Surabaya Undercover

Awhile ago I read a book called Jakarta Undercover. The book basically looks into the sex industry in Jakarta. But, to be honest I was disappointed by it. I think the aim of the book was to shock people but honestly I wasn't really shocked. Although Indonesia is a predominantly Muslim country and the culture is quite conservative, the weird sex industry is so easy to see. It's really there for all to see. I was also not shocked by Jakarta Undercover because many of the people I work with have been overly forthcoming when describing their own experiences. Let me save you time and money and give you Surabaya Undercover.



Despite the fact that prostitution is illegal in Indonesia, Surabaya once boasted the biggest red light district in South East Asia. It was called Dolly and operated from 1970 until 2014. The street seemed like a normal part of the city, with many people living there and other businesses such as restaurants, jewelry shops and convenience stores operating in the area. As you passed by, you would see brothels with prostitutes dressed up sitting on sofas playing with their phones as they waited for their next clients. Men would look in through the window and choose a lady. The prices were quite reasonable, between 250,000 and 300,000  rupiah ($25- $30) for a young woman. My  ex-boyfriend informed me that you could pick up an older woman for 40,000 rupiah ($4) at Wonokromo train station. I haven't gone to check out this fact.

Driving by Dolly used to freak me out a little but I actually drove by quite frequently due to the fact that my favorite Nasi Uduk restaurant was located in the neighborhood. Some of the scenes I saw driving by were quite shocking. Once, I saw a woman wearing a jilbab bottle-feeding some Bintang beer to a half-clothed lady by the road side. Another time I saw a children's train full of families driving straight down the middle of the street.

imagine this, cruising down the red light district

But, Dolly was closed last year and now it just looks like any other street in Surabaya. I drove by this week to check it out and although everything seemed to be shut, the parking lots were still full despite the fact that there isn't a lot to do there anymore. It all makes me a little suspicious that Dolly is still operating underground. But overall, the worst news is that the Nasi Uduk place closed down. :(

But it's okay, for those who still want some action, there are still places to go (oh god, I hope no one is actually reading my blog to find out where to go). It seems like the sex trade in Surabaya has moved online. Pimps use Facebook and BBM to find clients. Possibly, Twitter and Instagram too if you know the right hashtags?

And if you don't have a place to take your nice new lady friend, there's no problem. Surabaya has many two hour hotels that you can use! For as little as 50,000 rupiah ($5) you can enjoy these fine facilities! What a bargain!

Otherwise you can always visit the nice karaoke parlor in my neighborhood. It looks really dodgy from the outside in general. Once, I wanted to go to karaoke with some friends. When we pulled up out the front, the parking guy stared at me and asked what we were doing. When we explained that we wanted to do some karaoke he explained that it was for men only and that you had to book a room with a woman. A friend informed me that you pay the woman to pour your beer and flirt with you and you can opt to pay more for extra services. For future reference, only go to places marked 'family karaoke' if you want to avoid this.

But if karaoke isn't your style, you can always check out Colors Pub. I don't quite know how to explain this place...Try to visualise the most tacky nightclub in the world, now multiply the tackiness by 10 and that might resemble colors. Colors is a small smoky room, with a bar in the center and a stage set up behind it. This stage could feature a live band, a DJ or even better some girls dancing around in their underwear! The bar is constantly being lit on fire to help build the atmosphere but it just happens too often to be cool. The club is full of friendly prostitutes, dodgy white guys and Indonesians and Westerners alike dancing like they are taking the piss but actually that's just how they dance! I can guarantee by 1 AM at least one of the sinks in the bathroom will be full of vomit. And you'll pay $35 dollars for a jug of flat beer. You'll get (as a co-worker of mine put it) 5-star prices with 2-star service. What a beautiful place. 

Colors is however equipped with ashtrays next to the toilet.

If the nightlife is too shiny for you, you can also try the cemetery! Yes, meeting prostitutes at the cemetery is a real thing! I have heard this from many sources so I'm pretty sure it is true. At the start I wasn't convinced because the majority of Indonesians I have met believe in ghosts and are pretty scared of them. But I was foolish to let that change my mind. When I asked my ex-boyfriend about it he informed me that it happens in a Chinese cemetery and Chinese people don't have ghosts! Makes perfect sense...

And ladies, don't worry, I didn't forget you. There are male prostitutes in Surabaya apparently too! When I asked my ex-boyfriend about this he took me to the bridge on Jalan Pemuda near the submarine and told me that the young man standing there was a male prostitute. Look, I don't know if this is true because my ex-boyfriend isn't really the most trustworthy person (see my post two weeks ago) but he seemed pretty convinced. Anyway, I drove past the guy twice and he didn't seem to be doing much more than waiting but I still don't know if this is a true story.

Just be careful which time of year you have fun in. Hotel raids (to check marriage certificates) in Surabaya are fairly commonplace especially during Valentine's Day and Ramadan. You will get arrested if/when you can't prove you are married!

So, basically I'm not recommending or suggesting any of these things/ places but just thought Surabaya Undercover deserved to be written. Be careful out there.

Dangerous situations

People are always telling me about how dangerous Indonesia is but I think overall it is really safe. So, to prove how safe things are, here are the stories of basically everything dangerous that has happened since I moved to Surabaya.

My first month in Surabaya

On the 24th of November 2012, I officially moved to Surabaya to start my job at English First. On the 25th of November 2012, I was mugged.

