Indonesia Bandung 2024 Day 3: Jakarta Attractions

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Indonesia 2024 Day 3: Jakarta Attractions!

Jakarta-Bandung 2024 Day 3: 10th July (Wednesday)

Small Group (Non-cycling) Tour of part of the West Java (Jakarta, Lembang & Bandung), Indonesia; Day 3- Jakarta Attractions:

YELLO Hotel Harmoni>Sunda Kelapa Harbour>Kota_Intan_Bridge>Jakarta Cathedral>Istiqlal Mosque>Monas>Jakarta Golden Triangle>South Jakarta>YELLO Hotel Harmoni.

This is page 3 of a 7-page blog, Click Here To Go To Title Page.

< D2: Old Jakarta | Go to Other Days | D4: Whoosh to Lembang >

Route recommendations, here're some tips on travelling in and around Jakarta:

1. Traffic Directions!

Traffic in Indonesia is right-hand drive, so drive/cycle on the left. The same thing applies when crossing the road, take note of the direction from which traffic is approaching!

2. Immigration & Customs Requirements

Submission for customs e-clearance is advised for getting past the airport customs without a fuss. E-submission can be done before leaving for Indonesia. Click here for to access and fill up the Indonesian E-CD (Electronic Customs Declaration) forms for approval. Upon successful application, a QR Code is given, save this to your phone and show it to the customs officer upon arrival. With a quick scan, one is cleared to enjoy one's holiday.
OR upon arrival, one can scan the QR codes posted along the arrival halls & corridors and fill up details accordingly and an individual approval QR code will be given.

Immigration entry is via digital gates which scan one's passport and take a facial photo, so put on your best smile 😊.

3. Getting to and around Jakarta.

Getting around Jakarta is easy, just install the Grab Van e-hailing app and conveniently hail a ride. Within Central Jakarta (and perhaps some outskirts), autorickshaws called bajaj (pronounced baj-ai) are a convenient way to get around, do negotiate a price before boarding though.

4. Accommodations

At Jakarta, we stayed three nights at the YELLO Hotel Harmoni Jakarta (GPS: -6.16422, 106.82125), booking two rooms for two nights without breakfast & two rooms for the third night with breakfast, because we must leave early to catch the Whoosh Train). They upgraded us to a Family Suite on the 29th floor for the first two nights with a great view of the city. It came with a living hall & dining room. The hotel is located in Harmoni, a locality in Central Jakarta.

5. Places & Things of Interests

Enroute were several places of interest, some of which we visited and others we did not for lack of time (Note: click on GPS coordinates for a directional map to respective places):

a. YELLO Hotel Harmoni Jakarta (GPS: -6.16422, 106.82125) with an interesting yellow-coloured scheme.

b. Harmoni Exchange Shopping Mall (GPS: -6.16425, 106.82097).
c. Traditional Pinisi two-masted sailboats at Sunda Kelapa Harbour (Pelabuhan Sunda Kelapa) (GPS: -6.11996, 106.80859).

d. Stadsherberg Ship Sculpture (GPS: -6.12423, 106.80961).

e. Maritime Museum Jakarta (Museum Bahari) (GPS: -6.12695, 106.80858).

f. VOC Wharehouse (Gudang Tua VOC) (GPS: -6.12807, 106.80876).

Vereenigde Oostindische Compagnie (VOC), ie the Dutch East India Company.

g. Syahbandar Tower (Menara Syahbandar) (GPS: -6.12755, 106.80902).
h. Kota_Intan_Bridge (Jembatan Kota Intan) (GPS: -6.13123, 106.81055), the last remaining Dutch drawbridge.
i. Kali Besar Riverside Walk (Kali Besar) (GPS: -6.13137, 106.8106).
j. Jakarta Cathedral (The Church of Our Lady of the Assumption) (GPS: -6.16918, 106.83284).

k. Istiqlal Mosque (Jakarta Mosque) (GPS: -6.17017, 106.83139).

l. Monas (Monumen Nasional) (GPS: -6.17539, 106.82715).

m. Jakarta Golden Triangle (GPS: -6.21181, 106.83553).

6. Meals

a. Lunch: Fusion Indonesian Fare at Compagnie Coffee (reviews link) (GPS: -6.13141, 106.81010):

- Tempeh Crispy, Nasi Goreng Kotu, Soto Ayam, Ayam Bakar Kicap (With White rice), Pisang Bakar dessert, Ice Lemon Tea (very nice),

Honey Lemon.

b. Dinner: Nasi Padang at Warung MJS, Setia Budi (mjsetiabudi) (GPS: -6.20876, 106.8267):
- Stir fried papaya leaves, Sup Rowan (it's like beef bak Kut Teh, ie with soupy gravy) , telor dadah, Ayam Setan, Ayam Merah, etc.
c. Supper: Serabi (apom) at Cemal-cemil stall, Harmoni Exchange Shopping Mall (GPS: -6.16425, 106.82097).

7. Communicating with Each Other

When travelling in a group it's important to be able to communicate with each other, especially if one gets lost from the rest. We bought online China Unicom pre-paid 8-days 16GB (2GB per day) phone sim cards through Hello 1010. It was delivered to our home/office within a few days, and we installed it into our phones upon arrival.

Most hotels, motels, homestays, restaurants, and airports have free Wifi; but do note that public free wifi may not be secure and registration may be required. But one can save on one's mobile data by using these, especially for uploading or downloading videos.

8. Communicating with Locals

At favourite tourist destinations, locals may speak fairly good English. At the smaller towns, locals speak some rudimentary English, so knowing some basic Bahasa Indonesia will come in handy and also warm one up to the locals.

9. Weather

Average day temperatures in Jakarta in July is around 33°C, while mean night temperature is around temperatures 23°C.

