Jakarta

We finally boarded the 2am flight from Perth, to arrive in Jakarta at 7am, smooth transition through Visa on arrival, immigration and customs, to be mildly hassled by men asking if we wanted a taxi. All of them laughed when I told them my Dad was picking us up!

Found Dad and two Nephews/second cousins who were lovely enough to pick us up and drive us to Dad’s apartment on Jakarta. Not before we stopped at a street Vendor that Dad has already tested and assured us is clean, happy for him to do the testing, if he’s not sick then we should be fine.

Went back to his apartment which had a lovely pool, gym and security, to arrive on the 17th floor to a view out of this world. When I say out of this world, I mean Jakarta is like another world, you could sit and watch from up there for hours, the contrast between rich and poor, the rubbish dumped next to the posh apartment blocks, the wall separating the rich from the poor, the water running past the run down house, the 3 billion motorbikes and betcuks (not sure of spelling), a shroud of pollution and a hint of the smell of food, poo, humidity and pollution - nothing nasty, just a shock to the nostrils.

The food was delicious, very yummy and it cost about $3. Hung around and watched the Indonesian version of Good morning Australia, then headed back to the airport witnessing some of the funniest driving we have ever seen, for our flight to Bangkok.

Jakarta airport - all fine except the departures immigration man being a total arsehole as I didn’t know what a departure card was. He was very likely close to suicide anyway, so I have a feeling it wasn’t just my fault.

Overall Jakarta was more far more rich and interesting than I remember, a distinct feeling of easy going could be felt, it was warm as well, not just the weather though. Greatly under rated by most I would think..