Our meeting time & place was 7 at the Press Club, for an upscale dinner. Well known among the ex-pat crowd, it’s situated across from the Sofitel Metropole Hotel where, for $450 a night, very few locals go.
Dinner was very fancy. There’s a Victorian feel to the dinning room, and since Meg & Anna didn’t dress up, we were given a small, private room, shut off from the other diners. That was just fine by us, really, as we seemed to be 2 generations younger than anyone else in there. Even with the door closed, we could hear the 70-somethings talking loudly about politics in the next room. Americans really do have a few characteristics that jump out at you when overseas, particularly when traveling in groups of 4 or more. We tend to talk loud, and openly discuss other peoples controversial topics with a sense of ease; I’m guilty as charged of that too,,, and usually on my own. Tonight’s topic du jour: What to make of Barack Obama, and does he have the stuff to bump Hillary. Nice to see American politics flows freely around the ex-pat dinner tables on this side of the globe as well.

The typical taxi scam is alive & well. Drivers like to say “the meter is broken” and ask for $2 or $3 to take you across town. That usually sounds allright to me, but the last 3 times, I pushed the “on” button on the meter myself & found it working just fine. It always seemed to indicate 50 cents for the pre-negotiated $2 cab ride. Oh well. One guy asked for $10 and I told him he was crazy.

Back at the hotel i played on the internet until 3am.
Apparently Jakarta is swimming after non-stop torrential rains have flooded the city! What??
Hmmm.. I’ll factor down the sensational headlines, and hope that all my things aren’t floating down the street right now.