Bike update

My poor Kowi finally has an end destination – Jakarta. Ship leaves Singapore on this Sunday 16^th May. Although the Pelni information man indicated, twice (the second time with the lovely Yanti acting as translator) that there was only one boat to Kupang and it was going into dru dock service after the run leaving Tanjung Priok on the 15^th May I'm confident that there must be other Pelni boats leaving from other ports.

So, it looks like I will be riding through Indonesia to at least Bali, if not even back to my old haunt the Alor islands. An alternative is putting the bike on the train through Java. Strangely, although I don't believe in fate I do feel a special affinity for Indonesia and I'm really not that fussed that I have to spend a bit of time riding through it.

Carl G Jung and the unconcious in Jakarta.

Found a book on Carl G Jung today – “Memories, Dreams, Reflections”. It is a combination biography / autobiography. Decided that reading it would be a good way to bring my entertainment budget back under control! Plus, had a quick flick through and noticed a few sections on the unconscious and the ego, a few pet topics of mine.

Reading through some of it has made me realise that these guys were really going out on a limb with some of this stuff. They were pioneers in an academic (and also practical) sense sometimes. I haven't come across any reference to crazy wacky experiments in this book so far, but from what I know of elctro-shock therapy the basis for that treatment (which I heard is being revived in a modified and more humane sense in teating depression) was some pretty far-out experiments.

From what I've read so far, some of Jung;'s early work on the unconscious was based on his own dreams. The thing that got me most was that these guys were developing real theories that are still in play today, and they were doing it from scratch, not off the back of a 'How to' book but a synthesis of a massive amount of wide and diverse information.

In the current age we are so gifted with easily accessible information and yet it seems we do not use it often enough. How many of us have considered the works of Jung, Freud or Neitzche and wondered what lessons lie in modern psychology that might help us with our day to day problems, or more importantly – in making our lives better and happier? Not many, because instead we go to a self help book on positive psychology. How much of the original work has been lost in translation? I don't know, but I've read a few positive psychology books and nothing as poignant as the following statement of Jungs has jumped out at me before:

“ I realised that the Unconscious is a process, and the psyche is transformed or developed by the relationship of the ego to the contents of the unconscious” Carl Jung.

Picture curtesty of http://www.16-personality-types.com/

This understanding apparently helped Jung arrive at the central concept of his psychology: the 'process of individuation'. More on that later – once I've read about it! What it helped me understand was that these days when we talk about disaffected and disadvantaged youths we often refer to the 'environment' that they are raised in and we accord it a portion of blame for the way a person acts. We often refer to characteristics of this 'environment' such as the socio-economic back ground or living standard of a persons child-hood, or the education level they receive or the social intelligence of our parents. Whereas now it seems to me that it is those experiences derived from the environmental characteristics which are captured in the process of the unconscious and how the ego influences those experiences that really determines how we think and ultimately how we act.
 
Environmental characteristics are obviously very front of mind over here in Jakarta. The poverty and class divide is pretty obvious, not to mention the much more frequent interaction here with 'underworld' figures such as touts, drug dealers and prostitutes that rarely happens (to me anyway) in Australia. The relationship with these underworld figures here is also much trickier - because pretty much everyone here is an entreprenuer of some sense, a drug dealer will be just as happy to sell you a tour (or pick up a commission selling you a tour) as they will be fixing you up with a 'nice girl' or selling you drugs. Being as objective as I can, it seems to me that these underworld figures are much more acceptable to me here in Jakarta then they would be at home. This may be because they also seem much more humane and more like 'real people' rather than 'underworld' figures in a sense. I put that down to the way the environmental characteristics have impacted them as they grew up and how it is affecting my unconcious now that I'm here in the middle of it.
 
So, must admit I'm having trouble keeping the emotions in check some-times, but hey, thats what feeling alive is all about, right? I Hope I'm not scaring anyone off from visiting Jakarta, one thing I haven't felt at any stage is physical threat. I'm pretty sure even if you got mugged here they would do it with a smile, a "Mr" and probably even offer you a ride home in their Rojak.

Jakarta - Customs

I take back all the bad things I said or insinuated about the Indonesian customs. It seems a lot has changed in 8 years.

I visited the Australian embassy and Aus-Trade on Monday to try to get some information and tips for the meeting with the Director General of Customs and Excise. They were worse than useless and could provide no relevant information. In fact I provided them with a lot of information and they did a lot to try to disuade me from even bothering to try to get the bike into Indonesia.

Today, I trotted off to the DG of customs and excise nice and early. Taxis are cheap, mostly in very good condition and well air-conditioned. Plus the drivers are good fun to talk to in the traffic and have been a significant contributor to improvements in my Bahasa Indonesia.

Arrived about 9:30am and was directed upstairs to the DG office without a problem. Offices are organised similar to my image of Australian political offices, with specific staff for each 'Director' sitting in one large open plan office off a main corridor directly outside the directors office – which is only accessible through the staff office.

