our first day in Jakarta

After we arrived at Le Meridien in Jakarta on Monday (Oct 11) we unpacked, had showers and then lunch!!

 Soon after this we headed to the Plaza Indonesia as we had heard it was a good shopping center. It was as expected and we wandered around for awhile, mainly window shopping. We soon realized that all the stores are the same as in Singapore, all the big names and big prices.

What was missing were the people ...... Singapore is overcrowded with shoppers of every description. You cannot say that about Jakarta. Hardly anyone is shopping, there are a few Caucasians wandering around, but overall a rather quiet shopping mall.

International fashion items may not be at the top of a tourist’s Jakarta shopping list, but expatriates may look at these shopping opportunities differently! If you enjoy window shopping and following fashion trends, you'll enjoy the fashion showcased at Plaza Indonesia, and Plaza Senayan, Senayan City, Grand Indonesia, Pacific Place, Mall of Indonesia, and Pondok Indah 2. Shops offer the latest collections from the fashion capitals of the world to titillate the fancy of well to do Indonesians and expatriates alike.  You can certainly see that there must be many Expats in Jakarta, the supermarket caters for them very well as do all the big name stores.

After an hour of 'wandering around' we went and had a full body massage before heading to the large supermarket for some produce to take back to the hotel for snacking later on.

Photos are not allowed to be taken in any of the shopping malls and all have security personal keeping an eye on you at all times..... so unfortunately, none of the center itself were taken.

But I did manage to get a couple inside the very impressive bathroom of Plaza Indonesia:

 

First off the cubicles are not side by side as 'normal', but rather side on (if you know what I mean) allowing for much more space within the cubicle itself. They are also 'super clean' and I mean super clean. There is a smartly dressed young lady standing at the entrance to the bathroom, she greets you as you walk in. You use the facilities and she immediately goes to the cubicle and cleans everything. As soon as you have finished with the basin and hand dryer, she wipes these over too, then goes back to stand at her 'post' ready to greet the next 'customer'!

Just a reminder that this is in a shopping mall.

We did do some shopping to take some goodies back to the hotel including fruit, bread and crackers. On the way out, what did I see?

Saint Cinnamon ..... wahoooo!!
 
I have not seen, heard of or even tasted a Saint Cinnamon roll since well before leaving Melbourne nearly four years ago. Naturally we had to buy two!!

 

We grabbed a cab to go back to our hotel, arriving there at about 6.00pm.  We found we had to get cabs everywhere we wanted to go ..... apart from the safety aspect it was quicker and easier too.

No one walks in Jakarta, well certainly not the tourists and Caucasians.

The concierge at the hotel warned us not to walk, but to take a cab each time and one particular cab at that, which was the BlueBird Cab Company.

It was good advice for two women traveling alone.

After a good nights sleep we were ready for an adventurous Tuesday.

Stay Tuned!!



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