Blogging from Jakarta

This is my third day in Jakarta. So far, so good. On the first day, 8th May, I spent most of the day sleeping, having not slept much the day before coming over. The flight was uneventful, and being used to longer flights, I didn't realise when we arrived. The airport is small but cozy looking, and as there were not too many travellers, we managed to get past the immigration in a relatively short time. Within minutes of arriving, I began to feel the humidity in the air striking me full force, and this despite having come from Kuala Lumpur. On the night of the first day, we spent our time eating and exploring the nightlife within Jakarta. On our way back, we passed a pathway that is a popular hangoug for the transvetite prostitutes in Jakarta. One of them actually got in front of our vehicle and attempted to bargain for some sort of work with the driver. Another one was showing off her wares, and she is pre-oped so one can imagine what could be seen. After facing some abuse for our reticence, we managed to drive away. This night, we watched some bits of the documentary "Women Film Desire". And then fell asleep.

Second Day
In the afternoon, we visited the National Museum of Jakarta in Batavia. It has a nice collection of artifacts from the various parts of the Indonesian islands, as well as bilingual write-ups in Bahasa Indonesia and English. There is a model mimbar (where the Bilal calling for prayers in Mosques would stand), a model temple and a model Dutch kerk. There were also beautiful antiques designed mostly in Batavia, made of hardwood. Unfortunately, the museum is not in as great a state it could have been, due to funding problems. For lunch, we went to a a rather high-end cafe with mosstly foreign clientele. However, the food was really good and I had a Flemish tarte with bacon for the first time in my life. THe Batavia punch that I had was actually pineapple punch and was rather refreshing after a very hot day. After lunch, we took a long bus ride to a big bookshop in Jalan Sunda. They have a wide selection of books, though more overpriced than in Malaysia due to the low turnover rate. However, they have some rather interesting selections, especially of Indonesian writers. I bought 3 books (including on on Islam) and the Poets&Writers Magazine which is published in the US but not available in Malaysian bookstores. After that, we went to another branch of the same bookshop in Pondok Indah to catch the rather interesting film on Frida Kahlo, the Mexican woman painter who became famous for her poignant and soul-ripping self-portraits. After that, we had a quick dinner at a small foodcourt in an adjacent mall and went home. After showering, I spend most of my time checking my email as well as reading up a bit more on Kahlo. Before going to bed, I watched the very 1984 type movie "Equilibrium"

For today, we haven't really done too much beyond lazing about at home. Will say more later.

Anyway, staying with a friend now so it is definitely a rather homely atmosphere. Good food and good company. Getting Indonesian home-cooked food everyday. (:

I think I should read my Sylvia Plath today. Haven't made much headway with it.