Jakarta

For the Chinese New Year holiday, we had monday and tuesday off from work so me, moe and LMS too a quick trip to jakarta. it was the cheapest flight i could find to anywhere around singapore, and liong is from there so we would have a personal tour guide! the flight was easy, more chops in the passport (in addition to a $25 USD visa on arrival which was a complete ripoff, just weeks ago it was $10 for a 7 day visa but they all of a sudden discontinued the 7day visa)... jakarta was a lot like bangkok except since we had liong and his car, it was a ton more fun and much easier to get around.

i can't actually believe he let me, but liong let me drive his (brother's!) car for about an hour... on opposite side of the road like the brits, at night, in the rain, in a place with NO traffic laws, lane markings, street signs, and a zillion motorbikes weaving in and out and people merging out of nowhere and pedestrians running across the road. it was the most stressful hour of driving in my life. but it was awesome too. i actually hit two road cones but i misjudged how wide the car was since i was driving on the right hand seat (normally the passenger seat in the US). OH also it was a manual transmission!!! the whole thing was complete insanity, but one of the most memorable experiences for sure. many people get around on motorbikes as thier only mode of transport, so it was common to see moms just holding little babies with no helmet.

during the day we went to the national monument in the center square area. there were tons of people and there is only ONE elevator up to the top and it fits only 11 people. so only 11 people up and down at a time. you do the math. the views from the top were great and the city just goes on forever.

we had lunch at a local restaurant where they bring about 15 little plates to the table and you basically just get charged for whatever you eat. lots of fish, veggies, rice, potatoes, chicken all with different sauces etc. indonesian money is very weak against the USD, so all in all including the flight, hotel, food. etc. it cost me about $200 USD. which would have been about $150 USD if i didnt have to pay for the Visa or the 'exit fee' the airport charges you at the gate to leave the airport..... yes you read that correctly. what an annoying extra charge. also about indonesian money, about 10,000 rupiah is only 1USD, so the paper money comes in very large denomenations that sometimes makes it difficult to count all the zeroes. you can easily mistake 10,000 rupiah for 100,000, especially becuase the colors are similar.

we didn't have a hotel when we arrived, and we ended up staying at this awesome place near where liong lived. for about $30 singapore dollars each we got a great room, very posh, free buffet breakfast, and access to the pool, jacuzzi, and sauna. the locker room is co-ed and they give you these funny uniforms to wear, like a basketball uniform, that must be worn even in the sauna hahaha. it was valentine's day, so i decided to treat myself to a massage. it turned out to be the most intense massage i've ever had. the woman was really strong and was sitting on me, walking on my back, using her knees. she even cracked my back and neck. yes a masseuse and a chiropractor.

during the day we stopped at one of the many many fruit stands. we got mangosteens and other red fruitsthat look like spiky balls. i got a big bag of mangosteens for about $1USD. mangosteens look like little dark brown bulbs, and inside is a sugary white fruit that is heaven. the red spiky balls were also really good. i'm going to miss the exotic fruit here for sure.