Bless. Samudra was awake from 3.00am this morning screaming crying and seemed to be distraught about something but I couldn’t work out what, so I held him in my arms, trying not to fall asleep, while he slept for a couple of minutes, woke and cried, slept again, etc and the cycle continued until the sun came up and I gave up on the idea of ever getting any sleep so got up, only to find five minutes later that Samudra had finally fallen soundly asleep!
We caught a taxi mid morning to Plaza Indonesia to meet with Putra as he was filming the new Samsung TV Launch at the Hyatt Hotel. I have only visited the hotel to have a meeting once before, about three years ago, and had forgotten just how grand it is inside. Samudra loved the water fountains in the lobby as we passed through to head up to the penthouse suite. Upstairs the room was packed with media and a huge buffet lunch but we didn’t stay too long as we needed to get across the city for Putra to participate in a travel talk session where he would be one of the ‘local heroes’ speaking about how he has been successful in influencing the community with creating content that inspires..
It was steaming hot outside as usual and the traffic was crazy as we made it across to the Pullman Hotel at Central Park in a taxi. Wow! The Pullman Hotel is amazing! It was my first time to visit the Hotel and I was in awe from the moment we walked through the front door. The lobby was decked out in ultra cool decor and we passed by an exhibition of paintings and sculptures as we made our ways to the lifts. On the ground was a weird and wonderful projection of computerised ants and what looked like spilled honey or something.. if you stepped on the honey, the ants would go crazy running around and be squashed if you stepped on them. I have no idea how it works but it kept us amused and Samudra was fascinated.
We headed upstairs and the lifts opened up to another foyer of sculptures and an exhibition of paintings hanging along the windows and on the walls. There were displays of womens legs so that if you stood behind them, it looked like you were sitting on the bench and loads of funky couches and cushions lining another huge open area. As we walked down the hallway there were Warhol inspired paintings of VW’s and two Warhol themed rooms but we didn’t enter them as there were other events in progress. Finally we made it to the area where the WIT Indonesia 2014 (Web in Travel) event was taking place, and we collected our name badges and entered into the huge hall where many people from the travel industry were seated at tables. A travel discussion was happening up on stage which included our friend Achmad from Wego, but was soon over and it was time for a lunch break and a huge buffet spread out in the foyer.
I was feeling very conscious of the fact that I was holding a baby at this event and this I am sure would never be allowed back home, and I am certain people wouldn’t even think to bring their baby either back in Australia or here in Jakarta.. and why on earth would they? but Samudra comes everywhere with us! The thing is that here, even the organiser came up and told me Samudra was the youngest person to ever attend one of their events, and was laughing and made us feel welcome. So many people seemed to want to come up and tell me about their children which I found amusing. Then it was time for the break to be over and Putra to go up on stage and talk about his experience as a travelling documentary film maker in Indonesia. He was a little nervous beforehand as he was going to have to speak in English but I knew he would be absolutely fine as it was to be a casual chat between the presenter, Putra and two other people and I felt so proud of him as he sat up on stage. Unfortunately Samudra decided to start making loud squealing noises about 10 minutes into the talk so we had to keep leaving the room and missed most of the presentation as I didn’t want to interrupt the guests!
We met some lovely people and then it was time to head back over to the Hyatt and Samudra decided to fall asleep just as we arrived, so I decided not to follow Putra back up to the Samsung event and as I was looking for another taxi I spied the new H&M store and decided to make a quick stop to see what all the fuss is about. What the? The store was MASSIVE… I’m talking ridiculously massive with so many clothes that there is no way that they would be able to sell all that stock and there was nothing remotely cool in there. I wonder where all these garments end up if they don’t sell? There was just so much choice that it was intimidating and overwhelming and I had to get out of there fast!
It was peak traffic time as I found a taxi to take us home and it took more than 1.5 hours to get back, but it didn’t bother me tonight as I gazed out the street and reflected on the day and watched life buzzing about on the streets outside the taxi window as we crawled along at a snails pace, with Samudra asleep in my arms.
I hope you had a beautiful day too wherever in the world you are.
Day 85: Putra just before going up on stage. Happiness
Day 85: Putra up on stage, not that you can see! Happiness.
Day 85: A mix of my biggest phobia – bananas! and my favourite thing in the world – babies! Happiness.
Day 85: One of a series of paintings lining the windows. Happiness.
Day 85: One of many foyers/exhibition spaces at Pullman Hotel. Happiness.
Day 85: Fun sculptures lining the wall by the elevators in the lobby. Happiness.
Day 85: A little boys dream. Happiness.
Day 85: Skipping baby scultures in the lobby. Happiness.
Day 85: Spiderman in his eyes in this gorgeous painting. Happiness.
