Our first Airbnb back in the US is in Racine, Wisconsin. At 11 am Friday a family friend picks us up at the hotel near O’Hare and drives us the 1 hour 15 minutes to the city. We quickly settle in to the comfortable 3 bedroom, one bath apartment we have rented via Airbnb. Then run errands.
 
William has developed a bit of cold and there is so much concern about coronavirus for the elderly and higher-risk individuals that we just talk to his mother through the closed glass door. She is happy to see us, but looks so sad that she can’t hug us.
 
Our first trip to the grocery store is an eye-opener. In Taiwan we most likely would be remotely scanned for a high temperature and there is always hand sanitizer upon entry. Not here. I am able to find the standard anti-bacterial wipes near the shopping carts and use one. Maybe I am becoming a germ-a-phobe! The store shelves are empty of paper products, cleaning wipes, rubbing alcohol and hand sanitizer. Soup, pasta, rice and beans are minimally stocked, primarily with unusual items on the shelves. Canned asparagus or pickled beets anyone? Luckily we find most of what we need. A few people in the store stare with concern when William coughs into his sleeve.
 
I call around the city looking for a thermometer so we can proactively monitor ourselves using hard data. The only one I can find is the type that is pressed against the forehead - $50. Sigh. The clerk agrees to hold it for me for one hour, so we quickly run out to buy it. William’s temp is low and mine is normal at 98.7F. William has classic cold symptoms, no fever and no difficulty breathing, but we consult with a nurse to see if we can get a Covid-19 test to put the minds of the family at ease. Nope. We’re told that people are only tested if they exhibit the symptoms. Bummer - it would be so much easier to have a confirmation of no virus.
 
We just stay in the apartment on most days. The first few days are rough anyway, trying to get our bodies to adjust to Central time. I communicate via text with our Airbnb hostess (who lives upstairs), apologizing if she hears William’s coughing and any noise from us getting up at four or four-thirty in the morning. She seems relieved when I reassure her that William does not have the Covid-19 symptoms.
 
Wednesday one of our dear friends comes to dinner. William is recovering from his cold while she and a small group of co-workers are still going into their office daily. All of us are willing to run the risk. We have a terrific evening catching up.

A week after we arrive in the US (March 20th) the Governor of Illinois issues a stay-a-home order in response to the risk of coronavirus/Covid-19. It essentially says we should only go out for essentials or medical needs and should not get together with others, even just a few people. Since we will not be able to see friends in Illinois, we extend our stay in Racine and cancel the Illinois Airbnb. Five days later (March 25th) the Wisconsin safe-at-home order goes into effect. This is one day before William and I will complete 14 days of our own program of social distancing. :-(. One-by-one the dentist and doctor appointments we have scheduled during the upcoming weeks are cancelled.  Only one of our six appointments is deemed essential.

Like many, many people throughout the world our days are filled with online projects, puzzles, reading, TV streaming and receiving the updates on coronavirus. We are staying just a few blocks from Lake Michigan. On the few nice days we go out for a walk, ensuring we stay six feet from anyone we meet. We cringe as we look at our stocks and have concern for the closed businesses and many people who are now out of work.

We are fortunate that we do not personally know anyone who has tested positive.
​
We are living in interesting (though often personally boring) times.

We have some coffee and tea in the lobby area, but this morning William is craving a big breakfast. A hamburger or sandwich will not do. I extend my Google search and find N.Y. Bagels Cafe near the Taipei Main Train Station, a 20 minute walk per Google calculations. We get on our walking shoes and go!

The walk to the station is familiar - through the North Gate. City Mall is almost deserted, but the Q Square with it’s upscale stores has more foot traffic. We find N.Y. Bagels Cafe across from the Starbucks in Q Square. We settle in to a cozy booth and order American-style breakfasts, Steak and eggs for William and scrambled eggs and bacon for me. Mmmm. It’s a very expensive breakfast by Taipei standards ($34 USD), but worth every cent.

