Jakarta

Shortly after the Lamberts left, our family flew to Jakarta (Indonesia) for the weekend. Jakarta is known to be "grittier" than KL and is also notorious for its chaotic traffic... and after our 3 hour taxi ride from the airport to our hotel, it quickly lived up to its reputation! Although it was a quick trip, I was thankful for the chance to finally see this neighboring city -- which happens to be the largest in SE Asia and the most strategic politically within Jonathan's region.

As for sight-seeing, here are a few of our "around the town" shots:

At Merdeka Square and the National Independence Monument...

One of the public toilets :) ...

Outside the National Palace...
With a Palace Guard...
Taking a snack break...
At Jakarta's Hard Rock...
Displaying their new Indonesian Batiks...
Taking a pony cart ride around the city center...
At one of the largest malls downtown...
At the largest Batik store in SE Asia -- it went on for miles...
And you just gotta love it...

And the weekend highlight just might have been hunting down the elementary school that Barack Obama attended while living in Indonesia from the age of six to ten. When we arrived, a school guard realized we were Americans and brought us inside to tour the school and see the tributes to Obama. All politics aside, it was pretty neat!