So I randomly got offered a job by one of Todd's buddies, Wayne, who is the director of the Oceanic Society to lead a snorkel cruise to Raja Ampat, Indonesia. It's a super fancy cruise for people interested in conservation. It cost $7,000 for the cheapest bed on the boat tour and doesn't include airfare. That's crazy to me!
11/4
Left Wayne and Linda's in Jax at 4am and flew to Dallas. From Dallas I flew on American airlines to Tokyo's Narita airport. It was the worst and oldest plane I have been on in a long time. It was so old it still had cigarette ash trays and those old school controllers for the video screen with the phone on the back. The screen was super tiny and you didn't have the option to pause and start the movies whenever. I guess we've gotten spoiled with the new fancy touch screens. Not the thing you'd want for a nearly 14 hour flight, but at least they did have movies. So I watched some movies and also worked on some of the lectures I'd be giving. Luckily the food wasn't too bad and they had some tasty Japanese beer and sake on board
11/5
Arrived into Tokyo. The tokyo airport is so nice and fancy. I had some Ramen for dinner (or whatever time it was) b/c I love Japanese Ramen. It wasn't as good as the Ramen shops in Tokyo, but still pretty good. I think the Japanese are some of my favorite people. They are just so courteous and respectful. I love how they are always bowing to you. Even security is pleasant to go through. My flight to Jakarta was on Japan airlines and the flight attendants on JAL are just so much nicer than any we have. This airplane was very fancy and besides the meal they kept coming by to give us green tea, japanese wine, and miso soup. They also gave us yummy haagan dazs icecream
11/6
Arrived into Jakarta bright and early (12:30am). They are no longer requiring Americans to pay for visas, which is nice. They told me it's b/c US/Indo relationships have improved a lot since I was last here. I caught my shuttle to the Sheraton Bandera, which is an insanely fancy hotel. It definitely goes down as one of the fanciest hotels I've stayed in. I met with one of the guests when I got to the hotel and then I went to my room to try and catch some shut eye. The room has one of those fancy toilets that cleans your behind after going to the bathroom. Not as fancy as the japanese ones that have all the settings of heat and pressure, but still pretty fancy. I was able to sleep a little bit, but not great b/c I was anxious/excited.
In the morning I looked out of my room and I had a view of the bay. I went to the buffet breakfast, and it was fantastic. They had indonesian breakfast, chinese breakfast, different meat and noodle dishes with good sauces, tasty indonesian meatball soup, an omelette bar, sushi, some good fruits I remember that we can't really get in the US (dragon fruit, snake fruit). They had beef bacon and various sausages, fancy cheeses, and of course lots of sweet pasty and yoghurt things. They had fresh squeezed guava and other juices and also a juicer to make your own juice in addition to smoothies. I definitely stuffed myself.
I hosted a meeting for 4 of the other guests after lunch and then worked more on my lectures. In the afternoon I walked around the grounds which are pretty amazing. They did an amazing job with flowers and they have fountains all over, some with fish. Inside the hotel is also really fancy with several restaurants, huge lobbies, fancy computers (with free printing), and lots of statues and art from Bali and from the Brobodur era. They had 3 swimming pools, a swim up bar, and lounge chairs overlooking the bay. I went for a long dip in the pool b/c it was so absolutely warm. Was like bath water. My mom would have loved it.
All the workers around the hotel are so super friendly, and I feel it's genuine and not just b/c they are at a fancy hotel. I have a feeling of embarrassment b/c I am not used to traveling like this and the amount of money things cost at this hotel is almost inconceivable to the average Indonesian. The room is $250 per night and breakfast was 240,000 rupiah (about 18 dollars). But the place is just so fancy and I just can't even imagine what the workers here thing b/c I know the kinds of places they go home to. The last time I was in Jakarta I spent $3 on a dumpy room, so this is quite the step up. B/c the exchange rate here is $1=13,500 rupiah, I am a millionaire here. That's pretty cool to see on my bank statement. But the crazy thing is I'm still quite far away from being a billionaire, so that tells you just how rich some of these people (like Trump are) to think I still am not even a billionaire in a country where 1 dollar is worth over 13,000.
