Jakarta Great Sale Festival 2015

Posted on June 30, 2015 by Yupa

If you are traveling for shopping purpose in Jakarta, June or July would be your best time to visit Jakarta. There are so many festivals that held around that in time in Jakarta to celebrate the birth of capital city of Indonesia, Jakarta. Jakarta Great Sale Festival is a festival whereas malls and shopping centers offer a great discount for their products, up to 70{9e84ad3adf7f6649419c3d34c511cc75d18ba3101b1ac61299241cdd2f2cd7ab}. For this year, this festival is held from 6^th of June until 12^th of July 2015 and will involving around 78 malls around Jakarta. Being a city that has hundreds of malls, Jakarta will be a perfect shopping destination.

Here are some malls that participate in the festival:

Central Jakarta Malls :
– Grand Indonesia: 26-27 June 2015
– Plaza Indonesia: 12-13 June 2015
– Senayan City: 3-5 July 2015

South Jakarta Malls :

– Ciputra World Lotte Shopping Avenue: 20-21 June 2015
– Gandaria City: 27 June 2015
– Kalibata City Square: 27 June 2015
– Kota Kasablanka: 4 July 2015
– Lippo Mall Kemang: 27 June dan 4 July 2015
– Pejaten Village: 27 June 2015
– Plaza Blok M: 27 June 2015
– The Plaza Semanggi: 10-11 July 2015

West Jakarta Malls :
– Central Park: 3-5 July 2015

East Jakarta Malls :
– Mal Taman Palem: 26-27 June 2015
– Arion Mall: 19-20 June dan 26-27 June 2015
– Cibubur Junction: 20-21 June 2015

North Jakarta Malls :
– Emporium Pluit Mall: 27-28 June 2015
– Mal Kelapa Gading: 20 dan 27 June 2015
– Baywalk Mall: 20-21 June 2015

There are many other malls that participate in the festival and maybe you will find one near where you stay while in Jakarta, so don’t miss the opportunity to visit the place.

There are also some Jakarta malls which open a midnight sale event, and offer a lot of special discounts and gifts for certain products. Shopping at midnight doesn’t mean that you have to bring a flashlight and choose items you want to buy in the dark, so don’t worry.

Just bring sufficient money, and a list of products that you want to buy. You can also use your credit card off course, but remember, choose carefully and don’t go overboard or you may end up being a shopaholic with and empty wallet and a huge amount of debts. Happy shopping!

Jakarta Great Online Sale

Posted on June 30, 2015 by Yupa

Beside Jakarta Great Sale Festival, there is also an event that you would not want to miss if one of your hobbies is shopping. It is Jakarta Great Online Sale or JGOS. In 2015, the event took place from 22 June until 30 June 2015, which means today is the last day! This event is to promote Jakarta as a shopping destination in South East Asia with a tagline, “Jakarta Smart City, Smart Shopping”.

Since renting a place to sell products quite costly these days, many of the sellers choose to promote their products and make transactions online. This kind of method is called e-commerce. This year, 63 players will participate. They either offer a discount for their products or exchange coupons.

What Kind of Product Do Jakarta Great Online Sale (JGOS) Sell?

There are a lot of products, including:

Stores that offer fashion products including Zalora and Lazada.
Stores that offer electronic products including Bhinneka and Erafone.
Yes, since technology is improved a lot these days, we can even order transportation service via online. This is showed by one of the participant, which is Gojek, a new way to order “ojek” (public transportation with a motorbike).

There are also other stores which offer many more products such as voucher, books, food and house appliances.

If you don’t want to make such a fuss of going mall to mall to buy products that you need, this will be perfect for you. You don’t have to queue for a long time, or stuck in the traffic jam to go to the mall.

So what are you waiting for? Quickly make your order on Jakarta Great Online Sale event before midnight. If you have a smartphone, it is even better. Just swipe your phone and your order will be delivered right in front of your door. Just like magic!

Happy Birthday Jakarta! #JKT488

Posted on June 22, 2015 by Yupa

June is Jakarta Festive Month! Today, June 22^this Jakarta’s birthday, so there will be a lot of festivals that would be held in Jakarta around that time. So, you will have an opportunity to come to one or two festivals while you are in here. What kind of festivals are there?

