JAKARTA 2005 Part 2

Let's continue on my Jakarta trip...(see part 1 here) as I first wrote that I came there for training... so... this registration is the evidence... ^^

My first day...

The TG flight of mine landed on 'Soekarno-Hatta Jakarta International Airport' on the afternoon of Sunday 13th. The airport is nice, bright and decorated with oriental style architectures. Thanks to WIKI for a nice photo of the airport which I didn't have chance to take it.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/bd/Cgk_domestic_terminalJPG.jpg

There are a lot of tourist traps in Jakarta. Firstly on the airport exit, I found loads of taxi charged at me and my colleagues, asking for whether we did need taxi... 'Yes, I do!!', I thought... However, saying YES! is not a good way to reply...because my friends already warned me about the taxi system of Jakarta (so I stayed calm...and tried to be cool ^^). If you're going to Jakarta on your own, not with tour, consider taking a prepaid taxi. In 2005, it's US$10 for a zidane car (up to 3 passengers) from airport to my hotel and US$15 for a van car. Becareful, the tourist-trap taxi will charge you double!!!

One thing that I really surprised today was 'there is no Jakarta map available for tourist!!!'. I found no useful Jakarta map both at the airport and my hotel - I was frustrated. However, with a bit of luck, one of my colleagues found a nice used Jakarta map from the ex-guest in his room. We had to rely on that almost unreadable map for a week. So, bring a map YOURSELF next time!!

I spent first evening in Jakarta gathering data around 'blok M'. I found this zone very crowded... too crowded. I felt like this zone is a developing zone... a lot of mixture between traditional poor buildings and modern department stores. Furthermore, I was wasted my time trying to find another zone called 'blok + sth.' but I couldn't find it. So, 'blok M' (it's Block M, I think) might be the only one 'blok' in Jakarta ^^

Monday, the first working (training) day...

'Oh my gosh... why my happy time is so short', I thought. My instructor was Chris (topher) Sweeney, a nice n' big British guy. You can see in the picture... he's so large, isn't he?
Let's shift to the evening session, started at 5 p.m. After cheerfully getting out from the hotel, oh yes!!! it's Monday evening!!! I found this bad traffic conjection outside (- .. -"). No, chance to go anywhere by buses or taxis. So, we decided to walk to 'Kemang point', the area next to our hotel in the map.

After trying to compare the land and the map (so poor made), I and my colleagues got lost... it was terrible because we're going outbound and there were so little english sign nor english speaker there... The destination is 5 km. from our hotel (very far comparing to what it's scaled on the map) but we need one and a half hour to get to the entrance of 'Kemang point'...

To be frank, we're too tired for a sightseeing walk, so, we didn't notice anything special inside 'Kemang point'. Finally, we had surrendered to our stomach and stopped at 'Hoka Hoka Bento, Kemang Point' for dinner before took a bus back to the hotel (use the word 'blok M' to speak with the ticket seller on the bus and pray ^_^ Hopefully, our pray worked).

RECOMMENDED - The Hoka Hoka Bento has many franchises in Jakarta. I've tried many of them and found that the quality and quantity of the food were consistent and the taste is good, especially for me and all Thais (I really do love its chilli sauce). The price is affordable...

Continue on Part 3...