Jakarta + ice hockey = no way

It was mentioned that while i was in Singapore i met a bunch of ex-pats living there , one of these guys is Matt Wheeler (Wheels) he is an American teaching out there in Asia hailing from the might hockey state of Minnesota ! It had been sometime since i heard anything from the guys in Singapore but i was craving another tourney, with glimpses of chances to play in Bangkok in October ( which never came to fruition) ....out of the blue Wheels contacts me telling me he is living in Jakarta and they are putting a team into Singapore tourney and they would love to have me play for them !!!

This is when my travelling begins to escalate and i begin to get a little more greedy wanting to see more countries rather than just visiting 1 on my vacation.....so instead of just flying out to Singapore to play and come home ( without my girlfriend) i figured i might as well go spend a week in Jakarta and hope to play there....just a small side note : my stick bag is basically my biggest trophy , i put a flag on it for every country i get to play ice hockey in . So i begin planning my trip .....

Time goes by and my plans are coming together and a certain somebody that i care for ( Kathleen) begins to get a little jealous that i am going away , so we begin to incorporate meeting up in Asia somewhere ( Vietnam,Cambodia were the early favs) as plans go we decide to meet in Thailand ! so obviously i begin to work on contacting the guys from the Bangkok Flying Farangs , of course plans are going perfect !

Finally it is time to fly out to Jakarta and boy am i nervous as firstly it is FAR and secondly i have to weasle my way to the front of the plane somehow to get off early to meet one my teammates driver at the airport to whisk me off for a practise !!! yes a practise right after getting off of a 28 hour flight , no dropping bags no hotel , straight to rink . So i played my cards was a good boy the whole flight and then i sprung the question to one of the stewardess' " umm believe it or not i am flying here to play hockey and i have to be at the arena and get off the plane as fast as i can " , she kinda gave me that look and somehow i proved to her that it was for real ....took some time but for that last hour i was in first class!

Now i can be a bit of a dumbass sometimes.....i got off the plane and to my amazement people were smoking right after coming out the tunnel so i fumbled around for that long awaited smoke ( yeah i smoke ) . I had known prior to getting on the plane that i had to purchase a Visa upon arrival for $10 US dollars , so i had my $10 US in hand and was aimlessly running around in an empty airport ....ran right by the empty Visa office , almost leaving airport before security told me that i missed the office!!!! so ran back , stood in the now long lineup and purchased Visa ...i mentioned i was meeting a driver ( Mike Duncan's driver) , everyone in Asia that i have met seem to be able to afford having house maids and personal drivers for something like $100 a month or something ridiculous like that ! i come dashing out of the airport and there i am looking for a sign with my name , and lucky for me i could not see one ....my phone was also dead and i could not find somewhere to plug in to get ahold of someone. This was kinda hectic having a huge goalie bag a backpack and a stick bag to handle while 5 or 6 Indo dudes are all begging to help me for some reason...i am being very skeptical to these guys as it is PITCH BLACK outside the airport and here i am in a foreign country , thing going through my mind like yeah i am twice everyones size here but what if they have weapons , or what if i am being led to some dark alley were going through my mind .

Finally 1 of these guys talked me into walking outside the airport where there was actually a plug ....relief, but i still felt vulnerable to some attack ( in my mind). Charged the phone called the guys , i was going to miss practise. Somehow after i paid all of my indonesian entourage a grad total of $5 US dollars i bumped into my driver, and off to the rink we go !

Basically we pull up to the mall Taman Angrak ( help me with spelling if i am wrong ) and there is a bomb sweep of the vehicle of course ! i mean i am used to it over in Toronto ....Nope ! Hello what the heck is this for ...oh yeah i forgot about the extremists . Can't remember for the life of me what floor the rink is on , all i know is that it is near the food court . it was as foggy as foggy can be and it was beautiful ! i could not believe my eyes there is a rink in Jakarta !!!! i mean by our standards it was crap but it was usable ....the glass is not tempered so they can not even use real pucks ,odd but it works .

This is where i got to meet all the guys ( Matt Wheeler, Jusuf Hendrata, Stephane Houle,Mike Duncan , etc..) they were just getting off the ice when i arrived . And just like at every rink in Canada someone offered me a beer , AHHH!  I brought a ton of tape and blades and sticks for the guys ( which they paid for ) and was on my way to my hosts house .

I stayed with Matt and his family for the first weekend i was there as i did not want to impose . On the first day we went to the school that he teaches at , if i am correct he is the head of the athletics program at an english speaking school in Jakarta. There was a soccer ( football ) tournament for kids there that day and i joined him to check out the action. Like i said it was kids playing so it got a bit lame and Matt suggested i go out into the village around the school.Also mentioning that the locals would appreciate it even if i bought a can of pop .

