The Jakarta So-Called Semi-Jam

1-3 February 2008

AKA The Washout Jam, I never had a really good vibe about this weekend in Jakarta to celebrate Luke's new job in Manila, however I wasn't going to rain on his parade (turned out the gods did that instead), so I gave my commitment along with Hookstarr and Bu La De. Barnaby was a late and ominous addition to the starting line-up and though he didn't add as much value for the team this time, it was, in his own words, "a jam for me".

Our scheduled departure from Changi airport on Friday night was delayed for 6 hours due to heavy rains and flooding in Jakarta, essentially blocking access to and from the airport. I almost pulled out more than once, not excited at the prospect of being stuck in a third world airport, city, or street that had become a river of sewage.

I stuck with it however as the chicken essence had me ready to roll, and we finally took off around 2am, caught a ride at the other end with Arief and his Japanese DJ, and made it to the Somerset serviced apartments exactly 12 hours after leaving the office. If that sounds bad, bear in mind that Barnaby had enjoyed a massive head-start, but arrived at the same time as us after spending 6 hours in a Jakarta taxi, meeting a Javanese sailor and coming into some polio/TB drugs.

Too late and too tired to do anything, we had a wind-down scotch (18 year old Glenlivet - very syrupy) and got to bed at dawn. Saturday was a chill day drinking Heineken by the pool, and we got ready to hit the bars starting with a sports bar named Aphrodite around 7.30pm. Had a good solid meal and a few jugs of Bintang before heading to an empty bar in an office building - thumbs down. The only highlight was the subsequent Red Square - a nice sized bar that was packed with Jakarta party people and decent tunes. Things had potential to turn into a jam from there but the rain came in and blocked our access to Embassy, where the Japanese DJ was spinning. We drove around through the floods back to a bar right across the street from where we started, X2, and it was a massive generic dance club that didn't do anything for me.

Brad and I left at that point and had some civilised nightcaps back at the apartment before getting some decent sleep. The next day saw a lovely brunch at Le Meridien, a foot massage across the street, and successfully escaping the world's largest Muslim nation with no hangover, no robberies and no sign of a real jam.