I woke up before 7 because I had gone to bed early, at 8 PM. I felt like I couldn’t sleep anymore. To take a quick shower, which is one of my morning routines, I got out of my room.
My room is located in front of a small living room with a small couch and some chairs. As I opened the door, there was a familiar guy sitting on the couch, staring at me. I think I had seen him when I stayed at the same hostel before. The strange thing was that he did nothing but stare at me. But to be honest, I didn’t care.
I took a quick shower, and it felt great. I thought my stomach issue was getting better. Since I had booked one more night at the same hostel, I left my large backpack in my room and headed to a Starbucks located in Chinatown. Conveniently, it was only about a 10-minute walk from the hostel. It was perfect for waking my body up with a morning walk.
There was nobody there when I arrived. I ordered an iced Americano, which I kind of regretted later because it was pretty chilly inside due to the strong air conditioning. There was also a butter croissant for 22,000 IDR ($1.20) that caught my attention, so I ordered one as well. I was hungry because I hadn’t eaten since about 6 PM the night before, even though I’m usually not a breakfast person.
It tasted much better than I had expected. I usually don’t order anything from the display case at Starbucks because I think it’s too expensive for the quality. The outside was flaky and slightly sweet, and the warmth made the inside soft and moist. Or maybe it was simply because I was very hungry. I ended up ordering another one afterward.
I finished updating this daily blog entry and editing a YouTube video, and then I started thinking about what I was going to do that day. While traveling, it can be difficult and tiring to plan everything in advance, so I usually spend some time deciding what to do each morning.
Since I hadn’t exercised for a while, I felt like working out. I decided to go to a gym nearby. There are a few gyms around Kota Tua. The first thing I do is check the prices in the reviews. I don’t really care about the quality of the equipment or the service. The cheapest one seemed to charge 50,000 IDR ($2.80), so I decided to go there. It was about a 10-minute walk from Chinatown.
The gym was located on a narrow street, which made me wonder if there was actually a gym there. As I was struggling to find it, an elderly woman standing in front of one of the houses started talking to me in Indonesian while pointing somewhere. Confused, I looked at the picture of the gym on Google Maps and realized that I had just walked past it. I looked back at the woman, and she pointed toward the gym again. That’s when I realized she had been trying to tell me where it was.
I thought, “How did she know I was looking for the gym?” I assumed it was because I looked like a foreigner, and she had probably seen other foreigners going there before. Also, I was wearing shorts and a T-shirt, so she probably guessed I was heading to the gym. Whatever the reason, it was incredibly kind of her to help a complete stranger. I thanked her and entered the building, which didn’t look like a gym at all from the outside. I was finally convinced when I saw a picture of a bodybuilder attached to the front door.
As soon as I walked in, a middle-aged man recognized me as a customer. I told him that I wanted to use the gym. He welcomed me and said it would cost 50,000 IDR ($2.80), just as I had read in the reviews. He also knew I was Japanese, which has happened many times during this trip. People can often tell that I’m Japanese without me saying anything. I’m still not sure whether my face simply looks Japanese.
He also mentioned that there was another customer from Germany. The gym had several floors. The second floor had most of the workout equipment. I took a quick look at the third floor, where there was an open space with mirrors. I’m not sure what was on the other floors.
On the second floor, I saw two people working out. One was a young white woman, and the other was a middle-aged local man. They were doing pull-ups, and she was helping him. I figured she must be the person from Germany.
I was impressed by how much equipment the gym had, even though everything looked old. I started with the bench press, as usual. After my first set, I felt like she was also curious about this Asian guy, so I said, “Are you from Germany? I heard at the front desk that someone from Germany was here.”
She replied, “Yes.”
Her name was Tiffany, and she was 23 years old. She had been traveling for six months because she could complete her university assignments and classes online. She was flying back to Germany the next day. She works out a few times a week, and it was also her first time visiting this gym.
After chatting for a bit, I continued my workout. About 30 minutes later, a group of local high school students came in and started training. Tiffany left before I did. I said, “Nice to meet you, and have a good trip.” I kept training with the high school students around for a little while before leaving as well.
Afterward, I took a Grab to Kali Adem Port to buy a ferry ticket to Pari Island. However, the woman at the ticket counter told me that the next available ferry wouldn’t depart until two days later. Since I planned to attend judo practice in Jakarta three days later, I decided to give up on going.
From the port, I walked to Emporium Pluit Mall, which I had visited before. Along the way, I could clearly see the transition from the poorer neighborhoods around the port to the modern shopping mall area. After walking for more than an hour, I finally arrived.
The only thing I wanted to do there was eat sushi at Sushiro, a Japanese conveyor-belt sushi chain. Even though I knew it would cost much more than the local food I had been eating, I was craving sushi so badly. I wasn’t strong enough to resist.
As soon as I entered, all the staff greeted me by saying, “Irasshaimase!” It immediately gave me a feeling of being back in Japan. I enjoyed eating sushi for the first time in several months. The bill came to almost 400,000 IDR ($22), which was about eight times what I usually spend on a meal. Still, I was genuinely satisfied. It reminded me once again that Japanese food is still my favorite.
After leaving the restaurant, I took a Grab back to the hostel. Right before leaving the mall, I realized that Tiffany was staying at the same hostel, so we ended up meeting again at the coffee shop next door.
She told me that the coconut juice she had bought in a plastic bag at lunchtime had upset her stomach, so she was avoiding street food. She ordered chicken katsu with rice, while I didn’t order anything because I was still full from the sushi.
We talked about random travel experiences. Tiffany is also a budget traveler who stays in hostels and eats street food. There were many things we agreed on, such as how annoying situations often become funny or memorable later, and how having low expectations for a hostel can sometimes lead to surprisingly wonderful experiences.
I had always assumed that solo travelers enjoy being alone, but Tiffany said she doesn’t. During her six-month trip, she had almost always found someone to travel with. I wondered how she managed to do that, but I guess that’s one of her strengths. She has a very social personality.
She said she would like to keep traveling, but six months is a reasonable length of time before returning home to see her family and friends. She plans to travel around South America for another five or six months next.
I was impressed that she has traveled alone as a young woman for such a long time. She said she has never been afraid. Meeting two brave and confident German women during this trip—one in Hanoi and another in Jakarta—has given me strength and courage as well.
Eventually, one of the coffee shop staff flipped the sign to indicate that they were closing. Tiffany paid the bill. Another young staff member named Jilan told us that it was his last day working there because he was flying to Japan the next day. I gave him my contact information in case he ran into any problems while he was there.
We left the coffee shop and walked back to the hostel together. She said she wanted to get a good night’s sleep because she had a 30-hour journey ahead of her, flying from Jakarta through China before arriving in Germany. We said goodbye and headed to our rooms. I wasn’t sure which room she was staying in, but asking seemed a little creepy, and I didn’t really care anyway.
I brushed my teeth and went to bed at around 10 PM.
