Doing City Tour Jakarta on Big Mall Jakarta

Posted on March 25, 2015 by Yupa

Jakarta as the capital city of Indonesia certainly has a lot to offer. With increasing population, Jakarta has become a potential marketing target since people from all of Indonesia is residing there. Developers built more malls in almost every part of Jakarta making going shopping in Jakarta more convenient. This time we will take you to do a city tour Jakarta on big mall Jakarta..

Grand Indonesia Shopping Town, A Mall For A Start

If you are staying in the center part of Jakarta, you can visit one of the big mall in Jakarta, called Grand Indonesia Shopping Town which located in the heart of Jakarta. It is near Bundaran HI, and you can reach the mall by riding Transjakarta Bus or Commuter Line train.

View of Grand Indonesia Shopping Town From Bundaran HI

What is great about this mall is it had Galeri Indonesia Kaya inside of it where tourists from outside Indonesia can learn some things about Indonesian culture. It also had a Dancing Fountain Shows that plays at a certain time.

Galeri Indonesia Kaya

The Dancing Fountain

Grand Indonesia opening hours : 10:00 am – 10:00 pm.

To The West, Central Park Mall

If you strolling around or doing city tour Jakarta around western part, Central Park mall will be a good choice for you. The access is easy and it surrounded by two more malls around it for alternative. It is a huge mall in a mixed use complex for office, apartments and a hotel. It features a musical fountain at the park area.

Central Park Mall

The Central Park Mall can be reached by Transjakarta Bus that runs at Corridor IX and the shelter’s name is Mall Taman Anggrek, the other mall beside Central Park Mall which has an ice skating rink inside of it.

Central Park Mall opening hours : 10:00 am – 10:00 pm.

Popular Mall in South Jakarta

One of the most popular mall for Jakarta’s residents is Pondok Indah Mall. It is located in South Jakarta and it is near real-estates complex. Hence, this mall targeting high income customers and people who are looking for prestige. There are upscale designers boutiques and fine dining inside this big mall in Jakarta. You can reach Pondok Indah Mall by public transports such as Transjakarta Bus and Metromini Number 72.

South Bridge of Pondok Indah Mall

Pondok Indah Mall opening hours : 10:00 am – 10:00 pm

So, which big mall in Jakarta you wanna visit on your City Tour Jakarta activity? Tell us on comment below :p

Vihara Dharma Bhakti, Time To Pray

Posted on March 5, 2015 by Yupa

Vihara Dharma Bhakti or Jin De Yuan Temple is one of the oldest temple in Jakarta.

It was built in 1650 by a Chinese Liutenant, Kwee Hun, dedicated to goddess Kwan Im. Vihara Dharma Bhakti is located in Petak Sembilan or Glodok, Jakarta’s Chinatown. It became a place for Chinese descendants of Jakarta to worship their gods. Praying for ancestors, asking for forgiveness or wishing for luck became a routine for year after year. If someone take a city tour Jakarta and stroll around Jakarta Chinatown and see this beautiful temple, no matter what their religion, it will be such a waste if they not spend a little time to stop and look around. They can learn many things in this temple.

Dharma Bhakti Temple’s Entrance

If you get inside Vihara Dharma Bhakti, you will find many Chinese god statues, which has specific “wisdom” each, for example, if you see people pray in front of God of Prosperity, that means they want to have a good fortune.

A Visitor Practicing a Ritual to Worship A God

It is said that this temple was once burned in Colonial era, left with just tables and altar. Rebuilt in 1755, thus established a temple that attract many visitor and loved by the worshipers.

A Picture Of A Dragon On The Wall

Sadly, this temple was engulf in fire once again recently, on 2nd of March 2015 and what’s left is only Kwan Im Statue 🙁

The police is still investigating the cause of the fire. Until further notice, we just have to wait patiently. Maybe right now all we can see just ashes in there, but don’t lose hope that Vihara Dharma Bhakti would be rebuilt more beautifully some day. All that we can do is just pray. Hoping that we could meet there in another day 🙂

Transjakarta Bus, Don’t Miss Your Stop!

Posted on February 20, 2015 by Yupa

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 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.