It happened on a quiet street in the wealthy neighborhood in West Surabaya on a Sunday afternoon. I was walking alone, my bag carelessly slung over one shoulder without a care in the world and without a single feeling of danger. I stopped in at Indomaret for some chocolate Indomilk and with a smile on my face I headed down Darmo Permai Selatan V. I'd been walking for over an hour and by now I was only about 10 minutes from my boarding house. I smiled at everyone I walked past because I was just happy to be back in Indonesia. I passed two men on the side of the road and said a quick hello. I continued along and saw a motorbike coming towards me. I smiled at the young guys on the bike.

Two seconds later I was on the ground. I was disorientated but I felt pain from my legs and my left arm. Then I heard a crash and saw the two boys from the motorbike had fallen about 15 meters away from me. I felt really worried for them. As I pulled myself up from the ground picked up my broken sandals and broken necklace, I started to realise what had happened. I saw my broken handbag on the ground next to the boys. The boys were trying to get on their motorbike again. The two men called for help and quickly a crowd of 15 men gathered and they pushed the boys off the bike again. I stumbled to my bag and picked it up, still a little dazed. A woman quickly ushered me into her nearby restaurant and told me to take a seat. She brought me some water and some cream for the abrasion on my arm. I don't know what happened to the boys. I'm sure the crowd of angry men weren't gentle with them but I'm not sure if they got away. A few minutes later, the crowd of men walked to the cafe where I was sitting and asked if I was okay. Then, a nice man and his family drove me to my boarding house.

My Havianas and my necklace were broken but otherwise I had all of my things. I checked later and realised all I had in my bag was 30,000 rupiah ($3), my $20 phone, some lipgloss and some random pieces of paper, doesn't really seem worth it hey? In the end, I felt fine about the experience because it made me realise the need to be careful in Surabaya. 

Fast forward to the 23rd of December 2012. After a disagreement with the security at my boarding house, I decided to move into my current house in Ngagel (East Surabaya). A friend helped me move that day and not knowing the area I decided to go and explore. Having learnt from my mugging experience, I didn't take my bag. I instead put about 250,000 rupiah ($25) and my phone into the front pocket of my jeans and my ipod into the back pocket. I set out exploring the local area and actually got quite far. I got to the bridge on Jalan Sulawesi when I felt a hand on my butt, trying to take the iPod from my pocket. I reacted quickly by slapping it away and looked back to see a man on his motorbike. I turned into a quieter street and kept walking, now with my iPod in my front pocket. walking down that street, suddenly I felt a hand on my butt again and looked back to see the same guy. I screamed for help, but no one was around. Luckily, my screaming was enough to scare the guy away.

I think this was the first (and only) time I felt honestly scared in Indonesia. I could tell the sun was about to set and I didn't want to be alone in the dark. I started running around, I had no idea where I was or how to get home and my $20 phone obviously didn't have google maps. I was sure the man would come back again and I felt my heart racing each time I heard a motorbike. Eventually I found my way to Jalan Raya Darmo and flagged down a taxi. I didn't want to go home and be alone so instead I got a taxi to Tunjungan Plaza, sat down in Hageen Das and cried while eating ice cream. Ahh, my first few months in Surabaya were awful....

Despite two attempted muggings in one month, I'd still say these incidents are rare. Almost none of my friends have experienced any problems like this which makes me think that I was either very unlucky or just not anywhere near careful enough. 


Fights

I want to stress, that in general, Indonesians are not violent or confrontational people. Fights are rare but I have witnessed a few. I watched a NOAH concert in Sidoarjo in late 2013. Free concerts seems to attract bored youngsters out to cause trouble, as I have witnessed fighting at almost all free concerts I have watched.

In Sidoarjo, I was watching with one friend. A few fights broke out during the event but one of them really sticks out to me. Right near me a guy was sitting on his friend's shoulders and as he tried to get down he accidentally bumped a guy nearby him. This guy and his friends took great offence to this and a fight broke out a few meters from me. A young guy standing near me, reacted immediately by pushing me further from the fight and standing between me and those fighting. I think this really shows the general good-nature of Indonesians, as I would have never expected a total stranger to literally shield me from a fight. A few seconds later I saw the boy from earlier finally escaping from the guys who were laying into him earlier walk away with blood dripping from his face.

A more unexpected fight occurred a couple of months back as I was buying Siomay Jakarta from my local supermarket. I heard a woman screaming and every male in the shop rushing outside. A man emerged from the car parking area with blood dripping down his face. His girlfriend/wife/lady friend was crying hysterically. I still don't know exactly how two people started a fight in a local supermarket's parking lot....

Fire

Waking up to your housekeeper screaming is never ideal. 

One morning a small electrical fire broke out near the entrance to our home. Being early in the morning, Parmi (our maid) was the first to see it, and being hopeless in a bad situation, she dealt with it by screaming. Eventually she woke up my housemate Ash, who went around knocking on everyone's door and waking them up with a kind "You have to get up, there's a fire". 

So we gathered in the living room, not really knowing what to do. The fire was small, but it was next to the only entrance to our house. We just sat and talked, eventually brewing some tea. 

At one point some sparks flew from the fire and we all jumped. It was a stressful morning. We lost power for awhile but eventually some people came and put out the fire and everything went back to normal. Luckily that was the day of a long meeting at work and we missed it due to the fire. Best timing for a fire ever!

