Indonesia Part Two

Well lucky, lucky me... I am able to return to this wonderful country... This time I am in the city of Jakarta. You may recall on my previous visit I flew into and drove through Jakarta on my way to Bandung. This time I am about 1/2 hour commute from the airport in what the locals refer to as North Jakarta.

The hotel was built early in the last century, my room has a marble entry, 18 ft ceilings with beautiful 8" cove moldings... it is very traditional... I am on the 17th floor though the echo of traffic sounds like i am on the first floor.

There is a wonderful bonus at this property they have a Thai restaurant... an authentic Thai restaurant... I know you thought I would be sick of Thai - Never!

The staff of the hotel is terrific...

Last Thursday was Indonesia's independance day (from the Dutch in 1945) they invited me to a traditional flag raising ceremony (at 6:30am) which of course I attended... didnt understand a single word that was said but could see in their faces the pride and heartfelt emotion of the event.

After the formality of the ceremony... it was time for fun and games...

there were sack races (and these people are tough not on the grass but on a tennis court) man this one guy wiped out and chin skinned pavement *uncomfortable laugh* it looked so painful...

there was a waiters challenge - a race with a full glass of water the objective do not spill... quite entertaining as most participants were obviously not waiters.

a cake eating contest... i spoke with the pastry chef who confided that cake contained no eggs and challengers were permitted no beverage during the contest... i got dry mouth just watching LOL

the final event of the day... the 'black box' cook off... each contestant is given a box, the ingedients in all boxes are the same... the timer starts and using the ingredients in the box they have 15 minutes to prepare a 'gourmet' meal...

it was entertaining to watch... some could not crack and egg and spent a fair amount of time trying to pick out egg shells, others did the bob and weave as splatters flew from the fry pan...

I should mention that I was offered the opportunity to particpate in any and all of these events. I declined, but took lots of pictures.

so the race was on for the title of best chef... There were in total 6 cooking teams, as each finished their 'piece de resistance' it was placed on a banquet table... a few looked quite good... others - oh my not so good!

As I blended into the background taking pictures... not understanding a single word spoken -suddenly all eyes were on me... the conversation turned to english... Carol you are the judge... yikes this is not what I want ah, no thank you i said politely with a smile... we insist said the gm... trying to be a good sport i became the cooking contest judge.

Now this hotel employs over 300 staff members 200 of which dont speak english... so in performing my judgely duties, I had to rely greatly on facial expression to convey the results... remember earlier i said some of them didnt look that good trust me didnt taste that good either.

All in all it was a very nice day... Everyone is so friendly...