Going for a stroll. My Actifit Report Card: February 21 2026

My wife returned to Canada today so I'm by myself in Indonesia again. When she first arrived she was asking to go back home within 24 hours of getting here. Why? Because I was living like a monk. I get up, I read my Bible, I exercise, I stretch, read more, exercise more and I only eat one meal a day.

When she left in the morning it was really early in the morning. Her words to me at the airport.... "I got some breakfast here....but I miss the hotel morning buffet". By the end she was enjoying the hotel lifestyle...She just went out and did more things while she was here (and dragged me along with her).

As for my breakfast buffet? It was super quiet.

In Indonesia during Ramadan from 4:30am until about 6pm people just aren't out eating.

So I enjoyed my hotel breakfast and then it was time to move to a less expensive hotel. Yes, I caved and took my wife to a little nicer hotel near the mall to keep her happy. I don't care so I go to a perfectly acceptable hotel with a great breakfast included for less money.

Unfortunately the local area is kind of, well, boring. It is on a major road so there really isn't much around to see. However, that didn't stop me from trying. I got my 10K steps by walking down the road.... Walking to the other side... Walking back until I couldn't go any further....walked back to an insane intersection and finally got back home.

But this time I took detours down little side areas where I found a bunch of different places.

First up was

• Mie Gacoan

A noodle restaurant where you choose the spice from 1-8. The meal is cheap at about $0.80 and popular. I figured I would ask the hotel staff what "to go" was in Indonesian (debungkas) .. I would order, ask to go, then return to the hotel.

When I went I realized it was 5:45 and everyone was getting ready to break their fast for the day. It was chaos. Also you place your order, get a number, and wait for it to be called...except I have no idea how to listen for my food...so I chickened out and paid the extra $1 to have it delivered to my hotel room. I ordered spicy #4 and.....bad idea... I had to order another meal because it was just way too spicy.

Next up I found a little "strip mall" for lack of a better word. No cars flying by, no street visibility, but surprise there was a money changer. Very useful as I have Canadian and American dollars so when I need to exchange I know a closer place to go.

Next up a cool looking Korean restaurant. Kind of sad I just found it. If I knew before I could have gone with my wife and going by myself when I'm on a diet? Kind of sad.

I had to smile at the Red Doorz inn. Mostly because my wife refuses to go to it. Now honestly it is a very basic style hotel but then again it's about 1/3 the cost of where I'm staying now...and my current place is very cheap by Canadian standards.

Then I had to cross the street near the Ciputra mall. Sure those 3 lanes don't look too bad but that's only half the road and they have the big forest divided in the middle. When it comes up to intersection? 6 lanes of chaos. I like the overpass.

There's the Ciputra mall. It is very clean and bright inside but lacks the real world charm of walking the street so I just kept on walking.

I saw this place which looked like a nice clean hotel so I took a picture to look it up back at my hotel. Surprise it was actually a wood working company. Kind of interesting to me.

That up above actually was a hotel. You have to look really closely or you will miss it. It is also way cheaper than where I'm staying. I'll probably have to book something so see just what I miss if I cut my budget by 70% :) As an interesting side note... There was a massage place a couple doors down in the same complex. My wife had a massage before she left so I thought maybe I would get one. I went in to check the price and was pointed to a sign saying "Closed for until the end of Ramadan"...that's like a month. When I got back to my hotel? Same thing. Spa closed. Seems the government banned all spa,s, massage places both public and private, even the women's only massage. I was really surprised when I found out that they have decency police who will actively go around checking hotel rooms to verify compliance. As a Canadian that was odd but here it is apparently normal.

That's why you travel ... To see different ways of doing things.

Then I found "Serata Foods" and thought... Cool another grocery store near the hotel. I looked closer and it is actually an engineering firm. I thought that was just odd.

I kept going and finally got to the Holland Bakery. Now I see it every morning from the breakfast buffet window. It looks kind of shabby when seen from above (the hotel buffet is on a high floor) but in person it was quitec nice. I bought a few doughnuts because they were cheap and looked yummy.

I kept on moving and found a memorial cemetery. Cool but not really a tourist attraction of place to visit.

Then I got to the McDonalds. I didn't want fast food but on the other side of the street the road is impassable. I was hoping that maybe on this side of the street it wouldn't be as bad.

Hahaha

Wishful thinking

Then when I was walking back the Otep Otep store caught my eye. Mostly because I couldn't figure out what it was. From the sidewalk it kind of looked like a weird auto parts store.

I went inside and found out that it was a specialty food store which sells Indonesian food products geared at tourists. I had to smile...my wife spent so much time roaming the mall looking for Indonesian stuff to take home as gifts and the store that sold only that kind of stuff was right across the street from the hotel she didn't want to be in.

I didn't actually buy anything to take back home because I have ZERO space in my luggage/backpack.

I did see that they had competitively priced diet soda and it was really hot so I bought two and smiled

Then it was back home to rest and enjoy my evening.

... Almost 11K steps complete.
This report was published via Actifit app (Android | iOS). Check out the original version here on actifit.io

Walking