Ninas week in Indonesia

This past week, my sister Nina came to Indonesia for about a week. It had been 17 years since she was last here, so the whole family was very excited to see her again. My grandmother accompanied us to the airport around midnight to pick Nina up, and she could hardly contain her excitement. With every little text update I received from Nina about going through immigration or filling out customs forms, my grandmother eagerly asked, "Is she here yet?"

We spent most of the week at my aunt Wina's house in Sentul, a lovely, lush suburb filled with golf courses, cafes, and a giant new shopping mall. Located about an hour outside Jakarta, it's just far enough away that the air is nice and breathable again. During Nina's first weekend back, we had a family reunion, which consisted of eating, swimming, and hanging out together.

Although Sentul is nice, it can be a bit boring at times. My cousins and I decided to bring Nina to Jakarta for an overnight stay. Ask anyone for a review of Jakarta, and they won’t give you a glowing one, so I figured I should book a really nice hotel for us all. My uncle Arief drove us from Sentul to South Jakarta, from where we would take the new MRT into Central Jakarta. While you won't hear great things about Jakarta, the MRT is one of its highlights. The train is spotless and quiet; you aren’t even allowed to talk in the cars, which helps you avoid the infamous Jakarta traffic.

We rode the MRT to its last stop, Bundaran H.I. (H.I. Circle), surrounded by the giant Grand Indonesia shopping mall and fancy hotels. This area is one of the busiest and most walkable parts of the city, allowing us to see a lot without getting stuck in traffic all day.

We stayed at the Pan Pacific Hotel, and our room was on the 86th floor, offering amazing views of the city and H.I. Circle. We spent the day exploring Grand Indonesia, doing some shopping, trying out different restaurants, playing at the arcade, and getting a cream bath, which is an hour-long shampoo treatment and scalp massage. Later that night, we ventured out to Jalan Sabang to try some street food and ended up tasting sate taican—grilled chicken served on a stick with sticky rice cakes and plenty of sambal.

After finishing our meal, my cousin Iqbal took us to one of his favorite bars in Jakarta. Although drinking is not very common in this culture, the bar he chose had a speakeasy vibe from the 1920s, making it feel fitting for the evening.

The next day, we just hung around the hotel and enjoyed swimming in the pool. We then returned to Sentul and packed Nina up for her flight the following day.