Should we go out or stay at home ? When does Covid-19 will end ?

倘若不知印尼疫情到底何时结束，是应该守在家中还是出去看看？

At the end of December 2019, it was said that the outbreak would most likely end at around December 2020. However, as we slowly move closer to that date and the pandemic being more dangerous than ever, is that really true?

As much as this pandemic is spreading at a more alarming rate every day, a large percentage of Indonesians do not seem to be bothered by this. A ride-hailing guy once told me, “It’s fine, there’s no problem! Indonesians are strong!” However, especially in Bekasi and Tangerang, this virus is beginning to become even more concerning and yet people are not wearing masks, gathering in larger groups each day, doing whatever they want. On the other hand, I have also seen other types of people, those who are extremely paranoid and afraid of the virus. These people wash their hands a hundred times a day, hide when they see others around them and would be even glad to tape strangers’ mouths to protect themselves.

Unfortunately for me, it has been a very long period of time since the outbreak started and my patience is wearing thin. I’m neither free-spirited nor paranoid; I am not ‘strong’ but also do not wish to be cooped up at home every day. But then again, life has to continue and no matter how disordered your thoughts are, you should be able to smile towards tomorrow, right? The Covid-19 virus has allowed many people to halt their lives, slowing down the pace of our lifestyles and in doing so, I have wondered: we had so much free time to use before the pandemic even started. Doesn’t that time feel very wasted?

Well, I decided to find some recreational activities to indulge myself in and I think these are two great places to go that will surprise you:

Near Jakarta, there are many golf courses and horse farms, as well as some country clubs, many of which are open during this time. Personally, I enjoy going to a country club near Tangerang, Karawaci. There, I get to swim, play tennis, etc. It has a very pleasing and beautiful environment with a very open, wide view. I have been there a few times a few years ago but ever since I moved I haven’t been there since.

Additionally, I have always been interested in horse riding. Equestrian facilities are not so easy to find in China but I know Jakarta has quite a number of them. Unfortunately, last year I could not find any riding lessons online, which made me lose a bit of enthusiasm for the sport. Phone numbers that were posted on official equestrian websites were either expired or wrong. If it was a Whatsapp number, I would text them and nobody would reply. If I did get a reply, I would only be answered by a response telling me their classes were all booked. Strangely enough, I decided to try my luck again this year.

I researched and found all of Jakarta’s racecourse and equestrian websites, creating a list of a dozen phone numbers and email addresses. Nowadays, most of the recreational services and venues in Indonesia are up to date in Instagram and social media platforms while others have not been maintained in years so I decided to search for more on Facebook and Instagram as well to find out more about these companies and whether they were still active.

I contacted all the horse farms; price and course quality were all compared. It turned out that my research work had been effective. While there were still people who did not return messages or said I had the wrong number, I found a reliable Polo Club: the Nusantara Polo Club. They are the only equestrian club in Indonesia to have polo classes, offering both adult and child cycling classes in addition to Polo.

After booking the Polo class there, the people there also introduced me to the Jagorawi golf club near that Polo club. Fascinatingly, other than providing golf classes, the golf club also provides a visitor hotel for people to stay. Unfortunately, I could not find a reservation for the golf club hotel online, which caused me to hesitate. That was when the club’s staff found me a New Zealand golf instructor, Aaron. Aaron helped me book a hotel, the golf classes and gave me some travel advice. He even helped me to find a place to withdraw money and we had never even met before. 

From there, I booked my own ride-hailing car and went to The Lodge, which was the name of the hotel inside the Jagorawi golf club. This place was originally a wedding hall where many weddings were occasionally held. However, due to the outbreak, it was temporarily closed. As you would probably guess, I was the only guest there and the entire hotel and terrace was open to just me. The front desk provided me with a twin bed room on the second floor with a balcony. In the afternoon, I set out for the riding lesson I had booked. Before that happened though, the hotel nicely served me a humble breakfast for 700 thousand Rupiah.

The Nusantara Polo Club’s equestrian course is very well maintained and its view is very wide and green. I had been interested in another equestrian course in Bogor because of its low prices and memberships but according to several Google reviews, you apparently had to ride your horse to a neighbourhood on the side of the road with cars on either side which made customers uncomfortable, making them give up.

