jakarta’s 2am hum and my 1959801 chaos

so here’s the deal i woke up late missed the bus and ended up wandering through jakarta’s 1959801 which is this weird number that somehow led me to a street vendor selling plastic bananas and a guy in a hat who kept asking if i believed in ghosts. the weather right now is 26.69 which is technically hot but feels like someone dropped a sauna on my head and didn’t even bother with the fan. i just checked and it’s 29.22 feels like and i’m like cool let it be a human-sized sauna i guess. the locals are everywhere but not in a friendly way just people pushing carts yelling in a language i half-understand and a neighbor from across the alley who kept staring at me like i was a foreigner who forgot to tip for existing. if you get bored jakarta’s next city is a 2-hour bus ride and a questionable snack stop but honestly i’d rather stare at this graffiti-covered wall and pretend i’m in a movie. last night someone told me that the warung near the bridge serves the worst sate in the city but the owner swears it’s authentic and i’m like okay but why would anyone say that unless they’re lying or it’s some kind of cult thing. i heard that the vibe here is like a mix of a broken karaoke bar and a dumpster fire but i’m here for it. i tried to take a photo of the sun setting over the river but my camera died and now i have this blurry shot of a cat sitting on a power line. the map shows this place at -6.0667 106.4167 which is basically a random spot in jakarta but honestly the coordinates don’t matter because this place feels like a dream gone wrong. here are some pictures of the chaos

i also saw a sign that read 'yak enemies only' which is either a real thing or someone’s joke i hope it’s a joke. if you’re into that kind of energy the local markets are just a walk away but don’t let the smells fool you it’s 82% humidity and i’m starting to think i’m hallucinating. some people said that the train station here is a maze built by aliens but i just took a random bus and ended up at a café where the owner asked me in english if i wanted coffee and i said yeah and he handed me a cup of soup. i’m a coffee snob but this was the closest thing to a miracle i’ve had all week. i keep thinking about the 1360000841 number which probably means nothing but i’m going with it. maybe it’s a secret code for the best street food or a warning about the ghosts here. i don’t know. the reviews i overheard were mostly from drunk people saying that jakarta is the worst place to visit but also the best place to get lost. i almost believed them until i found a hidden karaoke bar where everyone was singing in javanese and it was amazing. honestly if you’re reading this and you’re not from here just go. just go and maybe skip the sate and the ghost stories and maybe drink more coffee. here’s a link to the local yelp for jakarta’s weirdest spotsand a tripadvisor for the sate place i almost went tobut i’m not sure if they’re real. i also found a local boardthat had a post about the same number i found which is either cool or a coincidence.

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