Jakarta...Before Phuket

Apa kabar ? Welcome to Jakarta !!!

Someone’s very excited to visit her friends in Phuket tomorrow ! Haven’t packed anything, was going to bring my laptop so I can work a bit from the hotel and maybe updating my blog what’s new in Phuket and around, but then I think it’d be better to leave them home and just enjoy my holidays. Doesn’t mean I won’t share with you guys my simple joys being with my favorite people trying out Thai dishes, hanging out in the beach, and many more. Stay tuned !!

This time I will share about where I’m coming from, what I love to do when I’m in town, things I’d love to recommend you all if you ever happen to visit JAKARTA…the capital city of Indonesia ( heard some tourists think that Bali is the capital city of Indonesia )

If you have plans traveling to South East Asia, including Indonesia and thinking should or shouldn’t you spend couple of days in Jakarta or just skip this town and go somewhere else, well I won’t say anything but telling you guys about Jakarta a bit, in the end you can decide you still want to do it, or skip…

I was born in Jakarta. Everyone here always complain about traffic and hustle bustle of Jakarta, you can practically stuck for hours in the main road, even worse when it’s rainy season. It drives all of us nuts to stuck in a traffic jam when you have to hurry for some appointments, but complaining won’t change anything. Meanwhile, congrats to Mr. Jokowi just won the gubernatorial election couple of days ago, hope he can bring real big changes in Jakarta.

What I love about Jakarta...my friends, shopping and definitely Jakarta street food scenes ! Go to Blok M, Sabang, Menteng, Mangga Dua / China town and other big streets to try wide selections of culinary from chicken satay, fried rice, fish cake / pempek, Chinese food to Western food, you name it, deeliisshh food with reasonable price from $1 - $5 for a big plate of food and drinks, but of course it will cost you more if you eat at the cafe or restaurant, will cost you from $2 - $10 / person.

Get Nat to try Soto Ayam

Street food at Blok M

3 am at Monumen Nasional or Monas. The boys kidnapped me for coffee :)

Or if you’re in the mood to enjoying Jakarta metropolitan atmosphere at night sipping your drinks with good friends, check Skye Bar and Restaurant, 56^th Floor Menara BCA Jalan MH Thamrin or Social House at Grand Indonesia, just next to Menara BCA. My other favorite bars to chill with my friends after work would be De Hooi bar at Pondok Indah, Murphys Irish Bar at Kemang, Beer Garden at SCBD area, soooo many bars and restaurants I could recommend you. Meanwhile for brunch, lunch or dinner I love to go to Koi at Kemang, Amigos at Kemang ( Mexican food ), Monolog at Plaza Senayan, Turkuaz at Gunawarman street next to Blok M ( Turkish food )…maybe next I should blog for culinary in Jakarta.

Always loving Sunday morning swimming...quiet Jakarta

6am

Pelabuhan Sunda Kelapa

Breakkie with Yola

My favorite designer and her cappucino

Speaking about shopping, Jakarta has sooo many malls, from Grand Indonesia, Plaza Indonesia, Senayan City, Plaza Senayan, Pondok Indah Mall ( those are malls name ;p ), there’s a new one Kota Kasablanka – haven’t been there, even tho to be honest kinda sick of skyscrapers and malls, but well they still have few good coffee shops, bookstores and shops I regularly go to in the weekend or after work. If you’re not in the mood for malls with AC, go try Tanah Abang, ITC Mangga Dua, ITC Cempaka Mas, and ITC Ambasador Kuningan, you can always bargain here, they have latest fashion collections and of course fake branded bags. Cheap ? YES !

When I was working as a tourist guide back in 2008, I always brought my tourists to Monumen Nasional / Monas then to Kota Tua to see historical buildings, we rent a bike to the old port, and have dinner at Café Batavia at Kota Tua. I simply love their vintage furniture and evening atmosphere, very romantic. Even now when I have friends coming to visit Jakarta, I love to take them to Kota Tua by busway from Blok M. It’s a nice way to get them feel the atmosphere of Jakarta.

