We arrived in Jakarta International Airport in the afternoon. Aliya was one month shy of 2 years old and handled the flight very well. She was very cranky waiting in the line at customs and cried a lot there. Even though her mother is Indonesian, the Indonesian government will not allow Aliya to have an Indonesian passport because I am an American. It’s a shame that she will always be considered an outsider in her mothers home country. We both needed a visa on arrival there.
We went from the airport to Jalan Jaksa, a road that caters a bit to backpackers traveling in Jakarta. We usually stay there for a night on both ends of any trips we make to Jakarta to make sure we are close to the airport. The hotel Margot, where we usually stay, is about 15 dollars US a night, and I have to say it is NOT a very nice place. We’ve tried looking elsewhere and they were worse so there you have it. We could stay in a 4 or 5 star hotel but I am used to the area from my backpacking days so I don’t even think twice about going there anymore. Plus, I know the taxi driver will understand me if I say Jalan Jaksa. The video here has a few photos and then a few short video clips of the ride to Jalan Jaksa.
