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Published: April 30th 2009
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Day 1 (Tuesday) - The flight to Jakarta would have been pretty unmemorable as I slept most of the first half. But then someone opened the overhead compartment above me and a bottle of gin rolled out and fell, breaking on my head and covering me with the alcoholic liquid. I used to be an aisle man but now call me ‘Mr. Window’. Showing up at the airport, I had one thing in mind, “I am showing up in an Islamic country smelling of booze. Call me anything, just not Indonesian prison inmate” other than how beautiful the airport was. They had planned lots of gardens and fountain courtyards that were visible from all points of the terminal. I ended up getting through customs without much ado, grabbed a bus and finally a taxi that took me to my hostel. Along the way in the hostel I had a moment to shake my mind back to the realization that I was in a different world. As the taxi was driving on a main artery of the town, I looked outside to find a child of maybe 5 playing between the whizzing cars. I was definitely not in Kansas or Australia anymore.
The hostel I was staying at was quite nice and designed for young expats working abroad for a good amount of time but opens its doors to travelers when there are free rooms. I got the free room. Still a little disoriented from the new lump on my head, I took a shower before a nap. I woke up a little before dinner time to get my laundry going, then met the Dutch guys who were living there (3 of them). They grabbed me to order dinner and then we had a very good meal, which cost less than a dollar. I was back in the land of the cheap. After dinner, I sat and talked with the Dutch boys till they had to go to bed before work the next day. I decided to go to sleep as well.
Day 2 (Wednesday) - I awoke early and ate the breakfast the hostel provided as the guys got ready for work. I left shortly after they did for the Independence Monument. It was a good test of skills getting reoriented to being in a foreign speaking country. The locals made it too easy on me though as they were
Safety First
No crosswalk, just sit on these yellow curbs and when there is a bit of a break and you build up enough courage to challenge the cars, you go. so friendly and helpful. Whenever I looked at a subway map or my city map, someone would ask me in English if I needed help. The Indonesian people are absolutely delightful, kind people. I find my way to Independence Monument. I walked around the park that housed it, then decided to walk back along the road that the trolley came down as it was a main thoroughfare and full of energy. I was not disappointed, though I was also a walking ocean with all the salty perspiration covering my body. I stopped at Starbucks to get an iced latte and a snack. I slurped and ate them so fast that I hardly had time to people watch. The main street was covered with American and upscale chains but heading in a street I found the real world. The streets were teeming with activity. Just weaving through the crowded sidewalks was an incredibly difficult task. I decided to zigzag my way through these little streets trying to find my way back to the hostel, which was incredibly hard given the lack of marked streets. But I did my best and saw some interesting things along the way. I walked through a
subdivision of upscale homes. I was amazed how modern and large they were but signs of shotty work were already appearing on homes that were currently being built in the form of cracks and slants. It was interesting that all over town there are these beautiful homes juxtaposed to homes that are little more than shacks. After getting through the nice neighborhood, I started to get hungry so I bought a bun. I wasn’t sure what it was but I saw them all over town, so figured I would try a local fare. I bit in not knowing what I would find and found chocolate. This was a pleasant surprise aside from the fact that chocolate makes you thirsty and I was running low on water. But it was good enough so I kept going. Soon enough I came to a block that was made up entirely of hundreds of aquarium supply shops. It was interesting walking through because it seemed that all the shops had the same exact inventory. Past the aquarium district was the pet district where street vendors waited every 30 meters on the side of the street with kittens and puppies, something I hadn’t seen since
Colombia. I then took a turn that was probably not the best as I lost a sense of where I was going. I did eventually make it back to a trolley terminal that I had been to previously though, so I hopped on and let it carry me back to my end of town, where I walked back to the hostel. Just as I was getting out of the shower, the Dutch boys were coming back from their respective jobs. That night we went to an open air mall of restaurants where a slew of menus are put down before you and you order from which menu you like, what you are interested in. I chose a local course that ended up being pretty good. We stayed there for a couple hours just enjoying talking and some cool drinks in the warm night. But they had to get back to work and I was exhausted from a long day of walking in the heat so we went back before midnight. I used the internet when I got back and got caught up writing emails till after 2am. I fell asleep quickly thereafter.
Day 3 (Thursday) - I pushed myself
too hard the day before as I was exhausted waking up. I didn’t get out of bed till noon and then all I did was drink bottle after bottle of water. After it was too hard to get myself motivated to do anything, I decided to make it a day of rest. The hostel employed a full time housekeeper of sorts who had done all my laundry, so it was a breeze packing. After that, I tried to catch up a bit on my blog. Soon enough the Dutch boys were back and we got some satay (basically barbecued chicken skewers with a peanut sauce) and the housekeeper gave us some noodles to go with it. After dinner, we walked to the store, which was my first time outside the hostel for the day. It was a nice little walk at night and gave me a chance to talk with Linda, one of the girls who worked in the hostel. The walk passed quickly and she told me how she had come to live in Jakarta (from a smaller town) and how she was finding it. When we got back, the 3 guys and I played hearts till everyone was
Meat Bun
First but with chocolate inside. sick of it and all headed to bed.
Day 4 (Friday) - I budgeted perfectly how much I would need to get to the airport so I would have no money left but alas there was an airport tax, so I had to pull out more money to pay that. No biggie though. Shortly I was on my short, uneventful flight to Singapore after a banana crepe in the nicest airport I have ever been in.
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