I arrived in Jakarta around midnight after a 2 hours flight from Medan. I didn’t have any hotel reservation and I thought I will just connect on the internet or go to the hotel reservation desk at the airport. Neither one of these options were available. Then I asked 2 girls who seemed to be foreigners, if they know of any accommodations. They were very helpful, they told me about the place they were going to and invited me to take the taxi with them. They were from the Netherlands and it made it a lot easier that I found them otherwise it would have taken me long time to find a place and then figure out the transportation system. I went directly to sleep that night.
Next day I went out to see the city. I visited the Museum of Indonesian history (MONAS) and the Istiqlal mosque. They’re both very impressive; the museum displayed the history of Indonesia throughout the colonial times and until today. I was impressed by the mosque, it’s the largest in South East Asia, can hold 200 thousand people. It was also the first day of Ramadan, a month when Muslims fast every sunrise to sunset for 30 days. The place where I was staying in Jakarta had many foreigners and it seemed that some people were fasting and others were eating and smoking. Something about Indonesia, it’s the largest Muslim country in the world and you see a lot of mosques and you see people dressed conservatively but the Indonesians are less strict.
I didn’t stay for more than 2 nights in Jakarta and wasn’t interested in going to the malls so pretty much it was more than enough to see things I wanted to see. Traffic is very bad in Jakarta, just like the rest of Indonesia there’s no mass transit like a subway. Private buses, public buses, rickshaws, private cars/vans and taxis are the only way to travel around. With the exception on public bus there’s no schedule and you have to bargain the price with everyone. I decided to leave to Bandung a city around 4 hours in the train from Jakarta.
