Kampung Betawi & Masjid Kubah Emas

A few weeks ago was out mid-year orientation. Yeah I know crazy it's been 6 months already. (By now it's been like 7 ha) So Chapter Jakarta decided to take us on a little field trip. So me and Nathan and our contact people Kak Dila, Kak Tanti, Kak Putra, Kak Amri, and Kak Ninit went first to Kampung Betawi. Kampung Betawi is a area where you can see original Betawi culture - the people that first lived in Jakarta. They speak Bahasa Betawi. Their culture is a mix of Indonesian and of the different people that came here and colonized so a little Dutch and Portuguese even I was told.

In Kampung Betawi you can see houses done in their original architectual style - such as the little points on the house above. The house above is actually a hero's house. I'm not sure of the story but he's famous. So we walked and saw some of the houses and the huge man made lake. Kampung Betawi was incredibly clean and empty - surprising for Indonesia.

 You can take boat rides on the lake and so that was what we did.

Prahu Speda Bebek - Duck Bike Boats

Don't be mistaken - this was not a gentle ride. There was wind and you have to pedal really hard. at one point we went out the appointed circle and had to turn around and struggle the 5 feet back into the circle. After that we decided to eat traditional Betawi food. We ate kerak telor which I have photo-ed for you below. We tried the traditional Betawi drink - Bir Pletok which is a gingery 'beer'. It's not really alcohol. As a Muslim you're not allowed to drink alcohol. This is what the Betawi people came up with to mimic all the alcohol that the Dutch and Portuguese were drinking when they were here. I also tasted something curry-like called Laksi I believe. It was spicy and delicious but I don't have a picture

Later he'll flip the pan over and it'll be upside down

Ingrediants: eggs, hot stuff, stuff that's like coconut shreds but  I was told are not

feel the gingery burn - I'm joking it's not burny at all 

Then we left and went on to our next stop - Masjid Kubah Emas. It's a large mosque with kubahe (sorry I don't know the word in English. It's the top dome parts) made of gold. When you enter the whole parkesque area surrounding it it's like you're not in Indonesia. It's hotter because they only have small palm trees. All the AFS kakak said it was like being in the Middle East - I dont know so...

Hair is pretty much covered inside the mosque - not as strictly as I was expecting though

The mosque itself is made of granite stones which makes it crazy hot to walk across. You start and you go ok this is kind of hot. Halfway there you go OHMYGOSH THIS IS BURNING and start running. Happened everytime I swear. I watched lots of others cross it too. It was beautiful though.

The walk up. Here the guys separated from the girls

As they pray the opposite genders don't see each other or well the men don't see the women. Men enter from a different side and then inside the mosque the men are in front so women face their backs. In the mosque in my school they're divided by a wall so there is no seeing each other at all.

The entrance to the long fiery walk

I did enter for a while just to see the interior which was also great with a huge chandelier and a cloud painted ceiling but then I opted to go take pictures of the grounds.

You aren't allowed to take pictures inside but I did take this as we were entering.

There was one lady with her daughter outside playing. The daughter was just roaming and playing around which I found cute and funny. You can also see a bit what prayer looks like.

After our masjid visit we went and had lunch and the official evaluation part of the day. We ate Saung Talaga, a restaurant on the water. After a meal was over the waiters fed the leftovers to the fish who leaped out of the water pirahnna-like to get it.
    The actual evaluation consisted of Kak Ninit and Kak Ambri asking us about what we feel we had accomplished, our goals for the future. But we had to express this in a collage that will later be revealed to us at the end of our time here. I barely remember what I said but wow 6 months - or 7 months already gone. I'll be home in no time. What a weird feeling.

There was a monkey too!

I took a lot of fotos of randoms - one of my favs