Month: February 2015

City Tour Jakarta Reviews : London Guest

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Welcome to Jakarta Mr. and Mrs. Lynch! It was an honor to host Becky and her husband, Jonathan, on their honeymoon in Jakarta. Yup, they were a newly married couple from London, and spent two weeks to catch a glimpse from city to city in Indonesia. Jakarta is the city that became their first stop, they booked 5 hours of City Tour Jakarta, and I became their first local friend in Indonesia. Hehee..

Jakarta Walking Tour

We are all shy at the beginning :p

The most memorable experience with them was eating Chinese food on Gang Gloria, small alley in Jakarta Chinatown local market. We sat side by side – eating, drinking, chatting – while people passing by our backs. Tasty food, hot weather, and coconut ice drink, unforgettable moment. :’)

Jakarta Walking Tour

Enjoying Coconut Drinks at Chinatown

Then I tailored them to stroll in street artist alley, show them our famous gem stones. Becki bought one ring with green stone on the top of it, it was her first souvenir in Jakarta, ‘batu akik’ a.k.a. gem stone! 😀

After that, we continued our city tour Jakarta and I took them to Chinese local market. It was almost Chinese New Year, so the market was full of people who need to buy things for New Year. Red clothes, red envelope, fruits, candies, red-hanging lamps, red decoration, etc. Back then, we could see red colour things sold everywhere, the market surrounded by one main colour, RED!

Jakarta Walking Tour

In Front Of De Maria Church Jakarta

I must say, it was the tour of light. Unexpected thing came when I ran City Tour Jakarta with them. What does it means? It means we saw different kind of light on that day. Lights from hanged Chinese lamps on 50 metres street, lights of the gem stones, and in the end of our tour, we saw the lights of Monas Jakarta.

Back then, we arrived around 6 pm in Monas Jakarta Park, the tower started to shine with colorful lights. It was red, blue, green, yellow, and purple flashed the Monas Jakarta Tower, the colour switched in a moment. Yes, it was a beautiful thing to see.

Jakarta Walking Tour

At Monas Park Jakarta

It was also nice to know a lovely couple from ‘Harry Potter land’, I saw their strong connection by myself. Becky was outgoing person, cared by Jonathan who was very quite and thoughtful in every decision he made.  I hope their may have a lot more happy life in coming days, and had wonderful things to remember on our City Tour Jakarta. 😀

Jakarta Walking Tour

Source : http://goo.gl/GHTsBO

 

Transjakarta Bus, Don’t Miss Your Stop!

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It’s a sunny day, the perfect time to do city tour Jakarta, look around, and shopping maybe. You were coming down to the lobby to reserve a taxi but none is available. Then you go outside, you find “angkot” (a public transportation using mini bus), but there is no AC and it’s too tiny for your long legs. You look around, you find a Transjakarta Bus Shelter. It might be not a bad choice. When it is your first time in Jakarta, maybe you don’t know much about Transjakarta Bus. But do not worry, I will tell you some basic information about it 😉

Transjakarta Bus Shelter

Transjakarta Shelter

Transjakarta Bus Shelter. Source : Tempo

If you find something that looks like this shelter around you, it means that you are lucky. You can get around by riding Transjakarta Bus. The Transjakarta Bus Shelters are spread around in all of the tracks in Transjakarta Busway corridors. You can check about the corridors and what shelters they have in here.

Before, you can buy paper tickets in those shelters using cash, but since 2014, it’s all changed to a cashless system, which means you have to get an e-money card to buy tickets. It’s applied to almost all of the bus shelters, but some place still take cash because the lack of some equipment. The ticket price for one person is IDR 3.500 and you don’t have to pay again when you change bus with different corridors.

Inside Transjakarta Shelter

The Inside Of Transjakarta Bus Shelter. Source: Tempo.

Types Of Transjakarta Buses

There are three color types of Transjakarta Buses that I found. One of them is a combination from red, yellow and orange, the other is combination of white and blue, and the last one is completely in gray. It is different depends on what corridors they run in and what kind of fuel do they use.

Grey Bus

Grey Transjakarta Bus. Source : Harian Terbit

Blue Bus

Blue Transjakarta Bus. Source : Wikipedia

“Transjakarta Bus” or “Busway”?

