Jakarta is a fascinating city. I say this about many places we visit, but each one brings unique experiences. Yes, it’s not the cleanest place in the world, and it has few historical sights, but if you scratch the surface there’s lots to enjoy on a visit to Indonesia’s sprawling capital. Here’s what we discovered on our recent trip.
2. Traffic is a nightmare in Jakarta – we think it’s even worse than Bangkok. We took the local buses several times as they move much faster than the taxis – and it only costs about 35 cents to go to most locations.
3. The biggest wholesale market in Southeast Asia, Tanah Abang Textile Market, is in Jakarta. Tanah Abang is said to be 300 years old and it started as an animal market. Now stalls sell mainly textiles, clothes, shoes, and purses, but you could find almost anything. We only scratched the surface, but were so loaded with shopping bags we had to leave. I tried on a batik shirt but the usual happened: a large was too small. A girl could really get a complex living in the land of the tiny…
4. We wandered into Giyanti Coffee Roastery (just across from a row of antique shops so a fun area to visit) and had an excellent cup of coffee. Hendrik, the owner, knows quite a bit about coffees, and is a perfectionist – as we evidenced when he “pulled” our cups. We liked this place so much we went back again.
5. Sunday was our day of rest. We went to a very posh spa for a massage and facial. Our treatments lasted an hour and a half, cost a total of $75, and were wonderful. Afterwards we went to Koi Kemang (koiindonesia.com) for a delicious East-meets-West brunch. We had a great time in Jakarta. I’ll definitely be back.
