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Published: March 10th 2016
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Tuesday 1st March 2016 We were sadly waving goodbye to Malaysia today, or at least a "see you later" as we plan to return in a months time with the hope of spotting some orangutans. We checked out of the hotel and took a taxi to the airport which was a short 15 minute drive away. The route we'd be taking to Jakarta, the capital of Indonesia would be Langkawi - Kuala Lumpur and Kuala Lumpur - Jakarta. The first leg of the journey went well and after a 1 hour flight we had landed in KL airport at midday where we would have a 7 hour wait for our connecting flight. We wandered through the airport looking in shops but spent most of our time using the free WIFI in Starbucks and backing up photos and blogs. A good use of our time I would say.
We boarded our 2nd Air Asia flight of the day at 7pm and after a 2 hour flight landed in Jakarta, Indonesia. I suppose at this point I should provide some information on Indonesia. The country is massive and is made up of a collection of islands. There are hundreds of the
islands scattered at the most southerly point of Asia we have been to so far. Its actually based in the southern hemisphere which is our first time out of the northern hemisphere. Apparently water goes down the plug hole spinning anticlockwise in the southern hemisphere - cant wait to find out! One of the largest islands in Indonesia is Java, where the capital city Jakarta is located. The island of Java is actually bigger than the UK, but we'd be unable to explore the whole island as we only have a 30 day visa and there are many different islands here we want to see.
We took a taxi to our hostel which is based in central Jakarta and after an hour arrived at Six Degrees hostel at 10:30pm. We grabbed some food at the airport so as soon as we arrived we took a look around the hostel before heading to bed. We were staying in an 8 bed dorm and like our previous hostel, this too was a pod bed style with a curtain for privacy. The room wasn't full and there was an elderly German women staying with us called Liz. Her English was exceptional, she
was about 70 so we suppose she's had plenty of practice. We overheard her telling another person in the room that she was heading to Iran to travel through the country for 3 months but it was a difficult trip to arrange on account of safety. She's crazy if you ask me.
Wednesday 2nd March 2016 After a long sleep we made it downstairs for breakfast just before they stopped serving at 11am. We then decided to locate the train station to buy our ticket to leave Jakarta in a couple of days time. Again and again, the first thing we seem to do when we arrive in a new place is plan how to leave. Doing it this way means we can then relax for the remaining time and enjoy our stay. We were told by the lady on reception how to get to the train station and what sort of ticket to buy. She was a funny women, who despite being Indonesian, had a northern and a cockney accent rolled into one. We later overheard her saying that she's been married to an English guy for 15 years and I guess he's the reason she says
'luvly jubly'.
We walked through the busy and humid streets of Jakarta for 30 minutes until we reached the train station. We were a little confused at first as the ticket machines turned out to be an encyclopedia, an actual online encyclopedia - why would you need that in a train station? We then located the ticket office but was told that we had to go to another window at the other end of the station. We then located the other window but the people behind the glass were calling out numbers and would-be-passengers were stepping up to the window when their number was called. We didn't know where or how they had got these numbered slips and we were at a loss of how to buy a ticket. Thankfully though a security guard was on hand to show us and he walked us through selecting the correct ticket and seats using a ticket machine that when we originally tried wasn't working for us. We paid and then had to use another machine to print the tickets off. It honestly seems to me like the Indonesians like to confuse simple things.
We left the train station and walked
around a park making our way to the National Museum. It only cost £1 for the both of us to enter and we were happy to be in somewhere that had air con. We spent an hour wandering through the various rooms which displayed many artifacts taken from different islands across the country. We also saw displays which offered us an insight to some religions and cultures of many of their different islands. All really interesting and in some way prepared us for some of the islands we plan to visit. Whilst in the museum a bunch of school girls came up to us and clearly just wanted to practice their English and had a good time talking and laughing with us.
After leaving the museum we then went to the number one thing to do in Jakarta (according to Trip Advisor) and that was to visit Grand Indonesia Mall, so basically a shopping centre. We took a taxi and then had some Indonesian food at a restaurant, which was some rice and very smelly fish. We then spent some time discussing some future travel plans for Indonesia as we don't really have a concrete plan on where we
should go.
Another taxi took us back to the hostel at 6pm which coincidentally was happy hour at the bar on the roof. We made our way to the roof and ordered some beers. We got chatting to a Norwegian girl who was travelling alone and was departing the next day for 3 weeks in the Philippines. We also chatted to 2 guys from Yorkshire, one was a Hull, fan (weird) and both were on their way to Australia to work for a year. Overall it was a fun evening just drinking and chatting. We made our way to bed realising that we hadn't had dinner and forced ourselves to sleep through our hunger.
Thursday 3rd March 2016 Having had a mixed night sleep due to people coming and going in the dorm, we headed down for breakfast which was a simple plate of sliced fruit and 2 pieces of toast. We then got our the laptop and spent the next 4 hours properly researching what we could visit in Indonesia during our 4 weeks. We settled on a plan and then headed out for some lunch across the road, before coming back to the hostel.
Back at the hostel, Gemma and I sat down in front of the TV and played Mario Kart on the N64 that was available to play on. We spent an hour or so battling against one another before we then headed to a pub around the corner called 'Camden' which is ironic as that is the area that Gemma works in. We had some dreadful food but a nice beer before making our way back to the hostel to back before leaving the following day.
It sounds like we haven't really done much in Jakarta, and to be fair we haven't. This is purely down to the fact that there isn't a great deal to do. The shopping centre and the national museum was recommended by guide books and the Indonesian women on reception, and we'd seen both these things. Unfortunately, but also thankfully as we'd be shattered, not all towns and cities have an abundance of 'must see' places. If I was to liken Jakarta to anywhere we have been so far, I would say that it is similar to Bangkok, but only smaller and as busy (traffic wise) as Yangon. Its not a place I would advise going out of your way to visit, but if its on the way and your trip has been long, its a good place to catch your breath. The Museum was enjoyable and provided a good insight into Indonesian culture.
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