Patricia Chan

I am on holiday and I wasn’t planning on blogging. I don’t think I will have time for it because I just want to relax and spend time doing tourist stuff.

The old Jakarta

Even if I blog, I did not expect to blog about Jakarta. I am not particularly fond of this capital city of Indonesia. Even though I am from Jakarta, I did not have very good impression of the city. From my previous trips, I only remembered the weather (very hot), the crowds (too many of them), the rubbish (it’s very dirty), the traffic (you could spend 2 hours on 1 km car trip) and that I never had a good time there. My mum always told me that the city is dangerous and I wasn’t allowed to go anywhere without my family. I also used to found that people on the street are also not very friendly.

The unplanned trip

I thought I would be blogging about the other legs of my trip, either Singapore or Thailand, or both. However, this time, I found myself strangely drawn to the Jakarta part of the trip.

The Jakarta trip was also unplanned. Originally, I thought I have to spend 6 days 5 nights in Singapore. The Great Singapore Sale is on, and I might just go shopping, shopping and shopping. However, Singapore is a very small city and I found the shopping is not as cheap or as good as it used to be. I don’t feel like shopping there is a bargain anymore. So I decided to just spend a day in Singapore and go to Jakarta to see some old friends from Perth who now lives in Jakarta.

The New Jakarta

Well, it’s not exactly the new Jakarta. Yes, it has evolved. There are more malls, more shops, more things to do, more restaurants, etc that what it used to be. But Jakarta is always very cosmopolitan, fast-paced and growing rapidly even after the city’s bad moment (Indonesian Revolution 1998). The city is still dirty, traffic is still really bad and the crowds are everywhere.

HOWEVER, I found that the city is not as dangerous as it used to be. The facilities have also vastly improved and modernised. There are more and more educated and smart people in Indonesia who noticed the bad things and make it their business to fix it.

For example, I used to be really scared travelling alone in Jakarta (I still am ) but I notice there are more facilities that will make me feel safer to travel solo in Jakarta. Taxi used to be really dangerous and the drivers would try to rip you off. I belive that is still the case in some. However, The Blue Bird Taxi (.. group) builds up their reputation to be the safest taxi in Jakarta. When other taxi companies realise that they are losing customers, they fix themselves. You can now order official airport taxi from Sukarno-Hatta Airport rather than queing, pick your own taxi and then got robbed or ripped off. I still would not take the bus or public transport, though.

Singapore used to be my favourite spot to shop in Asia. I used to go on weekend trips to Singapore to shop. However, this time, I notice if I spend $100 in Jakarta, I can easily get 10 times or even more things than if I spend $100 in Singapore. Jakarta is famous to be very up-to-date with styles and the quality of products are most of the time better than average. I have bought guality goods for 15000 rupiah (Less than AUD 2.00) in Jakarta that would cost me $15-$30 in Australia (sometimes with less quality).

My best friend took me to a wholesale market (with air conditioners!!!) where I can buy dirt-cheap, high quality fashions (singles) at wholesale price. It’s so cheap that I just want to cry joyful tears and mourn for all the money I spent in Singapore the previous day.

Note to my BF: not that much honey, but thinking what I can get for that money makes me wanna cry.

This includes food as well. Living in Canberra, I am used to delicious food. In Jakarta, you can get much…much…much…MUCH more varieties of yummy food compare to Australia at much less price.

Anyway, to close this entry,

My top 5 tips for travelling in Jakarta:
1. Know a local, a friend who can take you around to the best spots in Jakarta. This friend should also be able to advise you what to do and what not to do.
2. Travel Safe. Keep your belongings close to you. Book taxi only from trusted providers. Do not tempt thieves.
3. It’s cheap to shop in Jakarta but you need to know the places. Bring an empty suitcase, you can easilty fill it up with $200.
4. Be polite to the people there. Don’t look down on people, respect them, say thank you and please. They are mostly friendly people who will gladly help you if you need it.
5. Money is King, but still be respectful (see point 4) – you can’t buy everything with Money. The majority of people who works in the hospitality and service area still earn much less than people in developed countries. So, you can easily get people to give you head quality service for a few bucks.

So, VISIT JAKARTA!!