JKT Day1a: The Thing With Hostels

It was midnight when we arrived at Soekarno Hatta airport. After gathering our belongings, we followed the herd and trudged out of the airport determined to find a blue bird taxi. But there’s none! My mistake, I didn’t Google what it looks like although I’m pretty sure somebody from the airport can just lead us to where they are stationed right? Same as those yellow cabs in NAIA, those owned by Manny Pacquiao. Actually one time, I made small talk to one driver on the way home from airport and he said not Pacman owns everything. So there, little trivia. Haha!! Besides, my goodness it’s in Blue it shouldn’t be that hard to find!! But NO, there’s nary a sign of it outside the airport. Huh??

At one point, some taxi driver chatted us up and I heard some Tagalog words so I replied back to him - which I regret totally forgetting that some Bahasa Indonesia and Tagalog words sound similar. Some even mean the same thing! Tsk! Anyway, this man offered us a fixed price for the location of the 1st hostel we’re staying at and even if it’s more than what was declared from the website (sometimes I think they exaggerate it just to mean that they are near the airport or something), the weariness from the flight is taking its toll and we had to take the path of least resistance. To assure us of our safety, the driver handed me his business card.

Well we maybe tired and everything but during the travel from the airport, us girls couldn’t help but chat and have fun observing the streets of JKT. Save for the right-hand drive, the roads will pretty much remind you of Metro Manila. Be it Edsa, Lawton, Makati or Recto you’ll sure find a similar sight in there. After about an hour of road trip, we found ourselves arriving in somewhat posh condo building in Jakarta. Minutes later, the guard called for an attendant and we all went filing inside with our luggage.

The living room looks fab! But when we were told where we’d sleep and saw lots of bed with MEN in it, errrr…. Lisa verified her initial hunch about the hostel. Okay, I know I booked the hostels for this trip but I wasn’t expecting this. I thought since there’s three of us we could possibly have one room to ourselves. Good thing, there’s a spare room but good for two people only. Nonetheless we grabbed it thinking we’re just staying in this hostel for the night. Or early morning since it’s 1 AM already.

In the morning waking up late, we discovered this really nice frothy coffee offered at the hostel. It instantly became our favorite!! The brand name is Tora Bika. Having no solid itinerary for the day, err I mean for the entire trip (lol!), we lingered by the dining area talking about what?? What else but MEN!! Aaaargh!!! I kind of remembered that intro in Eat, Pray, Love wherein the author is narrating about her psychologist friend dealing with Cambodian refugees. When asked what kind of counseling they need these girls talks about meeting a guy in the refugee camp, I thought he really loved me then we got separated blah blah blah. Aaaargh! Hahaha!! And just as we were soooo into the topic, one man from the other room strode into the kitchen and after some morning pleasantries were exchanged, the room turned eerily silent as we all exchange meaningful looks with each other. I dunno, what’s up with that?? Hahaha!!!

And when he left, we all went back into our usual chatter mode and I can’t help but joke with the girls this stinger from radio station I listen to in the morning. It’s a girl in a sexay bedroom voice saying “Hey you, coffee? Tea?? Or me???” Hahaha!!! Not that I would say it to the foreign stranger, lol! As the guys plan their itinerary for the day, we three got ready packing our things to move out to the next hostel. There’s a reason why we specifically picked that hostel and it was just unfortunate that it wasn’t available on the first night. We ditched the morning shower (yikes!) and hired a blue bird taxi (finally!!) going to Thamrin City. But before we left, we had some photo-ops in the living room and outside the apartment. The girls would hate it if they see it in here so I’m sort of collating them into smaller sizes. :P I don’t know how to explain it to them, I mean if you have natural beauty you must flaunt it right?? Make-up or without make-up, these girls (I mean them) are pretty they shouldn’t be worried of anything. ;)

And this is the reason why we really chose the 2nd hostel. Who wouldn’t love a place with an amazing pool like this?? ;)