City of Malls

K had to go to Jakarta for work last week,
so we decided to spend the weekend there
and live the big city life for a few days.

On Friday, A explored the old port built by the Dutch during colonial days. He wandered some of the only narrow streets in Jakarta. (The rest of the city is massive

urban sprawl: huge highways and eight-lane roads, glass high-rise towers, malls that take 1 hour to cross, and five-star hotels, all interspersed with large monuments erected by the two dictators who reigned through most of Indonesia's independent years.)

This was inside of a mall. Rockfeler Center lookalike?












The "Welcome Monument"


A hired a local 'guide' to give him a tour of old Dutch buildings, large cargo ships, small fishing neighborhoods, and a big fish market.

Hangin' out at the docks...

She sells seashells...

Saturday morning marked the beginning of the decadent birthday festivities. We certainly know how to spoil ourselves. K was awoken by a call from the hotel restaurant, asking when we wanted our (free!) birthday cake! Hooray for birthdays! The message on the cake was the best part:






I hope Mr. Chamberline didn't miss his cake.







We unintentionally created a European getaway weekend for ourselves...started out the day heading to an exhibit by a Romanian artist at the French Cultural Center. We then had a strange afternoon: attempting to find a gallery of local artists, failing, giving up and heading to the hotel for a massage.
Dinner was at a supersleek Italian restaurant in a mall. (It's hard to find a restaurant that's not part of a hotel or mall.) The all-white decor and ambient techno music could have been mistaken for a SoHo spot. We shared 3 courses, prepared by a real-live Italian from Italy who introduced himself later: carpaccio & parmesean, homemade ravioli, and branzini. Delish!


...and it was only the beginning. Really, we spoiled ourselves. Sunday brunch was at another swanky spot. It consisted of a huge appetizer buffet, 30 FRENCH CHEESES. (yes, 30! not quite 31 for my 31st!) and free-flowing sparkling wine.


K & A pose in front of the cheeses






















K, digging in.

Needless to say, we didn't have a particularly productive afternoon. We set out to WALK to some PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION to check out the Chinatown neighborhood. We almost made it, then stepped into a nearby mall to cool off. And look at what we found:

That's right, folks. A four-story multi-colored tube slide in the center of the mall. A was in heaven-we had to try it! We took the escalators to the top of the mall...where we discovered a movie theater hosting a French film festival! K was in Frenchie-heaven!

Off we went down the slide (fully equipped with windbreakers, knee pads, elbow pads, and helmets), then back upstairs to take in a VERY French flick about a guy and gal who meet while visiting their dying loved ones in the hospital.

We finished off the day with a late-afternoon margarita (K had been craving one since our arrival in the tropics) in a Mexican restaurant that we happened upon in...yessir, yet another mall. What a spectacular weekend!

Jakarta Bound

Just want to let everyone know that we're headed to Jakarta for a long weekend. It's K's birthday on Saturday, so don't forget to send her an email! We'll give a full report of our adventures when we return.

Stick to the rice

Sorry we've been M.I.A yet again. K has been busy with work, and A has been under the weather. We've been living a fairly monotonous existence the past week and half, so we don't have any exciting travel stories to report. Instead, we'll share some of the fun(ny) things about life here in Indonesia.

BREAD

Good bread can be hard to come by here in Medan. Last week A was at the supermarket and decided to buy a loaf of bread that was topped with what appeared to be a little melted cheese. He thought that he would make himself a crab salad sandwich with some canned crab, celery, and mayo for lunch. Well, he did make the sandwich. However, it wasn't melted cheese on top of the bread; it was toasted coconut. To make his sandwich even more interesting, once A pulled a slice away from the loaf, he discovered the bread had a chocolate swirl within it. His western lunch turned out to be one of the worst he has ever had. If you're thinking of trying one of these delicacies at home, don't. Dried out crab meat, watery mayonnaise, and chocolate-coconut sweet bread aren't a combination that we can recommend. A finished every bit of it though.

PIRATED DVDs

Pirated DVDs are everywhere here. You can buy almost any movie for about $.90. Sellers may be able to get a little more for their wares if they payed closer attention to the advertising on the DVD covers. They tend to quote reviews that are tepid at best. Some of our favorites include:

Stepbrothers - "The hilarity never ensues..."

Burn After Reading - "...perfectly good but never truly great."

Body of Lies - "Less sexy than it sounds, but still the right kind of war story."

Perhaps when selling pirated DVDs, honesty is the best policy!

SUPERMARKET GIVEAWAYS

Supermarkets like to give away stuff here. We've won 2 liter bottles of coke and Valentine's Day cakes, but nothing prepared us for the water giveaway. Last week we took our receipt to the customer service desk and found out that we had won a large box of 50 miniature water cups with straws. Woo-Hoo! Wait, what are we going to do with 50 miniature water cups with straws? One sip and you're done. I guess we could always sell them to an airline or a hospital.