My Jaunt Through Jakarta - The City Where Blonde Hair Is a Traffic-Stopper

After two straight days of staying in my hotel room, I finally felt well enough to attempt to explore a bit of Jakarta, the capital of Indonesia. I took time getting ready, making sure to wear the most conservative outfit I could pull together, and stepped out into the big, dirty city.

...to find the city COMPLETELY empty.

No joke, I saw only two cars pass me down the stretch of road my hotel was on. I kept walking around the corner and down another block to the massive, famous mall...and found only Pizza Hut, Burger King, and Starbucks open. It took me a little while to realize why the streets were so empty...RAMADAN.

For those of y'all who don't know what Ramadan is, I'll take a nice little quote from the internet to better explain it to ya. "Ramadan is the ninth and holiest month of the Muslim lunar calendar. For those 29 or 30 days, Muslims, as a spiritual exercise designed to bring them closer to God through contemplation and humility, but not without joy and festivities, are required to abstain from food, drink and sex of any sort during daylight hours. They may indulge in all three at night, and often do so with gusto: Ramadan is in Islam what Thanksgiving is in the United States, an extended occasion for socializing, celebrating, and loving." So during the few days that I was in my hotel, the more serious part of Ramadan was occurring near the end of it, and most of the people in the city had gone home to celebrate with their families and loved ones.

The next two days I became close friends with the Starbucks staff, and managed to find a store open to buy plenty of gifts to send home to the family. By that point I was feeling like my old self again - though purposely avoiding Indonesian food and fruits. So after my four days in the hotel were up, I was more than ready to get out of there and spend my last four days in a hostel 15 minutes away. And the hostel was SO COOL. 

http://jakarta-backpackers-hostel.com/

I instantly made friends with a group of people from the Netherlands and within the first two hours of being there, had a bunch of people to go grab dinner out on the town with. Yay for socialization!

The next morning the Dutch group had gone, but I had overheard a girl asking one of the hostel employees about places to go/things to do around town. Now, I had been wanting to go get a guided tour through the slums of Jakarta, but when I looked at the prices it just seemed a bit too much for my backpacker blood. (Normally I don't do guided tours in cities because I'd rather go explore myself, but in the slums in Jakarta, a city infamous for terrorist bombings, I decided not to go by myself.) Anyway I approached the girl that had asked the questions and ended up teaming up with her and her guy friend that she was traveling with. Her name was Nanna and his name was Martin, both of which were from Denmark. All three of us had fair skin, light blonde hair, and all three of us INSTANTLY connected.

So, on my second day in the hostel, the three of us set out on a long day of Jakarta exploration. And man was it an adventure! Ramadan was in full swing for the last few days of it and so the city was now alive with constant celebration. We found ourselves in the middle of a square full of families, bike riding, silly hats, and so much food my stomach almost burst (but not from being sick this time ;])

...yes that is a man riding a stationary bike to power the make shift mini ferris wheel for the children!

But it was in this square, amidst the mass of people that things started to get a little...weird. When you travel in Asia as a fair skinned person (especially as a blonde) you start to notice a lot more attention than you would receive back home. In Seoul, South Korea the year before people had actually stopped to take pictures of me as I sat at a coffee shop, but Jakarta was about a 100 times more intense than that. 

Because of all the negative talk about Jakarta, tourists don't really go there...like, ever. All of the bombings, and terrorists and stealing and poverty has kept the majority of Indonesian tourism very very far from the capital, and because of that...people would actually point and stare the moment they saw the three of us. 

We were such a rare site that we actually got invited/pressured to join in on a family photography session! And then for the next ten minutes we had to take pictures on all of their phones with each one of them separately! 

We finally broke away from the square to head to the famous monument in the middle of the city. The giant park all around the monument promised us a lot of room to get away from the crowds of people wanting pictures...but we were sorely mistaken.

...These little girls were too shy to ask to take a picture with me, so their mom asked instead. I couldn't say no!! They were so sweet. Then more kids wanted a picture with both Nanna and I, so we had Martin snag some pictures of it...

We easily took more than 30 different pictures with families and children in total that day. The first five times we laughed and laughed our heads off, and took it as sincere compliments, but after the 10th time, it starts to wear on you. We REALLY didn't like it when parents and grown men tried to take pictures with us. We actually said no a few times, but then there was this dad who squatted down a few feet from us and made his children take pictures of us a few feet behind him on his phone. So, rubbing it in his face, we motioned for the kids to come sit down and take a picture with us instead.