​Following breakfast we walk to Shandao Temple, the largest Buddhist Temple in Taiwan, then continue exploring the city heading back to the Roader’s Hotel. We arrive around 1 pm. This gives us plenty of time to take a short nap, shower and finish packing before we leave the hotel at 4 pm.

The hotel arranges for a fixed-priced taxi to the airport. It costs $1,000 TWD ($33 USD), a savings of $600 TWD ($20 USD) over what we paid on our arrival. Our temperatures are scanned as we enter the airport. We answer the mostly-standard questions about coronavirus at the check-in counter then breeze through security and immigration. Soon we are settled into the lounge, snacking as we await our flight.

EVA Airlines flight to Chicago is scheduled to depart at 8:10pm and arrive at 8:45pm - seemingly just 35 minutes but actually 13 hours and 35 minutes. The flight is delayed 20 minutes in boarding, but the staff is efficient once we are on the plane. But then, the plane is hardly full. We are two of the seven people in the Premium Economy section which holds 64. The flight attendants are so efficient that we feel rushed through our meal, with the ice cream for dessert arriving when our meal is only half-eaten.

We arrive at O’Hare a few minutes early. The International Terminal at O’Hare always means a 15-20 minute walk to Immigration. As we start to get close to the Immigration Hall we encounter a long line. OMG ... we have efficiently been processed through Immigration 12 times in different countries since January 9th. The worst is the US. The queue is at least 500 people. The sad part is that I don’t think the US is being more thorough or discriminating than a country like Singapore. William and I are happy we took extra steps a couple of years ago - we have Global Entry which allows us to use a kiosk and avoid the long queue.

We catch a shuttle to an O’Hare hotel for the night. We hit the hotel bar for an appetizer (chicken wings) and some beverages then grab some zzzzzz’s. I’m able to sleep until 8 am, but William only makes it to 6:30 am.

The sun is shining as we leave the Roaders Hotel - a good day to do outdoor tourist activities. We walk to the Red House Theater, an octagonal building designed and completed in 1908 under Japanese rule. It has a small artists market and cafe on the first floor, but unfortunately does not open until 11am. We check out the exterior and have fun watching two men photographing a pair of red and white athletic shoes against the building. Not sure why, but there’s probably a good reason.

Our next adventure is just a short distance away - the subway. We fumble a bit, but find the ticket counter and buy two one-day passes for a total of 300 Taiwan dollars (~$10 USD). We find the green line and take it two stops to Chiang Kai-Shek Station. The subway is clean, efficient, and not crowded at this time of day.

​As we exit the station we walk a short pathway to Liberty Square. It is a very large square with significant structures anchoring each side. Liberty Square Arch holds down one side while opposite it is the very dominating National Chiang Kai-Shek Memorial Hall. Along the sides are the National Concert Hall and the National Theater.

​On this windy day we walk around the square enjoying the architecture and taking photographs. Outside of the Concert Hall a group is practicing sword-fighting (it didn’t look like fencing). We make our way to the Memorial Hall and climb the stairs. Inside is a giant statue of Generalissimo Chiang Kai-Shek. It reminds me a little of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C. Within the Memorial Hall is a museum. One of the more memorable exhibits is the Generalissimo’s study - complete with a wax model of the man himself.

​We are starving, but the cafe in the Memorial Hall has little to offer. As we are walking to the nearest subway stop we happen by Sole Mediterrano. We can’t really read anything on the menu outside, but there are photos that look appealing. We go in and are given the window seat and menus in Chinese and English and some pictures. We make our selections, I order at the counter and pay in cash. I order tea, but they do not have bottles water nor coffee for William, so I order what the hostess calls beer. William says it tastes more like bottled lemonade. It’s imported from Korea - maybe it is lemonade. Soon the waitress is bringing us delicious food. Smiles appear on our faces.

After lunch we walk to the subway and more confidently make our way to the red line. We get off by Taipei 101, the World’s tallest building from 2004 - 2010. We take a few photos then walk through the shopping mall at the base of the tower. Like the Petronas Towers in KL, this mall has most every luxury retail brand.