1. Jakarta Fair Kemayoran (JFK)

This is an event to celebrate Jakarta’s birthday. It is usually held for a full month from June to July and took place in Jakarta International Expo Kemayoran (JIExpo). There will be many vendors from all over Indonesia who sell various kinds of products and you can watch music shows at night in here.

2. Jakarta Fashion and Food Festival

It is held around May and June. This festival includes fashion festival, food festival and night carnival. In year 2015, it is open from May 13^th until June 7^th. This year, the event took place in Summarecon Kelapa Gading, but for every other year, the location might changes.

3. Jakarta Great Sale Festival (FJGS)

If you like shopping in Jakarta, then this festival will be perfect for you. You can shop around malls in Jakarta and get a discount up to 70{9e84ad3adf7f6649419c3d34c511cc75d18ba3101b1ac61299241cdd2f2cd7ab}. This usually held around June until July. Here are the Jakarta Great Sale schedule in each mall in Jakarta whose participate this year :

Central Jakarta Malls :
– Grand Indonesia: 26-27 June 2015
– Plaza Indonesia: 12-13 June 2015
– Senayan City: 3-5 July 2015

South Jakarta Malls :

West Jakarta Malls :
– Central Park: 3-5 July 2015

East Jakarta Malls :
– Mal Taman Palem: 26-27 June 2015
– Arion Mall: 19-20 June dan 26-27 June 2015
– Cibubur Junction: 20-21 June 2015

North Jakarta Malls :
– Emporium Pluit Mall: 27-28 June 2015
– Mal Kelapa Gading: 20 dan 27 June 2015
– Baywalk Mall: 20-21 June 2015

4. Jakarnaval

This is a cultural parade that held in National Monuments or Monas. This is presented by DKI Jakarta’s government to commemorate the birth of Jakarta City. It usually features an art parade and parade floats.

Those festivals are held annually. So you don’t have to worry if you miss one of them. You can still join the festivals in the following year. There are also the other small festivals in each part of Jakarta. If you want to know more about it, you can visit DKI Jakarta’s government website. But for now, you already know when the best time to visit Jakarta if you like a lively atmosphere. Yep, June it is!

Places To Buy Daily Products in Jakarta

Posted on June 14, 2015 by Yupa

If you are traveling to some places around the world for a few days, it can be quite bothersome if you have too many stuff to bring. Actually, there is a way to make your luggage lighter. How? Just bring your clothes and documents, and buy daily products such as toothbrush, soap, shampoo and etc. at your destination. Hotels or Inns usually already provide these, but sometimes they don’t match your preferences. So, where are the places you can buy those products in Jakarta?

1. Place to Buy Daily Products in Jakarta : Department Stores or Malls

There are so many malls in Jakarta and you could easily find at least one supermarket inside it. You can usually find Carrefour, Hypermart, or Giant.

2. Places To Buy Daily Products in Jakarta : Minimarkets

Minimarkets are located at office complex, apartment complex or near residential area and they are located at roadside, so it will be quite easy to locate and find them. Minimarkets that you will probably find are Indomaret and Alfamart. Look! They are quite similiar, eh?

: Source : swa[dot]co[dot]id

: Source : rmoljabar[dot]com

3. Places To Buy Daily Products in Jakarta : Traditional Market

There are also stalls in traditional market that sell daily products. Sometimes it could be quite cheaper than any other places, but you should extremely careful because in traditional market there are also sellers who sell fake or expired products.

From three option above, you could choose which one you think would fit your preferences most. If you are familiar using a famous brand or more expensive products, you can go to malls. If you prefer to buy quite affordable and decent products, then just go to minimarket.

Off course if you still want to bring your own favorite products, you can prepare them before you go abroad and be sure you don’t miss anything necessary, especially if you are going to Jakarta. If you are going to join a tour in Jakarta, don’t forget to pack things you should bring for city tour Jakarta. Be prepared and see you in Jakarta!

Things You Should Bring to City Tour Jakarta – Part 2

Posted on June 13, 2015 by Yupa

If you peek inside your bag and you can find sunglasses, mineral water, umbrella, face mask, and sunscreen, then you are almost ready to go to do a City Tour Jakarta. Maybe some of you will response “Almost?? It is still not everything?”. Yes, that’s right. Although all of those stuff is nearly everything that you’ll need, but it is still not enough. Don’t worry, you only lack some additional items to smoothen your tour in Jakarta and make it more pleasant to stroll in Jakarta.

These are simple items you might need.

