Page 27 - Additional Materials MSPP Reading book 1

Experiencing Culture Shock in Indonesia

The first week in Indonesia felt like an entirely new world to me and I felt
more uncomfortable than I had ever before in my life. The first place Maddie and I
visited during our time in Indonesia was the city of Yogyakarta. Often referred to
as Yogja, the city is one of the most crowded in all of Indonesia and is much more
under-developed and less touristy compared to places such as Jakarta or the Island of
Bali. For that reason, the degree to your culture shock will certainly be higher. The
culture shock is often in the form of perception towards foreigners, condition of roads
and traffics, as well as weather and temperature.
When it comes to culture shock in Indonesia, the very first thing that stood out
to me was that I look different and everyone was watching me. Walking around the
city of Yogyakarta, and the temples of Prambanan was one of the weirdest
experiences. Local Indonesian kids, adults and soccer teams were coming up to us
nonstop asking to take pictures. A lot of them had never seen white people before and
were so excited to see us. It got frustrating after the 50th picture because we were not
able to enjoy our time at the temples. We are happy that they wanted to take pictures
and liked us, rather than not liking us and making us feel unwelcomed. Most of the
locals who were taking pictures with us were really nice and friendly.
The next experience of culture shock that you will likely face is realizing how
bad the road and traffic congestion in ALL of Indonesia are. No matter what part of
Indonesia you are on (unless a remote island) the traffic and roads, in general, are
horrible. In Southeast Asia scooters are the most popular way to get around by far
and cars come second. Another shocking part about Indonesia was that there aren’t
really any road rules or “nice” driving. Everyone weaves in and out of traffic and it
isn’t considered rude or road rage over in Indonesia. You can rent a scooter in
Indonesia for around $20 for an entire week.
Another point that is crucial to understand is the time of the year you want to
visit. Indonesia has its offseason/rainy season in which is rains a lot and experience
monsoons multiple times a week.Indonesia is a huge country spread out across the
Java and Flores Sea. This means that temperatures, humidity and rainfall can vary
greatly depending on what specific region you choose to visit. The most popular
destination in Indonesia is the island of Bali which can get very humid around
February and March. Living in the Northeast of the United States, this humidity had
my sweating all day long. August and September are Indonesia most popular tourist
season because it is the least humid, and barely gets any rain compared to February.
Experiencing culture shock in Indonesia can be a scary thing because travelers
often find perception towards foreigners, condition of roads and traffics, as well as
weather and temperature quite different. This is normal for so many of us, but it is
important to be understanding and not judgmental. At the end of the day, we are
guests and tourists of another country and it is important for travelers to respect that
and be understand if the differences.

Adapted from : https://horizonunknown.com/culture-shock-indonesia/