Not your average morning walk

This morning I went on a city wide “Relaxed Walk.”  Not a 5K walk/run, or one that was in support of any cause, just a Jalan Santai.  A friend was on the organizing committee of this event and it drew a surprising number of people to its kick off at the governor’s office.  The walk itself was no more than three kilometers though and having anticipated the short distance I had worn just my Tevas; Indonesians' general distaste for walking would not let it last too long and any exercise in this climate is unpleasant after 6:30am (the walk started at 7am).  I was surprised though when I realized a number of people were going barefoot and carrying their sandals!  I think they are just more comfortable like that since people go barefoot in my office all the time...  Also, the route of the walk just followed along the road like a normal run/walk in the US, except they let cars and motorbikes share the road too!  Exercise is much less enjoyable when you are breathing in exhaust from the cars driving by just a foot away from you!  Well, the event attracted more than just walkers and many people just hung around the start area eating snacks and waiting for the big event, the post-walk raffle where TWO motorbikes were being given away.  After we finished the walk and enjoyed some fresh soymilk, we waited around hoping that Sumi’s surprisingly large stack of raffle tickets would win.  No luck there and it was getting uncomfortably hot by 9am so we headed back home for a little istirahat (rest).

Organizers holding back a group of little kids from storming through the starting point too soon.