Jakarta, Indonesia

I was privileged to be part of an official business trip to Jakarta, Indonesia.

Malay (the language in Malaysia) and Bahasa (language in Indonesia) are also similar in context. My brother who previously worked in Malaysia for almost 3 years taught me a little of Malay languages and the one thing I remembered was the phrase "terima kasih" which is Thank you. "Terima kasih" is also being used in Indonesia with the same meaning.

Jakarta highways are the same with the Philippine highways. Good thing I did not experience the so called "heavy traffic" during our visit. Their airport is unique since it has a good landscape with trees/plants at the side compared to the usual airports with modern infrastructure look. 

There are many things I loved about Jakarta:

• the people are nice (particularly my counterparts/colleagues at the same multinational company I worked for)
• the food being served in jakarta are not the usual foods i eat here in the philippines - i love the mi goreng-the fried noodles, their beef rendang, and other viands. They love spicy foods
• taxi operation are thumbs up - the Blue Bird taxi (a taxi company in Jakarta) is always available and the taxis are clean and comfy.
• The Le Meridien Hotel - a nice hotel for tourists with courteous staff
• plenty of shopping malls that can compete world class (Grand Indonesia, Plaza Indonesia); i even loved more the ambiance of Jakarta malls compared to Tokyo and Hongkong malls. 
• all buildings have tight security  even the malls and hotels
• the "Batik" signature design of their outfits - blouses, dresses and polo. It shows nationalism and sense of pride. (Czarina mall has lots of souvenir items and good quality batiks for the tourists)
• tourists will feel like millionnaires because most of the prices of commodities are in "Million" rupiah

Hoping that my next visit will bring me to their next famous island, the Bali Indonesia.