Aston Atrium Jakarta

... our books and a newspaper and magnetic chess in the rucksack. Han's had her hair done upstairs and bought a pair of trousers and i'm on my second latte. Maybe in a minute we'll go to the cinema and then get a taxi home later. It's not quiet the hardcore traveling that we imagined but it's been our most successful day in Jakarta so far. Tomorrow we're back on the road, heading east towards Yogyakarta which sounds like it'll be a lot more interesting. Roll on.

... People to peole * Tupai dan pemburu * Lap ...

... sat on a little car with wheels and had a joystick between the legs. Forward goes faster, back goes slower. It was fast and curvy. Some guys got us to pay for pictures, but I got the best picture for free. A man with a giant pipe, or was it a tiny man with a normal pipe? We played with a really nice dog. One of the guys on the tour was from "Philly". Stereotypical Philly suburbs douche. I almost forgot ...

... During the heat of the midday Lisa and I ducked into our air-conditioned room to do our own laundry. We had hoped to find an open laundry facility during our walk, but 95% of stores were closed so we were on our own. Lisa picked up some laundry detergent from the Indomaret convenience store that was specifically for doing your own laundry in a bucket and that seemed to work much better than the soap and shampoo concoction that we used earlier in our journey ...

Jakarta. A seething mass of smog, people, cars, bajaj (pronounced bajai, these three wheeled rickshaw things). But I'm getting ahead of myself. Back in Jogja, on Wednesday, I went to the train station to book a ticket for the next day. The Indonesian method of selling train tickets remains outside my comprehension, so I asked an American looking guy for some help. He spoke fluent English, and gave me some advice, and after ...

... impressive cafe and she leads me past the toilets, up some stairs to a freshly renovated spotless room with two single beds, clean linen, a fan, a shower, and for the first time in Indonesia, no mosquitoes! Value! Sold. I order up a pasta and a large bottle of Bintang, my 3rd beer in 6 weeks (don't try that at home) while i wait for the key to turn up. The beer tasted good, a little home-brewish but went down bloody fast. When i returned to my room, i looked in the mirror and ...

... though there is beef on the menu everywhere, haven't figured that out yet). And a woman traveling solo in a mostly Muslim country can be sort of out of place, it's just easier to blend and not have to answer questions or entertain cat calls if you have a ring on. No biggie, just a little grease to smooth the wheels. Tomorrow I'm off to Bali, I'm flying to Denspar in the afternoon and taking a taxi to this cute little ...

... van scrap mee te maken, vooral dat beach games blad..wat een super lelijke niet pakkende naam heeft "inspire the world" ...hoe aziatisch kan het worden! Maar dta doe ik samen met een jongen...hij is er ook net en is ook blij dat dit ons eerste project is waar wij totale verantwoording voor hebben...we hebben dan 6 mensen die ons helpen! Ben ook voor het eerst iets heel cultureels gaan doen...not! Ik ben naar een soort open house gallery geweest ...

... mud to pristinely dressed girls with embroidered headscarves, rush out of their gardens to gather on the side of the road, flashing us big pearly smiles and waving to a chorus of "Hallo! Hallo! Hallo!" This morning, as I sat on the porch of Coconut Island, the two boys in the hut next door, about eight and six, came sauntering along the front of our fence and stopped to peer at me. I waved and said "Hi!" to my mini-paparazzi. Hi? Now that's a new one ...

Blah, blah, Jakarta. Perhaps it's because I've been in FOUR countries in the past week (including two other huge cities - Bangkok and Kuala Lumpur) but I don't want to be here. <br><br>With the addition of daily prayers being blasted throughout the city, I could be anywhere and I want OUT! So, I've already booked a ticket to Yogyakarta in Central Java. I leave tomorrow after ...