Maybe in Oz

A couple weeks ago I went back up to Jakarta for work.  I went for some meetings at the beginning of the week but ended up going to the Indonesia Petroleum Association Convention while I was there.  There were a lot of booths from some of the big multi-national oil and gas companies as well as a mix of more local companies.  The booths all had one thing in common - booth girls.  They all hired 18 year old girls to wear tight outfits (with shoulders covered of course, you have to keep *some* level of modesty in Indonesia) and high heels and they passed out brochures and literature.  I'm used to industrial trade shows wear there are the token women in similar outfits, but I think the thing that set this apart was how young they all were, and how obvious was that they were they solely to pass out flyers (and look at I suppose).  The other thing that struck me is that is 2017.  Surely there's a better way to spend money?   Smokey Jakarta Mo...

A couple weeks ago I went back to Jakarta for work.  The flight up turned out to be quite an interesting one.  I decided to use some points to upgrade and got to sit in the business section.  It was a nice treat to have a seat that reclined in all different directions and to be waited on throughout.  But unfortunately I didn't get to choose my neighbour.  From the minute I sat down he was saying "ay ay ay" really loudly.  He was 78, Egyptian, and just on a different level.  When the meals came out he spilled his first glass of red wine all over.  I handed him my napkin, and he started praying for me and then made me clink glasses with him over the barrier once he got a refill.  Later on, I got up to use the toilet but had to pause when I lifted the lid.  There was something odd at the bottom of the bowl, so I got the flight attendants so I didn't make the situation worse.  My crazy neighbour dude had just been in there and had fall...

A week ago work took me on another adventure through Southeast Asia - Singapore, Jakarta, and Balikpapan.  Seeing how my last Jakarta trip went I was a bit leery of how this trip would turn out, but it fortunately was very uneventful. I first flew to Singapore and got to catch up with a good friend who lives there.  We walked up Mt Faber and enjoyed the views; with the heat and humidity I could not believe how sweaty I got!  Since it was a quick stop I didn't have time to do much else, but it was nice to see her and stretch the legs. The view from Mt Faber  From the other side of Mt Faber Singapore at sun down The next stop was Jakarta.  I could smell the pollution as soon as I got off the plane.  I was glad I had been there before because it made going through the airport by myself and finding my driver less intimidating.  I spent two days there for meetings, and Tuesday night we went to a place called Skye for dinner.  It's 56 fl...

I spent this past week in Jakarta for a work trip.  I figured my recent trip to Bali was probably a basic introduction to the culture there, but knowing that just the city of Jakarta has roughly the same population as the entire country of Australia meant it would be on a very different scale.  I knew that I should probably leave my jewellery at home, that the hotel we were staying at had metal detectors, and that an extra level of caution and awareness would be required on this trip.  But pretty much anything I thought I knew was useless because the trip became so completely unexpected that none of that even mattered. We arrived Monday evening to the busy Jakarta airport, and right away I felt the humidity and smelled that hard to describe but distinct smell of Indonesia.  The sun was starting to set as our driver took us to the hotel, though you couldn't really see it through the solid layer of haze covering the sky.  The traffic was fine on the freeway, but...