Jakarta is a huge city with all levels of wealth and poverty living next door to each other it seems. From the global high end fashion and beauty brands in the numerous shopping malls, to the biggest textile and clothing market I have ever seen, and finally to the daily flea market outside that where people are selling whatever they have acquired along the way, often to people in a similar position.

Being back in a city it was far easier to find somewhere to get a drink, too was some might say, as our first 2 nights were a bit manic.

On the first night we found a bar close by with a beer garden and live music scheduled but somehow we became entangled with the 44th birthday party for a local lawyer and spent hours watching the proceedings which included what seemed like an Indonesian version of Cannon & Ball performing.

After the randomness of the first night we thought just a couple of drinks at Jaya Pub, Jakarta’s oldest bar, would be a nice quiet option on night two. From the outside the place looks like a shed but as soon as you walk through a door at the top of the stairs there is a packed out bar with a fantastic live band playing requests all night, to the sound of bike horns being tooted at the end of a good track. Arriving at 7.30pm on a Monday, we left after closing at 1am, having sung, danced, met lots of random people and being fed alcohol by Dias, our new Indonesian friend, who was celebrating his birthday and would only buy drinks but not accept them. Hi Dias in case you find this blog.

If you are ever in Jakarta make Jaya Pub a destination.

Chinatown in Jakarta is a full on assault on the senses and once again we were a bit of a novelty when we found ourselves in a food area at the back of an indoor market. As soon as we walked in there were about 8 menus shoved towards us and lots of excited chatter. As normal photos were taken of us by the locals and of the locals by us which caused much giggling amongst them.

The traffic in the narrow streets around Chinatown was insane, particularly the bikes. Everyone can see that a road is blocked but nobody wants to wait so they all try to push through making the problem even worse. I would like to say it is an isolated incident but no, everyone drives like this. The idea of stopping and flashing your lights to let someone through would probably result in bring banned from the roads.

Next stop – Bali