We arrived in Jakarta in the early afternoon on Sunday, November 2nd. It was hot and humid! It took us forever to get to our luggage. First we had to wait in a line for a Visa on Arrival. This took almost an hour and Tyler was being very fussy throughout. I was at the verge of cracking at this point. Then we had to wait in an immigration line, which went a little faster. The Jakarta airport is very shady. They use chalk to mark certain luggage, so if you have that mark you get dragged into a room for “customs” to search your bag. Needless to say, 2 of our bags were marked. There were some “luggage helpers” waiting by our luggage and pointed out those marks to us and said to me “Customs.” I said “Ok.” But these guys took us straight through to the “Nothing to Declare” line and right out of the airport. I guess they knew my dad was going to grease them (which he did).
We spent 5 days in Jakarta. Only because my grandmother on my Dad’s side lives there along with 3 of his brothers. The traffic is really bad and there are no rules on the road it seems. Many times, I had to close my eyes in fear we would be in an accident. In all the years my uncle has been driving there, he hasn’t been in one accident. Unbelieveable.
The kids have been fortunate to know 2 great-grandmothers now. Only this one in Jakarta still alive and well. She’s ~87. Yoeng Hie Wong.
We stayed in hotels during our stay in Jakarta A) I wanted the comfort of A/C, B) hot water. The first hotel we checked into, was dimly lit. My uncle selected this hotel for us because it was close to my grandma’s house and “new”. The hotel had no hair dryer, no hot water, you couldn’t make outgoing calls, and their complimentary breakfast was gross! Yet, the room came with 2 flat panel TVs (but only one remote control). We checked out the next morning and found a more suitable hotel that was also close by.
The first night, Natalie woke at 4am and decided she wanted to drink milk. This pic was actually taken of her sitting in the dark, but you can’t tell b/c of the flash. It took the kids about 4 days to adjust to the local time.
This little boy is the same age as Tyler, potty trained, and is also Tyler’s “uncle”. His name is Andre. Natalie took this picture.
Natalie snapping pics of herself and her great uncle
The kids playing superman and wondergirl in the hotel room.
Take me back to the US please!!!
The second night, Natalie got up at 4am and decided to draw.
Big Uncle enjoying a can of “Pocari Sweat”. It tasted a little like cactus cooler.
The view from our second hotel
Having lunch at a local Indonesian restaurant
We stopped for some refreshments at the mall and my uncle ordered these shave ice desserts, but I wouldn’t let the kids have any because the water they use to make the ice was likely not clean. I felt bad for the kids, but better safe than sorry!
Since our visit was almost like a family reunion, we hired a photographer to come take some family pictures.
Having dinner at Great Grandma’s house
The food.
Good-Bye Jakarta!
Our flight was at 6am, so the kids were pretty tired by the time we boarded the plane.
Mom’s happy with peaceful kids.
Onward to Hong Kong!