Helo from Indo

I had to laugh when I asked the host at our hostel how to say hello in Indonesian and she responded, helo. Spelt with only one l. Indonesia has a huge dutch influence and if you've ever heard someone speak dutch it sounds a lot like english. Same goes for those speaking in Indonesian, you feel like you can understand what their saying although you can't. 

After a very very long flight from Honolulu, Hawaii, we finally arrived in Indonesia. We got to our hostel around 2 am and quickly discovered that we had chosen a great place to spend five days. Six Degrees Backpackers hostel is the name and I would recommend it to anyone coming to Jakarta. The common area is always bustling with backpackers looking to meet new people, the dorm rooms are clean and they make great food with no MSG. 

I was showing Mike a shark attack video and our roomate thought "the married couple was cute" and she felt it was a good opportunity for a photo haha so we smiled for the camera. 

            

One of our first indonesian meals at our hostel. It cost us $2.60 US. 

                       

This one was $3 US. The cook warned me that it was it was a bit spicy.. hilarious.. it was dragon fire breathing spicy and that was according to Mike but still delicious.

                       

Day 15/16- Our first day here we were so jet lagged that we just hung out at the hostel for the day. It is 33 degrees outside and air conditioned inside, which makes it very easy to stay indoors. This night we succumbed to our tiredness and went to bed at 7pm..... and woke up at 3am. Wide awake. So I facetimed my family and emailed around indo to make plans for the next 5 weeks. Mike was involved in a very important and serious matter. A matter that required his complete attention for the livelihood of our family! A matter that makes the phrase "it matters", matter... I am of course referring to the four hour affair that was his fantasy football draft! This is "The Year".  :) 

We figured if there was any chance our sleep schedule was going to return to normal, we would have to stay awake until that evening. So we went to the mall. The greatest mall we have every seen. Better than any of the malls in Vegas. It is called Grand Indonesia Mall and grand it is. Eight floors of amazing. We easily spent the next nine hours there. 

Mike almost made headlines as the balloon man of Indonesia. Luckily he didn't go far. 

                          

Mike also got a 40 minute hair cut. It was the most meticulous and precise hair cut I've ever seen.  

                          

Then we went to the movies.... and we sat in the Gold theaters... which was made up of individual couches that reclined with a remote control and blankets to keep you cozy during the show. 

Saw this in the theater and liked what it said.

Day 17- After a normal sleep and a casual breakfast we walked down to the National Monument. It is pretty crazy how much attention we get when walking around the streets here. We are constantly getting honked at. I can tell it's getting to Mike's head as he thinks he is the reason for getting so much attention... although I figure it might have something to do with the fact that 80% of the vehicles on the road are tuk tuks or taksis, who are just hoping we will hear their honk and be their next customer. I don't think I'll mention this to Mike though... he seems to like all of the extra attention.

The monument sits in the center of a beautiful green area that is not covered in garbage like a lot of Jakarta. There was about 5 huge line ups to get into the monument and potentially make it to the top to enjoy the view.. but Mike and I are were not interested enough to wait in the 35 degree heat, so we opted out and went back to the mall. :) No shopping this time, we just enjoyed the aircon and some snacks. 

                     

Mike's first coconut. All to himself. 

                     

Nothing like a good photobooth to capture our many feelings.

                       

                   

Day 18- Things have sure changed a lot since our last backpacking trip through Africa and we're hoping our first week in Indonesia won't speak for the rest of our trip. Typically we don't book anything in advance and we can show up on a hostels front step and have a place to stay. Things have changed. We had heard from someone that we might want to look at booking our next spot because things were booking up. She wasn't lying. We ended up looking into many of activities that we were hoping to accomplish while here and most were booked up. That was today's line of business. We spent most of the morning and early afternoon booking flights and hostels for the next 5 weeks. Sometimes these things can get stressful.. (I'm not complaining) so we figured we needed to treat ourselves to our first massage in Asia. We also took our first tuk tuk of this trip and it was just as fun as we remembered.

And for the massage...by far the worst yet. My lady was super lazy and was literally one handing it. At a few points I thought she actually fell asleep. haha Still can't complain though for a $12 dollar massage. Looking forward to Thailand, their better and cheaper.