A Day in the Life: October 2015

A Day in the Life is a monthly linkup where bloggers document their daily life on a designated day each month to show what a typical day is like. To find out more, click here.

I sort of wonder what happens with bloggers who travel a lot – how do they deal with their blog posts? Which timezone do they set it to? What if they are constantly on the go?

As I intended for this post to be published on the 12th October but I am in Indonesia, which is in a timezone four hours behind my home time, this post time will be edited accordingly. I don’t suppose it’s cheating, but isn’t it funny that the date can possibly become redundant when it’s ‘tomorrow’ in another city? That said, I’ve always disliked the quote ‘Don’t be scared about the future, it’s already tomorrow in Australia’, because, well, I live in Australia. :P

While it has been a hectic few days in Indonesia (my eldest paternal cousin got married yesterday) today was slightly less hectic. We were staying at a guest house arranged by my aunt, the mother of the groom.

We woke early so that we could pack quickly and have someone drive us to the Bogor Botanical Garden. It took some time to find someone to drive us. In Indonesia, some families have personal drivers, or can easily get in touch with one, who will essentially escort you to wherever you need to go. In this case, we had a driver who drove us to the garden and around different parts as it was quite huge. He also drove us back to my aunt’s (my mum’s sister) place, where we usually stay when we visit Indonesia – and where we stayed for our first night.

My dad walked around with Nick and myself around various parts of the garden. A section of land called Orchidarium was growing some specimens of wild orchid. A worker taking care of the plants showed us some various tiny orchids that were just blooming.

Wild orchids
Wild orchids
Spotted tri-colour orchids
Spotted tri-colour orchids
A view of the orchid glasshouse
A view of the orchid glasshouse

We also visited some orchid glasshouses and a hanging bridge over a river. The river was, as a lot of parts of Indonesia are, quite dirty and littered with rubbish. Poor people could be seen washing their clothes in the water.

Big white orchids
Big white orchids
Bright purple orchids
Bright purple orchids
Close shot of a purple orchid
Close shot of a purple orchid
White and purple orchids
White and purple orchids
More purple orchids, another shade of purple this time
More purple orchids, another shade of purple this time
The hanging bridge
The hanging bridge

I’m not sure how I feel about seeing things like this, things that are evident of the poverty of such a country. Some areas are more well off than others, but I still marvel over the way things are.

I have included some photos in this post but I hope to share more later on! I got some beautiful photos. :)

Water lilies with a president’s house in the background
Water lilies with a president’s house in the background

After a long drive, we eventually arrived at my aunt’s place. I also forgot to mention that the car, along with our luggage, was not a comfortable fit. I had to sit on Nick’s lap, which is completely legal. Although seatbelts are installed in every car, you don’t have to wear them unless you’re in the front seat. Even then, it’s to your discretion? Haha. So by the same token, you can cram a bunch of people in the back of your car (or on your motorcycle for that matter – I have seen up to five people on a motorcycle) and it’s totally normal.

We spent the afternoon relaxing. We had noodles for lunch, and I made some progress with my Italian on Duolingo. Nick felt like going to the local mall, and my mum and aunt later decided they wanted to come too. We caught a taxi there. Amazingly, the taxi only cost 30,000 rupiah, which is literally only three dollars back at home. Back in Australia it would have cost at least ten times that for the same distance. :O

We did a quick shopping run and then ate dinner at Din Tai Fung. Of course, Nick and I could have just gone to the same restaurant back at home, but we are such rogues, and we ordered lots too since the food was so cheap in comparison! They had a really cool strawberry and passionfruit drink, I ended up drinking half of Nick’s because it was soooooooooo good.

After that I was dying for some Starbucks. I ordered by speaking in mixed Indonesian-English (gah!), which was kind of awkward, but oh well – I tried. My mum said the cashier had an expression on his face that looked like he thought it was funny. I got a chocolate frappuccino for Nick and I got myself a green tea latte. The soy milk in it tasted more like Asian soybean milk than the Western stuff, funny that.

My mum was also dying for some Chatime but it was closing and they had also run out of drink by the time we got there. My mum ended up getting bubble tea from another vendor. After that we headed home via taxi again, where I annoyed Nick by telling him to go have a shower, especially after we’d been in crazy heat all day!

We have to get up at 3am to catch a plane at 5:55am. Arrrrgh! It’s going to be another night of little sleep but I am hoping we will have an opportunity to get more sleep in the next few days.

Other posts about my 2015 trip to Indonesia

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Comments on this post

I never wondered about the timezone travel bloggers set their default timezone to for their blogs—until now. Thanks for that. >> Maybe they set it to their hometown’s timezone…unless they don’t have one. Some people are born into travelers and grow up traveling…and some people live in boats. That’s a really good question.

I’m a person who, in the distant past, has said it’s tomorrow in Australia already. :s Heh.

The garden is really beautiful. The hanging plants…were those in dirt-based pots, or are the pots just colored and textured like dirt? They look pretty cool. :p

When I was in high school, there was a bubble tea place (we call it “boba tea” here) I’d go to with my dad sometimes. Unfortunately, it wound up closing due to…well, whatever reason. As far as I remember, it was owned and run by one guy, so maybe he wanted to spend more time with his grandchildren or something. A lot of local restaurants are over in that area, and I really hope they haven’t shut down, too, because I want to visit them again. :( I need to find a bubble tea place here, though, because I really liked it…I forgot how much I loved it until now. :/

That >> was supposed to have an extra semicolon at the end to complete the face, but I guess WordPress cuts those off now. >.>

Wow, the flowers are rather nice! (Apologies for the late comment on this post after submitting.) But it’s a whole other story when they are complemented by a river with people washing clothes in them. Guess the people don’t have much choice though if they live without running water? Yucks. But it’s amazing how much we can take clean water for granted (charitywater.org) when so many people make do without access to clean water. Also I remember the rivers in China are GREEN, eek. Not saying the Hudson River in New York is much cleaner though.

Cramming people into vehicles in very common in Asia because they don’t enforce that rule of seat belts. :( Stay safe!

I remember your last trip to Indonesia so I hope you enjoy your time with your family! ♥

when I studied abroad I forgot to change my timezone…I was really confused why the date was off on my posts for a while haha

Its interesting to read a a day in the life abroad. I’ve once sat in the boot of a car…some countries are very relaxed. Personally I always found it fun sitting in the boot or on someones lap, but that was when I was a child. I am not sure how 5 people on a bike would work, although I have seen livestock on a bike so anything is probably possible. the flowers are beautiful too.

It’s really great to get an update and see how things are going. :D I absolutely love the photos!

Girl, this post is making me feel the wanderlust! I’ve never been to Indonesia, but your photos are tempting me, haha. Love the flower photos, especially :3

I think we’re always going to encounter the poverty-stricken areas wherever we go. I know there are parts of Seoul that aren’t well-off, and it makes me uncomfortable seeing that, too.

As for the time-zone thing . . . I think if I travelled and blog, I’d stick to the time-zone I’m in since I am currently in it XD That way it doesn’t get too complicated!