Wow, the last 24 hours have been a whirlwind! Yesterday was opening night for Annie in Jakarta and it was so crazy to see the fans, the marketing that was done for this show, and the people coming to see the show! We have been received with such a great reception from the people here in Jakarta and they were so excited to see the girls. Of course, we stand out quite a bit here, so I guess we're not hard to spot!
The opening show was incredible, and they have a group called the Annie Mob which were basically young women dressed in Annie costumes with curly wigs (brown ones though), they were promoting the show and have been having contests for people to get discounts to see the show. You'll see them in the photos that we've posted. After the show, there were tons of fans that were so excited to see the girls and get their photos taken with them. There are also huge cutouts everywhere and have been a great backdrop for photos. We also saw a couple of the elevators in the theatre and the mall that were wrapped in Annie, and there was Bridget on an actual elevator. So crazeeeee!!!
After all the photo ops, the presenter hosted a great after party for opening night and it was nice to celebrate with the rest of the cast and the musicians. The hosts have been wonderful helping us get acclimated to the city and the culture.
Today, we slept in a little to catch on some zzzzz's and decided to take an adventure to a place called "Dreamland" and Seaworld in Ancol with a few of the orphans and their parents. It's basically near the water, and it's Jakarta's version of a theme park. It was quite eye awakening as was only about 7 miles from the hotel, but took almost 45 minutes to get there. The traffic here is insane, and there are more motorbikes on the roads, than probably all of the United States. They zip in and out of traffic with near misses every few seconds, but we have yet to see any accidents. It's probably better if I just don't look as the taxis literally drive like no place I've ever been, even in New York! This girl's heart can't take it!
We've had to take many separate taxis since we are traveling in a large group, so it's been a challenge for us to communicate where we are going, and hoping all of us end up in the same place. When we arrived in Dreamland, we decided to go on a Gondola adventure, and not the type that actually goes in water. These gondolas are more like ski lifts that are enclosed, and hover over the entire theme park. It gave us quite the awakening, as we had thought we would like to check out the water park, and the coastline, but after getting a bird's eye view, we decided that we will wait to try a water park after we get to Singapore. It was a little surreal to be honest, it was half deserted in some places, kind of like a time warp. We also got a little freaked out by the toilets (or actually lack thereof) at the Gondolas, and decided we didn't have to go to the bathroom after all. It was basically a hole in the floor. .The photos of our adventures really say it all, so check out the "Annie Tour" tab for a link to the photos.
After the gondola adventure, we checked out Dreamland, and caught the Scorpion Pirate show that really was very entertaining, even if it wasn't in English. The fighting scenes were incredible with gunfire, and explosions everywhere. Some guy even caught on fire (on purpose!!) and then dunked himself in the water. I can't even make this sh## up . . . Disney doesn't have anything on this adventure! I took a video of some of the fight scenes (see below). :-) We were very much standing out at this show, and were starred at quite a bit. I think they were surprised to see so many Americans all at once. The people who put on the show were very nice and welcoming and we got a great group photo of the gang. The concession vendors had some interesting items for sale. One was called Gado Gado, which is basically cooked corn with cheese and butter, but this one was served in a paper cup. Jen (Lilly Bea's Mom) decided to be adventurous and try it. She said it was interesting, but pretty good. Some of the other things they sold were popcorn, and oreos, and some sort of version of a hot dog, but no one was adventurous enough to try the hot dog thingie on a stick. At least we thought it was a hot dog.
We also managed to check out Jakarta's version of Seaworld which consisted of fish I have never seen or heard of, and they were HUGE! There was also an eel tank FILLED with eels, it was eerie. I was actually quite impressed with the layout and all the cool aquarium structures, they even had a car and a phone booth that was converted to a fish tank! Bridget also got to touch a huge turtle and a nurse shark. Bridget got freaked out when the nurse shark splashed her when she went to touch him. It was hysterical!
After such a fun excursion, we came back to chill out for a bit before rehearsal and then the show. I did manage to record the afternoon prayer call to show you how loud it is. This is next to our room so it's very hard to sleep when this is happening at 4:00am. Tomorrow will be a chill day for all of us as we catch up on some more sleep and rest and relaxation. Thanks for checking in with us . . . stay tuned for more adventures ahead!
