Arrival in Jakarta

It was an easy 90 minute flight from Kuala Lumpur to Jakarta.  It was a hard 2 hours, 30 minutes to exit the airport. Jakarta has a Visa upon arrival program. You get off the plane and stand in a line. Yesterday that line was 47 minutes. People around me said it was the worst they had ever seen the line but others said this was normal. After that, you get to stand in line for another 60 minutes to get stamped in. That was one jostling, queue cutting, stressed out mob. One immigration agent would process 4 people to another's one, and the lines would jump and shift.


Once inside baggage claim it was time to hunt for where your luggage had been placed since it had been sitting around for a good 90 minutes waiting for you to show up. Then, a 20 minute line to get out and have your bags screened.  When you're this late, of course the hotel pickup is behind schedule and there's the scramble to find a car. 3 hours after arrival I was finally in my room with a deceptively nice night view.

And the reality of the cold morning light. This traffic circle is going to be my life for the next two weeks as I walk from the hotel to the building across the street. Cars are going 24/7, horns are honking 22/7, yet it is still 1000 times quieter than the all night construction in Singapore so I was able to sleep.