down time in Jakarta

 

Between my bird-watching and my 32-hour flight to PNG was a nine-day pause, which I’d decided to spend in Jakarta.  People said I was crazy, that it’s a noisy, chaotic city without much to see that requires at best two days.  But I’m only going to enjoy this nomadic life if I have down-time … days when I can catch up on sleep, do my laundry, back-up my photos, write this blog, phone my parents, complete visa applications for subsequent trips, etc.  Not to mention that organised trips are expensive, so nine days in a £6-a-night hostel dorm helps the budgeting!

Besides, Jakarta is the political, cultural and economic capital of the fourth largest country in the world, and the second-largest urban area in the world (after Tokyo) – founded in the fourth century.  So I felt it must deserve some time – and how right I was!

I visited the National Monument, the National History Museum, the Jakarta History Museum, Istiqlal Mosque (the largest in SE Asia with apparently the third highest capacity in the world), Jakarta Cathedral, Dharma Bhakti Chinese temple (the oldest in the city, although apparently re-built since destroyed in a fire in 2015!), Batavia Fortress (built in the 17^th century then abandoned in 1808 following the bankruptcy of the Dutch East India Company), Kota Tua (the old Dutch colonial area), and Sunda Kelapa (the harbour of traditional ships).  & there were at least three other museums within a five-minute walk of my hostel, which I didn’t bother with.  I walked a lot, took a few buses once I’d figured out how to pay for them, took a short boat ride around part of Jakarta Bay, and sat and watched street performers and live bands whilst waiting for free walking tours that didn’t materialise (I never found the time to take the free city tour buses).  I learned quite a lot, albeit from a very low starting point, and also enjoyed spending time in my hostel talking to fellow-travellers.

I think the highlights were the old Fortress (and walking through the surrounding small streets/alleyways) and Sunda Kelapa, but that could just be because I did that yesterday and so it’s freshest in my mind…  The National History Museum was also really interesting (and extensive).

The mosque was enjoyable too – nowhere near the most beautiful mosque exterior, but the inside is nice and I particularly liked the drums.  A very large drum called a bedug, and a much smaller kentongan, which the mosque guide explained were used as part of the call to prayer.  Just as the tour finished, the call to prayer began, and I stayed in a mosque courtyard to listen as I love its sound – and then to my surprise came the clear sound of the bedug being beaten, followed by the kentongan.

I was also very surprised by the extensive collection of the National History Museum, which made me realise that I need to come back to Java, and Sulawesi, and to various other parts of this country, to see some of the rural lifestyles, and the incredibly varied cultures here.