Jakarta Trip Photos

Camomile tea for me, green tea for my niece / Inflight meal (didn’t enjoy my noodles though) / The setting sun as we began our descent

The setting sun during our descent

Our apartment unit. There are storage drawers beneath the bed

Bathroom, balcony and the lights of central Jakarta

View from our room. The bottom two photos are of Cosmo Park

At level 10 of Cosmo Terrace. You can see Tanah Abang market building from here. And picture on the bottom right-hand is of the back of one block of Cosmo Park Town Houses

At Plaza Indonesia. The picture in the middle is the DAMRI bus (van, more like) for the service to the airport. I think there are also services to other areas but I didn’t really check

Jakarta, December 2016

I had planned to bring my niece to Jakarta (I had brought her brother and sister there before on separate occasions) and decided to take advantage of the Maulidur Rasul long weekend. After buying the air tickets, I searched for hotels. I was contemplating the guesthouse I usually stay at but decided to find another place and only fall back on the guesthouse if I couldn’t find an alternative. You see, this time, I wanted to stay somewhere really central. Sure, being in Menteng and Jakarta Pusat, the guesthouse is central enough, but I wanted a place where I can walk to places instead of taking the cab and being stuck in the jam. I finally found (after cancelling one hotel at Jalan Lombok) a small apartment available on Airbnb, promptly signed up and booked the apartment.

I met up with my niece at KLIA on Friday afternoon (9 December 2016). We dropped off our bags, cleared immigration and headed to the Golden Lounge (I was offered to upgrade and the amount I offered to pay was accepted). I had a shower first before having my late lunch. We left for the gate at 16:00. We took off on time and settled in for the flight. It was a good thing I ate quite a bit at the Golden Lounge because I didn’t enjoy the noodles with garoupa that I chose for my meal.

We landed at 17:25 local time and quickly made our way to the immigration counter. Our bags were out within minutes and we then made our way to the bus station. I know there are direct DAMRI bus services to Thamrin City Mall where the apartment is but was told I might have to wait another hour for it so I decided to take the DAMRI bus to Gambir station instead. It came within 20 minutes and we reached Gambir in 50 minutes. Traffic was heavy but thankfully it was moving.

We walked out of Gambir station and took a cab to Thamrin City Mall. We were unlucky to get a driver who was intent on sticking to 15 km/hour so we were crawling all the way. I was surprised that no one honked the driver for driving like a pensioner. Why, my dad drives a lot faster than that!

We hit a traffic jam at Jalan Kebon Kacang Raya. Friday evening crowd and whatnot. The cabbie dropped us at Amaris Hotel and typical of most cabbies there, didn’t return us the Rp2,000 change although I asked for it a few times. What is it about cabbies over there? Do they think they can merrily round up the fare? This is one reason why I wanted to stay somewhere really central where I can walk anywhere. I still have to take a cab or ride the packed bus if I stay in Menteng.

We asked for directions and after getting lost and asking for directions again, we finally found Cosmo Terrace Apartment. We sat at the lobby and waited for the apartment owner to show up. I had earlier told him that we expected to arrive between 19:30 to 20:00. It was 19:45 then. He finally came at 20:15 and quickly brought us up to his apartment unit at level 28. The building owner is superstitious: there are no 4^th, 13^th, 14^th, 24^th and 34^th floors. The highest floor is level 39 and it took us just 62 seconds to reach level 28. The owner then showed us around the small space: how to work the stove, the washer, the wifi etc. before leaving.

We unpacked, performed prayers and settled down for the evening.

On Saturday, we woke up early for morning prayers and then up again before 08:00. We had a very good view of Jalan Kebon Kacang Raya all the way to Plaza Indonesia and could see Grand Hyatt, Mandarin Oriental, Keraton at the Plaza from the room but what really amazed us was Cosmo Park Town Houses, the residential area right on top of Thamrin City Mall. There are about 76 units of three-storey houses atop Thamrin City Mall, how amazing is that?! The residents enter and exit the area via a ten-storey circular ramp. There are no fences or walls around any of the houses. We stood at the balcony and by the window often looking down at Cosmo Park and marvelling each time.

After breakfast, we left and went up to the Sky Garden at level 37 (if I recall correctly) to admire the surrounding view. We then went down to level 10 to where the swimming pool, Jacuzzi, barbecue area, gymnasium and children playground are. From here, you can also see the back of one block of Cosmo Park Town Houses. I asked one guy and he confirmed that the town houses are built on top of the mall and are ten floors above ground level.

After admiring the view, we went down and out of the building. We crossed Jalan Kh. Mas Mansyur and walked ten minutes to Tanah Abang market. We browsed a few floors and even had lunch at Tenabang, the foodcourt at the market (there’s 10% tax imposed on food here!). I managed to buy a pair of original Crocs (older model but it’s fine) and some dates for Abah. He prefers to wear Crocs footwear of late as they are not slippery and are thick which is good for diabetics.

We returned to Thamrin City Mall and browsed around. There sure are a lot of stalls and shops in the mall. This was the eighth time I’d been to Jakarta and only the first time I’d been in Thamrin City Mall. The stalls sell mainly batik clothes and Muslim clothing. There’s also Hypermart, some restaurants and food courts. One thing I couldn’t stand is that despite notices, people smoked in the mall. Ugh! We bought dinner from the food court (no tax imposed here or maybe it’s already built in but the prices were way lower than at Tanah Abang) at level 3 before returning to our apartment to rest. There was a power trip but the emergency light worked in the bathroom and the AC worked too. Power was restored about an hour later.