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 Transjakarta Bus. Source : Harian Terbit

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!

Jakarta Weather

Posted on February 15, 2015 by Yupa

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.

: Monas In Dry Season Source : Tribunnews

: Skyscrapers Bathing in Jakarta’s Heat

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.

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

Posted on February 9, 2015 by Yupa

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

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

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.

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.

: Savory Taste: The Duck Egg Martabak

: Banana Sweet Martabak

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

Posted on February 6, 2015 by Yupa

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.

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.

Oen’s Special

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 🙂

What to do in Surabaya

Posted on January 25, 2015 by Yupa

You have taken a city tour Jakarta with our local host, right? If you have, you must have grown familiar with the city. If you are, then you should take a chance to visit another capital city in Indonesia, Surabaya. Surabaya is the capital city of East Java, as one of the big cities in Indonesia, it also has many high buildings, apartments, malls and business areas. As years go by, the population keep growing, thus make the bad traffic put a test in your patience, quite like Jakarta, but still not as bad as Jakarta.

Sura (shark) and baya (crocodile) statue

Surabaya’s Icon that Depicts The Fight Between a Shark (Sura) and a Crocodile (Baya).

How to get there

There are many options to reach Surabaya.

1. By plane. You could ride a plane from Jakarta to Surabaya by riding a plane from Halim Perdana Kusumah or Soekarno-Hatta Airport, the ticket price is usually around IDR 450k-700k, but it can be higher if you book during peak season. It usually takes about 1 or 1 hour and a half.

2. By train. There are executive trains that you can take from Gambir Station in Jakarta. The train’s name are Sembrani and Argo Bromo Anggrek, the price range is not too different from ticket plane as a described above, but it should never higher than IDR 700k, but you have to sit about 9 hours long.

3. By bus. If you want cheaper price, you can go by bus to Surabaya for only around IDR 150k-300k, but it is a long journey. You have to ride the bus for approximately 17,5 hours long. So, make sure you won’t get tired or get bored along the way.

<< What to do in Surabaya : Lets eat, eat, and eat! >>

– What to do in Surabaya : Sate Klopo as your breakfast

Surabaya offers many choices of breakfast. You can found food stalls everywhere around the street, from nasi pecel, gado-gado, soto ayam, and many more. Most of it you can also find in Jakarta. But, you should not miss the chance to make Sate Klopo your breakfast choice, because it only exists in Surabaya, one and only restaurant in a street once named Ondomohen Street, thus the restaurant adopt the name, along with the name of its owner, Ibu Asih.

Sate Klopo Ondomohen
Ibu Asih

Process of Making Sate Klopo

Sate Klopo came from the word ‘satay’ and ‘coconut (klopo)’ in Javanese dialect. The satay was made from cow’s meat, served with grated coconut on top of it. The meat is juicy and rich of flavors. By the time I get there in the morning, it already full of people and there is no empty seat, so ordered a take away, IDR 25k for one portion.

– What to do in Surabaya : Zangrandi Ice Cream as your afternoon treat

Surabaya is known for its extreme heat, especially in dry season, so enjoying an ice cream would be a perfect choice. Buy ice cream from the mini market maybe? Hold your thought! Go to Zangrandi instead. It is a classic ice cream store founded by Renato Zangrandi, an immigrant from Italy in 1930s. Zangrandi located in the center of the town, near Garden Palace Hotel Palace Surabaya.

Zangrandi Ice Cream Store

Ice Cream Variants
inside The Cooler Box

For a hot day in Surabaya, I chose to order Avocadocano, a cup of ice cream with avocado flavor and served with freshly sliced of avocado fruit and a chocolate wafer stick. It is not too sweet and easily melts in your mouth. You can get one portion of ice cream variant for around IDR 35k-45k.

Avocadocano

– What to do in Surabaya : Save the best for the last!

After you had enough strolling around Surabaya, it is the time to make a final stop before you take a rest at the end of the day. Eating Lontong Kupang would be a perfect choice while you stay in Surabaya. ‘Kupang’ is some kind of shellfish in a really small size, usually served with bigger kind of clam satay, ‘lontong’ or some kind of rice cake wrapped in banana leaf, and ‘petis’, a traditional seasoning that taste sweet and spicy.

