traffic & dehydration

Wednesday morning, Sari and I tried unsuccessfully to get some Amex traveller's cheques cashed at the Amex bank since they weren't open yet and I had a Gray Line tour to catch at the Gran Melia Jakarta hotel. Beautiful place. This was where the Satria's sister's wedding reception was last Saturday. Got some change at the hotel and met up with Slmat (driver) & Edward (guide). Turns out Edward is Catholic and yes, this is his real name. I was the only one on the tour, which cost me a whooping US$25 or Rp 230.000. The tour was called Kampoeng: The Old Batavia and basically we went to some locations that had to do with the history of Jakarta, from a small harbor tour in the 14th century to current day. Old Batavia is in the 'Kota' area of the city now, which holds all the reminiscence of how the Dutch structured their Jakarta, when they held rank.

First we went to the National Museum and Edward and I walked through, examining all the Hindu (dominant religion prior to Islam) statues and traditional housing structures for all the different 'types' of Indonesia culutre. Everything from spirit houses to beautiful gold and diamond jewelry- definately a nice place to go, but alas, no pics were allowed. The best thing about this stop on the tour was that it was field trip day for some local schools, so I was stared at by quite a number of, let's say, second graders. girls and boys staring and smiling at me, like I was somekind of show. I have to admit it was kind of cool.

Second, Edward took me to Glodok, the center of Jakarta's China Town and we strolled down the market street and visited Petak Sembilian Chinese Temple, dedicated to the Buddhist goddess of mercy, Kuan Yin. It was very beautiful, but there were many homeless beggars outside of the temple. Edward mentioned that they are here in case people feel as if they need to give some of what they have away after praying at the temple. because of this, some of the "beggars" may not be that at all; many just leave their nice clothes at home and act as beggars for extra money.

After getting stuck in some lovely traffic (what's new in Jakarta!), we headed to the Fatahillah Museum, which is housed in the old town hall of Batavia. One of the best stories is of the Portuguese canon that was originally placed in the square before the old town hall. Because of the design at the back of the canon, many women came to make offerings to the canon, in hopes of finding a husband or bearing children. the officials had to move it into the courtyard, away from the public b/c they did not want the canon associated with such thoughts.

After lunch at Cafe Batavia, we went by the Kota Intan Drawbridge and the Sunda Kelapa Harbor. The 500-year old harbor is home to brightly painted Makassar schooners called Phinsi, which transfer goods to all of the outer Indonesian islands, without means of electronic equipment.

My tour was supposed to take 7 hours, but I was done in 4, as I was the only one, so I met Sari at Senayan City and went to work with her in the afternoon. She had a photo shoot, so I was in the studio as she was coordinating the shoot and arranging the models. One horrendous thing about yesterday was that I didn't drink enough water during the tour and once Sari met up with me, I was done for. almost started crying b/c of the searing tension headache I had. our evening plans were cancelled and after sitting in traffic for 40 minutes, I took a pill and went to bed for 4 hours, only to wake up to eat some soup and go back to bed. Today was supposed to be another day out for me, but I am home, about to go to Pizza Hut for lunch (update: I did eat there and it was interesting. honey lime tea and a personal stuffed crust pizza with chicken and tomatos and some dill mayo sauce. my lips are still tingling) and the grocery store (successful!). Tonight is dinner with Sari's aunt at a new mall for her birthday. My Chemical Romance is playing at the local stadium and I was hoping to go, but with my feeling not so great and the planned dinner, it's a no go. Would have been cool though. The posters are everywhere around the city!

Tomorrow, I am going on another Gray Line tour, The Golden Jakarta Tour, to the Taman Mini Indonesia Indah, a miniature park reproducing the Indonesian archipelago. I am very excited about tomorrow and I will be sure to drink lots of water and carry my pills with me :)