Going shopping

Day one Jakarta.
We met everyone as planned this morning. O.k. after about an hour of this and that - getting organized to go book buying, we hit streets to flag a cab. It is only Blue Bird's or White Bird taxi's that we are after. The White bird is elusive but when it comes to cabs the Blue Bird is ever present.

O.k. so we got a cab and headed downtown to one of a vast number of malls in Jakarta. It's lovely that there are bookstores in town and many of them. As you may recall it was a stretch to find one book store in Banda Aceh and that one was pretty much religious texts on the second floor of a hardware and lingerie shop. Go figure.

So here is a picture of Pak Mukhar and Mita our new translator. Mita is studying library science and hoping to further her studies overseas next year. A good English speaker and lots of fun so we are lucky again. we are at a Starbucks waiting for the book order.
Mr. Mukhtar is showing off his pics on the cell phone.

It was so fortuitous that Pak Mukhtar had occasion to meet an important staff member from the National Library recently. So when we got to town he was able to arrange a meeting with the Director of the National Library. The Director, Dady P. Rachmananta generously spent a good half hour with us as we shared stories about the CALGAP project.

It was very encouraging to hear about the national efforts to increase the reading habit through a celebrity reading ambassador who travels throughout the whole country. The national library is working hard to promote reading and library use however it is challenging in a country so large. The federal government recently passed a Library Act and there is lots of work to do around library governance and jurisdiction. Not all provinces are willing to support public library service at the level needed - a common issue around the world.

As a result of this visit we were able to learn more about the publishing industry and the staff member Fadli, who happens to also be Achenese, set up an appointment for us with a key book distributor. So tomorrow is a big day for books.

Another Padang meal for us this afternoon - this is the cuisine that is left out unrefrigerated all day so poses some challenges for us westerners. The Achenese are quite fond of this food. This time around we noticed that the mosquito coils were strategically placed to waft over the food to keep it bug free. We focused on the rice - had a light meal and let it go at that.

Just an observation Nimrod was simply a cabin crew member with an unusual name. We didn't get a chance to hear the story of his naming.

We'll keep you in suspense regarding the dental artist, who is quite a pleasant Persian met while waiting in an immigration lineup. More on that later. No luggage yet but apparently it is at the airport in fact we are assured that it has left the airport-that it is on route from the airport (a 1/2 hour drive) to the hotel -several hours later still no luggage.

Sleep beckons