It's a bit smokey here from the fires in Borneo. If you haven't heard about them, look it up. It's a huge tragedy and environmental disaster
They had a buffet for dinner but I was just too full from breakfast, even though I didn't eat lunch to think about it, so I went to their other restaurant where I just ordered a traditional beef dish, which was very yummy!
11/4
Left Wayne and Linda's in Jax at 4am and flew to Dallas. From Dallas I flew on American airlines to Tokyo's Narita airport. It was the worst and oldest plane I have been on in a long time. It was so old it still had cigarette ash trays and those old school controllers for the video screen with the phone on the back. The screen was super tiny and you didn't have the option to pause and start the movies whenever. I guess we've gotten spoiled with the new fancy touch screens. Not the thing you'd want for a nearly 14 hour flight, but at least they did have movies. So I watched some movies and also worked on some of the lectures I'd be giving. Luckily the food wasn't too bad and they had some tasty Japanese beer and sake on board
11/5
Arrived into Tokyo. The tokyo airport is so nice and fancy. I had some Ramen for dinner (or whatever time it was) b/c I love Japanese Ramen. It wasn't as good as the Ramen shops in Tokyo, but still pretty good. I think the Japanese are some of my favorite people. They are just so courteous and respectful. I love how they are always bowing to you. Even security is pleasant to go through. My flight to Jakarta was on Japan airlines and the flight attendants on JAL are just so much nicer than any we have. This airplane was very fancy and besides the meal they kept coming by to give us green tea, japanese wine, and miso soup. They also gave us yummy haagan dazs icecream
11/6
Arrived into Jakarta bright and early (12:30am). They are no longer requiring Americans to pay for visas, which is nice. They told me it's b/c US/Indo relationships have improved a lot since I was last here. I caught my shuttle to the Sheraton Bandera, which is an insanely fancy hotel. It definitely goes down as one of the fanciest hotels I've stayed in. I met with one of the guests when I got to the hotel and then I went to my room to try and catch some shut eye. The room has one of those fancy toilets that cleans your behind after going to the bathroom. Not as fancy as the japanese ones that have all the settings of heat and pressure, but still pretty fancy. I was able to sleep a little bit, but not great b/c I was anxious/excited.
In the morning I looked out of my room and I had a view of the bay. I went to the buffet breakfast, and it was fantastic. They had indonesian breakfast, chinese breakfast, different meat and noodle dishes with good sauces, tasty indonesian meatball soup, an omelette bar, sushi, some good fruits I remember that we can't really get in the US (dragon fruit, snake fruit). They had beef bacon and various sausages, fancy cheeses, and of course lots of sweet pasty and yoghurt things. They had fresh squeezed guava and other juices and also a juicer to make your own juice in addition to smoothies. I definitely stuffed myself.
I hosted a meeting for 4 of the other guests after lunch and then worked more on my lectures. In the afternoon I walked around the grounds which are pretty amazing. They did an amazing job with flowers and they have fountains all over, some with fish. Inside the hotel is also really fancy with several restaurants, huge lobbies, fancy computers (with free printing), and lots of statues and art from Bali and from the Brobodur era. They had 3 swimming pools, a swim up bar, and lounge chairs overlooking the bay. I went for a long dip in the pool b/c it was so absolutely warm. Was like bath water. My mom would have loved it.
All the workers around the hotel are so super friendly, and I feel it's genuine and not just b/c they are at a fancy hotel. I have a feeling of embarrassment b/c I am not used to traveling like this and the amount of money things cost at this hotel is almost inconceivable to the average Indonesian. The room is $250 per night and breakfast was 240,000 rupiah (about 18 dollars). But the place is just so fancy and I just can't even imagine what the workers here thing b/c I know the kinds of places they go home to. The last time I was in Jakarta I spent $3 on a dumpy room, so this is quite the step up. B/c the exchange rate here is $1=13,500 rupiah, I am a millionaire here. That's pretty cool to see on my bank statement. But the crazy thing is I'm still quite far away from being a billionaire, so that tells you just how rich some of these people (like Trump are) to think I still am not even a billionaire in a country where 1 dollar is worth over 13,000.
It's a bit smokey here from the fires in Borneo. If you haven't heard about them, look it up. It's a huge tragedy and environmental disaster
They had a buffet for dinner but I was just too full from breakfast, even though I didn't eat lunch to think about it, so I went to their other restaurant where I just ordered a traditional beef dish, which was very yummy!
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