Arriving in Jakarta Day One

Even though not to much happened on my first day in Indonesia I still like to blog about day one in a place, as much for my own good as the people reading here. I think of this as my journal sometimes.

When I arrived at the airport the immigration lines were very short, I quickly found a money changer but the rate was quite bad so I just traded in $40 instead of $100.

I had read to take a Bluebird Taxi and there were quite a few outside of the airport waiting with no line. The horrible Jakarta traffic wasn’t even that bad because I got in just before the rush hour.

I am staying in an AirBnb apartment in between Central and South Jakarta. I heard it was a nice area that was walking distance to quite a few malls so it sounded like a good place for me.

It is quite expensive at $660 for a month, but I knew how important it would be to be centrally located in Jakarta with the bad traffic. Plus I have come in ~$900 ish in all my other months of travels, I can overpay for a nicer place one time.

Sadly I do feel like I am overpaying by quite a bit. My place is OK but its nothing that special. I would be pretty shocked if I wasn’t paying way over fair market value, but that was to be expected.

It does tick the important boxes though. Have my own internet not a shared Wifi, a nice pool, and I already have walked to one mall.

First Time Mallwalking in Jakarta

This was more of a running errands mallwalking then a number handing out one, but for me the number hand outs is always part of the equation.

However I had no number to hand out yet, so the first thing I had to do was go get a simcard, a number, and my mobile data. I paid 175,000 rupiah for the sim (15k) the mobile data (4.5gb for 140k) and some load to text.

I already know it is going to be a pain in the ass to figure my budget this month. In Thailand I counted every baht I spent and got it exact. I think in Jakarta I may have to just count the total and not get a dollar amount for food/entertainment etc.

While I am on the subject when I got in my taxi it started at 75 rupiah, in no time at all it was at 1000, then quickly to 10k, and then super quickly to 100k. In total it was 140k which is something like $10.50, except I had got the ripoff rate so it was more.

Even the money changer at the mall was quite a bit less then it should be. Google says for $100 I should get 1,340,000 and I got 1,310,000. The difference isn’t usually that drastic in Phils.

I made a major life fish mistake because I couldn’t find anywhere to get a Coke with my meal. The resto I ordered my takeout from didn’t have soft drinks and the only place that did was Carl’s Jr.

A Coke was 17k. I really had no idea how much that was and was like sure sounds good. FML thats over a dollar for a Coke!

As I entered Carl’s Jr. the manager was standing outside and welcomed me. She was a cute 20ish year old and I asked how she was as I passed and she replied in a way that led me to believe she was willing to have a convo, but I was quite hungry and already had passed her.

Then when I got my Coke she came inside and assisted me in filling it with ice, and walked me to my table. Off to a good start……

I really needed to get an adapter for my power cords. I already have an adapter that has worked in Thailand, Cambodia, and the Philippines, but here they just have a 2 circular prong outlet.

I tried to ask this girl where I could get an adapter……. she had no clue what I was talking about. I tried to ask for a hardware store (thats where I got mine in Phils) and she didn’t know what that was.

A hammer? Nope. She gets flustered and goes and gets the higher up manager and he says they won’t have a hardware store in this mall. I am like shit cuz now the girl was gone.

As I was getting my phone set up I wrote down 5 numbers on the receipt for my money exchange and was going to slip one to her on the way out. But I didn’t have to because as I got up she came over to help me throw away my trash.

I asked her for her number and she smiled and quickly put it into my phone. Rip off Coke may end up paying dividends after all.

Lots of Quick Glances My Way

I wasn’t at one of the nicer malls here just some off brand one and I saw no other foreigners (did see one on my way home.) I caught many many girls looking my way but their eyes always darted away very quickly.

I wasn’t out that long and handed my number to 2 girls working there. One insta texted me back and when I asked her what time she got off work tomorrow she said ‘6pm, why? Wanna meet?’ and is up to hang out.

However when I said dinner and a movie she said at a mall not my condo. She also has said that she has an Indonesian boyfriend but that she isn’t going to tell him about me. Hehe 🙂

As I am just finishing this up Carls Jr. girl got off work and is texting me. I am definitely liking my start here.

The Mall Was Weird

Granted it was a small off brand mall so can’t really judge how all of them will be, but it didn’t have the same feel as a Phils or Thailand mall. Also the English level did seem to be pretty bad, it was very hard to figure out where stores were.

Sometimes I wonder how I make it through life. Especially on days where I show up in new places and for some reason didn’t even really prepare. I am just walking around asking people who can’t understand me to help hold my hand as I get my internet set up and my electrical outlet adapter. But somehow it works.

Sorry about the blurry pics I’ll get some better ones up soon and more info once about Jakarta once I get settled in.

16 Responses

  1. jspill says:

    Yeah I’ve got some good Jakarta pics you can use, of the streets, food, and inside the sex clubs

  2. RumandCokeMan says:

    Would like to hear a lot more on Jakarta.

    Are the girls tits there the biggest and most symmetrically shaped (well formed and shaped ones not sloppy looking)?
    Who has the best shaped biggest natural tits in Asia?

  3. thibault says:

    remember all those posts about the feeling from guys coming to the phils from thailand? saying they have more positive feedback from women, more foreigner value and less competition?
    sounds like we have a winner here. its one level higher in the caucasian food chain.
    same like coming from the western world to thailand, btw. indonesia is a leader in the major league.

    “A Coke was 17k. I really had no idea how much that was and was like sure sounds good. FML thats over a dollar for a Coke!”
    oh, come on… you know how it would have cost in europe?
    https://www.numbeo.com/cost-of-living/prices_by_country.jsp?itemId=6

  4. harley says:

    I lived in Jakarta for almost 2 years. The best place to live for a single guy who wants to hit the clubs and be close to malls for dating, is Epicentrum at Taman Rasuna apartment. After living for 2 years in Jakarta I have to say that this is by far the best place to live in the whole city. Don’t look anywhere else. There’s a few malls at walking distance and many restaurants and clubs around. It’s very close to East Jakarta yet not too far away from North Jakarta and the South.

  5. harley says:

    And I forgot to mention there’s a cinema, one of the only 24h restaurants in the whole city centre and 2 of the most popular expat bars just 50m right next to Taman Rasuna in Epicentrum.

  6. harley says:

    One more note: Indonesian girls are either way more conservative than Filipinas or they are either even more gold diggers than some Filipinas. Then in between you have the Hi-so chicks which are plentiful –> I never dated as many upper class chicks anywhere else in Asia than in Jakarta. The only problem sometimes is that all 3 of them aren’t as retarded as most Filipinas or Thais most of the time so you need to up the game just a little.

  7. harley says:

    I mean the conservative chicks are like virgin nuns, the gold diggers are hardcore. I found that the easiest chicks to date in Jakarta were the ones with money either from a good job or from their families. The opposite of Thailand and the Philippines…. However don’t start cheering yet because you really need to kinda up the game a bit and it’s not as cheap there.

  8. harley says:

    I should have written the “best” chicks to date were the ones with money not “the easiest”.

    They are more accessible than their counterparts in Philippines or Thailand for some reason. They don’t like old guys though. I think it’s the lack of young foreigners living in the city…

  9. toggle says:

    are you still in jakarta? maybe can link up at mall grand indonesia

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