The bus just arrived in Jakarta. I seem alone and I do not have a clue where to go. First of all I buy myself a water as it is hot here and I am thirsty. The water is not cold but quite warm. I go to the office of the bus station to ask where to go but they do not speak a language I speak and I still do not speak Indonesian. So I leave.

I go out and have to cross the street to get into the centre. That at least I found out. I did not cross yet but a little cab bus is waiting for me. It is empty and I get in, happy to go into town.

And even more happy when the driver starts to ask me, where I am going. I tell him, that I do not know. That I tried to get a contact through couch surfing but did not succeed. He tells me to go to café Batavia, lots of Dutch come there, he says.

I ask him to write on a piece of paper how it is called and how I get there as I am still not capable to remember names. He writes it on a paper and a man in the bus hears it. When he and I get out, he tells me to follow him and he will show me where to go.

He goes with me into the big old bus that brings us into the old centre and he shows me where the Café Batavia is. Walking he tells me something about the history of Jakarta.

I have not prepared myself for this trip. My tourist guides are in the storage, with my furniture. I never learned the history of Holland. This world trip makes, that I get interested in the history of Holland. Malaysia has given me the curiosity as I discovered that Malaka has Dutch street names.

Here in the Kuta everything seems to be called Batavia and that name is familiar to me. The old capital of the country my mother was born. She was not born here, but her grandparents lived nearby and I would like to visit their house too.

I am looking for a Hotspot to be able to go into the internet to have a look if someone from Couch Surfing has answered my request. I am lucky, the Batavia Café has a Hotspot.

But my luck does not last long. The Hotspot does not fit my Compu so I leave as fast as possible and ask people in the street where I might find one. I do not find one but after some hours I find a hotel behind the Batavia Hotel.

The first day in Jakarta is over and I met a lot of helpful people. It seems that my white skin opens doors that stay closed for people that do not have a white skin. They live here but can not enter all places without being asked who they are. I wonder why.

I have never been aware of these rules that are different for people because of the colour of their skin. In Holland the rules are for everyone but non white skined people might have problems that I will never have in Holland. And in this country, where white skin gets brown, the white skin has privileges that are not written anywhere. These non written rules, are they the heritage from the Dutch?

Were they written rules in that time? I try to follow the rules but I discover that also here in the West there are lots of rules that are not based on the fundamental law. It shows that the people that make laws do not make them whilst they are aware of this fundamental law that has the very simple start of freedom for all people.

Lots of laws are made to take away the freedom of the people and tell them how they have to spend their money. Spending money should be free for the purpose one wants to spend it as one sees the need of it.

If I see the need of a road that is planned I will want to spend money for it. Giving people the chance to know what is needed and to decide how they can fulfil this need will change the negative attitude of spending money for the benefit of the country. Honesty about what is done with the money stimulates awareness.

Awareness about the own attitude can give a new perspective to be able to change the habits one has which will change the reactions on the behaviour. Under COURSES you might find a course that attracts you.