I actually witnessed one other fire. When I was studying to be an English teacher, a fire broke out opposite the school I was studying in. The flames seemed out of control and the fire went on for a long time before the fire brigade eventually came. I was excited to see the firefighters because I thought firemen where supposed to be hot? A very disappointing morning... But interestingly, even when the firemen arrived they just strolled in and had a chat first before putting the fire out. Ah, Indonesia- a country where even fire fighters are relaxed. 

The bull

Last year, my friend Oliver and I headed to Kenjeran to watch some Karapan Sapi. Karapan Sapi is a traditional kind of bull racing usually held in Madura. We were really excited to watch the races. There were a fair few people watching, but as the token foreign guests we stood out (as usual). Fairly soon we were invited over a megaphone to sit in the "VIP tent", but considering it was shady and had free snacks, we were pretty interested. 

a VIP tent selfie seconds before disaster

We saw a couple of races and managed to take a few photos. We sat in the tent drinking from a coconut, ready to watch the next race. Suddenly, things went badly. One bull somehow got away from its rider and ran straight through the crowd towards the tent we were sitting in sipping from coconuts. Thankfully the cow stopped when it ran up a policecar and smashed the windsheild. 


The scene was chaotic, I saw a mother running around frantically calling for her child. I saw some people lead away the offending cow. The policeman stood calmly by his car and took a photo of the damage without saying a word. Luckily no one was injured and the rest of the days races were called off.

So, overall I'm going to say that Indonesia is pretty safe if in over three years this is all that has happened. A fire, a stampede, two failed muggings and a few fights don't sound too bad to me actually. What do you guys think? 

The Monkey Saga

CHAPTER 1- BILKA SOAP OPERA

Let me tell you about a dramatic moment that happened not so long ago. In the evening, I stopped at the supermarket for a few ingredients. As I was taking my bag from the cashier at Bilka I looked up to see him standing only a meter from me, his eyes staring straight at mine. I stared at him for a moment, in stunned silence almost not recognising him. The look of shock on his face, no doubt mirrored the surprise on mine. It was like one of those moments on a soap opera, when someone sees the last person in the world that they'd want to see. If I were in an Indonesian soap opera, I would have fainted or screamed or ran away. But because I was in reality, I just said "hi", engaged in awkward conversation for two minutes and then went home.

I'd seen him a few months before that which was even more dramatic. He sat outside my house for more than an hour as I was trapped in my home waiting for him to leave. This escalated to us yelling at each other through the gate in front of my house. That evening he messaged me to inform me that I was now stupid, arrogant and ugly. Well, good to know at least?

During the nine months before that he messaged me relentlessly from his jail cell; asking for money, asking me to visit him and asking stupid pointless questions about my private life. 
It's hard to believe that this person was the same person I spent so much of my time with.

CHAPTER 2- SIMPLE BEGINNINGS

Let's call him Monkey (that's what I used to call him anyway). 

You would have never seen any of the drama coming if you knew him in the beginning. We met in early 2013 when I was brand new to Surabaya. He was a friend of my housemate and we met one night at my house. The day after we met, as I arrived home from work, he happened to drive by my house, which he has maintained all this time was totally by coincidence. He took me to a cheap mall to buy sheets for my bed, socks and a few other things I needed for my room. The fact that our first date was to Royal Plaza was probably a bad sign but I didn't notice at the time. From the beginning he promised to make my life easier and help me settle into like in this crazy city. It was all good fun for awhile- we lived cheap, frequented cheap food stalls and didn't drink a lot of alcohol. I loved it. It felt like a simple life. I saved a lot of money. If I needed something, he took me to buy it. We had good conversations, we laughed a lot and we spent our weekends taking drives around Surabaya. We also went on a few trips out of town together. We took long drives to Jember, Malang, Kediri and his hometown- Sumenep.

Of course there were issues. He was often late to meet me. And by late, I mean three hours late. But I just grew more patient. Cultural issues popped up here and there but at the time I was determined to make it work and that seemed like enough at the time. 

CHAPTER 3- THE BABY

In 2013, I had decided to fast for Ramadan. We scraped through 30 days together. One day, I broke my fast by getting angry because he decided we were "sharing" my motorbike and disappeared with it in the morning and I was later to work than I would have liked to be. Otherwise we got through.

On my final day of fasting, I woke up to a Facebook message from a girl called Retno. She told me that Monkey was her husband and that they had a baby together. She attached several photos of them together as well as one of the baby. Because he had been less than reliable and certainly dishonest, I decided to hear her out. She gave me her phone number and when I rang her, her story seemed legitimate.

When I asked Monkey about it later he told me I couldn't get angry because I was fasting but that she was lying. He swore that she was a jealous ex-girlfriend who was trying to break us up. At the time, I didn't know what to believe but decided to believe him. In the meantime, I got so many awful phone calls and messages from Retno that I had to change my number. 

Following that, she switched to Facebook stalking me, accusing me of breaking up her family. Each time I blocked her Facebook, she made a new account and started again. After awhile it died down and I stopped thinking about it.

A few months later, when Monkey was out of town I got a message from her latest Facebook account saying "my happy family back together". It kind of panicked me that she knew he was in Sumenep. But later, she attached a photograph of Monkey holding a baby which looked far smaller than the baby from several months earlier. Unless babies shrink, her story was rubbish.

CHAPTER 4- DISAPPEARING MOTORBIKE

Yes, my ex-boyfriend could also do magic tricks. He could make my possessions disappear!

