My Jakarta/Bandung Trip, 25-29 Oct 09

I was away on the last week of October for my biz trip in Jakarta & Bandung. This is my 1st time setting my foot in Jakarta. I’ve been warned about the *Hunt-for-Malaysian* Campaign. I’ve been warned about the bomb threats. I’ve been warned about taxi rides. I’ve received so many warnings from Daddy. Good thing is for this trip, I travel with another colleague of mine. Hence we can look after each other at times, though not all the time since we are both gonna be there to execute different things.

this is how bad the jam is. And it’s only 6pm in evening!! The traffic jam is on both side of the highway. All the way, I don’t know how many km seriously.

Seriously, there isn’t much time for sight seeing. I stayed in Shangri-La Jakarta. Very nice and probably the safer hotel around. Office is just walking distance. Yes!! our office is just next to the hotel. What a blessing. But the problem is, I only go to office for 1/2 the day. Rest of the time, I’m either at the Service Centre or Resellers. Means I’m on the road. Means I have to waste my time stuck in the traffic jam.

Getting from 1 place to another takes at least 30mins. Even though it’s a nearby location. That’s how bad the condition is. Then funny thing about their roads is. They have this 2 lane road next to the normal road, which they call like fast lane. Only cars with 3 occupants above can hop on to this fast lane. Along the fast lane, there are many people standing by the roadside. Wonder why? If your car has only 2 occupants, you can just pick one of the person on the road as a *temporary-passenger* so that you can use the fast lane without any problem. You just have to pay them 1USD. Then they get off once the fast lane ends.

Our day starts at 9am, and usually ends around 6pm Jakarta time. By 6pm when you get on the road, the streets are like 10pm at night. It gets dark very early here!! So there isn’t much to see or talkabout, except that I took alot photos of the food I ate haha…

When I reach hotel, it’s probably 7pm or so. We usually settle in the hotel, except for 1st night we went to eat at a local restaurant recommended by our local colleague.

Satay Senayan. A local satay chain restaurant. It’s packed!!

We flew in on Sunday, and after check in it was already close to 6pm. We went to eat Satay at a restaurant for dinner.

After Sunday, it was work all the way. On Wednesday we went to Bandung, again to audit the Service Centre. We had a bit of time after we finish off, that was the only time I managed to do some shopping at Factory Outlets.

We head home on Thursday noon. Didn’t go into office that day itself, and next day was already flooded with mails to clear, work to follow up and what nots.

Shangri-La Hotel. That where I stay. Took this photo while walking back to the hotel on the 1st night. Next, Hyatt Hotel. Super huge. Somewhere downtown. Took the photo during our car ride to have dinner.

But seriously, I prefer to go Jakarta than Vietnam. I really hate the roads in Vietnam. With all those bikes honking, it really makes me sick. Unless I’m on a bike, then it’s not so bad. At least Jakarta, you still sit in the car. And I didn’t have any car sick..pheww…I get car sick all the time when I’m in Vietnam. SUCKS :(.

My next biz trip is scheduled next month, 2 trips indeed!! Lets hope I don’t need to travel in Jan/Feb. Then resume travelling again in March.

Here are more photos taken during the trip, alot of food photos. Hold your saliva!!

Waiting for Aerotrain.

I got pretty bored as I arrived in Airport early and my colleague took ages to come LOL. So I started taking weird pictures of my sandals, my phone, people’s bag and what have you.

Don’t have an Ipod, Handphone with MP3 will do. Maybe I need an Ipod for my Christmas Present. *Ahem*

Satay. Served on a bed of peanut sauce. There’s actually charcoal burning at the bottom to keep the sauce warm. Simply delicious. The sauce taste like melted peanut butter haha…

Sup Buntut. Served with fried emping & fried carrots & potatoes. Nothing to shout about. I think my ABC soup taste better.

Fish, Sudanese style. This one is nice :).

Taufu with egg. I love this dish. Very appetizing.

On Sunday, there were alot of weddings in the hotel. We saw this at the lobby. So weird right, they congratulate the couple by giving flower arrangement like this. Reminds me of funeral more than wedding.

Day 1. I had to visit the Service Centre. Before that, they brought me to have lunch in a Chinese Restaurant. Nothing special, taste just like KL Chinese Food.

Roast duck, non fattening.

Spinach with soup & lots of century egg & salted egg. Yummy!! Fruits served on shaved ice. Creative I’d say?

Taufu & mushroom.

Day 1, at night we went to eat Sundanese food again with our colleague. Decided not to post too many food photo :p. On the left, LV Advertisement, super huge at one of the shopping mall. On the right, a locally branded beer, Bintang.

One of the dish that caught our attention is the fried taufu. It’s stuffed with prawns & veg. Our favourite.

Day 2, we had dinner in the hotel restaurant. Buffet style!! This the only photo I took inside the hotel as they stopped me from taking photos later on.

Day 2, earlier I visited the IT Mall. Our Lowyat equivalent, only thing it’s older. On the right, that’s my colleague that travel with me. He’s posing outside the hotel lobby, next to the scanning device. We go thru this everyday without fail. That’s how tight the security is. 1st scan, the taxi entering the hotel. 2nd scan, the lobby.

This is lobby to the office. See, there’s a scanner as well waiting for you.

Starbucks coffee in Jakarta. This is just outside the office building.

Day 3, Bandung. This is where we had lunch.

A man doing apam balik Jakarta Style. In Green colour!!

And beside the apam balik, there’s a man preparing some taufu with some sauce. Forgot what’s the name, but I ate the taufu.

Some ulam served during our lunch. I like their sambal. In KL you only have 1 type of sambal. In Jakarta, you have all sorts of sambal. You name it, they have it.

Chicken cooked with kunyit.

A house nearby to the reseller in Bandung.

A view from my room. That’s an apartment right in the middle of the city. On the right, something that caught my attention, look at the word Male Print. Only for guys isit :P.

That’s all. Seriously, I don’t mind going back to Jakarta, minus the traffic jam.  The air is also not very clean, probably due to the no. of vehicles on the road. I wonder how often I have to clean my air conditioner filter if I live here. In KL I have to do it every 2 weeks. Probably I’ll be coming back here soon, maybe 3 months time. But next trip will surely be Jakarta and a few more cities, not just Bandung like this round.