Indonesia

February 23–27, 2015

Indonesian urinals have a curious feature: a plastic insert inside the urinal. This is a splash screen.

Another curious feature: distances to various stores, hotels and restaurants are indicated with a plus-minus sign next to the number of meters.

Pangkalpinang

I started off with this city, not yet knowing what the vast majority of Indonesian cities look like.

Turns out, practically all of them are exceptionally dreary. Nothing but an endless stretch of dreary, dusty buildings and hot, noisy streets.

There aren’t many noteworthy details. In Pangkalpinang, it’s the highly complex contour of the balconies.

The municipal trash cans are made out of some kind of plastic fiber.

Rubber trash cans (like in Siem Reap).

A dental office.

A brilliant boom gate with a raised section to let people pass through.

Power boxes.

Power lines.

A kilometer marker.

A woman with a cat.

Durian vendors.

All the graves in the cemetery are finished with tile. Nothing but the very best for the dearly departed.

Palembang

There’s something here that vaguely resembles the bus rapid transit system in Curitiba.

This is how you board the bus.

Everyone else gets around on scooters.

On taxis.

Or on the local share taxis. This particular model is pure genius, with an extra door for the back row.

A license plate vendor.

Directional signs.

A power box.

A dumpster with sections for separate waste collection.

Trash cans.

An anti-smoking ad.

A taxi driver.

Boats with the local bridge in the background.

A current building.

A former building.

Batam

They use coffee beans to extinguish cigarette butts here.

The city isn’t particularly remarkable.

Although there’s one thing that’s sure not to go unnoticed: a building shaped like a cruise ship. It’s tacky as hell.

Medan

A city of incredible energy.

And streets that are full of life.

It’s ugly but vibrant.

Public transportation here consists of motorcycles with sidecars.

And share taxis with very thick walls.

A traffic light.

A cafeteria.

A beauty.

A bridge.

A street sign.

A surprising local detail: a white globe on a green column with a yellow Ionic capital, indicating a pedestrian crossing.

Banda Aceh

The world was barely aware of Banda Aceh’s existence until the city was struck by a tsunami.

A fishing launch landed on the roof of a residential building as a result of the tsunami and became a tourist attraction.

A tsunami museum was built here.

And a diorama inside shows a crowd of people running from an insane wave. This is the most interesting thing here.