Friday, December 31, 2010

Arrived in Jakarta

I finally made it to my hotel after about 600,000 Rupiah and two different Ritz Carltons but it was absolutely worthwhile.
I spent the night (actually morning) at a nearly deserted food court Starbucks in the Singapore, got a coffee at 4 am and a Subway footlong at 6 am when they opened.  Their airport was actually quite cool with internet kiosks and tv stations everywhere (repeatedly showing 5 minute loops of movies).  So I basically sat in my booth and read the Fountainhead all night with 4 workers who were doing inventory.  Fun stuff

Well I finally made it Jakarta (after a 33 hour journey) this morning and went off to my hotel.  Funny thing is our itinerary changed to a different Ritz Carlton so I have visited both Ritz Carltons today, I'd say the one I'm in now is nicer based on the foyer.  It also has the pool/spa/whatnot on the 5th floor along with a jogging track along the perimeter of that level.  They also have much more security around Jakarta, security checked the engine block, trunk and undercar for bombs when both taxis were dropping me off.

Oh well, the rest of my day is devoted to sleeping, reading and finding somewhere to eat.  Happy New Years to everyone, I got a chance to skyped my sister and her friends at a concert for my second New Years and it sounded like fun, but a bit pitchy.


For those of you (parents and grandparents) who want the hotel information it is http://www.ritzcarlton.com/en/Properties/Jakarta/Default.htm

New Years in Singapore... sort of

Well I finally made it toSingapore around 12:05 on Jan 1.  The whole cabin did the countdown together while preparing for descent and we got a chance to see fireworks over the city from the air which was pretty cool.  We are thefirst airplane to land in Singapore of 2011.  Otherwise the trip has been uneventful.  At least I got a chance to see The American, The Bucket List, Easy A and The Prince of Persia among others.  Had a great midnight snack with my boy Ronald MacDonald and I now have about 6.5 hours of downtown in this airport (everything is currently closed).  At least they have these free internet stations.  Off to read some more of the Fountanhead