Happy New Year!!

I realized I never actually detailed my departure from Diamond Bar: After a lot of goodbyes, Harry Potter, last minute packing, and crying, I left LAX on a 12:05am flight to HKG (Hong Kong). I missed Christmas completely... I was on the plane on Dec 24 and I landed in Hong Kong on Dec 26th. I had a 3 hour layover en route to CGK (Jakarta). Both flights were on a 777 from Cathay Pacific, which, btw, is awesome! Overhead bin space is abundant, seats are roomy, personal entertainment choices are many, and the food was great! Most people know I'm not a dessert person, but I ate all my cheesecake and my blueberry breakfast muffin. They were worth it.

Observations of HKG:

- beautiful sunrise

- going forward on the moving sidewalk is on the left side (is this the case in the UK too?)

- they have Popeye's Chicken - I ate there

Upon arrival in Indonesia, I waited for my sister who was supposed to arrive 15 minutes later than me on a China Airlines flight. But I arrived an hour early and there were no screens to check incoming flights.. I sat by the bathroom long enough to the point where people kept asking (eachother) about the strange girl who was sitting by the bathroom by herself for so long. My sister arrived 45 minutes later and we paid the $25 for our VOA (visa on arrival). They used to put a nice sticker in your passport but now it's just a piece of paper that I've already lost. We were met by an entourage of family members who were delighted to tell me that I'm skinny now when I was fat before. Not sure how I feel about that. We then headed to the Bellagio, complete with its own mock "Welcome to Las Vegas" sign. My uncle owns a luxury apartment in downtown Jakarta and my sister and I were staying there with two of our cousins. It's been a fun few days: I dont think I've ever shopped more in my life (!) and the eating has been good too. I am lucky to have family here that is so kind and generous. My cousin makes breakfast for me and my sister in the morning... I am taking notes so I can be just as good a host to people when they come visit :)

New Years: Unsure of plans at the moment.. Google tells me that there's some sort of street party on the goverment steps or party on the beach. I want to go, but my family doesnt look kindly on this type of "chaos" so we shall see what happens. I've also been sick since I've been here .... even with 9-10 hours of sleep a night, my body seems not to like being "awake at 5am.."

I'm back in Jakarta after the trip to Bandung. Belly full, eyes dry, ready for sleep. Wherever you happen to be at 12:00am on January 1, I hope it is wonderful! Happy New Year all!