Useful weather forecast sites for the Indonesia is AccuWeather. For more detailed weather, including cloud cover and wind speed, use Weatherspark and Ventusky.

10. Navigation

I used MapMyRide to track our routes and stops. Geo-tagging of places of interest was via FaceBook or Google Maps.

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PRELUDE

Yesterday was our second day in Jakarta, it's our first full day in the city and we visited the old colonial centre of the city: Kota Tua Jakarta. This was followed by a good "million-dollar" lunch before hopping on a bajaj (autorickshaw) to head to Glodok, the Chinatown of the city.

Today we will go further to visit Jakarta Attractions, but the day started with a hiccup of looking for a port!

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DAY 3: JAKARTA ATTRACTIONS

Small Group (Non-cycling) Tour of part of the West Java (Jakarta, Lembang & Bandung), Indonesia;Day 3- Jakarta Attractions:

YELLO Hotel Harmoni>Sunda Kelapa Harbour>Kota_Intan_Bridge>Jakarta Cathedral>Istiqlal Mosque>Monas>Jakarta Golden Triangle>South Jakarta>YELLO Hotel Harmoni.

(Click here for the Jakarta Attractions Route Map)

Most of the posts below are linked to my Facebook postings during the trip and are embedded here with some comments. (NOTE: Click on respective posts to link to the FB post to read more details. If you can't see the posts, please log out from your Facebook first)

GOOD MORNING!

After a simple in-apartment breakfast we hailed a Grab to head for Sunda Kelapa Harbour, the old habour of Jakarta, to view the colourful, traditional Pinisi two-masted boats there.
But it seems to take us like forever to reach the place, more than an hour, and through a round-about route of long traffic jams with many trucks heading to the port. And Ann-eh remarked that it should have been an easier route that went via Kota Tua. Fortunately, the driver was a philosophical man, and just turned on his car radio to listen to music while waiting for the slow traffic to move!
True enough, I think we tagged the wrong/harder location (ie Pelabuhan Sunda Kelapa) on Google Maps, this one is located after a guard post. If one tags this other location - ie outer Pelabuhan Sunda Kelapa, located before the guard post - then it's an easier bee-line route! Most lucky of us to have a patient driver, any other driver would be grumbling away and aborted the drive!
On arriving, we thanked the driver a thousand times and walked into the port. The boats were there, but looked a bit disappointing; not as great as photos made them out to be. The above combo photo shows the leaner boats that we saw, and nicer photos of grand boats shown in Google Maps.

Here we are at the port, which serves only domestic shipping, with some of the Pinisi in the background. At the entrance junction is the nice scale-sized model of a Pinisi called the Stadsherberg Ship Sculpture.
The long drive did take its toll on us or more correctly on our bladders! ... soon we were looking for restrooms. A nearby Indomaret convenience shop didn't have any, but the resourceful staff pointed out that they used the toilets at the BRI bank next door! So did we ⛈☔☔🌧🗲🗲🗲.

Relieved... and walking more easily 😂, we made our way to the Maritime Museum Jakarta (Museum Bahari). At its entrance was the Syahbandar Tower (Menara Syahbandar).

Further along, was the VOC Wharehouse (Gudang Tua VOC) (GPS: -6.12807, 106.80876) of the Vereenigde Oostindische Compagnie (VOC), ie the Dutch East India Company.

After that long drive, and walk, our tummies were calling out to us to start looking for lunch. About a quarter mile down the road was a fairly large restaurant, with a big sign outside offering 30% off. But their price was exorbitant, even with that discount! No wonder their hall had only one other patron when we entered. So we scooted out!

Hooray! Fate had a better place for us at Compagnie Coffee. This place serves the office workers at the office complex building they were in. Operated by a team of youngsters they served Fusion Indonesian Fare, not to be missed are their Tempeh Crispy, Nasi Goreng Kotu, Ayam Bakar Kicap (served with White rice). For dessert, the Pisang Bakar, was very good and for drinks, their Ice Lemon Tea was strong and thick (both not to be missed too 😋).

Just across the road is the Kota Intan Bridge (Jembatan Kota Intan), the last remaining Dutch drawbridge. It spans across the Kali Besar canal (de Groote Rivier), which was formed by dredging the Ciliwung River.

Another view of the Kota Intan Bridge, with the girls posing on it. Starting here, the Kali Besar Riverside Walk runs on both sides of the river towards Kota Tua.

From here we took another Grab Van to head for .....

..... the Jakarta Cathedral officially known as The Church of Our Lady of the Assumption.

With its contrasting modernistic style, the spire on top of the church looks like a simple version of the Basílica de la Sagrada Família, which we visited during a 2019 Portugal-Spain cycling tour.

Istiqlal Mosque (Jakarta Mosque), it's one of the largest mosque in the world. It was built across the Jakarta Cathedral to express the religious tolerance in Indonesia, the country with the largest Muslim population.

View of the main prayer hall from a corner of the mezzanine floor.

Monas (Monumen Nasional Indonesia).

We arrived late and could only view it from outside, it opens at 6am & closes at 4pm daily.

As dusk sets in Monas lights up sequentially in different colours; one outstanding sequence is that of the Indonesian flag colour, i.e. red & white.

Close-up view of flames atop Monas. Yellow light shown of the wavy concrete structure makes it look like a flickering flame

From Monas we headed for dinner in South Jakarta, passing by the colourful neon of the Jakarta's Golden Triangle, it's central business district.

Dinner at Warung MJS, Setia Budi: Nasi Padang of the following: Sauted papaya leaves, Daging Ruan (it's like beef Bak Kut Teh, ie with soupy gravy), telor dadah, Ayam Setan (Devil's chicken, scary name but it's a hot stuff) Ayam Merah, etc.