By the end of that night we were absolutely exhausted. The next day was a one of relaxing in the hostel (but the air condition was broken and the place was completely infested with mosquitoes and I counted no less than 30 bites on my legs alone!

Nanna and Martin left to go back home the day before I left for Australia, but we had one last night to enjoy each other's company and have a nice dinner. I really connected with those two.

The next day I wandered a bit around town by myself, before catching my 5 a.m. flight to Brisbane, stopping along the way in Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia to change flights. And on my 8 hour flight to Brisbane I made friends with someone that absolutely changed my life.

But after all that adventure, I finally landed in a town where fair skin and blonde hair, was no longer a traffic-stopper.

P.s. here's a nice little picture of my new purchase while I stayed at my hotel in downtown Jakarta...can't wait to wear it when I travel to other Muslim countries!!

~Little Blonde Traveler

Why You Should SERIOUSLY Avoid the Water in Indonesia

The day after I completed my epic hike up Mt. Batu in the middle of Bali, it was time for me to take a 2 and a 1/2 hour plane ride over some more islands to the capital of Indonesia...Jakarta. There was only one problem: I was becoming INCREDIBLY sick.

And not the kind of sick that once you go to the bathroom, you feel better...I mean the kind of sick that keeps you in the bathroom for hours wishing that all you could do is sleep whatever it is off for hours.

But I didn't have that luxury. In fact, I only had two hours before I had to be at the airport to catch my flight.

I was sitting in my hostel restaurant  determined to just hang in there until I was on the plane and then in Jakarta, but the next time I went to the bathroom...there was blood. I was literally throwing up blood. Beyond panicked, I went to some of the employees in the kitchen to ask them where the nearest hospital was, explaining to them that I also had to catch a flight in a few hours. And me, in my American way of thinking, assumed that the hospital would make me late for my flight (because it takes HOURS in normal hospitals back home just to be seen). So then I started frantically planning to arrange another flight to Jakarta a few days later...but that day was the beginning of Ramadan...the biggest Muslim holiday in the world. And I was in the most heavily populated Muslim country in the world as well. Yeah, I was starting to realize that I might be royally screwed.

But one of the kitchen girls guided me to her scooter and drove me just four minutes away to a "Tourist and Surfer Hospital" right near the beach and told me to go in and that she'd wait for me outside. So, weak as hell, and already needing to use the bathroom again, I walked into the clinic and was received by the most kind and gentle doctor ever. There was only a reception desk and then one room with a door where the doctor conducted his interviews with his patients and luckily, he spoke very very good English. (A hard thing to find around most of Bali)

After probing my stomach with his hands, and asking me a serious of un-flattering questions...he prescribed me four sets of different pills that I needed to take twice a day. His diagnosis: I ate fresh fruit that had been washed in the local water, and my Westernized little body was not prepared for the onslaught of bacteria that accompanied the delicious mango.

Awesome.

The doctor, being an absolute sweetheart, also wrote a letter to the teller at the airport check in, asking to place me in a seat as close as possible to the bathroom, since I would probably be needing it while traveling to Jakarta. But by the time I made it to the airport an hour and a half later, the pills the doctor had given me had worked to keep all the "bathroom necessities" out of the way while I traveled. Thank goodness.

By the time I landed in Jakarta, all I wanted was to get to my hotel (which I had booked for the first four days instead of a hostel because I absolutely had to have my own bathroom and bed for a few days). I was warned about the deceptiveness of taxi drivers in Indonesia (especially in the capital) and was fully prepared to counter-offer relatively low when one taxi driver was explaining how long it would take to get through downtown where my hotel was. I informed him that I was quite aware of Ramadan and that there was actually no traffic on the roads for the next few days...And so he begrudgingly accepted my bags and flew down the empty interstate (I mean at speeds of at least 80 mph back home) until we arrived at my very chic hotel, in the middle of the dirtiest and creepiest street I've ever seen. But as soon as I was inside the front doors, I fell in love with the strange, fun, and quirky designs throughout the hotel

...and then I was immediately being hit on by the man working the front desk. I politely declined his offer to take me to dinner (since all I wanted was to sit in a shower for the next few hours) and headed up the elevator to my room...and almost cried I was so happy.

