Travel to Jakarta
“The Pearl of the Orient”
Jakarta is one of the main gateways to the Indonesian archipelago. It is an amazing contrast of modern western architecture and traditional Indonesian culture. However, its rapid growth into a metropolitan city is a reflection of the economic, political, social and industrial development of the nation of Indonesia.
Nearly all foreign tourists visit Indonesia’s capital city of Jakarta. Also known as the “Ibu Kota”, or the Mother City, Jakarta is a teeming modern metropolis that is the brain, treasury and nerve centre of the country. The world’s ideas, technology, and fashions first touch Indonesia here.
Originally called Batavia, Jakarta was regarded as the “pearl of the orient” by the Dutch, and the massive agricultural wealth pouring through its port at Tanjung Priok prompted Captain James Cook, the English explorer, to call it “the best marine yard in the world”.
What is today an enormous city began life as a small harbour town called Sunda Kelapa, but its actual
founding dates back to June 22, 1527, when it was named Jayakarta by Fatahillah of the neighbouring Sultanate of Banten. The name Jayakarta means City of Great Victory but this was later changed to Batavia before becoming Jakarta.
Today, as Jakarta, this vibrant city is the centre of government, business and industry and spreads over an area of more than 410 square miles) with a population of over nine million people.
It is also designated as a special territory (DKI), which means that i t is administered by a governor and enjoys the same status as a province.
Jakarta is also home to Taman Mini, a vast complex of “Indonesia in miniature”, and Ancol, a sophisticated amusement park, well as Jakarta’s nightlife, often referred to as the best kept secret in Asia. Jakarta’s shopping and dining also rate very high on the visitor’s agenda as well as world class golf courses and spas.
Taman Mini
Taman Mini Indonesia Indah, which literally means “Beautiful Indonesia in Miniature Park,” is a must-see or any visitors to Jakarta. This extensive park allows visitors to get a glimpse of the diverseness of the Indonesian archipelago, as it represents all of the nation’s provinces and their own individual, traditional characteristics. Taman Mini has its own orchid garden in which hundreds of Indonesian orchid varieties are grown. There is also a bird park with a walk-in aviary, a fauna museum and recreational grounds with a swimming pool and restaurants.
The Central Museum
Established in 1778 by U.M.C. Rademacher under the auspices o{ the Batavia Association of Arts and Sciences, Jakarta’s Central Museum has a vast collection of historical, archaeological and ethnographic aspects of Indonesia, dating as far back as the Stone Age. The museum also has one of the most complete collections of bronzes and ceramics dating back to the Han, Tang and Ming dynasties, as well as of the oldest numismatic collections in the world. This museum is popularly known as Museum Gajah because of the stone elephant presented by King Chulalongkorn of Thailand in 1871, placed on the front lawn of the building. The original building has been renovated, its architecture retained. The building now looks cleaner, brighter, with better-displayed collections. Extension works are going on with a side building and another behind the original building. With the extension, the museum, which was built in 1868, will be able to display its more than 110,000 pieces from all over Indonesia. The original building can display onlysome 20 per cent of the entire collection.
Jaya Ancol Dreamland
This is Jakarta’s largest and most popular recreation park. It is built on reclaimed beach land in the Bay of Jakarta, with sea- and fresh-water aquariums, swimming pools, an artificial lagoon for fishing, boating, as well as a bowling arcade and many night-clubs and restaurants.
New-look Monas Park
One of Jakarta’s most prominent tourist attractions is the soaring, 137-
metre tall marble obelisk National Monument, referred to locally as Monas. This stands for the people’s determination to achieve freedom and the crowning of their efforts in the Proclamation of Independence in August 1945, and is topped with a flame coated with 35 kilograms of gold. The monument is open to the public-there is a museum in the base-and from the top there is a magnificent bird’s eye view of the city and the sea. And now the entire environs of Monas has a completely new look, following a facelift during which the 100-hectare Monas Park was fenced in to allow only pedestrian traffic as well as horse-drawn Andong carriages as part of the Jakarta administration’s drive to protect the green areas of the city. In addition, five hectares of Monas Park have been set aside as a protected habitat for deer, opened by President Megawati
Soekarnoputri on June 5, 2003, World Environment Day.
The Sudirman statue
Weighing about four tons, the newly erected 6.5-meter-tall bronze statue of Supreme Commander-in-chief Sudirman, who died on January 29, 1950, stands on a pedestal five meters high. A work of art by Sunaryo, renowned sculptor and fine arts lecturer at the Bandung Institute of Technology, the statue stands across from the BNI 46 building, Central Jakarta, at one end of a long strip of green that runs on the border between Jl Jenderal Sudirman and Jl MH Thamrin, near Dukuh Atas railway station. This Sudirman statue, one of the capital’s newest landmarks, is the most recent addition to the list of Sudirman statues that have been erected by various sculptors at other sites in Jakarta, Bogor, Yogyakarta, Surabaya and Purwokerto. The nation’s Sudirman statues have enriched the country’s collection of aesthetically superior statues and monuments.
