We had grand plans for the next stage, but we haven’t actually confirmed most of them. We boarded a flight in Cebu City, and had a rather cumbersome layover in Singapore. Apparently, even if you get your beverage after passing through security, in Changi Airport they will take it away before you enter the gate area. I’m still a little bitter about that.
The next stop was Jakarta, and the grand plan was to procure a pair of motorcycles there, and take them on a one way trip to Bali. It seemed possible, according to my prior research, and perhaps if I was making the arrangements 3 months ahead, it would have worked. On such short notice (I started messaging the rental shops about a week before), only one place said they had something. It took a little while just to find the spot. We got bounced from one house to the next a few times, all without speaking a common language with anyone. In the end, all we could get was just one rather poorly maintained little moto. Even if we had the second one, I was not sure this thing would survive the 1200+ km journey.
The fun part was that the place was in a very residential part of the city, and I don’t mean the rich expat kind. We were jet lagged after an overnight journey, which made us slow and hungry. The problem was that in this particular neighborhood I did not see any eating establishments. I turned to my usual guide, Google Maps. Every single spot it suggested was either closed or did not exist at all. And then I had an epiphany.
Everything I have done in the past has brought me to this moment. I opened the same food delivery app I used to order pizza in Cebu City. I figured, this has got to be more up to date than useless Google. There were a handful of restaurants within walking distance. We browsed their menus, which thankfully had photos and clearly written names for dishes. Most of those clearly written names did not have any meaningful English translations in Google Translate (score 0:2 in favor of not Google). Regardless, within a few minutes we were at the counter of this very casual warteg, which means simply a food stall, confidently pointing to the menu items on the app’s screen. A few warm smiles later our made to order plates were in front of us. I wished I could chat more freely with the lovely people working there.
We headed to central Jakarta to check out some landmarks, get a haircut, and have a near death experience due to ordering a dish with a medium level of spiciness.
Jakarta was not made for walking, and it was clear only really weird people engaged in such rebellious behavior here. Hot, humid, and with a scorching sun, we realized the local population only walks as far as necessary to get from the nearest transit stop to their destination.
In the National Museum it was sad to see the elaborate Hindu statues taken out of their original temples and crowded into a small sterile space. Was it meant to purposefully diminish their significance? It certainly felt that way.
Admitting defeat on the bike-finding front in Jakarta, we decided to scale down our plans and just fly into Bali. I was assured by a shop there that they would have a selection of motos for me to choose from.
