a Sultan's kraton full of Hinduistic past; a museum covering relicts from the short-lived Portugese period; one of the oldest Chinese temples on Java; a remarkable sufi shrine where non-Muslim Chinese also go to pray and are buried.

This multiculturalism shows in the Batik tradition of Trusmi, a whole kampung dedicated to the design, the production and sale of Batik. Above the Batik heritage we brought back to Jakarta.

Jakarta, November 2009.

Okavango Delta

The Okavango river builds a greenish heavenly delta discharging its fesh water into the Kalahari desert.

Plying the Okavango delta.

Spectators.

Close-up of an intermittent spectator.

Elephant with crocodile.

(or the same elephant with male lion to top?)

Termite mount (the usual size).

Lion tracks.

(and their origin?)

Walking safari.

(Feels a bit like traveling in Balochistan).

Okavango Delta, Botswana, September 2009.

Incoming fish

North Jakarta, October 2009.

Shanghai's Peace Hotel 1985: Chinese forbidden

The Peace Hotel's famous coffee shop--staging a Jazz Band whose members were already playing in the 1940s--was opened only for foreigners and the oversea Chinese compatriots in the mid 1980s.

The Huangpu Park (黄浦公园), located not too far from the Peace Hotel used to have a sign that carried the message 'dogs and Chinese not allowed'.

Any thoughts on the two signs?

Photo from December 1985.

Halloween in Jakarta

Scary ! ?

Front page of Jakarta Post's Sunday edition, 1 November 2009.

Happy Man

North Jakarta, October 2009.