jakarta? no, she went of her own accord
October 4th 2008, 11:12 am
So I’ve arrived in Jakarta, and have the dessicated aspect and stumbling gait of one who has severe jetlag and too many sleeping pills in his system. At least I’ve had my compulsory stupid foreigner moment, when I handed over 100,000 rupiah for a tuk tuk ride. It was supposed to be 10,000. Needless to say I didn’t see any change but at least I made the driver’s night. I blame profound exhaustion and I was planning to head out to the nearby bars of Jalan Jaksa but thought perhaps it was wiser to stay in the hotel before I did something really dumb.
Turning the clock back a bit, after all I’d heard about Singapore airport, I was mildly disappointed. It had a strong whiff of 1970s conference centre, or from another angle the shopping mall from Dawn Of The Dead. Or maybe that just reflect my own zombified state, and watching the vice presidential debate in the departure lounge. Even at this distance, Sarah Palin raises my heckles. I also wandered around some bookshops and the best thing I saw was a biography of George Soros. In manga.
I’m currently sitting in the Greenpeace office, trying to get some things set up before I get to the ship but my brain still isn’t functioning properly. Martin and Arie, my two handlers, have been very patient and I’m amazed Arie managed to put up with two hours of babbling as I tried to explain my ideas for the web site.
More jetlag to come as Ardiles the photographer and myself are flying to Jayapura tonight, another 2,000-plus miles, seven hours and two time zones away. Here’s my route so far:
