Last day in Jakarta, and Asia

Just breakfast, TV shows in the room, packing, and some pool time until it was time to leave for tonight’s entertainment, the Skye Restaurant on the 56th floor of the Grand Indonesia East Mall. I didn’t even eat lunch.

When I arrived at the mall, I first went looking for where the entrance to the restaurant was because one review on Google said it was quite hard to find. The signage could have been clearer but I made it. Then I did some shopping to get rid of the cash I still had. It has been much easier to pay by card than expected, though to be fair I’ve mostly been in large malls and not so much “on the streets”.

I got another purchase that qualified for a tax refund so I went to customer service to get the required piece of paper. This time she told me I needed to show the product as well as the paper to the customs officer. That’s good to know beforehand cause I was planning to drop my bags before handing in the papers, but I guess I’ll do it the other way around. And I’ll have to prepare the bags so I easily can get to the products in question.

At 19 I took the elevator to the 56th floor and got my table. Unfortunately, they only had tables by the window in the smoking section, so I gambled a bit hoping there wouldn’t be that much smoking. There were a couple of tables smoking but it didn’t bother me.

I started with R&R Fizz, a mocktail based on strawberries.

For an appetizer, I chose Skye’s burnt ends and they were delicious! I got some small vegetables as well and by mistake a small pepper fruit, darn that stung my mouth :p

Before the main course, I got to choose my preferred steak knife, from a box with ten different knives. That’s a first for me! I didn’t go for the biggest one, but at least one with a good handle.

Then came the 400-gram Gold-label black Angus stockyard sirloin served with duck fat fries and cowboy butter sauce. Marvelous! The salad had vinegar or something on it so I left that aside (not that uncommon for me :p). Tried to slow down a bit to be able to enjoy it more, cause I was eating too fast, it was so good!

Ordered some mango pannacotta for dessert. Very nice!

The staff was friendly, attentive, and not too pushy but effective, I approve. This is by far the most expensive meal during the whole trip. But also the best one, even though the company during the last night in Seoul was hard to beat. I paid the bill and went down to the mall and got a cab back to the hotel. Pulled out the items that were eligible for a tax refund and put them in the top of one bag. Ended the evening by writing this and getting to bed.

Tomorrow my long trip home begins. The taxi picks me up at 10:30.
Three flights, Jakarta -> (BR238) Taipei -> (BR061) Vienna -> (OS313) Stockholm
If everything goes according to plan, I will land at Arlanda at 14:25 on Sunday, after about 29 hours of traveling, 23,5 of these hours in the air.