It is better than taxi

Posted on November 16, 2015 by Vera T

“I like it more than taxi!”

It was my friend from Austria, Bernd, told me about what he felt when he had a ‘bajaj’ ride in Jakarta, (bajaj is a vehicle with three wheels and using gas as its fuel). He was happy when the wind coming through bajaj’s open window and had a ‘pleasant’ moment when the driver showed his driving skill, always make a quick takeovers, in every possible way, lol. Bernd is Martin’s friend. They are working together in Austria, and got a chance to come to Jakarta. I must say thanks to Martin for recommending me as a guide in Jakarta. Without him, I could not show how fun bajaj ride is, and Bernd would not know that most of the driver in Jakarta has a fabulous driving skill. 😀

Natural Air Con on Bajaj

Although the main street that we should pass was closed due the Jakarta Marathon event (I was not happy with this by the way –red), but I tried to take another way to go. Grabbed a taxi, and start to tell the story about Jakarta inside it, while enjoying the traffic jam. At least, I could smile when Bernd got excited when he saw one motor bike with three passengers on it, hahaa..

Our walking tour was not only about visiting some touristic places or museums, but more about sharing the story. I let him walked around local markets, taste local snacks, and discussed everything which is not the same with what usually exist in his home town. There are so many differences. That’s why I can tell him so many stories. Everything that we saw during walking tour had its own story, why and how, what and who, unlimited possibility for type of questions that can arise.

I might not have every answer, but in each question that I can’t answer, it has something to be learned about. In the end of the day, it was not Bernd who learn something about Jakarta, but it’s me who got a lesson. Thank you for sharing the stories, and someday I want to say “you bring holiday in the dark tunnel” in the right place!

My mind wandering about snow in Jakarta

Posted on November 16, 2015 by Vera T

There is a lake that you can see 3 meters below clearly. There is Mozart House, there is Arnold Schwarzenegger birth place, and there is Martin’s hometown called Austria, a country in Europe continent which has 7 million people live in it. While I and Martin had a walk around Jakarta, it is not only I who told the story about Jakarta, but he also took me to ‘fly’ to Austria, his beautiful hometown.

Thank you for sharing and made me wondering about Vienna, the clean lake, and also the snow. Now, it is time for me to share about our walking tour in Jakarta. So, I still remember the weather on that day. It was extremely hot, and even I who used to that kind of sunlight almost every day here, still sweating all over my body. But, surprisingly Martin liked the sun. He told me that his friend should be jealous because Austria is very, very cold around October, reaching five degrees during winter time.

So, he didn’t mind with the heat, and I took him to Jakarta Old Town Square and Chinatown. We stop in whole sale market and see a lot of souvenir and gifts, something that Martin can’t find back in Austria. We didn’t buy any, but see many. I enjoyed the crowd and let Martin know that we had a popular gem stones among men, fried snacks (banana, cassava, tofu), sweeten fruits called “manisan” (mango, ambarella), and local snack from coconut called “pancong” cake.

After strolled around the crowd, the local music performance, and people of Jakarta, then we wrapped the day on Jakarta city land mark, Monas! Thank you for being a part of Jakarta walking tour, and I was happy to help him know better about the city. See you under the same sun!

Another hello from Belgium

Posted on November 1, 2015 by Vera T

For many times, I felt like I was not the guide, but my guest became my guide instead. So did when Luca, a friend from Belgium (but he is also Italian who speaks French) who strolled around Jakarta on that sunny Sunday with me.

He did explained history and correlation between Indonesia and Europe in the past time. I learnt a lot about how people live in Europe as an union. Most of the country in Europe had one currency (Euro). People can be born in one country, but can live and work in another country with less difficulty. As an Indonesian who needs a visa or permit to go to a far-far-away country, I think it is a good system. People can live anywhere without any limit. That’s a good spirit, isn’t it?

Okay, back to our walking tour, we meet some school boys who were practicing English. They were asking and trying to communicate with Luca, and I should thanks to Luca with the patience he had back then. It was two groups of them and took a while for him to interact with them. And, don’t forget about the sun, that shines bright (“like a diamond”) we had back then!

The tour wrapped with a new route (for me it was a new one!), a back way to go to the hotel around City Walk Jakarta. Thank you for showing me the back way, Luca! With the trees, gentle wind, and beautiful mosque we passed, it was a good afternoon to say good bye and it might be another hello in the future.

A ‘dadakan’ tour with Sarawak friends

Posted on November 1, 2015 by Vera T

“Dadakan” is we are. One of the Indonesian – English slang that reminds me of two friends, Caroline and Carmen from Sarawak, Malaysia. “Dadakan” means something that comes up so suddenly in an unexpected situation. Because they were contacting me one day before the tour, and we promised to meet on McDonalds in the next morning, without me, as a guide, knowing their faces or what they really look like. So, yeah it was an unexpected tour that brings a lot of surprise in a day.

I wasn’t planning to go to Sunda Kelapa Harbour, but when Carmen asked “Can we go there?”, my answer was “why not, yes we can go to the harbor!” We take a bajaj (a vehicle with three wheels) ride and climbed to the highest point of Syahbandar Tower. Up there, we saw how the Batavia (Old Jakarta –red) looks like, and learnt the reason why the tower had an important role in the past time. We also went to Maritime Museum and take a shot inside the beautiful architecture.

The funny thing is when we were going upstairs, one security personnel followed us and said, “Do you want to have a photo-shoot up here?” Oh my… he thinks that I – who bring a camera along the way – am a photographer, and Caroline and Carmen will became my photo models. I think they are just too gorgeous, so people around us feel ridiculous, why such beautiful ladies come to the northern part of Jakarta, hahaa..

Another ‘ridiculous’ moment was when I took them to Chinese market. It seems like, they just followed me eating along the way. I did like Chinese food, so did them, but the thing was I eat more, like I will never go there anymore, lol.