Speaker 1: You're listening to part Time Genius, the production of Kaleidoscope
Speaker 1: and iHeartRadio. Guess what Will?
Speaker 2: What's that Mango?
Speaker 1: So we all know the holiday season is a busy
Speaker 1: time for postal workers, and that is the case in
Speaker 1: just about every country that celebrates the big winter holidays.
Speaker 1: But there is one place where the seasonal uptick in
Speaker 1: mail volume hits parcel carriers harder than anywhere in the world,
Speaker 1: and that is in Indonesia.
Speaker 2: Oh that's super interesting, And I actually didn't know how
Speaker 2: many people would be celebrating Christmas there, Like, isn't it
Speaker 2: a predominantly Muslim nation.
Speaker 1: Yeah, Indonesia actually has the largest population of Muslims in
Speaker 1: the entire world, with about ninety percent of its citizens
Speaker 1: practicing the faith. But Christmas is still widely celebrated there
Speaker 1: as kind of a secular holiday, and gift giving is
Speaker 1: a big part of the festivities. And the difference is
Speaker 1: that most countries don't have to worry about the logistical
Speaker 1: nightmare of delivering gifts to thousands of far flung islands.
Speaker 2: Indonesian mailmen are basically in the same league as Sanna,
Speaker 2: that's what you're saying.
Speaker 1: Yeah, Well, they don't make their deliveries in a single night.
Speaker 1: But they definitely have their work cut out for them,
Speaker 1: and that's because Indonesia is composed of roughly eighteen thousand islands.
Speaker 1: I had no idea, but when taken together, they actually
Speaker 1: spanned a distance about thirty two hundred miles, so basically
Speaker 1: New York to Alaska. And with that much area to cover,
Speaker 1: something is seemingly simple, as delivering the mail becomes this
Speaker 1: huge problem.
Speaker 2: But wait, no way, all of those islands have mail service,
Speaker 2: do they.
Speaker 1: No, Some of the islands are pretty tiny and only
Speaker 1: about a third of them are inhabited, but delivering mail
Speaker 1: to two hundred and seventy million people spread across six
Speaker 1: thousand islands is pretty nutty, seriously, And that's especially true
Speaker 1: in recent years since the country's online shopping market has
Speaker 1: grown exponentially since the COVID nineteen pandemic. So, for example,
Speaker 1: in twenty twenty three, Indonesiaans spent more than fifty three
Speaker 1: billion dollars online, which is almost as much as every
Speaker 1: other Southeast Asian country put together. And just for reference,
Speaker 1: the country's e commerce market in the pre COVID years
Speaker 1: was only about eight billion.
Speaker 2: Dollars per year. God, that's a huge increase. And so
Speaker 2: what does that do to the country's infrastructure.
Speaker 1: I mean, it's really taking a toll on it. So
Speaker 1: most of Indonesia's roads and bridges, they weren't designed for
Speaker 1: this sort of heavy traffic, and a lot of the
Speaker 1: more rural parts of the country aren't even accessible by truck,
Speaker 1: which has actually forced cargo companies to get creative to
Speaker 1: make deliveries. You've got everything from motorcycles to berry boats
Speaker 1: to even the occasional ox cart. It's pretty amazing, but
Speaker 1: it takes a massive fleet of drivers and warehouse workers
Speaker 1: to coordinate all of this, and a certain number of
Speaker 1: animals as well. Yeah, every island presents its own challenges there,
Speaker 1: from getting stuck in traffic and the narrow side streets
Speaker 1: of Jakarta to getting stuck in the mud and the
Speaker 1: rice paddies of rural Sumatra, and the variety of terrain
Speaker 1: and differing degrees of development across the many islands. That
Speaker 1: all presents the significant challenge. Yeah, of course, so much
Speaker 1: so that in the more isolated parts of the country,
Speaker 1: a worker might deliver as I use, twenty packages over
Speaker 1: the course of a twelve hour shift.
Speaker 2: I mean, it sounds so frustrating, but I guess those
Speaker 2: kinds of setbacks are part for the course. When you
Speaker 2: live in a sprawling island nation, you know there's really
Speaker 2: not much you can do about that.
Speaker 1: And that is true, But the growing pains of e
Speaker 1: commerce are just one small part of life in the islands,
Speaker 1: and most people agree that the sheer variety of natural
Speaker 1: landscapes and wildlife and cultural sites that Indonesia has to
Speaker 1: offer all of that more than makes up for the
Speaker 1: occasional late delivery. The biggest problem for a tourist perspective
Speaker 1: is deciding which of the country's many islands to visit
Speaker 1: and which experiences to try once you get there. But
Speaker 1: hopefully today's episode will help narrow it down for anyone
Speaker 1: trying to make the trip for themselves.
