Jakarta - Day 187

Trip Start Jan 31, 2008
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Trip End Ongoing


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Where I stayed
Djody Hotel (Not really a hotel!!)
(Jakarta hotels)

Flag of Indonesia  ,
Tuesday, August 26, 2008

A big 6.6 magnitude earthquake struck off the north-west coast of Java while I was on the train to Jakarta this morning. Apparently a Tsunami warning was issued but later recalled. I was completely oblivious until I received at a text message from my family asking whether I was OK. The strange thing is I was thinking on the train how I've narrowly missed a couple of natural disasters already this year and how I'm in the most geological active place on the planet, then I received the text message, really weird!

Arrived in Jakarta just before 11am and walked the couple of kilometres from Gambir train station to Jalan Jaksa, found a real dive called the Djody hotel, everywhere else was completely full. I'm only here for one night (Thank God) so it doesn't really matter as long as the bed bugs don't bite.

I now know why every traveller I've spoken to about Jakarta slags the place off. Nothing to really do here, there's no true cultural centre in this massive sprawling metropolis and no traditional architecture. I did do some practical jobs in Jakarta today, bought a guide book on Australia, stocked up on toiletries as I knew they would triple the price in Oz and caught up on some e-mails.
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