Our Arrival in Jakarta

Hello everyone! We've been in Indonesia for 3 days. We flew into Jakarta and stayed in a hostel recommended to us by Greg's mother. It was nice but expensive at $30/night. So yesterday we moved to the main backpacker throughfare of Jalan Jaksa. That day we explored the nearby central square of Medan Merdeka which has a enormous monument in its center similar to the Washington memorial, if it were on fire. We also checked out a nearby mosque. The mix of religious groups is very interesting. A few times every day a prayer call can be heard from a distant minaret and the local Muslims will gather in a prayer room.

Today we met up with Greg and took the bus to the original Dutch colony of Jakarta known as Kota. There we saw the colonial buildings left by the Dutch. At the local square there there was a cafe called Cafe Batavia (Batavia being the old name for Jakarta and the native Betawei people). The cafe had a lot of old school European ambience that was neat to see in Jakarta. Greg then led us to the local Chinatown area where we wandered through the markets and sat down for lunch at a stall/restaurant.

Some of the major impressions we've had: It's cleaner and less crowded than India (according to Rash). There is a distinct divide between the upper class and the poor. Street food vendors will be peddling their wares next to expensive stores. Pizza Hut and Burger King have been transformed into fancy sit down establishments with menus catering to the Indonesian taste.

Speaking of food, it's been hit and miss. We've had some Indian curries, great Malaysian Roti Canai, and an authentic Betawei soup filled with all sorts of animal parts. Lung? I think.
There of course have been some foods that make us very suspicious. Mostly it's food that has been sitting out for awhile. I had some Rendang curry that I was very cautious about, but so far I've felt nothing.

Our first night on Jalan Jaksa was a little rough as we didn't have a/c. Mosquitos also were able to fly in and i have about 20-30 bites on me. Rash got off a little easier but not by much. Tonight we moved to a cleaner hostel and a room with a/c, all for $12 total! Hopefully we'll sleep better.

Tomorrow we plan to take the train to Yogyakarta (the so called cultural epicenter of Java). We leave at about 8 am and arrive at around 4 pm.

The pictures above: The first is of us standing on the street in Kota/Old Batavia. The second is is of us in the gardens of Medan Merdeka.

Hope you're all doing well!