Speaker 2: That's right, but since we have seventeen thousand plus islands
Speaker 2: to cover, I think we better dig in. Hey, their
Speaker 2: podcast listeners, Welcome to Part Time Genius. I'm Will Pearson
Speaker 2: and is always I'm joined by my good friend mangesh
Speaker 2: hot Ticketter and on the other side of the soundproof
Speaker 2: glass reading a well worn copy of Eat, Pray Love.
Speaker 2: That's our friend and producer Dylan Fagan. He's a little
Speaker 2: late to the party on this one. Didn't go as
Speaker 2: all out as he does sometimes. But you know what,
Speaker 2: you can't do something huge every single time, even for
Speaker 2: somebody as amazing as Dylan. But since the love part
Speaker 2: of the book takes place in Bali, Indonesia, he's right
Speaker 2: on time for today's show.
Speaker 1: I mean, I don't know if you noticed, but he
Speaker 1: does have empty containers from a dozen different pasta dishes
Speaker 1: in the corner, and she just blasting Madonna's like a
Speaker 1: prayer a few minutes ago.
Speaker 2: So I think he's gast his.
Speaker 1: Way through the Eaton Pray Apart just to get to
Speaker 1: the love. But okay, once again Dylan is hitting a
Speaker 1: bull's eye. But believe it or not, the book and
Speaker 1: movie Eat Pray Love was actually a lot of people's
Speaker 1: first touch point with Indonesia. Yeah, and before the book
Speaker 1: came out in two thousand and six, the number of
Speaker 1: international tourists who visited Bali each year hovered around one
Speaker 1: point three million, but within a few years the number doubled,
Speaker 1: and then there was an even bigger surge after the
Speaker 1: movie was released in twenty ten. You can even rent
Speaker 1: out the villa where Julia Roberts stayed on Airbnb, which
Speaker 1: is amazing and we should probably do a couple of years.
Speaker 1: The momentum from the movie is still in effect. Over
Speaker 1: a decade later, more than five million foreign visitors now
Speaker 1: take a trip to Bali each year, making it not
Speaker 1: only the most visited island in Indonesia, but one of
Speaker 1: the most popular destinations in the world.
Speaker 2: It is funny that Bali is the only part of
Speaker 2: the country that most people experience because from what I've
Speaker 2: read this week, it's kind of an outlier in terms
Speaker 2: of culture. For example, you mentioned that the vast majority
Speaker 2: of Indonesians are Muslim, but in Bali most residents are
Speaker 2: actually Hindu. And what's interesting though, is that the Balinese
Speaker 2: people have developed the distinct take on the religion, blending
Speaker 2: kind of the traditions of Indian and Duism and aspects
Speaker 2: of Buddhism and local animistic beliefs. So, in addition to
Speaker 2: worshiping the three main gods of Hinduism Brahma, Shiva, and Vishnu,
Speaker 2: Balanese Hindus revere a series of ancestral gods or dewa
Speaker 2: who are specific to the island. It's pretty interesting.
Speaker 1: That's fascinating. And I know some of these religions, like Hinduism,
Speaker 1: tend to be sort of easy to morph into other things.
Speaker 1: You find people all over southern India with like Jesus
Speaker 1: on their altar along with other gods and stuff. But
Speaker 1: tell me about these Deaywi I think you're calling them.
Speaker 2: Yeah, well, rice cultivation is essential to life on Bali,
Speaker 2: so to help ensure a bountiful harvest, people make offerings
Speaker 2: in prayers to de Wa three and that's the goddess
Speaker 2: of rice and fertility. I like that.
Speaker 1: So they use Hinduism as kind of a framework, but
Speaker 1: then they layered on their own traditions and beliefs.
Speaker 2: That's exactly right. And one good example of that give
Speaker 2: and take is the teeth filing ritual that many Blanese
Speaker 2: undergo during adolescence. So much like traditional Hinduism, the Balanese
Speaker 2: believe that there are six vices that humans need to
Speaker 2: guard themselves against. These are desire, anger, reed, delusion, pride,
Speaker 2: and envy. But in a break from Indian Hinduism, the
Speaker 2: Bolanese believe that these evil traits enter the body through
Speaker 2: the top six teeth and manifest themselves as sharp edges.
Speaker 2: So with that in mind, Balanese teenagers undergo a symbolic
Speaker 2: procedure in which the points of six upper teeth, two canines,
Speaker 2: and four incisors they're filed down as a way to
Speaker 2: curb the evil forces within them.
Speaker 1: That's really interesting, But it sounds like not all of
Speaker 1: Bali's religious traditions are tied to Hinduism.
Speaker 2: Right, That's exactly right, And some of them are completely homegrown.
Speaker 2: For example, there's this one ancient practice you'll find in
Speaker 2: Bolanese villages where they don't let a baby's feet touch
Speaker 2: the ground for the first three months after birth. And
Speaker 2: the custom is rooted in the belief that newborns are
Speaker 2: still close to the spiritual realm and therefore have to
Speaker 2: be treated as sacred visitors from a higher plane. Not
Speaker 2: a bad.