I still am the Nusantara Polo Club’s first guest each day. Most people perhaps aren’t as crazy as I am. I mean, more often that not, people would simply just stay at home and watch TV. Being alone inside the hotel seemed very strange. Everyone who I came into contact there must have thought: what’s wrong with this girl?

However, alone having its perks: whether it's the hotel services, golf lessons or riding classes, I get my own service at no extra cost. The first person who welcomed me at the equestrian course is a member of the Indonesian national polo team. He seems to be the club’s manager but I never asked for that information from him. Anyway, he speaks very well and fluently in English so I was able to communicate with him just fine. After meeting him, a coach took me over to ride the horse itself. It wasn’t exactly difficult but it did require physical strength. In fact, I personally think that polo isn’t as hard as people think. The main difficulty is having the strength to do it, which only requires practice. Whether or not you have had ridden a horse, you can definitely have these riding classes and play polo if you wanted to.

I had ridden a horse before in my past experiences as I have great interest in horses and am not afraid of them at all. In the riding class, I told the instructor that I wanted to try ride alone without the instructor guiding the horse, which he agreed to. As a result, with a few whips, the horse galloped and flew! This may have startled a few people around me but I was not afraid or nervous. By pulling the reins of my horse, I managed to stop. I do not think it is that easy to fall off a horse as long as you keep balance and the horses are trained to stop when you lift them up by the bridle anyway. It is not as dangerous as you might think. Anyway, getting back to business, the instructor always guided me and never misspoke his instructions.

Polo is a little bit more difficult; you have to control the horse and hit a ball simultaneously. Most of the time, you will have to stand on the horse and keep balance while doing this. Controlling the horse was not too hard. However, due to my weak hand, hitting the ball with a polo stick was quite difficult as the stick is not light. No wonder polo is good for men.

My greatest regret was that the coach was slightly too wary and conservative; all the way from beginning to end, he was afraid that I would fall off the horse. He did not let me make the horse run around the field and had to constrain me by making the horse walk instead, meaning I could only swing the stick slowly. He was also a member of the Indonesian national polo team and his name was Glend. Two other famous players, Billy and Danny, also helped to guide me with some basic knowledge. They are quite friendly and while a little shy, they actively try to help me with some extra tips. They were all from Manado and were still in their thirties. They still are registered in the national team and often participate in international competitions. Nowadays, the best polo players are from Argentina and the best ones in Asia are Malaysian. However, don’t underestimate Billy, Danny and their team. They are like many other Indonesians who live a simple and easy lifestyle. They both played in Thailand and Brunei before and they mentioned that China also has polo clubs. In fact, they often play with the Chinese clubs and they even won their most recent match against them!

(The people below are the coaches of the racecourse. They are all national team players. The second person in the picture is my coach.)

(This picture shows an Indonesian polo magazine. As you can see, Glend is on the front cover on the very left. Next to him is Novel, I also met the Polo organizer Mr.Nico . and the person on the very right is Billy, in the first front line right side is Mr .? He is also very friendly )

(In the bottom right corner, Billy is the third from the left, Glend is the third from the right, if I'm not mistaken, Nico is the fourth from the left and the fifth from the left is the well-known Indonesian Defense Minister Prabowo Subianto, a former No. 2 presidential candidate, who has been seen riding horses in the media.)

These riding classes are quite cheap, with each lesson being 45 minutes and costing 350 thousand Rupiah. A 45-minute riding class can be tiring for beginners. Polo class is quite similar, but instead of 350 thousand, it costs 1.2 million for one lesson. Spending that much money may be luxurious but it is one of the cheapest costs you can find in Asia. Just note that I’m not exactly rich. Most Chinese people who live here in Indonesia have much more money than I do. I am probably around the last 10% of the Chinese population here in terms of yearly income.

