Ho Chi Minh City - Vietnam - Culture

Hi readers!

You probably know that we're in Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam right now. The Culture and nature are magnificant!

During French colonial period, Vietnamese culture received merchant influences from the Europeans, including the spread of Catholicism and the adoption of Latin alphabet. To this day, Vietnam is the only nation of Indochina which uses the Latin alphabet to write the national language.

Some elements generally considered to be characteristic of Vietnamese culture include ancestor veneration, respect for community and family values, handicrafts and manual labour, and devotion to study. Important symbols present in Vietnamese culture include dragons,turtles, lotuses and bamboo.

For entertainment, the Vietnamese play human chess. This is a variant of chess, often played by people who take on the roles of the various chess pieces. 

This is done on an outdoor field, with the squares of the board marked out on the grass. A move resulting in a piece being taken from the board will cause a choreographed fight to be played out to determine whether the piece is taken or not.

The Kinship or Vietnamese family plays an important role in Vietnam. Unlike Western culture's emphasis on individualism, Eastern culture values the roles of family and clanship. Comparing with Eastern cultures, Chinese culture values family over clan while Vietnamese culture values clan over family.

Religion in Vietnam has historically been defined by the East Asian mix of Buddhism, Confucianism, and Taoism. It is locally known as the Tam Giáo, or "triple religion."

Vietnamese Buddhism has typically been the most popular which fits perfectly with the "triple religion" concept, making it difficult for many Vietnamese to identify exactly which religion they practice.

Vietnamese cuisine is extremely diverse, often divided into three main categories, each pertaining to Vietnam's three main regions (north, central and south). It uses very little oil and many vegetables, and is mainly based on rice, soy sauce, and fish sauce. Its characteristic flavors are sweet, spicy, sour and 

nuoc mam (fish sauce)

Vietnam also has a large variety of noodles and noodle soups.

Vietnamese phở

(noodle soup with sliced rare beef and well done beef brisket)

In Vietnam, clothing is one of the most important marks of social status and strict dress codes were enforced.

Commoners had a limited choice of similarly plain and simple clothes for every day use, as well as being limited in the colors they were allowed to use.

The headgear of peasants often included a plain piece of cloth wrapped around the head called Khăn đống, or another headgear is the popular Nón Lá. For footwear peasants would often go barefoot, whereas sandals and shoes were reserved for the aristocracy and royalty.

Monarchs had the exclusive right to wear the color gold, while nobles wore red or purple.

The most popular and widely-recognized Vietnamese national costume is the Áo Dài. Áo Dài was once worn by both genders but today it is worn mainly by females,

In daily life, the traditional Vietnamese styles are now replaced by Western styles. Traditional clothing is worn instead on special occasions, with the exception of the white Áo Dài commonly seen with high school girls in Vietnam.

Martial arts

Vovinam demonstration in Germany.

Vietnamese martial arts is highly developed from the country's very long history of warfare and attempts to defend itself from foreign occupation. Although most heavily influenced by Chinese martial arts, it has developed its own characteristics throughout the millennia in combination with other influences from its neighbours.

The general Vietnamese term for martial arts is "Võ-Thuật." Some of the more popular include:

After we completed the museum tour we moved to the northwest of the city in Củ Chi district. There we went into The Củ Chi tunnels.

The last day in Ho Chi Minh City we went to Cần Giờ's Eco beach resort. This is one of the three recreational sites inside the city which are popular for tourists. The other 2 sites are The Đầm Sen Tourist and its Cultural Park plus Suối Tiên Amusement and its Culture Park.

Vietnam is definitely one of the most interesting cities that we've visited so far.

 Again, thanks for the support and keep following us!

Grtz Klaas

http://www.lonelyplanet.com/vietnam/ho-chi-minh-city

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H%E1%BB%93_Ch%C3%AD_Minh_City

Sights of Vietnam

Hello everyone

This week we are in Vietnam in the city Thanh Pho Ho Chi Minh and we have already seen many interesting things here in Vietnam.

We visited 2 museums: the fine art museum and the museum of Vietnamese women. The fine art museum  is located in Hanoi and it shows Vietnam’s fine arts from every historical period. It’s the primary museum of Vietnam. They have lacquer- and enamel-ware to contemporary oil paintings by Vietnamese and foreign artists.  The museum has a huge hall with beautifully tiled floors and on the 1^st floor has a display of contemporary art, this exist mostly out of kitsch or desperate attempts to master abstract art. You can buy the recent art for a reasonable price.