Speaker 1: Practice, I love that. And so that means they just
Speaker 1: can't touch the floor, right.
Speaker 2: Well, the floors are dirty, mango, so it's disrespectful to
Speaker 2: let a holy visitor all around on one but it
Speaker 2: was especially if they were at my house. You know,
Speaker 2: that'd be a dirty floor. But more than that, the
Speaker 2: Balanies don't consider a baby's sold to be fully tied
Speaker 2: to its body, so to encourage the soul to stick around.
Speaker 2: The parents make sure to treat the baby well and
Speaker 2: keep it clean.
Speaker 1: That is so like culturally beautiful. That's a part of
Speaker 1: why we can an anthplasis, right, like, like I love
Speaker 1: that stuff, but it also seems so hard, Like how
Speaker 1: do they keep the baby off the floor for three months?
Speaker 1: Do they just constantly pass it around between the family.
Speaker 2: That's pretty much what happens. The baby can be placed
Speaker 2: on a bed while at home, but otherwise they have
Speaker 2: to be carried by whoever has the hands free. It's
Speaker 2: like a continuous game of infant hot Potato, I guess.
Speaker 2: And it lasts for the first one hundred and five
Speaker 2: days or two hundred and ten in some communities.
Speaker 1: Wow, So what happens after that?
Speaker 2: There's a special ceremony where a pre sprinkles the baby's
Speaker 2: feet with holy water and then places them on the
Speaker 2: ground for the first time. It'd be pretty neat to
Speaker 2: watch this. And there's also this moment where the infant
Speaker 2: is finally given a proper name and it's only then
Speaker 2: that they're considered a full earthly human.
Speaker 1: That is really wonderful, But you know, I do not
Speaker 1: envy those parents as if dealing with an infant isn't
Speaker 1: hard en huh.
Speaker 2: But think about their biceps in mango. I mean, they've
Speaker 2: got to be so strong six months of carrying an
Speaker 2: infant around. That's got to be a good workout.
Speaker 1: Yeah, a terrible one. But one of the other things
Speaker 1: I'm fascinated with about Indonesia, and this is there are
Speaker 1: only a few things I remember learning about Indonesia from college.
Speaker 1: One was that it's actually where the word third world
Speaker 1: comes from. And it's not because it's beneath other countries.
Speaker 1: It's that there are a whole group of countries that
Speaker 1: came together and decided they didn't want to align with
Speaker 1: the US or with the USSR. Yeah, and so they
Speaker 1: formed a third world. And that's actually but it comes.
Speaker 2: From more interesting I did not know that origin.
Speaker 1: The other thing I remember is that there is a
Speaker 1: lot of linguistic diversity in the country. And the official
Speaker 1: tongue is Bahasa Indonesia, which is a modified version of Malay,
Speaker 1: and pretty much everyone in the country can speak it.
Speaker 1: But throughout the islands you'll also encounter a multitude of
Speaker 1: local languages and dialects. In fact, there are more than
Speaker 1: seven hundred languages spoken in Indonesia, which constitutes roughly ten
Speaker 1: percent of all the languages in the world.
Speaker 2: Isn't that what I say?
Speaker 1: And that rich linguistic diversity, isn't you a reflection of
Speaker 1: the dozens of different ethnic groups that call various islands home.
Speaker 2: That's pretty amazing. It also sounds like it's like a
Speaker 2: total nightmare for tourists who are trying to communicate with people.
Speaker 2: I mean, asking for directions in one foreign language can
Speaker 2: be challenging enough for tourists.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, but ninety percent of the population actually
Speaker 1: speaks Bahasa Indonesia. It's also a fairly easy language to learn,
Speaker 1: and of course in the really touristy areas. Plus, these
Speaker 1: people also speak English. So if you teach yourself some
Speaker 1: basic phrases before your trip, I think you'll get by
Speaker 1: just fine.
Speaker 2: Yeah, And I was going to say, I mean, most
Speaker 2: American travelers wherever they're going. I don't know why we're
Speaker 2: pretending like it's difficult for them to ask directions because
Speaker 2: they're just if they don't know it, they'll just say
Speaker 2: it louder in English. Right, But you know, language and
Speaker 2: religion aren't the only areas where Indonesia's diversity really shines.
Speaker 2: So the island nation is also home to thousands of
Speaker 2: different species of plants and wildlife, including, and this is
Speaker 2: super cool, the world's largest lizard, the ten foot long
Speaker 2: Komodo dragon, and the world's largest and most pungent flower,
Speaker 2: the fifteen pound raft Lesia, or the corpse flower as
Speaker 2: it's known.
Speaker 1: Yeah, the size of the floora in fauna there really
Speaker 1: struck out to me as well. You might assume that
Speaker 1: everything in an island ecosystem would be pretty shrimpy, but
Speaker 1: they've also got the Sumatran tiger, They've got Javin rhinoceros, like,
Speaker 1: they're kind of grown big in Indonesia.