We wander over to the Hyatt hotel hoping that it has a good view of the tower from a restaurant or bar. As we are walking through the lobby we find La Casa del Habanos, the Cuban cigar lounge chain William has sampled in a few international cities. A glint appears in William’s eye. He selects a Monte Cristo No. 4, we order a scotch and red wine and settle into the comfortable chairs. When finished, it’s just a short walk to the subway and back to the hotel.

In the evening we return to the Ximengdin Walking District for dinner. We find a restaurant that specializes in gratins. William selects one with rice and clams. I choose one with Chicken, pesto and spaghetti. They’re okay, but could use more protein. As we walk around the market at night there are food carts. We stop by one and get a hot dog on a stick. That helps!

It was hard to find a restaurant open last night at 10 pm. We didn’t need much, but we did need something in our tummies to make it through the night. After searching a bit we found a Japanese restaurant with a menu including pictures. Yeah! William ordered a beer and chicken wings (apparently they are desirable in most all cultures). I had an order of deep-fried oysters and some sake. After we order I noticed the name of the restaurant - Dog Japanese Restaurant. Hmmm. Well, our food was hot and good - we’re happy we found the place.

This morning we meander down to the guest area with our electronics to catch up on e-mail and to drink complimentary tea and coffee. Last night when we checked-in they explained that breakfast is not included but every morning they put out hamburgers and sandwiches at 7:30. When they are gone, they’re gone. Sure enough, there are some hamburgers and sandwiches on the counter. After two cups of hot beverages we start to think about breakfast. A Google search doesn’t find anything nearby where we can get an order of eggs. We each grab a hamburger - they will have to do.

It’s raining so an indoor activity is the thing to do today. Taiwan’s National Palace Museum sounds do-able, so we signal a taxi outside our hotel. It’s about a 30 minute drive which takes us near the Fine Arts Museum, the Grand Hotel Taipei and Chaing Kai-Shek’s residence.

In 1949 when the Communists were bearing down on the Nationalists during China’s civil war the decision was made to send some of the most prized possessions from the National Beijing Palace Museum and some other museums to Taiwan for safe keeping. There were almost 3,000 crates shipped. That is how the Taiwan National Palace Museum ended up with so many exquisite Chinese pieces. The People’s Republic of China for years has claimed that the pieces were stolen and legitimately belongs to them. So far Taiwan has been able to fend off the claims.

​We start with a gallery of gorgeous gold and jade pieces. The work is intricate and amazing. In another gallery is a stone called banded jasper which has been carved to look like cooked pork belly. We walk through the floors, utilizing the wide red-carpeted staircases. In one of the second floor galleries there’s an incredible room divider with jade panels. We move along to the bronze and cloisonné treasures. Some of the last galleries contain a large number of Ming vases. Beautiful!

We have the taxi from the museum drop us off at City Mall. Unlike our experience in Jakarta, we do not find many restaurants. We’re starving so we settle for a local cafe. I order a beef soup bowl (I think the beef is tongue) and William has a gratin - basically buttered spaghetti noodles with baked cheese on top. There’re ok and take the hangries away.

​As we walk through the mall we see a large number of shops with mechanical games (like the claw games where you can win a stuffed animal). There’s also a few video game arcades with the prerequisite 13 year-old boys playing the hottest games. Interesting cultural difference from other places we have been.

​On our way back to the hotel we walk through the North Gate (Cheng’en Gate) one of the five old gates to the city. We then walk by a stone building from 1910.
 
In the evening we are ready for some non-traditional food. TGI Friday’s is in the Ximengdin Walking District, just a 15 minute walk away. We don’t frequent TGI Friday’s when we are in the US, but American food is calling to us. We share an appetizer platter and have happy-hour beer and wine. Our need for food from “home” is temporarily satiated.