One day, in late February 2014, Monkey asked to borrow my motorbike. I went out with my friends and came home by taxi that night. I drunk-dialed Monkey on the way home from the bar and asked him to come over. He showed up by taxi.

I asked him where the bike was and he told me he had lent it to his friend Harto. I wasn't really worried about it because I knew Harto but I explained that he shouldn't lend my things to other people without asking first. He said he understood and that it wouldn't happen again.

The next morning he went of to pick up my motorbike from Harto's place. I spent the day dying of a hangover and not really paying attention to the time. Soon, I realised it was the afternoon and I hadn't heard from him. He didn't answer when I called him, but an hour later he informed me that he had picked up the motorbike and stopped at another friend's house and that friend had borrowed the bike to pick up his brother. I don't know what happened to the "don't let people borrow my stuff" conversation.

That night I got more and more frustrated. He hadn't really gotten back to me a lot all day and I still had no clue where my motorbike was. He showed up to my house later that night saying his friend was missing and he didn't know where the bike was. I told him to go find it and went to bed.

At 6AM the next morning, He showed up. "I've been tricked" he said. No shit, you've been tricked and MY motorbike is missing. Apparently his buddy had taken my motorbike to Bangkalan, Madura and used it as collateral to get a loan of $100 and then used the money to fly to Makassar. This all sounds crazy, I know! So, at 6AM I had to go to the ATM to get out $100 to get my own motorbike back. 

Later that day, my motorbike reappeared. The next day, I broke up with Monkey (not surprisingly).

CHAPTER 5- SUICIDE

I tried to end things amicably, but it wasn't really possible. I was a mess for awhile, I think he was even more of a mess. He had my tablet and I asked him to return it. Every time I tried to set up a time to meet with him, he flaked out. I started to suspect he had already sold my tablet.

One day after work, I was having dinner at McDonald's with a guy. Monkey chose that day to show up with my tablet. He phoned me.
"Hey, I'm at the parking lot at Delta with your tablet are you coming out?" he asked.
"Ah, sorry I'm at McDonald's with Dila, I can't meet now" I lied, not wanting him to know I was with a guy, "Can we do this another time?"
"I just saw Dila out here! Who are you really with?" Bad choice of lie I guess.
"Don't worry about it, let's just do this another time."
I hung up.

I got a text message: I'm going to throw your tablet on the road. I called him and told him I'd meet him for a moment at the parking lot. When I got there, he had already left.
"No one cares about you, so you should just kill yourself. Your tablet is already smashed on the road." he told me when I called him on the phone.

I was upset and angry so I went home. So, I lay in bed, drinking tea and watching episodes of Daria. Monkey rang me repeatedly. I didn't answer his calls. After a few hours I heard a huge crash from the front of my house. A few seconds later Monkey stormed into my room "oh, I thought you killed yourself" he said looking disappointed to see me alive. I tried to get out of my room because I didn't want to be alone with him but he pushed me up against the wall and started shouting at me. Not long after, my housemate came in to check if things were okay and I got out of the room.

Monkey returned my tablet (which hadn't been thrown on the road) and as I locked the gate behind him that night, I wished I could lock him out of my life altogether.

CHAPTER 6- THE UNKNOWN 

2014 was a year of a lot of messages from Monkey. Sometimes, he hated me and threatened me. Sometimes, he said he loved me and begged me to get back together. 

He claimed to have been attacked by the guy who had taken my motorbike which escalated into Monkey cutting off the guy's finger (which he said he would bring to me as a gift). He claimed that his Grandmother had died and asked me for money to cover the funeral costs. Finally, he claimed to have been framed in a motorbike theft which resulted in 9 months imprisonment.

I don't know if any of these things really happened and I don't care to find out. Monkey still messages me. Just a few weeks ago he sent me a kind of disturbing picture (as below) on my birthday.

I don't know where he is, what he is doing or how his life is but I hope I never find out. My biggest hope is that the end of this blog is also the end of this story. 

Welcome to Sparkling Surabaya

I have to say, from my first trip to Surabaya with my friend Mel in the beginning of 2012, I wasn't really impressed. The moment we got in the taxi from the bus terminal, the taxi driver informed us that Surabaya was a dark place and that we should go to Malang instead. We laughed it off and continued on to a dodgy guest house in North Surabaya. (Side note: The guest house staff woke us up at 7AM to give us chocolate cake for breakfast. I don't understand you, Surabaya...)

traditional Surabaya breakfast?

North Surabaya actually was a dark place. The streets were dirty, I felt like my feet were constantly dirty. It didn't seem like it really could be the 2nd biggest city in the country because it seemed like the worlds biggest village. 

We ate in malls and didn't really do a lot because there didn't seem like a lot to do. Overall, it didn't seem like such a special place. The last night when we made a trip to Zangrandi ice cream which was definitely a highlight, but overall it seemed like a dull city. 

Surabaya seems like a city that doesn't even want you there. It seems to scream at you "what are you doing here? I hate you, go away!". And it will constantly push you away, make you feel awkward, inept and uncomfortable. At the time, I wouldn't have imagined that I'd ever return to Surabaya, let alone spend three years here.

But, it was only a few weeks later when things started to fall into place. On Valentine's Day, I was on the "romantic" cruise with the idiot from THIS story. Meanwhile, I received an online message from 25 year old Venan on Interpals (a website I was using to practice Indonesian). I didn't reply but he messaged again a few days later and eventually we started chatting. We continued chatting basically every day.

