Day 2 - Broiler Farm (meat chickens)

Today we started off a little earlier and got on the road about 9am. We stayed in the Bogor area but headed towards the countryside which was quite beautiful. The mountains in the distance look to be several thousand metres high and we got quite close to them, however the surrounding area is all valley so you do not feel as though you are in the middle of a mountain range by any means. The broiler system here is quite impressive. The first farm we went to ran over fish ponds, allowing the chicken feces to be reused as fish food without any work! They grow asiatic carp here, the same fish we call a nuisance in Toronto as they out compete our other species but here are considered great food. The water for the ponds is diverted from a river, but flows back to the river after entering the farm. They claim they monitor the water quality as it is released back in to the river but I am sceptical of such a practise. However I was very very impressed with our well run everything is. The chickens looked to be relatively happy, or as happy as anyone can be in that heat. It is a very open cage compared to a closed building you would find in Canada, making it susceptible to disease transmission from wildlife from way cheaper than building a closed building that would require air conditioning. We also went to visit another farm owned by the same farmer but about 45 minutes away on some back country roads. It was pretty fun driving through smaller villages and seeing the beautiful scenery. The other farms were similar enough but collected the feces for fertiliser (less profitable than fish) as there was no river in the region. For lunch we went to the Univeristy area and ate at what the CIVAS people said was their favourite restaurant. It was pretty good food, fancy to look at, though I am finding Indonesian food to not be my favourite. However I never realised how many foods are actually Indonesian inventions. Things like chicken satay and tempe were actually created here. Afterwards we went in to the mall which was very impressive. It was fairly large and extremely modern. The grocery store was massive and had a large selection of foods, even Activa yogurt. The best part though was the donoughts which cost 60US cents but are all sorts of crazy flavours. You can get tomatoe, cheese, and chicken, but we all got dessert ones (like oreo or chocolate with peanuts). They have Starbucks as well but I do not know if I will venture in. Movies however cost only about $1.50 and they have all the current ones (Angels and Demons; Night at the Museum 2). We are going to see a movie tomorrow and cannot wait. Tonight we played badminton, that is what happens here on Wednesday nights!