Our original travel plans were to go to Hong Kong for four nights at the end of our South East Asia trip. The return flight I booked was Hong Kong -3 hour layover in Taipei - Chicago. With the evolving coronavirus (COVID-19) situation, before we ended our Vietnam trip we decided we would eliminate Hong Kong and spend that time in Taipei. This had been our plan if the Hong King protests got out of hand, but Conspiracy Theorists would say that the coronavirus virtually wiped out that issue. So, for $500 in change fees and pricing differences EVA Airlines agreed to change our return ticket to originate in Taipei and terminate in Chicago, no Hong Kong leg. Same seats on the plane. Oy!

Our four days became three days when our Sunday flight from Jakarta to Taipei was canceled and we were moved to Monday. Lucky for us the Jakarta condo we are staying was available for the extra night.

Our taxi driver arrives a little early for our ride to the airport - great! We wear masks as we enter the departures area and are aware that our body temperatures are being monitored. We must not be running a fever, as we’re allowed through. The Jakarta airport is very quiet and the airport lounge is nice. Because of the flight cancellation for the previous day EVA is using a larger plane which has a 2-4-2 configuration and William and I settle into one of the 2’s. It’s a good flight which arrives a little early.

Again, temperature scanners are monitoring everyone who enters the country. We’re asked to fill out extra paperwork regarding our travel history and must attest to our health. We’re also given a paper explaining the symptoms of SARS, MERS and COVID-19 and what do do if we develop the symptoms. By the time we’re through immigration our masks are back in our backpacks. The CDC doesn’t advise using them unless you have symptoms or are caring for someone with the virus, but 95% of the people here are wearing them. The question is...is this their cultural norm, or is this due to the virus? Probably a little of both. When we arrive at the taxi stand they hand us masks before allowing us to get into the car.

When we arrive at the Roaders Hotel they must take our temperature before allowing us to check in. The desk clerk sanitizes an in-the-ear thermometer with alcohol then takes the temperature. Thank goodness they don’t have to use a rectal thermometer (as our brother-in-law likes to tease “the way momma used to take temperatures”). Of course we also have to provide our travel history and attest to our health.

​The hotel has the vibe of trying to attract people in their 20’s and 30’s. In the lobby there are couches, tables, complementary electronic bar games and a projector TV. There are bicycles and umbrellas which can be borrowed. Our room is simply decorated and oddly shaped with a curved wall - it will be fun for 3 nights.

Once again we wake up around 4:30 am to the numerous mosques in our area chanting or reciting call to prayer over loudspeakers. The call is actually issued six times a day aligned with the prayer services at the mosques which is 4:40 am, 5:58 am, 12:03 pm, 3:07 pm, 6:09 pm, and 7:18 pm on this Saturday and similar the other days of the week. Sometimes it lasts 15-20 minutes. It is something which would take a lot for us to get used to. One evening I recorded a short clip of the sound, see below.
​
We’re feeling closed in staying in this small apartment and we have some computer-based work to do, so the obvious answer is a trip to the mall! Saturday we grab a table and coffee at Starbucks then log into their WiFi. When we’re hungry we take the escalator down a floor to Greyhound Restaurant for “Thai with a twist”.

​In the afternoon we try out Paulander, Jakarta’s only micro-brewery. William orders a half liter and I choose a glass of white wine. William declares that the beer is good and my wine is a decent Vouvray. We sip and snack on a pretzel while doing more work using their WiFi. A nice treat.

Sunday morning Jakarta has a car-free zone on a few of their major roads. People come out to bike, run and walk from 6:30 - 11 am. Vendors setup carts near the Selamat Datang Monument with food or goods - the small Sunday market is open. It’s a good start to our day.

​In the afternoon we try an upscale restaurant with a memorable name: Cork and Screw. They specialize in wine, with a mention in Wine Spectator Magazine. I have a delightful salmon ravioli and William has a tasty lasagna.

In the evening we pre-pack for tomorrow’s departure and remind our Airbnb host of the need to order a taxi to take us to the airport in the morning.

