I thought massages felt good?

Sunday September 5th

Apparently all over southeast asia there is a cock roach problem. We found that one out quite quickly. Bjorn told us we would get used to it. We went with Nadia to meet 2 of her friends, Grace and Julia. After some tea and crumpets we went to a Chinese temple in downtown Jakarta. It was an interesting place with extreme amounts of inscence burning. We then took a cab to the Dutch square. We saw some weird act of crazy Indonesian men. The head guy had put 2 others into a trance and they were being whipped with loud ropes, and the 2 boys were paraded around the circle eating glass for money. After it ended we went to Café Batavia, the supposed best café in Jakarta. We saw some of Graces friends who had just come back from drinking Cobra blood. They even had the video of the head being chopped off. Supposedly it was good for hangovers.

We sat around drinking tea for a few hours then headed back to Grace’s apartment in Kemang to have pizza. We also watched Woody Allen’s Vicky Christina Barcelona. What an interesting and odd movie. After the movie we went to catch a cab. Once back we watched some British FX channel show called Peep show and went to bed.

Monday September 6th

James woke up early to go take advantage of the Gym Nadia had at her apartment. Mark tried to sleep in. We experience our first tropical downpour and holy crap did it rain. You can watch the rain move in and then the visibility drops to almost nothing. Streets flood easily, and traffic slows down. Tried to upload our photos to blogger again, but the website still did not work. Nadia made a lunch of pasta and meat sauce, we ate and watched Toy Story 2. We packed up our things and caught a cab to Ries’ house in Cinere. This ride should take only 35-40 minutes but with Jakarta traffic it took us 3.5 hours to get there. Mark watched a movie on his Ipod he was so bored. The cab total after 3.5 hours was only 170,000RP (about $18). If you sat in a cab in New York City for that long you would go bankrupt. Upon arrival we met Steve Woodhouse, Ries’ husband. He is a very funny man. We had dinner, and met some of Ries’ family who lives and works for the family. Ended the night talking about our future plans and concluded the night watching a few episodes of Its Always Sunny in Philadelphia. This was Nadia’s first time and now she’s hooked. Goodnight.

Tuesday September 7th

Woke up late morning, had breakfast, which is prepared every morning for us. We then chatted with Ries about our next few months in Indonesia. Checked out some books on Indonesia, then went to lunch at a Thai restaurant in the mall near the house. In the mall’s here they actually have good food courts. Once back we talked about British and American slang curse words. Then Ries took us to the mall to do some food shopping. Walked around the mall for a little. When we entered the market we noticed a horrendous smell. It was the fruit, Durian. A fruit that smells horrible but supposedly tastes good. After we sat down for some fresh fruit drinks, where James tried avocado juice for the first time. It was delicious.

Wednesday September 8th

We woke up and took showers. Not a regular shower though. You fill a bucket with water from the bathtub faucet then take a smaller bucket and dump water over yourself. It is quite interesting. One good thing is when you get out of the shower, you dry off in no time. We unpacked and settled in. We then went to go check out the National Monument in downtown Jakarta with Nadia. The entrance was underground. The history of Indonesia was expressed through little exhibits that showed the reenactment of important events in history. Nadia said that they were made to make it seem as peaceful as possible when in reality there was much war. We then took an elevator up to the top where there were 360 degree views of the city. After we took a cab to a restaurant in the most upscale mall in Jakarta called Social house, where we met Nadias friends Maeve and Andrew. Maeve is from Australia and Andrew from Philly. Good food, and awesome ice tea’s. We went to try to go get massages but the place was closed for Idul Fitri, the end of Ramadan.

We ended up taking a cab to a bar called Caz Bar, where we played pool and drank some Bintang (Indonesia’s Beer). The bar filled up with greasy old expats and younger Indonesian women. A few of Nadia’s friends joined us and we drank some more, had some food and played lots of card games. It was pool tournament night so the place filled up, with people and cigarette smoke. It is still legal to smoke indoors at many places, straight up disgusting. Cigarettes are dirt-cheap here as well, about 3 dollars a pack. Bar tab ended up being about 3 Million Rupiah, oops. We finally left after about 8 hours. Stopped by Nadia’s apartment to pick up some things then went back to Cinere. No traffic at 1am at night, only took us about 40 minutes. Got home, grubbed some food, watched more Sunny and went to bed.


