Well, what can I say about Jakarta? I had the luck to spend three nights in Jakarta last month and I must say I wish the good people of Indonesia all the best and a lot of patience but most of all..mental health! I mean who can explain me why there are not thousands of roadkills, people going bezerk, furious madness in the streets of Jakarta? I swear to God, I needed one and a half hour just to leave the airport parking area because of the chaotic car situation..it took me 2 1/2 hours to get to the hotel..luckily I was picked up by our partner there but I really felt sorry for the poor guy. He said he was used to it but how can you get used to such a nightmare? Anyways, I had a reservation at the Double Tree Hilton, which turned out to be a splendid hotel. Service was top notch. Breakfast was great and the rooms were always tidy. The only minus point I could mention was the difficulty to find the entrance of the hotel. It was hidden in a side alley and a bit complicated for taxi drivers to find it. My customer took me to dinner in a fish restaurant and the food was extraordinary. I am not a big fish-fan (neither the band nor the food :-)) but the shrimps, different dishes in sauce they were all delicious.
I knew about the whole massage culture in Indonesia but I wasn't really comfortable because I didn't want to end up in happy-end massage parlour when my customer suggested to have a massage. But to my surprise the massage center was in a modern shopping mall and it was quite cheap. One hour massage for 25 USD was acceptable and the massage was very relaxing. And no happy ending by the way. It was a very clean and professional place so my worries were needless.
I have to say that I was disillusioned with Jakarta. There wasn't much to see. Tall buildings, shopping malls and crowded streets. But the food was great. So I caught my next plane to Ho Chi Minh-City curious to see what Vietnam was like.
When I was in India last year everybody warned me, despite the fact that most people's knowledge about this country was based on programs they saw on Discovery Channel or National Geographic, which is not a bad thing per se but one should at least have some in depth first-hand experience about one thing, before advising this travelling man about what food to eat and what places to avoid. While I was waiting at the boarding hall at the airport ready to take the flight to New Delhi the Turkish equivalent of the Red Cross had placed a banner offering travellers vaccines against malaria, which could scare off the fırst-time traveller but not me! No sir, not me! What vaccine? ain't no mosquito in India that's going to dare to even land on me. By the way, speaking of mosquitos...I saw a funny card somewhere the other day it said: ' I sprayed mosquito repellent on a mosquito. Now he'll never have any friends. ' Ha, ha! That was funny. Mosquitos are funny insects. Can you imagine that the West Nile Virus killed over 250 people in 2012 in the U.S? Now that is indeed some scary shit. And for them ignorants out there...as you see WNV is not only present in Africa eh?
This comes to me as no surprise but did you know that only female mosquitos bite? next time a mosquito tries to bite me the term bitch-slap's gonna get a whole new meaning heeellyahh!
So, coming back to my story, not that I have an interesting story to tell here, I'm just babbling randomly about the places I've been. anyways, so there I am in New Delhi with all the stories in my back head, warnings about the famous delhi-belly and I was welcomed by one of my Indian clients, who was a really friendly guy. As a principle I try to have an open mind about different cultures and their habits. When I'm in a new city one thing that I'm curious about is where the locals eat. So I told Rajesh that I didn't want have that tourist crap just because I'm an effin' tourist but then again I didn't want to get diarrhea or something. So he promised me to take me to quality restaurants where I could enjoy the finest Indian cuisine without getting ripped off. And what a feast that was! I'm a friend of spices of any sorts and I must say the food I ate there was exactly what I wanted. One day he took me to Karim's Restaurant, which is near to the Jama Masjid. We had meat, meat, meat in spicy sauces! Delicious Mughlai food accompanied by onions and some white bread. Nothing else. The tandoori chicken, the mutton burrah, chicken tikka...my mouth is watering as I'm writing these lines. DELICIOUS!!
I stayed there for a week and while somedays we ate at the hotel restaurant, we stayed at the Intercontinental, where the food was a mixture of European and Indian cuisine one day we went to another fine restaurant called the Chor Bizarre. First, the interior design of this restaurant is marvellous but the food is even better.
( No, this picture is not from the restaurant but I that's all I got in my archives so deal with it !!)
Seldom have I been served better food than here. All the egzotic dishes, gazap ka tikka, chicken khurchan, tikka masala etc. So anyone visiting Delhi in the near future..go and eat at those splendid restaurants. You won't regret it. Next time I'll tell you about my eating experience in Astana/Kazakhstan. But now I'm tired of typing....so bugger of!!
