Jennifer Lindsay

One of the first phrases I learnt when I came to Indonesia was 'jalan-jalan', and I suspect it is still one of the first things tourists learn to say, along with 'lihat-lihat saja'. The first means 'walking [or driving] around', and the second means 'just looking'.

What is common to them is the doubling of the verb (jalan/to go; lihat/to look, see). In both cases, doubling the verb makes the action more casual and aimless. You go into a sho