Tuesday, 28Nov06

Highlights: changed hotels, Sultan Mahmud Badaruddin II museum, songket cek ipa

I’m not sure what it is about downtown Palembang yet,,, but I feel like more of a stranger here than anywhere else I’ve been in Indonesia so far. People smile less. I’m pretty used to looks of curiosity,,, as half the guys from across the street try to figure out if I’m Zinedine Zidane or not. Here though,,, I’ll just mark the town as somewhat less friendly to outsiders.

First order of business was to get out of Hotel Permata. (I briefly considered leaving Palembang early, but figured I’d stick it out for another day or 2 to look around. For $22 I found a nice room at Hotel Sandjaja.

I came armed with my Lonely Planet, not figuring I’d need it for this reason,,, but sometimes you never know. Turns out, the inexpensive rates aren’t advertised at the front desk. Superior room rates ($45) appear to be the most economical, when you ask the lady behind the counter. Huh! That’s funny, because right here in my travel book, it says this hotel has rooms for $22!
“Oh yeah,, indeed. It’s a single bed though.”

Apparently there are many tricks in the tourism trade to extract maximum fees from travelers such as myself. Among others are claims that only expensive rooms are available.
I figure, everytime I catch one of these hotels at their game, the money I save can go to another deserving Indonesian family.

Finding an Ojek driver was a little funny. At the market, I asked a parking assistant where I could find an Ojek driver. He quickly offered himself as my driver.
“What about guarding all these scooters?” One whistle to his younger brother quickly took care of that,,, and off we went. (= ha ha.