Indonesia : Exploring Jakarta...

Sebelum trip, konon2 rasa nak cancel. Then tukar fikiran. Then konon2 trip kali ni tak nak shopping. Tapi kalau gi Indonesia tak shopping tu mmg tak sah ler kan.

Mentang2 kat sana jadi jutawan terus aku lupa daratan. Hasilnya bankrupt jugak la... hehehe...

Since I'm sooo happy setiap kali shopping kat Bandung, I decided to make Bandung as my annual trip. And this time around since ada kawan2 yang tak pernah lagi pegi Jakarta, masa booking flight ticket last year (kitorang beli ticket last year bln 5! can you believe it??), I decided to land at Jakarta (sebenanye sebab tiket Bandung dah mahal..) and balik from Bandung.

So awal tahun ni masa baca blog Nicole, dia ada mention pasal CouchSurfing. It's a community for travellers around the world. So aku pon cekidaut la website CS ni and registered. Planned to find a host for my HK trip tapi aku gatal2 jugak try cari host kat Jakarta. Disebabkan interest aku n the geng tak same, agenda diorang shopping and my agenda nak gi sightseeing (of coz shopping mesti ada tapi kalau tak sempat shopping aku tak regret pon rasenye), I decided to go separate ways. Kang kalau aku heret diorang ikut agenda aku macam dictator la pulak kan.

So I made the decision to go backpacking alone and join the rest of the geng kat Bandung. Tugas2 presiden M&M aku passkan kat Me'lah and Mas. Ok la.. not bad jugak keja korang... haha..

Mula2 ingat nak pegi jalan2 sendiri, malas nak menyusahkan my host. But she's so nice, she planned an itinerary for my stay. So ikut je laa... I planned to make a move to Bandung in the afternoon, and since my host will be working on Monday, I still have the morning to explore the city on my own.

The day yang ditunggu2 after 10 bulan pon tiba. Sampai kat LCCT, I was impressed sebab macam dah banyak berubah. pastu baru la teringat last aku gi LCCT masa Bandung trip last year la. Dah almost 1 year. Memang la dah banyak improvement. Yang paling penting kerusi utk duduk dah bertambah. Lepas tu ada tambah 2nd floor utk cop/check passport.

Ada tambah kedai jugak. hahahha tetiba teringat cite kelakar. Aku nampak Eraman dutyfree shop. So aku pon cakap la kat mas n melah 'eh ada Eraman kat sini'. Ada ke diorang ingat aku cakap pasal A.Rahman penyanyi tu.. ;p

Sampai kat Jakarta, since 1st day tak amik supir so we're on our own la pegi town. Mula2 aku ingat nak naik bas Damri. Will be meeting my host, Kartika at 12pm kat Gambir station, tapi by the time kitorang keluar airport tu dah dekat 11.30am. So naik taxi aje lah sebab nak cepat.

Damri bus.. a cheap way to central Jakarta. The fees to Gambir station is only rp20000.

Sampai ke hujung kitorang jalan tapi tak jumpa kaunter taxi Blue Bird. I dare not to take taxi2 lain sebab takut kena tipu. Tapi disebabkan tak nampak, naik aje lah taxi yg ada tapi banyak kali la tanya nak pastikan dia guna meter ke tak. On the way masa kat hi-way hujan la pulak. Tika hantar SMS tanya kat mana. Since dah lambat dia kata jumpa kat Pancoran, area dekat rumah dia. Aku pon cakap ler kat driver taxi tu. Sekali dia kata Pancoran ada 2. haaa.. sudah! Dia suruh aku call Tika. Handphone aku pulak battery dah nak kong. So aku nak send SMS je. Tapi si driver taxi tu baik giler dia mintak no phone Tika and then terus dia call sendiri!

Met my host at Dunkin Donuts, Pancoran and then terus pegi rumah dia letak barang2 and meet the family. Lepas tu terus pegi Sarinah to meet her friend, another CS member Nina, from the Philippines.

Maphilindo @ Cafe Batavia

So kitorang pon start the mission for the day, exploring Kota Tua @ Batavia. Went to a few museums along the way.

The abandoned building @ Kota Tua

Dutch colonial architecture

Old Dutch bank

hang out place for youngsters in front of Museum Fatahillah

In the evening, we went to CS Jakarta gathering at Wetiga to participate in the Earth Hour.

