9/3/2008 - Flying out of Jakarta, Indonesia

So this part of the trip was much more metropolitan. Jakarta has something like 15 million people living in it – it is a massive city with some of the worst traffic I've ever seen (it still doesn't beat Cairo, however). We didn't have a chance to really go site-seeing, but we had an opportunity to meet with some very interesting characters and learn more about the cultures of not only Indonesia, but other parts of East Asia Pacific as well.

Our first day was spent shopping and preparing for our presentations on Monday. We spent part of the afternoon in this huge expo center that housed all sorts of arts and crafts indigenous to Indonesia. It was spectacular. It poured during the later afternoon, so we all headed back to the hotel to relax and get our thoughts in order for Monday's programs.

Let me say a few words about the hotel. We stayed in the Ritz Carlton – Jakarta Pacific Place. Being the Ritz, we expected quite a lot. The rooms were spacious and full of amenities – they were essentially suites. The hotel was also quite convenient to the office. Directly across the street was the Jakarta Stock Exchange, which also houses many other businesses (mostly financial) – the Bank being one of them. Unfortunately, the hotel had a few things lacking – namely, the Internet service (though free) was not working properly, which made it difficult to keep in touch with family and friends. The lights in my room didn't work all the time and the elevators broke down as well – a little odd for a 5-star hotel.

Monday was spent in the office, but Monday night was a treat. Paul, our Regional Security Advisor, linked us up with one of his Australian buddies (or "mates" as they say). Brian has lived all over the world, but currently lives in Indonesia. He has an incredible command of the cultures in Asia and provided a lot of good color to some of the situations we frequently deal with. Brian took us to a wonderful street restaurant that served seafood barbeque. These restaurants are set up after hours on the sidewalks in front of normal businesses. It was a slow night, given that Ramadhan had just begun. That, however, afforded us the most attention by the wait staff. We ate like kings; the food was fantastic. Even though alcohol was not available publicly because of the religious holiday, Brian and Paul had purchased some red and white wines to accompany our dinner. We all had a little too much (I think we probably drank a bottle each by the end of the night).

We then went back to Brian's apartment (near our hotel) and proceeded to have some very engaging discussions about the passion of our youth. When we finally got back to the hotel at 0130 hrs local, I was exhausted…so I hit the sack, just in time to get up at 0530 to prepare for a day of teaching CPR to the staff.

Needless to say, Tuesday was a long day. But we did meat our objectives and Paul had arranged for us to have a drink with another Aussie who works for the US. Alex, Chris and I headed off to B.A.T.S. (which stands for Bar At The Shangri-la -- I know, real original, huh?). This bar was definitely an ex-pat hang-out. We had a few drinks and watched a really good American band play everything from old-time rock-n-roll to R&B. After a few hours of watching drunk old ex-pat men get hit on by young Indonesian women, we headed on back to the hotel.

Today was a catch-up-on-sleep day for me. I got up late and packed all of my treasures in the bags so we could get to the airport on time. It was an interesting stop in Jakarta, and surprisingly, I took few (if any) pictures. It just wasn't that type of city. I think the next few stops will be a bit different – now we're heading on to the more under-developed nations of the world.