took the earliest flight to jakarta indonesia via philippine airlines! lookie the wheelchair marathon NAIA is trying to pull off as we wait for our gate to be open!
we had a 20min stop over at singapore though. you know, even if i had only spent 20mins in changi airport, i missed singapore! it's like... the only asian country which is 1st world! i dont imagine myself in india or in cambodia having free internet in the airport. honestly, not that im discriminating. nevertheless, i never realized i'd miss singapore AT ALL. my friends would always invite me to go there, and i would always decline thinking the place would just never become funner. i wouldnt know if singapore's much better now that it has universal studio, all i know is that i miss singapore lah! l!OL
after i got off the plane and went through customs and immigration in jakarta, i got a bit lost. my friend's supposed to wait for me in the arrival area but he's LATE! indonesians dont really speak english, even if theyre already working in airports... so i just gave my friend a call to pick me up at the exit area. we both dont know where i am exactly so i had to ask some security guard to talk to him in bahasa. the guard passed the phone to this phoeny looking guy. i got worried as he looked like some untrustworthy person but i had no choice but to lend him my phone anymore as the security guard deliberately passed it to him! after he gave instructions to my friend, i asked where the money changer is. i didnt expect him to follow me, but he did. i felt so uncomfortable even if he's just sitting in the lounge area "waiting" for me. after changing my USD to IDR, i went outside where everyone is. i thought that if this guy harms me, at least lots of people will be able to see it! anyway, when my friend finally arrived, the guy immediately approached my friend and started talking bahasa to him. i obviously didnt understand them but i had a hunch that he's into something bad. AND THEN i saw my friend getting cash from his wallet to give the phoeny looking guy. apparently he is a "police"... and he asked some tip for cigarettes from my friend because "he took care of me". i dont wanna comment about this anymore. please!
my friend took me then to this delicious vegetarian restaurant where we ate mock fish, mock chicken, mock tempura and vegetarian mie goreng!! i just had to try the mie goreng, after eating all those instant mie gorengs in beijing... i know i HAVE to eat the real thing, at least the vegetarian one! L!OL my friend got a bit lost going to the city... he kinda missed some turns so it took us a while to get to the mall. but you know, it was worth it!! the grand indonesia shopping center is just the bomb! it is wayyyyyy better than any mall in manila, and it's one notch higher than the biggest shopping mall in hong kong! i swear i can just live in that place!
lastly, my friend dropped me off the hotel where i had my dad's secretary book for me! our flight to bali the next day is at 6am, so we really have to get some rest early. i had him stay in the other half of my room's twin bed so that he wont have to take the taxi to my hotel anymore early in the morning.