1. Tissue paper

Indonesians use water a lot to clean themselves, so sometimes the public toilets don’t provide tissue because they think there are no need to provide it since the water is running. Toilets in modern malls usually provide tissue, but sometimes they ran out of it. So to be safe, you can bring your own tissue paper. You can also it for another use later.

2. Small change

If you are planning to shop in a more traditional form of market, trade center or “pasar” for example, you have to bring small change because they don’t usually provide EDC machine to swipe your card and they might don’t have change for the amount you pay. It will also quite useful if you want to ride public transportations such as “angkot”, “metromini” or “ojek”.

3. Hand sanitizer

If you like to try various kinds of food in Jakarta, especially street food and you want to eat it right away, you can use hand sanitizer first before you eat because it can quite difficult to find a place where you can wash your hands.

4. Hat or cap

This item actually an optional one if you already brought your umbrella. But somehow there are males who don’t like to be seen using an umbrella because they thought it is not manly enough, at least in Indonesia. So, if you are a guy, maybe it will feel more comfortable to you to wear a cap.

5. Your feet

All set! Now you only need a happy feet and open heart to begin strolling around Jakarta. Put on some comfortable shoes and leave it to the guide to lead your way! 😀

Things You Should Bring For City Tour Jakarta – Part 1

Posted on June 2, 2015 by Yupa

As you know, Indonesia is a tropical country, with a sizzling hot weather in dry season and heavy rains in wet season. But, the climate is changing slowly. So, just in case, you must bring certain things that you might need when you are traveling in Jakarta. So, what are those things you need to prepare? Here are 5 things you should bring for city tour Jakarta :

1. Mineral Water

You will need to drink a lot because the weather will make you thirsty and sweat a lot. Aside from preventing dehydration, drinking a lot of mineral water could also provide a healthier body. You can bring your own bottle of mineral water or buy it in a minimarket or street vendors. But before you drink it, you need to look carefully for the expired date.

You can ‘steal’ it from your hotel!

2. Sunscreen

Ultraviolet radiation can be harmful for everyone, especially if you suddenly came to a different type of country with a different intensity of UV light. To avoid sunburn, maybe you can apply sunscreen first before you go out in Jakarta, but you need to make sure you use the one that match with your skin type. You can get one in a drugstore or minimarket.

3. Sunglasses

Sometime the sunlight in Jakarta can be really strong and hurting your vision. So, to protect your eyes from ultraviolet light, you might need a sunglasses.

Sun Glasses is a MUST!

4. Umbrella

This item is a must if you are doing a tour in Jakarta. Even it is on a dry season, rain can suddenly fall without a warning! In addition, you can still use it if the sunlight is too intense and dazzling.

5. Face Mask

Jakarta has a huge population, so there are so many vehicles running along the streets. Cars, motorbikes, bus, etc make the city full of pollutions. So, if you are allergic to dirty air or prone to asthma, you should wear a face mask when you are going to walk around in open air in Jakarta a lot.

Face Mask

Maybe you can avoid the fuss of bringing these item if you look at the weather forecast before you go out. Or you are already know when is the best time to visit Jakarta after doing little research about Jakarta Weather?

Well, it is up to you, but weather forecast or prediction cannot be right all the time. We are just humans after all. Better be prepared than be sorry, right? 😉

How To Bargain Like a Pro in Jakarta

Posted on June 2, 2015 by Yupa

As a foreigner, it doesn’t mean you can not buy things with a fair price and be afraid of being victim of a scam. You just only have to learn how to bargain like a pro. How exactly? I’ll tell you.

First of all, you need to know that Indonesia has many different kind of markets. Traditional market, modern market, or mix of both. In big malls, there usually a fixed price for everything. But, in semi-modern or even traditional market, you still can bargain for a cheaper price, especially when you want to buy a huge amount of products.

Types of market for you to show your haggling ability in Indonesia includes traditional market or usually called by locals as “pasar”, and trade centers like ITC, WTC, retail stores and etc. Chinatown is actually a good example. There are stores on every corner of the streets and it had trade centers nearby. If you are curious, you can check out the City Tour Jakarta Chinatown Tour.

How to Bargain Like a Pro in Jakarta : Learn Basic Conversation in Bahasa

When you want to ask the price to the seller, ask it in Bahasa. You can start with “Pak/Bu, ini berapaan? (How much is this?)”. And continue with “Harganya bisa kurang, enggak? (Can you give me discount for this?)”.