When a phone rings inside the bus and the opposite end of the phone ask where is the position they are at the present time, one who picks the phone often say it, “I’m still in the busway”. Actually, that is not the correct sentence, grammatically, because “busway” is referring to the bus lane that the bus crossed, not the bus. But since, English is not a first language and “Transjakarta bus” is too long, it’s already become a habit for Jakarta citizens to use the “busway” term.

Now that you know a little bit about Transjakarta, you can start your first city tour Jakarta experience in riding it. Maybe if you speak some Indonesian and your Indonesian friend called you and ask, “Lagi di mana? (Where are you?)” you can reply it with: “Masih di busway (I’m still in the busway).” Enjoy your ride 😉

Tips : Do you want to take Transjakarta ride just for once? Actually, you do not need to buy bus card if you dare enough to ask for help. You can ask local people to use her/him bus card and then you simply give him/her cash for exchange. It works for me many times!

 

City Tour Jakarta Reviews : Cape Town Guest

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It  was a unique experience when I ran City Tour Jakarta with Francois. From the beginning, I had difficulty to say his name in a right way. So, on that day I asked him ‘how to spell your name’ couple times, back then I really felt bad about it.

But, in every bad situation always had a bright side.  The good thing is…now I can remember clearly how to say or spell his name, Francois, it’s Frank – ko – a – se. Finally I can speak in French, LOL 😀

Jakarta Walking Tour

Francois is enjoying painting

Okay, back to the topic, so how was city tour jakarta going on?

I must tell you, it was ‘funny’. Funny because it seems Francois became my tour guide, not me. He has a lot to tell about his country, about art, about his own business, about everything.  So, in Jakarta Walking Tour not only he knew something about Jakarta, but I personally learnt things from him.

He said that Jakarta and his home town, Cape Town, has some similarity. Back to the colonial era, a lot of Javanese people started to live in South Africa, consequently we had language in common. Such as, office, in Jakarta I called it ‘kantor’, and in Cape Town he called it ‘kantoor’. Honestly, I feel…wOw. Glad to know interesting fact like that, really. :O

Jakarta Walking Tour

Soldier Uniform at Bank of Indonesia Museum

Then, I took him to Fine Art Museum, I found that he had a big interest in art, painting, and pottery. He can stand still, stay silent when was looking over a painting. Good for him, in that Museum we can see many legendary painter’s art works from Indonesia, such as Basuki Abdullah, Affandi, Raden Saleh, S. Sudjojono, et cetera.

I also knew him as an open minded-traveler, because he wants to try something new as I suggested. While we strolled, I made him taste some snacks and traditional drinks, such as selendang mayang (Jakarta’s traditional ice drink), kue cubit (traditional pancake), and cendol ice (made from coconut ice milk, jackfruit, brown sugar, and ‘cendol’).

Jakarta Walking Tour

Selendang Mayang Ice Drink

In the end of City Tour Jakarta, I personally felt really hard to say good bye because he was like a ‘guru’ to me, tell me a lot about culture, life, and how to run a startup business. So, we took an extra little time to chat in Sabang Street, found a good restaurant (Natrabu, a Padang Food Restaurant) and drink coconut ice drinks while we discussed about everything.

Jakarta Walking Tour

Chit-chatting with my friend, Ari. (Photo taken by Francois)

 

Definitely, run a City Tour Jakarta with Francois was a one time experience that I will find not so easy to forget. Oh, and one more thing, for you who love  a nice frame on Instagram, you can found his photo works on @fvs2 (p.s. he has a very good eye and unique perspective, trust me! 😉

Jakarta Walking Tour

Source : http://goo.gl/GHTsBO

 

 

Jakarta Weather

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Do you want to travel to Jakarta? If you say yes, then the next question is…when is the best time to visit Jakarta? If you looking for sunlight, do not worry, sun will shine almost everyday in Jakarta, then you can book your flight and do a city tour Jakarta any day you like. But, before we go any we further, let me explain a little bit about Jakarta weather.

Seasons in Jakarta

As any other cities in Indonesia, Jakarta only has two seasons, dry and rainy season.

Both of it usually lasts equally for half a year, but the starting point and the end point of the seasons usually changes through time, depending on what year, but it usually the rainy season starts at October or November and ends in March or April, followed by dry season. For further information about Jakarta weather, you can check it BMKG (information center about Indonesia’s climate).

Heat In Jakarta Dry Season

The Jakarta weather in dry season is usually very, very hot.

