My Cell

My Cell

Happy to see the bellboys Diki and Iqbal this morning. I'm back to my usual weekend routine of checking the news first thing in the morning at the cybercafe. I finally managed to catch up on my sleep last night but It'll be another weekend of work for me.

I'm trying to change my blogging pattern lately--writing my daily entries late in the evening on weekdays instead of lunchtime. On weekends, it'll remain as my first activity in the morning. I'm quite confident of being able to blog daily when I'm in Jakarta; in KL, it's a different story because my schedule is often very hectic and this is not helped by the vast distances I often have to travel.

Living in Central Jakarta is great. I only need less than 10 minutes to arrive at my office. And here at my neighbourhood of Jalan Wahid Hasyim, the mall, cineplex, bookstore and restaurants (even Hard Rock Cafe) are all within walking distance from my hotel. These are some of the reasons why I did not bother to move to a proper apartment all through my two years in Jakarta.

I did stay for a couple of weeks initially at the Aston service apartments--which is actually walking distance from my office. But it is a bit too expensive for my budget. Puri Casablanca apartments near the Park Lane hotel is also a popular choice because it is cheap and located near the Golden Triangle area of Jalan Sudirman, Gatot Subroto and Rasuna Said. I checked out the place earlier last year but didn't really like it because it is not located within walking distance to any eating places.

Some people dislike staying in hotels because there's no privacy--all your movements are known to the hotel staff. Being confined within a small room can sometimes be a bit lonely and depressing too. One of my expatriate colleagues moved out from the same hotel because of that. I have no such problems because I am used to living alone in small rooms since my student days. And during my years of travelling across the region, I actually did a lot of my work on the road from hotels.

I look forward to doing some productive work today in my hotel room. Sukarno wrote his famous speech "Indonesia Menggugat" from his small prison cell in Banceuy, Bandung, on top of his urinal box! I should consider myself very lucky to have a room with a proper desk, attached bathroom, TV, Queen-sized bed and air-conditioning to work in. I have absolutely no excuse not to be more productive.