enjay's trip to jakarta

so i left early on friday morning (the 10th) to fly to LAX. i got there very uneventfully around 9:30am cali time. i had a lot of time to kill in LA so i brushed up on my indonesian (i used the phrase "tidak apa apa!" (which means "no problem!" i was saying that the fly in the taxi was no problem.) in the taxi cab today and impressed b. i doubt i impressed the driver much. honestly, i don't remember what else i did there. i read some from my book "year of wonders," which is really good.

the flight from LAX to Taipei was long. there's no two-ways around that 13.5 hours to fly across the pacific. of course that's not bad to fly all the way across the pacific, but it did feel long. when i left LAX around 6pm on the 10th, it wasn't my birthday yet, but somewhere in the middle of that vast ocean it turned to the 11th, and by the time we landed around 10:30pm, it was 10:30pm on the 11th. my entire birthday had passed while i flew across the ocean!

my time in taipei was long and mostly very quiet. the airport there goes completely dead at night. i found a place all by myself where i could read, sit, and lie down from time-to-time. it was pretty nice, although it felt weird to have no one around. that's kind-of an eerie feeling in a place that is usually bustling. generally, i felt safe and fine, but i didn't enjoy trying to sleep. somehow that was unnerving so i didn't really sleep at all.

since i got to be at the taipei airport for about 10 hours, i went around and took some pictures.

 this was a fun thing to notice. they really like a soda there called "Hey Song Sarsaprilla." this is great because b wrote a song where to talks about sarsaprilla. 

 it's interesting what symbols mean to different groups of people.

 my breakfast this morning. 

 a hello kitty airplane. 

 my favorite orchids i saw in an orchid exhibit in the airport.

sadly, even with my 10+ hour layover in taipei i almost missed my flight to jakarta. i went to the wrong gate (there was another 9am flight for jakarta!). but i ran--really ran--across the airport and got to the gate after everyone had loaded. they actually were a little late taking off because of me. but, of man, am i glad i made my flight. i was so nervous running through the airport. 

the flight to jakarta was pretty uneventful too. i slept through it, which was needed and helped it go quickly. going through customs was a huge pain, but i finally made it through and there was b waiting for me. 

we got my stuff to the hotel and then went out. b showed me the neighborhood and then we went to a huge mall and had really good sate and ketoprak, which was a noodle dish with bean sprouts and peanut sauce. then they had these little rice cucumbers (sticky rice held together in what looked like a cucumber slice) that were so good too. it was heavenly. 

jakarta is a hot and sweaty place, but it's so cool to be here with b!