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Old Oct 11, 2018, 3:13 pm
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Romanianflyer
 
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Part 8: A day sightseeing in Jakarta

Many people would tell you to skip Jakarta altogether when visiting Indonesia and head straight for the beautiful islands of Bali or Lombok, or cities on Java like Yogyakarta straight away. Yet to me it felt a bit weird to miss out on the Indonesian capital given it has much history as the old Dutch colonial capital of Batavia. Besides, gritty megacities can at times have certain charms if you look well enough for them so I thought it would be only fair if I would give the city a chance. Especially after a long journey flying in from Europe, not flying straight onwards and staying two nights in a hotel to acclimatise also didn't sound unreasonable to me.

I started my journey by taking a taxi to Merdeka Square, which means Freedom or Independence Square and is the site of the National Monument. It being a weekend day, traffic was a bit less mad than usual but still chaotic.

There is not that much to see besides the monument dedicated to Indonesia winning it's liberty from Dutch colonial rule after World War II. The Dutch were very hesitant to give up their precious colony after the Japanese invaders were kicked out, with many MPs and citizens thinking it would spell doom to the country's future. Yet after an at times bloody conflict the Dutch relented – mostly under severe pressure by the American Government.

There is actually not that much to do at the giant park/square in which the monument is located. You just wander around the grounds and snap some pictures and that's it. There were many Indonesian families though around, with most of them seemingly having brought a picnic basket to sit somewhere on the grounds for a meal. For most, it was a nice place to walk a bit around and do some good old people watching.









As the nearest train station of Gambir is only used as starting point of intercity trains, I had to walk a bit further to Juanda station to catch a suburban train further into the centre of the city to the old town. Even though taxis are cheap and reliable (if you take a Blue Bird one) I still prefer public transport as it gives you a better insight in everyday local life. The bus and train system seemed to be very good and dirt cheap, but at times it was just sheer madness trying to cross a busy street when there were no traffic lights or pedestrian overpasses.











The suburban train brought me to Jakarta Kota station, located close to the old town where there is still some old Dutch architecture remaining. Kota station was quite a bustling place itself!



From Kota, I walked to the old town through some underpasses and on some small or non-existing pavements. When taking a picture of the national bank I was halted by a security guard. I expected him to be angry for making a picture (too many travels to ex-USSR countries where that is always the case!) but it turned out the dude was actually wanting to welcome me to Indonesia and just wanted to have a short talk. If one thing would stand out during this trip it would be the kindness and welcoming nature of the Indonesian people – which in my opinion was even well above the already high standards found elsewhere in Asia.











The old town of Jakarta is fully pedestrianised – but on this weekend day was crowded as hell with locals going for a walk. It was also fun to see locals renting old bicycles for five or ten minutes just to drive in circles on the square. The main square here does have some seriously nice colonial Dutch architecture, especially the old City Hall.











I wanted to head to Cafe Batavia – a Jakarta colonial institute for a meal/drink – but somehow the locals wouldn't let me go. At first I thought it was just a coincidence when a group of Indonesian schoolchildren around the age of 14-15 approached me to ask some questions in English what I thought about their country, what I was doing here, how my first impressions are etc. But when a second and third group came to me asking exactly the same questions, and all of them taping the interview with their phone and posing for a picture, it seemed clear to me that there were a few school classes out here on some assignment for their English class to approach a foreign tourist. Good fun though to have a chat with Indonesia's next generation! Even though I was getting hungry and thirsty I couldn't say no to their kind smiles when the sixth and seventh group approached me.

In the end I did somehow manage it to Cafe Batavia – where I settled down for a beer or two and a portion of satay.







Afterwards I wandered around the area for a bit more, but besides an old Dutch draw-bridge there wasn't that much to see.







By that time, the weather and especially the disgusting smog was tiring me out, so I decided to hop in a taxi back to my hotel. For dinner, I just ventured outside in the neighbourhood to eat more satay (did I say already I love satay?) from a friendly local with a roadside satay-cart. I might also had a few cocktails at the rooftop bar.

In short: Even though I didn't regret staying one day in Jakarta to see the city as I would have felt bad to miss out on it – it is not a particular beautiful or interesting city. The interesting parts can easily be seen in less than three hours. Sure, I believe that there is quite some local life besides that once you scratch beyond the surface and local people guide you to fun parts – but as an average tourist it's not a likeable city. It reminded me in many aspects of the Philippine capital of Manila. Yes there is an interesting old colonial part (Spanish there, Dutch here) but beyond that it's just one giant urban sprawl, with mad crowds and just a few elevated railway lines which are insufficient to relieve the pressure off the overcrowded traffic.

Next up: Flying from Jakarta to Yogyakarta in Garuda Indonesia business class.
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