Jakarta: damn interesting the old harbour, where sacks and wooden planks are loaded by hand from and onto the schooners. And the National Museum. Near Bandung I visit the “drive in” volcano Tangkuban Parahu. Two large craters, separated by a narrow crest. A little below is a small hydrothermal field with boiling springs, fumaroles and solfataras (but I have seen better). Nice, once I leave the souvenir stalls and tourist hordes behind. Unfortunately, I’m stuck in clouds most of the time and a thunderstorm is rumbling in the background.
I have not yet got used to being woken up by the muezzim at 5am. With 230 million inhabitants, Indonesia is the fourth largest nation in the world (after China, India, USA) and the largest Muslim nation. But religion here is traditionally very open and tolerant. It is almost poignant how many Indonesians emphasise this, adding that they are not terrorists. For many, the absence of tourists (since the Bali bomb, even more since the tsunami and made worse by the crappy visa policy) is disastrous. In fact, I can almost count on my hands the tourists I have seen here so far.