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| | Must Visits | Need to Know | Capital City Jakarta | | Tipping 5-10% | | Electricity 220/250 V | | Weights and Measurements Metric system |
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People & Language
200 million people of different ethnic origins live in Indonesia. The ethnic mix is staggering – it is the world’s largest Muslim country with a fair proportion of Hindus, Christians and animists who for centuries have enriched each others customs and life styles. Add to this melting pot of Asian cultures, a European flavour in the guise of Portuguese, Dutch and British traders and missionaries and you have a people who are as different in culture and language from each other as they are in origin from their Asian and Australian neighbours.
The people are as good a reason as any other to visit Indonesia. They are warm, friendly and welcoming to strangers; forever smiling and eager to offer their hospitality and share their country with visitors. Recent troubles notwithstanding, visitors are safe and tourist oriented destinations, mostly trouble free.
There are over 583 separate languages and dialects spoken across the length and breadth of Indonesia; most of them are as different from one another as chalk is from cheese. The national language is Bahasa Indonesia, but English is widely understood if not spoken as fluently.
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Religion
The majority of people in Indonesia are Muslims though Christians, Chinese Buddhists and Hindus follow close behind.
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Food
Indonesian culinary heritage is interestingly different from island to island, depending on the influences it has been exposed to. The locals love spicy food and green and red-hot chilli peppers are a favourite addition to most dishes. An abundance of fruits like vegetables and seafood make the cuisine taste fresh and wholesome. Some of the dishes worth a try include the staple rice based nasi gorengs and lemangs; babi guling, the roast suckling pig specialty of Bali; soto, a soup made of chicken, vegetables and dumplings; gado gado- a salad of raw and cooked vegetables in a peanut and coconut based sauce; sates and fruit and coconut sweets and salads. A specialty that owes much to the Dutch East India Company in Indonesia is rijstafel, a curry of mixed meats and vegetables.
An interesting feature of Indonesian food is the culture of street food sold in stalls by vendors who serve only their own particular specialty. The food tastes great, is spicy and cheap but the environs and cooking methods are not always the most hygienic, so eating can be risky business for all but the most cast iron of stomachs.
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Culture & Crafts
Indonesian society is strongly influenced by Muslim religious practices and social codes. The code of conduct extends to all women in the country and even foreigners are expected to comply by not touching women, indulging in public displays of affection or dressing in an improper fashion. Inherently polite, they carry politeness and pleasantness to all areas of life; Indonesians smile all the times, even in times of crises! Open demonstrations of bad behaviour or temper tantrums are really looked down upon as extremely improper behaviour.
A strong sense of national pride makes them touchy so far as any intended or unintended slights to their country or leaders is concerned. Foreigners visiting an Indonesian home would do well to remember not to eat/drink unless asked to do so by the host.
A strong tradition of dance, dance dramas, puppet theatre and handicrafts including painting, wood and stone carving and textile weaving and batik thrives in Indonesia.
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