Today we venture a little farther to the north in Jakarta, to Fatahillah Square. The taxi driver takes the same creative left turn through the mall drop-off zones then drives along very busy roads for 20 minutes. He stops in front of the bank museum and points us to go straight ahead. We politely argue a bit and he continues to point ahead. This is not where we want to be, but we know that we are just a couple blocks from Fatahillah Square, so no big problem. We start walking and realize why the driver stopped where he did - we need to walk through a pedestrian only street.

Our first stop along the square is the Jakarta History Museum. It’s small and only takes 30 minutes to walk through, which is good because the building was completed in 1710 is not air conditioned.

The Art Gallery & Pottery Museum is on the eastern side of the Square, and it’s our next stop. This museum is air conditioned (somewhat). We stroll through the museum, which is small but has some interesting pieces.

​Kafe Batavia is in an old building on the north side of Fatahillah Square. It is a Jakarta landmark. Built in 1837, it’s most recent refurbishment was in the early 1990’s. We aren’t terribly hungry, but a cold beverage and an appetizer sounds good. We’re escorted up a wide teakwood staircase to the air-conditioned grand salon. We order a beer and iced tea.  We share a Ceasers Salad along with an octopus appetizer and a plate of satays. The food is surprisingly good and the ambiance is something out of the 1930’s.

It takes 10 minutes to flag down a taxi, much longer than we are used to, but we are ultimately successful. There’s a significant amount of traffic on the ride back and we crawl along or sit still all with the meter ticking away. Normally we would be worried about the impact on the wallet, but this is Jakarta. The 45 minute, 8 kilometer (5 mile) trip costs 56,300 Indonesian Rupiah, less than $4 USD!

​This morning we met an expat in the elevator. He mentioned that this complex is named Thamrin City / Cosmo Park due to the construction of the two-story townhomes ten stories up on top of the mall. We see the townhouses along the pool area, but never realized that there is a whole community behind them. This evening we walk over the pool bridge and between the poolside townhomes to find asphalt streets and ~ 80 townhomes. Parked in the carports are premium automobile brands such as Jaguar and Lexus as well as a few junkers.....well, they can’t be too bad, because they must circle up ten stories of parking ramp to get up and down. There are also small bikes indicating some of the owners have young children.  It is almost like a small suburb - but 10 stories up and in the middle of the city.

Jakarta’s National Mosque and Catholic Cathedral are across the street from each other, which is convenient for sightseeing.

We taxi to St. Mary of the Assumption Roman Catholic Cathedral, choosing to visit it first since it closes from noon to 3 pm each day. We must sign in, recording our passport number, and are each provided a lanyard with a guest pass. We walk around the Cathedral and it’s grotto. It’s a nice church and grotto, but not overly impressive.

​The Istiqlal Mosque, Indonesia’s National Mosque and the third-largest Sunni mosque in the world, is undergoing renovation and the entrance across the street from the Cathedral is closed. We have 45 minutes before the next service, and the Mosque is closed to visitors during services. Finding an open entrance as we walk around the perimeter is frustrating. Finally we walk down a construction roadway toward the building. At that point we are not sure we will have enough time to explore the mosque before the prayer service. We decide to skip seeing the interior. We walk back out the muddy construction road and signal a taxi.

Our afternoon meal is at Public Markette, definitely not a Muslim-centric restaurant. There is alcohol and pork on the menu! Given the chance, we go for it. William orders a Guinness and the pork belly while I order a glass of wine and a pork chop. As the server sets down my wine she explains to William that they are out of Guinness, but they have a local beer. Disappointed, William doesn’t think the local beer is worth it and he orders a carbonated water. The food is great and we both enjoy our entrees.

