Jakarta Adventures Begin

The last 48 hours have been a blur, but we finally made it! We left New York at 1:45am on Friday, July 29th. Our first flight was almost 16 hours, then a 4 hour layover in Hong Kong, and another 6 hour flight to Jakarta. We were entertained by an array of movies and TV shows to choose from and meals served quite often on the flight.

We arrived in Jakarta on Saturday afternoon, on very little sleep but we made it!  The hotel is really beautiful, but seems out of place in a sea of shantys strewn across this city.  It's open air hallways, but very comfortable rooms with modern finishings and air conditioning.  It even has a spa with 90 minute massages for about $16. I'll definitely be checking that place out! The climate is exactly like we have at home in Florida, hot and humid, so we are pretty much used to that. The beds are super comfortable, which is always appreciated, and there is a restaurant on site, which makes it convenient. Last night we were completely exhausted so we checked out the room service menu and tried out the Ortolana (vegetarian) pizza which consisted of a very thin flatbread with corn, mushrooms, zucchini and peppers and it was absolutely delicious. We tried to stay awake as long as we could to a normal bedtime, but crashed around 7:00pm as sleep deprivation had definitely caught up to us and we were feeling very weary and sort of delirious. LOL

We awoke around 3:30am to the sound of prayers throughout the city, which was quite the experience. Thankfully we went right back to sleep and awoke around 8:00am feeling very refreshed and not at all jet lagged. I suppose the lack of sleep for 30 hours might have done the trick! We went downstairs for breakfast in the hotel which was definitely not your typical fare of noodles, fried rice, chicken, and green tea cakes.  They had eggs, croissants and fresh fruit too, so we enjoyed some of the new food options as well. The fruit juices were delicious and included guava, passion fruit and sweet sop juice. The girls all swam for a little while, then we ventured out to the mall and theatre which is nearby.  The walk was interesting and crazy and we saw all sorts of things which is typical Jakarta, from motor bikes (kids riding them too), crazy traffic, no sidewalks, and a crossing that gives you about 10 seconds to cross 6 lanes of traffic. Oh and by the way, there are no markings on the roads for lanes, so it's every person, motorbike and car for themselves!  We checked out the mall, which was ultra modern, and even had a local grocery store, which carried some interesting foods we had never seen before, but I was pleasantly surprised that there were options that made all of us pretty happy.  I even saw Tamarinds in the pods and bought some to bring back to our room to enjoy. also brought back bottled water as the water here is unsafe to consume, so we are sticking with bottled water and bottled drinks. A gallon of bottled water is about 5,500 rupiah, which comes out to about 42 cents.  The currency exchange takes some getting used to, but we're getting the hang of it. So far, food has been very affordable. I've posted some photos of our journey so be sure and check them out and stay tuned for more updates!