In order to better facilitate the retelling of this experience, I’m going to tell it in chunks. So much happened that to try and tell it all in one big wall of text would completely undermine the wonderful and awesome experience that I had in Jakarta and Bali. Plus, trying to cram all that text out in one go is just unfeasible for me – I work best with smaller volume of words.

The first part found here. This is part two, of three

We touched down safely, offloaded slowly, walked off the plane and started taking photos of the airport: So began the first day in Indonesia.

After marveling at how bright and clean the airport was, a star comparison to the hellhole that is LAX, we made our way to customs and immigration – where Nadia was reunited with her mom. There as much running, jumping and squealing of joy (the majority of which was from Nadia; Her mom was a bit quieter) and then brief introductions were made.

Then, I made my way to the passport queue, to pay for my Visa and get my passport stamped. Because I was going to be in country four 8 days instead of a week (Well, seven days and three hours, roughly) I had to pay for the longer-stay visa, which cost more. Granted, the total cost was only $25 US, so it wasn’t all that bad – and it would allow me to stay in country for a full month if need be.

After that, Nadia’s mom “helped” us through customs. I’m still not entirely sure what she said to the nice guard fellow, but he simply waved to me and Nadia and allowed us both into the country, no questions asked. Really, nice, that – otherwise, we’d have been in the line for ages.

It was a quick walk from their to claim our luggage, then out to the awaiting van and her father. We had, in short, made it and managed to catch up with two thirds of her immediate family!

The first thing we did was head to the optometrists – yes, the eye doctor – so that I could get new glasses. I’d been complaining about mine for a while before we left Vegas, and Nadia thought it’d be a good idea to just get my eyes taken care of while we where in Jakarata, cause it’d be cheaper. Also, being as how I don’t speak the language, and had no way to escape, I was pretty much her captive and kind of had to just go along with it. Her little plan worked flawlessly, and I got new specs.

Then, we had dinner, and it was great. The food was really, really yummy, and there was plenty of it. The restaurant was really cool, with great decor and they even brought out a tiny American and Indonesian flag just for us! So fun!

Then we went to Nadia’s folks place, where I met her brother and his girlfriend, we talked a bit, and I passed out for some much needed sleep.

The next couple of days were a blur of activity, we visited malls quite different from the ones here, laid out in a most chaotic way and filled to the brim with interesting – and inexpensive – items. We visited one that was several stories of electronics shops, all with enough odds and ends to keep one busy browsing for days!

We went to Nadia’s old University, where I got to meet her former co-workers and teachers, and friends. The campus was laid out much better than UNLV, I think, and was generally warm and fun to be there. The folks that I met were all really nice, and it was just a great time.

We had dinner with her extended family – aunt, uncle, friends, grandpa – and a fairly ritzy Chinese place. The food was, again, great – roasted suckling pig! – and so was the company. There was talking about various subjects, and generally a feeling of warmth and welcoming.

The next day we went drove to the mountains, were we ate at this really nice outdoor roadside place. Once my stomach had settled down from the ride (I don’t do mountain roads well if I’m not driving) we took in the views, and had a really nice – and large – lunch. Then we went to the zoo, which was also awesome and amazing.

It wasn’t so much a zoo as a safari park, the kind where one drives through and the animals mill about freely, occasionally licking the windows and asking for a carrot or other tasty treat. We had none to give, but that did not stop the zebras and llamas and other animals from demanding we feed them.

Nadia feel in love with be baby pygmy hippos.

While at the same park, we got to hold lion cubs, see some great birds, and play in the rain. Well, I played in the rain – I like rain, don’t see much here – while the other, more sensible folks hid in buildings and under umbrellas.

On the ride back to the house, we stopped and had dinner. Nadia got her and me some KFC – fried chicken and rice is super yummy – and then her dad bought durian for dessert.

I had heard many horror stories about durian – the stench, the taste, the stench, the slimy way it feels, the horrible stench- but, I didn’t really notice it. There was an odor, to be sure, but nothing extraordinary. Surely not as bad as, say, a pig farm in August. The taste was, well… Like a really strong banana and almonds. I really enjoyed the fruit until my lips became swollen and itchy.

Turns out, I’m very much allergic to durian.

