"Indonesians Don't Read Maps"

I was told this by an Indonesian. Why am I telling you this? It is good advice if you ever find yourself traveling with an Indonesian, that's why. Here's how it all began...

On my last school trip to Taiwan's East Coast back in February, I met and made a lot of friends, two of whom were a Korean girl and an Indonesian girl (they were already friends before coming on the trip), and the three of us became fast friends. We had a holiday coming up the beginning of April, and in passing, I had told the Korean girl that I was contemplating several destinations for a quick vacation, one of which was Seoul. The Korean girl then talked to the Indonesian girl, who by chance was also thinking of going to Seoul, so she contacted me and asked if I would like to plan a trip together. Sure, I replied, why not!

As the trip progressed, I came to realize that there are very stark differences between how Indonesians travel and how Americans travel. This was going to be a very interesting cross-cultural adventure!

Take photography, I love taking photos as much as the next person, and recently bought a very cool little camera that takes awesome photos. My photographs are intended to document the interesting, the beautiful, the bizarre, the candid, and the funny, so I take very few photos of myself unless there's an opportunity for a funny pose. Plus, if I see something truly beautiful, I tend not to want to ugly it up with my mug in the middle of it. Also, I care a great deal about getting a good shot, and will spend the time to find the right angle and getting the settings on my camera just right for the perfect photo.

My Indonesian friend, on the other hand, had to have her face in every picture she took, so every few minutes she would ask if I could take her picture with this or that. It was a bit annoying after a while, but I did eventually get used to it. When asked why she felt the need to have her picture taken constantly, she replied that it's an Indonesian thing. Indonesians don't often travel outside of their country, so when they do, it's a big deal and they want to bring home proof that they've been to all these places, especially any background with something written in the local language. I can understand this, but I thought it was such a pity that this massive volume of self-portraits were all taken using a very bare-bones digital camera that had no mode settings (I didn't know these types of cameras still exist!), plus my friend was totally oblivious to what little bells and whistles it did have, such as the ability to zoom in and out (I discovered this when I asked her to take a photo of me with my camera and saw her running back and forth to get the shot in frame, ignoring my plea to use the zoom knob), and being able to do digital macro shots for small details. I also thought it was a pity to go on vacation and come back with a bunch of not-so-great photographs, but it didn't seem to bother her very much, all she really seemed to care for was being in every single picture.

Indonesians also don't like to be alone, don't like travel alone, and think it is weird if others go solo, like there is something wrong with them. This, she explains, is because kids live with their parents well into adulthood, move out only when they get married, so they are never alone. When they go out, they always have someone with them, it's scary when they're by themselves, and wandering in a foreign country alone is unheard of. Wanting solitude is foreign to them. Not wanting it once in a while is foreign to me.

Now about the map thing...turns out that when they are in a pinch, Indonesians will read maps, but they generally just ask people on the street. How do you know the people on the street are giving you good directions? You ask someone at every block, practically. It would drive me nuts to not even bother to try to find the way yourself or to try to get a sense of where you are on the map, to be so completely reliant and at the mercy of others. The poor sense of direction could also be an Asian thing, with streets so densely packed, I suppose your internal compass can get turned on its head sometimes. In the end, my friend did learn to consult the map more, it didn't help her sense of direction any, but at least she was learning to be more self-reliant. I, on the other hand, learned that strangers can indeed be more helpful than a map sometimes.

Curious about my pictures? Check out my Seoul Photo Album