Jakarta Tourists...

[kingwilly]

Well, when you have visitors, it’s a good chance to be a tourist in a place, that you may otherwise not bother with, since most of it has become rather mundane and ordinary.
Firstly, we visited Taman safari, its about a 2 hour drive out of jakarta and passes through the beautiful Puncak Pass. Traffic is a menace, however, it took as almost an hour to drive 11 kilometres from the exit of the tollway.

Buy some carrots before you enter, there was approx 100 of these stalls, 3 bunches for 10,000 rupiah (30 baht)



50,000 rupiah each since I’m a resident, visitors would normally pay 70,000 plus about 12,000 for the car. You then drive around, feeding the animals, keep the windows up around the dangerous cats.















Afterwards, you can have a ride on a ferris wheel, take your photo with various drugged up ( I assume ) tigers or chimpanzees. The biggest queue was for the haunted house, they are also building a water bom park. (there is one in bali and jakarta already, its a waterslide park):yippee:

[kingwilly]

Fatahilla Square.

Is in the north of Jakarta in the old batavia city. It;s a bit of a hike form where I live.


Old dutch buildings – old dutch administration building,


jail cells complete with ball and chains, up to 50 people per cell.




The well had dozens of dead bodies thrown into it by the dutch during their rule and this was only found out later.




The dutch building has a bit of a museum here, a bit run down, and not particularly good explanations, but not expensive either, about 20 cents entry. Of course, a tout latched onto my aunt and uncle explaining this and that, helping them to take photos. I told them to ignore him, but they seemed to enjoy it, after awhile I’d had enough, told him to piss off, we were going to lunch, he follows outside, and my uncle opens his wallet to give him a tip, the silly fucker takes a 100K note out of my uncles wallet, we made him give it back, he then tried to negotiate, 50, 20, I told him to piss off, my uncle gave him 10,000 – which is fair enough.
backgammon table



touch this cannon to get pregnant....



bunch of school kids, notice the teachers with megaphones. later the knobski teacher used his megaphone to invite me to join with his class who were singing indonesian songs...



door to courtyard.



ornamental personal cannon.



overlooking the fattahilla square, apparently the Dutch govener would oversee executions from here.

[kingwilly]

Cafe Batavia

Café Batavia – an institution in Jakarta, built around 1850. Great food, this was a lamb chop sandwich ! I ate an avocado and smoked salmon sandwich. Toilet shot, the urinal was a mirror …

[reinvented]

velly nice
like the big buffalo thingy

[kingwilly]

General Jakarta Street Pics....

still in Batavia area.



this one was done up nicely.


Chicken Market Bridge, apparently the last of the dutch built draw bridges...


general filth


old building. (damn truck)


train station of Kota (aka china town, or batavia)



a wall of bikes.


a hotel in kota.
hotel Metropole


pretty cheap. that's about $15, Short time hotel? Looks pretty grotty to me. 150 Rupiah is about $15 per night, but why is a weekend cheaper? All the businessmen using it midweek keeping the prices high?


parking for the hotel.....

[kingwilly]

more street pics.

some piss ass protest about the upcoming elections.



bit of a crap photo, but this guy was welding something, and that bottle behind was hitched to his bike ...



pizza man statue near south jakarta.



traffic circle near hotel indonesia.



jalan Thamarin or Sudirman, i forget which .



the largest mosque in the southern hemisphere, so i've been told.

[kingwilly]

Sunda Kelapa harbor – boats (Makassar Schooners) ply trade between borneo and java. Unloaded by hand. Probably has not changed in 300 years.







Monument National or Monas – soekarno’s last erection, about 162 metres high, 35kg of gold leaf, and Italian marble.











my new car being delivered.

[kingwilly]

contact details of Batavia Cafe, for those that want, you can book the place for functions.

Taman Fatahillah, Jakarta-Kota
tel +85691 5531
fax +85692 3842

[MeMock]

Did you touch the cannon?

