Jakarta

Hello Again,

Well, here we are with the continuing series of catching up before leaving for Europe. Last August, I went to Jakarta for 3 nights with one of my colleagues. We had the 3 day weekend since it was Hari Raya, the last day of Ramadan. Indeed, I was glad to have visited Jakarta and to have been there , however, it is definitely not a place I recommend visiting or that I will personally be aiming to go back to. The whole city is indeed a bit of a mess, and there is basically very little to do as a tourist.

One of the best areas to visit in Jakarta is the old Dutch area of Batavia where there is a little square and the former governor's house. However, sadly, the whole thing is quite run down. Apparently, they are going to be doing some renovations soon, but until then, this is how many of the buildings in the area look:

As with most other Southeast Asian cities, Jakarta of course does have street food as well, as is in the next picture, taken in the Batavian square. However, there is not much street food around since you rarely see people walking around since most people who are wealthy enough to go from one place to another go by car.

Beyond the old Dutch quarter, the one other part thing in Jakarta that I saw which directly linked it back to its colonial past was the massive Cathedral in the middle of town in part from the original Portuguese colonialists and missionaries, as in the following picture. Although Indonesia is more likely to be thought of as Muslim or Hindu, in fact a larger part of the population is Christian (9%) than Hindu (3%).

Just across the street from the Cathedral is the Istiqlal Mosque. It is the largest mosque in all of Southeast Asia, definitely understandable considering Indonesia has the largest Muslim population of any country around the world. Here is the Mosque from the outside:

My colleague had a Christian Indonesian friend who lived in Jakarta who showed us around and took us into the Mosque. Although I had previously heard about the conflicts between Muslims and Christians on my previous trip to Indonesia, I had little idea of the animosities that existed in the capital. In particular, it was really interesting to see the reactions of the people inside the Mosque to an uncovered Indonesian woman showing around two white guys. It really resulted in a much of not just surprised glares, but glares that had a certain amount of disapproval and maybe even malice in them. Needless to say, after the experience, she has no desire to be going back to the mosque anytime soon. That said, here is the main prayer hall which is absolutely massive.

Being in Jakarta for Hari Raya (the end of Ramadan) was particularly special. Every night people would light their own personal fireworks which were constantly going off. When we would look outside at night from the 30th floor of the hotel we stayed at, we could easily see about 10 different sets of small firework shows that would be going on across Jakarta. It was quite a sight (that sadly wasn't properly captured by camera).

For the average Jakartan, Hari Raya is a chance to go back to your village and see you family. Because of this, the infamous Jakarta traffic wasn't too much of a problem, which was brilliant for sightseeing. Also, the exodus of people caused an interesting situation for the wealthy Jakartans that suddenly had to continue life without their servants. In particular, there was a line in the Jakartan newspaper about the wealthy "being confronted with large stacks of unwashed dishes deciding to move to hotels temporarily instead." Ah the life with servants…

Although not as needed since the traffic wasn't too much of a problem, Jakarta is extensively building a bus rapid transit system called TransJakarta. The buses run on separate lanes for only the buses and hence can speed past the typical traffic. Although the system was intended to get people out of their cars, I don't think it has been that successful with moving the middle and upper class Jakartans out of their cars based on who I saw on the buses and how the wealthy Jakartans looked down on the system. Furthermore, even though the system only started opening in 2004, the buses are incredibly run down and often had doors that would be permanently open while going 40 mph down the roads. Not the best way to lure people out of their cars even if it is faster. Here's a picture of the system:

The main point that really must be made about Jakarta is how incredibly filthy it is. The big reason that the wealthy like to stick to their cars beyond the violence on the streets is how dirty they are. Furthermore, much of the city is made of slums, as in the following picture, but you can also note it doesn't really show how dirty Jakarta usually is.

Finally, a last picture of me outside at one of the 'safe havens' for the wealthy in Jakarta - the malls. Jakarta has a massive number of incredibly modern and upscale shopping centers for the wealthy to spend time away from home but in a safe and clean environment. So, here I am at the biggest mall in Jakarta (which honestly puts basically any American mall to shame)

That's all for now. Coming up soon will be my trip to Hong Kong and Macau!

-Andrew