Jakarta was an amazing city- very much what you’d imagine a third world city to look like in the 21st Century. After checking into our hotel, we got on the minivan for a brief city tour. The city was sprawling- much like Dallas or Houston. The contrast between the “have’s” and the “have-nots” was dramatic. We drove through an area of huge homes surrounded by large fences covered with barbed wire (in many cases, wired) and bits of broken glass at the top and base of the walls. In addition, there were barbed wire barricades at most major intersections and police and military everywhere.
We got a chance to see Port Sunda Kelapa, a schooner harbor where we watched the men unloading hardwoods from Kalimantan. Tiny little men carrying huge 2X4’s 15 feet long. And, to catch a ride on the boats would only cost about 100,000 rupees- about $10.
Traffic was crazy, even for a Sunday and many of the bank and store windows were broken or boarded up. The rain became a torrent- so we headed for, where else - Mc Donalds- “berapu 24 jam”- open 24 hours. It was jammed with locals buying “chicken and rice” and eating it with their hands. We opted for the Big Mac special and got our Mickey D craving satisfied. Then, it was off to the Hyatt. - a typical Hyatt hotel with a great view of the street scene below. Unfortunately, we’ve become very spoiled with the exchange rate and low prices in Indonesia. Our afternoon of beers (and one glass of $9.00 wine!) came to over $40. How will we ever adjust to US pricing again?
Back at the hotel, we spent a few hours doing email - over 27 to read and respond to. Dinner was in the hotel (the worst meal we’d had so far). In our room, John captured and freed a very large cockroach….he tried to escape into the waste basket- but John managed to capture him in the basket and let him loose down the hall.
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