<em>Stay tuned for part three, where we visit Bali, and I lip off to a TSA guard in L.A.</em>

In order to better facilitate the retelling of this experience, I’m going to tell it in chunks. So much happened that to try and tell it all in one big wall of text would completely undermine the wonderful and awesome experience that I had in Jakarta and Bali. Plus, trying to cram all that text out in one go is just unfeasible for me – I work best with smaller volume of words.

So, here’s the first part.

The journey, like all such things, started simply: with packing.

Packing for this trip was unlike, well, any other trip Nadia and I have made together. For one thing, there was more luggage. Normally, we travel light – well, I travel light. Nadia, not so much. I’m usually good with a backpack full of shirts and shorts, where she’ll need a duffel of clothes for all occasions and weather – even if it’s just a day trip. Considering this was to be a three week voyage for her- and a week for myself – significantly more clothing was needed.

So, we did what any sane people would do: Bought new, larger luggage, and filled it to the brim with clothes for all occasions. And, since we were headed across the globe to her homeland – and the homeland of some of her friends here, we acted as a parcel service as well. What space in our bags that wasn’t filled with clothes (and I cannot stress the sheer number of clothes that went with us) was filled with food items and other small trinkets for the folks we’d be meeting, and the family of those friends she has here.

This, of course, lead to our bags being quite heavy – something which she fussed over for a couple days, worried that they would be too heavy, that we’d be hit with massive fines and become bankrupt and destitute all because we had too much stuff with us on the plane.

All this worrying – and repacking, trying to balance the weight of the bags and bring it something near the limit, would be for naught.

Once we got the airport, and wandered up to the ticket desk, the nice lady gave us boarded passes, checked our bags all the way through, then tossed them on the conveyor without ever weighing them. All that worry, for nothing. They didn’t even care!

Sadly, my boarding passes only got me as far as Taipei – I wasn’t checked all the way through to Jakarta. My luggage was, as was Nadia and her luggage, but not me. I would have to get another boarding pass in L.A.

I should take a moment to say that L.A.X. sucks. It sucks in every way you can imagine. The place is laid out in a way that makes no sense what so ever, the security is a fucking joke, filled with incompetent assclowns, and the international terminal is a ghetto. Of course, we didn’t find any of this out right away – oh, no. First we got to wait in line for two hours waiting for someone from China Airlines to show up to work so that I could get my boarding pass.

Waiting wasn’t really that bad, we did meet a nice fellow named Gil. Gil was on his way to Bali to meet a nice Chinese lady from Canada he met over the internet. It’s all kind of fuzzy and complicated, and frankly sounded really strange and suspicious. But, he seemed like a nice guy (if a bit over eager to meet this mysterious woman), so we chatted with him to pass the time.

Eventually, we got my boarding pass, made it through security (where the guards valiantly risked their lives frisking a 16 year old girl), and found an over priced bar to settle in with a nice drink and a passable sandwich. Eventually, we even boarded our plane, and were finally on our way.

The flight to Taipei was fun – A neat in-flight system filled with movies and TV and music was there to help pass the time, and they brought us rather tasty snacks and meals and blankets and pillows. My legs got all crampy about two hours into the flight, but Nadia passed me some pills and I passed out… So, it wasn’t all bad. Rather enjoyable, all told.

We wandered – briskly – through the Taipei airport, found our next gate, and I took a much needed nap. Eventually we boarded our final plane, where I again napped, and landed in Jakarta.

(To Be Continued…)
Gallery Link

12:04:10 PM: Some last minute re-packing, so am testing the liveblog interface. And drinking vitamins. Hurray travel!

1:33:33 PM: All systems go. Eating and waiting for ride to airport. Woo!

2:58:06 PM: Sitting in the airport Chili’s, getting a drink and killing time. Two hours to go!

2:58:50 PM: Nadia is super excited BTW. Keeps singing and dancing.
Me? Not so much. I’m just surprised at how fast checking and security was.

2:59:50 PM: BTW: She’s checked through Jakarta. Me? Gotta get boarding pass in L.A.
*sigh*

2:13:07 AM: we are here! First stop!

2:14:12 AM: we are here and well

6:53:55 PM: Got new specs yesterday. Tres chic. Today breakfast and sight seeing. Yay!