Thursday September 9th

Woke up and checked out a world atlas with ries while Steve made us his famous scrambled eggs. Internet is horrible here so we can’t finish our blog yet again. Headed back to Nadia’s for the day. Headed down to the pool, Mark forgot his board shorts so had to borrow her friends pair which were purple with numbers and letters on them, sort of like sesame street. We went to the gym to run before the pool. Never made it to the pool because it started to pour. James suggested we take the stairs back up to Nadias. 16 flights. Not the smartest of ideas we both almost threw up, but it was a good workout. We ordered lunch and watched a show on Sumo wrestling.

Once night fell, Ramadan finally came to a close. Fireworks were seen all across the city, and everyone was very loud. Took a cab back to Cinere. Ate some dinner, we are addicted to rice now. Goodnight

Friday September 10th

It was a rough nights sleep as the celebrations of the end of fasting, lasted all night. We both felt homesick for the first time today. Excited to start our travels here and then get back to the states. Met Ries’ cousins Aan’s and took a ride to his sisters house, where we met more family and had some traditional food. We also drank an orange drink which tasted quite similar to TANG. Left to head back to meet guests coming to Ries’ house for dinner. Her family started to arrive, we met many family members and chatted a bit. Steve set up a talent show, and Mark and I were judges. We were each given 100,000 RP to distribute amongst the best performances. After we played world trivia. Ate dinner after everyone left. Tried to blog again, but it still would not work. Both excited for thanksgiving already. Booked a plane and planned our trip to Yogyakarta. Watched Sunny and went to bed. Goodnight.

Saturday September 11th

9 years since September 11th. Time flies. Steve left in the early morning on a business trip until October 16th. We packed out bag for Nadia’s and went to pick up her friend Will who was just near Mount Merapi a volcano that was actively erupting. We went for lunch at social house and met up with some more of Nadia’s friends. Had breakfast then shopped around for a bit. Once back at Nadia’s we watched Jurassic park, then headed down to the pool. After we watched Australia verse New Zealand rugby match, it was brutal. Went over to graces for a pot luck dinner. A bunch of friends showed up, we played some games, ate some food and had some fun. Took a cab to this bar, where we spent about 2 minutes and walked right back out, it was not exciting. Goodnight.


Sunday September 12th

Woke up went to brunch at a restaurant called 99, much better than the crappy 99 in the states. Tried to go get a massage again, but the place was closed still. Went back to the apartment and hung out for a bit at the pool. James made an appointment at the 4 seasons Jakarta for a massage and body treatment. James had a 2-hour traditional Lulur treatment and massage, consisting of traditional herbs, a lemon honey body wrap, rose pedal bath and 45 minute massage. While James was on cloud 9 mark and Nadia ate pizza and watched the Jersey Shore. When James got back, we found the Yankee Ranger game on ESPN. We explained the game of baseball to Nadia. Then we researched tours to Mt. Krakatoa, They were way too expensive. Mark ended up finding the Giants Panthers football game. He stayed up until 3am, immersed in it. Goodnight.

Monday September 13th

Woke up and went to one of the biggest second hand markets in Jakarta. We lost each other numerous times because it was so large. The owners were all yelling for people to by there items. We found a material shop away from the market and found wool to buy so we can make suits for cheap. 25 dollars for 3.5 meters of material. After we headed to a restaurant called the Apartment. It was a restaurant where each different section was a different part of the house.; bathroom, lounge, kitchen, library (where we sat), living room. The food was very good. After we headed to a hair salon where we got hair crème baths. They washed your hair, massaged cream in then stabbing your pressure points with their meaty hands. All and all it was an interesting experience. We thought head massages would feel good but it was the opposite, that shit hurt. The boys waited for the girls to get pedicures and for their damn hair to dry. When we paid we saw on the bill that they charged us an extra $3 dollars to blow-dry our hair. Ridiculous. Absolutely ridiculous.

After we met Nadia’s friend Andrew for coffee we walked back in a light drizzle to the apartment. We ordered food into the apartment. After our failed attempts to go to Krakatoa and the jungle, we planned a trip to a little beach town called Pangandaran. This place supposedly was the best place to learn how to surf. Took a cab back to Ries’s, Skyped a few family members and went to bed.