On Sunday, we walked to Grand Indonesia and Plaza Indonesia. I also dragged my niece to Grand Hyatt to visit the H store there before returning to Plaza Indonesia. Oh, before I forget, we went into Grand Indonesia first. We went down to the Food Hall and were browsing when we looked to the far right to the food counters and saw something running on the counter. ‘Oh my,’ I was thinking, ‘could that be a rat?!’ when my niece started saying the same thing. A big huge rat at one of the food counters at the Food Hall in Grand Indonesia! I wouldn’t bat an eyelid if it was at Tanah Abang or Thamrin City Mall foodcourt but at Grand Indonesia! O.O We had lunch at Food Louver at Grand Indonesia. I wasn’t happy with the pulled noodles in tom yam that I bought and my niece said her dishes (she had rice) were too hot even for her palate.

A lot of stores were having their year-end/Christmas sales but as from past experience, we found that most things were still more expensive than in KL so we didn’t shop. I only bought Sangobion at Guardian there (they cost less there as they are produced there and those sold here are imported from Indonesia anyway) and even then questioned why I was charged Rp14,200 for each strip of ten capsules when the price printed on the strip was Rp13,000 (I got my refund back by the way).

It was drizzling when we left but I had my brolly so we huddled beneath it to Thamrin City Mall. We bought dinner to go – from a different stall this time – and returned to the apartment. We spent the rest of the day resting and packing what little we had bought until then.

On Monday, we left early and went to Plaza Indonesia. The wifi was not working at the apartment so we stood outside Star*ucks at Plaza Indonesia and rode on their wifi. I also wanted to check out On Pedder as I wanted to try on Charlotte Olympia pumps. On Pedder is the only store in Jakarta which carries Charlotte Olympia and Sophia Webster and Aquazzura (it also carries Christian Louboutin even though there’s a Christian Louboutin boutique nearby). After that we returned to Grand Indonesia. We had light lunch at Burger King then headed back.

Back at the apartment, we performed prayers and showered. We had earlier planned to catch the 15:30 bus to the airport but decided to leave earlier when we saw the unpromising weather. We left at 14:15 and reached the DAMRI stop at the Mall in less than ten minutes. It was starting to drizzle then. There were seven other people in the bus (more like a van or MPV) and it can comfortably seat ten passengers. The fare was Rp40,000 (the same fare if you board at Gambir but you need to take a cab to Gambir) and we reached the airport an hour later (because the van had to drop off passengers at the domestic terminal first). We dropped off our bags, went to clear immigration and went to browse the duty-free shops.

I performed evening prayers first hence left the boarding gate plane slightly later than everyone else but caught up with them at the airplane. We took off about 25 minutes later than scheduled and landed late at KLIA. My bag came out early but I had to wait for the 22:22 KLIA Transit train then change at Bandar Tasik Selatan for LRT back. Had to wait a while for the LRT at Bandar Tasik Selatan and Chan Sow Lin and then the LRT would have to stop a long time at Cahaya and then in between Cahaya and Ampang stations. In the end, I reached home at 00:12 on Tuesday. I probably should have just taken the KLIA Express to KL Sentral, change for the LRT to Ampang Park and bus back to Ampang. Oh well...

So that was my eighth trip to Jakarta. Will I be back? If I do, you can bet I’d stay again at Cosmo Terrace due to its proximity to Tanah Abang and Grand and Plaza Indonesia. You can even walk to Sarinah Department Store if you so wish.

My Birthday Weekend (3-6 July 2015)

There was a MAS offer recently and I availed of it by buying a return ticket to Jakarta. I had planned to take leave on my birthday anyway. So I too half-day leave last Friday and made my way to KL Sentral during lunch. i decided to travel light and not check in my bag as I didn’t want to wait for my bag like we did the last time I went to Jakarta in Ramadan. I had also done some research and decided to take the airport bus from Sukarno-Hatta International Airport to either Thamrin Mall or Gambir Station, and a cab from there to the guesthouse.

We took off on time and landed 15 minutes early. I cleared immigration quickly and made my way to the bus station. The bus frequency to Gambir and Thamrin Mall is every 15 minutes and one hour respectively so it was a no brainer. The ticket cost me IDR40K. I didn’t have to wait long; the bus arrived within minutes and we were already moving by 17:45. I broke fast on the bus.

We arrived at Gambir Station at 18:30 and I went out to the main road to hail a cab to the guesthouse. I reached the guesthouse about 20 minutes later (Jalan Cikini Raya was jam-packed!). After checking in, I ventured out to find dinner but nothing caught my fancy so I headed to Carrefour to buy some juice, tea and titbits.

On Saturday, I took a cab to Tanah Abang market. I had to ask for directions and finally found my way to Block B where I took the lift to the 5^th floor. I spent some time browsing the stalls before buying some caftans and innerwear for myself and some shirts for dad. I then decided to check out the other floor selling Muslim clothes at SLG (not sure what it stands for but it was below LG). Man, big mistake. There were a lot more people here and if there’s anything I really hate, it’s crowds. And from what little I saw, the things down there cost more than similar ones at the 5^th floor. I couldn’t wait to make my escape and hurried out as soon as I could.

I then decided to walk to Sarinah Department Store but was given the wrong direction and ended up in another area. Finally, I took an angkot back heading towards Tanah Abang, got down at a junction before the market area and took a bus to Sarinah. I walked in Sarinah but it was clear that as much as I dread the crowds at Tanah Abang, everything at Tanah Abang was at a fraction of the prices in Sarinah.

I didn’t stay long at Sarinah. I took the overhead bridge, crossed over and walked to Plaza Indonesia. Now this was more my kind of place: spacious, comfortable, air-conditioned, clean and posh. I availed of he complimentary wifi before exploring the mall. Then I crossed over to Grand Indonesia. At 17:15, I went to Food Louvre to find iftar. The food court was packed and I shared a table with a well-to-do family. I didn’t know if the trays were meant to deter anyone from sitting but as I didn’t know they were a family, I decided I’d sit there. Besides, like I said, the food court was packed. There was an announcement when it was time to break fast. I had pulled noodles but it was just average. The ones in KL tasted wayyy better!

After dinner, I decided to head back. I asked the cabbie to drop me at Cikini Station and went to Carrefour to shop for more juice and crackers before returning to the guest house.