If you like to travel with light clothes, enjoy the sunlight, and don’t mind the heat, then it is your best time to visit Jakarta. Because usually dry season lasts around April-October, you can pick any month in-between that period. Maybe, June or July, just to be safe. But beware of the heat, it could reach up to 33-34 Celsius. If you don’t get use to it yet, maybe you need to bring your umbrella, wearing a hat or cap, and sunglasses along your city tour Jakarta.

Floods in Rainy Season

Even though the temperature is cooler in rainy season, but if its raining heavily in the night.

The next day you will find some area in Jakarta is hit with severe flooding. So, if you still want to travel in Jakarta, you can avoid those areas. You can find the update about those areas in news in TV, newspaper, or online media. But be prepared, just in case, you might need umbrella, jacket, raincoat and boots for your city tour Jakarta plan.

Flood in Jakarta

Some Kids Swimming in The Flood. Source : Republika

Surrounded by floods doesn’t mean you can’t have fun while you travel in Jakarta. You actually can use the opportunity to swim inside it, fishing on it, or rent rubber boat to anyone who pass by. I’m serious, you can have a fun experience during rainy season. However, my friend Marcel has second thought about when is the best time to visit Jakarta. He said, it should be around June to September. Why? Find out more here

Snacking with Jakarta Street Food

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While you are visiting Jakarta, traveling for a business trip, visiting relatives, or even to take a city tour Jakarta with us, and suddenly your stomach is growling, it is time to recharge your energy. Don’t see any restaurant nearby? Don’t worry! You can still find Jakarta Street Food (or foods!) in almost every corner of the street to save you 😉

Jakarta Street Food : Gorengan To Save Your Day

What is gorengan? It is a term for any fried food material. “Goreng” means “fried” in English. Don’t be surprise if you find Indonesians like fried food a lot. Almost every thing can be fried in here. From tofu, tempe (fermented soybean), banana, pineapple, cassava, anything! You name it. Maybe it’s not much, but gorengan is not bad to fulfill your empty stomach. You can get 1 type of gorengan for IDR 1 k, cheap isn’t it? Yup, gorengan is the cheapest Jakarta Street Food you can find in this big town. Believe me.

A Plate Full of Gorengan

A Plate Full of Gorengan

Jakarta Street Food : Kue Putu, The Attractive Ones

Another Jakarta Street Food choice is to enjoy kue putu (steamed rice roll cake filled with sugar palm). It has a green color. It is so pretty that you can resist. It is not as easy to find kue putu sellers as much as you find gorengan sellers, they usually sell it in a residential area, there are something in their cart that emits a unique sound to notify someone that they are passing by. The sound is like a train’s honk, but softer and long enough you don’t know when it will stopped.

Nice Looking Kue Putu

Nice Looking Kue Putu

Kue Putu

Kue Putu Served With Grated Coconut

Jakarta Street Food : Fruit Rojak to Refresh Your Body

So, what have you chose? Gorengan? You eat too much and the result is a sore throat? Then try rojak. Maybe it will relief you. Rojak or “rujak” as we call it in Jakarta, is a street snack that contains sliced mixed fruit that grow in Indonesia. You can choose many kinds of food to eat at once. From sliced yam bean, mango, ambarella, pineapple, apple, until watermelon. Usually eat with “sambal” or grinded chilli and salt because Indonesians like spicy food. 

Rojak and Fruit Seller

Rujak Seller with the “Gerobak”

Jakarta Street Food : Martabak, Meal or Snack? 

Martabak is everyone favorite. Martabak divides in two categories, sweet and savory. Sweet martabak less favorable than savory martabak that made from duck egg, onion leaves, and cow meat. We are not sure it consider as a meal or snack. From Jakartans point of view, meal should goes along with white rice. Duck egg martabak with white rice, then it becomes our dinner. Martabak as a snack maybe when we eat it together with friends and family. We can not buy martabak in small portion, we need to buy the whole thing that usually too much for one person stomach. 

Question. Where to find all those street food in Jakarta? Actually, you can find it in every corner of Jakarta. But for the best street food choice, you can join our Jakarta Food Tour every night in Jakarta. Check your bucket-food-list within one night with us. See you around!

