Today was mostly a travel day. After spending three very pampered nights in Jakarta, it was time for us to travel to Yogyakarta where we will be spending the remainder of our assignment.
We headed to the airport first thing in the morning. Several of us were worried about our overweight luggage as different websites I found listed very different (and very expensive) prices per kilogram over weight. Jean, one of our group leaders from ABV, must have worked her magic as we were not charged. Too bad Jean will not be with me when I travel to Thailand in March!
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| Shannon, Alberto, Rosa, Nicole, Daniel, and Claudia - lots of bags at the Yogyakarta airport! |
Our flight ended up being a bit delayed, but we arrived in Yogyakarta mid-afternoon. H-U-M-I-D was the word of the day. I definitely noticed a huge humidity difference between Jakarta and Yogyakarta. I thought Jakarta humidity was on the higher-end of what I could tolerate.... then I landed in Yogyakarta where it hit me being 10X more humid. This will definitely take some getting used to.
We got settled into our new home, the
Jambuluwuk Hotel. It's near the center of town and located close to the popular Malioboro Street where where there are a lot of shops. The CSC leadership team had been mentally preparing us for a hotel "not business class" but I was pleasantly surprised. The rooms are relatively clean, with a decent bathroom, Western toilet, refrigerator, and closet. I was also able to get a non-smoking room that miraculously doesn't smell like smoke (contrary to our hotel in Turkey where there was an ashtray on the table of our non-smoking room.)
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| My hotel room at the Jambuluwuk Hotel |
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| There is a beautiful garden right outside my hotel room door |
After we got settled in, our ABV team held a briefing for us to discuss the logistics about our time here - some history about Indonesia, practical safety tips, laundry, and getting to/from our client sites. We also met our interpreter, who seems wonderful and very eager to help us. After our briefing, Waya recommended a local restaurant - there was a lot of food laid out and you pointed to what you wanted. 12 of us ate for a total of $50, and the food was really good. I'm still being careful about what I am eating/not eating, and Waya has been helpful to point out things we should definitely stay away from. I've been religiously taking some probiotics to help my stomach adapt to the local flavors - so far so good!
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