It starts well with luxury of Emirates Airlines. A six and a half hour flight over night to Dubai goes smoothly. Delicious food, good wine, comfortable seats and a good selection of films and music. Amelia sleeps through the night and I decide to watch Robin Hood (so disappointing). My ears are delighted by the sound of Arabic-the more I listen the more I start to remember and miss the language. The first blow of hot air quickly reminds us all where we’re going. The Dubai airport is overwhelming. Unimaginable money must have been spent to have it designed, built and operated. Amelia and I cool ourselves on the marble floor while my husband checks out the airport. When he comes back he announces that he’s wiling to move to Dubai and brings me paper with job ads. Tempting, I admit. Maybe one day.
Shortly before boarding I meet this Indonesian woman who turns out to be a coffee exporter to Europe and has been to Warsaw several times. When I tell her I’m going to spend a couple of days in Jakarta and then go to Bali she expresses her disappointment: “there’s nothing to see in Jakarta, really, well maybe except of Taman Mini and Monas Monument. And Bali-hmm it’s OK. But there are more interesting islands”. She then writes something in Indonesian on the back of her business card and tells me to contact her cousin Desi in Bali if I needed any help. Nice touch, I think.
During the next 8 and a half hour flight to Jakarta I drink more red wine and watch romantic Letters to Julia (do recommend, by the way). We’re arriving Jakarta late at night. Total disorientation. Limited and confusing signage, long queues, and this heat. The immigration officer seems to be surprised that we’re going to spend 2 months in Bali (our visas are valid for 2 months and then we need to renew them but we didn’t tell him that). After about 90 minutes we’re leaving the arrivals area. The first thing we see are currency exchange kiosks and people screaming the rates- aggressively promoting their services. We exchange our money from US Dollars to Indonesian Rupiahs. Immediately after that we are stopped by the taxi driver offering us transfer to the hotel. He asks for 380.000 Rupiahs (around $38). I negotiate the price to 250.000. The air feels like one of those hated humid summer days in Chicago that I was not missing at all! I miss Scottish winds already… We’re arriving to the hotel exhausted but relieved. Why on Earth they start the breakfast buffet at 5:30 am and finish at 9:30? We turn the air conditioner on and fall asleep…
Shortly before boarding I meet this Indonesian woman who turns out to be a coffee exporter to Europe and has been to Warsaw several times. When I tell her I’m going to spend a couple of days in Jakarta and then go to Bali she expresses her disappointment: “there’s nothing to see in Jakarta, really, well maybe except of Taman Mini and Monas Monument. And Bali-hmm it’s OK. But there are more interesting islands”. She then writes something in Indonesian on the back of her business card and tells me to contact her cousin Desi in Bali if I needed any help. Nice touch, I think.
During the next 8 and a half hour flight to Jakarta I drink more red wine and watch romantic Letters to Julia (do recommend, by the way). We’re arriving Jakarta late at night. Total disorientation. Limited and confusing signage, long queues, and this heat. The immigration officer seems to be surprised that we’re going to spend 2 months in Bali (our visas are valid for 2 months and then we need to renew them but we didn’t tell him that). After about 90 minutes we’re leaving the arrivals area. The first thing we see are currency exchange kiosks and people screaming the rates- aggressively promoting their services. We exchange our money from US Dollars to Indonesian Rupiahs. Immediately after that we are stopped by the taxi driver offering us transfer to the hotel. He asks for 380.000 Rupiahs (around $38). I negotiate the price to 250.000. The air feels like one of those hated humid summer days in Chicago that I was not missing at all! I miss Scottish winds already… We’re arriving to the hotel exhausted but relieved. Why on Earth they start the breakfast buffet at 5:30 am and finish at 9:30? We turn the air conditioner on and fall asleep…
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