Fresh Air

Today I ventured outside Jakarta to Bogor. About a 1 hour train ride away, Bogor offered fresh air, greenery, smiling locals, and a respite from the hustle and bustle of the big city.

The two attractions we saw were the Kebun Raya (Botanical Gardens) and the Bogor Gong Factory. The Gardens were lush, quite, and full of color. We walked for several hours, enjoyed Indonesian fare and fresh juices at the Garden Cafe, and enjoyed the many locals who came up to us asking "Mister, can we have a photo?" At one point we were swarmed by an entire school group, and our smiling faces were captured on countless camera phones as the children giggled hysterically - at or with us, we couldn't tell.

After the Gardens we ventured out to find the Gong Factory. Bogor doesn't have taxis. They have ankot, small vans that fit about 8 people, that have set patterns around the city. We found out that there isn't a straight path to the factory, so we opted to walk. This was a walk filled with interesting sights and sounds - warung selling street food, birds, bats, monkeys for sale in cages, rain lightly falling, and trying to avoid being struck by traffic on narrow, winding roads. Finally we came to the Factory and were welcomed inside by the man captured in the photo (who had stepped outside to cool off). We watched as about 8 men worked methodologically to produce two gongs. The embers floated to the ceiling, the metal glowed red-hot, and the small room was extremely hot.