Jakarta Sunday and Monday

We finally made it to a mall, and all I can say is I'm glad my wife didn't accompany me or we would still be there. The mall had more shops than I've ever seen - though they did get redundant after a while. It's very interesting to see what items are cheaper than the US, and which items are not. For example, high-end electronics like laptops and computer peripherals are comparably priced. DVD's, CD's, and games for the Xbox, etc are not. I bought 14 DVD's for about $9 USD. Some of the DVDs, like the Simpsons movie and Evan Almighty, have only been in theaters for a few weeks. I had them play the movies before I would buy them so I could verify the quality and insure it wasn't a camcorder recording while seated in a theater. I'm not sure how they are able to sell DVD's at such a low price, but I have a pretty good idea. They are either pirated, or the theaters realize the only way they sell in Indonesia is to make them affordable to the masses, and then they limit quantities. My guess is that it is a little of both - not sure how else they could have a DVD of a movie that has been in theaters just a few weeks. CDs are 45 cents, and the full version of MS Office, including visio, is $7.

What I think would keep my wife busy, is the shoes and apparel. Store after store of clothes and shoes under $5 each. Jewelry is dirt cheap, too. They had electronic keyboards for 1/3 the price in the US. I'm sure there is a business possiblity in here somewhere, but I'm also sure there are import taxes and Digital Rights considerations that make the profit margins more realistic.

Monday was back to work. It's very odd for me to finish a day feeling like I have accomplished nothing, but the rest of my crew feels the same. When we reflect on what we discussed and decisions we made, however, we realize just how much we truly did accomplish. We're tackling such broad subjects, at varying degrees of detail, that it feels like we accomplish so little when we are really accomplishing a great deal. We have roughly 6 days left to accomplish everything on our list and are half way through, so we are right on schedule. I think when we put together the final report we'll be quite proud of what we've been able to accomplish while here.