Tangerang with Heritage Explorers

Its too easy to settle into a routine and before you know it your weeks consist of work, chores, and familiar restaurants.  Jakarta and the surrounding areas are full of interesting cultural experiences, but I can only name a few - sunda kelapa fishing boats, traditional markets, and chinatown.  Wanting to change this, I signed up for the Heritage Explorers group.  Our first excursion was to Tangerang, a Jakarta suburb that Jeff commutes to at least 3 times a week for work.

We started out with a $1 becak (bicycle taxi) ride around the downtown area for some sightseeing.  I must be twice the size of most passengers because I had to really crouch to squeeze in.

After a short presentation, we went to a festival celebrating the upcoming dragon boat races.  The boats were very elaborately decorate, but weren't racing until the following weekend.  My competitive side wanted to join the races until an image of falling into the river came to mind.

There was a ceremony with singing, incense, drumming, praying, and best of all egg balancing.  I was skeptical at first, but it was actually pretty easy to get the eggs balanced on end.  Hopefully this will bring another year of good luck for Jeff and I in Asia.

Our final stop was the Buddhist temple in Chinatown which was built in 1805 and honors the deities for  mercy, courage, and prosperity.

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