its 2012. Where did 2011 go? I think a lot of us are asking that question. I remember my parents saying how much faster time flies the older you get, and its true, the year are getting faster. A lot of people have also been saying that 2011 was a bad year and 2012 is going to be better. I don’t think it was a bad year, for me it was a year of steps towards something better… 2011 was there to prepare us for 2012 which is going to be kindofamazing. (had to throw that in!)
I am in Indonesia if you didn’t already know, I explained it in my last post (you should read it if you haven’t)
Its day four and it has been a crazy few days. It actually feels like I have already been here for months.
Friday was my first official day in Jakarta, spent at an orientation, getting to know the program, what to expect and what we will be doing. What to expect? How about a bunch of lovely illnesses, infections and vomiting, including typhoid, dengi, gastro, diarrhea and AIDS. Joyous times ahead!
A few people have been sick already, I am sitting and waiting for it to hit. You will know when it does… its just a shame that I haven’t been able to eat the street food delights, although everything seems to deep-fried in week old oil – yummy!
We then went on a mission to find a kos – a home for the six weeks I will be here. We were guided by our very own local Indonesian helpers, unfortunately they were more desperate than we were to find a kos that night. We trudged around the dirty, smelly, crumbling streets of Jakarta until my feet felt like they were going to drop off. And by the way, no one in Jakarta walks anywhere and the streets are terrible! Eventually my inner child overtook and I began to grumble and get grumpy… “Honestly only two more minutes!” Ten minutes later I was in a taxi, I didn’t even care if I had to sleep in the streets for the next week, just get me back to air con, comfy bed and peace. Yes I am a prissy Westerner; I am going to blame it on culture shock. But anyway got some nice pics in the mean time.



The next day we ate our amazing buffet breakfast and then returned to our kos mission (aaaaa). A few others had found one close to everything so we went to check it out and it was amazing so we took it on the spot. I am now living in a four star hotel – my washing gets done, my room gets cleaned, I have pay TV and air con… woo hoo!
Later in the day we ended up at the biggest shopping mall in the Southern hemisphere. I hated it. I did not come to Indonesia to be in a massive Western mall surrounded by expensive shops and American cafes. It was weird, I didn’t even feel like I was in Indonesia and the most bizarre thing was stepping out of the mall onto the streets of Jakarta surrounded by pollution, people and poverty. But I think I will be back there soon enough, I will crave the Western things that I am trying to avoid. But on Saturday I was in and out of the mall pretty quick, although I did stay to try a ‘cat shit’ coffee…. Which is actually called Kopi Luwak, it is consumed by a native cat and then pooed out, the beans are then separated from the feaces and served hot and steamy ready to drink, it actually tastes completely normal. It’s the world’s rarest and most expensive coffee. Yessir, I drank it.
To escape fake Indonesia we went to real Indonesia; to the Dutch quarter where the locals were preparing for the New Years Eve celebrations. There were market stalls and people everywhere. Locals were riding around on colourful old bikes and lacy straw hats, there was music, dancing, food and craziness, it was like a breath of fresh (polluted) air after the mall.






As it was New Years Eve we thought it was time for a celebratory drink, it was past 1pm so we were very due for one. So we sipped on cocktails and acted like old film stars in Café Batavia. It was another bizarre experience, stepping from chaos into calm but it was a beautiful old restaurant. I felt as though I had stepped back into the 1920s and my ‘Jakarta Cocktail’ helped enhance my experience.

We kept drinking back at the hotel where they hosted a five course special meal. Bless them, they tried their hardest to create western delicacies but the food was really not that good. And the ‘cocktail’ was probably not even alcoholic. Next stop was a quaint reggae style bar where we drank bintags the size of steins. Then off to see the fireworks. No need to put into words what I experienced; my photos can say it all but in my next post....