...And this is where I stayed for the next four days. Not leaving my room except to go downstairs to the 7-11 type shop to get food and water. And man did I write.


~Little Blonde Traveler

Hiking a Volcano to Watch a Bali Sunrise

Hello my readers!!

Yes, can you believe it, I'm actually writing a new post!! We can all agree that it has been FAR too long since my last one. The reason being is a combination of working two jobs in Australia 7 days a week, finally being somewhere where I'm comfortable, and...to be honest...being a little hesitant to express my true feelings on this blog.

I began writing this blog in hopes to express my true feelings about my travels and my experiences in other countries...but I have a tendency to be a little blunt, so to speak. And as a writer, I'm constantly searching for ways to better strengthen my literary voice. But after one of my lasts posts I had to be reminded of how vast and different my audience with this blog is...and how carefully I need to monitor how I write, and what I choose to write about. I agreed with the advice, but I would by lying if I said that it didn't affect me. I guess you could say that I kind of lost the drive for a little while...

But I'm hoping that all of that is over now.



My last two or three days in Bali I started feeling a little...sick. Stomach always gurgling and always needing to run to the bathroom every few minutes, but I figured it would pass after a day or two and there was no way I was going to let that ruin my last few days in one of the most amazing places on Earth. SO, I pushed through and decided to do a 3 a.m. sunrise hike up to the top of a volcano in the middle of the island of Bali. It was something I've wanted to do my entire time in Indonesia and my friends from my hostel Ben, Pat, and Pat had rented scooters and all decided to do the hike with me.

So 3 a.m. rolls around all too quickly and the three of us bundle up to jump on the scooters and drive the hour north towards the volcano. However, in all of my brilliant thinking, I forgot to bring warm clothes to hike a volcano. My blonde-haired brain thought "oh, it's Indonesia and super hot all of the time. Why would you need to bring something other than shorts and a light pullover?"

The moment we got on the scooters I instantly regretted my sad sad decision-making skills.

By the time we made it to the base of the volcano it was just before 4 a.m. and I was absolutely frozen stiff. All three of us were, but I was the one wearing the least amount of clothes. But we paid for the guided tour up the mountain and started our trek before the rest of the groups had even gotten there.

That's right. I'm wearing my pajamas to hike up the freaking Batu Volcano. But it was SO COLD, and it was all I brought from the hostel by the beach. But I push through and continue the hike up. 

Half way up we all start getting really hot and take off most of our layers, wearing just t shirts and shorts for the majority of the hike up. But then things started to get intense. And going the last two days not eating or drinking much, and being properly sick, I suddenly became very very weak. So weak, in fact, that our tour guide had to hold my hand and pull me up for the last 30 minutes of the hike. 

But since we had started so early ahead of all the other dozens of people doing the same hike, we were able to grab four seats in the little shanty built on the very top. Our tour guide made us coffee and steamed eggs and toast next to one of the steam vents. It was so delicious! Except once we stopped moving...my body began to freeze all over again and Ben snapped a wonderful shot of me that perfectly illustrates my torment sitting in the tent, waiting for the freaking sun to rise...

Yeah...yay hiking!

So we eat our breakfast and then join the rest of the crowd outside to wait for the sunrise...the only problem is that the sun is rising BELOW the cloud layer since the volcano is so damn high and we're ABOVE the clouds haha. So as we're all freezing and waiting, a giant family of monkeys come sprinting up from the inside of the (in-active volcano) and start stealing everyone's bread and sandwiches!!

But once the sun rises the view is the most beautiful thing I have ever seen in my life!! And all four of us had splurged to pay a little extra to do a hike around the rim of the volcano after sunrise. And my god was it worth absolutely every penny...and then some!

Yeah. Absolutely incredible, right? It's impossible for my words and pictures to capture even a fraction of the energy I felt doing that hike. I'll tell you...two of the best ways to truly feel alive is 1) skydiving and 2) hiking a freaking volcano above the clouds. 

After the hike the way down was MUCH easier than the hike up. Though I was still so weak that my legs almost gave out a couple of times. But afterwards we got to take a picture in front of the massive beast of a volcano we had all just hiked together...

Mt. Batur was a beast of a hike...but we all did it. And it was well worth every single curse word, tear, and bead of sweat that came out of all of our bodies. 

An amazing memory I'll never forget.

And you'll be hearing from me in my next post ASAP. I swear it. ;]

~Little Blonde Traveler