Friday4thMay07

Day One

Got up at some unearthly hour to catch the bus to take us to the airport.

(NB: 'us' = 25ish Taiwanese and me.)

I was surprised at how much goes on in the streets of Taoyuan at 6:30 in the morning.

Old people doing Tai-Chi in the park, kids walking to school in matching shell suit style uniforms, and the mandatory reality check on health and safety as a local baker loads up his modestly dingy delivery van with open top trays of assorted breads, cigarette perched precariously in mouth.

It was (I think) a five hour flight to Jakarta (during which I, somehow, managed to turn my spoon into a projectile weapon, firing sticky fruit juice all down my t-shirt) we arrived around 1pm (I think.)

Everything is planned out and paid in advance for us, even down to our meals, so this is a 'no thinking required' trip which is great cos we get more done. Unfortunately it means we get more done.

We barely left the airport when we headed on a bus which bypassed the hotel to take us straight to the local theme park (I had not vouched on this so had no spare t-shirt and was wearing black trousers in serious heat.)

Jakarta is a fascinating place, not at all what I imagined it to be. It's very rural around the airport. We passed heaps of water fields sectioned off by rickety little walkways leading to wooden shack type cottages on stilts. As we got closer to the city the housing got more dense, but still had a very makeshift feel about it. We passed an almost slum-like mass of housing that was made completely of paper and the quality of living didn't get much better (other than the hotels) from then on in. Abandoned or run down buildings, muddy rivers, and bustling traffic interjected with people selling random pieces of junk between the cars.

The first thing we came to that seemed safe to live in was the theme park.

It was Indonesia's version of Alton Towers or Disney Land but smaller. It was great fun though.

I am a major sucker for roller coasters. The bigger and faster, the better. I was loving it.

Every ride we came to was more exciting than the last. I love the fact that regardless of the fact that I've been to more theme parks and on more roller coasters than I can count, they still reduce me to acting like a five year old that has just discovered ice cream. They never get old. You know what's coming; the slow start: lulling you into a false sense of security; the build up: dropping a large ball of dread into the pit of your stomach; the climax: a mixture of sheer fear, excitement and shock causing your stomach and voice to be left behind for a few seconds before they eventually catch up and leave you in disbelief. And then you get off, unsure as to what you were thinking. And then a split second later you realise it was phenomenal and you want to go right back and do it again. Add to that a group of almost thirty classmates and you have a recipe for a really fun day. I loved it.

We left at 7 to head to restaurant for a show. I felt really uncomfortable there.

It had nothing to do with the fact that it was a really good restaurant with live singing and waiters looking after your every need. (Although that was a bit strange.) Nope. It had a lot to do with that fact that just a before the sun went down I had gone on a river rapids ride and still had seriously soggy trousers and underpants on. I felt like I had had a rather unfortunate accident and was leaving wet patches all over the place so was reluctant to leave my seat for most of the time. When I eventually had to, one of the waiters walked up to me. (I was sure he was going to ask me to explain the sizeable puddle on the seat, and to make things worse, I noticed a small group of them watching me.) Turned out he wanted to know where I was from and how long I'd been in Indonesia. I was a bit taken aback which was made worse when he went back to the group to relay the information and they called over that they loved me. I tried to pretend I hadn't heard them and hid amongst a group of friends, hoping we would leave soon. Next thing I knew the waiter was back again, this time with his name and phone number written on a piece of paper, and a request that I call him. I was mortified. I mean really, when does that ever happen. Our tour guide type person (and everyone else) thought this was fantastic and kept saying how I should be flattered, but needless to say, never call him. I don't think I could get past the embarrassment though. It's a far stretch from the (generally speaking) emotionally constipated guys I'm used to.

Eventually we got to our hotel. All our hotels are five star so are very comfortable and will be much appreciated after such a long day. But I can't help but feel weird living in such a lovely room when the view out the window shows run down shacks right to the horizon.