Jakarta. Low, low expectations- actually, I've sort of been dreading this leg of the trip. It's the only place I didn't really want to go, and was only there for travel logistics. For starters, it's giant, hot, and dirty. When I talked to the Dutch guy who owned the hostel where I stayed in Jogja, I said, "It's one of the biggest cities in the world, right? And he said, "If it earned the distinction of being called a city, it would be- it's certainly a huge collection of people, but by any other definition of architecture, planning, or infrastructure, it's definitely not." Add a few other dimensions: conservative Muslim city, anti-American sentiment, female traveling alone, recent terrorism...you know. Not many selling points.
And so. Arrived at the airport ot check my luggage for a long 12 hour wait between flights, and was dreading trying to pick one out of the mob of cab drivers in the crowd to haggle about a ride into the city and back. A couple of guys at the luggage office offered to be my chauffeur and tour guide- so what the heck, I talked them down to 3 hours for $30 (exorbitant for Indonesia, but what the heck.) They were fun- Ilan and Iwan, although I'm sure it's not spelled like that. We started out at Old Batavia, the original colonial city wtih a collection of crumbling Dutch buildings. Then we went to the Monas, or Independence Monument- neither of the guys had ever been in, so we toured the museum at the bottom. (2 hour wait to get to the top of the needle, for which I was not willing to pay my expensive guides.) Drove past the White House and then, my favorite stop, Obama's elementary school, where there's a lovely statue of him as a child. I learned all kinds of things- Jakarta is not a beautiful city but it is very lively, and would be a fun place to get to know in a gritty kind of way.
The monkeys: Ilan was laughing about tourists being ripped off here, and he said there's a saying that as a tourist, you pay for the peanut and they give you the monkey. I think it loses something in translation, but I'm taking that to mean that they charge you so much for the peanut, they throw in the whole monkey for free. Kind of like my exorbitant tour: $30, three hours, and two monkeys (and I mean that most affectionately.) Toward the end of the tour Ilan started to give me long penetrating looks- you can always tell when things take that turn. Of course he knew from the luggage office my flight wasn't until midnight, so he came and "bumped into me" a couple of hours later at the airport and insisted on buying me a lemonade. I had to pull out my first fake boyfriend story of the trip. Totally harmless....a little dramatic there at the end, "Oh stay just a few minutes so I can keep talking to you....I know you are going to forget all about me...." Oh my. I think he was just feeling guilty about overcharging me.
Cute vignette- waiting for my flight at midnight, hot tired, disheveled again. Decided to pull out my Ipod and had enough time to watch an episode of "Arrested Development." I was just at the point where the mom says, "Would you just look at what the homosexuals have done to me?" and the son says, "Can't you just comb that out??" (can't even type that without snickering,) and I was indeed snickering in my seat when I felt someone staring hard at me. I heard a little, "Hahlooo!" and at was the cutest, tiniest little lady next to me, of totally indeterminate age. She was wearing a headscarf, but with some structure behind it- she atually reminded me more of Yoda than anything else, mainly because of being so tiny and so wise looking. She was delightful- she has six children, and is professor of education, and wanted me to come stay with her in her village, and then asked for my Facebook info. I love it. Another moment of solitude, diverted into a much better use of my time.
And then, glory of glories, an overseas flight- with a whole row to myself.
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