6:55:04 PM: Oh, attempted to set up wifi for her folks last night. Had some issues. Was fun tho. Even on vacation I’m an IT guy. lol

8:15:52 PM: This is madness! No, this is JAKARTA!

11:26:53 PM: im in constant shock at how inexpensive it is here compared to vegas

11:47:26 PM: indo blue grass cover of mraz lucky in love. Better this way i think

3:24:25 AM: This is madness! No, this is Jakarta!!

3:50:38 AM: Just ate a gummy cow. Very tasty.

3:55:13 AM: Nadia is excited to read Indo lang Manga while pooing, and I’m happy just mastering “the hose”. 9500 miles away, & I’m a Twitter shitter.

8:31:38 AM: Just got back from dinner with Nadias whole family. Good food, good times. Now I’m super tired & itchy. Probably not related.

8:32:20 AM: Note to self: invent humidity proof boxers.

6:33:53 AM: I ate durian and it was yummy. Then I had an allergic reaction to it. Dunny 0, Indonesia 1.

4:26:40 AM: day two in bali: saw tons of neat stuff, battled stomache problems. Totally worth it

6:51:35 AM: Back in Jakarta, prepping for the day of travel tomorow. Been a wild, great trip.

12:39:41 AM: Am in Taipei airport, waiting for the start of my 12 hour flight to LA. This part of the airport is very nice. Miss Nadia already.

9:22:57 PM: Made it home. So sleepy

5:22:29 PM: I’m going to annoy everyone on my Twitter thing by liveblogging the iPhone update. Yay technology!

5:22:43 PM: Installing now btw…

5:25:41 PM: Verifying. Hrm, blog seems to not actually be getting these updates.

5:29:05 PM: Okay, the blog is working. My phone? Not so much yet.

5:30:56 PM: Oh, what’s this? A warning that an app I have contains stuff not suitable for those under 17? Crazy…

5:32:15 PM: What’s this? Done already? Huh… Wonder why so many other people had to re-sync everything, but I didn’t.

5:33:47 PM: “whats this? what’s this?” Who am I, King of frakin’ Halloween?

5:36:46 PM: Checking out some settings. There’s an App Store entry in Settings now.

5:38:43 PM: Trying the Find My iPhone thing now…

5:40:22 PM: Getting some strange feedback on the blog. I think I’m also going to setup a new twitter account just for liveblogging.

5:43:33 PM: Found it to within a several blog area… refining it to within twenty feet. Not bad.

Demo on XBL and PSN

It’s been a while since the last time I was excited about a new game hitting – I think MGS4 was the last game I actually got all excited over.

Star Wars : The Force Unleashed is one that I’m really looking forward to. Not sure if I’m exactly excited about it or not, but I am really hoping to be.

Tonight I’ll be downloading the demo and giving it a spin – and, since it’s on both XBox Live and Playstation Network, I figure I’ll download them both, and compare the two. I did this once before with Burnout: Paradise, so I figure this might be a good chance to try that again.

As a bonus, and just because I’m a total dork, I’ll LiveBlog the whole thing right here.

So, stay tuned for the fun.

Let The LiveBlog Begin!

• 17:38 -
  Started downloading the demo on both XBL and PSN. Started the download on XBL before PSN, might have been a mistake. For some odd reason the demo weighs in at ~905MB on XBL and ~1350MB on PSN. That’s a strange ~400MB difference… Could the PSN Demo have higher resolution textures or is it just coded poorly?
  Last time a saw a strange difference in file size like this was with Spore, and it turned out EA had just wrapped the Windows version of spore in Wine before releasing it on the Mac.

  Maybe LA is wrapping the PS3 version of the game in an XBox emulator… YOU READ IT HERE FIRST!

