Jakarta, Indonesia

 After my first visit to Asia, I had my first visit to the lush, green country of Indonesia. What struck me immediately upon arriving at the airport was the number of Muslims. Since we were in town for my husband's business meeting, I had not done any research or advance planning for this leg of our trip.  Turns out this was also my first trip to a country that is primarily Muslim.

Another thing that was immediately apparent was the extent of security in this country. This was our third country in two weeks and we had the most difficult time with customs…they practically removed every item from my husband's business materials and questioned their purpose.
When we arrived at our hotel, the entrance was gated and the hotel had guards that scanned the undercarriage of each vehicle. At every entrance, the hotel had more security guards and every person must pass through a metal detector. It wasn't only our hotel, my visit to the local mall also involved the same practice of passing by the guards and going through a metal detector.

The malls look western enough with their modern interiors and escalators. In addition to all of the American chains and upscale designers, I was surprised to see how many shops were exclusively devoted to Muslim clothing such as the full body burqua or the headscarf known as a khimar.  Don't worry, I still found plenty of shops with clothes that suited me.

The mall was so ornate inside, it boasted an atrium with a large clock tower. The clock opened up on the hour and figurines rotate out and play music as they turn around.

The malls had everything, one even had an indoor slide.  (FYI-one thing you cannot buy in Jakarta is tampons. Trust me, I went inside three stores that sold feminine products and even asked…but they just don't have them.)

Other than the mall, I did manage to be a tourist and visit some of the historical sites.

First, if you care to fight the traffic, no visit to Jakarta would be complete without seeing Old Town which gives you a glimpse of what the city was like during the Dutch colonial era. The plaza was crammed with people trying to peddle their goods. 

They aren't very many Americans in town so I was an easy target. When a group of teenage girls approached me, I turned aside thinking they were trying to sell me something or ask for money. I soon learned that they were learning English in school and needed to interview someone to practice speaking.  One interviewed me by reading a list of pre-written questions from a notebook while her friend videotaped the interview on her smart phone. When I asked if I could take their picture, they shouted "selfie" and we all posed for my camera.

Another top tourist attraction is Tamon Mini Indonesia Indah. This is like Disney World's World Showcase at Epcot. Since Indonesia is comprised of thousands of islands, the country has many ethnicities. The park is comprised of houses and costumes from each region which are erected around a lake. The park is enormous, so large that we took a bus tour around the park stopping at only a few of the houses. My favorite was from West Sumatra which are colorful and probably the most iconic of Indonesia construction with their "buffalo horn" roofs.

The Pope and the Philippines

As part of our whirlwind tour of Asia, we had a long layover planned for Manila. We were met at the airport by our good friends, Rod and Daisy Tingzon, who hoped to show us around their beautiful city. 

 
We weren't the only ones to arrive by plane in Manila that day…so did Pope Francis! As you can imagine, the airport was full of security and the city was expecting record crowds to greet him. In fact, the day was declared a national holiday and businesses were closed for the long weekend while the Pope was in the country. Luckily, we managed to leave the airport for a few hours and return in plenty of time to make our flight connection.

 

Due to road closures, we did not make it into Manila to see the historical sites. However, we drove out to Rod and Daisy's neighborhood and stopped for lunch at their country club, The Palms, which does not have a golf course…but has an amazing pool and gym facilities.

The Palms

We tried some Filippino food and I had my first butterfly tea…a mixture of iced tea, orange juice and grenadine.

Butterfly tea

From there, Daisy showed us a new condo development called Botanica.  Botanica video Daisy is one of the sales agents, and she could have sold me one if only I lived a little closer.

On the ride back to the airport, I couldn't help but notice that a popular mode of public transit is the jeepney. It is an open-air jeep that operates like a bus, carrying people down the main roads for a small fee. Back at the airport, we had more time to visit with the Tingzons as they were headed to Jakarta with us for the Pony Asia-Pacific Zone Meeting.

Jeepney

Yangmingshan National Park

Only a short ride outside metropolitan Taipei is another world filled with lush greenery where you can hike into the mountains and enjoy the natural scenery while taking advantage of the panoramic views of the city.  Our hosts, Edward and Grace Chen, drove us out toward the Yangmingshan National Park with a few stops along the way.

We drove along the meandering roadway, stopping to photograph a calla lily farm.

We also stopped in the park known for its dormant volcano. The area is known for its hot springs formed from the volcanic terrain and although we did not visit one of the many baths, we walked along an area where the steam was escaping and we felt its warmth in the air.

Our driving tour also took us through old towns. We stopped in one town, got out of the car and strolled down a busy street punctuated with old vendor stalls that are still very relevant to the local residents.

Our featured destination that day was the Yehliu Geopark.Geopark This unique national park is located on the cape of the sea with breathtaking cliffs and beaches that would be worthy of the drive by themselves. 

However, the reason tourists flock to the park is the unique rock formations created by the sand, wind and water that fused here thousands of years ago. Everywhere you look are mushroom rocks.

 Local legend came up with imaginative names for the most distinctive rocks, appropriately named for what the rock resembles... like how people sometimes see something formed by clouds. The most famous rock is The Queen's Head whose long, slender neck is being eroded ever so slightly over time.  Here are a few photos of what we saw:

Queen's Head

The Sandal

It was a wonderful day and refreshing to be out of the city and feel the brisk wind at the sea and the cool mountain air.  Before driving back for the evening, we had to stop for a few photos of the sun setting over Taipei.

Tai-an Presbyterian Church

The reason for my trip to Taiwan starts with two great Presbyterian pastors. The first is Tony Lo from the Tai-an Presbyterian Church in Taipei and the other is Bill Meyer who was the former pastor at my home church, The Church of the Covenant, in Washington, PA. The story goes that Rev. Meyer's son was living in Taiwan when his father proposed that he find a church that would like to form an alliance and become sister churches. At that time Bill Meyer was serving a church in Sioux Falls and they become the first sister to the Tai-an church. When Bill moved to the Church of the Covenant, we continued the sisterhood.

Pastor Lo and Jenny Lo

In 2001, the Tai-an church sent a group of teenagers to Washington, PA to learn English as a second language. My family hosted a young girl by the name of Grace Chen. We never dreamed that summer that our friendship would grow so strong. Her brother, Albert, decided to follow in his sister's footsteps and set out for Pittsburgh and was due to arrive on 9-11-01. His plane was diverted to Canada, and after a few scary days and some logistics…Albert eventually landed in Pittsburgh and became the second Chen child to become part of our lives.

Albert went on to graduate from West Virginia University and Grace graduated from Penn State University. Both are working in the family business and I am so proud of how they have become successful, hard-working, young adults. 


Outside the Chen office and factory

Grace's desk!

We joke that I am their American Mama, but they have two wonderful parents (Edward and Victoria) back in Taiwan. So, the Chen family and the Tai-an Presbyterian Church are the reason for our trip to Taiwan.

The evening we arrived, Albert and Grace met us at the airport and drove us to the Grand Hyatt in Taipei where we met Mr. and Mrs. Chen and Pastor Lo for dinner. The Chens were extremely generous hosts for three days in Taiwan, feeding us, taking time off from work to drive us all over to Taipei and into the countryside, and even showing us some baseball. We also spent an afternoon touring their church and were the guests of the Tony and Jenny Lo at a local "hot pot" dinner.

Our last evening together, even Grandma Chen joined us for a family dinner held at a local restaurant where the Chens are business partners. The dinner was amazing!  I counted ten courses, and when I mentioned it… someone said that in their culture ten is the perfect number. I thought he was right…everything about the evening, and my time inTaiwan, had been absolutely perfect!