On Sunday, I ventured to Tanah Abang again. I decided to take a bus this time. Missed the earlier bus by a minute and the next bus was packed to the rafters. I got down at the last stop and joined the thronging crowd descending on the market. It could be the crowd descending upon the Haram during Haj – that was the size of the crowd indeed and I’m not exaggerating.

I found the stalls I went to yesterday but ended up buying some innerwear from other stalls as they cost less. It was then when I started feeling stomach discomfort. So much so I had to use the bathroom there. Thank God it was clean. I even wondered if it was because of the lettuce in yesterday’s pulled noodles or the three slices of cucumber in this pre-dawn meal’s fried rice.

I left after an hour and walked to Plaza Indonesia. It took me only 22 minutes. I started feeling uncomfortable in Plaza Indonesia and decided to return to the guest house. And it was a good thing I did for I started feeling queasy. It turned out to be food poisoning and I was in bed for the rest of the afternoon and early evening. I ventured out briefly to ask the staff to buy me some ORS, isotonic drink, crackers and chicken porridge. It was a Sunday so unfortunately the pharmacies were all closed. The staff returned after an hour and I dragged myself up to receive the tray of food and water. I just ate the porridge devoid of any chicken. After sending the tray back to the kitchen, I returned to bed.

I got up a few times during the night to use the bathroom and every time I woke up, I made sure I drank some Pocari Sweat. I actually drank about 1.8 litres of Pocari Sweat in those few hours!

The next morning, I woke up for my pre-dawn meal. I forced myself to eat and managed only a quarter of the fried instant noodles. I went back to bed and rested a bit, drank more Pocari Sweat and forced myself to eat some crackers and dates.

I got up again after 7 and had a shower. Felt slightly more human after the shower. I had packed the day before, braving the pain. I felt that I could maybe take the airport bus and hailed a cab to Gambir Station. I bought the bus ticket and boarded the bus just a couple of minutes before I left. The bus took only 45 minutes to get to the airport and it went to Terminals 3 and 1 first before finally stopping at Terminal 2.

My bladder was bursting so I went to the bathroom first (clean! Thank God) before dropping off my bag. Then I went to clear immigration before walking slowly to my gate. The tummy was still delicate.

CT helped select seat 6B for me during check-in but I moved to row 20 as I wanted to lie down. The flight was uneventful, thank God, no turbulence or whatnot.

We landed at KLIA at 13:50, 20 minutes earlier than scheduled. Well done, MAS! I was home by 3 p.m.

That was my seventh trip to Jakarta, my fourth in Ramadan, and my first of food poisoning... oh well, there’s always a first time for everything I suppose.

#ArsenalTour2013 – Jakarta Edition

My mates and I were so excited the minute we learnt Arsenal were coming to Asia again. I was in Egypt when the details were announced and when I was in Jakarta during Chinese New Year, I booked and paid the deposit for two rooms at the guesthouse for the weekend Arsenal were due to visit. Flight tickets were scoured (MAS, Garuda Indonesia, Lion Air, KLM, AirAsia) and subsequently bought the day I returned to work from Egypt (hey, I’m a kiasu after all) and after the ticket details were announced in early April, Aud then bought the tickets online with the help of Budi, a mutual Twitter acquaintance who’s a Jakarta local. Then it was a matter of just counting down the days to our trip.

Friday, 12 July 2013

And finally the day we’d been waiting for arrived!!! (Aud had flown out the day before and she would pick up the tickets today). Left office at 1240 and took the train to KLIA, stopping en route at Putrajaya to meet up my mate for our long overdue chat. She had to return to office and I had a plane to catch so we bade goodbye to each other just before 1430. The train was a little late in arriving and I only arrived at KLIA at 1515. Met up with Zack at row B and we joined the long queue for baggage drop. It was a good thing we had checked in online and changed seats from that allocated to us. I was assigned seat 26A and changed it to 6B. I mean, if there were empty seats in front of the cabin, why should I sit at the rear when sitting up in front would mean I got off the plane and clear immigration earlier?

The trip was uneventful. I tried to nap then read my novel. We landed at 1735 local time and cleared immigration within 10 minutes. Unfortunately, the people manning the bags had other ideas. Before long, large crowds had formed around three of the belts there. We ended up waiting 45 blinking minutes for our bags. I broke fast on the cake, some chocolates and small container of water given in the flight.

Of course there was a long queue for the cab outside. I wasn’t prepared to wait and was contemplating our options when two men approached us and offered transportation to central Jakarta for Rp300K. Outrageous, I said. I bargained it down to Rp200K. Finally, they relented and we followed them to the vehicle. We still had to pay for the airport parking though of Rp20K. Ridiculous.

We arrived at the guesthouse at 1915 and checked in. After freshening up, Aud, Zack and I went out to Grand Indonesia for dinner. We returned after 10 that night.

Saturday, 13 July 2013

I had set my alarm for 0330 local time and before long, there was a knock on the door. One of the girls who works at the guesthouse was at the door, with a tray of a plate of white rice, a pale fried egg and a couple of pieces of tempeh, and a cup of black fragrant tea. The rice was dry, i.e. without a drop of gravy. Now, normally I can’t and am not able to swallow white rice on its own without any gravy but hey when in Rome and all that so I forced myself to eat some of it. I stayed clear away from the egg though. It was raining steadily outside, perfect for slumber and that was what I did after morning prayers, getting up twice to use the bathroom. Oh excuse me, too much info.

I woke up again at 9 and showered. I then joined Aud and Zack outside and then went up to the rooftop to take pictures. We finally left the guesthouse at almost 10 and took a cab to Sarinah Department Store. We spent some time there buying Indonesian souvenirs.

