5/31

5/31

So today is Thursday, May 31st, and it's World No Smoking Day, so I'm gonna try not to smoke today.  Indonesia is 5th in the world for smoking.  They've been running ads and articles in the newspaper about it, but it's not really gonna make a difference.  Cigarettes are so cheap here, about a buck a pack. And cigarette ads are all over tv, billboards, magazines.  The trouble is, it is illegal to show anyone smoking in the ads, so they've been very creative.  For example, about 1/4 of the ads on prime-time tv will show some extreme sport like mountain climbing or skydiving, and there will be no product shown throughout the entire commercial, but right at the end they will put "Djarum Black" in big letters, followed by the mandatory surgeon general's warning, that smoking causes cancer and impotency.

Billboards are really out there.  Djarum just came out with "Djarum Cappucino", and they showed 10 white cups stacked up, with steam coming off the last one, so it resembled a cigarette.  

I hate the traffic here, so I'm gonna rant on that for a few.  Last night I got an angkot home from work, like normal. It was still rush hour, at 8:30 pm. I made the mistake of getting onto a completely empty angkot.  See, when an angkot is full, it doesn't need to drive SO SLOWLY and STOP EVERY 100 FEET to try and pick up more passengers!  So we pulled into the waiting area in front of Margo City and waited there for what must have been 10 minutes, and I was sweating my arse off, and the angkot driver is honking his horn, yelling at people to get in. I guess I can't blame him, but I had somewhere I had to be, and did not appreciate the wait.  So, more people on the angkot, the faster it goes.  Also, I don't know if i mentioned it before, but when you want him to stop and let you off, either knock a few times on the roof, or yell "kiri, mas!" which means, "left, sir" literally, but colloquially means pull over to the left side of the road, since they drive on the left over here.

Also in the news, May 29 marked 1 year since the mud volcano started erupting after a botched exploratory drilling program by PT Lapindo Brantas. 15,000 people have been displaced, and the toxic mud has already covered 1,500 acres. The latest plan is to build a 157-foot tall wall around it to try and contain it. It's a sad situation.

Well, I better be going, I have 2 classes today, and then the long weekend! It's some Hindu or Buddhist holiday tomorrow. So trims for reading, I appreciate the feedback, and I'll be back...