「 “ You know, it’s all really about adjusting to our environment. We just have to face our own current reality”, said the rookie hairstylist to me while she was fixing my hair. 」
Before I met that rookie hairstylist, I was actually visiting another beauty salon to get a summer haircut. Apparently, the place I found from google doesn't accept any walk-ins, everything has to be done by reservation. Feeling a bit dejected, I ended up walking around and found this humble cafe nestled among houses in the neighborhood.
About a year ago, I already read this cafe name from a google map search but it never really convinced me to actually go there. You know, there’s a look to it that wasn’t pretty inviting compared to many cafes in town.
I recently had a similar conversation as well that somehow in South East Asia, generally we like something more official looking, clean, sleek and honestly, almost as if the cafe was run by someone with severe mysophobia or OCD. They are always clean and have a similar aesthetic to it. Somehow, anything that doesn’t fit the frame of those sleek, minimalist or brutalist designed places, wouldn’t really make it.
This cafe is called Hypen. I am not sure why it’s named that because even the concept of the place itself doesn’t really justify the name. Inside the place, there is a massive room with plenty of chairs, sockets on its wall and some mini middle garden in the place.
Since it was still afternoon, there were only a few patrons and the place wasn’t actually loud. What really made me so comfortable was the music that they played inside the place. Rather than playing indie rock, they were playing contemporary jazz and that really made me want to stay longer in the place rather than leaving so soon to find another haircut place that would accept a walk-in customer.
The cafe offers several menus but I was pleasantly surprised when a cafe, especially a smaller one like this Hypen, serves Australian style coffee. So, they serve magic, flat white and piccolo latte as well. So, you know, I have this saying
A cup of magic brightens your day!
Not a lot of places can make magic pretty well but in this place, they do it really well that I was like. “ How didn’t I know this place?” Because I mean, coffee is one of the things that actually gets me moving from outside my room and exploring coffee shops around. Unfortunately though, some places are only famous because of their virality rather than their quality.
Then while I was there, I ended up finding a place where I could get a haircut and eventually I found this small establishment that does walk-in haircuts. There were the owner but also some rookie hair stylists around the salon. Since I was attended by the rookie one, I was honestly surprised by her service and conversational skills. In the end, I had a great conversation because we shared that though we live in this place, we haven’t felt that sense of belonging.
After going there and getting my hair done, I was even happier. I got my coffee, I got my haircut and even a good conversation.
Have you ever had some great conversation that happened out of nowhere ? Let me know in the comment section.