I've just returned to Jakarta after spending a week back in the UK for a wedding. It wasn’t much of a holiday as I spent a lot of time moving around, but it was nice to see family, fill up on some Western food, and also to clarify in my mind some of the things I like and dislike about living in Jakarta.
The most notable thing I liked about being back in the UK was the climate, I was actually able to relax; outside it was warm and fresh, with a lovely breeze, and inside much the same, minus the breeze. I wasn’t always hot, I wasn’t always sweating, and I wasn't forced to scuttle between air conditioned rooms. That said, I’ve been back four days now, and despite the initial discomfort, I am again acclimatised to the vaguely greasy feeling this climate creates.
Using public transport again felt a little strange, as it seems I’ve become used to travelling everywhere by taxi. The buses and trains were much as I remember them: not too crowded, reasonably efficient, and a bit pricey, but having to get myself from the house to said transport become an nuisance, I almost found myself standing outside the house wondering how to proceed without a taxi to pick me up.
If walking to the train station was an irritating chore, strolling around the shops was not, much preferable to dodging lanes of traffic and certainly better than another mall. I was going to write another anonymous mall, but each of Jakarta’s malls does have some sense of identity, at least compared to the ones in the UK.
I had expected miss certain things while I was away; I had not expected to find myself missing aspects of Jakarta, especially since I was only away for week. Specifically, I missed nasi goreng, my lunch time comfort food, and Teh Botol, which I really like, but don’t actually drink all that much of it. More generally I missed the spicy nature of the food, in particular the little fresh tasting green chillies you get with bags of gorengan.