​As I have on other evenings tonight I stand on the balcony for a while listening to the city and taking in our view. There are tall buildings, including the white Shagri-La hotel and another distinctive blue building which reflect in a small somewhat polluted pond. It appears that they may be in the process of cleaning up the pond, but I can’t be sure. Next to it the concrete base of another large foot-print building is being poured. The concrete mixing plant is next door and I hope that once the building is near completion the area will become a park with green space. This city of 10 million (30 million in the metro area) with so many tall business, condo and apartment buildings can use some place for people to get out. However, with an air pollution index which all too frequently falls into the unhealthy category there is much additional work.

Now that we have experience with the taxi’s we feel confident and take off for the National Gallery of Indonesia to see their artworks. The museum is in the same general direction as the Museum Nasional, but on the other side of Monas, the National Monument.

Today the taxi driver takes a very creative approach to the left turn that Google maps showed yesterday (and also today). He drives through the mall pickup area, turns around and returns through the adjacent pickup/drop off lane then makes a turn at the end of the mall. Oh! Apparently Google thinks a turn is allowed when it isn’t. We also see the driver having to take U-turns and odd routes. We are possibly starting to see why Jakarta traffic is so notoriously bad - the road rules inhibit direct routes.

​After the driver drops us at the gallery we walk past the manned guard house and down the interior road toward the cluster of buildings. Unfortunately all the doors are either locked of have a closed sign on them. There are men working on repairs to the buildings - oh no, they might be closed for renovations! There was no mention of this on their website when I checked it last night. Darn! We use the opportunity to walk to the gate of Monas and take a photo. It is also possible to go up into the 132 meter (433 foot) tower, much like the Washington Memorial, but we haven’t purchased tickets in advance, it’s lightly drizzling, and as William’s mother would say “we don’t feel to” (I.e. we don’t feel like doing it).
 
Time for Plan B. We flag a taxi and have the driver take us to the mall. We buy two tickets for Sonic the Hedgehog, the only movie in English that is starting within the next two hours. The total price is ~ $7 USD. We’ve slipped quite a bit from fine art to Jim Carey, but it’s okay for a rainy day.

Our adventures of the day are figuring out transportation and going to Museum Nasional, the National Museum.

Grab is the Uber of South East Asia, in fact, Uber even sold their business here to Uber a couple of years ago. We consider using Grab, but taxi’s here are super cheap and we are concerned about communicating how to find the lobby of our condo. (Reviews on Airbnb indicated this can be an issue). I look up the approximate fare for a taxi and we decide to take that approach.

We walk down to the street level and signal one of the many taxi’s driving by. I have written out the name of the museum and the address on a slip of paper. I show it to the driver and say Museum National and he replies “Yes, I know it”. He turns on the meter and off we go. William has Google mapped the route and the driver doesn’t make the left that Google suggests. He loops way around. Well, maybe the driver knows something....or is he taking the scenic route?? We arrive at the museum and the taxi fare is less than 35,000 Rupiah ~ $2.50 USD. Although by principle we don’t like to be “taken for a ride” if we were it doesn’t cost us much.

The old portion of museum has a courtyard with some interesting statues and stone carvings. From there we move to the modern section with it’s five stories of exhibits. The footprint of the building isn’t huge and it takes us two hours to see the exhibits even William periodically resting his foot.

We walk out of the museum and one of the street hawkers tries to convince us that he is a tour guide and can take us all around Jakarta to see the sights. We firmly thank him and tell him “no” a number of times and finally he just helps us to get a BlueBird metered taxi. He warns us not to take the other taxi’s, take just the metered BlueBird. Good advice. We are not worried from a safety perspective, more that we don’t want to be ripped off (even more).

We have the taxi drop us off at Grand Indonesia Mall where we will have lunch. There are many restaurants to choose from, including at least one restaurant with a Michelin star. I saw Fish & CO when I was doing a Google search, and the idea of a nice price of fish appeals to us. When I ask for directions at the mall information booth I ask for Fish and Company, assuming the CO meant company. The gentleman gives me a puzzled look and I see a lightbulb go on in his head. He responds that they have a Fish and C O. Hmmm, sounds like my guess is wrong. Anyway, we have a decent meal at Fish and C O.  No alcohol, of course.