Actually you find Lontong Kupang easily in Sidoarjo, a city near Surabaya, but it is quite near and you can grab a taxi there. You can choose Lontong Kupang foodstall in Sidoarjo malls or in the food corners in Seruni Street that also open at night. You can enjoy this menu and for prevention of allergy of eating this food too much, you can order coconut drink.

Lontong Kupang
(Source : Wikipedia)

Okay, once your stomach full, time to go back where you stay and take a rest. Once you wake up the next day with new spirit and energy, you can try continuing the trip to other parts or East Java, like Malang, every town offers its own specialty, so don’t miss it! See you next time. 🙂

Revealing Nostalgic Vibe at Braga Street Bandung

Posted on January 23, 2015 by Yupa

Jakarta has its own charm. As the economic and political capital of Indonesia, Jakarta attracts many domestic immigrants who bring their various languages, dialects, foods, and customs. But, I will tell more about city tour Jakarta later. Now, for all of you travelers around the world who have extra time to see more around Jakarta, I want to show you about Jakarta’s neighboring city, which is Bandung. It is three hours driving from Jakarta and known as the city that has various kinds of flower, so it often called “Kota Kembang”, which means “City of Flowers”. As large as Jakarta, Bandung is quite a ‘huge’ place to stroll. Circling the entire city for one day is never been enough. When I stayed in Bandung, I took a chance to stroll around Braga Street Bandung that has its own uniqueness in the city.

How to reach Bandung?

Rent a car. It will costs you IDR 500-600k (including driver), fuel charge around IDR 200k, and tolls fee around IDR 200k. At least, you need to prepare around IDR 1000k just for transportation cost.

But, you also can try using Bandung Travel Bus Service like Day Trans, X-Trans, Baraya, and many more similar travel bus services which have routine schedules to reach Bandung from Jakarta and vice versa. It will costs you IDR 80k – IDR 100k for one way per person. After you arrived at Bandung, you can ride a taxi to go Braga Street Bandung. I am sure it will save a lot of money, right? 😀

Foods around Braga Street Bandung

In Braga Street Bandung, there are many restaurants that opens until midnight. I chose to dine in Braga Permai, a restaurant which has a nostalgic vibe. Serves various kinds of European and Indonesian food. They also producing homemade ice cream in various flavors. The price range is about IDR 50k – IDR 100k.

Braga Permai at Night

Ravioli Beef at Braga Permai Restaurant

I also visit Braga Citywalk, some kind of mini mall in the middle of Braga Street Bandung. The tenants are not as many as other mall in usual, most of them are serving foods or beverages, one of them are Tokyo Connection, which connected to Giggle Box (a Western Café) beside it. I ordered one cup of hot green tea latte, it looks nice, not surprisingly tastes good also.

Green Tea Latte at Giggle Box

Where to stay?

It was worth to spend a night in Braga Street Bandung. There are so many hotels which have affordable price and close with pedestrian and touristic area. For example, I chose to stay in Ibis Styles Bandung Braga that resides at the Braga City, a street that famous with historical buildings around it. There are something unique about this hotel’s interior. These are a few snapshots of the lobby interior :

A Chic and Simple Interior Design

1970s Vespa

I got a room in sixth floor, the room is quite cozy and when I look through the window, I can have a good look to buildings and streets below. I can see Savoy Homann Hotel, an architectural heritage and a fine example of art deco colonial architecture of the East Indies, across the street.

Room’s Window

Savoy Homann Hotel Across The Street

It is said that Charlie Chaplin stayed for a couple times in this hotel when he visited Bandung in 1900s. Guests that want to see the room are allowed to see the room he once stayed by asking permission to hotel staffs. If we look a little bit to the right, we can see the twin tower of The Great Mosque of Bandung (Masjid Agung Bandung).

That was a little review about food in Braga Street Bandung. There are still so many places and treats we can find around different parts of Bandung, so it is not enough to visit them in one whole trip. So, don’t think you will see everything in one day, maybe you will found something new in every chance you got when visiting Bandung. Cheers! 😀

Jakarta Walking Tour

Look Jakarta closer through walking

Author: Yupa