Jakarta - two weeks in.

Well, as i may have mentioned here before, I'm not here on holidays. It's a good job this is the case, 'cos as holidays go this would really suck! Mosy of my time so far has been going from the hotel to the office in the morning, working til late, going back and eating in the hotel, booting up the laptop and doing a bit more work, then going to bed late and repeating the next day. We've managed to get out for a meal some evenings, and we had the weekend as well to do stuff, but that's the general pattern so far. Lots I haven't done around here yet!

So, just over 11 days in, here's my impressions of the place:

• Traffic: Well, I've talked about this already, but is still mad. Any bit of space on the road is filled by a car or more likely about a dozen bikes. Indicators are optional, lanes are optional, horns are more commonly used than anything else. At least, unlike Dublin, the traffic is constantly moving - mainly I suppose because there's no traffic lights anywhere to clog things up, except on the main roads around the city. They also have bus lanes on the main roads, but the big buses just seem to stick to those - everywhere else you're going by mikrolet - small, old minibus type affairs which don't even stop to let people on/off, they just slow down. Must be fun taking them! Getting across the road is fun too - don't bother waiting for a break in the traffic, 'cos there won't be one. Just pick a car that looks like it'll be able to stop in time, and walk out in front of it!
  
• Food: Well, like in China, I don't know what I'm eating, but I like it. There aren't many dishes so far that I've tried that I didn't like - altho you have to be careful what you eat. There hasn't been any cases of the Galway Gallops yet, but a few things have left my stomach feeling less than perfectly calm. We've been told "stay away from the street vendors unless you want to spend a week on the toilet or worse", which is a shame 'cos some of the more interesting stuff I got in china was from the side of the road. I haven't been trying indonesian food the whole time either - for some reason we've been eating thai and indian a fair bit. You go half-way around the world and end up eating the same stuff you do at home. Go figure.
  
• Drink: Drink here is a bit pricey - about RPY70,000 for a beer (or about €6.40). The local beer isn't great, so I'm restricted to things like San Miguel or Corona (ain't no way I'm going to find a pint of Bulmers over here!). We tried drinking spirits out one night, but they were so watered down and so expensive (RPY100,000) that that was a once off! As for the non-alcoholic stuff, I'm drinking some pretty weird fruit juices over here, stuff you don't get at home. Mango juice you might get - but guava? Lychee? Star fruit? Hell, I'd never even heard of a star fruit before I got here!
  
• Heat: So this is what 32 degrees feels like! To be honest I haven't spent much time out in it - I tend to go from the air-conditioned hotel to the (semi) air-conditioned office in an air-conditioned taxi. The few times I've been out in it though it hasn't been overly bad. Walked back to the hotel from the office last night as there were no taxis to be had, and survived (altho I did need to take a shower after!) The weekend will be a good test tho - we'll be out in it all day!
  
• Cutlery: This is a weird one. I'm used to "asia" meaning "chopsticks", but over here they do things slightly differently. Instead of a knife and fork, they use a spoon and fork (unless you're eating something definitely western like a burger or a lasagne). Is understandable I suppose seeing as most dishes are rice-based, but still, every now and then you have to cut stuff, and it ain't easy with the edge of a spoon!
  

There we go, only one or two things - hopefully I'll have more to report after the weekend!