Coming out of the plane I feel the familiar heatwave and sticky air that I actually enjoy after all the freezing air con used generously around these places. Is very warm and a filter of sweat with dust is filling immediately every pore of my skin. Taking a taxi to our hotel,  the traffic is not disappointing us. A hectic mix of cars, Vespas, and people that are carrying various activities on the side of the road is making our trip worthy. We pass a slum neighborhood on our way to the hotel: exotic fruits that look like figues with a snakeskin, all sorts of exotic fruits that I cannot name are sold everywhere and pretty much everything you can imagine on the open air stands, deep fried food or strange looking impossible to identify items. The tiniest children with their bare feet on the sidewalk eating, crying or watching us curiously, young men, old men, a skinny cat looking like she didn’t have food in months – all these in an impossible amalgam of colors, smells and noise that cannot be ignored. In the background, you can hear the inimitable praying mosques that give this place a very particular and charming identity. All the way to the hotel (about 45 minutes) is all the same. yet very different. I have noticed people eating on their Vespa, making selfies (with a selfie stick obviously), even sleeping. We are a bit afraid where our hotel would be. All I want is a shower and a proper bed. After several stops of our driver asking indications about the hotel address(panic!), we are finally here (Tangerang). It is luxury compared to the background, we actually have a huge room and a big shower (with moderately warm water, remember it’s very hot) and we have a proper dinner. Something that was supposed to be vegetarian: a sort of soup with seafood and chicken, not a bad mix with rice.

Yes, we are in Asia. The place that cannot be mistaken for any other, the inimitable and unique land of mixed cultures, the melting pot where everything is possible. Nice to meet you Indonesia.