So naturally, when I first found out that the city was going to close down for one whole week for the Lebaran holiday, I was freaking out because I didn't have any plans. How could I not have any plans? I guess that was my punishment for not bothering to read the email from HR (who reads emails from HR anyway?) a couple of weeks earlier. I thought Lebaran holiday was only going to be two days, how was I to know the government had decided to give us all a week holiday? (well, I guess by reading the email from HR)
Anyway, I found out about it only 2 days before the holiday started through conversations with my colleagues. And so began the frantic search of air tickets and hotels, all to no avail of course. To make things worse, my passport has expired so going out of the country was out of the question.
So it looked like I was stuck in the city. The city that has nothing but malls. And I hate malls. Hate it with contempt.
I thought I was going to be bored out of my skull and planned to spend the holiday intoxicated, but surprisingly, today, at the last day of my Jakarta holiday, I found out that not only did I manage to stay sober for the entire week, I also had a lot of fun in the city.
What did I do? Surprisingly a lot.
Since the bars are closed for the Lebaran holiday (even the most dedicated bartenders are entitled for some time off you know), my husband and I decided to sleep early and wake up as early as 5 AM to ride our bicycles. We went biking at the University of Indonesia campus that has a lot of greenery and an okay park where one can sit on the grass and have picnics by the lake.
As you can probably tell by now I'm not really into sports so our bike rides were more leisurely rides along the campus rather than one of those endurance rides. The morning air was surprisingly fresh, it was hard for me to believe that the air could be that fresh in Jakarta, but it apparently could. Although technically the campus is not exactly in Jakarta, but in Depok, which is more in the outskirts of Jakarta, but you get the point.
So we rode our bikes and we sat on the grass and watched the sunrise. Now, my experience of catching the first ray of sun in the city usually involved some stumbling out of some dodgy clubs and cursing the damn sun, so when I actually sat there on the grass, flushed after my bike ride, took a deep breath and felt the fresh air filling my lungs, I felt so good, so healthy and almost holy. I enjoyed the experience so much that we went on this early morning bike rides almost everyday for the whole week.
But of course I couldn't stay holy for so long. My body was just not built for healthy stuff. A friend of mine told me of this place that sells yummy pork rice at Pluit area. Since the roads of Jakarta are practically deserted during Lebaran, it was a good time to check this place out, so off we went. Our friends and their toddler son came along and it turned out to be a hilarious experience with the son taking a poop on his diaper just as the four of us adults were busy digging into this super delicious pork rice.
Now, a holiday would not be complete without a picture of sunset on the beach would it? Problem was, Jakarta has only one sucky beach, which is Ancol beach that is dirty and jam packed with people. Good thing there's this one overpriced bar cum restaurant at Ancol called Segarra where one can enjoy the best part of the beach in private, away from the maddening crowds.
We automatically ordered mojito when we arrived but was told that they did not serve any alcohol to respect the Lebaran holiday. Okay, so it looked like the whole universe was conspiring to make me healthy. There is always the first time for everything and I guess that was the first time in my adult life I actually watched the sunset with a glass of non-alcoholic drink in my hand.
How was the sunset?
Not too bad at all.
To conclude, yes I enjoyed my Lebaran holiday in the city so much. I spent some quality time with my family: my mom, my sister, my dad, my mom in law, my dad in law, my brother in law and my husband's baby nephew and was fed yummy home cooked meals. I spent some quality time with my best friends as well. I went to places I had never been, sampled new food and was exposed to some new experiences.
For once, Jakarta did not dissapoint.
