A trip home

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.

Things I've enjoyed about Jakarta recently:

• I was sitting on the back of an ojek, weaving in and out of traffic, and it was dark and hot. The traffic increased so we came to a stop underneath a flyover; the temperature and humidity increased, it was suffocating, I felt like my body was in a vice; there was graffiti everywhere, cars and bikes were trying to force their way around us, the traffic on the toll road next to us was roaring past, and it occurred to me that I was enjoying the whole experience.

• I had stayed the night in east Jakarta; I wandered out from the air conditioned bedroom onto the roof terrace and early morning light. It was still pleasantly cool, and I could hear the area waking up and coming to life, with the call to prayer being played somewhere in the distance. It was a very pleasant sensation and thoroughly atmospheric.

• Wandering though Jakarta’s night food markets is one of the pleasures of living here. Weaving between all the different stalls, dodging the smoke and steam and smelling what is on offer is wonderful. There are so many different places to eat, they all smell delicious, and there is very relaxed atmosphere. Most of the time someone will have pulled a tarp over the area to keep the rain off, but it keeps the heat in, making it a very noisy and sweaty experience.

• The rain, until you get caught in it. It’s warm, and torrential. Sometimes it builds up slowly, sometimes it all arrives at once, sometimes there will be a single heavy burst lasting less than ten seconds. Recently I got caught in a shower; the raindrops themselves were huge, the size of 10p pieces, but they were widely spaces. Before it intensified, I had the curious experience of standing outside during a rainstorm, watching everything around me getting wet, but because the drops were so widely spaced, I could stand between them and remain dry.

• Playing pool in Jakarta is pretty cool. If the table is in a bar it’s free, if it’s in a pool hall then it’s not very expensive. Either way, the tables and cues are of a decent quality, there is always someone there to rack the balls up for you, and quite often there will be talcum powder for you hands, so the cue runs smoothly while you play.

• I am still getting a kick out of driving (i.e. being driven) around the city at night. I get a little thrill seeing all the bright lights, especially so when I see Monas (the Monument National, a big spire in the centre of the city), which looks very impressive at night. This is surprising, as by day it is one of the least impressive centre pieces for a city you could imagine. Note I said driving around the city by night, not stuck in traffic in the city by night, that is a different thing altogether.