Having been really proud of myself for managing to go to the station in Yogya and buy a ticket to Jakarta all by myself, I was taken down a peg or two when it came to actually catching the train. I got in the carriage marked 'Executif 2', the one I needed, only to find someone in my seat - when I asked the guard whether I should get them to move or just sit somewhere else, and he told me that I was actually in 'Executif 6' and that I needed to be 4 carriages down. Well, of course. So I waddled down the moving train with my backpack, attracting many a stare as I was pretty much the only Western person on the train, and finally got to my seat after only nearly falling over 2 times. Result. The night train was actually pretty comfy, although not exactly conducive to sleeping thanks to the food and drinks salespeople who yelled 'kafe', 'nasi goreng' through the doors everytime the train stopped. It quite quickly became the Most Annoying Noise In The World Ever, and left me wishing, not for the first time, that a) my earplugs weren't packed away in the bottom of my bag, and b) I wasn't too lazy to try to dig them out.

Despite the lack of ZZZs, I was surprisingly awake when I arrived in Jakarta at 7am, and yay, look - there's Matthew come to meet me! Those who know him maybe be interested to know that Matthew has a very nice apartment, with a swimming pool, a private elevator and a maid. Nice. But enough about his place, on to the sights... of which there weren't many! The first stop was Monas (sp?), a tower in a big park with a golden flame on top. We got the lift (thankfully!) to the top to enjoy the views, where we were interviewed by and had our photos taken with more groups of school children. After that the tour consisted of hopping from taxi to cafe to market to taxi, to old town (batavia kota) to bus to home for a power nap! Jakarta's night life seems to revolve around fancy bars and restaurants (or maybe that's just the company Matthew keeps!), and I enjoyed an evening of excellent food and good - if expensive - wine, and got to meet a few of his friends, all of whom were lovely - one even said she'd arrange for me to have a free massage and spa treatment at the Ritz-Carlton where she works.

The next day we hit Bogor to visit the botanical gardens. Letting the train take the strain was an error, as we were delayed for two hours on the way there, and one on the way back. Still, the gardens themselves were very pretty, with apparently 1,500 species of plant (although we didn't count) and lots of ponds and water features with enormous waterlillies. Didn't see much in the way of wildlife, aside from dragonflies, birds and a big swimming lizard thing, but we heard some of the most deafening insects I've ever heard, they sounded like intermittent car alarms and someone sawing through metal - delightful! The orchid house apparently has 3,000 species of orchid, but it was closed when we got there, so I just peeked through the fence instead.

I can see why Jakarta's not exactly a number one tourist destination, but I enjoyed myself there - thanks to Matthew for being a great host! Oh, and the free spa treatment was excellent and set me up nicely for the flight to Oz - I was very excited about my final destination, and couldn't quite believe I was going! I'll report back on whether it lives up to expectations soon!

Lots of love, Kim xx