The Photography of Dr. Jeffrey P. Harper

I recently spent eight days in Indonesia, three days in and around the capitol Jakarta, and five days in and around Yogyakarta, in Central Java.  This young Indonesian tourist was in Jakarta.  Modern Jakarta.  I was as much a curosity as was this young Indonesian girl.

It was my first time in Jakarta, so a quick look through a borrowed Lonely Planet Guide to Indonesia led us to the old colonial Dutch quarter. There is not much left of the Dutch influence in Jakarta.

One can rent a bicycle and ride around the old Dutch settlement.  Interestingly, you also rented a matching sun hat.

There was a charming Old World feel here.

We went to a small cafe on the square and another waiter insisted I see the upstairs renovations.  Nice light, no?

Our waitress was as efficient as she was beautiful.

I was very interested in the carts, as usual. These carts are the subject of another entry elsewhere.

I am a big fan of photogenic dilapidation; Jakarta abounds in this particular subject matter.

Our driver dropped us off at a very, very local electronics mart - in old Chinatown.  We went looking for coffee and asked for directions everywhere until we found what we were looking for.  These people yelled in unison, "No Coffee Here!"

We were finally directed to a long, hot workmen's "luncheria" where, I am sure, there had never been a tourist before.  We were the sudden entertainment . . . and the object of much curiosity and rib jabbing among the Indonesian customers.

Jakarta is a huge sprawling city with monumental traffic snarls . . . "What, me worry?"

Every square inch of Jakarta is filled with somebody doing commerce . . . . some more happily than others.

It was my first trip to Jakarta, so I went to some of the "tourist spots" . . . and ran into other tourists there . . . duh! My visiting friends from Oregon, Jeff and Sharon are in the background.

Took a soothing long-tail boat trip up the rural canals (klongs) of Samut Songkhram recently. Wish you were here.

If you have ever driven from Bangkok to the beaches of Hua Hin, you will have driven by the salt pans of Samut Songkhram.

Sometimes when you drive this road you see workers out in the salt pans preparing the salt for harvest.

The pans are flooded with sea water, from the nearby Gulf of Siam, and left to evaporate.

As more and more sea water evaporates, and more is added, the salt in solution becomes so saturated that it crystallizes.

To help the process, the salt crystals are raked up into rows and piles.

Working in that briny water all day in bare feet . . . . .

After all the salt has been removed, it is prepared for flooding again by a rolling machine.

These salt pan rolling machines are unique.

Wind mills are used to power the pumps that supply the sea water.

Borobudur Temple Complex is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.  As such it is visited by many tourists, 99% Indonesian, every day.

Boroburdu Temple is one of the great archeological wonders of the world.  Built in the 8th century, it was abandoned not long after it was completed, covered with a heavy ash fall from a nearby volcano, and covered with thick jungle vegetation until it was discovered in 1901.  It is te Pompeii of the Buddhist world.

A panel from the Borobudur Temple in Central Java, Indonesia . . . one of the wonders of the ancient world.  I will post more of these amazing panels depicting the life and lessons of The Buddha soon.

 In addition to chronicling the Life of the Buddha, the panels that completely cover the temple also depict the lives of the elite, royal class.

The workmanship and artistry are of the highest order.

The views from the steps of Borobudur over the tropical landscape of Central Java was breathtaking.

The name "Lost Temple of Borobudur" certainly fits: it lay hidden beneath ash and jungle for 1300 years before it's rediscovery in 1901. 

We saw what must have been the most beautiful sunset of our lives on the way back to the Phoenix Hotel in Jogja.

Indonesia is a nation made up of thousands of islands.  Not all of the islands are served by large ships, so there is a need for smaller freighters to deliver the goods and bring back the products of these far flung places. Amazingly, these ships are still wooden and they are still loaded by stevedores, a process from out of the past.

Hand loading a wooden freighter.

In the age of the container ship it is quite remarkable to see scenes like these.

There are going to be a lot of happy little girls on some island somewhere in Indonesia. What a sight: a boatload of Barbie Doll de lux sets!

The docks were a rough and tough place filled with hard-working men and women.

OK . . . not everyone was a hard-worker.

The stevedores were all very friendly, and many asked to have their photos taken.

Many different kinds of cargo were being loaded and off-loaded.

The ships seemed very old.

The old ships require constant maintenance.  Here men are chinking the seams in the ship with jute.

It seemed like all the boats were being chinked.

It was a kind of photographers paradise: incredible images everywhere (despite the "poor" grey/silver light).

There were so many characters around, like this old "gopher."