Jakarta

Ok... So then you're in Jakarta. The aiport is something else though. You have to get into two loooong queues. First to get your visa, second to be allowed into indonesia. Now it sounds straightforward if not for the length of the second cueue... 100m(!)

After getting through it, everything els is straightforward though. Getting a taxi, driving to the city and discovering that it's huge with apparently no logic to its layout: Jakarta is a beautiful mess of a city... Big, brash, congested but other than Indian big cities that just seem to be a big mess, it seems to work (well, at least on sunday that is) and it is much cleaner as far as I can see from the car. Also, they have the biggest malls I have ever seen! Not so straightforward by the way; a driver who doesn't seem to know the location of my hotel...

After finally getting there (after asking roadside people a number of times) and having been dropped off, I manage to miss the entrance to the hostel bij more than a few yards. When inside, the cold beer I have been dreaming about since landing, finally materializes. It's my first Bintang :)

I meet a canadian called Adrian in my dorm (which in a way resembles the Japanes capsule hotels) and head out to dinner with him. I eat the local Nasi Goreng with beaf and and wish I had gotten more than the one coke I got and a wish for food that's not so spicy. Not quite Indan-spicy but spicy non the less... and afterwards we have a few beers. Jet-lag isn't setting in yet and I'm sure a good night's sleep will enough for me to recover from the trip out here...