I would never be willing to spend 20000 Yuan to go buy a bag or use up 6000 Yuan to buy a new pair of shoes. When I have extra money, I tend to give it to others. This is because I have a bit more experience than others concerning money due to the knowledge that I have of the world around me. Up to now, the clothes I wear all come from Taobao and they cost a bout a few hundred yuan each. I mean, I would prefer not to worry about my clothes since they will only be scratched when riding a motorcycle. I would also not fret about trying to find a place to put my bag while I ride a horse, etc. Anyway, if a bag loses its shape I can just throw it away and if my clothes get ruined, I can always buy a new one knowing that not much money was lost.

On the third day, I went to golf class as scheduled and during that day, Aaron called another coach to teach me who was named Zac. He is actually a Chinese person and is very easy to talk to. No matter what style or form I used, he would always say that I was playing well. On the other hand, when I was playing polo, Glend was quite strict. More often that not, he was not satisfied with my skills. For example, he thought my movements were too stiff and were not up to standard and he told me that I was too weak — a typical image of a tough guy in the national team. In short, if I wasn’t using my hands properly or utilising my legs in a particular fashion, I wouldn’t be let on to the field. If I did something wrong, I would be corrected and criticized directly. I accepted both styles. Zac used to live in Australia for a very long time and is definitely a golf pro. The Jagorawi golf course belonged to his grandfather. Here, the scenery was beautiful and the air was fresh. In the morning I would go there and walk under the shade of the trees. Zac told me to come and see him next time if I ever were to go there again.

(The gentleman in the middle is Zacwith mystery guests)

Zac was very quick in teaching me the basics and taking me to the actual golf course itself. Coming as a ‘foreigner’ and a newbie to golf, I think that golf is much easier than polo and requires a lot less strength that polo does. However, the Z-Nine program is considered to be one of the most challenging courses provided by the center. The center also provides a one-off golf course for visitors which includes a 45-minute lesson that costs about 670 thousand Rupiah and other course packages. Whether they are from businesses like Ali Baba, ZTE, Xiao mi , JD.ID, JNE or other companies, if bring your customers and businessmen come here, the experience won’t be too bad. There are many recreational activities to be done and the environment is very clean. Don’t worry though, as this center is suitable for family members, couples and everyday people as well.

While I was eating in a restaurant, I observed that there were many Koreans sitting and eating in the area behind me. Zac told me that lots of Koreans and Japanese people usually come here but Chinese people are a bit rarer.

This restaurant was called Batten and is located in Jagorawi. The food here is delicious and inexpensive as well. Every day, I always go there to eat lunch and dinner. A set consisting of beans with minced meat and water spinach, along with drinks and tax costs just 160 thousand Rupiah, and the thing that surprised me was that it did not taste that bad.

I don’t think that touring other places alone is difficult. In fact, everyone first has to be independent and able to go through life alone before being able to coexist with others. In the end, we all need to be independent and learning how to do so is a must. I remember when I was all the way back in school, I often saw one person eating alone in the cafeteria and seeing that, my friend would say that she would rather not eat than go to the cafeteria to eat alone. People would often sneer at the sight of this. However, I admired this person who sat alone. In doing whatever they choose to do and be independent, they overcome psychological and peer pressure. I’ve also been through this, as I have often been to restaurants in Jakarta on my own. There, the waiters and diners all pity me. Some people even came up to me to ask if I wanted to sit with them.

Being alone on the inside and being alone on the outside are two completely different things. Just because you eat with a group of people does not mean you aren’t lonely anymore. Are they special to you? Do they really provide you with the company you want? Trust me, many friends just pass and know each other by eating and drinking together. However, a woman eating alone doesn’t mean she doesn’t have any friends. Rather, it exemplifies the absence of feeling ‘lonely’ and ‘miserable’ when alone or her ability to adapt to being all by herself.

Sometimes, I think that life needs to slow down. Constantly struggling with life will make you ignore many more important things at hand. Nobody can continue to run a high-speed, high-quality machine for a lifetime. Occasionally, things break down and must be repaired again. No matter how good a machine is, it will be broken. Whenever I feel conflicted, I go tidy up my clothes and clean my room to ‘repair’ myself. One friend of mine who is a designer told me that when she was absolutely clueless with her work, she would sweep the floor and once the floor is clean, she would start drawing again. More often than not, we find ourselves wanting to explore more of the world and be greater than we already are. This is mainly because of how the specific rules and regulations of our lives are not necessarily the best we could possibly have, which is why we long for a different way of life. A way of life that is much better than the life we already have. 

