down time in Jakarta
Between my bird-watching and my 32-hour flight to PNG was a nine-day pause, which I’d decided to spend in Jakarta. People said I was crazy, that it’s a noisy, chaotic city without much to see that requires at best two days. But I’m only going to enjoy this nomadic life if I have down-time … days when I can catch up on sleep, do my laundry, back-up my photos, write this blog, phone my parents, complete visa applications for subsequent trips, etc. Not to mention that organised trips are expensive, so nine days in a £6-a-night hostel dorm helps the budgeting! Besides, Jakarta is the political, cultural and economic capital of the fourth largest country in the world, and the second-largest urban area in the world (after Tokyo) – founded in the fourth century. So I felt it must deserve some time – and how right I was! I visited the National Monument, the National History Museum, the Jakarta History Museum, Istiqlal Mosque (the largest in SE Asia with apparently the third highest capac