ick

Capitol Hill in Seattle is a great neighborhood for those interested in the bustle of the city and the quiet of a nice walk in the park. There are some stunning views from the water tower in Volunteer Park, lots of great restaurants on Broadway and on E. 15th, and, of course, the Robot Co-op offices. If you like Swing Dancing, there’s dancing at the Century Ballroom every Sunday and Wednesday nights, and at the Russian Community Center on Thursday nights. There are tons of hipster bars along Pike and Pine, and if you have the time, a stroll down Pine will take you downtown, straight to the Pike Place Market if that interests you. Oh, and Bruce and Brandon Lee are buried in the historic cemetary behind Volunteer Park.

I have a lot of relatives (esp. cousins) living in Brisbane, as well as friends at the University of Queensland. My visit was mostly for visiting relatives, but I was able to get away for a few days and explore by myself. Brisbane itself isn’t perhaps the most touristy-place around, and I often found myself wondering what people did for entertainment or even where they all were sometimes. My cousins tell me they find living there extremely boring. But I enjoyed my stay there, my trips to the beaches, seafood, petting zoos, and especially meeting my cousins.

So I’m sure there is lots to see and enjoy in Jakarta, but if you are Chinese or even remotely Chinese-looking, you will find the racial discrimination there pretty depressing, especially during any politically-interesting period. My family and I were there for a bit in 1997, and I felt really uncomfortable with all the glares and sometimes even more overt yells from people. It was illegal to teach or publish anything in Chinese. Family friends “disappeared” during the political upheaval of the time, and many of my relatives fled to Australia and other places in Southeast Asia.