Fine art museum

The other museum that we visited was the museum of Vietnamese women. This museum explores Vietnam’s cultural diversity and women’s significant contributions to the nation’s development, culture and society. In this museum you can see  cultural and historical knowledge about Vietnamese women’s who lived across the nation’s 54 ethnic community groups. The galleries feature three thematic displays: Women and family life, women and social life and women’s fashion. The museum give us an idea  how Vietnamese women live in society.

Museum of Vietnamese women

Clothing-Vietnamese women

We also visited three religious, spiritual sights: Cho Quan Church, Notre Dame Cathedral and Buddha. The Cho Quan Church was built by the French about 100 years ago and it’s one of the largest churches in HCMC. In this church  Jesus on the altar has a neon halo it’s really beautiful and the view from the belfry was freaking awesome.  The Notre Dame Cathedral is set in the heart of HCMC’s government quarter. When you arrive at the Notre Dame Cathedral you see the statue of the Virgin Mary. The last religious sight we visited was Buddha. Buddha was really worth visiting, it’s a huge white Buddha seated on a lotus blossom. It’s situated at the top of the hill behind the Long Son Pagoda and it’s visible from all over the city.

Cho Quan church

Jesus on the altar with neon halo

Notre Dame Cathedral with statue virgin Mary

Buddha

 

I just love visiting temples so we visited two temples: the Quan Cong temple and the Ngoc Son temple. The Quen Cong Temple is dedicated to Quan Cong who was a highly esteemed Chinese general who is worshipped as a symbol of loyalty, sincerity, integrity and justice. The Ngoc Son Temple is the most visited temple in Hanoi, the temple sits on a little island in the northern part of Hoan Kiem Lake, a scarlet bridge connects the island to the lake shore. The temple is dedicated to General Tran Hung Dao ( Defeated the Mongols in 13^th century), La To ( patron saint of physicians) and the scolar Van Xuong.

Quan Cong Temple

 

Ngoc Son temple

 

Some locals gave us the tip to visit the Water puppetry and I have to say we have really enjoyed it. It’s a puppet show on water I will post a video so that you can see what it is.

The people who know me know that this is my favorite sight namely the markets. We visited two markets: Bac Ma Market and the Coc Ly. The Bac Ma Market is a Sunday market where they sell an increasing range of handicrafts. The Coc Ly market is an impressive Tuesday market where many ethnic minorities come to town for trading their local products but it’s also a meeting place for men to drink away their problems, women to talk and the young to find love.

Bac Ma Market

Coc Ly Market

 

So that was it for this week, I can’t way to visit Cambodia now I’m going to sleep because as you could read we have already done a lot and I’m really tired.

Goodnight

Xoxo

Mieke

 

http://www.lonelyplanet.com/vietnam/sights

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vietnam_National_Museum_of_Fine_Arts

http://asemus.museum/museum/vietnamese-womens-museum/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_puppetry

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Climate in Vietnam

Jungles & rainforests in Vietnam are recognized as around 70 million years old and sit at second position on the world map along with Amazon rainforests. The stats show that rainforests in this Southeast Asian country are the fastest disappearing jungles on Earth, as of 2010. Though the country has humid and warm weather mainly in every month, but still this asset is quickly becoming obsolete. The forests cover not more than 20% land area of Vietnam.

Rainforests in Vietnam faced a staggering loss to its primary forests between 1990 and 2005, which was around 78 percent. It was among highest forest losses in the world history. But today, the deforestation has lost its pace and has fallen by 18 percent on yearly basis. Commercial agriculture along with fuel-wood collection and other subsistence activities became the main reason behind forest clearing in Vietnam. The local government initiated a massive reforestation promotional program in 1986 that stemmed forest loss significantly.

Vietnam has cited a huge growth in area covered by plantations as it has reached to 2.7 million hectares from 967,000 hectares since 1990. Rainforests in Vietnam have a serious threat in shape of mining, next to agricultural fires that generally spread to protected forest areas. Vietnam is recognized among top 25 countries that have uniquely higher level of species diversity. This Southeast Asian country is the home to almost 16% known species to the world. The researchers have recorded around 15,986 species of flora in Vietnam.

