A typical West Sumatra house in the mini park. DIFFERENT: A model house inside Taman Mini Indonesia Indah, literally translated as the Beautiful Indonesia Miniature Park. Photos by the author
By Umer Nangiana
Even before the plane touches down at Jakarta’s Soekarno-Hatta International Airport, you get the first of the many-to-come bouts of excitement.
“Yes, this indeed is the right place,” is the first thought that crosses your mind. And the second thought when you catch a glimpse of the natural beauty outside of the airport: “Wow, am I really going to witness something that I have only heard about so far?” Tranced, you start picturing your upcoming adventures. The ideas in your mind are soon going to get real. Indonesia, the island country lying between Indian and Pacific oceans, is quite literally the Garden of Eden.
Jakarta is only the starter for bigger exploration opportunities that lie all around it. Commercial hub and the capital of the country, this huge city has a lot to offer in the form of monuments, a chain of museums detailing the country’s past and present, parks, mosques, temples, colonial era remnants, street food and multiple shopping malls besides much more.
However, the only thing that might annoy you is the city’s creeping traffic flow. Jakarta is located on Java, the most populated of the cluster of islands. Being the centre of business and trade, the city’s population swells manifold in the day time when people living in the outskirts move inwards. So be prepared to be patient.
“Here, nobody bothers to honk at others. In fact, at the traffic lights you can read your newspaper,” joked our tour guide Ahmad Marzuki, the official Tourist Guide for Java and Jakarta.
After an 8-hour flight from Qatar, you would feel the need to rest but the excitement is high. So you can have a power nap before a quick shower and get down to business particularly if you land in Jakarta during the day or evening, as we, a small group of journalists from Doha, did.
First and foremost, treat yourself with some of the best seafood in the world. The highly recommended places are the old city traditional restaurants. One of the must-haves is Ikan Gurame Bakar, a dish consisting of charcoal-grilled fish. This popular eastern region dish is finger-licking delicious.
There are multiple options to start your tour with if you have landed in Jakarta. It is a modern city packed with traditional values and practices — a perfect blend of old and new. “Many people start with museums or monuments, however, the old Chinese temples in the town would perfectly set the mood,” Barzuki tells us. There are so many of them. They offer the ideal photo-taking opportunities and help you form a bond with the people and the city.
For a deeper connection and a closer look at some of Jakarta’s colonial era architecture, we moved on to Kota Tua, a small area also known as old Jakarta and old Batavia, the Dutch-era capital. It is reminiscent of the colonial times in the 16th century, when the city was only within the Batavia’s walled compound (today Kota), while the surrounding areas consisted of villages, orchards, and rice fields.
It still houses the former Town Hall of Batavia and the seat of Governor General from where the Dutch controlled the country. The building now serves as Jakarta History Museum. To the other end, you will find a blend of old and new buildings with some colonial era cafes still preserved in the original shape.
If you are interested in the history of the city in particular, the best place to find it in is perhaps Sunda Kelapa, the old port of Jakarta located on the estuarine of Ciliwung River. Situated in Penjaringan sub-district, of North Jakarta, today the old port only accommodates pinisi, a traditional two-mast wooden sailing ship serving inter-island freight service in the archipelago.
Although it is now only a minor port, Jakarta had its origins in Sunda Kelapa and it played a significant role in the city’s development.“Pinisi is still manufactured in the old style, without any design on paper,” says the tour guide.
Jakarta is an amalgam of tall modern buildings and establishments of tropical huts and old-style houses. The city has an efficient railways and metro bus system, however, a majority commutes by motorbikes, both men and women in equal numbers.
To gauge the length and breadth of the city, we headed to the 132m tower of National Monument in the centre of Merdeka Square, Central Jakarta for an aerial view. Build to commemorate the struggle for Indonesian independence, the monument was opened to public in 1975 and still attracts big crowds every day of the week except for Mondays.
Mostly, you have to wait in queue to get into the lift to reach the top of the tower. This huge city is spread proportionally in all directions. All around the tower, your gaze would meet serene gardens and tropical trees.
In the basement of the tower you will find the Indonesian National History Museum, which has on display a total of 51 dioramas in a large marble-lined hall. They detail Indonesian history from pre-historic times to the period of European colonisation and uprisings against Dutch East Indies rule.
Indonesia in general and Jakarta in particular has a large number of museums and each one of them will tell tales. The huge National Museum, for instance, is a must-visit place. The multi-storey building is an archaeological, historical, ethnological, and geographical museum located in Jalan Medan Merdeka Barat, Central Jakarta, on the west side of Merdeka Square.
Popularly known as Elephant Building after the elephant statue in its forecourt, its broad collections cover all of Indonesia’s territory and almost all of its history.
The museum has a collection of 61,600 prehistoric and anthropological artefacts, and 5,000 archaeological artefacts from all over Indonesia and Asia. The museum collections are among the richest, the most complete, and the best of its kind in Indonesia and one of the finest in Southeast Asia. “It is good to get here as early as possible so that you can spend time exploring the huge collections,” our tour guide advises.
Another piece of architectural brilliance that you must visit is Istiqlal Mosque (Independence Mosque) situated close to the Merdeka Square. This national mosque of Indonesia has seven gates, the rectangular main prayer hall building is covered by a 45-metre diameter central spherical dome. The main dome is adorned with a stainless steel ornamental pinnacle in the form of a crescent and star, the symbol of Islam.
The dome is supported by twelve round columns, and the prayer hall is surrounded by rectangular piers carrying four levels of balconies. The interior design is minimalist, simple and clean-cut, with a minimum of stainless steel geometric ornaments. The 12 columns are covered with stainless steel. On the main wall, there is a large metal work in Arabic calligraphy, spelling the name of Allah on the right side and Muhammad (the Prophet of Islam) on the left side.
The real journey of exploring the natural beauty of this tropical country begins with the visit to the picturesque Indonesian mini park, Taman Mini Indonesia Indah, situated in the outskirts of the city. Spread over more than 250 acres, this recreational area house a synopsis of Indonesian culture.
Beautiful specimens of Indonesian culture and traditional architecture, representing virtually all aspects of daily life in the more-than-30 provinces of Indonesia, are built in separate pavilions impeccably depicting traditions, customs and festivities.
A beautiful lake in the middle is a miniature of the archipelago showing the map of the country with land mass cut in the shape of every island in the country. It also has cable cars, an elevated tourist train that runs through the park, museums, Keong Emas Imax cinema, a theatre called the Theatre of My Homeland and other recreational facilities. Almost always filled with foreign and local visitors, it is one of the most popular tourist destinations in Jakarta.
The Indonesian capital is too large to explore in a few days. With time-limitations, we next headed to the nearby city of Bandung, the capital city of West Java province, to see the lush green tea-plantations, Tangkuban Prahu crater, Jungle track to Domas crater and Saung Angklung Mang Udjo musical performance besides other attractions. I will detail them in the next article.