It wasn't really a romantic relationship but there was definitely a bit of flirting going on. We occasionally talked about the possibility of meeting in the future otherwise we never spoke about anything too serious. I guess I had a crush on Venan, but never said anything because meeting someone online seemed weird.

Skype chats

The whole year, I had already planned to move to Indonesia and when it got to the middle of the year and nothing had progressed, I decided I needed a holiday and to start making progress towards my goal. When I found out I could do an English teaching course in Surabaya, I was quickly convinced because it meant I could meet Venan too.

When I told him I was heading to Surabaya, he seemed really excited to meet me and told me he would organise a place for me to stay in and pick me up from the airport.

True to his word, he was there to meet me at the airport. I noticed immediately that he looked different in real life to his profile pictures on Interpals. Maybe the pictures were a few years old? The other thing I noticed immediately was that he reeked of cigarettes which is really not attractive.

Venan excitedly informed me that he had found me a luxury boarding house near my school, complete with hot water and air-conditioning. He drove me there and what I was greeted with was certainly not luxurious in any sense. To be fair, it wasn't actually the worst place but I guess it didn't live up to my hoity-toity Western standards. 

The wall was decorated with a Jack Daniel's poster, the toilet didn't quite work, the shower was a traditional Indonesian mandi (which basically involves scooping water from a trough and pouring it over yourself [actually quite fine when you get used to it]) and the hot water was made by the housekeeper boiling a big pot of water and putting it into the water trough (which I opted not to do). The greatest redeeming quality of the room was the TV which I used to watch music programs pretty much constantly. Anyway, I agreed to stay in the boarding house because I didn't have any other option at the time but I basically felt uncomfortable for the entire month I was there.

My view for one month

Living in luxury...

The surroundings

Venan and I hung out quite a bit but I have to admit he acted a little strangely. He'd come and see me straight after work, he'd go to a restaurant with me but not eat himself, then after an hour he'd tell me he had to go home. He often wore shirts with holes in them and when I asked why he didn't buy new clothes he explained that "food and stuff is cheaper when you look poor". Interesting...

We didn't spend a whole lot of time together but it was pretty clear to me from the beginning that there was no chemistry. Considering we never said anything about dating, I just continued hanging out with him like it was supposed to be a friendship all along. 

It seemed like a good friendship initially. When he was sick he even asked me to come to the hospital with him. That was an interesting experience too. When the nurse came to take a blood sample, she made me leave the room and closed the curtain. Several years before that, I had witnessed my ex-boyfriend in Australia have a hole cut into his chest and a tube shoved in to re-inflate his collapsed lung on our one year anniversary (weird stuff happens in Australia too).

One day, we were sitting in a food stall and I was joking around. I said something along the lines of "So, everyone lies online. What have you lied about?" I didn't suspect he had lied about anything but he immediately responded with an ominous "Do you really want me to tell you?". 

It was then that he went on to admit that he was 30 years old, not 25. To be honest, I don't think I would have cared how old he was had he just told me from the start but after finding out he had lied once, I wasn't sure what else he lied about and it's pretty hard to trust someone after that. He seemed frustrated that I was upset about his lying and announced that he had to go to Bali for work for the weekend (but I suspect he just didn't want to see me for awhile). Later, he told me that I couldn't be angry and that it was my fault because I believed his lie when he didn't even look 25 years old.

I got on with things and felt fine about it eventually. I met a lot of new people and felt pretty content in Surabaya without worrying about Venan too much. We still met up after that. Occasionally we even ate together but I spent more time with other friends. He dragged me to eat bakso (Indonesian style meatballs), though I was reluctant to eat it after a friend told me that it was sometimes made from rat meat. He spent a lot of time assuring me that there was no rats involved but then spent the meal sitting there repeating the Indonesian word for rat ("tikus tikus tikus...") the whole time I ate. This is probably why I feel a little weird when I eat bakso.

Not long after, I celebrated my 23rd birthday with a few friends, some cheese and a few bottles of Bintang beer. Venan showed up during our celebrations to give me a special birthday gift. He gave me a necklace, the pendant on it was the letter V. 
"They didn't have 'S' so I got 'V'. The 'V' is for victory" he explained. Sounds legit...

Then, one evening I met jealous Venan. I was at dinner with an American expat I had met and we were sharing stories about Indonesia. Venan wasn't impressed that I was having dinner with another guy (obviously not realising/caring it was just a friendly dinner). He then went on to send me 20 text messages, which he claimed was not excessive and seemed confused that I didn't reply to them all. He got angry at me for "cheating on him". It was then that I had to awkwardly remind him that we weren't dating.

Not long after that, I left Surabaya. He came to my going away drinks and we hugged each other goodbye and said that we would keep in touch. We didn't. I returned to Surabaya six weeks later but haven't seen him since.

So, it seems a little bad. Some people might say I moved to Surabaya for a guy. But really I moved to Surabaya because I was able to ignore Surabaya's voice when it screamed at me to go away. I was able to see past the rubbish on the street, the awkward cultural misunderstandings and meet people that gave me a reason to stay. I didn't move to Surabaya for a guy, I moved to Surabaya despite the guy. Despite the fact that the city seemed to hate me, at some point I fell in love with it.