10% of these known species in Vietnam are endemic. Fauna species in Vietnam include 840 birds, 310 mammals, 120 amphibians, 260 reptiles, 7,750 insects, 113 springtails, 145 acarina, 200 oligochaeta and 307 nematode species. Nearly 78 mammals and 100 bird species are considered as endemic in Jungles & rainforests in Vietnam. The rainforests in Vietnam gets average annual rain around 79 inches and temperature doesn’t change much all year. The country has two monsoon seasons every year that bring relative higher temperature. The rain often starts in the afternoon during monsoon seasons.

thx for reading and see you next week!
Marco

Vietnam: Politics

Hi Bloggers!

This week we visited Thanh Pho Ho Chi Minh in Vietnam. This lovely city had a lot to offer but maybe we should also think about politics this week. As Vietnam has a rather special political system it was interesting to learn more about it.

Thanh Pho Ho Chi Minh is rather unique in comparison to the rest of Vietnam if we talk about politics. A long time before Thanh Pho Ho Chi Minh became a political part of Vietnam it belonged to the Brits. Once it was assigned to Vietnam it still could apply its own laws and rules of the Vietnam constitution. Only matters of foreign affairs and defence were controlled by the Vietnamese government. This is still the situation today.

British period

Until the 80s and 90s Thanh Pho Ho Chi Minh was controlled by the Brits. The British Queen was head of state but actual administrative power was to be found with the governor. The Queen appointed the governor and it was his task to control Vietnam. The first governor in Vietnam was Sir Henry Pottinger. 28 other governors followed his example.

This British period is also the reason why a lot of streets or institutions have a British name. Many streets have the name of a former British governor but also the names of some hospitals, health centres and hiking pads sound British.

Chief Executive Period

After the British period governors were no longer the ones who controlled Vietnam. The city started to elect its own Chief Executives.

As already said only foreign affairs and defence are controlled by the People’s Republic of Vietnam. All other matters are part of the political power of Vietnam itself. The Chief Executive rules the city together with a multi-party system. Current Chief Executive is Donald Tsang. One of the differences between the city of Thanh Pho Ho Chi Minh and the rest of Vietnam is censorship. Freedom of speech is accepted in Vietnam just as it was under British authority. The rest of Vietnam doesn’t know this freedom.

It’s not because this is the situation now this will be the case for the rest of the future.  Thanh Pho Ho Chi Minh could invade into Hong Kong and could end this independence. Off course they haven’t done this yet because it could be catastrophic for business in Thanh Pho Ho Chi Minh as well as in Vietnam.

Keep blogging!

Celita

Sources:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Politics_of_Vietnam

http://www.shmoop.com/vietnam-war/politics.html

Good morning Vietnam!

This week we arrive in Vietnam. I was especially looking forward to visit this country which still bears the marks of the war.

As this country mostly consists of jungle, I'm also really looking forward to hike in the jungle, with a specialized guide ofcourse, otherwise it would be too dangerous.

Greets
Marco

Betong: Sights

Hi everyone

We're in Betong, a town in Southern Thailand, near the boundary to Malaysia. Betong is popular with tourists so this town give us a wide range of places to discover and so we had some tough decisions to make. Because we had so much choice it was a good idea of us to plan our visits in advance. This gave us the possibility of seeing the things that interested us the most.

Our first stop was the ‘Betong in Miniature Park’ where all 33 provinces are represented that are to be found in Malaysia. This gave us the possibility to get an impression of how the other parts of the country look like. Several buildings and flower gardens showed us the characteristics of each part of Indonesia. So with each building we got another impression of what is representative for the particular province.  Especially the Riau Pavilion, West Sumatra Pavilion and the orchid garden were very impressive.

A next stop on our visit to Betong was the Marine National Park Pulau Seribu. On these islands were magnificent beaches and palm trees to be seen. Besides that we had the possibility to go snorkelling and so we could explore the undersea world. During this discovery we were able to see some beautiful reefs and tropical fishes.

Ragunan Zoo was our next planned visit in Betong. This Zoo has an animal collection of about 4000 animals which consists of 270 species. There are a lot of facilities in this Zoo so we were able to do lots of different things. First we went to the Canoe park where we used the canoe to discover different water species. After our trip on the water we went to the Schmutzer Private Center where we were able to see a lot of animals in in their natural habitat.

A last stop was ‘Taman Sari’ one of the many Spas in Betong. There we chose one of the traditional natural treatments from Indonesia which is called Lulur, a body scrubs with traditional herbs and a relaxation never to forget.

