Here are more info about Indonesia. Sorry at one point I did digress but I think it's something to think about.
- Lottery is illegal. When one of our friend who was the first to turn 18, she bought 30 dollars worth of lottery tickets and we all sat around the table scratching the tickets in the hopes of winning the jackpot or at least making the 30 dollars back. Maybe not every 18 year old buys lottery but it’s a fun unspoken rule. (as long as you don’t develop gambling habits). However, in Indonesia Lottery is illegal. My co-workers have never scratched a ticket to see if they won their money back or not. At the same time I don’t feel like they are missing much. The odds have never been on my side and it gives you a false sense of hope of winning.
- According to the Muslim religion dogs are considered unclean. Therefore, dogs as pets aren’t popular. Those who do have dogs don’t allow dogs inside the house. And this might be a plausible explanation as to why a lot of girls here are terribly scared of dogs.
- Ojek: one of the many transportation methods in Jakarta. There are many ways to travel around the city in Jakarta: intercity bus, train, bajai (three wheelers) and taxi. However, one other way to commute around the city is to use an Ojek. The Ojek is simply a motorcycle taxi with one passenger. Every street corner has a group of men and their motorcycles who will take you anywhere after negotiating a price. The price is based on the distance traffic and time of the day. However, safety is not guaranteed, so you have to be very careful.
- Tobacco companies can legally market their products. I continuously see signs such as “It is the time to say Yes!” or “Be the leader” or “Its mild”. The banners and posters are everywhere: roads, malls, highway bridges and pretty much everywhere. I didn’t notice it at first, but it was everywhere and when I questioned what it was for my coworkers told me that it was for cigarettes. Its kinda odd seeing advertisement for tobacco since I’ve never seen one in Canada.
On a side note: It’s also different
how alcohol is not accepted (or frowned upon) but smoking is widely accepted
among both men and women. I am not saying one is better than the other; both
have their own downfalls and damages. But as Canadian we do the opposite. We
advertise how much fun it is to have a beer with our friends yet put cigarettes
behind covers and display cancerous lungs on the packaging. Just something to
think about I guess.
- Jockey: Central Jakarta is similar to our
downtown. And between the following hours (7am – 10am and 4pm – 7pm) people driving
on the main road have to have minimum 3 in the car. Not clear on the number 3
but it has something to do with controlling traffic. So these people called the
jockey stand on the side of the road and if a car doesn’t have minimum of 3,
the driver can pay the jockeys to fulfill the requirement. So when you drive
down particular streets you’ll see regular people waving their hands so that
they can get paid for a free ride.
