Meeting the Team - the first local dinner

Today the program officially started. Luckily I had the chance to meet with Antonella in the previous evening so we could arrive together to the Four Seasons Jakarta hotel where the whole team should gather today and tomorrow. From here we will go to Yogyakarta on Sunday.

We have met with Elisa, an "acquisition specialist" from the US, who have arrived earlier and we have decided to take a walking trip in Jakarta (the receptionist lady said "Jakarta was not designed for walking" - but we were brave and thirsty for new experiences, so we asked for a map then we have left the hotel, on foot.

After one hour of walk we were in the middle of nowhere, heading to nowhere (there were no street signs in the city). I have to add that the climate is really strange here, it is more, then 30 degrees, but you cannot see the sun because of the clouds and the smog. Sometimes it is raining, but the rain is warm too...

Continuing the story we have lost our bravery and got in a cab, asking the driver to take us to the nearest monument - it was completely to the other direction we were heading for...
Summarizing the following hours we had a good lunch in a shopping mall and a nice chat with Elisa and Antonella. We came home (by cab, because we realized, that the receptionist was right about walking in Jakarta :) ) and relaxed until the other part of the team has arrived to the hotel.

At 7 nearly all of as has gathered in the lobby, we had a little meeting and went out to try some local dishes in an Indonesian restaurant. We could meet with the really helpful Waya, our "babysitter" from the side of ABV, she will guide us in the next days.

Waya and the local Indonesian band

The dinner was amazing, the atmosphere and locals were nice and the dishes were really tasty. Everybody could taste everything - we were doing the family way, so we ordered from nearly everything and a big bowl of rice, then we have shared with each other. Calamari and the local beef were my favorite. The prices are lower then i have expected, we payed around 1000 ft each...

Delicious variety of Indonesian food

We have agreed that tomorrow we will go together to see the biggest Mosque in East Asia and the National monument, which has a really strange nickname, but I will write about it tomorrow.