• 17:50-
  Still downloading, I’m going to go take a short nap… I’ll post more when I get up.
• 19:25-
  Woke up from nap, demo was done downloading on XBox. Gave it a test drive.
  OMFG THIS IS NEAT
  Hard to control though.
• 18:05-
  At “boss” – Yeah, kinda hard – still awesome.
  Once you figure it out, it’s a little *less* awesome.
• 18:19-
  Gonna give the PS3 a go – “installing” the demo. Man, this is one area where the XBox gets it right.
  Weird.
• 20:27-
  Hmm… Looks a bit cleaner, color wise. Maybe it’s just the HDMI though.
  Loading is much much faster.
• 20:35-
  Things do look a lot clearer – I’m going to have to do a side-by-side later, but so far the PS3 is looking nicer to me. Controls are about the same.
  Things seem… Bigger. Not sure why, but it feels bigger on PS3 than XBox. Stupid, huh?
• 20:38-
  Force Lightning FTMFW. I love me some lightning!
• 20:40-
  Gotta pay closer attention on the XBox now – I’m seeing the armor glow on the Storm Troopers where my lightsaber hits them, not sure if I noticed that on XBox.
• 20:52-
  Just finished up my play through on PS3.
  Looking at the cinematic, I’m almost positive now that this game looks better on PS3 than it does on XBox.
  Damn this is a fun game

Well, there you have it – TFU is a damn fun game, and I can’t wait to buy it.
All things considered, unless my later play through change my opinion, this is a PS3 buy for me.

I’m also wondering if, maybe, there aren’t some situations where liveblogging is totally inappropriate. Such as going to the bathroom:

9:11 – OH DEAR GOD THE SMELL! WHY GOD WHY?? WHAT SIN COULD A MAN COMMIT IN A SINGLE LIFETIME TO DESERVE SUCH A FATE?!

9:15 – I feel as though I’m summoning an elder god here…
The pain, the horror…
The horror…

9:20 – I can hear the distant wail of a smoke alarm.
Or maybe it’s the howling of lost souls pouring forth from my unholy bowels.
I swear, I’m never eating at Taco Bell again.

Or, perhaps, a date with a non-geek:

19:00 – I’ve got about fifteen minutes before I need to head out and pick up Sally. Just making some last minute wardrobe changes; Made sure I’ve got my lucky (read: clean) boxers on.
Oh yeah.

20:00 – Just picked up Sal. She’s yammering about her day, and we’re heading out for the evening. Something about local art and maybe some food. Should be fun.
It’s a bit hard to blog and drive. Maybe I’ll get a medal for this.

20:16 – Yup, I was right: Blogging and driving is kinda stupid. Nearly hit a pedestrian. Sally wants to know what the heck I’m doing on the phone. I told her I’d explain later.

20:30 – Parked, walking towards the Art. Not sure what we’ll find this time out. Sal’s getting slightly upset about my lack of attention. May have to post a little less.

Nah.

20:55 – Wow, some of this Art is pretty good. There are some paintings, and a few angry lesbians talking about tulips or something. Kind of confusing, but then again I’m sane.
Sal’s getting pretty huffy about something, not totally sure what. Keeps glaring at the phone, though.
I am posting less than before; what more could she want?

21:00 – In a fight with Sal right now – God, woman, would you shut up while I type? It’s hard enough on this damn iPhone without you nattering on about needing to be the center of god damn attention all the time.
On the plus side, I got some cotton candy!

21:03 – Well, here’s an unexpected twist: I’m free for the rest of the evening, maybe longer.
That’s right, ladies, this man is A-Vale-Ible.
Rowr!

The only thing worse than that might be the liveblogging of sex. I’ll leave that as an exercise for the reader.

After all this, I’m left with two questions. First and foremost, what will my next foray into liveblogging be? Second, and just as important: If Spook was building his computer, what was he using to blog?

Hey, all the cool kids are liveblogging.

11:30
Finished backing up/formatting/restoring the PS3. Preparing to “Install Other OS”.

11:56
After a couple of false starts, am finally in the installer. Turns out this defaults to some really shittastic video mode when installing. Was able to find a mode that doesn’t suck.

11:58
Dread Cthulhu, this installer is SLOW. Click button, walk away, make sammich. Some serious DMC4 install times here people. At the time Zone select – hate how I have to choose “Los Angeles” and not “Las Vegas.”

12:05
Still staring at the damn partitioner. What could be taking so long?
So far I’m thinking YDL was a better install process than this. Much faster, much less painless. Honestly, this is not making a fan of Ubuntu out of me.

12:10
Turns out there is a bug in the partitioner after all. Restarting the process *again*.
This, my friends, is why I’m going to get a damn Mac mini for the living room.
Stupid fucking Ubuntu.

