Pagi di Jakarta

"Selamat Datang di Jakarta," the billboard greets you as you scramble out of the plane. Welcome to Jakarta. The arrival hall was spacious and homely - I always like that Indonesia injects its culture in forms of batik or wood carvings around instead of modernizing too much into the wonted aesthetics of an International airport. Out of the hall, the sultry weather hits you. Much like the heavy humidity of nearby cities.

Head over to the queue for Bluebird taxis, climb into one, and off you'll leave Tangerang.

We stayed in a quiet neighbourhood the subdistrict of Kelapa Gading, right across of Mal Kelapa Gading. Navigation in a taksi is uncomplicated - lurus, lurus, lurus, kiri ini, kanan itu. When traffic slows, the taksi pak looks up into the rear-view mirror, smiles, and says, "macet". When you get off, he stops his meter, he counts the bills and we all go "terima kasih" before closing the door.

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This is the first of a story series of my time in the cities of Jakarta & Yogyakarta over the past weeks. Some times were sleepy, some times were fun - in the various categories of fully unadulterated fun, panicky spur of the moment thrills, and completely horrifying experiences that didn't go wrong. I'm not a consistent writer and I know that, but as much as I can, I want to keep my eternize my adventures through an amalgamation of words and pictures.

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lurus: straight
kiri: left
kanan: right
ini: here
itu: there
macet: traffic jam
terima kasih: thank you

Vid'o Vancouver

Music: British Columbia by The Elected

If you're looking to gain a Wilderness Explorer badge, I would highly recommend Vancouver for a head start in the finest boy scout trails. With the luxury of having friends from the city, we went further north up of Vancouver and were spared the supposed horror of taking public transport (from what we had heard, at least!) during our time in the city. Though... it wasn't like we were within Vancouver city itself, or did much exploring of the downtown region. We were close to nature at all times, even staying opposite a baseball park and blowing the seeds off all of its daffodils.

If you like to drink water off a stream, learn about native history, marvel at the many shades of mountain blue and start daffodil-destruction wars with a pal, we explored Squamish mountain, beautiful Whistler, and took an accidental 2 hour hike around the Simon Fraser University campus.  If you're very game for extreme sports like mountain biking and kayak down a waterfall (or if you're really just there to check out hot people do thrilling stuff) - head to Whistler and Squamish again.

Bridge of Brooklyn

For a coupl'a times now, we've always had to make the awful final-minute decision of dropping of planned items on the itinerary. It is heartbreaking, and I always get that feeling of "now how am I going to tell people I've been to New York, if I haven't seen ________?" Clearly, all the nooks, crannies and crowd favourites of the city can't be seen in a span of 5 days of less. 

I don't know why I had my plans made for visiting the Brooklyn Bridge from the Brooklyn side - it could be because it is the Brooklyn Bridge after all, but we had wanted to get up the bridge while at the Brooklyn Bridge Park - but while navigating from Coney Island to the heart of Manhattan, we found it possible to visit the bridge after all, just from its opposite end.

Coney Island

You would think Coney Island would be on an island given its name, but it's actually the southernmost part of Brooklyn. Amusement parks by the beach along Surf Av, injecting a bit of childhood flair into the otherwise more adult-suitable New York City. There on an ultra breezy morning, we were even earlier than the opening of most of the stores. Coney Island is known for quite a few things - the boardwalk, Deno's Wonder Wheel, Luna Park, Nathan's Famous hot dogs, William's Candy and Pete's Clam Stop being a few of those.

It was very disappointing to learn that I had braved the killer winds (in a dress, no less) to make it to Luna Park all for nought. As it had turned out, the park was closed to public as it had been booked for a private group of Jewish school kids. While they made merry in there, we stopped by Coney's Cones for some italian ice and explored Deno's amusement park next door instead.

Lookout Point

If all roads lead to rome, all city tower views give you the same bang for the buck. Your first tower gives you the most value for money - it's your first time up high towering over the city you're in, you feel giddy with excitement. Your second tower reminds you of that wonderful time you had the first time round, you enjoy yourself. Three, four, five towers in, you start to get bored of the similar views, even though you're in different cities.

I've been to Marina Bay Sands SkyPark, I've been to the Tokyo Tower, I've been to Namsan Tower in Seoul to name a few cities. Every city is clearly distinct, but when you're up there, everywhere feels the same. I wasn't that thrilled to be going up another tower in NYC, just to see something I've seen everywhere else. There are 2 main buildings where you get to do this - the Empire State Building (which I learnt from Ted from HIMYM) and the Top of the Rock. We went with the Top of the Rock - it was cheaper, and we could see the Empire State Building by not being on the building's deck.

I was completely overwhelmed when we got up to the top. You're packed into lines and into elevators like fishes in sardine cans, but when you're up there, the crowd doesn't matter anymore. We planned well before going - we made sure to hit the tower about 6 in the evening, so we could catch New York City in the day and as it transits into night time, all while just holding one ticket in hand. There's the sun and stars ticket offered by the TotR, but this was a much better choice as you'll get to save some cash (for more shopping or eats!) while overlooking NYC as the golden hour passes. 

An icon or two

An early morning, we cut through streams of busy salaried workers (and a bull bronzed in its privates) in the financial district to get to our treasure map's X - the Staten Island Ferry Terminal. What better way to get to see the Statue of Liberty, than free? In the courtyard of the ferry terminal, we were approached by 2 teams of "info desk employees" - except that they were definitely not anyone from the staten island ferry, but salesmen trying to promote paid trips to the Statue itself. Do not trust them - ready yourself with the knowledge that the staten island ferry is the only option to get to see the statue up close without turning your pockets inside out. We were there at a bad time - it was still early and it was a foggy day, but I still liked what I saw... the lady behind a wall of fog, over heads and arms extended with cameras in hand. Be sure to go on the right side of the ferry when heading to staten island, and on the left when returning.

2 trips on the ferry and a Columbus Circle later, we were in the middle of Sheep Meadow, Central Park. Armed with our picnic food (from Flavors - I love their everything) in hand, we hosted our pocket sized version of a fête champêtre on a field shared with frisbee players and the cutest kid who entertained himself with his homemade drum kit. Do you know what the best ground for lying on is? Fluffy spring grass. There's no better choice.