Story & photos by Stella Arnaldo
TO be honest, my trip to Jakarta didn’t go off well in the beginning.
First off, I had to secure a journalist’s visa (despite Indonesia being part of Asean), which was granted a day before our scheduled departure. I also had to haggle for health/travel insurance, which is SOP for most media invites for overseas trips these days.
Then, the trip was by way of Singapore, so I had to wake up at 4 am to make it to the Ninoy Aquino International Airport Terminal 3, two hours before check-in. When our media group finally landed in Jakarta after about six hours (including layover and boarding), there were long queues at the immigration area for foreign passport holders—only four windows when two planeloads of visitors arrived. By the time I made it past the immigration officer—who was amiable and respectful despite the wrong date on the visa issued by the Indonesian Embassy in Manila—it was past 3 pm.
And, boy, was it hot and humid. The traffic, too, was terrible, which made me joke to our hosts at the Jakarta Tourism Agency that we felt right at home.
But just like Manila, I guess, Jakarta isn’t a city one would fall in love with at first sight. One needs to do more exploring beyond its concrete skyline of glass buildings and brick museums, and overlook some government inefficiencies, to find out what makes it a fascinating destination. Jakarta is a bustling city, with businesses thriving in almost every corner, that it’s hard to believe that it’s experienced a general slowdown in its economy in the last three years.
On a seriously packed guided tour, we experienced the city’s unique mix of cultures that were evident in its architecture, its food and its culture. We, likewise, got a taste of its traditional way of life, even as its march toward modernization continues.
The batik cloth, for instance, is an example of this melding of cultures. At the Textile Museum, for instance, we found out that batik as far as India was bought to the island of Java (the main administrative region where Jakarta is located) as early as the 16th century.
The food. Like most cosmopolitan cities, Jakarta offers a wide array of cuisines, from Indonesian street fare that is popular among locals to fine-dining restaurants offering Japanese food and retro-chic cafés serving Dutch-Indonesian dishes patronized by foreign tourists. There are also a multitude of homegrown and imported fast-food chains that dominate the streets.
One of the best dishes I tasted was an Indonesian salad called pecel sold by a vendor at the courtyard of the Textile Museum. Made of bean sprouts, scallions, kangkong and other veggies, topped with a savory peanut sauce, with crispy squid rings and a peanut-based fritter on the side—it is a complete meal in itself and will likely cost just 9,000 rupiah (P42) at most street hawker stalls.
Other good restaurants we were treated to were Iseya Robatayaki Restarant at the Sampoerna Building, which served excellent Japanese dishes; and the hipster Social House at the Grand Indonesia Mall. Aside from the latter’s chicken pizza with barbecue sauce as appetizer and a soup called Soto Mie Bogor (spicy beef broth with beef brisket, vermicelli noodles, potato, crispy shallots and emping crackers), it also offered a very tender Iga Bakar sambal Ijo, the Italian chef’s take on a local dish of grilled beef ribs with green chili on the side.
Bander Jakarta at Ancol Dreamland—a complex of establishments surrounding a huge amusement park—served an interesting array of seafood, some not familiar to us, but were quite delectable.
Our hosts said most of the local dishes served us were toned down in terms of spiciness, so bowls of red or green chili, or sambal, were served on the side.
The sights. Must-stop destinations include the National Monument (Monas), the Wayang Museum (Puppet Museum), the History Museum and the Textile Museum, where we actually learned how to make batik. Batik actually refers to a dyeing technique which uses paraffin to outline the designs on the fabric before it is submerged into a vat of color.
Another point of interest is the Taman Mini Indonesia Indah (TMII), which was apparently inspired by our own Nayong Pilipino. As the story goes, after First Lady Siti Hartinah Suharto returned from a trip to the Philippines, where she was entertained by then-First Lady Imelda Marcos, she also wanted to make her own native village that featured the different houses and structures that can be found across Indonesia. TMII also hosts museums that showcase Indonesian culture, history, clothing and dances, among others.
Built at an initial cost of 100 million rupiah (P360,000), the 100-hectare minipark finally opened its doors to the public in 1975, and now about 50,000 visit it on a busy day.
The shopping. Just like Manila, malls are all the rage in Jakarta, and if you’ve been to one, you’ve been to another with the same popular brands for clothing, cosmetics, shoes, perfumes, fashion accessories and the like. The prices of goods are almost the same as in Manila.
But Jakarta does have secret bazaars, such as the flea market along Jalan Surabaya in Menteng, Central Jakarta, which offers everything, from authentic antiques to “new antiques”, Balinese-style furniture and accessories, wooden masks, even naval equipment salvaged from sunken ships.
Indonesia produces a great number of incredibly tasting snack food, like shrimp kropeck, all sorts of chips made of cassava, ube and sweet potato, and some of the best coffee in the world. So, visit Smesco Indonesia at the SME Tower, which houses small and medium enterprises that proffer products from all over Indonesia. There, my companions and I panic-bought all the interesting-looking snack food we could get our hands on.
For fresh single-origin coffee, buy these at the Jakarta airport’s duty-free area. That’s where I found hard-to-find coffee beans from Flores, an island east of Bali.
How to get there. From Manila, there are twice-daily flights to Jakarta direct using Indonesian flag carrier Garuda. You can also do as we did and fly via Singapore, although it’s a longer trip with a short layover. At least you get to check out the duty-free stores at Changi Airport for more shopping choices.
Accommodations. There are quite a number of accommodations in Jakarta from hostels to five-star accommodations; the city hosts numerous popular international hotel chains.
We stayed at Park Lane Hotel, a five-star establishment that had good-sized rooms and a pleasant staff who, were ready for every request I made (e.g., scissors, tape, box for extra stuff that couldn’t fit in my luggage, etc.). Its daily buffet breakfast was substantial with an array of interesting dishes, like beef bacon (yum!), and cuisine that can please the palate of visitors from the West and Asia.
What I liked the most about Jakarta are its people. Indonesians, in general, are a peaceful lot. And no matter how one US presidential candidate portrays Muslims, most of those I met in Jakarta were respectful of other faiths and ideas, progressive (women drive and occupy high positions in government and the private sector), and quite helpful (they’ll point you in the right direction if you’re feeling a bit lost). I felt pretty safe walking around.
Tourists can also use Jakarta as a springboard to the other regions of Indonesia, which host natural wonders, as well as man-made marvels.
Image credits: Stella Arnaldo