The Jakarta Juants

On Saturday afternoon we wrapped up our 2 days in Jakarta prior to setting sail for Singapore.  But, before I get to Jakarta, let's talk about the action packed 4 hours in the middle of our sea day on Thursday.  It started with a cooking class at 10:00 am - Passport to Asia.  We made Tom Kha Gai Soup (with tofu instead of chicken), Duck and Pomelo Rolls (with mushrooms instead of duck) and Shrimp Pad Thai (which was the star of the game in my opinion).

After class, we dashed up to bingo at noon which was a good thing as we both won a game!

Then, it  was off to wine tasting from 1 pm to 2 pm.  It was a little different from most wine tasting as it was sort of free form.  We tasted several good wines.  By the time we were done with that, we realized that we had missed the big brunch that the ship had prepared.  Oh well.

Now, on to Jakarta.  Day one, we did an excursion booked through Viator - the Indonesia Miniature Park.  We weren't prepared for what we saw.  We expected miniature models of Indonesian villages.  Instead, I would best describe it as an Indonesian Epcot Center.  It was conceived by the former first lady of Indonesia, Tien Soeharto, to cultivate national pride in Indonesian people.  There are 33 pavilions representing the provinces of Indonesia.  The lake in the middle contains islands representing the Indonesian archipelago.  We started in the museum.

We then walked about 2 miles from one end to the other (hooray Linda!) and rode a cart back to the entrance.  Thankfully, it was a bit overcast which made it almost bearable.  Here's a sampling of what we saw.

And, to complete the Disney World comparison, there was even a castle.

After our visit, we were taken to an Indonesian restaurant for lunch.  The lunch there was absolutely fabulous, unlike the lunch from a few days ago which was absolutely awful.  Here's the comparison.

They catered to our pescatarian preference with fish, eggs and tofu, mushrooms, and more.

All in all, it was a very good excursion.

That evening, we had dinner with one of the guest entertainers, Isabel Commandeur, a wonderful singer who we have sailed with before.  And, we were glad to learn, who we will be sailing with again.  Isabel is so good that she makes even me appreciate opera!

On Sunday,we did an excursion that covered the highlights of Jakarta.  But first, I should point out that it was International Women's Day.  In an earlier post, I noted all of the females in the staff on the ship.  Here's a photo that was taken to highlight that for the occasion.

On the excursion, which was again booked through Viator, we started with a visit to the National Monument.

We walked through (a nice cool) tunnel to get to the area below the monument.  In that area, there was a display of dioramas depicting the history of Indonesia.  Quite interesting.

Next up was the Isiqial Mosque.  It was quite large and impressive though not as ornate as some we have seen.

The mosque was across the street from the cathedral, the Church of Our Lady of the Assumption.  Our guide said that they were positioned that way to emphasize unity.

We then went to the old town which included a visit to a shadow puppet manufacturer who put on a short show for us.

That's basically it for the cruise.  We're now on a sea day prior to our arrival and disembarkation in Singapore.  We'll be spending a few days there before we head home.

Peace and blessings, 

Linda and Larry