The staff listened to me, asked politely if I would wait 1 minute (not a minute, always 1 minute) conferred and quickly (about 1 minute) came to the conclusion that this was actually the responsibility of the Director of Customs and Excise Facilities. Thought it was too good to be true. They walked me down to Facilities office which was very similar and introduced me to a chap their. He was very friendly, also listened carefully, had a closer look at my documents, particularly the carnet and said it should not be a problem, but that we had to check with the Technical department. Stating to get worried by this point. The Technical department seemed much more like the engine room. He took me straight to the man in charge which was nice and he promptly pointed out that they had actually walked me into the staff only area, so I was ushered outside to the waiting room and I was asked to wait 1 minute. All very friendly and the Facilities guy actually waited around and asked me the usual questions (How long you been in Jakarta? Where from in Australia? How old you? You single? Why you single?) until the Technic boss showed up about 3 minutes later. The Technic bosses biggest problem was trying to understand why Singapore wouldn't send the cargo. He new what the Carnet was, said it should be all good as long as you have Carnet. Thank you very much. I asked for a letter to send to Singapore customs and he said he would need to put me in touch with a Customer Co-ordinator in Tanjung Priok, and that I would need to speak to one anyway for when the bike arrived. Starting to think this might be where the sting came in later, but was happy just to be told it was all ok. He rang his friend and confirmed that it was all good but I would need to see him in order to get the letter. Whole thing took about as long as it has taken me to write this blog post! About an Hour. Amazing!

I grabbed breakfast at the street warung outside customs and kept the locals entertained with my terrible bahasa Indonesian (at least I have the menus pretty much memorised!) Then jumped in a cab over to Tanjubng Priok. The Customer Co-ordinator centre is very much like an RTA with ticketing system, but my man back at Customs h/o had written down his 'friends' name and that meant I got to jump the que. Sweet, waited aboiut 5 minutes for him to finish dealing with his current customer then I was in – he looked over the documents, asked a few questions and again couldn't understand what was wrong with the Singaporeans. He gave someone else a call about the letter and explained that nothing formal could be provided because it would be like a law (think of a personal tax judgement) so it would be easiest if he just email me the standard process and confirmed in an email that it was ok and I could pass that onto the Singaporeans. So that was what we did. My 'Work' with Customs was all wrapped up, including breakfast by 11am. Amazing.

No taxis in port, so I braved the motorbike ride back to the hotel. The guy didn't know where he was going, so we drove around the national monument about 5 times, went past some big flash building which I assumed was the US embassy since the big placards being waved had a picture of Obama on them and the words 'Antic American'. My security measures consisted of looking the other way so they couldn't see I was a Bule. There was only about 50 of them anyway and they had that – its too hot to bother look. The Police were there but were looking pretty disinterested as well.

Parents Post

Us Fullers are not know for our tender turn of phrase
Our honesty is mostly raw and pure, often overwhelming and rarely diplomatic.
We craft our terms and carefully choose our words for just a few special people,
Our family, the tax man, the rich man and opponents in any game of chance.
We travel wide and hold our heads with pride, so
Our independence is renowned in many towns.

My story started with Peter and Anne, I call myself a Fuller thanks to them
They are tough and uncompromising on the surface, soft and sentimental below.
My life has been guided by their caring and my spirit encouraged by their daring
They are always there when I need them and sometimes when I dont
My appreciation for all they have done is not as obvious as it should be,
They are my parents, I cannot thank or love them enough to repay the gift of life.

Jakarta - Jl Jaksa

Got a little bit of an awakening to the real south east asia today when I travelkled to Jakarta. A little time and cost comparison of travelling between airports and hotels gives a pretty good indication, and note that these prices are not adjusted for purchase power parity.


Time and cost from Prince of Wales Hostel to terminal at Changi Airport Singapore: 45 min and about SGD $2.5 for the train ticket.

Time and cost from Changi airport Singapore to Soekharno airport Jakarta: 1 hr 30 min, SGD $100 for plane ticket.

Time and cost from Soekharo airport - Jl Jaksa backpacker area, including customers clearance: 3 hrs and $100 SGD for return plane ticket so I could get through customs that hopefully wont be used and actually only costs $40 SGD if bought direct. 100,000 IRP (AUD $10) for an hour of internet access to work out where I was going to stay, 250,000 IRP (AUD $25) for storage of 20kg of bags at the airport for 10 days. 200,000 IRP (AUD $20) for two taxis between the airport, the city and Jl Jaksa. All up that was $155 AUD.

Now compare the airport prices to the cost of living in Jakarta:

750ml bottle of Bintang at a back-packer restaurant: 30,000 IRP / $3 AUD

1 Nights private back-packer accomodation with fan and ensuite bathroom : 80,000 IRP / $8 AUD

Beef curry with vegies, rice and tea: 25,000 IRP / $2.5 AUD

1hr Head, neck and shoulder massage with complimentary hair wash to ease the hang-over: 40,000 IRP / $4 AUD.

So, initial impact of Jakarta was not favourable. But since arriving in Jl Jaksa, it has improved immeasurably. The people are very friendly and the locals like to come and hang out with the back-packers, which is very refreshing compared to Singapore.

Made some good friends already and the self-esteem doesn't mind the way the girls giggle and hide their faces behind their hands whenever I smile at them. So, needless to say last night was a bit of a big night, didn't get to bed until 3:30am and the locals wanted to keep partying! Tonight might need to be a bit of a quiet one.

Internet access is a bit more difficult here since it is not available in my hostel, but there is still plenty of options for access.