Hey peeps, you might have been anticipating our Korea trip as the next post but NOPE. Here's a recap of my business trip to Jakarta instead because i'm attention seeking like that.
Day 1
To be honest i didn't know much about Jakarta even though it's only a 2 hour flight away from Singapore. Wasn't quite sure what to expect at the airport (Soekarno Hatta) but i was relieved to see that at least escalators have been invented in this part of the world.
Grabbed a quick lunch before going to the office. Not sure why i expected their kway teow goreng to taste different from ours but jitao same as what you can find at our food courts.
Imagine how pleasantly surprised but confused i am when the office address turns out to be a supermarket. Level 1 is a full scale supermarket while our offices were on level 3 and 4. Wew these guys are living the dream right here.
One thing i can never forget about Jakarta: these fucking traffic jams man. A 15 mins ride can take an hour because of the sheer amount of vehicles on the road + no MRT system AT ALL. Never thought i would say this but lord praise the COE in Singapore.
A huge ass room isn't the best thing when you are staying alone... Thankfully i brought along a portable speaker to blast Jay Chou songs and it didn't get possessed with pontianak voices so it's all good.
Had some sioymai that i bought from the supermarket after work. Tastes like what happens when yong tau foo and satay have a baby. Not terrible but i got bored of it after 3 bites and foraged for some proper food instead.
Was pretty excited to explore the neighbourhood but it turned out that my hotel was perched on the side of a highway so there were LITERALLY NO RESTORANS AROUND.
Well at least there's another supermarket...
Another minute walking on the sidewalk and i would have been ran over. For my life's sake, i decided to head back to the hotel's restaurant for some authentic Indonesian cuisine.
Ahhh the indo classic Raw Ikan platter.
And of course you can't sleep on the Nasi Prawn Goreng which was sedaaaap.
Dinner wasn't great but at least i could live the taitai life and enjoy a little dip in the bathtub.. Until i turned on the tap and this shit poured out. Guess i won't be showering for the next 2 days then.
Day 2
Buffet breakfast at the hotel was nice. But then again, i'm such an egg slut that any buffets with free flow eggs is grade A in my book.
Going ang moh style for the starters, just like how i like my porn.
My love for omelettes began from getting free ones from the giant omelette in neopets.
You may scramble my eggs anytime you beautiful man.
I must have done something wrong because my scrambled eggs came without any yolks. Thanks for being concerned about my cholesterol levels but this looks and tastes like fried cum.
The agenda for this trip was to do training sessions for the new entity we had recently acquired. They had so many employees that we had to split the training into different batches. This was the biggest group by far with almost 200 participants. Not even sure if half of them understood what i said since they do not speak much England.
Look at the Indo chicks falling for my irresistible Singaporean passport that they brought me takeaway lunch without asking. Machiam vip.
It was actually quite yummy even though i had no idea what i was eating, miles ahead of our SAF out ration.
Initially confused as to why there was a boot washing area in the office but apparently they use it for religious purposes.
Simi the fuck why do they have such a large gym while the only exercise we can do in our office is pcc in the toilet?
Brought along my fishing rod for nothing...
Dinner was spent awkwardly with the bosses and Indonesia finance team but at least i managed to do some shopping after i broke free.
Jakarta has many of these gigantic malls that are barely populated by people, probably because they are all indulging in their favourite pastime of jamming up the roads.
IZ DAT STREET FOOD I SPOT ACROSS THE ROAD & WILL I DIE TRYING TO GET TO THEM?
Oh yessss, time to try some authentic roadside maggie goreng infused with dirt and dust from the roads.
It doesn't get more authentic and lusup than this. It looks promising and may even eclipse our fav maggie goreng at Mahamoodiya.
Ok firstly he gave me a spoon for noodles. Secondly, the trip back to the hotel took so long because of traffic that my noodles bonded back into a mountain of dough.
Tastewise, it was meh. Little bit on the sweeter side which is not my thang. I'll stick to the maggie goreng back at Simpang Bedok tyvm.
Day 3
Another day, same old breakfast buffet.
No that's not dog food. Just trying out some of their asian fare which didn't taste too bad.
But couldn't resist going back for the good ol sausages and eggs, plated expertly as if i were a food blogger..
Didn't realise this on the first day but they have a Burbur Ayam aka chicken congee station with 18 condiments to choose from.
When in doubt.. add everything in and pray it works. I call this the 18 siao porridge. Yo ah yo, sio yi ho.
And it turned out absolutely delicious. A good mix of flavours and textures combined with the savoury smooth porridge. Always knew i had the talent to start my own youtube cooking show.
Time to check out from this spacious hotel room with sewage water coming out the faucets. Goodbye creepy ass black and white painting!
After my final presentation, some very kind colleagues took me out to have an authentic Indonesian meal. Guess I'll have to repay them with my body...
Ok i wasn't THAT hungry. Similan is it 7月15 need to bring out so many offerings to 拜拜? So this is how nasi padang works: they serve every fucking dish to your table and you just eat the ones that you gian. Those untouched plates are 'recycled' for the next diner.
Not sure how many strangers' saliva i ate that day, but the glorified cai png was very nice indeed. It was also free so i was practically their social escort for the day.
Not a fan of the durian ice kacang though. You don't insult durian like that..
Bought some kueh lapis back for the family which i found still well preserved in my fridge 3 months later. I also told the cashier that my name was kent but i guess I'm made of aluminium now.
As revenge for trying to give me diabetes via the durian ice kacang, i pulled the reverse card and bought the whole office martabak, the sweetest and unhealthiest snack known to men. Loaded with sugar, butter and nutella, tiagong 1 packet got 2000 calories. Once everyone dies, i'll be able to return for another round of training. Woohoo!
Alas, it was time to depart for the airport. When in Jakarta, always leave for the airport 5 hours before your flight because the jam alone may take 2-3 hours. Apparently that wasn't an issue because my driver thought he was playing Daytona. Happy to report that i arrived in one piece and you guys may delete the 'final' message to burn my external harddisk.
Jakarta was decent. The food was okay, although i didn't have any time to go food hunting due to job commitments. The people were very friendly and shit is dirt cheap. Would i return on a holiday tho? Of course not! Not unless they fix the fucking traffic jams.
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