Speaker 2: It's the Texas of that region, I guess, but I
Speaker 2: should mention it's not just the islands themselves that sport
Speaker 2: such hefty critters. Situated between the Indian Ocean and the
Speaker 2: Pacific Ocean, the Indonesian seas are home to some big
Speaker 2: time marine species like manna rays, dolphins, dogongs, which are
Speaker 2: like sea cows but also boast nearly six hundred species
Speaker 2: of coral.
Speaker 1: You know, I've got to be honest with you. I
Speaker 1: had no idea there were six hundred species of coral.
Speaker 2: That was the whole point of this episode, Mango, was
Speaker 2: for you to learn that fact, and so now we
Speaker 2: are done. Well, some of them would be pretty tough
Speaker 2: to pick out in a line up, but it's a
Speaker 2: stunning level of biodiversity. Nonetheless, Indonesia's reef system spans just
Speaker 2: under twenty thousand square miles and represents about eighteen percent
Speaker 2: of the world's reefs.
Speaker 1: Wow, so I'm guessing you should definitely book a boat
Speaker 1: tour when you're there.
Speaker 2: And maybe even a diving expedition to get the full effect.
Speaker 2: But you know, for any listeners prone to see sickness,
Speaker 2: keep in mind that you don't have to look underwater
Speaker 2: to enjoy Indonesia's abundance of wildlife. You can just as
Speaker 2: easily look up. And that's because the nation's islands boast
Speaker 2: a full two percent of all the world's bird species,
Speaker 2: more than two hundred.
Speaker 1: In total, So biodiversity on land, in the sea, in
Speaker 1: the air. Honestly, I do want to go there now,
Speaker 1: but I also feel like we should be including a
Speaker 1: part time genius coupon code for anyone who books their
Speaker 1: travel with the words pega.
Speaker 2: That's exactly right. Well, as you pointed out, Indonesia is
Speaker 2: definitely a biodiversity triple threat. In fact, Indonesia actually claims
Speaker 2: the second highest level of biodiversity in the world world,
Speaker 2: just after Brazil, which is why the region it occupies
Speaker 2: is sometimes called the Amazon of the Seas. But what's
Speaker 2: really incredible is that Indonesia still has the potential to
Speaker 2: knock Brazil out of the top spot because many of
Speaker 2: its more remote islands have never been fully explored.
Speaker 1: That is insane.
Speaker 2: I had no idea. Yeah, In fact, there are still
Speaker 2: new species being discovered there, like in twenty twenty, a
Speaker 2: research team from the National University of Singapore reported on
Speaker 2: a treasure trove of new bird species they found while
Speaker 2: exploring an isolated trio of islands called the Wallashian Island Chain,
Speaker 2: and their discovery was especially notable because while there are
Speaker 2: more than ten thousand new animal species found there on
Speaker 2: average each year, very few of them are birds.
Speaker 1: You know, I always love every year when you see
Speaker 1: that like catalog of new animals and it's like a
Speaker 1: new animal just drawt It's so fun. But I'm curious,
Speaker 1: why is it that birds aren't part of this well
Speaker 1: it's largely because.
Speaker 2: Birds are one of the most highly studied animal groups
Speaker 2: on the planet and we have a pretty good idea
Speaker 2: of which one are still out there. And as a result,
Speaker 2: less than two hundred new bird species have been identified
Speaker 2: over the past thirty years. And that's why it's such
Speaker 2: a big deal. When the team discovered a whopping ten
Speaker 2: new species of songbirds in Indonesia, it was the first
Speaker 2: time in more than one hundred years that so many
Speaker 2: new bird species were identified at the same time in
Speaker 2: one small area. And with that discovery comes the hope
Speaker 2: that other remote regions could also be hiding untapped pockets
Speaker 2: of biological diversity. The trick is defined and protect them
Speaker 2: before climate change and other human related activities prevent us
Speaker 2: from studying them.
Speaker 1: Well, I definitely want to talk a little bit more
Speaker 1: about birds and about the Harry Potter effect. But before
Speaker 1: we do that, let's take a quick break.
Speaker 2: Welcome back to Part Time Genius, where we're making our
Speaker 2: way through through Indonesia. Fascinating place and Mango, did you
Speaker 2: say something about Harry Potter before the break? It was
Speaker 2: quite a tease there.
Speaker 1: I did. And this has to do with birds and
Speaker 1: bad human behavior. So According to a twenty seventeen study,
Speaker 1: the popularity of the Harry Potter series led to a
Speaker 1: significant rise in black market owl trading. Not something I
Speaker 1: was expecting. Apparently, the wild caught birds had always been
Speaker 1: sold there as pets, just in really small numbers. It's
Speaker 1: less than point oh six percent of the birds sold
Speaker 1: in market before two thousand and two. But then the
Speaker 1: Harry Potter books come out and the movies are released
Speaker 1: in Indonesia, and by two thousand and eight the number
Speaker 1: has shot up to zero point four to three percent
Speaker 1: of the market.