 

Things to do in Malang : Visit Toko Oen Malang

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When you heard the word “Malang”, spoken by an Indonesian, people will remember for its cool weather, its famous fruits, ‘Apel Malang’, types of apple that grow in Malang, Bakwan Malang and of course, Toko Oen Malang. Malang is two hours driving from Surabaya. Or if you are staying in Jakarta while in Indonesia, you can get there by train or plane. There are not much of differences on the tariffs as I described in previous post about Surabaya.

Nice weather at The High Land

Based on research from University of Southampton, the warm and nostalgic feeling have a strong connection (source here). People tend to have more nostalgic thoughts on colder days. Malang city, fortunately has a nice city temperature, around 19 – 30 celcius and located in high land area, 429-667 metre above sea level. That’s why Malang always make us – the travelers – feel more relax, chill and nostalgic at the same time.

Things to do in Malang : Warming up at Legendary Ice Cream Store, Toko Oen Malang

As I arrived in Malang, I go straight to an ice cream store I would love to visit every time I got the chance to visit Malang. The store name is “Toko Oen”. It doesn’t just serve ice cream, but also pastries and drinks. The building architecture is kept in its original form, preserving styles from the colonial era. It also has a welcome banner that written in Dutch.

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An Old Piano and Pictures from Soekarno’s Era

I ordered a portion of ice cream (again!). It such a waste not to try those in this store. One portion contains one scoop of chocolate, strawberry and vanilla ice cream with one chocolate wafer and two wafer sticks. You can get it for IDR 35 k.

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Oen’s Special

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They also sells Javanese traditional snacks for takeaway

One scoop of cold ice cream in Toko Oen Malang will drops your body temperature in cold weather, which is a good thing because it makes your surroundings feel warmer. Not just your body, vintage decoration in Toko Oen Malang can even warm your heart.

While you in Malang, you can try visiting Toko Oen Malang that will make you chillax, help you to lose your memories of happier time, warm your heart and bound you with their delicious ice cream scoop. So, make sure you put ‘a short visit to Toko Oen Malang’ in your things to do in Malang list!

Do You Know?
The word “malang” also means “unfortunate” in Indonesian. So, don’t be surprised when you find some Indonesian don’t give the reaction you don’t expect when you speak the word. Be careful on using it 🙂

 

Wayang Museum Jakarta

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Indonesia‘s Shadow Puppet Theater is well known as a part of local tradition with very long history. Every tribe in different regions in Indonesia has their own kind of puppet, we call it ‘wayang’. As a traveler, you might need to go all over the place to know deeply about various kind of wayang in Indonesia. But, for a glimpse? You should visit Wayang Museum Jakarta, because they have it all.

Wayang Museum Jakarta

Wayang Museum Jakarta

The Wayang Museum Jakarta is located in Jakarta Old Town area (Kota Tua), West Jakarta. It opens from 9 am to 3 pm with IDR 5 k entrance ticket per person.  The Wayang Museum Jakarta open almost every day except for Monday and any of Indonesia’s national holidays,  because museum’s maintenance should be done once a week.

Shadow Puppet (Wayang) made from Cow Skin

Shadow Puppet (Wayang) made from Cow Skin. Beautiful, isn’t?

Gundala-Gundala. North Sumatra Puppet that will play when local people asking about rain to God

Gundala-Gundala. North Sumatra Puppet (3 metre tall) that will play when local people ask for the rain from God

For foreigner who want to hear wonderful story about Indonesia’s shadow puppets, Wayang Museum Jakarta can provide you a free tour guide who knows very well about  their wayang collections. I recommend you all to ask about that tour guide service in Wayang Museum Jakarta front desk, it is really worth it. The tour guide will explain to you about background stories of some play in wayang show, how to make wayang, and everything you need to know about wayang. Make sure you do not miss that free service in Wayang Museum Jakarta.

How to Draw Wayang Instruction on The Floor

How to Draw Wayang Instruction on The Floor

Beside various kind of local puppet shadows collection, Wayang Museum Jakarta also displays numerous dolls from countries like India, France, Cambodia, China, Germany, et cetera. It seems like puppet culture is a global culture that spread around the world.

Katakali Doll from Southern India

Katakali Doll from Southern India

Since 2007, Indonesian Wayang recognized as the world heritage of masterpiece creation by United Nation. So, I think Wayang Museum Jakarta should be a very interesting place to visit while you take a city tour Jakarta, right? 😀