There was a MAS offer recently and I availed of it
by buying a return ticket to Jakarta. I had planned to take leave on my
birthday anyway. So I too half-day leave last Friday and made my way to KL
Sentral during lunch. i decided to travel light and not check in my bag as I
didn’t want to wait for my bag like we did the last time I went to Jakarta in
Ramadan. I had also done some research and decided to take the airport bus from
Sukarno-Hatta International Airport to either Thamrin Mall or Gambir Station, and
a cab from there to the guesthouse.
We took off on time and landed 15 minutes early. I
cleared immigration quickly and made my way to the bus station. The bus
frequency to Gambir and Thamrin Mall is every 15 minutes and one hour
respectively so it was a no brainer. The ticket cost me IDR40K. I didn’t have
to wait long; the bus arrived within minutes and we were already moving by
17:45. I broke fast on the bus.
We arrived at Gambir Station at 18:30 and I went
out to the main road to hail a cab to the guesthouse. I reached the guesthouse
about 20 minutes later (Jalan Cikini Raya was jam-packed!). After checking in,
I ventured out to find dinner but nothing caught my fancy so I headed to
Carrefour to buy some juice, tea and titbits.
On Saturday, I took a cab to Tanah Abang market. I
had to ask for directions and finally found my way to Block B where I took the
lift to the 5th floor. I spent some time browsing the stalls before
buying some caftans and innerwear for myself and some shirts for dad. I then
decided to check out the other floor selling Muslim clothes at SLG (not sure
what it stands for but it was below LG). Man, big mistake. There were a lot
more people here and if there’s anything I really hate, it’s crowds. And from
what little I saw, the things down there cost more than similar ones at the 5th
floor. I couldn’t wait to make my escape and hurried out as soon as I could.
I then decided to walk to Sarinah Department Store
but was given the wrong direction and ended up in another area. Finally, I took
an angkot back heading towards Tanah Abang, got down at a junction before the
market area and took a bus to Sarinah. I walked in Sarinah but it was clear
that as much as I dread the crowds at Tanah Abang, everything at Tanah Abang
was at a fraction of the prices in Sarinah.
I didn’t stay long at Sarinah. I took the overhead
bridge, crossed over and walked to Plaza Indonesia. Now this was more my kind
of place: spacious, comfortable, air-conditioned, clean and posh. I availed of
he complimentary wifi before exploring the mall. Then I crossed over to Grand
Indonesia. At 17:15, I went to Food Louvre to find iftar. The food court was
packed and I shared a table with a well-to-do family. I didn’t know if the
trays were meant to deter anyone from sitting but as I didn’t know they were a
family, I decided I’d sit there. Besides, like I said, the food court was
packed. There was an announcement when it was time to break fast. I had pulled
noodles but it was just average. The ones in KL tasted wayyy better!
After dinner, I decided to head back. I asked the
cabbie to drop me at Cikini Station and went to Carrefour to shop for more
juice and crackers before returning to the guest house.
On Sunday, I ventured to Tanah Abang again. I
decided to take a bus this time. Missed the earlier bus by a minute and the
next bus was packed to the rafters. I got down at the last stop and joined the
thronging crowd descending on the market. It could be the crowd descending upon
the Haram during Haj – that was the size of the crowd indeed and I’m not
exaggerating.
I found the stalls I went to yesterday but ended
up buying some innerwear from other stalls as they cost less. It was then when
I started feeling stomach discomfort. So much so I had to use the bathroom
there. Thank God it was clean. I even wondered if it was because of the lettuce
in yesterday’s pulled noodles or the three slices of cucumber in this pre-dawn
meal’s fried rice.
I left after an hour and walked to Plaza
Indonesia. It took me only 22 minutes. I started feeling uncomfortable in Plaza
Indonesia and decided to return to the guest house. And it was a good thing I
did for I started feeling queasy. It turned out to be food poisoning and I was
in bed for the rest of the afternoon and early evening. I ventured out briefly
to ask the staff to buy me some ORS, isotonic drink, crackers and chicken
porridge. It was a Sunday so unfortunately the pharmacies were all closed. The staff
returned after an hour and I dragged myself up to receive the tray of food and
water. I just ate the porridge devoid of any chicken. After sending the tray
back to the kitchen, I returned to bed.
I got up a few times during the night to use the
bathroom and every time I woke up, I made sure I drank some Pocari Sweat. I actually
drank about 1.8 litres of Pocari Sweat in those few hours!
The next morning, I woke up for my pre-dawn meal. I
forced myself to eat and managed only a quarter of the fried instant noodles. I
went back to bed and rested a bit, drank more Pocari Sweat and forced myself to
eat some crackers and dates.
I got up again after 7 and had a shower. Felt slightly
more human after the shower. I had packed the day before, braving the pain. I felt
that I could maybe take the airport bus and hailed a cab to Gambir Station. I bought
the bus ticket and boarded the bus just a couple of minutes before I left. The bus
took only 45 minutes to get to the airport and it went to Terminals 3 and 1
first before finally stopping at Terminal 2.
My bladder was bursting so I went to the bathroom
first (clean! Thank God) before dropping off my bag. Then I went to clear
immigration before walking slowly to my gate. The tummy was still delicate.
CT helped select seat 6B for me during check-in
but I moved to row 20 as I wanted to lie down. The flight was uneventful, thank
God, no turbulence or whatnot.
We landed at KLIA at 13:50, 20 minutes earlier
than scheduled. Well done, MAS! I was home by 3 p.m.
That was my seventh trip to Jakarta, my fourth in
Ramadan, and my first of food poisoning...
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