the Funky Logic of C++: Jakarta, Day 1

so i went on a girls-only trip to Jakarta last weekend. i didn't believe it either when Mr.Pilot said i could go teman Mashi for three days (mere sympathy because her friend had to bail on her? not too sure about that, but i'd rather not push it!!!). he was rostered for the weekend so in a way i wouldn't be missed as much, no?

my one regret about this trip was that she planned it inconveniently BEFORE pay-day!

well anyways, since Mashi's flight was scheduled to leave at 0950 at KLIA2, i decided to pick the 0910 flight so that i wouldn't have to wait so long at Soetta before her flight came in. unfortunately Mr.Pilot's reporting was at 0620 and i hadn't finished packing by then despite me planning to chill at the airport for the next three hours, all due to a no-water scare at 2am -____-

after fruitless attempts at randomly turning on and off taps we only realized that the reason for no water at our house was someone had turned off the main pipe at the meter OUTSIDE, which we never bothered to check T_T (we installed a pressure pump the day before so the water was temporarily turned off).

by the time i reached back home i only had less than an hour to pack and reach the airport if i wanted to check-in on time, so no time to say goodbye to the kids, whoops. i'd forgotten how long the check-in queues could be in the mornings; that morning the queue practically extended to the F counter!. 8.15am and the check-in line was still 5 kilometers long so i ended up running to the stand-by counter and checked-in there. they usually give priority to final call flights provided you strain your ears to hear their announcement.

the automated gates at immigration was kaput, so i had no choice but to join the long queue. i got a stamp in my passport though, haha. i was a bit miffed that i went to HK last year and didn't get a single stamp both ways. what's the point of paying rm200 for a passport renewal and not being able to prove that you actually went out of the country? =P.

i only had less than half hour before the gates closed, so no time to visit the satellite building for no reason =P

morning selfie before boarding

first flight out for 2016

the flight to Jakarta wasn't full. i practically had the whole row to myself (row 29 lol). economy food was mediocre (compared to Mr.Pilot's choice of business class menu hahahah), the curry barely had anything in it but gravy T__T. luckily the aircraft was one of the newer ones, so i was happily preoccupied with The Peanuts Movie throughout the 2-hour flight =D.

the cabin

a whole row practically to myself

morning cloud porn

breakfast

Charlie Brown for in-flight entertainment

i landed at Terminal 2 at 11.10am. i've forgotten how boring Arrivals were; there wasn't much to see or do except to either eat or wait for your ride. after reading back my messages with Mashi i only realized that she was going to land at Terminal 3. haiz. okay so luckily she mentioned that there was a free shuttle bus service to get around terminals, so off i went to look for a bus - after i changed into a more comfortable pair of shoes. geez, i swear that most of the shoes i own aren't travel-worthy. at first i thought of walking but yeah ok i had to scratch that - Terminal 3 is nowhere within walking distance of Terminal 2, pui.

welcome to Indonesia

the airport wifi connection wasn't so good; i kept getting disconnected. i waited over half an hour for Mashi to emerge from Arrivals. instead of taking a taxi to get to town, we decided to take the Damri bus to get to Gambir Railway Station in Central Jakarta (adventure! she calls it), which cost us 40K. i fell asleep on the bus, i was too tired from waking up early lol.

Jakarta traffic is horrendous, i tell you. it may seem like there's barely an inch of gap between the other vehicle beside you (while zooming off at fast speeds), but oddly enough they drive in such a way that i have yet to come across any road accidents during my stay there. in other words, diorang lagi skill. haha.

after looking for train tickets at the train station, we decided to have lunch before heading off to the hotel. i'm not very adventurous when it comes to Indonesian food, but ayam penyet i can still take. the sambal was really spicy. aaaaand the ayam penyet in the menu looked far more bigger n juicier than irl, lol.

our lunch - nasi ayam penyet. and es teh.

so off we went to grab a taxi to get to our hotel, situated in South Jakarta. we paid 50K for the taxi, which in turn manage to get us lost because the taxi at didn't know where the hotel was even after giving him the address. T____T. he even had to get down and ask around for directions, haha.

one landmark we passed was the National Monument, or Monas. with our tight schedule, pity we didn't have time to drop by. Mashi was amazed by the kereta kuda we passed by. lol.

after literally going around in circles, we finally ~~FOUND~~ made it to the hotel, lol. the hotel was only four stories high, with breakfast being served at the restaurant on the fourth floor. the room was simple, yet functional. it had a queen-sized bed, a tv, a gigantic fridge even bigger than the mini bars you find at hotels (to comfortably hold all the food tourists buy no doubt hahahahah), air-conditioning, hot water, a balcony (with not so much of a view lol), so it was all good. oh they even had wifi! big plus for someone who refuses to activate roaming overseas =D.

the extra facilities that they had was a 'fitness center', a pantry at each level where you can cook if you wanted to, and also free laundry service for 4 garments per day (top, bottom, bra and undies AHAHAHAHHAHA ok just kidding).

our accommodation

simple yet functional

balcony view. LOL

Mr.Pilot sent some cloud porn photos. he had just arrived at BKI; it's been two months since his last flight. his cloud photos are way much awesomer than mine; he gets first class view of them lol.

Mr.Pilot's cloud porn view

we decided to go sightseeing on foot before heading over to HRC Jakarta in the evening to catch the live band, something Mashi says we must do while in Jakarta =D. the nearest mall to our hotel was Kuningan City Mall so off we went.

i'd say that for me malls were really so-so, unless you're really into mall-hopping or if you were looking for something specific to get. we stopped by their local supermarket just to ogle at their stuff. it's true when bibik says that what you find here cannot be found there, and vice versa (which explains why she just loves to buy packages of milo and maggi and ship them back to Indonesia). i just had to take a photo of their local medicine to send to bibik back home, lol. how i go by our Panadol is the same way she goes by her Bodrex =D

obat Indonesia LOL

since our train the next day leaves at 5am, we had an early dinner first at Cafe Betawi before ending the night at HRC. the food here was ok, although i found my dish to be a bit too spicy.

slightly higher-end dinner

bakwan baso

mashi's nasi goreng

toilet selfie at Kuningan City

we couldn't book a table at HRC so we put our names on the waiting list and walked around Pacific Place Mall while waiting. someone kirim an HRC souvenir but the one Mashi was looking for wasn't available, so in the end she bought some pins for herself, because they were on sale (buy 1 free 1 i think).

HRC!

Pacific Place Mall

the live band started 10.30pm so about an hour earlier the restaurant called us saying our table was ready. while waiting for the live band to begin jamming, Mashi did some research on Bandung (she subscribed to 3-days overseas data) while i sipped my drink and cursed the lousy wifi data connection haha. did i mention that this was my first time at HRC? i still don't really get why everyone gets so hyped over HRC merchandise. maybe i should experience their hotel or something one day. i left the restaurant two hours later almost half-deaf in the ear. lol.