We had to make an intermediate stop in Jakarta due to our flight booking with Garuda. So we left Hong Kong in the morning for a 4 hour flight to this city. The airport was very nice but it was a real mess to get a taxi. A lot of negotiation was necessary. A lot of "friendly" people offered us a ride, which we neglected. Fortunately we got a good brochure in the customs area explaining that one should absolutely insist on a metered ride and that the ride should be around 25 000 IDR. We couldn't find an official taxi queue (very strange to me) but we grabbed a car that looked official. Well, he tried to negotiate 40 000 IDR for the ride without meter. After discussion we agreed to meter fare + 5000 IDR. Since he charged me for the time he filled up gas I didn't pay him the premium I had promised. I think that was fair.
I decided to take us for a real treat by staying here. This is one of the best hotel chains in the world. Since it is based in Indonesia it means you shall always negotiate. I asked for a late check out and the friendly staff gave us a 4 PM check out, more than I usually manage to get.
This is the neighboring building to the hotel as seen from the pool. Jakarta appears to be built like a giant old village (just like Bali!) with a lot of modern skyscrapers, primarily banks (unlike Bali). Appears as the city is over banked.
The pool wasn't bad at all. The White Swan was good, but Shangri-la is better. It was surprisingly cold, I think it was around 22 degrees Celsius. Nice for a place like Jakarta.
Mia by the pool. Time for a drink ?
This is the dizzy view from our hotel room overlooking a temple and the pool. You can also see parts of the old Jakarta village around it.
The other direction where you see a lot of the smaller villages.
Time to leave this nice room. We decided to shoot for the health club which had 4 Jacuzzis and saunas!
After the Health club we sit in the lobby bar to have a drink. This was on the house since we had been offered a different rate for the hotel taxi than it actually cost. Also, when we went out for our taxi it was 30 minutes late. I think it was a good deal to take the hotel taxi although it was more expensive (Hotel taxi IDR 49 000, regular taxi 28 000). Apparently it was impossible to get a taxi at this time of the day and the Jakarta traffic was as bad as Bangkok.
On the way home with Garuda, which was an excellent airline, we got upgraded to business class. Mia really enjoyed this, although she was extremely tired and felt bad.
A favorite, Mia sitting in the Diners club lounge in Frankfurt. I want to be at home!
Finally, now we are at the Diners club lounge in Copenhagen. This trip the Diners card really paid for itself! It is really nice to sit at the lounge rather than to be stuck in a messy airport.
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