Speaker 2: I mean, I will acknowledge that that is a pretty
Speaker 2: steep uptick, but do we really know that Harry Potter's
Speaker 2: to blame? Like there could be other factors at play here, right, Yeah?
Speaker 2: I mean outcast has.
Speaker 1: Owls as well, so maybe that was the reason.
Speaker 2: That's it, But that's it.
Speaker 1: As the researchers noted in their study quote, in the past,
Speaker 1: owls were collectively known as burung han to or ghost birds,
Speaker 1: but in the bird markets now they are commonly referred
Speaker 1: to as brewing Harry Potter or Harry Potter birds.
Speaker 2: I mean that I feel like I take back what
Speaker 2: I said earlier. I feel like, that's pretty good evidence.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and since Indonesia doesn't really keep crack of its
Speaker 1: dative owl population, it is tough to say to what
Speaker 1: extent the owl craze is affecting the wild owl population.
Speaker 1: The studies authors have encouraged the Indonesian government to make
Speaker 1: owls of protected species to help cut down on this
Speaker 1: legal trade. But you know, at the time of this recording,
Speaker 1: it's the line happened yet.
Speaker 2: Yeah, well, I'll do my part. I will scratch off
Speaker 2: owls from my souvenir shopping list there and thankfully though
Speaker 2: Indonesia has no shortage of unique legal mementos to remember
Speaker 2: your trip by.
Speaker 1: So what do you think about it? Because when I
Speaker 1: looked online, it seemed like most people were either giving
Speaker 1: like decorative mini surfboards or wooden fallacies, neither of which
Speaker 1: I really want to take home in a suitcase.
Speaker 2: Yeah, both of those are very popular choices and tourist
Speaker 2: spots like Bali, but neither is what you'll call culturally authentic,
Speaker 2: I guess. And another famous but TACKI offering is the
Speaker 2: so called civet cat poop coffee or kobe luoc. I'm
Speaker 2: probably not pronouncing that correct. In fact, I'm guaranteed I'm
Speaker 2: not pronouncing that correctly, But this is basically overpriced coffee
Speaker 2: beans that have passed through the digestive tract of wild
Speaker 2: civet cats. Now, supposedly the beans produce a smooth or
Speaker 2: less acidic coffee with notes of caramel and chocolate. I
Speaker 2: guess they've been eating caramel and chocolate, and that's because
Speaker 2: they've been fermented naturally in the animal's stomach. But unless
Speaker 2: you're a die hard coffee lover, you probably won't be
Speaker 2: able to taste the difference. Plus, you know, the coffee
Speaker 2: cherries have been pooped out by an animal, which some
Speaker 2: people would consider disgusting.
Speaker 1: You know some people, well, I actually remember talking about
Speaker 1: that while ago in our coffee episode. So we're not
Speaker 1: doing coffee, we're not doing many surfboards. What is left
Speaker 1: to buy?
Speaker 2: Well, there are a few strong contenders, depending on which
Speaker 2: islands you visit. For example, on some of the smaller islands,
Speaker 2: you'll find traditional villages renowned for wooden carvings, handcraft is
Speaker 2: silver jewelry, and fresh made chocolate sourced from local cacao beans.
Speaker 2: But no matter which part of Indonesia you visit, you'll
Speaker 2: have the chance to buy one of the nation's most
Speaker 2: iconic and culturally meaningful products, which is the hand dyed
Speaker 2: fabric known as batique, found in everyday clothing as well
Speaker 2: as in consumer goods running the gamut from pillowcases do
Speaker 2: iPad covers. The traditional fabric is an indelible symbol of
Speaker 2: Indonesian identity, and.
Speaker 1: This is something that's exclusively found.
Speaker 2: On the islands. Not exactly. You can definitely find in
Speaker 2: other countries like China and Egypt. But the dying techniques
Speaker 2: that's used to make it was first developed in Indonesia,
Speaker 2: and the process has been passed down within families from
Speaker 2: one generation to the next, and different parts of the
Speaker 2: country have their own characteristic designs and colors. For example,
Speaker 2: in Central Java, most batique garments are shades of brown
Speaker 2: and cream, while coastal communities tend to prefer brighter shades.
Speaker 1: So while you were talking, while you're just yapping over
Speaker 1: there at some pictures and these are intricate, I mean,
Speaker 1: they are elaborate, and they're really beautiful, but none of
Speaker 1: this is being stitched on right, like you said, these
Speaker 1: patterns are dyed by hand.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and the process is every bit is painstaking as
Speaker 2: it sounds. So the way it works is that crafts
Speaker 2: people draw the designs onto cotton and silk using dots
Speaker 2: and lines of hot wax, which they apply with a
Speaker 2: special tool basically a small copper container with a pipe
Speaker 2: spout at the end of it. Now, once the wax cools,
Speaker 2: the cloth is soaked in one color of dye, and
Speaker 2: then the wax is removed with boiling water.