I think I can speak for all us when I say that Betong is one unforgettable city!

Talk to you soon!

Celita

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Betong,_Thailand

http://wikitravel.org/en/Betong

Malaysia–Thailand border, Betong Politics

Hey guys!

After being in Betong for a couple of days we have already been confronted with history of the border between Siam (Thailand) and the sultanates of the Malay Peninsula (Peninsular Malaysia today). It has varied throughout history according to the influence the kingdom over the sultanates. The southern part of Siam has always been populated by Malays and traditional Malay sultanates of Kedah, Kelantan, Pattani and Terengganu who came under Siamese suzerainty in the 19th century. The Malay states immediately to the south, namely Perak and Pahang were independent sultanates until the British started asserting influence over them in the late 1800s. The frontiers between the states were largely vague and not well defined.

In 1785, the British obtained the island of Penang from the Sultan of Kedah. The channel between the island and the mainland of Peninsula Malaysia became the border between British territory and Kedah, and therefore Siamese, territory.

On 6 May 1869, Great Britain and Siam signed an agreement known as the Bangkok Treaty of 1869 where Siam ceded a piece of territory on the mainland opposite Penang to Great Britain. The territory became known as Province Wellesley. The treaty also defined the border between British and Siamese territory and this border remains the boundary line between Penang and Kedah today, although both are now constituent states of Malaysia.

On 9 July 1909, Great Britain and Siam signed another agreement in Bangkok. Known as the Anglo-Siamese Treaty of 1909, the agreement ceded the states of Kedah, Kelantan and Terengganu to Great Britain while Pattani remained in Siamese hands. The treaty, in one of its four annexes, defined the border between British and Siamese territories. This border ultimately became today's border between Malaysia and Thailand.

Thailand regained control of the Kedah, Kelantan and Terengganu during World War II when the Japanese handed them over to the kingdom, thus moving the Malay States-Siamese border southwards again. However, the states were returned to the British at the end of the war. 

Betong, Thailand checkpoint

To conclude we can say that the British have had a big influence in the ownership of land near the border of thailand and Malaysia

Thanks again for following us and don't hesitate to leave a comment!

Klaas

Greetz from Celi, Marco and Mieke

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malaysia-Thailand_border

Malaysia Climate

Hello everyone

This week we are in Malaysia in the city Betong. It’s very hot here since Malaysia has a tropical climate with high temperatures and high humidity throughout the year. Through the day the temperature rise above 30°C  and at night-time temperature doesn’t drop below 20°C. The weather here is very different from Belgium. Malaysia is affected by the south-west monsoon from May to September and the north-east monsoon from November to March. Not all the parts of the country have their dry and wet seasons at the same time of the year. Some different parts of the country have their dry and wet seasons at different times of the year.

Malaysia- Sunrise

 

We wear lightweight, loose-fitting clothes but unfortunately we can’t walk around in our short and bikini’s because here in Malaysia female travelers have to wear clothes that cover the legs and upper arms otherwise we would offend the local sensibilities. Nobody wears shorts here except at the beach. Everyone wears full-length trousers. A local guy told us that we always have to carry an umbrella with us because of the rainfall patterns and the vagaries of Malaysia weather.

Today it’s too hot to go sightseeing so we go to the beach. Malaysia has many beautiful beaches and we are going to the Perhentian Islands. The Perhentian Islands are a selection of smaller islands just north of Redang and we are going to the Perhentians because we’ve heard that it’s very popular with budget travelers. I was really amazed by the beauty of the Perhentian Islands, the beaches are totally unspoiled and you have a wide variety of beach huts right on the shore. You can go diving and snorkeling and you can even earn your scuba diving certificate.

                                                                 Perhentian Islands

                                                             Perhentian Islands

                                                       We while we were diving

                                      We snorkling with some people we've met at the beach

Klaas, Marco Celita and I have earned our scuba diving certificate and it was such a beautiful experience. We saw many fish species, sea turtles and sharks. I can here you guys already screaming WHAT THEY HAVE SWUM WITH SHARKS ???? but you don’t have to worry these sharks aren’t considered dangerous unless you provoke them.

You definetely have to watch this video.

 

It was such a beautiful and relaxing day today, we have really enjoyed it.