[kingwilly]

some added detail.

large mosque above is

Istiqlal Mosque


from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia



The alabaster marbled Istiqlal Mosque, the largest in Southeast Asia

Basic information Location Jakarta, Indonesia Geographic coordinates 6°10′11.40″S 106°49′51.40″E / 6.1698333°S 106.8309444°E / -6.1698333; 106.8309444 Religious affiliation Islam Website Masjid Istiqlal Online - © 2006

Architectural description Architect(s) Frederich Silaban Architectural type Mosque

Year completed 22 February 1978

Construction cost 7 billion rupiah (USD 12 million)

Specifications
Capacity > 120,000
Dome(s) 2 Dome dia. (outer) 45 m
Minaret(s) 1 Minaret height 90 m

Istiqlal Mosque, or Masjid Istiqlal, (Independence Mosque) in Jakarta, Indonesia is the largest mosque in Southeast Asia.[1] This national mosque of Indonesia was build to commemorate Indonesian independence, as nation's gratitude for God's blessings; the independence of Indonesia. Therefore the national mosque of Indonesia was named "Istiqlal", an arabic word for "Independence".

[kingwilly]

Did you touch the cannon?

nope.

have done so previously.

the Pizza man statue above has a real name

Patung Pemuda (Youth Monument)

This immense statue was erected to symbolize the contribution of youthful courage in the development of the country. A bare-bodied young man is depicted holding a saucer containing an eternal flame up over his head. The flame represents the eternal spirit of youth, while the figure's animated expression captures the enthusiasm of youth. The monument stands on a two-meter pedestal in the center of a pond surrounded by small flowering trees. It was created by a team of artists headed by M. Pamuncak and was donated by Pertamina, the state oil company.Property Information by Wcities
Patung Pemuda (Youth Monument), Jakarta, Indonesia : Reviews of Patung Pemuda (Youth Monument) - Yahoo! Travel

[kingwilly]

The water fountain traffic circle pictured above is known as the ....

Statue of Welcome (known locally as ‘Hansel and Gretel’) in Jakarta
- Statue of Welcome (known locally as ‘Hansel and Gretel’) in Jakarta, is located near the Grand Hyatt
- These two sculptures were built under the directive from the first President of Sukarno, who initiated the construction to welcome the sportsmen and guests who arrived at Jakarta during the 1962 Asian Games.
- You will be impressed by the decoration and lighting of the fountain surrounding the monument in the evenings.
- This monument represents Sukarno's motivation to evolve Jakarta into an urban metro, which he used strongly during his regime.

[kingwilly]

not everyone was happy about the money spent on recent renovations though.

'New fountain a waste of money'