So off i went out into the hood, now here i am in foreign country wandering around looking like a sore thumb basically in something i would consider a ghetto . Garbage is everywhere, cats running around that i would not dare to touch , jeez there were wild chickens on the dirt roads here! Okay its hotter than a fresh poo so i need me a drink , and here is something that somewhat resembles a store ...i see a fridge there has to be drinks in . Stepping up to the counter i send out a friendly hello as everyone is basically staring at me , i get someones undivided attention and ask for a Coke. Matt was right they were happy , and then offered me a straw from a box. Now there were plenty of straws in this box ,only problem was that they were all chewed on LOL! so here i am not trying to be rude......yeah i took one , didn't throw it amongst the other garbage , kinda kept it as a memento for a while until i found a garbage bin for the lovely gift :)

It was along day out in the sun and Matt and i retired to his place to watch some tv , and catch up with each other. Next day we got up and i met his lovely wife and daughter and we went into the hectic world of Jakarta malls !! Let me tell you there are a ton of malls in Jakarta and traffic is insanity there . While driving i was warned to keep windows and doors locked because apparently guys on motorcycles drive by and reach in and steal what they can . the roads are littered with beggers , some with babies in hand ( which apparently can be rented , yeah they rent babies to beg !) there are lines on the road but somehow you will find 5 cars and 4 motorcycles in 3 lanes . As we drive along we end up getting pulled over and let me tell you the system seems to work alot better there than going to court ( wink , wink ) all we had to do was pay the guy and off we went , now payment pends on how much he sees in your wallet so unfortunately we paid more than the regular corrupt officer would ask for LOL! we travelled to a bunch of malls looking for this and that and enjoyed a splendid lunch , very relaxed day ending at an internet cafe with Matt as internet connections seem to be painful over there to maintain .

I end my stay at Matt's with a hockey practise in Jakarta and check into my digs for the rest of my stay in this mighty city , Hotel Aryaduta . Which was a really close walk to the Monas Memorial . Back to the hockey so the dressing room is basically right there in the middle of the mall so i drop my drawers with eyes in the back of my head and begin to dress . Getting to meet some of my other teammates that will be joining us in Singapore ( Ryan Klue , and 1 of our Indo players Felix Cahyono ) this was the first time i had gotten the opportunity to play on a team with players from the native country that i was visiting ( i mean from countries that are not associated with ice hockey) so it was quite the treat . I also met some of the locals that were big on the game and strong supporters such as Tandri Sutanto .

We got on the ice and had a fun skate, weird as it was with this super light puck flying around and guys wearing jeans and tshirts as equipment but it was still HOCKEY ! This was the first practise for the Jakarta Corruption and a new team was born ....the team has since changed their name to the Jakarta Dragons as to not offend and of the Indo guys on the team :) . On this night we enjoyed playing hockey in the fog and then i was escorted to my hotel by Jusuf Hendrata ( small in stature but big in heart ) quick on the ice with good hands. We became good friends fast and he drove me to see a bit of the seedy parts of Jakarta , without leaving the car...well except to grab a 6 pack of Heinekens ! He took me over to my hotel had a beer and jetlag took over...zzzzzzz

Like i mentioned in older post , the hospitality is UNBELIEVABLE ....the next day i went to meet this crazy Quebecois hardcore Mr. Stephane Houle , now i don't have much to say about Habs fans but this guy is tops in my books ! This guy took me out and we went for a massage which cost a grand total of something like $4 , and NO this was not the happy ending kind of massage LOL...this was reflexology . I mentioned on line that my ankle was sore prior to flying out so he took me to get it worked on , of course we were pampered there with sauna cold shower on rocks etc... just spectacular. Our day continued with some shopping ( yeah i know i am a guy but this had to be done) where i bought a bunch of stuff for Kathleen and other friends i promised gifts too ! Now this is the cherry on top ....i mentioned this guy is a Habs fan , HE DOWNLOADED LEAFS GAME TO WATCH WITH ME !!!! yeah got to watch the Leafs , and drink a few brews ,penthouse apartment overlooking Jakarta ....Stephane your rock mon frere!

We ended our day with me jumping into a taxi to go meet Jusuf . well this gets interesting , he took me to a Karaoke bar , with mainly Indonesian music ( Chintaku ) yeah so here i am drinking and singing Indonesian music infront of a bunch of Indonesian friends ( what a hoot !) we drank a ton of wine and had one of the most memorable nights of my life ...unfortunately all the video footage of me singing was lost but someday i will have to go sing some more tracks with Jusuf ( Drift,Drift !!!!)

The next day we were back at the rink ,and as you can see above there were alot of people enjoying the pleasure skating there ( amazing ) . we got on the ice for the last time that day before heading out to Singapore to finally challenge other teams ! It was a light foggy skate as usual LOL , i went back to hotel that day and went on my own small trek to see the Monas Monument

Going to Jakarta was an experience that i would love to repeat some day . My first trip to Singapore was only hockey with not much else for excitement, honestly i would doubt that i would go there again unless i was visiting somewhere i have not skated like Kuala Lumpur or Manila ( both on my radar ) but Jakarta is definitely somewhere i would go and suggest to anyone to go to ! The people are great and there is alot of stuff to do ...next chapter will be in Singapore where lets say i had alot more fun the second time around !