p a s s i o n + r e a s o n

I am currenty on holidays in Indonesia, following a fun, stressful, joyful, difficult, and an overall busy two weeks of visits from friends (Craig followed by Matt), our housewarming (aka houseburning) party (with its requisite prep and clean-up), photo shooting craze (with Matt), a successful photo exhibit (at our housewarming party), packing for Indonesia, and a stressful week of preparing my end-of-contract report (which is some 16 pages long) amidst all the activities. This was an incredible mish-mash of emotions and people. As I'm alive, I'm obviously stronger.

Flying the 8 am flight to Jakarta meant waking at 5am - a considerable feat considering my amazing waking skills (or lack thereof). Most people slept through for most of the three hour flight. Unfortunately Indonesia has just implemented a new visa scheme for most western countries. It costs me $25 USD extra to visit now (check the visa requirements online). After waiting in the long immigration lines, some people who were unaware of the visa requirements and were sent back to get their visas (at the visa-on-arrival booths) by the immigration officer.

Speaking of visa goofiness - I didn't realize I had overstayed my Thai visa. My overstay was 4 days - something I realized when I was standing in the outgoing immigration line. After showing the officer at the overstay office my new Type "F" visa (for government official business) which UNESCO procured for me, he signed me off and let me proceed. I'm not even sure if I had enough Thai Baht to pay for my overstay, if I had been charged for the overstay.

Indonesia - Saturday:
My cousin Martin picks me up at the airport. We go to his friend's wedding - we do the Indonesian-wedding-thing (aka eat-then-greet or greet-then-eat) then leave. Jakarta traffic is hell. After taking many detours, we dropped off some of Martin's work at an obscure neighbourhood. We then met up with Leticia, her friend Marvin and Vicky (a Thai-Chinese expat working in Jakarta) for dinner at the posh Cilantro (read the review). We ate, chatted, took photos, ate, chatted... for a good couple of hours. It was great meeting up with Leticia again - I won't forget that the first time we met she cut me up in Bahasa Indonesia, leaving me gasping trying to find comebacks unsuccessfully.

Sunday: up for church at JICF. A motorcycle was driven up to the front after the closing prayer. Twisted Leticia's arm to come to lunch with us (Vicky was better behaved). We meet up with my aunt Lydia, her friend Sarah, aunt Grace and her husband Daniel at Chamoe-Chamoe, which serves up some lip-smacking Manado food (which is in north Sulawesi). The food arrives as we arrive, we eat, finish eating within an hour! Then we split up to go to Plaza Indonesia to nong-krong (chat, hang out) at gelato bar in the hip, new EX extension of the mall. We head back as food coma starts setting in. Drop off Vicky then Leticia, then off to my Uncle David's. Take photos of babies and l'il un's, dinner at Indah Kuring, then back to Kelapa Gading for some sleep - but not before watching some TV, killing some 20 mosquitoes, and tripping the circuit breaker.

Oh yeah, if anyone wants to get in touch with me, my mobile number here is: +62 852 161 29937. SMS away - or better yet, call me!

The photos:
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