So we expected a busy day in Jakarta the capital. I wasn't sure what to expect as we set out, despite having been to a lecture on the subject. I expected noise, hustle and bustle, traffic chaos such as we experienced a decade ago on our visits to Cambodia, Vietnam and many cities in China.
But it all became rather confusing and we saw very little of Jakarta apart from a horrible smog that hung in the air.
When we cruise I enjoy the ports where the boat docks close to a city or town centre so that you can have a look round, return for a spot of lunch and then go out again. I think of Allasunde in Norway which was probably my favourite. We went for a morning walk in the woods, went back to the ship for lunch, spent an hour on the top deck in the hot tub and still had time to do some shopping before the vessel sailed. Numerous places in Alaska and others also spring to mind. Juneau is the capital of Alaska and many cruise ships stop there. We walked back a few blocks from the quay and went to a cafe where they had obviously not seen tourists before. We also visited a Russian Orthodox Church and had a long chat with the minister who had obviously not seen tourists before. Not sure with the current world situation that we would have done that now.
Jakarta didn't come into this category. We booked a free shuttle bus into what we assumed would be the centre. It actually took us to a shopping mall.
This has always been one of the problems with organised tours. They tend to take you places you don't want to go to such as carpet warehouses in Turkey where they give you a cup of sweet tea and try to flog you a carpet or a rug or in one case perfume with the alcohol taken out. We actually bought some and it lasted me for years as, when applied, it became a sticky oily mess in no time at all and the smell was quite horrid. It's strange how certain smells always stay with you. Writing this I can still smell that perfume.
We visited St Petersburg with a two decade gap between visits. On each time we took a coach tour but went to the same tourist shop for free sweet tea. Obviously St Petersburg or Leningrad as it was on our first visit is no longer on the tourist trail.
So the shuttle bus in Jakarta dropped us at a bog standard shopping mall. There was little else to do other than get the shuttle back to the ship. We saw enough of Jakarta, however, to make a mental note not to return.
The problem was that I went to China, Cambodia and Vietnam because I am interested in the history of those countries and expected to see squalor. I have little or no interest in the history of Indonesia and so the dirt and squalor was something I wasn't quite ready for.
It always reminds me of our first (and only) visit to Moscow. We were taken on a coach to the Park of Olympic Achievement. It dripped gold and power. A few hundred yards down the road, people were living in shanty towns. I found this very distressing at the time.
Anyway enough for today. More about our trip tomorrow.