A huge turnout I must say. There were around 30 of them, including members from Singapore, Philippines and Malaysia was represented by me. We had introduction session, then played games before turning off the lights at 8.30pm.

During this time, Jakarta CS member, Andri shared his stories on backpacking through Europe. Just that morning, he launched his very own book, -lupa pulak title dia- mainly about his traveling experience.

My dinner. Nasi gaul kucing and secang. When I asked why the name was like that they said because it was more or less looked like makanan kucing. Secang tu pulak air akar ayu.

At around 9pm, we excused ourselves and went back home.

Day 2 started with a tour to Monumen Nasional or better known as MONAS. It's a 450 ft tall tower in Central Jakarta, symbolizing the fight for Indonesia's independence. Visitors can take an elevator up to a platform for a view of the city. Inside the base of the monument is an exhibition on the country's Declaration of Independence and the history of Indonesia. Fees per entry is rp2500 ye kawan2. Murah gile!

See the yellow thing up there? It's a 14.5 ton bronze flame, which is plated in 35 kg of gold!

In Jakarta, I tried a few modes of transportation - Angkot, Bajaj, Kopaja, Busway and even the kereta kuda. I already tried Angkot and Busway before so it's not a new experience for me. Kopaja is a local bus (going to the route that is not covered by Busway) while Bajaj (pronounced as Bajai) is something like tuk-tuk in Thailand.

Busway

Angkot and bajaj

Inside the Angkot.

Riding the Bajaj... you'll have the ride of your life... woohooo!!

I rode this kereta kuda from MONAS to MONAS busway station coz it was very hot... tak larat nak jalan kaki. Diorang ni sume berani mati. Boleh dia bawak kereta kuda ni melawan arus.

It's car-free day on every last Sunday of the month. From 8am till 2pm, certain main roads are closed to private cars to encourage people using public transport. So you can see people jogging or riding bicycles in the city centre during this time.

Went to Blok M and took the Kopaja from there to go to Setu Babakan.

Kopaja no 616

Setu Bakakan is situated at the south of Jakarta, almost 1 hour ride with Kopaja in the center of Betawi Cultural Village, a site considered part of the cultural heritage of Jakarta, which is devoted to the preservation of the Betawi culture.

A typical Rumah Betawi... Betawi houses' signature is the decoration kat atap tu.

See all the posters there? It was for their election or better known as Pemilihan Umum (Pemilu) on 9th April.

Went back home around 5pm. I'm thinking of going to a nearby spa but I guess I'm too tired from the traveling. Took a nap which lasted for 3 hours. hahahahha... Tika woke me up and we went for dinner at Kawasan Gaul Tebet with her family. It's a popular hang-out place for youngsters in Jakarta, a lot of cafes with lots of kind of food at affordable price.

The next day, Tika and I went to Gambir station to buy the train ticket. We bid goodbye to each other. She went to her office and I was on my own to explore Jakarta.

Bought the train ticket at 2.30pm, but knowing that Jakarta is too famous with it's bad traffic jam I decided not to go sightseeing. I'm afraid I won't make it to the station in time to catch my train. Instead I ask the taxi driver to drop me off at Mangga Dua. It's shopping time!! There are a few malls here such as ITC Mangga Dua, WTC Mangga Dua, Pasar Pagi Mangga Dua so don't be confused.

From what I read in the Internet, it's ITC (pronounced as i-te-che) Mangga Dua that most people thronged to. So, I decided to go there to see what the hype is all about.

This ITC is more or less similar to Sg Wang. Cheap clothes, cheap shoes, cheap bags etc... yeay!! Bought a few clothes, a very cheap swimming suit which is only rp100k and.......

I got this rambut palsu at a bargain. hahahah... Mula2 tgk takde perasaan pon nak beli, yela kalau beli aku nak pakai gi mana pulak dah... Asked about hair extension instead sebab berangan nak buat rambut cam Avril Lavigne. Tapi extension yang ada sume tak cun and takde yang pendek. Then takde keja saja2 try rambut palsu. Mbak yang tolong pakaikan tu tak habis2 puji melangit. Aku takkan terpedaya tu mmg keja salesgirl utk puji2 customer supaya beli barang. Tapi bila tante2 yang tgh try rambut palsu sama2 pon puji cakap 'cantik sekali dong' and orang lain yang lalu lalang sume tgk.. terus aku perasan cun macam bintang sinetron. terus aku beli... wahahhahhahaha...