It rained while we were safely and happily engrossed and occupied in Sarinah for the ground was wet when we finally emerged from Sarinah and headed for Grand Hyatt Jakarta where the fans’ party was due to be. We didn’t have any invitation but we reckoned it wouldn’t hurt to check out the action. Maybe if we were lucky, we’d catch a glimpse of someone. It started to rain as we neared the Hotel Indonesia Roundabout (or Bundaran H.I. in the local lingo – we all know how fond the Indonesians are of joining names) and we quickly walked into Plaza Indonesia to seek shelter. From Plaza Indonesia, we found our way to Grand Hyatt and joined the many Gooners already there. We waited and waited and waited patiently, checking out some of the quirky t-shirts sported by the locals. It had started raining very heavily when we arrived and it continued steadily on.

In the end, we waited 50 minutes before finally leaving in disappointment. The players had arrived without us realising it (they bypassed the lobby entrance) and the by-invitation-only party was held behind closed doors (I managed to peek in but couldn’t see anyone because there were just too many people queuing up).

We headed back to Plaza Indonesia and while Aud was having her lunch, I managed a quick browse at the shops. We then returned to the guesthouse and I had a siesta after prayers. Aud wanted to check out the fair at the stadium so she left for the stadium first. I was indifferent. I didn’t even buy anything the two times Arsenal came to KL.

Zack and I left at 5 pm and hailed a cab to Plaza Senayan. It was overcast and dark when we left and it started to rain just as we reached the shopping mall. We went to the food court at the third floor and after ascertaining it was impossible to find any seats, we decided to go find a supermarket. So we sought directions and went to the Food Hall at Sogo basement. We were trying to find the escalator up when we stumbled upon a smaller food court and it was only a quarter full. So we bought our meal and sat down to break our fast.

I went to perform prayers after breaking fast (my, the prayer room was full, full, full and there was a long queue to the ablutions area; good thing I had performed ablutions back at the guesthouse) and rejoined Zack at the lobby. It was still pouring steadily and although I had borrowed and brought along a long brolly from the guesthouse, I wasn’t keen to walk in the downpour. Zack then showed me one chap who was also heading to the stadium with his brother. I asked him to ask the chap if we could get a ride. He told us no at first, saying the vehicle was already full then changed his mind and said OK – if we didn’t mind squeezing in. Well, I didn’t mind it as long as I stayed dry.

We waited for the driver to come and met up the rest of the family. I understood then why he was reluctant to offer us a ride in the first place: there was his mum (who told me she was from central Java and was there to visit her sister), his brother (who was also going to the stadium), his sister, his aunt (who stays in Jakarta), his cousin and himself of course. Then there was the driver and the two of us. The eight of us climbed into the MPV and after some arranging, we set off for the stadium.

There was some confusion when we got to the stadium with no one seeming to know what was going on, which gate was opened for us to enter the stadium and which way to head. Finally, we were told to go to the west gate (or was it the east?) so we continued on. The chap and his brother took the opposite direction as their tickets were for a different price category.

We finally arrived at the opened gate and entered. I went to use the bathroom first (only two cubicles!) and then Zack did likewise. Then we headed up the stairs to enter the seating area. We were confused at first because the crowd ahead of us was blocking the way. We had to go down the stairs, walked across the seats and up the stairs to get seats at what we considered a vintage viewing point.

The Gunners came onto the pitch just before 8:30 pm and stayed on for 90 minutes. We left only when we were sure there were no other Gunners left on the pitch. The Indonesian team had by then came onto the pitch for their training too.

We had quite a wait for a cab back to the guesthouse.

Sunday, 14 July 2013

We stayed in the whole morning. The day cleared up somewhat by noon. Aud and I decided to take a walk to the nearby Cikini market and also Carrefour at a nearby building. Zack didn’t mind joining so the three of us went out at 2:30 pm. It was at Carrefour when Zack asked what our next plans were. He wanted to return to the guesthouse as he had just realised his wallet was missing.

When we came back, we saw him with the guesthouse staff, Tirta, in the office. Tirta was on the phone and it turned out he was calling up the taxi company. Zack suspected he either dropped his wallet in the cab or on the pavement as he exited the cab last night. The thing is, I was behind him (I exited from the same door because it was still raining when we got back to the guesthouse from the stadium and he had the umbrella). Surely I would have noticed it if he dropped the wallet – unless he dropped it on the cab floor and I missed stepping on it. Or he dropped it on the pavement and I didn’t notice it either. So we searched for the Maybank and CIMB numbers for him to cancel his ATM cards. Maybank was more efficient at picking up the call and dealing with the situation. I had to call CIMB twice before Zack could get through. See, there are benefits to still being a prepaid user. I then took a short nap as I was already feeling sleepy at Carrefour.

Woke up at 4:15 pm and got ready. I decided to leave my purse behind and brought only Rp200K along. We left at 4:30 and got a cab almost immediately. It was only a 20-minute ride to the stadium and we walked to our gate, taking in the merchandise on sale (none looked genuine, no surprise there). We joined the queue at Gate 1 and proceeded to wait and wait. We even broke fast while queuing. Finally, the line moved but wait, there was a system glitch and they couldn’t scan our tickets so we had to wait some more. After some time, we were finally let in – the old-fashioned way of tearing up along the perforations by the side of the ticket. We quickly went in and went up the stairs.

We chose our seats, choosing to sit by the aisle as moving further in would mean our views would be slightly blocked by the players’ benches. Well, what did we know. So many people were walking up and down and then so many people decided to stand at the aisle that our view was slightly blocked anyway. I went in search of the bathroom and prayer room right after having decided on our seats. And guess what, the bathroom was mixed (for both sexes!!!) and there was no prayer room. None. Nada. Instead, there was some pieces of carpets (you know, the thin ones you usually find in offices) on which you can perform prayers right outside the washroom. And this is Indonesia we’re talking about, the country with the largest Muslim population in the world. How sad and pathetic is that. By the way, Aud related to us that on Saturday evening when she came ahead before us, the stadium was not lighted until way overdue -  ‘To save costs’ according to a local. Now, had that happened at Bukit Jalil... 

