I Should Have Written a Food Blog.

Last night = first night in Jakarta (Java... capital of Indonesia) = Hungry.

The past few days have passed in a bit of a blur, and an expensive blur at that. We arrived in Padang, Sumatra in search of a plane ticket to Java and found pricey accommodation and not-so-cheap flight tickets. However, with our pricey hotel we were given air conditioning, a television, and breakfast. We went to bed exhausted after watching a terrible movie yet refreshed by the cool air blowing from our AC.

Waking up on Thursday (the day of food and the night ending in hunger), I was looking forward to our breakfast. I figured since it was included, I would attempt to stock up on food, maybe even shoving some in my pocket. I joked with Jordan that it would be the traditional Indonesian breakfast of fried rice as we headed downstairs to check it out.

"Coffee or tea?" we were asked by the man working. I replied coffee, Jordan said tea. The man walked away saying, "tea, tea" and left us wondering if I would get my coffee.

Alas! He came back with two whole pots -- one coffee, one tea. Life was pretty nifty as he slid a plate with four slices of folded up bread across the table. We then realized there was something inside the folded toast! Could it be jam?

I opened one up and upon inspection identified chocolate sprinkles inside! A jimmy sandwich!! Who would have thought? Who could possibly have been the person to make such a thing for breakfast? Positively mind boggling aka absolutely hysterical (and surprisingly yummy).

After our breakfast, we reclined for a little bit longer and then headed off to the airport. Not even 1 hour after eating the jimmy sandwiches, and I felt hungry again. After all, sprinkles and white bread isn't exactly the equivalent of an energizing breakfast. I began to dream of all the different foods that might be given to us on our airplane. Asian airlines are much more likely to pass out full meals at every opportunity so I was relatively optimistic there would be another meal included in the price of our ticket.

Once in the air, I noticed the stewardess coming around and handing out a snack. I couldn't quite tell what it was but was not expecting a plain roll. Though actually, it wasn't quite plain. There was some sort of unidentified green substance on top. It was too strategically placed to be mold and I was too hungry so I dug in. The green stuff didn't quite taste like anything but it was semi-sweet. Maybe it was melted sprinkles? Who knows. Two "free" meals down and I was excited to land in Jakarta in search of even more food.

After making some friends and finding a hotel, we decided it was time to check some internet and then head off to dinner. Outside the internet place, I asked someone for a restaurant recommendation. He gave us the name to an Indonesian restaurant, said it was really good and they had music.

When we got there, we took a quick look at the menu to establish it was in our price range. I asked a waitress if there was music and she said "yes, yes." Life seemed pretty nifty again. We sat down and asked for more menus. The waiter seemed a little confused and brought over a woman. She asked us what country we were from. We replied USA and Germany. Both of them walked away.

Not even 30 seconds later, the man was back and placed about 12 small plates in front of us of random Indonesian food. The woman came back and placed two small flags on our table. One American, one German. They walked away leaving us contemplating the next step.

I knew this was a fairly common system. The staff gives you a bunch of plates, you pick what you want to eat, and then they charge you only for what you have eaten. We decided to give it a shot and stick with the chicken options (cold fish that has been sitting around seemed like an Infectious Disease 101 No-no).

The food was nothing spectacular and we decided to only have a little bit and then splurge on ice cream. After all, we figured the meal couldn't possibly have been expensive. We were wrong. The three teeny plates we ate were probably the most expensive things we had eaten (and this was split three ways).

We still splurged on the ice cream but lesson learned. No more eating food without knowing the price. C'est la vie. The burden of the budget traveller. P.S We didn't even get live music

Disclaimer: most of the other food we have eaten here has been fabulous. Just the other night we had fresh calamari curry and steamed fish. Although my Indonesian dictionary does provide translations for "dog" and "rat," so we will stay on our toes in terms of what we order...