Fun Day In Indonesia

today I woke up with the intentions of heading to the pier to start my journey to the islands. I woke up at 5 am but I was super tired and decided it would be best if I go back to sleep because I needed some rest from all the traveling. When I woke up I went to check out and was greeted by the owner of the hostel. He is a local who is super friendly and was asking all about my jorurney. He took my picture and thanked me for staying there. I decided to check out one of the piers that usually host more tourist and higher end boats. The prices are too expensive and I am happy I looked at them because now I know I will be heading to the fishing pier tomorrow mornino. I ate lunch at the dock and spent a lot of the day sitting by the ocean and realxing. There were a lot of locals around hanging out with eachother and sitting by the docks. After I left the ocean side I took a motor bike to a traditional Indonesian Street market. I walked around and ate s meal there right before it started doenpouring. The locals all knew it was coming and they packed everything away quickly. Rainy season is approaching and the city is hit with massive rain everyday. When it soon stopped, the vendors unpacked and began selling again, sweeping the rain into the drains. I bought some local snacks which were very good. I contacted a local who works on the islands and he messaged me all the details regarding coming to the islands. The boat will be leaving at 7am tomorrow so I need to leave my hostel at 5am. I am excited to go to these islands and spend two nights there. Leaving the market I tried to book a motorbike taxi on my phone but my phone died. A local saw and tried helping to call the driver and he told him where I was. He then brought me to a shop and let me sit down and charge my phone. He hunted down the taxi driver and had him wait for me. This is just one example of the friendly encounters I have had with Indonesians so far. I read all about the negatives of this city and how trashy and unfriendly is was but I am reviving g the complete opposite. Yes the city is dirty and definitely not a touristy walking city, but the people are all hard working and I’ve had nothing but locals give me a helping hand. All of the motorbike drivers are super nice and more than helpful, the food vendors always greet me with a smile, and the locals are all curious to say hello and wave to me when I drive by. When they see me buy local food they all laugh and give me a thumbs up 👍. I believe the feeling you get from the city and attitude from the local people all depends on how you present yourself as a tourist, because I have had many interactions with people who are beyond kind. I really love this city and I am happy I came here. I’ve seen maybe 4 tourists here and it is as local as you can get. I love the community feeling the city has and how close you can interact with the everyday life of Jakartians. One thing for sure is they all love cigarettes. I have not seen one man not be smoking a cigarette. They are everywhere, and the vendors roam the streets selling single cigarettes all the way to full packs. I have nothing but good things to say about the people and this city so far and I am definitely enjoying my stay. Right now I am in another capsule hotel. It is definitely a real capsule hotel as there are tons of little pods on top of eachother with people inside. I find it super cool. I’ll say it again, riding on a motorbike in this city should be an extrem sport, it’s absolutely crazy and fun to do, even though it is super dangerous. I plan on spending two nights in the islands before coming back on the 9th to spend my last day in Jakarta before I head beach to Chiang Mai on the 10th. The 9th or early 10th is when I will try King Cobra, I have to do it befor I leave. Supposedly there are a lot of health myths and benefits of eating king cobra that the locals say. I also see that the place serves A huge type of lizard, monkey meat, and bat meat. I don’t know if I’ll be trying monkey or bat because that is how the Ebola virus broke out (bush meat) and I don’t know if I can trust eating that, even if the smallest effect is it gets me sick, it won’t be worth it. I have also read about some crazy myths and superstition about locals hypnotizing people. Supposedly by doing some act and touching your shoulder it is said that some people can hypnotize you into doing things. This is crazy by definitely cool to learn about. I find the culture super interesting here and I look forward to the rest of my time in this cool city.