City Information
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Airport
Soekarno-Hatta International Airport is 15 km north-west of the
city.
Airport to City Centre
Outside rush hour a cab from the airport takes 40 mins into Central
Jakarta and costs about $6, including road tolls of $2. Rush hour
traffic, however, can turn 40 mins into 2 hrs – beware
late-afternoon arrivals. The queue for taxis at the airport can be
daunting and you must demand that the driver use the meter, although
tipping is discretionary. Look for the Silverbird stand when you
exit the terminal – the queue moves fast and drivers are reliable.
The Bluebird Taxi stand inside the terminal is also helpful. Damri
Public Buses run express services from every airport terminal half
hourly to the following destinations: Blok M bus station in South
Jakarta, Gambir train station in Central Jakarta, and Rawamangun bus
station in East Jakarta. The fare is $1 including toll road fees.
Orientation
With over 10m people, Jakarta is a densely-populated metropolis,
whose hub is the Golden Triangle, formed by Jalan Jendral Sudirman,
Jalan Gatot Subroto and Jalan Rasuna Said. Jalan means road, but
taxi drivers often drop the word and just say ‘Sudirman’, for
example. The fountain in front of the historic Hotel Indonesia marks
the city’s centre, where the main hotel and financial districts
lie, cut across by the very polluted Ciliwung River. Jalan Thamrin
is the main north-south street of the new city and this wide
boulevard is home to most of Jakarta’s big hotels and banks, as
well as the Sarinah department store. At the top of Jalan Thamrin is
Monas, in a big open square, with the neo-classical Presidential
Palace on the north side as a reference point. The south side houses
national airline Garuda and Wisma Antara, home of the Antara state
news agency. The train station on the east side is avocado green and
easy to spot. A couple of blocks along Jalan Kebon Sirih is Jalan
Jaksa, the cheap accommodation centre of Jakarta. North of Jakarta
Pusat is Old Jakarta. Glodok is the Chinatown area. Kota further
north has the city’s best colonial architecture, particularly at
Taman Fatahillah on Jalan Pintu Besar. The more modern part of
Jakarta is to the south of the National Monument. Further north
still is Ancol Amusement Park, with Sea World for the kids. South
Jakarta is a leafy, wealthy residential area, including Blok M with
its massive shopping complex and the trendy Kemang area, with lots
of restaurants and bars. Slums crowd East and West Jakarta.
Getting Around
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Taxis are easy to find on the street and come in all shapes and
sizes, but for safety and convenience look for Bluebird fleet,
including luxurious Silverbird taxis. Most hotels have ranks and can
instruct the driver for you. Fares start at $0.30, up to around $3
for a long ride across town. You can order a taxi by phone, but a
$1.30 minimum applies. Tell the driver to use the meter and almost
all will oblige.
What to see
Istiqlal Mosque: South-East Asia’s largest mosque took 17
years to build, with its grand marble walls and blinding white dome
visible 15 km away. Very busy on Fri as thousands descend for weekly
prayer. Permission is required to enter and no shoes are allowed.
Modesty of dress and behaviour is essential. Jalan Lapangan Banteng.
The National Museum: Also known as Museum Gadjah, it is
crammed with 85,000 items, the richest collection of Indonesian
artefacts in the world. Also houses one of the largest, rarest
collections of Oriental ceramics outside China.
The Textile Museum: South-west of the National Musuem is this
smaller but very interesting museum, with a large collection of
fabrics from all over Indonesia, as well as many curious looms and
batik-making tools.
National Monument: Known locally as Monas, this imposing
column was commissioned by Sukarno, Indonesian’s first president,
and built by the Russians in the middle of Medan Merdeka, one of the
world’s largest city squares. At the top of its 137 metres is 35
kg of pure gold leaf, and you can view the city from just below the
flame. There is a history display in the basement, but it’s
notorious for whitewashing history as ex-President Suharto saw it,
including a disputed coup attempt in 1965 that sparked the killing
of hundreds of thousands of accused Communists. Take its facts with
a large grain of salt. Another basement room stores Indonesia’s
first red and white national flag.
Raguan Zoo: This zoo, in the Pasar Minggu District south of
the city, has Komodo dragons, orang-utans and other interesting
Indonesian wildlife. However, don’t expect large enclosures, and
note that the financial crisis hurt the imported-meat diet of the
larger animals, hence their appearance is even more ragged than
usual.
Puppet Museum: Across from the ever-popular Café Batavia,
this small museum has hundreds of traditional wayang puppets,
incorporating different regional styles. You can also watch
traditional wayang performances most Sun mornings.
Sunda Kelapa Harbour: 500-year-old port with 19c handmade
Phinisi schooners still used for carrying teak and other hardwoods
from the outer islands. The harbour charges tourists Rp2,000 to
enter; guides will offer to accompany you, but don’t pay more than
Rp10,000 per group. The nearby shipyard has been converted into a
so-so restaurant called VOC Galungan Café with pleasant shaded
grounds – stop off for a cool drink after touring the harbour. For
small change, you can hop on and land in Kalimantan or Sulawesi. If
you dare, cross the smelly estuary in a canoe to the fish market and
Bandan mosque. Continue through the alleyways to Museum Bahari, the
maritime and spice museum housed in a former Dutch warehouse.
Taman Ismail Marzuki: The Jakarta Arts Centre, better known
as TIM by the acronym-loving Indonesians, is a complex of theatres
and galleries with nightly cultural performances, but of rather hit
and miss quality. Some art exhibits have been stupendous, but
others, showcasing student works from the adjacent Jakarta Arts
Institute, are haphazard. Try to catch a wayang performance, but you
may be just as lucky with an avant garde dance troupe. Look in
Jakarta Post, the main English language newspaper, for the schedule
of events, or get hold of monthly programmes from hotels or
embassies.
Shopping
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In Jakarta, malls are extremely popular because of the heat and
humidity; and on any given day they're full of people with no
intention of buying anything, but just cooling off in the
air-conditioned halls. The city's best shopping malls are Plaza
Indonesia, where there are four floors of designer stores popular
with Prada-toting society ladies. In South Jakarta, Plaza Senayan
rivals Plaza Indonesia, with marble-lined grandeur and designer cred.
The Pasaraya Blok M, also in South Jakarta, is the city's gargantuan
department store, with everything from aspirins to anoraks on sale -
it's also particularly good for handicrafts.
Where to walk
Jakarta is not at all pedestrian-friendly, and few people bother to
walk unless they have to. For most, it's simply too hot. The easiest
place to walk is the Kota area, starting from Fatahillah Sq,
surrounded by the National Art Museum, the City Museum and the
Wayang Museum. From there, go north alongside filthy canals to Pasar
Ikan, the fish market, with small historical corners filled with
dilapidated Dutch colonial warehouses. A block south of Fatahillah
Sq is the art deco-style Kota train station. Don't head any further
south from here, unless you want to see Jakarta post-apocalypse, and
the charred remains of myriad buildings destroyed in the riots in
May 1998. The huge Medan Merdeka Sq is also worth a stroll; its
tenants include the Presidential Palace, the National Monument and
the National Museum. North-west of the palace, through Lapangan
Banteng, are the city's grandest religious houses: the gigantic
Istiqlal Mosque, the pseudo-gothic St Mary's Cathedral and the
stylish Dutch Protestant Emmanuel Church.