Speaker 1: Oh that's cool. So the wax kind of access a
Speaker 1: barrier to the diet. That's a really awesome process.
Speaker 2: Yeah, but as you probably noted, most batigue garments use
Speaker 2: multiple overlapping colors, and to achieve that, the artisan has
Speaker 2: to repeat the wax and dye process over and over,
Speaker 2: using different color dyes and different parts of the garment.
Speaker 2: So it takes a lot of time and planning to
Speaker 2: pull off this complicated pattern, making each finished product a
Speaker 2: distinct work of art.
Speaker 1: That is amazing. But even though all that work goes
Speaker 1: into making but clothing. You said that people wear this
Speaker 1: in everyday lives. It's not just for like special occasions.
Speaker 2: It kind of depends. It's not uncommon to wear less
Speaker 2: ornate batique fabrics to work or school, but other varieties
Speaker 2: are reserved for marriage, celebrations and performance are like puppet theater,
Speaker 2: you know, different things like that. But there are also
Speaker 2: lots of cultural rituals involving batique. For instance, during the
Speaker 2: seventh month of pregnancy, it's customary for the mother to
Speaker 2: try on seven batique garments, each with motifs that represent
Speaker 2: different blessings for the child. Then once the child is born,
Speaker 2: they usually carry these batique slings that are also decorated
Speaker 2: with good luck symbols. But that's really just the tip
Speaker 2: of the iceberg. There's another ritual in which royal batique
Speaker 2: garments are cast into a volcano to prevent eruptions.
Speaker 1: Huh.
Speaker 2: And then Indonesian funerals, the dead are shrouded in batique
Speaker 2: cloth for their journey into the afterlife. I really like that.
Speaker 1: So they're using batique and everything from like the cradle
Speaker 1: to the grave.
Speaker 2: That's exactly right. And Indonesian bautique plays such a crucial
Speaker 2: role in religion and culture and day to day lives
Speaker 2: of Indonesian It was actually added to UNESCO's Intangible Cultural
Speaker 2: Heritage of Humanity list. This was back in two thousand
Speaker 2: and nine.
Speaker 1: That is an amazing list title.
Speaker 2: It's an impressive list, but the hope is that by
Speaker 2: raising international awareness of the art form, the batique tradition
Speaker 2: will reach a wider audience and encourage younger generations to
Speaker 2: take up the practice.
Speaker 1: Well, since you brought up this UNESCO list, there's another
Speaker 1: Indonesian contribution that we should talk about. It is a
Speaker 1: medicinal drink. It's called Jamu, and just like batigue, no
Speaker 1: trip to Indonesia would be complete without giving it a try.
Speaker 2: I mean, I knew UNESCO was interested in architecture and
Speaker 2: nature and art forms, but I didn't know that beverages
Speaker 2: would actually be part of the mix.
Speaker 1: Yeah, they aren't in most cases, but UNESCO does protect
Speaker 1: ancient wellness traditions things like yoga, massage or even acupuncture,
Speaker 1: And because Jamu has this long history as a medical elixir,
Speaker 1: it ends up getting a spot on the list. But basically,
Speaker 1: Jamu is thought to date back to at least the
Speaker 1: eighth century CE, and while the herbal ingredients vary depending
Speaker 1: on customers age, lifestyle, and health conditions, they typically include
Speaker 1: things like ginger, lime, turmeric, and tamarind.
Speaker 2: Which doesn't sound half bad.
Speaker 1: Actually, yeah, I feel like when you go to these
Speaker 1: juice places, it's the stuff in elixirs that you got there.
Speaker 1: But you don't actually have to ask your doctor about jammu.
Speaker 1: It's readily available at cafes and markets all throughout Indonesia,
Speaker 1: and the recipes vary by region. But for the best results,
Speaker 1: you actually want to find a trained jamu maker who
Speaker 1: can tailor the beverage to fit your needs.
Speaker 2: So anyone can make jamu, but only professionals know how
Speaker 2: to make it well.
Speaker 1: Yeah, the proper techniques have been handed down through generations,
Speaker 1: and while some practitioners learn the craft independently, others actually
Speaker 1: train under veteran jamu makers or they can even study
Speaker 1: at universities. And there's definitely a communal aspect to the drink.
Speaker 1: Some people only blend jamu for their friends and relatives,
Speaker 1: like as a home remedy, and it's a sign of
Speaker 1: a strong social bond and someone prepares it for you,
Speaker 1: and even on the commercial side, but there's this level
Speaker 1: of intimacy between the seller and the customer because you
Speaker 1: have to divulge personal details for someone to make it
Speaker 1: for you properly and then trust that they'll respect your privacy.
Speaker 2: That's wild. I love how it's got the same communal
Speaker 2: vibes of making chicken soup for a sick neighbor, you know,
Speaker 2: assuming you could fine tune the soup to match their
Speaker 2: age and lifestyle. I don't know if that makes me
Speaker 2: more or less inclined to try it, but I guess
Speaker 2: i'll decide when I get there.