From day to night, maintaining a husband, children and a kitchen requires much perseverance and effort. Women, especially, need to be wary of not slipping into depression. Women should all work together to build their own communities and create a world where women can grow together. Together with another blogger, we managed to scour through much data to find a very disturbing and somewhat interesting fact hidden within our current reality: women tend not to care about politics, sports, religion, power, and etc. If a woman is talented at sports, most people and women, in particular, often do not care. Hence, if such content is on your social media platform, you will most likely have very few female followers. 

(Doesn’t it seem funny to practice riding on a fake horse before actually playing polo?)

A man who is outstanding in sports will gain all the attention from other men. If a severe political event occurs, women will only worry and be afraid of their families being hurt. However, in doing so, they forget to analyze the reasons behind these events and lose sight of possible solutions to resolve such issues. Additionally, most bloggers that women focus on are often beauty posts and slimming techniques. Other than that, How To videos also tend to be the norm for women and for example, learning how to fly a hot air balloon may be of interest to them.

However, men will most likely avoid such blogs as they may already know how to do such things. See the divide? It is not unreasonable to think that there is a lack of women in many situations. All of us, including women, should be able to think rationally, build up our own social networks and contribute to society. In fact, society already provides a wide range of fields for women. Most women in their lives do not know what they are really pursuing except for their families and this is a question worth pondering. The role of a woman is definitely not just a wife, a mother, a daughter, eye-candy but she also has various other roles that represent herself individually. 

No matter where you go or what you do, these things do not always require lots of money. It only requires a bit of heart to try, a little bit of knowledge of the world around you, and a few skills for one to be able to make the most out of anything.

I will definitely return to this equestrian course next time but I definitely do not want to enjoy such an opportunity alone. If you would like to join in on the fun, just scan the QR code below and add me on WeChat. The date of the actual activity will be decided on by everyone, a minimum of 4 people and a maximum of 6 people (with a minimum of 2 females). This is based on a first come first serve basis so the people who exceed 6 people will be arranged for on a later date in the future but will not be able to join us this time. The first trip will take about 2 to 3 days and can be on any day (weekday or weekend, to be decided later). Just note that we must stagger the closing time of the equestrian course on Monday. There are no organization fees and additional fees so all fees are shared or are paid separately. 

About the expenses, please see the following information:

• From South Jakarta to the destination itself by ride-hailing takes about 45 minutes, costs 130.000-180.000 Rupiah (excluding toll fee)

• The hotel costs 700 thousand Rupiah/night for two people.

• A single course for golf costs 600-800 thousand Rupiah (45 minutes)

• Riding lessons cost 350 thousand Rupiah/session (45 minutes) 

• Polo courses cost 1.2 million Rupiah/session(45 minutes)

• Optional courses and catering expenses are also present

(I don’t think there’s anything more beautiful than riding a horse in the morning light.)

The two places mentioned above are both in Bogor, about 45 minutes to 1 hour away from Jakarta. However, due to the pandemic, there is usually no traffic jam on the roads meaning it will only take about 35 minutes from Bogor to the south of Jakarta. Note that there aren’t many people going in and out of Bogor and therefore the chance of catching the virus is quite slim. But of course, while there aren’t many people in the course, bring your own mask. You are also encouraged to bring your family with you. The following contact details and addresses are numbers of some of the people I have mentioned and the locations of the two places mentioned in this article. (Both of which are 10 minutes away from each other)

Golf Course:

Jl. Karanggan Raya Gn. Putri, Cimpaeun, Kec. Tapos, Kota Depok, Jawa Barat 16960

Equestrian Course: 

No., Jl. Kp. Kranji No.44, Ciriung, Cibinong, Bogor, Jawa Barat 16918

• Rara, Horse riding lesson reservation: Whatsapp no. 081286422829

Bonus video:

Thailand vs Brunei Polo Competition

Note:

1, This artical has a Chinese version.

2. Click "Look" in the lower right corner to not miss the news that I make. To follow me, click on the blue words "印尼的那些事儿" under the title of the article.

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