Jakarta #1

On my birthday, our schedule planners put me on one of the easiest and most satisfying flights at all. Jakarta flights are usually full of tourists who are going to Bali island for vacation or the Arabs looking for the housekeepers, or the Indonesians themselves, who return home from a pilgrimage route to Makkah and Medina. Indonesia is again a Muslim country, but very friendly and peaceful. After two “turnarounds” to India (so we call short trips back and forth, without a layover – a break in a destination), I am totally exhausted. Anyway it‘s a deep night in Jakarta. In the morning, with my Hungarian colleague Emoke, we are going for a traditional Indonesian breakfast in the streets. In the small street stall we choose Nashi Goreng (fried spicy rice with egg, vegetables and shrimps) and chicken satay on the stick with a special rice cake or bread, I’m not quite sure. Emoke buys fruits I have never seen before. Their exotic names I did not save in my memory, but their taste I did. After a short walk through the bustling, noisy, dirty and quite poor city, we choose to have a massage in the famous Indonesian spa Marta Tilaar. The building looks pretty raffish in the backyard and it is also far from the hotel’s luxury wellness centers, which we are used to at home. The interior is very simple, in the middle there is a fountain with a bored tortoise inhabitant. The rooms seem to be clean, the atmosphere is authentic and the massage is amazing. A complete package of 3-hours cure for my body and face did not cost me more than 50 euros. The rest of the day we spend at the hotel’s pool with coloring books. We need to save some energy for the next month and flights to bustling Bangkok, fashionable Milan, romantic Istanbul or pulsing Melbourne…