12:15
Why am I even doing this? The damn installer still isn’t up yet, and even when it does come up it’ll be really slow and hinky. I have the feeling that I’m not going to be able to figure out how to manually configure the partition anyway – the documentation on it is virtually nonexistent!

12:24
Huh, after checking the PSUbuntu forums, it turns out the partitioner isn’t borked so much in this version of Ubuntu (7.10), as it was gagging on my external drive. With it removed, the thing is actually moving along at a… Slow pace, but a pace all the same.

Why am I doing this again? Do I actually think I’ll get flash working on this beast? Is YouTube in the living room worth this horror?

12:50
Still partitioning. Do you know the history of the Wilhelm Scream? I do now, thanks to the interwebs.

13:00
Still going.
Wow, long install.
This is how I spend my days off… Watching linux install, and writing a diary entry about it.
Well, I have been cleaning my apartment too, and listening to some good music. Mostly No More Kings. Just totally hooked on their stuff.

The partitioner is at 75%.
Scary thing? This is only step 4 of 7.
Oy.

13:10
93%
Shit this is taking a long time.

13:15
OMG! STEP FIVE!

13:16
No, wait, false alarm. Looks like the partitioner did finish, but it’s not letting me move on to step five just yet.
Damn.

13:30
Still stuck.
Should I just reboot and retry later? I’m thinking I should.

13:36
Spook just let me know, via IM, that this very post has inspired him to liveblog his upcoming PC Build.
Wow, I wrote something that inspired others.

I guess I’ll give this damn install one more shot.
Gonna reboot and try the manual partition.

Pray for me.

13:42
When rebooting and starting the installer, make sure the correct video type is selected – or else you end up with a b/w screen. I think I should restart before my TV explode.

Oh, wait… It went normal. Just the splash screen was fucked.

Did I mention yet that I don’t like Ubuntu?

13:50
Partitioning seems to be done. I hope that 735MB is enough for the swap.

13:52
Well, damn.
That was just the configuration wizard. NOW the damn installation is actually going to commence!

13:55
A brief list of things I’ve managed to accomplish while doing this damn install:

1. Clean the living room
2. Clean the dinning room
3. Learn the history of the Wilhelm Scream
4. Brush the cat
5. Tend to my wounds
6. Send numerous text messages
7. Take out the garbage
8. Brush the cat some more (she has a lot of hair, and lots of tangles)
9. Tend my new wounds (she also has very sharp claws)
10. Inspire someone else to liveblog odd events
11. Shave my beard into a more manageable, less hermit-ish, goatee
12. Learn that the Wii can handle the YouTube chores

14:00
This installation has taken a good two and a half hours of my life. I have to now start wondering why I’m doing this.

I really don’t see a need for a linux computer in the living room – The majority of my movies are divix, and the PS3 can handle them pretty well. My music is all iTunes protected, so I’ll have to either get that damn AppleTV or a Mac mini to really get use out of them in the living room. Sure, I could just hook my iPod up to the stereo, but where’s the fun in that? I want to use the TV as a fullscreen display for that neat music visualizer.

The longer this installation runs, the more I’m seeing it as a solution to a problem that I don’t have.

Realistically, this is just the call of boredom making me do something insanely geeky and overly difficult just so I can say that I did it.

I think that’s it, right there. I’m not doing this because I enjoy linux, or because I want to play NES games on my PS3, or because I figure I can really find that work-around that will allow me to get WoW running on this beast… No, I’m doing it for some perverse sense of bragging rights and self satisfaction.

Nothing like a slow install to bring on the introspection.

14:17
The file copy is at 75%

My interest in getting this working? About 10% now. I’m only going forward out of sheer bloody minded determination.

I wonder how hard it’ll be getting flash installed? I should probably start looking into it.
The whole thing will be moot if the damn sound won’t work.

14:32
As soon as this is done, I’m going to watch The Dark Crystal.

14:37
Installation complete!
Starting the os now.

14:49

Success!

I am posting this from Firefox on the PS3.
The sound seems to be working, and I’ll get around to finding some sort of flash-like thing later.

Right now, though, I’m going to take a well earned bath and nap, and then have me a snack and some pizza.

Huzzah! I won!