It’s weird. I thought leaving Jakarta would be hard. I thought that I would miss it, my routine, my home, my life. At this point I’ve been gone from Jakarta for a little over three weeks, and so far I don’t really miss it. In fact, I’ve barely given it a second thought. I suppose…
By the time you read this I will have officially left Jakarta. And if everything went according to plan I should be on a plane bound for Boracay, the Philippines, as you read this. Are you jealous? Because you should be… While I’m so excited about my summer travel plans and my imminent move to Cambodia, I’m…
Living abroad is bound to change you. It has definitely changed me. Don’t get me wrong. I’m not going to say that living in Jakarta has completely transformed everything about me, but it has impacted my life in some pretty incredible ways. If you’ve been following along on this whole journey with me you’ll know that living…
There is a big difference between living in and traveling in Jakarta. When I travel to a new city I aim to get to know it as intimately as possible. I check out the tourist attractions, I eat the street food and I wander around aimlessly to see what I can find. But I haven’t…
When I first arrived in Jakarta I was completely unprepared. I knew Jakarta was an enormous city, but I had no idea just how difficult it would be to navigate the ins and outs of this city. And being a woman made living and traveling around Jakarta especially intimidating. I might live here with my boyfriend but…
Wait, what? Has it really been 10 months? Wow, I’ve now been living in Jakarta for almost an entire year. And in exactly one month I will be leaving this city for good. My how time does fly. Here’s what I was up to last month: Prepping for My Big Move In case you missed my…
I’ve been traveling the world on and off for 10 years, but before I moved to Jakarta I’d never actually lived outside of California before. Clearly living abroad is way different than traveling. Having the chance to live in Jakarta has enabled me to fully immerse myself in the culture and get up close and personal with…
UPDATE (May 7, 2017): I’ve been hearing from some readers that Pasar Santa has all but shut down. Because I no longer live in Jakarta, I’m not exactly sure what the status of Pasar Santa’s businesses is. It looks like some are still open, but it sounds like a lot of them have been forced to…
I’ve never been an apartment person. I lived in a studio apartment once, during my college days at UC Santa Cruz. The walls were so wafer thin and I remember being able to hear the girl next door binge watching episodes of Sex and the City. I can distinctly remember the theme song penetrating the walls. Ever…
Seriously, what is there to do in Jakarta? That question has taken me a while to answer. Jakarta is an incredibly tough city to get to know. Measuring 662 square kilometers and consisting of over 30 million people (in the greater Jakarta area) exploring this megacity can be a daunting task – and that goes for tourists…