We still had a good time despite all these idiots standing and crowding the aisle testing our patience. As we all know, Theo scored in the first half with nothing much happening after that. A series of changes were made in the second half and Akpom then opened the floodgates. Giroud scored the third and fourth goals (both goals were beautiful), Poldi hammered in the fifth, Olsson slid in for Arsenal’s sixth and Eisfeld completed the seventh goal to give the Indonesia Dream Team a real beating and a nightmare. I was screaming when all the goals were scored.

We finally left after 11 pm and waited a long while for a cab back. The cabs all quoted a flat rate to us and finally, we got one for Rp40K. It had been a long day and night and yet I still had a bowl of instant noodles before going to bed.

Monday, 15 July 2013

Well, it’s time to say goodbye to Jakarta. This morning, I didn’t get any pale fried egg (I think the staff had noticed I left my egg untouched the previous two mornings) but extra helping of tempeh. We still had white rice sans gravy. I showered after the meal and after morning prayers, took a quick nap (didn’t work). Got up at 6:30 am and got dressed.

We left at 7 and the cab Tirta had already called for us was already waiting. There was a brief period of heavy traffic but it was a smooth ride all the way to the airport and we reached the airport after only 40 minutes. I paid Rp122.5K for the ride (after taking into account the toll charges. The cab on my last trip made me pay for the tolls and I was not happy then). We went in, screened our bags and dropped off our bags at the desk. The departure tax is Rp150K per person.

The flight from Kuala Lumpur was late in arriving (there was delay at take-off due to heavy air traffic) and I was starting to panic as I was heading to the office and had a meeting at 2:30 pm. It finally landed at 9:35 and we only took off after 10 am. There was this Iranian guy sitting between us who had a connecting flight at 1:30 pm – I hope he made it. We landed at 1:15 pm and I exited the baggage claim area with four minutes to make it to the KLIA Express platform. I finally reached office at 1425. Phew! Oh, and the meeting was rescheduled...

I wonder if Arsenal would come to this region again next summer and if so, which country. Hey, Asia is after all the new cash cow after the failing economies of some European countries so it is a lucrative destination alright.

Lunar New Year Trip

My young niece was throwing tantrums when she learnt I was taking her brother to Osaka so to pacify her, I agreed to bring her to Bandung during the Chinese New Year weekend. Tickets were bought and I searched for suitable accommodation, this time using Trip Advisor as a guide.

Saturday, 9 February 2013

I met up with Akak et al at KLIA after 3 pm. I had checked in online but the boarding passes could not be issued so we collected them when we dropped off our bags. Our flight took off on time and I was dying to get some kip but the girl was too excited and kept waking me up. Grrr...

We landed at 5.30 pm and rushed to clear immigration. After getting our bags, we walked to the bus station – you turn left when you exit the terminal and keep on walking. There are a few shuttle operators who can take you to Bandung but I chose X-Trans. It cost us Rp200K (Rp105K for adults and Rp95K for children below 12). It was supposed to depart at 1845 but we were only called to board at 1900. The shuttle could fit 10 passengers only (I had imagined a coach not unlike National Express) so I guess we were lucky we got the seats. It took us slightly more than 3 hours to reach Bandung and the shuttle stopped a few times after entering Bandung to drop off passengers before rolling into the terminal at Jalan Cihampelas. We had to wait a bit before getting a cab to our hotel. We reached the hotel at close to 11 pm local time. We checked in and settled in for the night. No local stations showing Arsenal’s match against Stoke so I had to rely on my timeline to find out the score.

Sunday, 10 February 2013

We left at 0930 after breakfast and took the angkot to Trans Studio Bandung about 1.8 km away. As it was Imlek (CNY) and a weekend, the ticket cost Rp250K each – and you have to pay Rp10K for the card. We had our bags searched – outside food and drinks are not allowed – I managed to sneak in my snacks and drink but my niece didn’t manage to. So we had to leave her food at the locker outside before entering. We tried out the Marvel Superheroes 4D ride, Jelajah Adventure (where we got drenched), Dragon Riders ride, Dunia Lain ride (a ride through a haunted house), Special Effects.. we also watched the Chinese Circus from China.

We left before 4 and went to Trans Studio Mall but didn’t stay long. It started to drizzle as we were leaving. Took the angkot to Hotel Papandayan and went to the convenience store across the hotel for some food. We checked out a restaurant on the walk back to the hotel but nothing on the menu tempted us so we left. It had started raining in earnest by then (CNY is rainy season in Jakarta and Bandung) and luckily we had an umbrella with us. We got the hotel and stayed in for the rest of the day.

Monday, 11 February 2013

We left at 9 am and took a cab to Jalan Cihampelas for our shuttle back to Jakarta. We didn’t pre-book and were on the waiting list for the 10 am shuttle (if it was full, we’d have to wait for the 11 am shuttle – if it could accommodate us). The 0930 shuttle to Blok M was already full. I decided on the spur of the moment to take the 0945 shuttle to Pancoran (I had no idea where it was and asked an elderly lady who was headed there. ‘Jakarta Selatan,’ she told me). Well, I’d rather be guaranteed immediate seats than play the waiting game. So I hurriedly bought the tickets for us (Rp150K only) and off we went to board the shuttle.

The journey took only 2 hours and 20 minutes this time and from Pancoran, we took a cab to our guesthouse at Jalan Surabaya in Menteng in central Jakarta. We were caught in the lunchtime traffic but thankfully it was flowing. We reached the guesthouse about 20 minutes later and the fare cost us only Rp30K (less than the Rp200K we would have been charged from Bandung to Jalan Broga in Menteng and that was before the cab fare to the guesthouse) so I was very glad we took our chances and rode the shuttle to Pancoran.

After checking in, performing prayers and paying for our room (I also booked two rooms for an upcoming stay), we ventured out to the antique market just across the street. We walked along the street and then across Jalan Pangeran Diponegoro and took a cab to Tanah Abang market. There were fewer people than usual (was it because it was still CNY?) and quite a few stalls were closed too. We went to 5^th floor as the girl wanted to buy a maxi dress, prayer attire and a denim skirt. We only managed to get two of those; no complaints though as the clothes there were mainly for adults.