The Jakarta Post , Jakarta | Sat, 06/29/2002 7:03 AM | Jakarta
The city administration spent Rp 14 billion (US$1.6 million) on renovating the water fountain at the Hotel Indonesia traffic circle to commemorate the city's 475th anniversary. Governor Sutiyoso has also called on the public to stop staging rallies at the traffic circle. What do members of the public have to say about it?
Hermanto, 35, is an employee at a private company in Kota, Central Jakarta. He lives in Kebayoran Baru, South Jakarta.
How can the administration spend so much money on a cosmetic project? Our leaders must realize there are still many unemployed people in the city, so I think the money would have been more usefully spent on creating jobs.
As a resident, I'm proud of having a beautiful statue with a beautiful fountain. If the nation's economy was prospering than the construction of such project would be welcomed. But at such a time of crisis, surely there are far more urgent issues and projects that need to be done first?
I hope that in future our leaders could be a little bit more sensitive to how most Jakartans feel.
Ridwan, 23, activist of the Betawi (Jakarta native) Student Association. He lives in Kampung Melayu, East Jakarta.
The renovation of the traffic circle fountain is a waste of money. The money would be more usefully spent helping out street vendors.
Sutiyoso is now trying to ban rallies at the traffic circle. He has tried to create an image, maybe in front of President Megawati Soekarnoputri, that he can improve security in the city.
Sutiyoso needs to be seen favorably by the President to be reelected at the next gubernatorial election.
We, students, reject the reelection of Sutiyoso because of his attempts to suppress democracy by banning people from conducting rallies at the traffic circle.
Ponco Suprihandoko, who comes from Salatiga, Central Java, is a marketing officer at a noted cigarette company. He has been living in the city for seven years with his two kids and wife in Lenteng Agung, South Jakarta.
The traffic circle fountain is far from being spectacular. I would have thought Rp 14 billion spent on its renovation could have created something a little more extraordinary.
What is it really for? Perhaps it's just to boost the city's prestige? But, who really cares about that?
It would have been far more worthwhile to spend the money on rehousing the city's evicted squatters. That's a real problem for Jakarta and the city administration to deal with and solve.
The costly renovation of the fountain won't improve poor people's lives, which, of course, should have been the administration's priority.
Reyza Pribadi, 32, a councillor at a communication firm on Jl. Jend. Sudirman, Central Jakarta, has been living in the city for 10 years.
I see no difference between the old and the new fountain. I thought it would be better than the old one as it was reported that the administration had spent Rp 14 billion to renovate it.
It's a waste of money and at the same time it reflects how the governor has no sense of crisis.
The city faces a lot of social problems, which requires a lot of money to solve them. What about rehousing evicted squatters, for example, or creating more job opportunities? But, the administration's response is to spend money on renovating a fountain.
I can only say the administration is not serious in solving the city's social problems. -- JP

'New fountain a waste of money' | The Jakarta Post

[sunsetter]

nice one mate, love those boats
read a bok about a bloke who travelled indo in those, ace report mate

[kingwilly]

read a bok about a bloke who travelled indo in those

really? Do you remember the title, I'd like to read it.

[ronrat]

My brothers father in law is a wharfie in Balikpapan. They work very hard for little money. He is about 50 but fit as a trout. There not like the aussie wharfies

[Lily]

Great photos Willy!

[Rural Surin]

Nice thread William. Continued Indo updates are your calling. I should expect a decent photo thread and commentary regarding Sulawesi, Maluku {Molaccca}, and the Sundas before long. Cheers.....

[Happyman]

Have been to Jakarta quite a few times and, having lived for quite a time during the 70's in the Netherlands was fascinated by the area around Batavia.
Before I went the first time I had read the biography of Sir Stamford Raffles and one of the first places I went to was the Batavia Cafe - Your picture of the notice showing the history of the cafe reminded me of the surprise I had then !!
There is no mention of the fact that Raffles led the force that took take Jakarta and indeed Indonesia from the Dutch and ruled the country for 5 years ( 1811 - 1816) - what's more the Batavia Cafe was his office and administration centre.
!!
Perhaps they want to forget that we were there !

The Stadthuis was also facinating - I had a lot of fun translating the various tombstones and declarations on the wall to the amazement of the guide I had - he was using a printed guidesheet and couldnt get his head around a cockney Brit translating from 'old Dutch ' - similar to Fries and/or Afrikaanse ( in the Netherlands most of the lads I was working with were from Friesland and spoke it to confuse the 'ever-so well spoken' administrator from Haarlem !) - faster than he could find the right page in his book !

A historical note
Raffles wife , Olivia, died in 1814 at his country estate in Bogor and is buried in Jakarta - he never got over it and left Indonesia and started afresh in Singapore.

A what if
If she had not died would Indonesia been annexed into the British Empire !!

Sorry
Rambling on a bit

Great pics KW Thanks - certainly stirred up the few remaining brain cells !!

[jim1176]

Great info and pics KW

[Happyman]

( in the Netherlands most of the lads I was working with were from Friesland and spoke it to confuse the 'ever-so well spoken' administrator from Haarlem !)

Rather like a posh London yuppie trying to understand a fast talking Geordie !

[kingwilly]

My xwife is from Friesland....

[Happyman]

Then you know what I mean then