jakarta, a year ago

this day last year, we traveled to jakarta. i was in my hotel room, thinking that two weeks can be a very long time away from home yet the next day will bring me a new adventure.

the trip from manila took about ten hours with a very short stop-over in singapore (three hours going to singapore and about five to jakarta). upon arriving in jakarta around four in the afternoon, we were surprised to see a couple of kababayans in the immigration queue. it is a surprise because, as one person said, it is unusual for filipinos to travel to indonesia. maybe because the place seemed a lot like home. the most likely reason for the travel of course, was work.even a lady from the ADB was there for work.

onto indonesia immigration

after going through the immigration (i was only asked why i was there and got the stamp right away), my companion and i headed to the forex booths to have my money changed. i would realize later that the rates were relatively good compared to those offered at the hotel. at the taxi bay, the online tales proved true when we chose a reliable and honest blue bird taxi. we had a hard time picking the right one though as many drivers approached us, telling us they'd take us at fixed price. on our way to the city (i didn't realize it would be that far from the hotel), we passed at least two toll gates where we, the passengers, were asked to pay for. apparently, the toll fees are not part of the taxi fare.

the main roads in jakarta are very well constructed, as far as i can remember, although some alleys can be likened to those here back home. after checking in at the hotel, we decided to go out to grab a bite for dinner and for a little grocery shopping. as we were not familiar with indonesian food, we ended up eating at burger king. truly, i say, burger king is my lifesaver when i'm overseas. in cambridge, it was what i used to eat aside from the chinese takeouts!

anyways, i remembered that as soon as we got out of the hotel, it was raining really hard. it was like back home that it made me want to go home for a split second. the time we spent there made me realize that there are certain things that can make one say that we are alike - i remember being mistaken for an indonesian. the few people we met were warm and very accommodating, even if they can't speak very good english (well, okay, let's not count the school girls who ran away from us when we started to ask for directions). i won't say i miss jakarta but i would definitely not turn down an offer to go back there.

a year ago this day, i started an adventure. today, i remember and i write.