Jakarta

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1st night - Jakarta

Hellooo, I survived the crappy long flight and am here safe. A bit of a worry when I got into Jakarta airport at midnight and couldn't find an internet cafe to read my friends e-mail. Dan flew in 5hrs before me from East Timor and found somewhere to stay in Jakarta and the only way of knowing where he was was by checking my e-mail, I found one in the end though so it was all good. When I walked towards the exit from the airport I could feel the humidity. I got a taxi to my hostel, caught up with Dan while eating some food and then hit the sack. Not much else to report on my first night other than recieving various offers for some kind of sexual activity.

The hostel I'm staying at is a losmen (a big family run home with lots of rooms they let backpackers stay in), more on that later...
My friend Dan electrocuted himself by screwing in a light bulb whilst in Bali about 2 weeks ago and his arm has been getting progressively worse since. Sounds as if it's done something to his nerve endings and blood circulation. At the moment the only way Dan can get any sleep is if he sleeps sitting upright, if he lays down the blood doesn't seem to circulate much down his arm and excruciating pain sets in. An Indonesian doctor wasn't really able to help, just gave him painkillers etc. His arm is really quite an issue, he's gonna try and survive another week and then go home if need be. I'm getting all the info i can out him in case he does leave, because he's quite the travel guru and I'll need some tips if I go on by myself.

2nd day - Jakarta

The losmen we're staying at isn't the cleanest of places, in fact it's the worst place I've stayed in. Dan said he's stayed in worse though which doesn't surprise me, he's traveled about far more than I have.
The shower is rather disgusting, so much so that I keep putting off having one until I get to the next place. Its sooo humid here, even at half 2/3 in the morning. So, I think I'll have to give in and have one soon. There's quite a few backpackers here, mainly European, there's not much to see in Jakarta so they're probably here for the night life I expect, it's not really my scene though to be honest.
Took forever to get to sleep lastnight, partly because of the humidity (even with a fan blowing on me all night!) and partly because of the time difference thing I guess. Got up about 10 and paid for another night, then headed down the road to a small dinky open aired restaurant for breakfast and a kind of milkshake tea thingy which was nice. This place has free wireless internet so I could use my phone to email a few people, although it's only worked once so far. We then headed into central Jakarta on foot to see a massive monument in the center of a large park and then got a taxi to a rather swanky shopping mall for a break from the heat and to have a go on a 90 meter long slide which is the quickest way back to the bottom floor. It was a tad pricey though so we didn't bother. Jakarta really is quite crazy, the traffic is a good example, so many motorbikes, it's quite dangerous crossing the road. We then went to the train station to book our tickets for a night train to Yogyakarta where we'll hopefully climb Mt Merapi (the most active volcano in Indonesia). So, we've got tomorrow to kill in Jakarta and then we'll get the train. Haven't had much of an appetite since I've been here, Dan thinks its because I'm still getting used to the heat etc.

3rd day - Jakarta

My 2nd day didn't start off so well... After no sleep and a very painful arm my friend Dan decided to fly home straight away to get seen by an English doctor. I said my goodbye and attempted more sleep. I couldn't stand feeling dirty any longer so I took the plunge and had a shower. At 7 in the morning I heard someone in the shower constantly clearing his throat and flobbing on the floor. When I entered the shower shortly after him I realized there was no where to hang clothes or anything...why would there be? So I put my shoes down and balanced my clean clothes, wash bag and towel on top of them only to turn round 5 minutes later and see that it had toppled in to a big puddle of dirty water. The 1st thing I thought about was "Great, I've got some guys phlegm on my clean clothes!".
With Dan gone I felt a bit out of my comfort zone here by my lonesome, I always knew it was a possibility before I came out but still it was a bit of a shock. Not sure what to do for the rest of the day, Jakarta is the financial capital of Indonesia, full of designer shops and other expensive stores so there's really not much to see, for me anyway.
Me and Dan had booked a night train to Jogjakarta the day before so i still intended to go, was quite a relief to escape Jakarta to be honest. I had the whole day to kill before my train so I went to the cinema, not exactly your usual activity on holiday but i needed to kill time and there was bollocks all to do.

Whilst waiting at the station I saw a few trains pass by with loads of people just sitting on the top, inches from the electric cable...crazy I tell thee. Health and safety seems to be non-existent here, reminded me of Ethiopia, and when I saw people just stepping off the platforms and walking across the tracks I knew it was probably worse than Ethiopia (seeing as they don't have the luxury of trains). Didn't get much sleep on the 8hr journey, mainly because the TV on the train was blasting out awful pop music and every seat has a speaker next to it, mine wasn't on of course but everyone else had there's on...on went my Ipod.

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Comments

[Isabel]

No motorbike, so how about a scooter?
GHello Steve, thanks for the update. It sounds as though your holiday has started off with a bang. A pity that your friend has had to come back to UK, do you know how he is? It sounds quite serious. I am sure you will be fine. You have your Ethipian adventures to stand you in good sted and a level head on your shoulders. Not making any comments about the showers, I think that was toooooooo much detail! Thinking of you. Take care. Isabel