Driving in Indonesia

The roads in Indonesia are a place where you can expect to see anything. You'll see trucks, buses, cars, motorbikes, bicycles and becaks. You'll see 4 people on one motorbike, kids not wearing helmets and children driving. As you are driving, any type of vehicle could pull out in front of you, you could find the road completely flooded, someone could open a car door without looking or a caterpillar chilling out on your handbrake could sting you (as I discovered a few months back). You will see people transporting anything imaginable by motorbike- a TV, a fridge, another motorbike even. Anyway, it’s crazy out there.

.

The first time I rode a motorbike was when I asked an old friend of mine to teach me how in a quiet housing area in West Surabaya. I was very nervous about it but was happy to be learning on a road with no traffic. Soon enough, that “friend” of mine directed me out onto a main road despite the fact I asked him to stay off the main roads. All I could do was scream “We are going to die! I don’t know what I’m doing!”. Not long after that, I was back in Australia and decided to practice there on an empty camping ground. It was much safe but nothing like Surabaya.  When I arrived back in Surabaya, I got a motorbike. The first few months of driving were a little stressful. I didn't know my way around and almost ended up in Madura instead of my house. I crashed into a brick wall at some stage, which wounded my ego more than anything else. Driving here took some getting used to.

Motorbikes can be used to transport anything

Organising a motorbike is also somewhat difficult for a foreigner as we are not allowed to own one ourselves. For the first 3 months I rented from a guy I worked with. He asked me to pay for $150 for 3 months straight up and he gave me a shiny Honda Revo. I really liked the bike and was happy with the arrangement. When I went on Christmas break, he asked if he could pick up the bike and get it serviced while I was away. It all seemed fine. When I returned to work in January I asked him for the bike back. He then explained that it was actually his friends bike and that friend had taken it back. He instead offered me a different bike to replace it. The new bike was an older bike, but initially I didn't mind because I didn't really care so much about what my bike looked like.

My beloved Crypton.

This bike soon became a problem as it would often die at traffic lights and be impossible to start again. Sometimes I couldn't even start the bike at all. Adding to that, it burned a lot of petrol when I took road trips out of town. It wasn't the best bike to deal with as a new driver. After 2 months of dealing with this bike and complaining about it at work on a daily basis, the guy I work with had the audacity to ask if I wanted to hire it for another month. I organized a new motorbike and stopped using the Crypton. I told the guy I had hired it from that he could pick it up from my house but it seemed that he didn't want to take it. It stayed there for weeks without being used.

Being one of the small percentage of Western people in Surabaya, I seem to attract a lot of
(mostly unwanted) attention here. While riding a motorbike, I have found that people will often start conversations with me on the road. People will yell things from trucks and cars sometimes. And occasionally you could be followed home. 

The first time someone followed me home, I started to notice him on my street but didn't know what to do. I was driving very slowly hoping he would overtake but he stayed behind me. When I stopped at the front of my house he slowed down, touched my breasts and drove off. A drive-by groping?

Another time, as I was driving home I noticed a guy on a motorbike stopped ahead of me at a set of traffic lights. He kept adjusting his mirrors and I could see him looking at me though the mirror. At the next set of traffic lights he stopped next to me and asked me where I lived. I lied and said the name of an area on the other side of town. I drove off and he stayed behind me. I was really close to home so I decided to take a few wrong turns. He was still behind me. I didn't know what to do so I turned into my street from the wrong direction and was travelling the wrong way down the one-way road. He was right behind me. I yelled at him to go stop following me. I pulled up out the front of my house and he stopped as well.

“Are you an English teacher?” he asked.

I nodded.

“Do you work at EF?”

“How do you even know that?” I asked.

“I followed you from EF. Can I have your phone number?” he asked. 

“No! This is my boyfriend’s house. You need to leave now! He will kill you.” I yelled. (I think I may have yelled many other things but I don't remember what I said.)

I was lucky that at that moment my former housemate Stinky Steve arrived home.

“You need to leave now,” I yelled again to the guy on the street.

I guess he assumed Stinky Steve was my boyfriend and left.

The police are another problem you have to deal with. I don't have a license and don't really try to not break road laws. Sometimes I will drive on the wrong side of the road, go through red lights or make illegal turns. It's just how this country works. Every so often, the police will stop you. The most effective way to deal with this is speak a lot of English because the police in Surabaya rarely can speak English. Eventually, they get confused and let you go. Sometimes you have to pay a bribe and the bribe you pay seems to be proportionate to how wealthy you look. For example, my Madurese ex-boyfriend used to pay about 30,000 rupiah, most people seem to pay 50,000 rupiah and my other ex-boyfriend paid 250,000 rupiah. When I got stopped by the police they asked for 500,000 rupiah and I argued it down to 100,000.

Sometimes I get frustrated with the police but it is a little stupid. I got stopped by the police in Australia for taking an illegal right turn in Clayton (I didn't even realise that I was breaking the law) and had to pay around $200 (or close to that amount anyway). In Surabaya however, after 2.5 years of breaking the law deliberately every day, I have paid just $10 to the police. 

Overall, I think driving here is great. You may need to think of a good strategy to deal with being followed and you always need to be careful. But once you silence that voice in your head that constantly tells you you're going to die, it's actually pretty fun driving here.

The last seven days

From my previous posts, you can see what happens when things get weird. It might paint a picture that things are always weird but I wouldn't say that weird things happen everyday. However, I would say it's probably more often that in most other counties. As evidence, I present this- a few little strange moments I have had in the past seven days.....

Friday

After posting on my blog on Friday morning, I left for work (as usual). It was an ordinary day at work. The day before I had received an Instagram direct message from the manager of my favourite band (NOAH) saying “do you like beer?” which eventually lead to an invitation to go for some drinks after work on Friday. Of course I agreed.

