Where is Andre now?

So I am staying at my cousin and his wife's house in Bogor near Jakarta. From the center of Jakarta, it is about 55 miles on the toll roads. There is a palace here as a vacation home for the Indonesian president. I guess you can say Bogor is Indonesia's version of America's Camp David. This year in June, it will be celebrating its 528th anniversary as a city. With a population of almost 40,000 people/km^2 or 100,000 people/square mile, it is one of the densely populated cities in the world. Nicknamed rainy city not only because of the amount of rain, but also for its regularity. Afternoon showers are reported to be quite regular even in the summer; it made the Guiness book of record with having 322 thunderstorms per year. With about 150 inches of rainfall per year, it is almost 5 times that of Portland, Oregon with 35 inches per year. This is not to say that the town is cool and comfortable. The average monthly lowest temperature is 70 degrees and highest is 90 degrees. Daily average humidity is quite high, ranging from 70-90% throughout the year.

Bogor is famous for at least two things, the Bogor Palace (Istana Bogor) and the Bogor Botanical Gardens. The Palace is now a presidential retreat, having been built in 1744 on 70 acres of land. There are deers roaming freely in the palace gardens while the palace guests enjoy the extensive art collection in the now 200,000 square feet palace. Bogor Botanical Gardens border the palace and contains 15000 species of trees and plants, including 3000 species of orchids alone and the world's largest flower, the Rafflesia. The Rafflesia is Indonesia's national flower. Though I'm not sure why, it's a parasitic plant and it smells of rotten meat; its only merit is its rarity. The other two national flowers are much better, the Moon Orchid and the Jasmine. One known for its beauty and the other for its fragrance.








The traffic in Bogor is quite a bit less complicated and crowded than Jakarta. I would drive here (Actually I did, both on the main streets and on the side streets/alleys full of potholes), but not in Jakarta. There are malls, day spas and foot spas (you've got to look that up) here as well as impromptu side of the road markets. These markets are simple stalls made of scrap wood and tarp as roofs. There is one that is actually on the road, a road that's supposed to be two lanes wide is now only one lane because of the market stalls. They sell everything from fruits and vegetables to toys and clothing to rabbits (I don't really know whether it's for eating or as pets).







This city is quite old, it celebrated its 528th anniversary on June 3rd. I am not sure whether it has been a city for that long or what. I know that the area has been inhabited since the 5th century, when it was called Pakuan. Back then of course Indonesia as a nation doesn't exist, it consisted of many kingdoms spread across the different islands. The one that Bogor, or Pakuan back then, belonged to was called Tarumanegara. One amazing thing about this kingdom back then, they had communicated and even sent messengers to China.

Anyway, that is Bogor, where I currently live and while I am in Indonesia, probably will be. As of this writing, I am in Malang to visit my cousins and my aunts (my mom's sisters) and uncles. I was in Surabaya doing the same thing a few days ago. Tomorrow I will be in Bali for a few days, then Singapore, Kuala Lumpur and Bangkok before I am back in Bogor. My mom will be with me until August 2nd, when she will go back to Los Angeles to my sister, my brother in law and my niece and nephew.