Miscellaneous stuff

One of my concerns when planning this trip was my safety and security in general.

Not only is Indonesia listed as a 'Restricted' country by IBM, it has been the target of several terrorist attacks recently. You may recall the Bali bombings about eight years ago, and last year several hotels in Jakarta were bombed. The US State Dept. had an 'advisory' for Indonesia, for example westerners being beaten for wearing shorts that stop above the knee. Several islands are off limits, like Sumatra and Banda Aceh. You may recall Banda Aceh is where the 2003 tsunami did much damage. Today these regions are under Sharia law and are recruiting grounds for extremist islamist ideologies.

Fortunately I have not had any issues. I feel very safe here, but try to stay alert.

In Jakarta, most larger buildings have gates and guards. My hotel, the client (a bank), and the mall next door have this. When the car pulls off the street, security guards open the doors, trunk and sometimes look under the cars with mirrors. When all is OK they open the gate and we pass through. The next level of security is a metal detector and another security guard. The hotel even has a luggage X-ray machine.

The alertness of security various. At the mall and bank they don't really care - doesn't matter what the metal detector does, they let us through without asking any questions. Maybe it's just me, and I look more like a target than a terrorist ...

At the hotel they have always been alert. Last night there was a line to get in, with much activity and paparazzi, people posing for photos. I didn't see anyone I recognized, so figured it was someone local and famous. In the lobby there was a sign for a "High End Luxury Expo". Aha. The Pretty People's Gathering. Mixing with the rich for the 30 seconds it takes me to get through to the elevators.

I suppose this is to be expected when I see a big Mercedes, BMW, Ferrari or Lamborghini parked at the hotel or mall most days. The mall next door is full of pretentious brand name stores like Disney Couture (expensive Mickey Mouse bling), Bose (overpriced stereo stuff), Cartier, Christian Dior, Gucci, Armani, BvLGari, Louis Vutton, Swarovski, Tiffany, etc. To put this into perspective .. the average income for a sales manager in Indo is about $15,000. I'm in the mall daily for food, and note many people walking around but few in the stores. They may just be dining as the food prices are fairly low, even in the high end restaurants.

Well .. my time here is up. For work with the client has been cut short - they decided to use the tape drives for something else for a week or two, and we can't do tape migrations without tape drives. The plan is to return in the near future, and I'm looking forward to coming back.