Welcome to Indonesia

Matt had a lie in again this morning whereas I got a little bored so had breakfast and read the guide book, making sure I knew the best places to go in Indonesia. Eventually Matt surfaced and with our bags packed we left them at the hostel whilst we visited the post office to post another postcard and exchange some Singapore dollars (we had too many). It was like we had errands to run. 

We picked up our bags and caught a metro or three to the airport for our flight to Jakarta, the capital of Indonesia. The flight was delayed by half an hour but went smoothly and arrived just before 4 (Indonesia is an hour behind so it was actually 5 to us). We had some confusion with getting a visa and eventually discovered that for a 30 day tourist visit you just need your passport stamped (more stamps!). We picked up our bags and were glad that our final Air Asia flight had gone smoothly. They're just like Ryanair really; get you somewhere for cheap with no frills. 

We found the bus stop just outside of the airport as we wanted to reach the centre. We were told it would only be three minutes until the next bus but it was more like thirty three. Finally on the bus we made our way into Jakarta, realising it's like Hanoi meets Manila: packed full of traffic like Hanoi but lacking charm like Manila. We got off the bus at Gambir train station and decided it would be a good idea to ask about a train out of Jakarta tomorrow (we didn't want to stay for long). A lovely lady at the customer service desk told us where we should get a train from and at what time so we could get near to a place called Pangandaran, a beach area with the opportunity to try surfing. 

With the information we needed we got a taxi to our hotel as we hadn't a clue where it was and Jakarta was huge. Taxis are dirt cheap so this didn't bother us. When we'd dropped our bags off it was gone 7 so we walked to a nearby mall to find food. The food court in this super snazzy mall (it had doormen) was situated on the lower ground floor so we headed down and chose different dishes. Matt went for Korean and I chose a noodle dish with bean sprouts and egg and chicken. For some reason I'd also gone for the package deal where you get given a dessert as well. This was no ordinary dessert but was a load of ice covered in a bubblegum flavoured sauce sat on top of avocado, durian (the smelly fruit) and some vile butter thing. The best part about it was the bubblegum flavour which I'm not even a huge fan of. Asian desserts are weird. 

We got a little lost on the walk back (all the streets looked the same) but finally found our way and got an early night ready for our train in the morning.