It was a day of settling in and adjusting. After a mouth watering breakfast and my first sip of authentic Javan coffee (unbelievable), we slung our backpacks over our shoulders and went for a short walk on the streets around our hotel. Nearby was the Monument Nasional, a 400ft needle that seems to pierce the sky, and commemorates Indonesian independence.
We strolled around it’s base, skyscrapers on the horizon no matter which way you looked, almost ring fencing us in. It was 10am and hitting 30 degrees. Deciding to wait for the heat of the day to wear off, we made our way back to the hotel to do some work. Feeling great we hit the gym, and then promptly fell asleep for 2 hours afterwards.
When we awoke, I quickly discovered my laptop charger had broken. I can’t be without it for working on the road, so Mission: Find Macbook Charger began. We spent the next 3 hours navigating the worst of Jakarta traffic, only needing to go 2 miles! Those nightmare stories I’d read about the roads here were coming to life. Early evening, and mission accomplished, we made our way up to the rooftop bar, enjoying dragonfruit juice, Bintangs and tapas while the city hummed around us.
