Jakarta – Capital of Islands

Jakarta is the largest city in Indonesia and is its economic, cultural and political hub. The city is quite big and long and has upscale to shanty town areas. Although the city is known for its heavy traffic and high level of pollution it is filled with an exciting nightlife and vibrant shopping areas. The city is also the centre and melting pot of Indonesian culture which might be the thing for you to enjoy Jakarta.

One excellent surprise you'll find in Jakarta is that once you get past the taxi drivers who offer their services at the airport and really meet the locals, you will find that the people are among the most friendly, hospitable, and helpful people you'll meet anywhere in the world, provided you keep away from the mini-bus drivers who are notorious for being the harshest on earth. However, understand that Jakarta being a melting pot, you are guaranteed to meet all sorts of characters and personalities.

Getting There
You can reach Jakarta by Singapore, Malaysian and Tiger Airlines for BDT 60,000. Do keep in mind that Lion Air which also connects Jakarta from different South East Asian cities is not the safest to board.

Places to Stay
There is no doubt that South East Asia is a hotel paradise (except Singapore) and Jakarta is no exception. Best places to stay in Jakarta would probably be the Kuningan area. This is a diplomatic area with embassies, malls, great food places and is extremely clean compared to the rest of the city.

I stayed at JS Luwansa in Kuningan and the hotel was a treat. For just 70 USD, it had multi-cultural breakfast, a pool-bar area on the 7th floor and a magnanimous spa. Service was excellent and so were the rooms and its amenities. I have also visited other hotels in the area and for a similar price.

Food Talk
Javanese cuisine is the local culture. Its spicy, sweet, sour and has a lot of flavours – no half measures for which I loved it.

Their specialties include oxtail soup and rice. It comes in a large bowl of slow cooked oxtail soup with native spices and lots of garlic. It is close to a desi styled paya minus the spices. The bowl is large and one order is enough for two. I enjoyed it but found it a bit oily. The oxtail fried rice was delicious. The oxtail is chopped into dices and then slow cooked and the broth is used to boil the rice – at least that would be my educated guess. 

The coffee scene in Indonesia is big, courtesy of its rich aromatic coffee and luxury Kopi Luwak coffee. 

The Luwak denizen of the coffee (kopi) plantations of Java, Sumatra, and Sulawesi, eats only the ripest coffee cherries. Unable to digest the coffee beans, the Luwak graciously deposits them on the jungle floor where they are eagerly collected by the locals. The stomach acids and enzymatic action involved in this unique fermentation process produces the beans for the world's rarest and most expensive coffee beverage.

Things to do
Taman Impian Jaya Ancol
This 24/7 amusement park includes a fantasy world, Atlantis Water Adventure, Ocean Dream Samudra for animal shows, Seaworld for beaches, gol range and art club and a lot of other thing too. It's about an hour away from Jakarta under light traffic conditions.

National Monument
It stands tall amidst the skyscraper scene in Jakarta. The Jakartans are really proud of it and it is a well-known landmark with a gold flame on top.

Istiqlal Mosque
The architecture is slightly different from traditional mosques and this is the largest mosque in South East Asia.

Shopping
For some odd reason, the malls are always full of people. They feel more like good looking versions of Bashundhara City with lots of cafés. The locals meet and greet often in these malls and that's a culture that has developed within the recent past.

Photo: Collected