Indonesia Day 1

We arrived safe and sound at Jakarta international airport at 2:40pm local time. Towards the end of our flight we honestly didn't know that was going to be the case though. The airplane was swaying from side to side as we descended at a staggeringly fast pace through the smog and clouds.

It was a nice pleasant walk through the airport to grab our bags and visas. It wasn't too crowded and the air-conditioning seemed to be pumping out pure nicotine.  The second we left through the automatic doors, however, all 3 of us were hit by the humidity of the air around us. It must have been quite amusing for the locals to see us exit in single file and then see us 1 by 1 pull our faces back in shock due to the change in air quality.

The ride up to Pondok Indah was surprisingly fast and cheap. The Taxi service guy tried to encourage us to pay a fixed rate before hopping in the Blue Bird, but I insisted on using the meter instead. It was only 180,000 Rupiah (which sounds like a lot, but it's actually only about $15). The road rules were just as crazy as I imagined. Nobody pays attention to lanes of traffic, and public buss's just drop and pick up people in the middle of the highway.

We arrived safe and sound at a family friends apartment. Dennise and Ashok have known me since I was a wee little baybeh. We were given a welcoming feast consisting of fantastic curry, pavlova, beer and gin & tonic. At some point we found time to go walking around the neighborhood where I used to live 10 years ago. It took me a disturbingly long time to remember the general area, but once I did everything started coming back to me. All these specific memories started swarming around in my mind - like when Molly got scratched by a cat and when I played a basketball game called "knockout" with my brother. The neighborhood I lived in was megawealthy. We lived right by a golf course and every house was impractically massive. A lot of houses even featured giant statues right outside.  I can't quite put my finger on it, but my old home has changed in some very subtle ways. I think it probably happened when the house was demolished and rebuilt into bigger house.

Oh yeah, my Dad (who lives in Kuala Lumpor) tried to surprise me and now he's staying with Dennise too.