Get back
Got back from my little business trip yesterday. In all, it was quite pleasant. I get the feeling that I must dread these sojourns as much as possible beforehand in order to enjoy them when I finally get around to it. I’m getting used to hotels, and particularly look forward to their Continental breakfasts - crossaints, toast, pancakes, the works. And a hotel breakfast is incomplete if you don’t go to the egg corner and ask for a sunny side-up. Major cholesterol hazard, but I don’t stay at hotels everyday, so there you go. Maybe one day I’ll get around to having one of those breakfasts at home, but for now, I’ll just let the professionals do their job.
So what did I learn from this trip? That Solo and Semarang are pretty decent, as far as cities go. In fact, I can’t figure out why people don’t just stay there instead of moving to Jakarta. The promise of a better life, or so I’ve heard. But as far as I can see, a promise is all it is. What better life? You can find menial, mediocre jobs and maybe even quite decent ones in your own city or the one nearest to your village, so why move to Jakarta for the same thing, only set in a vast, insane metropolis with a much higher cost of living? The big city sure isn’t all it’s cracked up to be, but apparently that hasn’t stopped the hundreds of thousands, or however many they are, from moving anyway. Blinded by the bright lights, it seems. If I were them I’d stay put. But since I’m me, I’m staying right here, because there’s nowhere else in this country I’d rather be. As crap as things are, and things are very crap if I keep having to leave for the office at five in the morning every day, everything I need is right here. Besides, I wouldn’t necessarily get a Continental breakfast every morning even if I did move. Well, obviously.
March 31st, 2006 at 9:58 am
True True..i don’t want to live anywhere else in Indonesia but Jakarta. As crappy and sickening the city maybe sometimes,most of the times actually,it’s home.
There were times when I wish Singapore could share a little Jakarta’s insanity to give the city a little twist. But then again, if I want insanity, I can always go home to my beloved chaotically-funky hometown; Jakartaaaa….