Reuben arrives, and hits the ground running!

We were so super excited about Uncle Reuben coming to visit us in Indonesia!!  Very sorry that his journey was rough (nasty airline delays).. but we were ready when he arrived to show him as much fun stuff as we could fit in!  We started with Sunda Kepala (the port) and Batavia (the old Dutch part of town).  We had Bram, the amazing guide, to take us through and explain all of the history of the area. 

 

First, a visit to the boats.. the getting-on part was a little scary!

 

These ships are wood and built in the traditional way, and many of them do not have modern navigational equipment because the captains know how to use the stars.

The men who work on the ships, loading and unloading, have to be able to lift 100kg of (in this case) cement.  The work is really hard, and the cement really dries out your skin.

There are communities living around the port,

some people living with their whole families on small boats.

We visited the village where everyone had lots of questions for us..

Lots of smells all around us!

Our friend Ester joined us too.. and we made some new friends along the way :)

After the village, we went to where the old warehouses were..

they are now museums, and so fun to walk through imagining

all of the trade that happened there many years ago.



Zoey, Jaffa, Ester, Bram and Eben



 

Then we carried on the watchtower, which used to be the highest building in Jakarta. You can still see lots and lots.. but not like before where they could see any ship coming into the port.

We then headed to lunch at the Batavia Café, and then to the square to see what kinds of interesting folks were hanging around.  We were, of course and as usual, the subjects of many photos.. but we took lots too!