Welcome to Indonesia!

My second flight was much like the first; the carry-on smuggler game, good seafood, etc, though this one had the cool in-flight entertainment system where each seat had its own tv screen and lots of entertainment choices, though not as many as on Emirates Air (why we got that on the shorter flight and not the longer one is beyond me). We got in just before 1pm and walked off the plane to a blast of humidity and a large sign proclaiming, "Welcome to Indonesia. DEATH PENALTY FOR DRUG TRAFFICKERS!" (emphasis theirs) This message was also on my customs declaration form (guess you shouldn't list the cocaine) and on several other billboards in the airport, some punctuated with an image of a gun, in case you weren't sure of the method of execution. I got through customs pretty easily and made it through the gauntlet to get cash, buy a soda (so I'd have small denominations) and hail a taxi with only having my cart fall over under its own weight once.

I got in to my hotel, Atlet Century Park, after going along a toll road that reminded me I was back in the developing world. Who needs traffic laws? My cabbie did just fine without use of the "lane concept" as painted onto the road.

The hotel is in relatively swanky southwest Jakarta, near a couple malls, an FX "fun bureau" which has an unclear purpose to me or Andy (it's not as obviously prostitution as it sounds), a 24-hour McDonald's drive-thru, a KFC, a Starbucks, a Cold Stone Creamery (!) and several other Western stores. Across the street from the hotel is mini golf and the hotel has a nice pool and rec area. The malls are mostly electronics stores (including an Apple store). Cool phones are pretty cheap here. Of course, the sidewalks, where they exist, often have huge holes in them leading down into sewage and other reminders we're not in Kansas anymore. As a biologist, so, so far I've seen on the streets: a young macaque in a vest riding a skateboard, 3 urban free-range goats, 2 stray dogs and 1 very skinny pregnant cat.

Yesterday I went to government offices. I should point out here that the cabbies not only don't speak English (most of them at least don't) but also tend not to know where they're going. Printed addresses + pointing on a map help, but they still usually have to triangulate and ask for directions several times. I have gotten to see a lot of Jakarta though.

Anyway, I started at the foreign researcher coordination group (RISTEK) from where they sent me with paperwork to a couple other places. I will try to blog about the Immigration Ministry and last night shortly, but now I have to go to breakfast.