We didn’t stay long and took a bajaj to Sarinah departmental store for souvenirs - had to bargain and finally settled for Rp12K and it turned to be only a km away! Dang it. We left after about an hour and I was about to suggest taking the local bus to Plaza Indonesia when I saw the welcoming logo of Louis Vuitton from afar. The LV store is at Plaza Indonesia so we used it as a landmark and walked there. It was a pleasant stroll and reached Plaza Indonesia after 10 minutes. We didn’t stay long there but ventured across to Grand Indonesia. Dinner was had there then we went to browse the stores before taking a cab back to our guesthouse.

Tuesday, 12 February 2013

We had breakfast at 0730 then checked out at 8. The cab took a while in arriving though and we only boarded it at 0829. For some reason, the driver asked me to pay the toll fares totalling Rp11,500 (Rp7000 and Rp4500 respectively). I had never been asked to pay the toll either from the airport or getting back to the airport and was not pleased at this. He dropped us off at the wrong entrance too and we walked back and forth trying to figure out where the check-in counters were. There were many people at the airport, the majority of them about to embark on their umrah trip so it was quite crowded and didn’t help at all. We finally made it through, checked our bags through the x-ray, dropped off our bags and paid the departure tax of Rp150K each. Then we went through the immigration before emerging into the duty-free area beyond. You’d be glad to know that I didn’t spend – despite the offers at Swarovski and tempted by some turquoise and coral jewelleries.

Our flight took off on time and we landed at 1405 local time. We performed prayers at the airport and our bags were already waiting for us ;)

Hope you had a good break then too!

Jakarta – December 2010

Anita and I had planned to go to Jakarta since August 2010 and we bought KLM tickets online (it costs RM10 if you pay by credit card. You can pick the ticket up at the KLM office at Park Royal Hotel but must pay in cash; if you pick up your ticket at the office but opt to use your credit card to pay for it, you’re still charged the RM10 fee). It cost us RM293 before the RM10 charge. So affordable and cost less than even AirAsia!

I told Mummy about it during Eid and as I was successful in getting a two-bedroom apartment, she was keen to come along so I bought tickets for her and my nephew, el niño. Ticket prices had gone up slightly by then but at least still managed to get child fare for el niño.

But of course Mummy didn’t go in the end and I was very sad when I visited her on the morning of my departure.

Saturday, 25 December 2010

Met up with el niño at Putrajaya KLIA Transit station and together we boarded the train to KLIA. I had done prior online check-in so it was just a matter of dropping our bags. I had planned to get to the satellite building anyway to shop and was happy that the flight would depart from the satellite building (I had thought it would depart from the main terminal as it was an ASEAN-bound flight).

We went to the gate at 4.30 pm and met up with Anita there. The flight was a bit bumpy – too many clouds – but the in-flight entertainment kept us quite occupied.

We landed at 7 pm local time and were out by 7.30 pm. Anita had pre-arranged a limo with the hotel at only Rp190,000 (taxies from the airport to downtown charge around Rp200,000 on average). The traffic was kind to us, probably as it was Christmas Day and we reached the hotel after 8 pm. There were only a few towers at the hotel apartment complex and only two lifts that service our floor at Block A.

Our two-bedroom apartment had a kitchen/dining area (complete with stove and microwave besides the refrigerator) and living room (with flat-screen TV and cable network. Having said that, while there were ESPN and StarSports, the stations didn’t show any Premier League matches at all – I had to wait for Sports News on CNN and BBC and later Internet to find out the scores and drama against Chelshit and Wigan. Grrr...).

We went out to explore the area for a bit before returning to hotel to relax.

Sunday, 26 December 2010

Anita went on a city tour today, joining other tourists on Grayline. I decided to check out the antique market at Jalan Surabaya and then stop at Gambir station to buy tickets for the next day before checking out the museums in the Old City.

We took the bajaj to the antique market and spent about half an hour there. We then took another bajaj to Gambir station but were told that we couldn’t buy tickets in advance so we left. It rained when we were at Gambir but had slowed down to a drizzle when we left. We took another bajaj to Fatahillah Square and there were lovely buildings and already a lot of people there!

After taking photos at Fatahillah Square, we headed to the Puppet Museum (Museum Wayang). This museum is dedicated to puppetry with shadow puppets and three-dimensional wooden puppets on display. The building was once the Old Dutch Church (De Oude Hollandsche Kerk) before being converted into a museum in 1975. Entrance fee is dirt-cheap at IDR2000 for adults and a mere IDR600 for children below 12.

Next we headed to Jakarta History Museum aka Fatahillah Museum. Housed in the former Stadhuys (Town Hall), the museum features memorabilia depicting the historical developments of the city. The entrance fee is similar to that charged by the Puppet Museum. I was amazed at the crowd; Indonesians really value their own history and culture.

It was almost noon when we emerged back into the sun. We took photos of the Museum of Fine Arts and Ceramics, Post Office and Café Batavia before leaving the Old City.

We took a bajaj to Sarinah Department Store where we performed prayers, had lunch and did a bit of shopping. Then we headed to Plaza Indonesia – spent a longgg time there (who ever knew my nephew could shop? And took a much longer time than me? I’m a quick shopper. Serious.). Our last pit-stop was Grand Indonesia where we had dinner.
We returned back to the hotel by taxi and turned the TV on in time to see Malaysia score their first goal against Indonesia in the first leg of the AFF Suzuki Cup!!! Malaysia went on to win the match 3-0.

