I’ve just clocked up 3 weeks here, and this weekend was pretty successful in terms of seeing more of Jakarta.

My travel colleague had been pretty loud in the office, claiming the “lock down” situation in the hotel caused him to go insane last weekend. With that in mind, we appear to have scored the sympathy vote and been invited to multiple events! By the end of the weekend I’d been out on Friday evening, Saturday night, Sunday lunch and Sunday dinner!

What a difference a week makes.

I’m really honored that my Indonesian co-workers – some who hadn’t even met me – took my colleague and I out. In general the Indonesians seem to be incredibly hospitable.

I went for lunch at a colleagues house today, catching a taxi to her place. Here’s the meter -

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Best time of the weekend was Saturday night – starting in an Indonesian restaurant which had some of the best fried chicken I’ve ever had. Definitely the nicest food I’ve had here – and four of us ate and drank for $A50 in a pretty classy restaurant. From there we met friends of our host in another restaurant. After a drink we ended up in basement bar, complete with a pretty competent cover band.

We were clearly in with some well known locals, as the entry charge was waived and a prominent table cleared the minute we entered. Drinks amounted to someones private bottle of vodka being produced and served at the table. I’d seen bars which held bottles especially for clients previously – notably in Japan – but this is the first time I’ve ever been served from one! Musically the best part of the evening for me was when a DJ came on a bit later, complemented by a very good percussionist filling in around the songs.

And the worst? When I was staring at something, in my own little world. The female lead singer from the band comes and drapes herself over my shoulder, singing away, spotlight on us both. Didn’t see that one coming and all I could do was smile outwardly – and grimace massively on the inside.