Speaker 1: Yeah, you might need it. I mean, nothing cools you
Speaker 1: down like an iced cold cup of Jammu. But before
Speaker 1: you go looking for one of those, why don't we
Speaker 1: do a quick fact off. Some listeners may have noticed
Speaker 1: that we never mentioned the exact number of islands in Indonesia,
Speaker 1: and there's a very good reason for that. Nobody knows it.
Speaker 1: The nation has a multitude of extremely small land masses
Speaker 1: in its territory, many of which don't even have names,
Speaker 1: and over the years, the government has submitted varying estimates
Speaker 1: of the total number, ranging anywhere from thirteen thousand to
Speaker 1: twenty five thousand islands. The most recent guests based on
Speaker 1: satellite surveys, is that Indonesia consists of seventeen thousand, five
Speaker 1: hundred eight islands, but according to the UN, which only
Speaker 1: recognizes the named islands, the official number stands at sixteen thousand,
Speaker 1: fifty six. Of course, if all of that wasn't confusing enough,
Speaker 1: recent reports show that a handful of uninhabited islands in
Speaker 1: Indonesia have now been completely submerged due to rising sea
Speaker 1: levels and coastal erosions. So the true number might be
Speaker 1: closer to seventeen thousand, five hundred four, or maybe even lower,
Speaker 1: depending on when.
Speaker 2: You hear this. It does feel like at this point,
Speaker 2: even using something like AI, just like taking a survey
Speaker 2: of the space, taking a satellite picture of the space,
Speaker 2: that we could know this number, but it just tells
Speaker 2: you just how many islands.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it is incredible, all right.
Speaker 2: So we talked a lot about the natural beauty of Indonesia,
Speaker 2: but it's worth keeping in mind that some of that
Speaker 2: beauty can be very dangerous or even deadly. And that's
Speaker 2: because the Indonesian islands happened to stretch across the Pacific Oceans,
Speaker 2: so called Ring of Fire, where earthquakes and volcanic rupt
Speaker 2: occur almost daily. According to nat GEO, the Ring of
Speaker 2: Fire is home to seventy five percent of the world's
Speaker 2: volcanoes and ninety percent of earthquakes, and Indonesia contains more
Speaker 2: active volcanoes than any other country on Earth at around
Speaker 2: one hundred and thirty. The most threatening of the bunch
Speaker 2: is probably Mount Tambora. In eighteen fifteen, the mountain exploded
Speaker 2: in the largest volcanic eruption in recorded history, claiming the
Speaker 2: lies of at least ten thousand islanders. Now, the good
Speaker 2: news is that most eruptions are far less catastrophic, and
Speaker 2: visitors can easily monitor the region's volcanic activity by using
Speaker 2: an app called Volcano Discovery. It provides up to the
Speaker 2: moment details and alerts for almost two hundred Indonesia volcanoes.
Speaker 1: Well, speaking of dangerous things in Indonesia, another risky thing
Speaker 1: you might want to avoid is their version of the
Speaker 1: Sasquatch of a short man known as rong Pendec. He
Speaker 1: apparently runs through the woods cause all sorts of chaos,
Speaker 1: but stories claim that the creature has feet that face backwards,
Speaker 1: so it can't be tracked through the forests.
Speaker 2: All right, Well, here's a weird one that you probably
Speaker 2: haven't heard before. Indonesia is one of the world's largest
Speaker 2: exporters of frogs legs, with the majority being caught in
Speaker 2: their natural habitat on the island of Java. But over
Speaker 2: time there's been a massive uptick in the number of
Speaker 2: frog legs exported to foreign countries, rising from around twenty
Speaker 2: eight tons in nineteen sixty nine to around fifty six
Speaker 2: hundred tons in nineteen ninety two. Can you imagine fifty
Speaker 2: six hundred tons of just frog legs. That's got to
Speaker 2: be a lot of frog legs. Apparently the end of
Speaker 2: frogs left so many frogs without their legs, and apparently
Speaker 2: the increased them from a nineteen eighty five ban on
Speaker 2: exports from India and Pakistan, which had formerly been the
Speaker 2: chief exporter of edible frogs. Now this wasn't just a
Speaker 2: culinary fat either. In the last decade, Europe alone has
Speaker 2: imported forty six hundred tons of frog's legs from Indonesia
Speaker 2: each year, with France, Belgium and the Netherlands being their
Speaker 2: biggest customers.
Speaker 1: That is just insane. I mean, I've been to India
Speaker 1: so many times and I've never been offered frog's legs.
Speaker 2: I didn't know that it was missing out, even.
Speaker 1: Something that they exported. It also reminds me of the
Speaker 1: beginning of the Muppet movie but where Kermit just avoid
Speaker 1: is getting caught by Doc Coffer.
Speaker 2: That's pretty great. For most of our listeners who don't
Speaker 2: know this, probably once a day Mango will say, you know,
Speaker 2: that reminds me of the Muffett movie.
