Aaannnd, the adventures continue with another full day. Our first stop was a famous mall, sort of like the Mall of American: Jakarta-style. Before going into the stores, we stopped at a batik presentation. Batik is the traditional art of painting designs on fabric. The artist draws out intricate designs in hot wax. This wax provides a barrier when they apply the dye so the colors don’t run. We watched the expert at work for a while and were then given a chance to try our hand at this antique technique. It was a little tricky, but my flower turned out just fine. I loved being able to take part in a traditional Indonesian custom.
After the art display and session, we were finally able to get our shop on. This place is famous for having all sorts of souvenirs from all over Indonesia, and we had all morning to explore and spend our rupiahs. Even though I was really excited to go shopping for some gifts, I had a pretty poor shopping experience. Apparently they don’t get a lot of American traffic through Jakarta, and every shop assistant assumed I was some rich American. I had multiple people follow me throughout all the stores. They weren’t even shy about it; standing only 2 ft from me. I was very turned off and told them politely “Thanks, but I’m fine. I’m just looking” multiple times. I even tried switching floors in the mall and walking into the men’s clothing section to throw them off my tail but these assistants must have been trained in trickery because nothing I could do would shake them. It became very frustrating, but I decided I couldn’t let it bother me or ruin the chance to look at some great merchandise. So I just ignored them when they addressed me in English, or I responded in Spanish. That seemed to work. I ended up buying some really cute things and am pretty excited about bringing them back to the states J I hope you like grind rhinoceros horn Julie! I hear it goes great with humus.
After that new experience we went to the Hash House Harrier run/walk. This was the strangest 5k I’ve ever gone on. The Hash run is put on by members of the TGIS club (Thank God It’s Saturday). It’s an international club and event and has been put on all over the world (basically, each “chapter” sponsors their own event, and any member can attend if they so choose). I ran with an Australian who was telling me he’s traveled all over the world to go to these Hash runs. The next big annual run is in Ethiopia. Any takers? Before you sign up, know that this is not your regular run. We all started out not knowing where we were going, or how far we would go (whose idea was that?!) They had the “hash” go forward and leave a trail of shredded paper. So no one who ran knew the trail…kind of intriguing actually. There were piles of paper along the route and spray painted arrows leading the way. We were taken into the forests and through small country villages and farmsteads during this adventure. It was a great way to see a bit of the countryside in Java. I think we ended up running about 6 miles, and it felt great to run with a lot of international people..most of whom just showed up for the free beer at the end, but still! It was a lot of fun J
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