

Back in Indonesia, this time just for a little visit. More specifically this was our first business trip. Joel and I have formed the company Raya Exchange with the mission of supporting weaving and furniture making artisans in Indonesia by importing their goods to the US market (more on that in the part two post). Our weaving and furniture partners are in different cities, so this trip shaped up to be quite a nonstop trek all over Java. Our first stop was the big, bustling metropolis of Jakarta where we ate, ate, ate! As you can see above, there were oodles of fancy restaurants for us to visit and food galore for us to devour.
Next we headed to Semarang, where we lived for two years. We spent our time there catching up with friends, exploring the old markets and seeing what’s changed in the four short months since we moved back to the US. The familiarity of the city was welcoming after a weekend of running around the hectic streets of Jakarta. But Semarang was just a stop over for our real destination. The next day we were up bright and early to fight the floods on the road to Jepara where our first furniture order was waiting for us. More from Jepara and our favorite city, Jogja, coming soon in part two.