The opening show was incredible, and they have a group called the Annie Mob which were basically young women dressed in Annie costumes with curly wigs (brown ones though), they were promoting the show and have been having contests for people to get discounts to see the show. You'll see them in the photos that we've posted. After the show, there were tons of fans that were so excited to see the girls and get their photos taken with them. There are also huge cutouts everywhere and have been a great backdrop for photos. We also saw a couple of the elevators in the theatre and the mall that were wrapped in Annie, and there was Bridget on an actual elevator. So crazeeeee!!!
After all the photo ops, the presenter hosted a great after party for opening night and it was nice to celebrate with the rest of the cast and the musicians. The hosts have been wonderful helping us get acclimated to the city and the culture.
Today, we slept in a little to catch on some zzzzz's and decided to take an adventure to a place called "Dreamland" and Seaworld in Ancol with a few of the orphans and their parents. It's basically near the water, and it's Jakarta's version of a theme park. It was quite eye awakening as was only about 7 miles from the hotel, but took almost 45 minutes to get there. The traffic here is insane, and there are more motorbikes on the roads, than probably all of the United States. They zip in and out of traffic with near misses every few seconds, but we have yet to see any accidents. It's probably better if I just don't look as the taxis literally drive like no place I've ever been, even in New York! This girl's heart can't take it!
We've had to take many separate taxis since we are traveling in a large group, so it's been a challenge for us to communicate where we are going, and hoping all of us end up in the same place. When we arrived in Dreamland, we decided to go on a Gondola adventure, and not the type that actually goes in water. These gondolas are more like ski lifts that are enclosed, and hover over the entire theme park. It gave us quite the awakening, as we had thought we would like to check out the water park, and the coastline, but after getting a bird's eye view, we decided that we will wait to try a water park after we get to Singapore. It was a little surreal to be honest, it was half deserted in some places, kind of like a time warp. We also got a little freaked out by the toilets (or actually lack thereof) at the Gondolas, and decided we didn't have to go to the bathroom after all. It was basically a hole in the floor. .The photos of our adventures really say it all, so check out the "Annie Tour" tab for a link to the photos.
After the gondola adventure, we checked out Dreamland, and caught the Scorpion Pirate show that really was very entertaining, even if it wasn't in English. The fighting scenes were incredible with gunfire, and explosions everywhere. Some guy even caught on fire (on purpose!!) and then dunked himself in the water. I can't even make this sh## up . . . Disney doesn't have anything on this adventure! I took a video of some of the fight scenes (see below). :-) We were very much standing out at this show, and were starred at quite a bit. I think they were surprised to see so many Americans all at once. The people who put on the show were very nice and welcoming and we got a great group photo of the gang. The concession vendors had some interesting items for sale. One was called Gado Gado, which is basically cooked corn with cheese and butter, but this one was served in a paper cup. Jen (Lilly Bea's Mom) decided to be adventurous and try it. She said it was interesting, but pretty good. Some of the other things they sold were popcorn, and oreos, and some sort of version of a hot dog, but no one was adventurous enough to try the hot dog thingie on a stick. At least we thought it was a hot dog.
We also managed to check out Jakarta's version of Seaworld which consisted of fish I have never seen or heard of, and they were HUGE! There was also an eel tank FILLED with eels, it was eerie. I was actually quite impressed with the layout and all the cool aquarium structures, they even had a car and a phone booth that was converted to a fish tank! Bridget also got to touch a huge turtle and a nurse shark. Bridget got freaked out when the nurse shark splashed her when she went to touch him. It was hysterical!
After such a fun excursion, we came back to chill out for a bit before rehearsal and then the show. I did manage to record the afternoon prayer call to show you how loud it is. This is next to our room so it's very hard to sleep when this is happening at 4:00am. Tomorrow will be a chill day for all of us as we catch up on some more sleep and rest and relaxation. Thanks for checking in with us . . . stay tuned for more adventures ahead!
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