Monday, 27 December 2010

We woke up early today as our destination today was the Safari Park near Bogor. Anita joined a tour while I decided it was something I could do on my own. Besides, I read that the traffic jam heading to the highlands where the park is could be horrible. So el niño and I took a cab to Gambir station and bought Pakuan Express tickets to Bogor. The train was late in arriving though; we waited more than half an hour but once it came, we managed to get good seats and the train ride was comfortable. It took only 55 minutes to reach Bogor. We also met a few Malaysian students doing their medical degree in Jakarta who were also heading to Bogor for their term break.

I read that we could ride an angkot to the Safari Park but little did I know the park was quite far from Bogor town itself. So we hopped on ojek (motorbike taxies) and rode to the park. One advantage is you beat the traffic jam of course. Parts of the road were closed in sequence to allow traffic to flow – you could travel for some miles before being stopped and the traffic from the opposite direction be allowed to move. Then they get stopped and you resume your journey. Motorbikes, however, are allowed to continue and not subjected to this partial ‘road closure’. Despite this, it still took us an hour to get to the park. If we had taken an angkot or a car, it probably would have taken us two hours to get there and I’d be nursing a headache after being stuck in a vehicle that long in the heat.

We bought tickets and walked in to the bus area. If you come to the park by public transportation, you can ride the park bus around the park. Animals are left free to wander around the park (except for the carnivores – tigers, lions and even bears, which are left in their own gated area) and you can feed the animals from your car. The tour ended maybe 45 minutes later and we were free to roam the park.

It started to drizzle shortly after but I came prepared with raincoats so we were not too bothered by the rain. We went to the baby zoo where we took pictures with some animals (each visitor needs to pay only IDR10,000 for each animal they want to take pictures with). El niño was so excited and wanted to try out some rides (*sigh*); thank God it was raining or he’d ride even more than those he eventually did.

I read quite a few reviews saying that the safari park is wayyy better than the zoo in Singapore and the crowd was a good indication of the popularity of the park. We caught glimpses of the dolphin show (there were just too many people!!!) and after exploring a bit more of the grounds, reluctantly found our way back to the ojek drivers for our ride back to Bogor.

We reached Bogor train station just in time to pay the ojek drivers, buy train tickets back to Jakarta and board the train. The train left the station at 3.35 pm and we reached Gambir station at 4.30 pm. We hailed a cab back to the hotel and rested.

Dinner was had at the nearby Pasar Festival.

Tuesday, 28 December 2010

Anita joined another tour to Bandung today so we agreed to do our shopping together the next day. So today, el niño and I took a cab to Plaza Senayan (it was shopping day today!). We passed Gelora Bung Karno Stadium (where the second leg of the AFF Suzuki Cup Final between Indonesia and Malaysia would be held) and saw a lot of vendors selling Indonesian football jerseys etc outside the stadium. We also saw a lot of people queuing – I’m not sure if they were queuing for tickets because surely the tickets had been long sold out? We shopped, performed prayers, window shopped and had lunch at Plaza Senayan. I was quite please as I finally managed to get my Cesc t-shirt - it cost more than the one I saw in Isetan earlier (I didn’t get it then as it was in L-size) but had a 30% discount. Then we crossed over to Senayan City. It has more or less the stores at Plaza Indonesia anyway so we left before long and headed to Plaza Indonesia.

Wednesday, 29 December 2010

All three of us shared a bajaj this morning and headed for Tanah Abang. I was only planning to get simple prayer attires for myself and Akak. Anita managed to find good deals (she really bought a lot!) and we ended up at Tanah Abang for more than two hours. After that, we headed to – yup, you guess it – Plaza Indonesia to continue our shopping. El niño and I crossed over to Grand Indonesia before returning to Plaza Indonesia for our late lunch.

We left before 5 pm and were stuck for more than an hour in the crawl. I suspect the cabbie was not familiar with our hotel location as he took a different route and as a result, we got caught in the after-office traffic jam. On the other side of the road, we could see vans and buses and even trucks ferrying Indonesian supporters to the stadium in Senayan.

Malaysia lost 1-2 after leading but won the Cup on aggregate. Congratulations Team Malaysia!!! I’m so proud of you. I didn’t realise we actually have young players who could play football well ;')

Thursday, 30 December 2010

Well, our stay had come to an end today. I woke up missing Mummy terribly. Anita left early bringing her bags down to the luggage room as she joined another city tour today. El niño and I checked out at 10.30 am and took the bajaj to Plaza Indonesia. There was an area called Miniapolis at Level 3 and el niño wanted to ride the train (what is it about boys and trains??!!). We had lunch at Grand Indonesia before heading back to the hotel. Back at the hotel, we went for a massage (we had earlier scouted for spas in Plaza Indonesia. I could get two massage sessions at the hotel for the price charged at the spa in Plaza Indonesia!).

We met up with Anita at the lobby at 4.10 pm and went to the pre-arranged vehicle for our ride to the airport. We reached the airport an hour later and dropped off our bags. The flight was bound for Amsterdam with a transit and cabin crew change in KL. We landed 20 minutes before schedule and yet our bags only appeared at 10.46 pm so el niño and I had to run, run, run to the KLIA transit station for our 10.52 pm train. I dropped off el niño at Putrajaya station where he waited for his family to come and continued on alone to KL Sentral. Abah came to pick me up and I was home by midnight.

So that was my year-end trip. I hope you had a great holiday too!