Cafe Batavia @ Kota Tua. Yona's waiting for her drink

Monumen Nasional / Monas

at the port

What about getaway places out of Jakarta ? Any beaches ? Yes ! Why don’t you check out my previous post Just Another Trip to Semak Daun Island, 3 hours boat drive from Muara Angke port in North Jakarta to Pulau 1000 or thousand island, go to Semak Daun Island, Tidung Island, or Tiger Island / Pulau Macan.

Other places you can visit, take a train from Kota Tua to the last station, Bogor. Spend your whole afternoon in Bogor Botanical Garden, super niice. I wish they have park or botanical garden in Jakarta, then for sure I’m just gonna spend my weekend over there with books, Pringles, and Ipod.

Or, drive to Puncak to do morning tea-walk, fresh air, Safari zoo ( I love night safari ), then paragliding. Avoid to go to Puncak in the weekend, the traffic will be crazy as people from Jakarta loves to spend their weekend over in Puncak. You can also drive to Bandung, again…for culinary, shopping, and nature, but to be honest I’m not a fan of Bandung, just love Puncak better.

My girl and her new....boy toy at Safari Zoo

Fun time at the zoooooo

tea walk

tea walk

 

Where to find cheap places to stay ? Go to Jalan Jaksa, the backpackers district in Jakarta. Don’t really imagine hectic backpackers district like in Bali, Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia.

So that was something about Jakarta from me. By seeing the photos, hope it will help you making decisions skip Jakarta or not ?

Malacca Express

Working in Malaysia for a year, I made sure I did make it to Malacca. Left Cherating Beach in the evening to catch the last bus to Kuala Lumpur, I arrived in Pudusentral ( Puduraya ) bus terminal early in the morning. Grabbed a cup of coffee and walked around town, Kuala Lumpur reminded me a lot of Jakarta. Stop by in Twin Towers, I took some pictures and sat for a while enjoying a quiet morning before catch a cab to see my most favorite girl on earth, Yang Yang, at Sunway Pyramid. We used to work together in Cherating Beach for a month, then she had to return to KL to continue her study. She’s not only gorgeous and sexy from head to toe, but also incredibly smart, independent, crazy. I love her strong ambitions, fun and flirty character, just the mix of Carrie Bradshaw and Kim Cattrall from Sex and The City.

We had lunch, laughed and talked a lot about love life, career, dreams, clothes, all those wrong men, aahh you know girl talk. Was good to see her again then at 5 pm-ish I caught a bus ( RM 13 ) from Terminal Bersepadu Selatan station to Malacca. Reached Malacca bus station around 8.30, I told the taxi driver to take me to town. As a person who never booked hotel in advance and I didn’t do any research about hostels in Malacca, I thought it would be easy to find cheap hostels.  Was going to stay at Holiday Inn Hotels but I realized I didn’t bring a lot of money with me, so I kept walking under the gorgeous lights of Malacca town at night. Admiring each old buildings and architectures influenced by  Portuguese, British, Dutch and Straits Chinese / Peranakan culture, Malacca has been listed as a UNESCO world heritage site since 2008.

Christ Church

Kept walking without actually knowing where I’d spend a night, I stopped for a while at Jonker Street. A busy small road, like a night market, they sell great local food, souvenirs, and you’ll see many rickshaws decorated in a colorful flowers, I was like giggling just totally happy lost in Malacca. Then I met this lovely couple from Germany, had a small chat in a coffee shop talking about their Asia trip. What seems really interesting actually that this couple grew old together, raised the kids, and still have that look of love whenever their eyes met. They laughed, lived, breathe in sooo much love. Traveling solo is always a unique experience, but when you travel and been through a long journey of ups and downs with someone you’ve spend years with, well…what a double happiness ! In the end of our conversation, they recommended me to stay at Yellow Mansion. It’s cheap, nice and clean, so my next stop definitely Yellow Mansion for only RM 50 or $14 a night, with AC, toilets, towels and free WI-FI, perfect !

