What I Miss About Indonesia

Apart from the obvious: my family and friends, I do end up missing a few things about Indonesia once I don't live there anymore:

The crazy convenient food delivery

Most restaurants provide delivery service anyway, and even for the ones who don't, there's always Go-Food. You can order literally anything you want, and they will be delivered to your doorstep in no time. I miss the convenience, but I also miss...

...the variation of food you have in Indonesia

Which brings me to another thing I miss about Indonesia: there's a plethora of food you can buy! Any kind of cuisine is available, usually not too far away from you. From the cheapest food hawker to the most luxurious fine dining restaurant, they're all available.

This does not apply only to meals but snacks are also aplenty, maybe because it is our culture to snack a lot? You can find Taiwanese bubble drinks, Thai tea drinks, Japanese mochi, Korean fried chicken, pretzels, ice cream, yoghurt, and all assortments of fried food (tofu, banana, sweet potato, and many other things). There are also sweet snacks that are inexpensive at all, like lekker pancakes which are like IDR 2000 (you'll get 8 for € 1.00). There are even hawkers who push their carts around selling these things, so you can buy them right in front of your home!

The malls

Indonesian malls are THE BEST. Maybe because our culture revolves around malls (there is really not much else to do on weekends), and also there's so much competition, they really mean business when they build and operate malls. You can find clusters of malls everywhere in Indonesia, often only within walking distance from each other (like Emporium - Pluit Junction, Senayan City - Plaza Senayan, Taman Anggrek - Central Park - Neo Soho, and many others). You can plan your whole day in a single mall because they have everything: amusement for your kids, shopping, eating, watching a film, enjoying dessert... everything. They have seasonal events and decorations for holidays like Christmas or Eid. All of this, enclosed in a fancy and comfortable space equipped with security guards so you can feel safe while enjoying yourself there. It really is the best destination in a hot and polluted city like Jakarta.

The constant climate

Okay, the weather in Jakarta might be too hot and humid at times, which makes it uncomfortable to be outside for a prolonged period of time. But I spent most of my days indoors anyway where it's air-conditioned. The thing about having 4 seasons is that you have to have different sets of clothings for each season. I brought a lot of clothes from Indonesia, most of which I can't really wear right now in the dead of winter. I love to wear dresses, and coming from Indonesia, most of my dresses are flowing cotton. There's absolutely no way I could brave the subzero wind outside with that kind of clothing. My going-out uniform right now is a tanktop and thermal legging tucked underneath a sweater, jeans, and this super thick Jack Wolfskin winter coat that I cling to with my dear life.This goes for my shoes as well, I brought a lot of them from Indonesia, but now I can only wear my pair of lined winter boots!