SNF: 081016

That morning, my father got me a cab to LCCT to catch my Air Asia flight. When I reached, my point of contact was the radio guys from H.i.t.z. Thereafter, we met the winners 1 by 1... (more on them individually later).

From L to R: Linda (Dancing Queen), Sheikher (Mr. Dan Lain Lain - Super Popular with Girls), Nazrul (Shy Guy), Deborah & Mark (Dynamic Duo), Jin (Hitz Announcer) & Sedek (Mr. Camera Maniac)

Our flight was supposed to depart KL at 1:15pm... but needless to say, it was delayed by about 30min and it only left KL bout 1.45pm... but along with other passengers from the 10am flight also to Jakarta. YES... their flight was delayed for nearly 3 hours!!! And since the number of passengers were increased last minute, there wasn't enough food to feed us poor souls on board... not even cup noodles... All I had was a cup of Milo... :(

Since I just got back from Bali not long ago... I felt a sense of familiarity when I reached Soekarno-Hatta Jakarta International Airport (CGK). (1) I was somewhat taller than the average Indonesian in Jakarta... (2) Signages were in funny sounding words... like how "Tandas" was "Kamar Kecil" and how "Percuma" was "Gratis"... (3) People greet you differently... "Pak" for male and "Ibu / Bu" for female...

The airport... and I thought that traffic would be smooth...

From the airport, we were taken to our hotel to freshen up before dinner. And that... was the start of the traffic nightmares that continued throughout our stay in Jakarta...

Mad jam all around Jakarta. They've got like 70 million carsssss on the road!

We stayed in Aryaduta Hotel Jakarta (which was previously known as Hyatt Aryaduta). It was located in Jalan Prapatan... some 20min away from central Jakarta (without jam) and 90min away (with their standard jam). My room was not too bad... with broadband access somemore...

Aryaduta Hotel (opposite the Farmer's Monument) with super nice BED!

That evening, I skipped dinner with the group and went to our local office instead (more like our sister company in Jakarta). My colleagues in Jakarta were super nice. The minute I touched down in Jakarta, I was informed that they have arranged a driver at my discretion... A driver! Hooohoooooo....

At their office, I was introduced to the Marketing team and was given a quick run down on who does what as well as their product offerings in Jakarta. Not sure if you know this but there are as many as 11 telco brands in Jakarta alone!!!

Thereafter, I was taken to Plaza Senayan to visit their center:

Clean & nice...

I had "nasi goreng" at the food court... partly also cos I had a terrible toothache... not my braces but a real toothache... And then proceeded to take a short walk around Plaza Senayan... which was equivalent with our Pavilion if not more up market. See... even their escalators are cooooool:

Everything here is like super expensive... in millions...

Since my Jakarta colleague; Kiky bought me dinner, I decided to buy him coffee and guess what he ordered? Mocha Jelly! I don't remember seeing the same offering here in KL... but it was kinda cool. Blended ice mocha with jelly at the bottom which cost me 75,000... SEVENTY FIVE THOUSAND for 2 cups of coffee!!! In Rupiah of course... hehehe...

That night, they had an event @ XXX (sorry ar... I can't remember the club's name) and I was asked to go along... The club scene in Jakarta was pretty interesting. My colleague told me that girls in Jakarta spend hours setting their hairs at salon every Friday and Saturday night... apparently, it is a norm for girls there... No wonder they all have hairs like MODELS! See... they even had this red carpet like photo op backdrop... :P

Red carpet...

After 1 lycee martini and ~ 2 hours of screaming and being screamed at (music was too loud for normal conversations to take place thus the screaming)... it was time to to be driven back to the hotel. And that marked the end of my first day in Jakarta, Indonesia.