After checked-in and changed my clothes, I continued walking around the neighbor. The receptionist said it’s pretty safe to walk at night, I do trust what local people said plus the night was still young, so nothing could keep me from exploring Malacca.

                                                                                 Jonker Street 

The next morning I woke up at 10 am, had small breakfast, checked out and continue exploring Malacca. Since Malacca is not really big, you can always walk everywhere. Rickshaw could be an alternative if you’re too lazy to walk. I took some pictures, shopping and had another meals then at 3 pm I took a cab to Malacca bus station. Had another interesting conversation with the taxi driver. He was a very friendly man, explaining me about Malacca history, his childhood, the changes of Malacca from years to years, and how he wanted to visit Indonesia. You see, it was just another great travel experience I had from my Malacca express trip. What a beautiful journey, met lovely people, then fell asleep in the bus, felt so fresh and ready to work again in Cherating Beach the next day. I spent like total RM 250, was a great weekend getaway.

Weekend Getaway : Yogyakarta

Living in a big city like Jakarta, go to work every morning, deal with crazy traffic – which seems to be the loudest and biggest thing people would mostly complain about this city  -  and sometimes tough days at work, one of my best friends told me, if you can survive in Jakarta then you can survive anywhere else in the world. While complaining wouldn’t change anything, I always make sure I have bunch of stuff to do on the weekend. Something fun and easy to refresh and recharge my mind. A bit sick of those malls and skyscrapers, I decided to bring Mike Buchanan this time to go to Yogyakarta – Central Java for weekend, visiting an old friend of mine, Tiko. We were studying in the same department in university, was always a fan of him, he was a great radio announcer and simply a fun, loving person, just the kind of great friend you would always ask for opinions, he motivated and inspired me in a lot of ways. Tiko has worked in Singapore for nearly 2 years, he decided to quit his job, move to Yogyakarta and pursue his dream to be an artist. Really appreciate those people who leave their comfort zone and start over to chase their dreams.

Left office earlier on Thursday afternoon, Mike and I caught a night train to Yogyakarta. As a person who never really plan her trip, I never booked my ticket or hostels in advance. I know this is risky, but I kinda like it that way. Except in the afternoon Mike reminded me to book the ticket first as we never know what's gonna happen later that night when we arrive in the train station. Reached Pasar Senen station at 5 pm, we were quite lucky to get tickets at price Rp 173.000/person. The train was a bit late, so we left the station around 8.30 pm and arrived at 5.30 am  in Yogyakarta. It was funny to see Mike didn't really enjoy his first trip by train to Java. He didn't complain tho, still very excited to explore Yogyakarta, it's just he wish the train got  enough space for someone with long legs like him. Sitting for 10 hours might really kill him, but at least he got me and I knew from the beginning he would enjoy this trip. 

No skyscrapers or big buses, it was very quiet and lovely . Our first stop would be breakfast then walk around town, take some photos, go to Prambanan and Boko temple, after that meet up with Tiko for lunch. I told  becak / rickshaw man ( Rp 8.000 from the station to Malioboro street ) to take me to the best place to eat nasi gudeg ( gudeg is a traditional food from Yogya, it tastes sweet, it has eggs, chicken, krecek, tempe, and toufu served with rice, Rp 28.000 . Deeeeliiiish ), this old man with a big smile took me to the street just next to Alun-Alun Yogyakarta where many small restaurants serves nasi gudeg for breakfast. Perfect, big breakkie is all I need before exploring this town.        

Done with my nasi gudeg, we walked along Malioboro street. Enjoying Malioboro on Friday morning and these friendly Javanese people. Here are 2 things I love most about Yogyakarta : food and the people. Very open-minded people, smiley, very open and welcome to tourists, but the culture is still there, while some of area in Indonesia seems to lose the culture, Yogyakarta looks the same as I was there 7 years ago.

