Going to the Local Mall in Jakarta

So on Thursday we finally got our long-term stay visas. Basically this means that we can now go house hunting on our own terms and without an escort. So on Friday we took advantage of this freedom and went out to visit an apartment called Pakubuwono (www.pakubuwono-residence.com). It's one of the nicer high rise apartment complexes in town and a large portion of ExxonMobil expats choose to live there. We did a tour, saw 5 or 6 units, then headed home. On our way home we ask our agent (who is riding in the car with us) where Sheuwen can get her Blackberry "unlocked" (since phones in the US are designed to only work in the US, you have to "unlock" them to get them to work in another country). Our agent, who is a young guy about our age, mentioned that there are not many people in Jakarta that know how to unlock cell phones, but that he has "a guy" that can do it.

He asked if we wanted to go then. We had a few minutes to spare before we had to be back home (Sheuwen's mom was watching Kate), so we said sure, why not? He then told our driver to go to the Ambassador, which turned out to be our first taste of a "local mall". Want a knockoff Coach bag? Go to Ambassador. Want to see Iron Man 2 on DVD? Go to Ambassador. Want to buy the latest Blueberry telephone? (yes, they are called "Blueberry") Go to Ambassador. On the 4th level of the mall was the cell phone section. There must have been 50+ little cell phone boutiques selling used and knockoff cell phones, all crowded and packed together like the Macy's cosmetics section times two. Our guide leads us to one of the many vendors and they start talking in Bahasa, presumably negotiation the cost to unlock Sheuwen's phone. The deal is $12.50 to unlock the phone and it should take about an hour. Okay, sounds good, so we decide to walk around the rest of the Mall.

First thing I noticed was the smell of cigarette smoke in the air. Clearly the indoor smoking ban hasn't made it across the Pacific. I wasn't too interested in shopping as I'm not in the market for perfume, pirated DVD's, or faux jewelry, but we walked around anyway. It only took me about 20 minutes for me to see another white person....not bad! After a few minutes we actually came to a pretty decent food court. They had an array of Indonesian fast food places, including a KFC, and an A&W. We slurpped down a few root beers when our agent got a call that the phone was ready.

We headed back to the cell phone section tested the phone and everything seemed to work just, until Sheuwen asked about the data plan, you know emails, internet, chat, all the things you buy a Blackberry for. The guy behind the counter was like, oh, you wanted a data plan? That will be another half-hour. We debate whether to forget about it and go home, but we decide to forego any chance for this year's "parents of the year" award and stay to get the data plan set up. We decide not to walk around this time, rather we decide to stay at the counter in hopes that it might motivate him to work quicker. It didn't work. 30 mins quickly turned to 45 mins, which turned to 60 mins. Finally, he finished, tested the phone, and we went on our way. Moral of the story? To get something done in Indonesia, it helps to have "a guy", and give yourself twice the amount of time you would expect it to take. There are no Targets, Home Depots, or CVSs.

That's it for this week...enjoy the picture of Kate going for her first swim! Notice the lushness and beauty of the Shangri-La Hotel.

For more pics, go to www.adamandsheuwen.shutterfly.com

Thoughts on first few days

Right now if I could describe our time here in one word, it would be "restriction". Due to the type of visas we have, we are not allowed to leave our hotel without a driver and escort, and it has to be scheduled a day in advance. So getting around has been difficult. Basically our life here has been limited to eating, sleeping, and watching TV. Fortunately the hotel is nice, has good food, and good service, so all in all we're doing well. We should be getting another visa soon that will allow us to explore the city with a little more freedom. But even that will be difficult because from what I've seen Jakarta isn't very "pedestrian friendly". Quite a lot of cars and motorcycles in the streets, and not many sidewalks. Maybe if we get out of the downtown area it will be different...we'll see.

We did get to got out on Saturday afternoon for a couple hours to a nearby shopping mall/grocery store. We didn't buy anything, but I was impressed with the food selection in the grocery store...they had pretty much everything we have in the States. And all very clean. I think this was the "western" grocery store. The shopping mall was also impressive, very high-end and modern...and big. Lots of stores you will see in the US, with a nice import tax thrown in.

The flight over here wasn't too bad. We got to sit in business class with full lay-back seats. So we'd lay Kate down in the seat and she would sleep pretty well, although not for as long as we would like. The last leg from Hong Kong to Jakarta was quite difficult however as she was extremely tired, but wouldn't quite go down. I think we may have been "that couple" on that leg. You know the one with the fussy kid that the parents can't seem to appease. Yep, that was us for the last two hours!

Now jet-lag has hit us right in the face. It's midnight here and I just woke up from a six hour nap. Maybe I'll watch some soccer or BBC. Should be a fun night!

Hopefully next week we can start doing some home searching and get out and see the city a little more. Fortunately I have a lot of really nice and helpful coworkers who have given me some good tips/advice on where to live. So that has been helpful. Actually, my coworkers have given me some good advice in more areas than just housing. For example, we have a nice lady in the office who's full time job is to serve the employees coffee and tea. Yep, she walks around the office all day giving people coffee and tea at their leisure. I could not turn down such a convenient cup of coffee, especially considering the aforementioned jet lag issues. I had a sip and...mmm quite good coffee. Much better than the cup I had to make for myself in our Houston office. Quite a nice treat I thought...I could get used to this. Then my buddy in the next cubical (yes we have cubicals!) cautioned me that the coffee may not be as great a treat as I thought. He went on to tell me about the time he saw the lady "double dip" the stirring spoon. Then he mentioned that he has observed how everybody in the office tends to get sick at the same time. Funny how a little bit of truth can ruin a perfectly good cup of coffee. I had a few more sips and called it good.

Anyway, just wanted to give ya'll a few of my thoughts after the first couple days. Will hopefully write more later, but hopefully it won't be at midnight.

(Picture is view from our hotel room)