Jakrata

When the plane landed in Jakarta it was the first time that I have entered the southern hemisphere. Some of my family say that I must have been everywhere by now and since I finally have entered the southern half of the world I guess I can finally say I now have been everywhere, I don’t think so.

I had a bit of a surprise when I went to get money in Jakarta and my ATM card had expired. I was able to get money on my credit card and have managed to live on that money until my friend in Holland was able to get me the new card. Thank you so very much for all your help Minh. I found this time a bit stressful since I was not sure on what the cash limit was on the credit card but it all worked out well and I never even had to dip into the emergency cash that I carry with me.

I spent a few days just walking around in Jakrata. Here is a picture of the National Monument, which I enjoyed walking around. I got there an hour prior to it's closing and the line to go to the top was much longer than that so was not able to go to the top.

I spent a day walking around the area of town know as Kota and this was the once the center of Dutch controlled Indonesia. Some of the building looked very Dutch and this is a picture of what is now the puppet museum.

Jakarta did not impress me at all and I was happy to be leaving after a few days. It seemed to me to be the worst of the major cities I have visited on this trip and maybe that I have ever been to. There was trash everywhere and water close to the harbor stank and looked more like oil than water.