After a busy and informative day of meeting with the board members of Indokemika, Timmy, Tyler, and myself had our first weekend in Jakarta ahead of us. Friday night, we headed to Pacific Place, one of over fifty, yes fifty, malls here in Jakarta. Indra, a local around our age, who we were introduced to earlier this week volunteered to drive us to the mall to eat at a delicious pancake restaurant. The restaurant was called Pancious and for those of us missing American food, was extremely inviting. The pancakes ranged from regular pancakes, to pancake burgers and dessert pancakes which were smothered in icecream and fruit. Needless to say, we had dessert for dinner and it was exceptionally delicious.
Saturday morning we took the opportunity to sleep in and elminate any remnants of jet lag. Some of us have had a bit of trouble with that after the 39 hour trip over. Tyler and I took the short ten minute walk to Plaza Semanggi, a mall close to our apartment, to find some lunch and do a little shopping. To my surprise, Tyler made more purchases than I did. We found a cool outdoor area on the tenth floor of the mall that had a number of restaurants and bars. We picked one and order barbeque chicken nachos and chicken fingers rolled in almonds. Surprisingly, the food here is much cheaper than food in America. Most food ranges from two to six dollars and drinks are usually under one dollar. We had a great view of the city from the rooftop. After our walk back to the apartment, we met up with Timmy at the apartment pool.
Saturday night we made the hour long ride to another subdivision of Jakarta, Summarecon. There we met with pak (Mr.) Denny, the accountant we work with, at his lovely home. We met his wife and daughter and accompanied them to a mall, Summarecon Mal Superong, to eat dinner, do a little shopping, and listen to some live music. We had dinner at Porka Ribs, where everyone had a nice steak and ribs. The restaurant was in an outdoor area of the mall, along with other restaurants, bakeries, and icecream parlors. The outdoor patio area stretched the long length of the mall and was lit up by overhead chinese lanterns. The atmosphere was lively, colorful, and everyone we have come in contact with has been exceptionally friendly. There were three different stages set up at different areas along the length of the mall. The band we listened to was close to the restaurant we ate at so we had live music while we had dinner. The band was great and we soon learned that Indonesians love American pop music. We heard an array including Katy Perry, Lady Gaga, Kings of Leon, and of course, some Indonesian classics. We all had a good laugh at how some of the words of the American music were changed when sung by the band. For instance, Katy Perry's song, Firework, reads, "Baby, you're a firework" and the band sang it as, "Baby, you're the firework." We listened to music, hung out, and ate iceream with pak Denny and his family for almost six hours and then made the hour ride back to our apartment. Saturday night was a great night for us and really helped introduce us even more to the culture here in Jakarta.
Sunday, the three of us enjoyed a nice day by the pool together. After we were tired of the sun, we walked to the mall and had dinner together at a small coffee shop. Afterward, we grabbed tickets to The Amazing Spiderman, which I would definitely recommend checking out.
Until next time,
-Halee
always enjoy how a "getting to know you" type of event is built around food no matter where you go -- one of our human nature constants. Loved hearing your observation of the band and music -- back in old days of Vietnam we would have bands visit and most were from South Asian countries and the words always came through despite the fact that few if any of the band members knew English -- all by ear and mimic. Enjoying reading about your meals and shopping hope you are getting some interning done (joke).
ReplyDelete