Jakarta, Indonesia

I was picked up at 8am for the half hour drive to the airport. My heavy luggage was again accepted and I had just a short wait for my 10am flight. We left on time for the 3 hour flight headed for Jakarta. Indonesia is a huge country, made up of over 18,300 islands. As such, it’s also spread out over 3 time zones! So I’ve gained an hour; moving an hour back in time. Jakarta airport is huge. With 3 terminals, I landed in 1C and needed to make my way to terminal 3. After weaving my way around the numerous hassling taxi drivers, I eventually found the free terminal transport bus runs a circular route between all the terminals – which was handy! Still nearly a 20 minute drive though! In the airport, I found a Sriwijaya Air office – the airline who cancelled my flight last week. So thought I would try my luck in getting a refund. After 25 minutes of explaining and waiting, they finally agreed to give me a refund! What a palava. Another long wait, so I treated myself to some Starbucks chocolate cake! I don’t remember the last time I ate chocolate! Then off on my 5pm flight, 3.5 hours to Bangkok. My last foray into Thailand was a one-week diving trip to the Similan islands two years ago – rather inconveniently timed with the height of the coral bleaching. As a result, I left with a rather low opinion of the Thai dive sites in this area (which are supposed to be among the best in the country). As I only had a short period of time back then, I didn’t really see anything above land – time to change that!! I’m going to be here for nearly 3 weeks. Plenty of time to enjoy what Thailand has to offer – temples, jungle, beaches and amazing food! Country number 16: Thailand I’ve had my fair share of airport all-nighters. But after an early morning and a whole day of flying/hanging around, I didn’t fancy staying up all night and still managing to function tomorrow! The Amari hotel was calling. Just a 5 minute walk away from the terminal and tempting me with a comfy bed and shower for the next 8 hours before my next flight up to Chiang Mai….I couldn’t resist!