David and Heather

Hello,

We got into Jakarta ok on Sunday, but about 45min late. We paid an extraordinary (for Indonesia) amount for a taxi ride to our hotel. Monday we had breakfast at a random eatery near the hotel- rice and chicken for Heather, rice and chillied potatoes and egg for David. We did a bit of wandering before arranging to meet with the business (and we were treated to a lunch of Gado Gado). It seems our flights are arranged for Thursday.

Jakarta has been an experience- smelly, but vibrantly alive. The air is thick and brownish grey, the food spicy and hot, and even the water the serve with meals is hot! We've explored the area near our hotel- shops, warungs (sidewalk eateries), and have been on some long wanders through central and south Jakarta.

Tuesday morning the streets were filled with heaps of police on motorbikes and in trucks on the move somewhere- we guessed they may have been escorting someone important. We visited the 'Museum National'- a huge, and surprisingly well-ordered museum of artifacts sucked in from around Indonesia and history. We took hours to get through it- floors and floors of it- and spent a grand total of 1500 Rp (20 cents) for the two of us.

Our hotel has provided us with a "fruit platter" of things we don't quite recognize- a mandarin that looked like a small mango, and a snakeskin fruit. Keep an eye out for photos soon!

Love, David and Heather