I arrived in Jakarta on 18th August with trepadition. Indonesia had just celebrated its Independence Day and it was barely 2 weeks since the bombing of the JW Marriot Hotel.

The streets of Jakarta were wonderfully quiet with little traffic on the roads. It was a little unreal.

So....being a new forum member at fotografer.net I'd arranged to meet up with a couple of the guys in Jakarta. Ferry, Alexander and Dyah. We spent the afternoon at my favorite haunt, the old port area of Sunda Kelapa.

Sunda Kelapa, never fails to come up with something interesting. Bugis schooners getting loaded and unloaded with cargo being spread out through the Indonesian archipelago. Activity was down a little because of the holidays but it was still a load of fun.

We walked all around the area shooting to our hearts' content. I'd brought along my film camera as well as my Canon G3 digital camera.

After that, we'd dropped by Cafe Batavia and had lunch there. Its a beautiful establishment and I loved the atmosphere.

I have a simple Photo Essay about Sunda Kelapa put up in a gallery of 16 pics by the name of 'Sunda Kelapa - Portraits of Life' in the Gallerys section of this website

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20 Aug saw me leave Jakarta for South Sulawesi. Business aside, I took time off to visit another favorite port area of mine, Paoetere. Again its almost a replica of Sunda Kelapa.

'Hey Mister!!!' I looked around and there was a familiar face I'd just run into at Sunda Kelapa 3 days back. A young deckhand on one of the schooners greeted me. I had just met him and his family living onboard one of the boats 4000km back!!! They'd just arrived into port after a long sail through Java and the Sulawesi Sea.....while I'd taken the 'easy' way and flew.

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I'll be leaving for Bangkok tomorrow 27 Aug. Work is getting hectic and the list of appointments long too. Hopefully I'll be able to sneak in a little shooting time. I dont want to shoot the wats or the usual haunts anymore....getting pretty tired of it. I'll keep an open mind on opportunities.

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After the disappointment of ClickArt being cancelled earlier this year due to SARS, they're finally going to do it in December.

With Chip Simmons, Kay Chin and Steve McCurry leading the workshops, I'm putting my name down in the hope of learning more and progressing.

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I'm in dire need of a laugh. Work's getting hectic and stressful. If you have any jokes (particularly about photographers, photography or life) send them over to me at eddie@walkeast.com

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Sincere apologies if this week's installment is a little short. I promise a long ramble next time!

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