I last saw her on my wedding day three years back. Last month I got to know she is coming to Jakarta for work. All I could think of was; she is right here, so close by!! I couldn't wait to see her. I booked my flight to Jakarta as soon as she booked her tickets from India to Jakarta.
I have never been to Jakarta or any part of Indonesia before so I knew nothing about this country. The only other way to experience a country without visiting it; is to read about it. So I started reading and I got to know that people don't speak English there. They just stick to the local language. Luckily the local language is similar to Bahasa Malaysia (language in KL). In the last one year, I have only picked up some phrases of Bahasa Malaysia from the locals and learnt the numbers and greetings. As I wasn't going backpacking to Jakarta, this was quite enough.
I flew to Jakarta on a clear Saturday morning and landed there at 11 AM local time. CGK airport is so huge(pun intended) that I stepped out of the plane and stepped into the VOA counter; crossed that and found myself standing in the immigration queue; cleared the immigration, walked two more steps and realized that I was out of the airport already.
As soon as I stepped out, a sea of taxi drivers emerged from nowhere urging me to take their taxi. I had read on a blog that I must only take Bluebird or Silverbird taxis which are marked with the respective names. So I asked a taxi driver if he was driving a bluebird. He said yes, escorted me to the parking lot, showed me a black merc and said - 'This blue bird miss'. Faces of harassed foreigners at Delhi airport came rushing back to me. I gave this driver a piece of my mind (in a language he didn't understand) and came back to the airport exit. A security guard finally pointed me to the blue bird taxi stand which is not easily visible from the exit. I got into a Bluebird thinking I will be at the hotel in no time. But could I be more incorrect!!
From the airport to the hotel (which was in Central Jakarta) is a 30-minute drive without traffic so in traffic I estimated it to be around an hour. It took me more than 2 hours to reach. I had called my husband from the airport and promised to call once I reach the hotel. After an hour and half of no call backs, he got scared that the wife didn't make it :P When I finally reached, I owed the taxi driver 165,000 rupees!! No, I haven't added any extra zeroes by mistake. That is really the amount I owed him in IDR by fare meter including toll taxes :) Indonesian currency made me a millionaire overnight :) Dream come true... right?? I felt so rich just handing over 200,000 and collecting 35k of loose change!!
And finally I saw her :)
Last time when we met, we were mostly smiling for the camera :)
Or doing crazy stuff!!
and doing crazy stuff!!
I have never been to Jakarta or any part of Indonesia before so I knew nothing about this country. The only other way to experience a country without visiting it; is to read about it. So I started reading and I got to know that people don't speak English there. They just stick to the local language. Luckily the local language is similar to Bahasa Malaysia (language in KL). In the last one year, I have only picked up some phrases of Bahasa Malaysia from the locals and learnt the numbers and greetings. As I wasn't going backpacking to Jakarta, this was quite enough.
I flew to Jakarta on a clear Saturday morning and landed there at 11 AM local time. CGK airport is so huge(pun intended) that I stepped out of the plane and stepped into the VOA counter; crossed that and found myself standing in the immigration queue; cleared the immigration, walked two more steps and realized that I was out of the airport already.
As soon as I stepped out, a sea of taxi drivers emerged from nowhere urging me to take their taxi. I had read on a blog that I must only take Bluebird or Silverbird taxis which are marked with the respective names. So I asked a taxi driver if he was driving a bluebird. He said yes, escorted me to the parking lot, showed me a black merc and said - 'This blue bird miss'. Faces of harassed foreigners at Delhi airport came rushing back to me. I gave this driver a piece of my mind (in a language he didn't understand) and came back to the airport exit. A security guard finally pointed me to the blue bird taxi stand which is not easily visible from the exit. I got into a Bluebird thinking I will be at the hotel in no time. But could I be more incorrect!!
From the airport to the hotel (which was in Central Jakarta) is a 30-minute drive without traffic so in traffic I estimated it to be around an hour. It took me more than 2 hours to reach. I had called my husband from the airport and promised to call once I reach the hotel. After an hour and half of no call backs, he got scared that the wife didn't make it :P When I finally reached, I owed the taxi driver 165,000 rupees!! No, I haven't added any extra zeroes by mistake. That is really the amount I owed him in IDR by fare meter including toll taxes :) Indonesian currency made me a millionaire overnight :) Dream come true... right?? I felt so rich just handing over 200,000 and collecting 35k of loose change!!
And finally I saw her :)
Last time when we met, we were mostly smiling for the camera :)
Turns out we are still interested in the same things!! We still spent our time, smiling for cameras
and doing crazy stuff!!
People dressed as these large characters roam around their national monument, Monas. We could click pictures with them for some small change like 1 or 2K :D :D. Also, there are battery powered small bikes which are available for a negotiable rental. I was so proud of myself being able to negotiate in a foreign language :)
Food in Jakarta wasn't great :( There is very little vegetarian food even in the bigger outlets. Unlike KL, people didn't understand my language well enough to customize any dish for me. Since I was there for just a weekend and there was English speaking staff in the hotel, I managed to eat a different dish in each meal including one home cooked meal :)
There is one place in Jakarta that I wish Delhi or KL had - Ancol Dreamland. It is a full day worth of fun-filled activities at one venue. There is a sea world, water park, dream samudra with a dolphin show and all. We couldn't cover everything so we picked fantasy world which has theme rides, roller coasters etc. built around famous animated characters. It ain't no Disney or Universal Studios but it is a pleasant surprise in Jakarta and well worth the money spent. The rides were so much fun that I lost my phone while being lost in one of the fun rides!!
For meeting my dear friend, all the bad food, bad traffic and phone loss was well worth it!! This is me smiling for the camera with some of the characters and rides in Fantasy Land.
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