How to Bargain Like a Pro in Jakarta : Haggle The Price to 70 {9e84ad3adf7f6649419c3d34c511cc75d18ba3101b1ac61299241cdd2f2cd7ab} Lower

Second, haggle the price to 70 percent lower than the initial price. 70 percent?!

Don’t be surprised, it is actually quite common, and you will get the product at that price level, but of course it also depends on what you are buying. If you are afraid the seller will get angry if you do that, just say it jokingly with a smile on your face and you might want to persuade the seller with “Kasihlah Bu/Pak, buat penglaris.”

How to Bargain Like a Pro in Jakarta : Memorize Numbers in Local Language

You might want to memorize numbers in Bahasa, so you can know the exact amount of the price and you can use it to mention the amount you are willing to pay for the product.

How to Bargain Like a Pro in Jakarta : Take a Local Friend to Go Shopping

If you don’t have time to learn Bahasa and feeling not comfortable enough to shop alone in an unfamiliar place, your last resort is take a local to accompany you to go shopping.

You can choose which item you want to buy and just give the rest to your local friend. But, you need to remember that not every local people have the ability to bargain price. So if you want to ask your local friend to shop with you, ask the one who use to shop like a pro!

Now, if you are ready to take on the challenge to show your new ability, it is time to shop. Where can you start? First stop, Jakarta Chinatown of course!

How To Make ‘Nasi Goreng’

Posted on May 19, 2015 by Yupa

If you have read about favorite Jakarta street food in previous posts, fried rice or ‘nasi goreng’ is not a new word for you. Nasi goreng is also already quite popular with foreigners who came to take a city tour Jakarta.

You can buy nasi goreng in a restaurant, street vendors or eat it in your local friend’s house and the price can differ depend on where you eat. If you buy it from mobile vendors that travel around the residential area, the price is usually IDR 10k per portion. Usually they make rounds at night, between 7 pm to 11 pm.

If you are hungry but the restaurants that sells nasi goreng already close and you don’t find any mobile vendors that still making their rounds, don’t worry. You can still cook it by yourself. It is quite simple to make. I’ll tell you how to make nasi goreng.

First, you will need these ingredients:
1) White rice 2) Vegetable oil 3) Egg 4) Garlic 5) Soy sauce 6) Vinegar 7) Fish sauce 8) Sweet soy sauce

9) Salt and pepper 10) Chili 11) Sliced scallions 12) Meatballs 13) Chicken stocks 14) Crackers 15) Pickles

Then, you can start cooking. This is how to do it:
1. Pour some vegetable oil into the wok, add sliced scallions, garlic and then stir it together
2. Add beaten egg, pour a tablespoon of soy sauce and fish sauce, then stir it together again
3. Pour a portion of white rice, add some meatballs, chili paste, salt and pepper before stir it again
4. Sprinkle the rice with some chicken stocks, a tablespoon of sweet soy sauce and stir it well until all the ingredients are blended nicely
5. Serve it on a plate, and garnish it with some pickles and fish or shrimp crackers

Here is the ‘how to make nasi goreng’ video :

There! Nasi goreng is ready in less than five minutes. Enjoy your meal 😉

Your home made nasi goreng ready to eat!

You can also add variations to your nasi goreng dish. For example, you can change meatballs with seafood, beef or mutton as you like. Or, if you feel buy a-ready-to-eat fried rice is better, then our Jakarta Food Tour might suits well on you. We are happy to take you to eat the best fried rice in town, find out more here

Monas Jakarta (National Monument Jakarta)

Posted on May 1, 2015 by Yupa

National Monument Jakarta or Monas Jakarta, do you now what it is? Have you been there once? If yes, maybe you think you have seen it all, but wait a second. Have you been to it’s park in different times? You will get distinctive experiences. I’ll explain a little bit so you could choose what you want to experience at certain times you prefer to go Monas Jakarta.

1. Visiting Monas Jakarta At Weekdays (Monday to Friday)

Quiet, fresh and clean.

Those are the three words that describe Monas Jakarta at weekdays, especially in the morning. For you who want to exercise, breath fresh air, see green landscape, and clear your mind, come to Monas Jakarta Park in the morning. Certainly you will not have any difficulty to find a quiet place just to daydream, since the area is occupying 88 acres of land.

