I am a cat and I love your city (Indonesia)

Why do you travel to Jakarta so often?, they ask.

I reply, “You know how when a cat loves someone, it tries to rub itself all around. I am that cat, and I love your city.”

Indonesian immigration officers too often ask this question. They are surprised that I don’t go to Bali or other tourist places. They laugh when I say I love Jakarta. I spare them the cat analogy.

A bookshop cat from Cikini, Central Jakarta