Jakarta, Hilton Hotel, Monday 1996-05-27 16:00 local (Z+7)
I just did something I don't usually do; I ordered from room service. Oh, well, a little luxury, but this hamburger and a glass of milk is costing me $10, a bit spendy. However, I didn't realize I was really hungry until after everything was packed, and I didn't want to go down to the restaurant in my uniform.
I'm back in Jakarta, but pickup for my second trip to Jeddah is in two hours. My sleeping schedule is really loused up. After having messed it up in Jeddah, I got really tired on the return trip. Fortunately, I woke up for the approach and landing and got a really nice touchdown. So, all went well in spite of my not having been at the controls for over 30 days.
When we got back here, we found we'd only have about thirty-six hours on the ground. Arrival time at the hotel was about 09:00. I went to bed, intending to sleep until 18:00 and then spend most of the night up, get back to bed about 06:00 this morning, and get up just in time to depart. My body had other plans. I wound up sleeping 18 hours straight, which meant when I laid back down for a five hour nap a while ago, I couldn't sleep. Even the melatonin failed me. So, I'm up and indulging in room service food.
Instead of going to Safeway (end of last message), I wound up going farther in Jeddah, walking to a shopping center where I had been told they had lot of pirated software. I arrived there, though, during noon prayers, and they were closed. I may try to visit the place again this time out of curiosity. Having been a software developer, I'm very much opposed to software piracy, but I'm curious although I won't buy anything.
Speaking of noon prayers, I may have come close to getting myself in trouble. On the way to the software place, I saw a 31 flavors. A big hand reached out and pulled me inside. Actually that's not true, but, really, I was duty bound to conduct a survey of how close the Saudis can come to an honest to god (oops, allah) chocolate milk shake. Surprise, it was a really good milkshake. The fact that it was over 100 outside probably helped my evaluation of their product.
Anyway, as I came out of Baskin and Robbins, prayer call went off. I figured that in Jeddah, the most westernized place in Saudi, nobody would bother me for continuing to drink the milk shake, so I just kept going, making for a big wide passageway in the outdoor shopping mall, figuring to drink my shake there. Surprise again, I had wandered into a mosque—in short pants while consuming food. Not good. I put the milkshake at my side and hurried through.
A mosque, by the way, is technically any place that is set aside for prayer. This wasn't a formal mosque, a building dedicated to that purpose. Had I wandered into one of those I would have really been in trouble. Infidels are not permitted in them at any time in Saudi as I understand it. In this case it was simply a place they had unrolled rugs to pray. After prayer time, the rugs would be rolled up again, and it would become merely a passageway.
This morning here in Jakarta I ran early at the sport's stadium. The two previous times I had run there it was during the heat of the day. Running early made quite a difference. The last time—in the heat—I was able to get around it three times before overheat hit me. This morning I sailed around it five times before the first tingling of overheat started. Also, there were people there this morning, lots of them. Interesting, though, that all five caucasians I saw (including me) were running. All the Indonesians, probably at least a couple hundred, except two were walking only, although some of them were walking fast. A cultural difference?
Time to shower and shave. There's more to say but no time. Maybe I'll remember to include the neglected items in the next message.
Terry