Taking Mike Buchanan to Yogyakarta 

We took a busway from Malioboro street to Prambanan temple ( thank god they have busway, only Rp 3.500, so I don’t have to catch a taxi ). Tiko actually recommended me to see Boko temple, he said the view just amazing, better than Prambanan temple. Well, I’ve been to Prambanan three times and I thought it’d be worth it to check Boko temple. Skip Prambanan and go to Boko temple instead, another old man, look pretty small but actually very strong to ride the becak / rickshaw up to the hill to Boko Temple. Boko temple was quiet that morning, you can see the whole Yogyakarta from Boko temple while having an afternoon tea at a small restaurant just next to the temple.

My rickshaw driver was waiting patiently outside the temple. As a man who’s earning money for living from rickshaw, low season was never easy for him. He got 5 children, and he told me that all the rickshaw in Yogyakarta owned by a group of people, everyday he has to give the big boss Rp 30.000, of course he can keep the rest of the money if he gets more, but when you look at this old man working hard ( plus it was so hot that afternoon ) tho sometimes life’s hard, he told me he’s always grateful, to have healthy and beautiful family. He just wanted to see the kids go to school, study, and get a better future. It was so nice to have conversation about simple life with him on our way back from temple.

Tiko picked me up in Kasongan, a village where the local people made ceramics and other handicrafts .I stayed for two night in his friend’s house, Laire Siwi Mentari, the daughter of famous poem and author in Indonesia. I love how Laire and her family made every single thing in their house very artistic. Table, doors, windows, bookshelf, even the room I was staying in…wow ! The next morning Tiko, me, and this energetic , gorgeous Nadirah ( Tiko’s friend from Singapore who also came to visit him ) went to Borobudur temple. I got a friend of mine working in Borobudur so he guided us around temple and oooh we didn’t have to pay for the entrance fee, it was free ! But for you who wish to see the sunrise in Borobudur, the admission ticket is Rp 150.000, come super early at 4.30 am so you don't miss the gorgeous sunrise ! Meanwhile, the normal admission ticket costs only Rp 30.000 per person. We watched the sunrise, took lots of pictures, sat for hours and enjoying Borobudur, seriously couldn’t ask for a better morning. After had breakfast, we drove for another 3 hours to Sardanan beach. The joy of lazy weekend, slept on the beach, had some great seafood and talked about our next step. Tiko is going to take traditional dance lesson ( let me tell you one thing, Javanese traditional dance is super hard ), his biggest dream is being an artist, he knew it won’t be easy to get there but he’s on his way for it. What I love best about this guy, his passions about life and always 100 %.  He also planned to teach English and learn more about web designing. Meanwhile Nadirah was busy preparing her engagement party and wedding, aww congrats baby girl. We ended up our day by having  drinks and dinner at Via-Via, a backpacker hostels with a nice café and shop, then had noodles and went shopping in Malioboro

Borobudur Temple

Waking up in Borobudur temple

Caught the man taking photos of Tiko & Nadira

Sardanan Beach. 3 hours drive from Borobudur temple. Thank you Tiko for bringing me there

Culinary and shopping :)

My two happy boys

So yeah, that was a great great weekend with lovely people in a lovely place. Just like what wise man said, people you’ve met and those experiences you’ve had - made you who you are today. Call me ( one of ) the luckiest girl on earth,  I’ve met amazing people, they gave different colors into my life and, just like a painting, I see myself as a canvas where life, my days, my mom, people come and go, and experiences are a painter – ready to create a beautiful piece of painting, and it’s me.

Flew back to Jakarta on Sunday afternoon, not only me - but Mike definitely had good times from trying Javanese food, riding becak like a pro, went to temples, overall it was sooo good to be away from the hustle bustle of Jakarta. Cheap trip, I spent Rp 900.000 for 3 days, not bad. Now we're all ready to get back to work on Monday.

Feel free to check new post about Yogyakarta : Goa Pindul - Yogyakarta ( including a short video of our crazy off-road ) and InstaGoodies : Vesak at Borobudur 2013