Norskie's Blog

That's the view from my room in Jakarta.

I'm at a Hyatt. I usually stay at Hilton's since that's what IBM approves, but in this case they approved the Hyatt .. and wow .. talk about incredible service, nice rooms, nice views. This is a 5-star hotel for $95/night. Even their fitness center is the best I've ever seen in a hotel. Well, ok, I have one complaint: the room AC is pretty aggressive - and coming from me, He Who Hates Humidity, is saying a lot. Oh yeah, there's no alarm clock. And here's me without a watch. I'm sure I can find something in this town.

The tempurature toady was about 90F and extremely humid, yet my host tells me the neighboring islands (like Singapore) can be much, much worse. I just wish I could wear shorts :-( All men wear dark pants here - except me, I have cream-colored pants, and I stand out. But no shorts. Haven't seen a man wearing shorts yet. The women have more leeway with skirts .. maybe I should wear that? Although 86% of the population is muslim, maybe one in ten women wear shawls and I have yet to see a burka.

Getting to Jakarta was easy and relatively pleasant with the exception of an 8-hour layover in the Singapore airport. The flights from Chicago to Hong Kong to Singapore put me in Singapore at 11pm, and the next flight to Jakarta boarded at 7am. The Singapore airport is HUGE - it took me about an hour to walk through the whole thing. By the time I had found internet access and walked to the far end of the airport the shuttle back to where the (relatively) comfy benches were had stopped running (the airport was also nearly empty). So I walked back .. I had time. By the time I got comfy on the bench and had fallen asleep I was woken by the airport police who wanted to check my passport. Grr... couldn't get back to sleep.

This was my first time flying on Singapore Air .. wow .. these flight attendants are true professionals. They put their american counterparts to shame. The steamed towels, excellent food and coffee was nice, but it was how the service was delivered that really stood out. They were prompt and cheerful, not grumpy and clumsy. My flight homewards via Amsterdam is on Singapore Air.

Once in Jakarta I was happy to get out of planes and ports. After nearly 40 hours of being in controlled environments it was wonderful to step outside into the heat and humidity. BTW I wish I could have taken a picture of a sign in the immigrations line: "Drug trafickers will be put to death." I think I made many other mental notes to remember something, and have promptly forgotten them.

Outside the airport I met Rica, my host, and she drove us to the Hyatt to check in as our client was having network issues and were not ready for us. The drive from the airport to the hotel in downtown Jakarta was (I am guessing) typical of this part of the world: Chaotic. Yet Rica handled it with finesse. She's not a racer, but glided in and out of lanes with ease in situations that would have frazzled western drivers. Lanes were painted on the road, but nobody paid them attention. 2/5 of the traffic was scooters which flitted in and out of traffic. People merged and yielded patiently without anger - very different from back home. It was almost as if the drivers were able to read each other's minds.

One of the highlights of traveling is food. Food rules. Food rocks. I like food very much, and so far, that includes Indonesian cuisine. Satay is common, as are curries and peanut sauces. So far I would describe it as Thai with more emphasis on heavier sauces and flavors. Still ... it is all very good and I am looking forward to trying more.

And ... their beer. So far I have only tried their "Bintang" local pilsen-style lager. While not as crisp and hoppy and Urquell, it is more so than the American counterparts. Over lunch today I noticed the Paulaner Brauhaus in the attached mall .. hmm .. I might make that dinner tomorrow night ;-)