Finally, the day has arrived! December 7, 2012. This is the day that me and Jean, a long-time friend of more or less 17 years will embark on a trip that will have a lot of firsts. :) No judging, but this is my first time to go out of the country, and my first time to travel with Jean. ;p
Our flight was early with PAL, so I picked up Jean as early as 4AM and we were off to the airport. Checked in, then the waiting begins. The anticipation is building and also concern, since we weren't able to exchange our peso to dollar the last minute here in Manila. Okay, lesson learned there! Then, the waiting begins, which is a lot. Thankfully, our flight was on time, and off we go!
The flight was long, and there was a stop over at Changi in Singapore since the flight we were on is co-sharing with Garuda Indonesia. Another 45 minutes to 1 hour waiting time before finally landing in Jakarta. I've got my new book in tow, so reading while waiting - check! Of course, breakfast on the plane, sleep, watch TV, take a couple of pictures here and there, just to ease the boredom. Haha!
Thankfully, the flight was smooth and then we land in Jakarta which was 35 degrees!! Talk about hot and humid. Hahaha! First agenda is to get out of the airport, then go find a money changer, then find the DAMRI Bus going to BLOK M. Then get off to Plaza Senayan, a big mall to meet Genna! We didn't find Plaza Senayan, and we didn't have a constant means of communication with Genna, since we don't have constant wifi connection and I didn't choose to have my phone on roaming, since it will be very costly. Buti na lang, the DAMRI Bus has wifi, so we learned that we were way off our target location. Fortunately, before we left, Jean and I managed our expectations that we are going to treat this like an "Amazing Race" kind of thing. So no complaining, and just get on with it. So we got off at the terminal in BLOK M and hailed a cab going to Plaza Senayan. We were warned that traffic is bad in Jakarta, three times bad compared to EDSA, so we anticipated that already. Imagine, two girls carrying luggages around, haggard! To make the long story short, we got to the meeting place, and finally able to meet Genna! And off we go to her place!
Dinner was wonderful. Obviously we were starving from travelling and Genna promised to take us out to try the streetfood. We scouted the back alleys of Genna's place for tahu (fried tofu), fried tempeh, sate, nasi goreng and fried ayam. We were so hungry that we were munching on tofu and buying again while walking and looking for other things to eat. Those and 2 liters of Coca-Cola, plus cable TV in a very luxurious living room, is the way to go after a long day of travelling. :)Yum!
More on the next posts!
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