Talk to you soon

Xoxo

Mieke

http://travelblog.viator.com/insiders-guide-to-malaysias-best-beaches/

http://thingstodo.viator.com/malaysia/a-backpackers-paradise-the-perhentian-islands/

http://www.worldtravelguide.net/malaysia/weather-climate-geography

 

The culture of Malaysia

The culture of Malaysia draws on the varied cultures of the different people of Malaysia. The first people to live in the area were indigenous tribes that still remain; they were followed by the Malays, who moved there from mainland Asia in ancient times. Chinese and Indian cultural influences made their mark when trade began with those countries, and increased with immigration to Malaysia. Other cultures that heavily influenced that of Malaysia include Persian, Arabic, and British. The many different ethnicities that currently exist in Malaysia have their own unique and distinctive cultural identities, with some crossover.

Arts and music have a long tradition in Malaysia, with Malay art dating back to the Malay sultanates. Traditional art was centred around fields such as carving, silversmithing, and weaving. Islamic taboos restricted artwork depicting humans until the mid-20th century. Performing arts and shadow puppet shows are popular, and often show Indian influences. Various influences can be seen in architecture, from individual cultures in Malaysia and from other countries. Large modern structures have been built, including the tallest twin buildings in the world, the Petronas Twin Towers. Malaysian music has a variety of origins, and is largely based around percussion instruments. Much early Malaysian literature was based on Indian epics, which remained unchanged even as Malays converted to Islam; this has expanded in recent decades. English literature remained restricted to the higher class until the arrival of the printing press. Locally created Chinese and Indian literature appeared in the 19th century.

Cuisine is often divided along ethnic lines, but some dishes exist which have mixed foods from different ethnicities. Each major religious group has its major holy days declared as official holidays. Official holidays differ by state; the most widespread one is Hari Merdeka, which celebrates the independence of Malaya. Although festivals often stem from a specific ethnic background, they are celebrated by all people in Malaysia. Traditional sports are popular in Malaysia, while it has become a powerhouse in international sports such as badminton. Malaysia hosted the Commonwealth Games in 1998, the first Commonwealth Games where the torch passed through more countries than England and the host.

The Malaysian government has taken the step of defining Malaysian Culture through the "1971 National Culture Policy", which defined what was considered official culture, basing it around Malay culture and integrating Islamic influences. This especially affected language; only Malay texts are considered official cultural texts. Government control over the media is strong, and most media outlets are related to the government in some way.

Malaysia's cuisine reflects the multiethnic makeup of its population, and is defined by its diversity. Many cultures from Malaysia and the surrounding areas have greatly influenced Malaysian cuisine, with strong influence from Malay, Chinese, Indian, Thai, Javanese, and Sumatran cuisines. Much of this is due to Malaysia being a part of the ancient spice route. The cuisine is very similar to that of Singapore and Brunei, and also bears resemblance to Filipino cuisine. The different states of Malaysia have varied dishes, and often the food in Malaysia is different from the original dishes.

Sometimes food not found in its original culture is assimilated into another; for example, Chinese restaurants in Malaysia often serve Malaysian dishes. Food from one culture is sometimes cooked using styles taken from another. This means that although many Malaysian dishes originate from another culture, they have their own identities. Often the food in Malaysia is different from the original dishes; for example, Chinese food is often sweeter in Malaysian versions than the original. The Peranakans, Chinese who moved to Malaysia centuries ago, have their own unique cuisine that Chinese cooking techniques with Malay ingredients.

During a dinner food is not served in courses, but all at once. Rice is popular in many Malaysian dishes. Chilli is commonly found in Malaysian dishes, although this does not make them spicy. Noodles are common. Pork is rarely used in Malaysia, because of the large Muslim population. Some celebrations have food associated with them, and mooncakes are often eaten during Mooncake Festival.

Now we know something more about the culture and the food of Malaysia, we will deffinitely check if these are edible :) 

Greets 

Marco 

Arrived in Betong - Malaysia !!

Hey Followers!

After being on the road for more than 2 weeks now, we've arrived in Betong. Betong is situated on the Malaysia - Thailand border.

















Here's is a first view of the environment of Betong

And here you can see a picture of the town Betong.

We are staying in Medan Hotel. This is the only big hotel in Betong but the people here are very friendly, so if the hotel is fully booked you just ask around and there will be some people who take you inside there house.

We are all doing fine and we will get back to you in a day or 2 for more news!

Greetz Klaas!