Monas Jakarta At Weekdays

2. Monas Jakarta When ‘Car Free Days’ is held

Crowded, happy and adore.

What to adore? If you come to Monas Jakarta Park when there is ‘Car Free Day’ in Sunday, you will see many adorable children running around you.

The atmosphere would be exciting and appear a bit chaotic, the bonus is Monas Jakarta Park would filled by young generation that are dating, searching for a partner initiate their flirting, and enjoy eating chicken porridge while standing. Special for singles, just go to the part of the park near IRTI parking area, there are deers from Bogor where you can pour your love on. *LOL*

One Of The Deer In Monas Park

3. Monas Jakarta At Night

This is it! There is no right word to describe the atmosphere and crowds at Monas Jakarta at night.

When the night falls, Monas Tower would ‘lit’, colorful lights and white spotlight that shine the gold at the top make this National Monument Jakarta looked fantastic.

Not to mention, usually you will see a lot of street vendors and seller. The Monas Park would be busy like a night market. Starting from clothing vendor, accessories, souvenirs, food, drink, to herbal medicines have opened their stalls in Monas Jakarta Park. Actually street vendors are not allowed to do business inside the Monas Jakarta Park, but really says otherwise. We only could just ‘know’ and ‘enjoy’.

The View At Monas Before The Night Falls

So, did you find the right time to visit Monas Jakarta (Park) in your city tour jakarta plan? To answer this question, its all has to start with another question, which is, “What is your purpose?”. Keep the answer in your mind. 🙂

Choose Your Favourite Mall in Jakarta

Posted on April 23, 2015 by Yupa

Have you visited the big mall in Jakarta that I reviewed last time? Well, you haven’t seen all. This time I will tell you more about mall in Jakarta, especially where you can buy stuff with more affordable price and more alternative of food choice. Here are some favourite mall in Jakarta.

1. The Plaza Semanggi, Experience Dining In The Sky.

The Plaza Semanggi is located in central part of Jakarta, specifically at Jalan Sudirman, some kind of business areas with many office buildings around it. Like other mall in Jakarta, this mall also offer a lot of choice from fashion, food, electronic products, furniture and etc. But what special is you can experience how it feel to dine in the top of the building where you can see a bird eye view of Sudirman area. There are restaurants in sky dining area, and to get there you need to ride a specific elevator that leads there.

There are also ‘Balai Sarbini’ here, a concert hall that often use an Indonesian Idol’s stage that broadcasted in one of the private TV Station in Jakarta. You can reach this mall by ‘metromini’ 640 or Transjakarta Bus.

The Plaza Semanggi opening hour : 10.00 am – 10.00 pm.

Sky Dining in The Plaza Semanggi. Source : The Jakarta Post

2. Thamrin City Shopping Mall, Batik At An Affordable Price.

Thamrin City Shopping Mall also located in Central Jakarta. What is different about this mall is known as ‘sentra batik’ means batik trade centre in Jakarta. You can buy batik products for affordable price in Thamrin City. In addition, you can buy another products like clothes, accessories or anything at cheaper price in a large amount because most of the seller offering a wholesale products. You also can haggle the price, but for insurance, you need to bring a native who understand the language and the culture better to accompany you if you are indeed shopping for business.

Thamrin City opening hour : 9.00 am – 9.00 pm.

Thamrin City Mall. Source : Tempo

3. International Trade Center (ITC)

Beside malls, there are also places called ITC in Jakarta. Places with names started with ‘ITC’ are spread around Jakarta, depends on it’s location, one could called ITC Pulogadung because it’s located at Pulogadung, ITC Kuningan for its position in Kuningan, and so on. In ITC, you can almost find any kinds of things. Starting from grocery, fashion, mainly electronics. There are a lot of people go to ITC to buy cellphones, computer or tablets. There are a lot of wholesale products and you can also haggle the price here.

ITC opening hour : varies between 08-11.00 am to 09-11.00 pm.

ITC Roxy Mas. Source : Viva News

It is true that every mall in Jakarta has different ‘taste’ and selling point, depends on which part of Jakarta the mall is located. And, while you do a city tour Jakarta, which one you prefer? A classy mall with branded stores, or a ‘humble’ mall with cheaper product. Hmm…hard choice I guess..

Jakarta Walking Tour

Look Jakarta closer through walking

Author: Yupa