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Mark Moxon's Travel Writing

Indonesia: McDonald's, Indonesian Style

I arrived in Yogyakarta to a flourish of westernisation. I found a cheap hotel without too much ado, and after six weeks of forests, valleys, small villages, rice and noodles, I was mesmerised: Yogyakarta has McDonald's, Pizza Hut, shopping malls, TVs and CD players. These things have been constant companions in my life since the year dot, and after six weeks away from the tourist trail, I was so amazed by their reappearance that it felt like rediscovering technology all over again. It's a powerful drug, westernisation; I wanted to flash the plastic right there and then, to buy some music, some computer hardware, or some trendy clothes that didn't look they'd been dragged backwards though the rainforest.