GrandLucky

On our first day here Mia and I went over to the Citibank building to get some local currency, and decided to walk around a bit more.  We are in an area with a lot of financial businesses - the Indonesian Stock Exchange, major banks, brokerages and insurance companies have towers in the area.

Tucked away behind the Stock exchange was a giant grocery store that sold all sorts of toiletries and incidentals as well:  GrandLucky Superstore.  Cheap prices and  big variety.  Purchases so far: 4 1.5 liter bottles of Nestle water (can't drink from the tap), a bottle of Listerine, a 6-pack of the local "Bintang Pilsener", and a package of cookies for Mia (see below).  Total = $11.  For reference, the exchange here is 9000 Rupiah = $1.  Domestic things can be had very affordably but one should be wary that imported things can be expensive.  For example, you can delicious, cheap local juice.  But Florida's Natural OJ can also be had for about $8 a half gallon - why would you want to spend that kind of cash on the same old juice you can buy at the corner store back home?

An unexpected wrinkle: wine is expensive here.  It's all imported and for public policy reasons apparently carries a steep duty.  Your run-of-the-mill Yellow Tail merlot will set you back $30 here.  There will be no wine for the Reilly's this trip.  Beer on the other hand is quite reasonable.

I was looking for a treat for Mia and had picked this up before I spotted the brand name that sealed the deal.

I couldn't resist taking a few shots of the fish:

Rest in peace, dear stingrays.

I found this angle with the fish all staring at me with their dead, accusing eyes to be a tad unsettling.  

As always, more later.  Mia is obviously much more busy with work than I am.  Tomorrow we'll both be working pretty much all day long from 8:00am until 11:00pm.  I will still find a chance to sneak in an update.