Return to Jakarta

Time to resuscitate this blog if for no other reason than to announce that I'm not ready to withdraw completely from the blogosphere. As a complete aside I must comment on how pathetic the spell checker is on Blogger. It flags "blog", "blogosphere" and "Blogger" as spelling mistakes. Anyhow, I figure that my temporary return to Jakarta after six months warrants a fresh post. Let's begin with my arrival.

I came in on a 30 day tourist visa and consequently had to line up in a very slow-moving queue, firstly to pay for the visa (US$25) at one window and then to acquire the visa at another. While I hesitated to join the queue, a little man approached me offering to help me bypass the queue entirely. I ignored his kind offer but, for a price, I surmise that he would have taken me directly to a person behind one of the counters. Welcome to Jakarta. I knew I was home.

Having joined the queue, I waited, and waited, as the people ahead of me paid their money at one of the three open windows. At last there was only a young couple ahead of me and, when it was their turn, they moved to the nearest open window. However, by the time they reached it, the surly young man behind it had put up a closed sign and snapped at them when they approached the window, having failed to notice the flip from open to closed. He then got up and stretched his legs. Service with a snarl. Now there were only two open windows to service the snaking queue. It was clear that I wasn't in Shanghai any longer.

However, enough of the negativity. On a positive note, I am now able to appreciate the "quietness" of Jakarta traffic as compared to the insanity of Shanghai with its incessant blaring of super-charged horns. Of course, the traffic jams can be horrific in Jakarta but at least the drivers don't resort to mindless, incessant and utterly futile use of their vehicles' horns. Additionally, my local McDonalds now has a special coffee section that also serves up excellent coffee and offers a selection of pastries as well. I am deeply impressed but best of all I can now access Facebook, Blogger, Twitter, YouTube etc. without the need for a VPN. I have left the Great Firewall of China far behind me.