One fine day, I hope I can go on a safari in Africa like these lads Where you can practically reach out to pet the jungle cats

And have giants like these tailing behind. One fine day, insyaAllah

Absolutely Djokdja*

* The old spelling for Yogyakarta


I was in Java during the weekend. This trip was planned and arranged back in December – there were some serious ticket bargains then - and I only learnt about the crisis between Malaysia and Indonesia on Wednesday (I haven’t been following the news since Ramadan commenced). I left the office for KLIA on Friday evening and boarded the national carrier for Jakarta, landing at 10.40 pm local time (flight out was re-scheduled to depart half an hour later enabling me to perform tarawikh prayers at the airport). I ignored the pestering cabbies and went in search of restrooms (only found one in working condition at the departure level!) before settling down to wait for Andrea – her flight from Manila only landed at midnight and we then took a cab to Sofyan Hotel. Traffic was kind to us, well, it was after midnight after all and we reached the hotel after 30 minutes. However, I had told the cabbie to drive us to Sofyan Cikini (when it had in fact closed down for quite a while) not realising that we should have headed to Sofyan Betawi. And the blinking cabbie wanted a tip %#^*&*)

I woke up early on Saturday to partake my pre-dawn meal. We only left the hotel after 10 am and, after a detour to a nearby shopping centre where Andrea had some meal, took the bajaj to Sarinah Department Store. There’s even a prayer room there – how convenient! We spent a few hours there (Andrea doing most of the purchasing) before taking another bajaj to Plaza Indonesia. It was here when I discovered that tourists cannot claim the 10% sales tax though you can do that at Sarinah if you spend more than Rp5 million (if my memory serves me right) because Sarinah sells local products, namely batik.We had our break fast/dinner at Grand Indonesia before returning back to the hotel by bajaj to rest.

We had an Easy Like Sunday Morning before leaving Jakarta for our flight in the afternoon (which was re-scheduled a few times – typical of AirAsia). The domestic terminal, Terminal 3, looked really modern and new. Our bags had both exceeded 7 kg but thankfully we managed to bring them onboard. I was so happy with this that I went further and bought a batik sarong and a pouch at Batik Keris (well, there was an offer). Oh by the way, there’s a Rp30,000 domestic travel airport charge.

We landed at Jogjakarta at 3.50 pm and were already in the cab before 4 pm. We headed for Hotel Merbabu (the very same hotel I stayed at in January 2009). I had booked and paid a deposit for a room when I came in end-July so the check-in was very fast. After dumping our bags, we went out to Jalan Malioboro. I broke fast at a restaurant in Malioboro Mall. As the hotel did not provide any pre-dawn meal (boo hoo) I had to go out again to find some meal.

Because we were supposed to arrive into Jogja later, we had asked the hotel the help arrange a tour for us with Sosro Tour & Travel for a day-trip to Borobudur, Prambanan and Kraton (palace). The cost is Rp100,000 exclusive of entrance fees at Borobudur (USD15), Prambanan (USD13) and Kraton. You can pay the entrance fees in either Rupiah or USD. However, when we went to Sosro office on Monday morning, we were told that while the hotel did make a booking for us, it did not confirm our tour (this despite me asking the hotel staff numerous times). The travel agent tried to help us but could not manage to locate any of the company’s drivers. Finally she suggested we take Trans Jogja, the local bus, to Prambanan (17 km away) and then take a 2 pm tour to Borobudur for Rp65,000; this would mean there would be no trip to kraton for us but the palace closes at 12 noon in Ramadan anyway. She reasoned that the trip would take equally long had we gone on a tour and besides Trans Jogja is very safe and reliable. So we agreed and she showed us the bus stop. We paid Rp3000 each (so cheap!) and the #1A bus came almost immediately. It took us only 45 minutes to reach Prambanan. The best part was the bus also goes to the airport and Andrea and I agreed we would take it when we return to the airport the following day. The airport bus stop is across the railway track from the airport and you need to go down and up the ramps to reach the terminal building. Not to worry, it’s all very modern and convenient with walkalators.

It was already hot, hot, hot when we reached the bus terminal at Prambanan – and it was only 8.30 am! We had to walk about 15 minutes in the morning heat to reach the ticket office but fear not if you dislike walking as there are a lot of trishaws waiting to bring you there. Because of the depreciating greenback, I opted to pay in USD. If you opt to pay in the local currency, the ticket is Rp117,000 (USD13.29). We decided to take a guide and he was much, much better than the one I had last year.

We returned back to the bus terminal for our bus back to Jogja at 10.45 am and stopped at the Malioboro Mall. I bought some food while Andrea had some lunch. Then we walked back to the hotel to rest.

We set off at 1.45 pm and walked to Sosro office for our 2 pm tour to Borobudur. There were Andrea and I and a bloke from Australia in the whole MPV. Borobudur is only about 37 km away and yet it took us close to an hour to get there. We didn’t hire a guide this time and were happy with our decision to change our plans to visit Borobudur and Prambanan in that order to Prambanan followed by Borobudur. There were noticeably less people in the afternoon compared to the morning crowd when I went there last year. So it was a really good decision after all. The driver had told us we could stay until 5.30 pm but we were already back at the MPV by 4.45 pm. We reached Jogja at 5.45 pm, just in time for me to break fast.

I woke up early on Tuesday and went to a local convenience store to purchase some instant noodles-in-a-cup. Yes, a very simple pre-dawn meal (I am also fine with simple break fast meals). There were quite a few people about all buying food and pushing their food-carts, and trishaw drivers asking you to ride with them (wherever to at 3.15 am?). It rained during the night and the ground was wet and the air pleasantly cool.

We went out for a short trishaw ride around the city (but the driver then demanded double what he agreed on %#@)~). I rushed back to the hotel at 9.45 am and picked my bag and hurried over to the bus stop for my bus to the airport. As luck would have it, the bus pulled up just as I arrived and Andrea and I had a quick farewell before I paid for my ticket and boarded the bus. It was a 35-minute ride to the airport and despite reaching the check-in counter 65 minutes before departure, I managed to get seat 5A. We landed at 2.50 pm and I reached home just after 5 pm.

So that was my Merdeka weekend; hope you had a good one too!

~~~~~~~~

Arsenal visited Ewood Park on Saturday and managed to come away with three points. Kudos to Theo. Alan-yse that Alan Hansen! Love this chant line, thanks to YoungGunsBlog.

Theo let rip with such a powerful strike that it took required lengthy half-time repairs to the net

RvP is out for ankle injury. ‘He is that sort of player’ *sigh*

Shava helped to restore our lead

Customary celebration

... in front of the Gooners

My baby made his first start but was later subbed