j city all over again

(i wrote this on may 2026, but i manipulated the date lol)

to see my full experience at jakarta, please watch my yt vlog here!
JAKARTA VLOG!

first of all, CONGRATS to mas ari on his wedding. dayum first son in the family, the breadwinner. it was a very beautiful wedding in the heart of surabaya (literally at jw marriot tunjungan). and also CONGRATS to shinta and mas ardhi for the wedding. i knew shinta directed her wedding because the reception SCREAMED her so loud. it was beautiful, dreamy and magical, just like her and her dreams.

so, my other cousin from my mom (mas ari) also had his wedding in late october at surabaya, then this cousin from my dad (shinta) also decided to get married EARLY november. RIP to my wallet and my cute lil acidy tummy because i SAVED UP for their weddings, but you know what? it was worth it. my cousins are getting married and here i am using the oportunity to explore their hometowns, lol.

my parents went first to surabaya, then went home then went to jakarta. they were early because they wanted to witness the whole ceremony (from pengajian, siraman and the whole thing). i was left alone at home a week more because i still gotta work, i arrived in both places (surabaya and jakarta) the night before the wedding. safe to say it was really messy, because i had to catch the afternoon train right after work (and got to leave midday to catch my train to jakarta) to get to the place on time. sleep deprived and a few salonpas later, i gotta SERVE.

one minute i feel shit
(just arrived at the hotel at cawang 9 pm)

next minute im the shit (akad look)

reception (night) look by @deemakeup

been a long time since i went to surabaya (the last time were on mid 2024) and the capital city (the last time were early january 2023) so i gotta explore, right? i didn't spend that much time in  surabaya, i arrived saturday night, the wedding was on sunday then left early on monday morning. i gotta explore jakarta, tho, because i still have so many wish lists and a friend (shout out to dina again). i left for jakarta on friday midday from lempuyangan, then arrived at jatinegara around 8pm, transited to commuterline from manggarai to cawang then got to the hotel around 9pm.

had to wake up before fajr prayer to do makeup on my mom, myself, then helped my dad, my uncle and my cousin to wear jarik CORRECTLY then made it to the venue before 7 am. then watched the whole beautiful akad and panggih til 1pm, got back to the hotel, did makeup for the reception, checked out then checked in to the hotel (also the venue) before 5pm. the reception started around 7 pm, it was very grand, very beautiful, i got to reunite again with many family members (except yazid, i was so sad my auntie and uncle came without him), then got back to my room at 10 pm. I WAS EXHAUSTED.

on sunday, i made an appointment with dina. at first i wasn't going to tell her that i'm coming to jakarta, because i wasn't sure that i could explore the city with her, i got limited time, but thankfully i was able to had a full day with her. i catch the commuterline from cawang to gondangdia, because I THOUGHT WE AGREED TO MET AT GALERI NASIONAL AFTER HER MASS BUT SHE ARRIVED AT GALERI CEMARA 6 MENTENG AND BOUGHT THE TICKET WHEN I WAS ALR AT GALERI NASIONAL. so i gotta gojek myself to cemara 6 and laughed it out loud with her there.

dina really trolled me, because i LOOKED LIKE THIS
when i arrived at galeri nasional.

galeri cemara 6 menteng is a private gallery founded and owned by (now the family of) toeti heraty, an indonesian poet and philosopher. it was actually her home, it was beautiful, very old-money coded, very serene. dina and i wanted to take as much time there, lol, but we gotta go to galeri nasional.

my company for the day and always
whenever i visited the capital.

it was so serene, wished i was a famous
poet with a legacy and a huge house at menteng.

the collections are very unique, they
even have their own library.

you know, it was my wildest dream to see 'penangkapan pangeran diponegoro' by raden saleh with my two own eyes, turned out galeri nasional has extended their 'nyala' exhibition, so i still got the chance to see the famous painting. but before that, we visited the permanent exhibition of the gallery. tbh, i don't really understand art, especially contemporary arts, but it was fascinating to see how certain periods of time, movements, and vision changed the overall style of art in that era.

finally the 'nyala' exhibition. i got no words at all, i just want to be in there FOREVER.

one of my wildest wish list checked.

after that we had lunch at BAKMI GM LOL, a mandatory visit whenever i went to jakarta. then we catch mrt to negara blok m, another mandatory visit. i bought kopi susu keluarga from famimart, a viral mochi (15k) at papaya, then just hung out with dina (a.k.a. bengong) at taman literasi. again, i just love to catch up with an old friend and then talk about our lives. then we had haka dimsum for dinner. at 8 pm we got to go, because my whole family had a gathering, and dina had to go to work tomorrow. UGH i wished to stay one more night and explore more with her.

7.5/10 tho

7.5/10 might try the other menu

wished to have free beggars open
space in jogja.

got home (at depok) around 9 pm, had the family gathering, then ended the very long rewarding day with packing because i need to catch the train from jatinegara at 12 pm.

wakey wakey at 7 am, had breakfast with the whole family again while also salam salaman before i got ELIMINATED EARLY (lol). my plan was to go to depok station then catch a commuter to jatinegara early because i wanted to shopefood bakmi gm, BUT my mom insisted on ESCORTING me to jatinegara. so, my uncle called one of his drivers to drive me and BOTH OF MY PARENTS to jatinegara. we left around 10.30 am then got there around 11 am. i have never arrived/departed to jatinegara before, it was always gambir, so this is a new experience for me. i think if i had to go to jakarta again, i'll probably just pick jatinegara because it was easier to hop on commuterline instead of pasar senen (imo).

got to jogja around 8 pm, picked up by the loml with his NEW CAR (so many thing happened since i left for just THREE DAYS i guess). i’m definitely gonna go back to jakarta in next year, there are so many places i haven't explored yet. i wanted to explore glodok and kota tua (again), but also want to go to tanjungpriok to see docks, sounds fun.

see ya next year j city!