On Friday night, it turned out the manager was busy playing indoor football, so I went to a café with a friend instead. Later, as I dropped my friend off at home, I received another message from the manager of NOAH saying that he was back at the hotel. I asked him if it was okay to leave my motorbike at the hotel as I didn’t want to drive after drinking and I could easily pick it up from there the next day. He said it was fine.

As I reached the hotel lobby, I received another message from the manager saying  “sorry I have a meeting now, I can’t go out”. Well, these things seem to have a way of working out in my favor. Immediately, I ran into the guitarist and drummer of the band, who were drinking coffee in the lobby and I decided to have a drink and chat with them instead.  

Saturday

Straight from work, I headed to the NOAH concert at Makodam Stadium. I arrived three hours before NOAH were set to play so I knew I was in for a big wait. I’m used to attending concerts alone and it’s not really a problem because it is easy to find someone to talk to in Indonesia anyway. I sat on the ground and ate a chocolate muffin and eventually started chatting to some random people around me.

After a while, one of the event’s security guards started talking to me. He asked a lot of personal questions about my reasons for being in Indonesia, my dating history and why I have watched NOAH so many times. The problem was, everyone nearby decided to listen to the conversation and laughed at half the things I said.

“You can’t stand here” he said.

“Why not? I’m already here.” I replied

“Because you are different. It’s dangerous up here because a lot of people will push from behind.”

“It’s more dangerous back there because there are pickpockets, I feel safe up here with the real fans, I don’t mind if I get pushed.”

“You should climb the fence and watch it here with me.” he said pointing to the area directly in front of the stage.

“No thank you, I’d rather watch it from here” I said (of course it’s more fun to watch a concert with other fans right?).

“If you climb over, I’ll take you backstage to get a photo with NOAH” he urged.

“No thank you, I already have a photo.”

“You can meet NOAH again then!” he said

“I don’t think it’s fair because I have already met them before. Maybe take someone else instead” I said, trying to make an excuse.

"Well at least stand at the fence" he said indicating that I should stand in front of a girl who was standing there.

"No, it's okay. She's been waiting longer than me. I'm fine here, I've seen a lot of concerts and I'll be okay" I assured him. 

Eventually he left me to watch the show.

The show was good, but I did get pushed a lot, but that's normal concert stuff. A random guy let me get up on his shoulders. I saw the band members look at me and laugh. I saw the security guard from earlier and waved at him. While I was up there my favourite song came on and I danced like crazy until I realised there was a close up of me on the two huge TV screens at the concert. Then I realised how ridiculous I looked and got down.

Overall it was an excellent evening.

Sunday

Woke up covered in bruises and in a lot of pain, so stayed in bed all day (seriously the only time I got out of bed was to get the pizza I ordered from the front gate). I guess nothing weird happens if you stay in bed.

Monday

This was a really good day. Got a massage, went swimming, bought new sunglasses and ate cake. Nothing strange happened, just an awesome day.

Tuesday

As I was opening the front gate to leave for work a man riding past on a bicycle stopped out front.

“Australian dollar!”  he said

“What?”

He pulled out his wallet

“I have Australian dollars! How many rupiah to one Australian dollar?”

“I don’t know” I said.

“Can I exchange my dollars for rupiah?” he said

“I don’t need Australian dollars.”

“Okay, no problem” he said and drove away (no idea how he knew I was Australian).

Wednesday

I barely remember Wednesday, so probably nothing worth mentioning happened.

Thursday

In the morning, I went to collect my clothes from the laundry place. I have been going to Save Laundry every week for about 18 months. Today as I was collecting my clothes, the owner handed me a plastic bag with a bottle in it.
"It is happy birthday Save Laundry. This is Fanta. Thank you for being our customer" she said.
So apparently on the anniversary of your laundry place opening, you should give your customers free soft drink... Good to know.

The work day went by fairly normally...

As I walked to my motorbike in the parking lot after work, a guy looked over at me.

"Beautiful" he said.

"Oh thanks" I replied.

"You can speak Indonesian?" he asked.

"Yea I can" I replied.

"Where do you live?"

"Kenjeran" I lied

"How can you be so beautiful?"

I laughed awkwardly.

"Is your mother beautiful?" he asked.

"Yes..." I said and drove away. 

(By the way, these kind of conversations happen quite often).

So, I guess this actually proves that weird stuff really doesn't happen everyday (just 4/7 days). I'm totally ready for the next weird adventures.... 

People you'll meet at Circle K

I have two stories for you.

I was actually going to try to wait for a third story to add to these two, but seeming as I don't ordinarily hang out at Circle K, I would be going out to deliberately make something weird happen. I don't think that is the way I want my blog to be (my stories so far are just weird stuff that happened on its own). So, I have decided just to tell you the two stories. 

Both of these stories were set in Circle K (a small convenience store) on Sosrowijayan Street in Jogja. I should note that in Indonesia it's perfectly fine to drink beer outside a convenience store and you'll find many people enjoying a drink outside Circle K . Well, you would if you were in Indonesia in the past, mini-marts are now not allowed to sell alcohol :'(.

