Day 1 : Jakarta

We'd been talking about going to Jakarta and Bandung for at least three quarters of the year ... and today, it materialised. A group of us colleagues had been planning for and anticipating this trip. Our meeting point was at the Departure Hall at Level 3 of KLIA 2, with people flying in both from Miri and Kuching. Most of them had only arrived that morning by itself .... and when I got there .... most were already there. I was really happy to see them again!

We boarded AK384 from Gate L11 at KLIA 2. The flight was scheduled to depart at 1.10 p.m., but well, it departed at 1.25 p.m. to be precise. We had our meals pre-booked ....

Nasi lemak

Yummy .... 

Empty ....

That meant that the nasi lemak still tasted just as good! I quite enjoyed my meal a lot. 

We landed at 2.30 p.m.. at the Soekarno-Hatta International Airport in Jakarta. 2.30 p.m. was in fact, Indonesian time, which was an hour behind Malaysia. We adjusted our watches promptly.

Our plane parked at an open space, and after we disembarked, we boarded shuttle buses which brought us to the terminal. It was a small airport, with merely a few immigration counters. And it was quite a speedy process to go through. Past the immigration was the baggage claim area. 

Waiting for our bags .. 

The baggage carousel area 

Before we exited, we had to fill in a declarations form ... which all of us did! As we exited, we were met by our guide, Eli. He was from Yogjakarta, a university graduate, a very pleasant man who speaks many languages - Bahasa Malaysia, English, Japanese and even Dutch! 

We were shown to our bus for the week ... a very comfortable 24-seater air-conditioned bus. With us were our professional driver and a co-driver. 

Eli brought us to ITC Mangga Dua, which was a shopping complex. Typical shopping complexes open at about 9.30 a.m. and will close at 5.30 p.m. 

ITC Mangga Dua

Well, this is seven-storeys of a  shoppers' haven! The stalls and outlets sold clothes and bags and watches and shoes and costume jewellery and household items .... There were money exchange outlets and food courts. We walked and walked and browsed and browsed .... and were tempted to buy, of course. 

Bags .... replicas, of course

A pile of bags on the floor, each costing about IDR100,00

Lots of shoes, about IDR25,000 only each pair

None of us bought anything, ironically .... and we wandered out the shopping complex to the five foot way to check out what the hawkers were selling ..... 

Assorted fritters 

Tahu Gejrot

Bakmie

My colleague bought some fritters, served in a used A4 paper and newspaper ..... 

And I bought the Tahu Gejrot for IDR5,000.

Tahu Gejrot

The man mashed up 2 birds' eye chillies, garlic and shallots before adding a diluted sauce to it ..... Then he cut up the tofu and mixed them into it. I later found out that the sauce was made from coconut sugar and sweet soy sauce. It was a spicy snack, but I enjoyed it. 

After ITC Mangga Dua, we headed for dinner at Warung Tekko.

Warung Tekko

Welcoming us with drinks .... I drank a shot and had no idea what it was .... 

Rice .... and I love the basket it came in

Deep-fried fish with sambal ... yums .... The fish was super crispy, and the sambal made everything seemed more appetising. I found myself eating more rice than usual.  

Crispy fried chicken with sambal, and we could even ask for extra sambal with our food! 

Deep-fried tempe, or fermented soy beans

Each person got a bowl of vermicelli soup

Spring onion and egg pancake

All of us thought this was egg .... but it wasn't. It was actually a spring onion and egg pancake, and we did not like its chewy texture. I guess we were not accustomed to this. 

Stir-fried vegetables with tempe

We did not like this dish either ... tasted a bit off to us. :P 

Stir-fried Kangkung ...
Although it was fine on its own, my colleague poured some sambal into it and tossed the vegetables to make his own kangkung belacan .... lols.

Kimchi! What a  surprise! I loved this pickled dish. 

Mee goreng! Strange, I thought we were having rice! But I loved the noodles, which was moist, spicy and a bit tangy. 

As we exited the restaurants, we were greeted by hawkers and child beggars, who were really persistent .... they kept asking us to buy their wares .... and the child beggars, of course, asked for money. We had been forewarned about giving to these people ... so we had to harden our hearts and not give them anything. 

A short drive away was our hotel, Best Western Mangga Dua. Again, we were served fruit juices upon our arrival .... and I had my fill! 3 glasses!

The centrepiece at the lobby

The room

It was a nice and comfortable room .... only that the temperature of the air-conditioner was controlled. It was really very warm and stuffy .... and I could not sleep well at all. It was so unfortunate. :(