Gadgets Galore

Massage Mania - Roger Smith. May 2009

Despite the economic downturn Singaporean remain enthusiastic adaptors of new technologies. One only has to look at the full page advertising for mobile phone each Friday to appreciate this constant desire to upgrade.

The same applies to credit cards which every bank and most large department stores attempt to hook people with. It is the local custom to question any annual charges and express a strong desire not to have to pay these.

If there is a negative response from the card purveyor then Singaporeans will simply cancel the card and apply for another from a different source. This equally applies to the range of benefits that a card can provide. Electronic gadgets come in all shapes and sizes. Most malls have at least two retailers selling massage chairs that clamp your calves, or vibrating neck collars. Irradiated ankle socks and other bizarre electrical gadgets complete the self-medication kit.

In a more positive vein, it is the tropical fruit season in Singapore and we are enjoying the Thai mangoes and lychees from China (which are much more juicy than the Thai variety). These fruit are more beneficial to health than a warehouse full of massage chairs.

Jakarta Dawn

View from my window at the Ritz Carlton Kuningan. Note the yellow/brown pollution haze.

Ah..no free wireless in the Jakarta International airport unlike its counterpart in Singapore.

I like to arrive at an airport early, giving me plenty of time and allowing for the vagaries of traffic. Today it took about an hour getting from my hotel in the relatively secure diplomatic enclave of East Jakarta to the international airport. This is quite a commendable amount of time as this same journey can take up to three hours or more.

There is a certain seediness (should that be tiredness?) about the terminal. It matches the laidback lethargy of the small shop owners in the concourse.

The contents of these shops are an eclectic mix of large dried shark fins, mango confectionery and hand dyed fabrics all of which are quoted in $US.

I of course am left with a handful of Indonesian Rupiah – 28,000 to be exact. To the uninitiated this may seem like a princely sum but it in fact only four Singapore dollars. Not that I am planning to pack a large shark’s fin into my carry-on luggage

Tethered Monkeys and Shanty Towns

This is written from the luxury of my corner room at the Ritz Carlton Kuninga in Jakarta.

I say luxury, because it is with a feeling of guilt that I recall the shanties with their rusty red corrigated iron roofs that we passed on the way in from the airport.

The disparity between rich and poor is very evident in Indonesia. Jakarta alone has more than 10 million people, or to put it into context, two and a half times the entire popuation of New Zealand.

Every day for many is a story of subsistence and surival. My limousine passed a boy with his pet monky tethered to its owner's wrist, performing acrobatics in the hope of attracting alms from passing motorists.

Further on, a piece of hose snaked from behind a clump of bamboo to the roadside and a motorcyclist was filling up from what I took to be an illicit petrol supply.

The goreng(fried food)hand carts were setting off for late afternoon as my driver took a short cut through the local neighbourhood in East Jakarta. It is a sight that one used to see in old Singapore, but no more, as the hawkers there are largely confined to stalls and the itinerant variety disappeared several years ago.

The pollution haze that I remember from my last visit to the capital over a decade ago remains.