Jakarta just after sunset

8 October 2015:

A view from a fifth floor walkway of our apartment complex (were are staying in an Airbnb apartment). Traffic jams are as bad as ever here in the city. We went to dinner shortly after this picture was taken to visit with some long-time friends. It took us one hour to reach the restaurant, driving the streets between 6:40 pm and 7:40 pm. It took us just fifteen minutes to return at around 10:00 pm. 

Note the big buildings on the horizon - there are a lot of those now, many more than when I lived here in 1977. Thirty million people live in the greater Jakarta area.

The "fifth floor" has a very large outdoor swimming pool placed between 6 tall towers that hold the apartments. I will attach a bonus picture of Lily's brother Andree and his granddaughter Chloe enjoying the jacuzzi in the pool area a few days ago.

Canon 5D

Visit to grave site

7 October 2015:

Today we went to the grave site of Lily's parents. It is in a peaceful part of the countryside outside of Jakarta, and it took us about 1 1/2 hours by car to reach it. The surrounding area was quite nice but unusually dry. Jakarta has reportedly not seen rain for about 4 months. However, we have a light rain falling outside our Jakarta apartment tonight, and that is a good thing.

Canon 5D

Dress Fitting

6 October 2015:

On her first day in Jakarta, Lily was summoned to a dress fitting for the wedding we will attend at the end of our trip. Pictured here is Yayah the dressmaker who is the sister of Lily's brother Didik; Chloe, granddaughter of Lily's brother Andree, and Lily.

Canon 5D

Engraving, Nezu Museum

5 October 2015:

We were traveling on October 5, and I did not take any photos that day, so I will post this instead. The original image was taken on October 4 of a Kanji inscription carved into stone. It was in the garden of the Nezu Museum. Then I experimented with the image. 

Canon 5D

Meguro River in the Evening

4 October 2015:
The highlight for me from today was a visit to the Nezu Art Museum in Tokyo where I looked at 13th and 14th century brush paintings. There is some similarity between the style of these ancient masterpieces and my lowly attempts at 'minimalist' bicycle art, so I was trying to learn from the zen masters. I ended up buying a book that has reproductions of many of these old pieces, and will study it at home.

Near the end of the day we took a walk with Midori and her son down to the Meguro River, and then after parting with them Lily and I walked up and down the quiet walkways alongside the river. The evening light was great.

Canon 5D

Midori and Kosuke

4 October 2015:

We have known Midori, shown here on the right, since about 1989. We met her through mutual friends in Hermosa Beach. At that time she was a young student out touring the world. She now lives in Tokyo with her husband and her son, Kosuke, shown with the camera. He is 10 years old, and loves trains and taking pictures of trains. We are near Tokyo Bay, with the Tokyo monorail in the background. After this walk we went to the nearby Tokyo Institute of Technology (a high school) and walked through a science fair that they are holding this weekend. Midori has a long-time friend whose name is Megumi. Megumi's son was taking part in the science fair, and both Midori and Megumi thought it might be fun to take us there. As a bonus shot, I will include the picture of me checking out an electric car built by the students, taken by Lily. They got to practice their English!

As an aside, Midori and Megumi would babysit Rika and Lisa from time to time while we lived in Tokyo. At lunch, Megumi pulled out an old letter written to her by a 5 or 6-year-old Rika, telling Megumi that she really missed her company after moving back to California!

Canon 5D

The old neighborhood

2 October 2015:

On top: Lily in front of the (luxury) apartment building that we called home for about 3 months in 1989. At the bottom, the bed of irises in the adjacent park (Arisugawa Park) that Lily used to enjoy, and did again today. It was fun to visit the old neighborhood.

Canon 5D