First day of my trip through Indonesia. It's 7 a.m. and I'm wondering why I woke up so early despite the time difference. It's just midnight in Germany...

Hundreds of thoughts are circling in my head, and I feel that this visit to Asia will be different than my previous trips: I have been working with Indonesia for almost three years without having visited it yet. Will I actually find the images I have in my head here? The luggage is heavy because as an independent Risolier you travel with many topics. And while at home I still wanted to work through this during the upcoming tour, here in Jakarta the search for inner lightness is already beginning. The metropolis is not a tourist hotspot - this becomes clear as soon as you approach the city. It seems huge, gray and, like all big cities, anonymous and hard. It is clear that you will look for the green rice fields here in vain - but even parks or even individual trees are rare. The first day ends with a chic drink on the roof terrace of the new “Sky Bar”. Mixed feelings when looking over the swampy roofs of the city, where there seems to be nothing between luxury shopping malls and slums. Tomorrow we will meet with the Indonesian Minister of Trade. How will this conversation go? Is rice an issue that will lure the minister out from behind the imaginary oven in the shade at 30 degrees? Mhm... there's only one thing that comes to mind: "Stick with it!" ;)