...With Photos

So unfortunately these photos are not posted in sequential order - we're still learning how to be professional bloggers - but we trust you'll get the gist.

July 7, 2010

1st Photo - A group of youths outside the Istiqlal Mosque who wanted their photos taken with us. After their photo Alice was all like "if you get a photo then so do we" and busted out her camera. Ridiculously funny, and maybe the highlight of my day because they started out all shy but as soon as the first brave girl approached us and sat down one by one the other 11 came running. All of a sudden we were swarmed with little nervous smiling girl. We all laughed a lot. (Catholic cathedral in the background.)

2nd Photo - When we entered the Mosque we removed our sandals and were escorted to a visitor information office where we met a little man in his late 20s named Jamal who would serve as our tour guide. He first took us to a make-shift theater with a bunch of chairs and a small TV where he told us to leave our shoes and umbrella. He asked us where we were from and when we said "Canada". He said, "Canada is in Europe yes", which made me think he doesn't get a lot of Canadian visitors. He had us sign a guestbook recording our names, occupation, country of origin, and religion. He wouldn't except tourist as an occupation which seemed fitting as I am currently without employ and suggested something "like doctor, like lawyer". When the tour was over he took us to a room where we could wash our feet which were blackened from walking barefoot throughout the Mosque, as shown in the photo.

3rd Photo - The dome of the Mosque was magnificent, as were the columns which supported it. The Mosque could accommodate 200,000 faithful, and the floor was tiled with 160cms long rectangles. Each rectangle faced Mecca, and was just large enough for one person to kneel and pray within it - "Indonesian size" as Jamal repeated several times. The Mosque was built in the 1960s directly beside the Catholic cathedral which was built in 1906. I asked why the Mosque was built directly beside the cathedral and Jamal replied by saying "that is shows that we can all leave peacefully side by side in Indonesia." He also said that "on Sunday during Catholic mass, the Catholics park in the Mosque parking lot" - a further sign of peaceful relations ,"no problem!"

4th Photo - This drum is used many times daily in the call to prayer. I believe the wooden frame was carved teak, while the leather at both ends was cow hide - one side taken from a female cow, while the other was from a male. The drum sounds like thunder when struck. We were walking to the National Monument (shown in photo 5) earlier in the day before going to the Mosque and heard what sounded like a number of consecutive explosions in the distance. Alice and I looked at each other with wonder, but none of the other people around seemed to be alarmed so we paid it no mind.

5th Photo - The National Monument was built to celebrate Indonesian independence from the Dutch. You can go right to the top, and I imagine the view would be pretty spectacular as it is not too far from the Java sea, but the line-up looked to be several hours long and the Monument was closing just as we arrived. The Monument sits at the centre of a large public square where traffic is not permitted to go, which is like sweet salvation as traffic is sheer chaos in Jakarta (there are about 9 million people in Jakarta and everyone of them seems to be on a motorbike). The square is lined with children flying kites and photographers (spelt photgrafers in Indonesian) who take fancy photos of tourists holding on to the Monument. I thought that we could try to reproduce the effect ourselves, but as Vanessa can attest to I'm sure, Alice is the worst photografer known to the modern age. She spent a good number of minutes saying "right hand higher, no closer, no left, no my left..." and this was the best of all attempts. I think next time I'll splurge on the professional.

BULLOCKS!!!!! Dave has been hogging the computer for the last 5 hours, leaving me alone to boil eggs and toast bread. My photography skills are actually quite good, Dave is just a terrible subject.