Java - Observations

A few observations on Java after four days of exploration:

Where are all the people living?
Indonesia has over 250 million people and Java apparently has more than half of them. Jakarta accounts for 10 million. But I'm not sure where the rest are. The areas of Java that we saw did not seem densely populated.

Javanese are refreshingly practical:
No money for big-city transport infrastructure? Just dedicate lanes on each major road as bus lanes and run the buses like a train system (complete with stations - not your typical bus stop). Simple but it seems to work.
Why struggle with complicated endings on nouns to make them plural? If you want a plural, just repeat the singular and you're done.

The mall is the place to be:
As in so many other parts of the world, the mall culture is alive and well here. For shopping, dining, entertainment, the malls seem to draw everyone in - even foreigners who are just visiting.

Security is mostly for show:
Every mall, hotel and commercial building seems to have some type of metal detector - but you hand your bags around the side and no-one looks at them. I'm not sure that the detectors are even switched on. I never saw anyone stopped.

Satay and peanut sauce are great:
Whether or not the satay or the peanut sauce originated in Java, Javanese have embraced them as their own.

Now on to Sumatra. Let's see what differences there are.

Simon