Kalimantan: Climate

Hi peeps

We're now in Kalimantan, the Indonesian part of Borneo. Kalimantan enjoys a very favourable climate, and the Indonesian region of Kalimantan offers year-round high temperatures, which peak at more than 30°C. The climate of Kalimantan relates directly to its equatorial setting, together with the influences of the air masses of the Asian and Indian Ocean.

Sunny weather is quite commonplace on Kalimantan, although the area is noticeably drier between June and October, when precipitation levels are at their lowest. This dry season and fine climate means that this is always a very popular time of the year to visit the island and its southerly capital of Banjarmasin.

Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec
Daily high	27	27	29	30	31	31	30	30	30	29	29	28
Sunny hours	4	4	4	5	6	6	6	6	5	5	5	4

Even during the hottest of climate, the gentle ocean breezes provide a pleasant cooling effect and make any periods of high humidity all the more bearable. December, January, February and March tend to be the wettest period in Kalimantan, when rainy weather is at its most likely.

However, with precipitation levels of around 300 mm / 12 inches are considerably lower when compared to many other neighbouring parts of Indonesia, such as the island of Java and in particular, Borobudur and Surabaya. 

We must say that Kalimantan has a tropical climate so we need to drink enough water and do better not heavy efforts.

Keep blogging!

XOXO

Celita

http://www.kalimantan.world-guides.com/kalimantan_weather.html

http://www.toerisme-indonesie.nl/kalimantan-2/

Politics and history of Indonesia

History + Politics Indonesia

Within our group of six we each have very different interests. For example, I like to have a little background information of a country before I visit it, a little history. That way you can truly appreciate everything you see. You can see how far they’ve come. So before we begin our journey in Jakarta, I thought it would be helpful to understand its history and politics. Indonesia has come a long way from what it used to be…

A few political facts about Jakarta:

-          It’s the capital of Indonesia

-          It’s a Provence, one of the 26 in Indonesia

-          Jakarta is ruled by a governor. Currently: Dr. Ing. H. Fauzi Bowo

-          Population: 9,580,000

-          Jakarta is the largest city in terms of population in South East Asia.

-          World's largest Muslim country with 86% Muslim population

-          …

The Independence of Indonesia

Indonesia has an impressive political history. Before Indonesia became independent it was divided into many different colonies. The Portuguese were the first to come to shore, followed closely by the Dutch. At first, the Dutch came more as traders under the trading umbrella of the Royal East Indies Company. Is it bad that this is the first time I hear ‘East Indies Trading Company’ not in relation with ‘Pirates of The Caribbean’? You gotta love Jack Sparrow!

For the next two centuries, the Dutch conducted business with the natives, although in many cases the trade was not on equal terms. Then the VOC went bankrupt and the Dutch government took over business. The period was disrupted briefly when the British took over colonial rule in 1811 to 1814. And in the early 20th century, the natives of Nusantara learned that as diverse as their ethnicities were, they could imagine themselves as a unified community, it was clear that the end of Dutch colonialism in Indonesia was only a matter of time.

During World War II, the Japanese occupied Indonesia. Although short-lived, the occupation enabled Indonesians to arm themselves for the very first time. Shortly after Japan's defeat in WWII, INDONESIA WAS PROCLAIMED AN INDEPENDENT STATE. As you can see they came a long way before becoming independent. It’s interesting how Indonesia is made up from so many different ethnicities, despite their differences they managed to pull together and fight for their independence.

Rule of Indonesia

Indonesia is a presidential representative democratic republic. This means that the President is both head of state and head of government and of a multi-party system.Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono is the current president of Indonesia. He was elected in 2004 and ran for re-election in 2009 and won.

Indonesia was ruled by a man named Suharto for 31 years before he was forced to resign in 1998 due to opposition by students. The reason he got re-elected every time was because he tightly controlled politics; not even the slightest room was available for opposition. Since then Indonesian political and governmental structures have undergone major reforms.

I know the post about Suharto is a bit random but I read an entire text about him, what he did, and what happened when they tried to get him to resign. I thought it was worth mentioning him. The riots that he evoked were catastrophic. Here’s the link if you want to read more about him: http://www.asiarooms.com/en/travel-guide/indonesia/jakarta/jakarta-overview/history-of-jakarta.html

With these facts and a little history under my belt I’m ready to start our journey. I know what to expect when I arrive.

Greets 

Marco