the speed boat went from the pier to batam, we then crossed the island by taxi and ended up reaching the next small boat as it was actually leaving, but they let us jump on, and we sped for about 20 minutes across clear waters while the boat tipped nervously in the waves. we then reached bintang where the ferry is supposed to leave for jakarta, once a week. as we were jumping off the ferry a man shouted at us " JAKARTA" and pointed to another huge ferry which had also just left the port and was about one meter from the docks.. we ran like hell, and threw our bags in before jumping across into the ship. had we missed this one, it would have been one week in bintang.
the ferry took 18 hours, was cockroach infested and smelly, but sleep came quickly and before we knew it it was morning. we arrived at the port, met a friendly dutch guy who was going to stay in jl juksa, we decided to share a cab. it was evident immediately that the news flash about floods was not fabricated. we were almost 2 feet under water. after checking into a nice and cheap guest house we spent a few days in jakarta resting and booking tickets further, to yogjakarta. jl juksa was nice enough, although jakarta was the epitome of asian city gone hellishly wrong, and all of us couldnt wait to leave. we did however eat amazing sate and managed to find alot of cheap cds... a bonus..
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