I'll also add that in Jogja there is a term called bule hunter (foreigner hunter?). I've never heard it used outside Jogja but perhaps it exists elsewhere too. Bule hunters are people who deliberately hang out in touristy places in order to hopefully meet foreigners. To be honest, I don't think it's really a thing, because people are just attracted to who they are attracted to and I think going to a strategic location to meet people who are attractive to you is actually quite smart. Perhaps, the two boys I'm going to tell you about could be considered bule hunters but I'm not sure. Whether they are or not, they're still weird stories. 

Without further ado, I'd like to introduce Luppa and Dimas.


Luppa

On evening, in early 2012 (just before my Summer romance story came about), Mel and I were sitting out the front of Circle K. We were enjoying a nice bottle of Mixmax (sugary pre-mixed vodka drink) and listening to the tunes from Bintang Café. We met some of the locals. One of which was a young guy named Luppa. Luppa was a travel agent in the area and seemed to spend a lot of time with young foreign ladies as he showed us many photos of his "friends".

Despite his many excursions with foreigners, Luppa claimed not to like foreigners at all. But apparently we weren't considered foreigners as we spoke Indonesian (side note: if only more people actually thought this, because I'm sick of being called a "tourist" in the city I live in). As the night went on and the music from Bintang Café ended, Luppa invited us to go clubbing. I’m not a huge fan of clubbing to be honest but we were on holiday and it seemed like fun.

We walked to Republik which is the closest club to where we were staying. Straight away, Luppa brought a tower of beer and poured Mel and I a glass each. We tried to refuse the beer, but Luppa insisted. I know he may have meant well, but as two girls alone in Indonesia, we decided to play it safe and throw the beer into the toilet.

“Wow, have you already finished your beer?” asked Luppa as we came out of the restrooms. “Are you already drunk?”

“No. Of course not. We have stuff to do tomorrow, so we can’t drink too much” I replied.

“Okay,” he said “If you really aren’t drunk then do you remember my name?”

“Luppa” I said. ("lupa" means forget in Indonesian)

“How could you forget it? I remember your name”.
I bet he has used that same joke 385495050434934 times.

After a bit of dancing and enjoying the sexy dancers at the (clearly extremely classy) club, Luppa seemed to get more confident. 

“Do you know Jack Johnson?” he asked Mel.

It seemed like the start of an ordinary conversation about music so she told him that she liked his music. 

“Do you know the song three is a magic number?”
He continued looking at Mel then over to me and smiling.

“Three is a good number yea?” he asked flirtatiously. Looking from Mel, to me and back to her again. He seemed to repeat his feelings on number three over and over and it seemed like he was hinting at something...

"Umm... I don't know the song," said Mel. 
(We still aren't really sure what song he was talking about but it seems like its a song called 'The 3 R's' which is about recycling, not what he was talking about).

Not long after that conversation Mel pulled me aside and told me what had happened.
“I think he just asked us for a threesome!” said Mel. “What do we do?”

“I think it’s time to leave now.” I said.

Mel agreed and we ran straight out of the club and all the way back to out guesthouse without ever saying goodbye to Luppa. 

Dimas 

I met Dimas (I'll use his real name because it's a super common name anyway) at the end of 2012. He was young, pretty cute and very artistically talented. He didn't seem to be super smart and his fashion choices were a bit weird (he was seriously wearing triple denim and a piece of rope as a belt when I met him) but he was nice enough to talk to.

Dimas- double denim version, outside Circle K.

I met Dimas a few times while I was staying in Jogja, I was travelling alone and my $6 a night hotel was 50 meters from Circle K. Dimas seemed to be there a lot so I chatted to him a few times as I was walking past. One afternoon, Dimas was there with his friends and he invited me to go to karaoke. I agreed as I had no other plans.

We drove there on Dimas's motorbike chatting along the way. Dimas had free vouchers to the karaoke place as he had painted a big mural on the walls surrounding the building. 
"You can pay for the food because I have no money." he told me rather directly when we arrived.
Of course, I didn't mind paying for some snacks but the way he asked was super rude. I decided not to make a big deal out of it and ordered a few snacks and drinks.
I thought Dimas's friends were coming but when we got there I realised it was just the two of us. The idea of two people singing karaoke for 2 hours seemed a bit grueling but I just went with it anyway.

Dimas requested the furthest karaoke room from the cashier and we went in. I started choosing all my favorite songs immediately and we sang a couple of songs. Then, Dimas kissed me. I was kind of taken aback by it and just ignored it and continued singing.
"Do you want to do it?" he asked.
"Huh? Here? What? This is Top 40 family karaoke. Family karaoke right? You can't do that!" 
"I've done it before, it's okay, I know the guys who work here." he said smugly.
"Uh...." I said completely stunned.
"The staff here know what we are doing, they won't come in" he assured me.
"We aren't doing any of that!" I said "Umm... let's just sing some NOAH..."
"I thought you knew that I was bringing you here for that" he explained.
"No... I would have never thought that...  I thought karaoke places were for singing?" I said, not really knowing what to do or say.
"Okay fine, let's just sing" he said looking disappointed.
We sang together for two uncomfortable hours. 

After that, we said goodbye. I returned to Surabaya soon after but we remained Facebook friends. I didn't talk to him because I was completely freaked out by the karaoke experience. But of course he didn't let it end like that. A few days later he uploaded a picture he had drawn of us together. The fact that I look ugly in the picture makes it all even worse. :(

Based on my studies, 100% of the people you will meet at Circle K are weird (but the sample size of 2 is a little small to be conclusive I guess). Overall, I'd recommend finding somewhere better to meet people, maybe I'll check out Alfamart next...