Jakarta, Java

Just a short flight over green Java (where we spotted a large volcano and crater from the air, possibly Mount Bromo) before we descended into the smog filled capital Jakarta. Even from the air it's hard to see where this vast city starts and ends. The ridiculously low government-subsidised price of petrol shed some light on the immense traffic that filled every street we travelled through. Traffic which in fact started in the airport carpark where initially we thought we were stuck - double parked. Our driver however seemed unperturbed and wasted no time simply pushing the other car (purposely left in neutral with the hand brake off) out of his way.

Motorised Rickshaw (Bajaj), Jakarta, Indonesia

We soon discovered we had booked our accommodation in the older part of the city. And exploring on foot was not going to be our best option. Especially with temperatures averaging upwards of 35 degrees. The streets were littered and colourful, often winding along polluted rivers. Endless food carts, fruit, vege and chicken stalls with stray cats scavenging. The locals stared at us with surprise and intrigue as soon as we stepped out of our hotel, proud calls of "Miss" and "Hello Mister". Our meagre Bahasa vocabulary resulted in mostly gestured transactions followed by "Terima Kasih".

We spent a lot of our time exploring the local malls. Which ranged from cheap street type stalls jam packed into multilevel buildings to Mal Taman Anggrek - Indonesia's largest mall. This was a lot fancier with just about every European brand available. As well as a large indoor ice rink!

Mal Taman Anngrek, Jakarta, Indonesia

Along with an overload of fresh fruit, our diet quickly transitioned to very hot chilli! Our favorite meals included ca kangkung (spiced spinach), rendang (coconut stewed beef) and pandan cakes. We also spotted live cobra and durian on offer.

After our week in the city our road crossing skills were significantly improved.

Time to leave Indonesia and head to Malaysian Borneo, chasing our dream of conquering Mount Kinabalu!!