I woke up at about 9 AM in the morning. Although I had practiced judo the night before and drank a few beers, I did not feel tired. When I checked whether my judo uniform was dry, the jacket was still a little wet, but the pants were completely dry. This process is important because I do not like packing sweaty clothes, and it also makes the laundry cheaper. The laundry service charges by the kilogram, so the lighter my clothes are, the less I have to pay.
Since I had a private room, I recorded some voice-overs for my YouTube videos. Then I checked how many videos I needed to catch up on, and it turned out that I was nine videos behind. After that, I left the hotel.
The problem at that point was that my phone was not charged. My iPhone 16 has been having some issues. Sometimes it simply will not charge. I need to turn it off for a couple of hours before plugging it in again. The phone is still pretty new, so I have no idea what the problem is.
Before leaving the hotel, I made sure I knew the location of a coffee shop. I went to Tomorrow Coffee, which was only about a five-minute walk away. I ordered a set that came with a coffee and either a plain or chocolate croissant. I chose an Americano and a chocolate croissant. It cost about $1.50.
The first thing I did there was search for a nearby laundry shop on my laptop. Luckily, there was one just about a ten-minute walk away, right across the street from the coffee shop. I memorized the route and headed there to drop off my laundry.
There was a young woman working there who was helping a customer with a huge pile of clothes. It took her a while to finish assisting the customer. My laundry weighed less than 3 kilograms, so it cost only 35,000 IDR (about $2.20).
A man arrived on a motorbike while I was waiting. I think he was the owner because he spoke English well. I asked him when the laundry would be ready, and he replied, “What time would you like it to be done?”
I said, “If possible, sometime between 3 and 5 PM today.”
He answered, “Okay, no problem. We need to finish everything by tomorrow because we’re closed on Sunday.”
I replied, “That’s perfect. Thank you.”
The young woman handed me a small receipt, and I went back to the coffee shop.
While I was updating my blog, a tourist-looking man who appeared to be in his thirties came into the coffee shop and sat right next to me. He had a small backpack and a nice-looking Nikon camera. Since I was almost finished updating my blog, I decided to start a conversation with him.
It turned out that he was from Australia and had been coming to Indonesia for work for the past fifteen years. I asked his name, but unfortunately, I cannot remember it. He kindly recommended several places to visit in Jakarta and other cities.
For him, taking photographs and trying local food are the most exciting parts of traveling. Of course, his situation is a little different because he comes to Indonesia mainly for work. He told me he is an academic and writes about Indonesia.
We chatted for a while until he finished his cappuccino. Before leaving to meet a friend, he wished me good luck with my travels. I thanked him. I found his Australian English easier to understand than I had expected because, to me, it sounded somewhat similar to American English. Before he left, I wrote down the recommendations he had given me.
After that, I continued updating my blog. At some point, I turned on my iPhone and tried charging it again, and this time it worked. I stayed at the coffee shop until it was almost fully charged.
After leaving, I walked around the neighborhood and eventually entered a restaurant that also served coffee. Since I was still having stomach problems, I wanted to avoid eating street food. I ordered a dish with rice, fried meat, and sauce. Although it was much more expensive than street food, I needed to prioritize my stomach.
It was already past 5 PM, so I went back to pick up my laundry.
Then I headed to the hostel where I had stayed before. Since it was quite far away, I first took a train to get closer and then ordered a Grab. That way, I could save some money.
When I arrived at the hostel, a familiar staff member recognized me and said, “You came back again?”
I smiled and replied, “Yes.”
I checked in with the young guy who usually sits at the front desk watching YouTube to pass the time.
Since I was tired from not getting enough sleep, I took a one-hour nap before meeting a Japanese man named Kosuke, who lives in Indonesia and teaches judo. We had met at a competition about a week earlier. He is only 24 years old and works as a coach for the Indonesian national judo team, so he usually lives in Ciloto, a few hours outside central Jakarta.
Since I was planning to join the national team’s training camp in Ciloto, he had come to Jakarta to take me there the following day.
He sent me a message saying that he was coming to the hostel where I was staying. He invited me to have dinner together that evening.
A little later, he texted me again.
“I’m running late, so I’ll arrive at the hostel around 8 PM.”
I wondered where he was planning to stay that night, so I asked him.
He replied, “I’m staying at the same hostel.”
That surprised me because it was not what I had expected. So I simply waited for him in the common area, where there was a sofa.
He arrived around 8 PM and finished checking in. Since he wanted to have a few beers, we went to a sports pub inside a hotel. Most of the customers there looked like tourists.
The prices on the menu were three or four times higher than what I usually paid at local food stalls. Since I rarely spend money on fancy meals, I decided to have only one beer along with my dinner.
I ordered a chicken sandwich. By the way, the menu was written in English. Kosuke ordered the same beer and some chips because he had already eaten dinner. We also shared a pizza.
When my food arrived, I realized that the sandwich was made with sliced bread rather than burger buns. I had expected something more like a hamburger because, in the United States, ordering a sandwich often means getting something that looks very similar to a burger. Although I had been hoping for an American-style hamburger, the portion was quite large, so I was satisfied.
I think we stayed there for about two hours before returning to the hostel around midnight.
Before going to bed, we made a plan for the next morning. After checking out separately, we would meet at a coffee shop near the hostel before heading to Ciloto together.
After that, we each went back to our rooms. I think I fell asleep at around 1 AM.
