Going to Jakarta
We’re taking a quick trip to Jakarta on Monday. Not for the SEA Games but a tech launch. We have some free time Monday—any suggestions as to places we must see? (Not enough time to visit Borobudur or Bali.)
On these trips a soundtrack is essential. We’ve decided on the complete works of Bryan Ferry and Roxy Music.
Answers to questions you might be asking, unless you wandered onto this site purely by accident >>>
November 13th, 2011 at 15:17
I used to live in Jakarta twenty years ago! Unfortunately that coincided with my pouty pre-teen years, so I didn’t appreciate it as much as I should. Thus, all that time I should’ve spent taking pictures of Old Batavia were wasted on the mall and the amusement park.
(And how could I not have known that Jakarta now has a puppet museum? Dang.)
If you’re pressed for time, you can take the elevator ride up to the top of Monas (the National Monument) for a full view of the city. Not too far from that is the National Museum, which is worth checking out for all the Indonesia-related artifacts and exhibits. And if you must get some shopping done, there’s Pasaraya in Blok M, which is basically what happens when you build a Rustan’s in the middle of Divisoria.
Take lots of pictures for us!
November 13th, 2011 at 22:12
I lived in Jakarta in 2006-2007. I thought that it was just like Manila of the 1970’s.
The places I found interesting were the Dharmawangsa, a fancy boutique hotel in the southern part of the city where I lived for a month before I moved into my apartment; the Menteng area where my apartment was, which is like a less elitist non-gated version of Forbes Park; the National Museum, which was being renovated at that time and I hope is in much better shape now; and the old Town Hall and the surrounding Kota area on the north seaside part of the city, which is like a Dutch version of Intramuros without the walls.