Dukuh Patra, Kuningan

Our trip from Canberra to Jakarta started in panic when the booked taxi failed to show up. We eventually hailed a taxi going by, but it was too small for our many many bags. The wonderful security guard at the apartment took pity on us and personally drove the other half of us and our luggage to the airport. The flights went well, we enjoyed business class lounges (the teenagers tried to eat all their danishes but they kept bringing more) and business class flights. We arrived full of food and fairly refreshed to Jakarta. After a long wait for our bags we were picked up by a colleague of Alison and a fleet of SUVs (one for the many bags and one for us) and taken through the chaos of the streets to our new home.

Our new home is in a South Jakarta not too far from the embassy. It’s a big house with marble floors throughout. The house is slightly faded at the edges and the kitchen is quite small, but all the other rooms are large white rooms with tall ceilings and lots of air-conditioning. The yard is pretty much just the nice large pool surrounded by tropical plants against the enormous walls topped with razor wire. We have our own security card who sits in the garage and opens the gate. Once we get our stuff it will look a bit less like in 5 star prison.

So far it has been warm but not too humid and we have had significantly more blue sky than I expected and hardly any rain. Not sure yet whether my expectations were pessimistic or we have just had a good patch.