Speaker 1: Well, we talked earlier about the ongoing discovery of new
Speaker 1: animal species in Indonesia, but back in twenty seventeen, the
Speaker 1: Ancient Isles were also the site of an exciting new
Speaker 1: archaeological discovery. And this is on the Indonesian island it's
Speaker 1: called Sula Wasi, and a research team there found a
Speaker 1: cave painting that's now thought to be the earliest known
Speaker 1: example of visual storytelling. Wow. Yeah. The image was painted
Speaker 1: with a red pigment on the walls of a limestone cave,
Speaker 1: and it depicts a pig alongside three human like figures.
Speaker 1: Two of the figures seemed to be confronting the pig
Speaker 1: with sticklike objects, while the third person is shown upside
Speaker 1: down with its legs spread apart and is reaching towards
Speaker 1: the pig's head. So it isn't entirely clear what's going on,
Speaker 1: but it's clearly trying to tell some kind of story anyway.
Speaker 1: So researchers at Griffith University in Australia used a new
Speaker 1: dating technique to determine the age of the rock art,
Speaker 1: and they revealed that it was painted approximately fifty one thousand,
Speaker 1: two hundred years ago.
Speaker 2: Wow, that actually makes it the.
Speaker 1: Oldest example of human storytelling on record, beating the previous
Speaker 1: bit of evidence by more than three thousand years.
Speaker 2: That is wise.
Speaker 1: Is that incredible? All right?
Speaker 2: Well, here's a nice feel good fact I've found about
Speaker 2: Indonesia's first all women firefighting squad. It's called the Power
Speaker 2: of Mama, and for the past three years, the volunteer
Speaker 2: members have been tirelessly working to extinguish wildfires and protect
Speaker 2: the peat lands and the Indonesian part of Borneo. In
Speaker 2: recent years, many of the region's peat swamps have been
Speaker 2: drained to make way for oil palm cultivation. Now, unfortunately,
Speaker 2: this makes the peat lands much more susceptible to wildfires,
Speaker 2: which of course pose a serious threat not only the
Speaker 2: local humans, but to wildlife and the ecosystem as a whole.
Speaker 2: And that's where the Power of Mama comes in now.
Speaker 2: The group was established in twenty twenty two with forty
Speaker 2: four women volunteers, but it's since grown to just under
Speaker 2: one hundred members. From six local villages ages ranging from
Speaker 2: nineteen to sixty. Now, during the dry season, when the
Speaker 2: fire risk is at its worst, the mamus patrol the
Speaker 2: rainforest of Borneo to scout potential blazes. They generally conduct
Speaker 2: their search on motorbikes, or if a fire is bought
Speaker 2: it and a tough to reach area, they'll use wooden
Speaker 2: canoes and once they reach the fire, they'll assess its
Speaker 2: scope with an aerial drone and then jump into action
Speaker 2: with water pumps and hoses to douse the flames before
Speaker 2: they can spread. And at first, men in the village
Speaker 2: mocked the idea of women firefighters, but after the mam
Speaker 2: has helped save their farms from an encroaching blaze, they
Speaker 2: quickly change their tune and now invite the women to
Speaker 2: meetings to coordinate fire defense strategies. As the group's founder
Speaker 2: put it, quote, for a long time women were overlooked,
Speaker 2: but now everyone realizes that they play an important role
Speaker 2: in society.
Speaker 1: I love this idea of a group of mamas saving
Speaker 1: the environment over there, and as much as I love
Speaker 1: my short sasquash fact, I think I'm gonna have to
Speaker 1: give it to you this week.
Speaker 2: Well, I couldn't have done it without the power of Mama,
Speaker 2: So Mama's this one's for you.
Speaker 1: Well that's it for today's Part Time Genius From Gabe, Mary, Dylan,
Speaker 1: Will and myself. Thank you so much for listening. We
Speaker 1: know that there are so many podcasts out there and
Speaker 1: we appreciate your spending time with us. If you enjoyed
Speaker 1: this episode, then come check us out on Instagram. Our
Speaker 1: handle is at part Time Genius, or rate and review
Speaker 1: the show on Apple Podcasts, and be sure to tune
Speaker 1: in for another brand new episode next week. Part Time
Speaker 1: Genius is a production of Kaleidoscope and iHeartRadio. This show
Speaker 1: is hosted by Will Pearson and Me Mongais articular and
Speaker 1: research by our goodpal Mary Philip Sandy. Today's episode was
Speaker 1: engineered and produced by the wonderful Dylan Fagan with support.
Speaker 2: From Tyler Klang.
Speaker 1: The show is executive produced for iHeart by Katrina Norvell
Speaker 1: and Ali Perry, with social media support from Sasha Gay,
Speaker 1: trustee Dara Potts and Viney Shorey. For more podcasts from
Speaker 1: Kaleidoscope and iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or
Speaker 1: wherever you listen to your favorite shows.