My daughter has written the following blog and I am incorporating it here.
 
It’s Chinese New Year!  (by June)

This time I got to spend the new year in Jakarta with my family (minus my husband, the poor dear couldn’t make it this time). It was my 3rd trip to Jakarta, but I must admit I did not really see Jakarta the first two times. I saw only the traffic jams.

This time, I saw much, much more – even more traffic jams! Heh heh….

This mammoth city boasts of impressive skyscrapers, huge fancy malls, traffic jams and noise level that can rival any other city in the world.

I must say I was thoroughly impressed when I walked thru the couple of malls I visited there. They were more than comparable with the malls in Singapore, London, HK and Japan.

 
But it is not all glitter and gold here in this city of contrasts. The privileged and the not-so-lucky-ones literally live alongside each other here. Many have come to this city in search of jobs and a better life, but not all have made it. Those who haven’t, live in squalor right there in the city. They eke out a living by doing all sorts of odd jobs, selling things (including to those stuck in jams) and providing services that I thought were pretty unique

The rich are chauffeured around by local drivers who drive like maniacs and the poor move around on bikes or non-air conditioned busses, eating and chocking on the dust and exhaust fumes.    

Here’s something I witnessed that will forever be etched in my memory:

On the eve of Chinese New Year, we left Jakarta for Bandung, a popular tourist destination about 2 hours from Jakarta. The highway on which we traveled was so bumpy that I felt the bones in my body had come off their joints by the time we reached. My brother said that was nothing compared to a stretch of road he has to take to go to work daily – so bumpy you’d fall off your seat.

 
Bandung is apparently famous for its many factory outlets that sell branded goods (genuine ones!) at mind-blowingly cheap prices. My kinda place (yes, my husband sometimes calls me a cheapskate).

Upon reaching Bandung, we went straight to Rumah Mode, the biggest factory outlet there. Apparently even the stars shop there, though I wouldn’t have recognized any of them even if they stood right in front of me and did the moonwalk.

I did some major shopping there…heh heh (major by my cheapskate standard). I am now the proud owner of an Armani t-shirt (not Armanii, or Armanie, but genuine ARMANI ok)

In the evening, we went to Bandung’s Kampung Daun Culture Gallery & Café (http://kampungdaun.net/) for our new year’s eve reunion dinner. A very unique place located in the middle of the jungle. Diners get to sit and dine in individual wooden huts with atap roofs and soft (not-so-clean) cushions. The lighting, deco and landscape were beautiful, and the air was cool. Perfect. I ate barbequed chicken Padang-style and drank durian juice (durian in a glass!). Perfect x 2.

A pity we did not get to see more or even boil eggs at the hot spring due to the sudden downpour that threatened to wash us down the slope into the crater (a.k.a. monsoon rain).

As a souvenir, I bought an ‘angklung’ from one of the many small shops/stalls there, a traditional Indonesian musical instrument carved out of bamboo. “Klung, klung, klung, klung….klung”  – that’s the sound of an angklung

We left Indonesia on the 3rd day of Chinese New Year. I did not fully appreciate just how noisy and chaotic the roads of Jakarta were until we left the Penang airport and drove home. Everything was suddenly soooo quiet and peaceful that it felt like I had earplugs on…heh heh.

Overall, a pretty good trip, mostly because I got to spend the few days with my family. Nothing beats that.
                                   

                                 ********************************************