The Wayang Museum
This puppetry museum on the western side of Taman Fatahillah in the Kota area of Jakarta has displays of Wayang puppets from all parts of Indonesia and some from other parts of Southeast Asia as well. The wooden and leather puppets displayed here represent the finest craftsmanship in this particular form of traditional theatre. The museum also shows short Wayang Kulit performances every Sunday morning.
Jalan Surabaya
This famous street, located in Menteng, one of the city’s better residential areas, is Jakarta’s only flea market. Stalls offer a wide range of goods, some of them antiques, including ornate lamps, porcelain, brassware, handicrafts. Bargaining is very necessary, including the skill to distinguish authenticity from imitations.
Shopping in Jakarta
If you enjoy shopping for bargains, then Jakarta really is the place to be between June 14 and July 14 when the Jakarta Great Sale 2004 is held, with discounts of up to 70 percent, Also every November and December, when
the annual Experience Jakarta event takes place, in conjunction with Visa International.
Golf in Jakarta and the surrounding area
If you’re a golf lover, then Jakarta is certainly the place to visit because there are over 30 international standard, world-class golf courses in the capital city and the surrounding area. With so many courses within only an hour’s drive-designed by some of the game’s great players including Jack Nicklaus, Gary Player, Greg Norman and Graham Marsh, as well as world-renowned golf course architects Thomson, Wolveridge and Perrett-the city of Jakarta must have perhaps the most prolific choice of world-class golf courses of all capital cities in the world.
The Jakarta Convention Centre
The Jakarta Convention Centre can accommodate three conferences, and three functions simultaneously. The plenary hall has a seating capacity of 3,300 theatre-style, and is equipped with a giant videowall, hi-tech lighting and sound system. It has a VIP holding lounge, speakers waiting room, three boardrooms, three meeting rooms, 10 translation booths, a secretariat and administration office. The main lobbv can be utilised as a pre-cocktail area or for coffee breaks for up to 3,500 persons. The car park can accommodate 10,000
Close by and worth a visit:
• Pasar Ikan - Fish Market (Jl. Pasar Ikan) - Arrive early in the morning (from 3am) for fresh fish and hustle and bustle. Try the side streets for an amazing variety of goods from ships chandlery to stuffed turtles and sealing wax.
• Museum Bahari - Maritime Museum (Jl. Pasar Ikan) - These converted warehouses of the Dutch East India Company house an electric display of marine antiquities.
• Chicken Market Bridge - (JL Nelayan Timur) - Built in the 1600s this is the last remaining Dutch drawbridge over the Kali Besar.
The adventure playground of Pulau Seribu, or Thousand Islands, is situated in the Bay of Jakarta and easy to access by speedboat, with journey times from Ancol Marina varying from between 20 minutes and more than two hours depending which of the islands you visit. So if you’re in a rush to savour the Thousand Island, then you’ll need to charter one of the helicopters or light aircraft that are also available.
Set in a clean blue sea filled with myriad of tropical fish living among multi-coloured corals, the Thousand Islands are tremendously tempting places to just languidly while away your holiday time, or, if you’re the more adventurous type, then on some of the islands you can enjoy almost any water sport of your choice. The Thousand Islands group is a real paradise, whatever sort of holiday you’re seeking, enjoying the sea, sand and sun, or getting involved in water sports Here are details of five of the islands in the Thousand Islands group.
Pulau Ayer Island Resort & Cottages
Located about 14 kilometres north of Jakarta, or 30 minutes boat trip from Marina Ancol, Pulau Ayer is one of the larger of the islands in the Thousand Islands group covering some 60 hectares, and is a beautiful spot from to witness the famed Jakarta Bay sunset.
Bidadari Island Resort
Being one of the nearest island resorts from Jakarta, Bidadari is reachable in 20 minutes by speedboat. The cottages built amongst the trees provide a shady and comfortable environment giving you the feeling of being one with nature. And the cottages floating over the sea give you a real fishermen’s home atmosphere.
Pelangi Island Resort
Pelangi Island is 70 kilometres from Jakarta and takes about one and a half hours to reach by speedboat from Ancol Marina. Densely covered by lush palm
and pine trees surrounded by white sandy beaches in the middle of silver clean blue waters make the green tropical Pelangi Island anideal gateway to enjoy the sea, sand and sun.
Putri Resort Hotel
Located just a few breast-strokes away from Jakarta, Putri Island offers the beauty of paradise with its soft and white sandy beach witcrystal clear water all around. A really relaxing holiday resort that you will dream of and want to return to again and again.
Alam Kotok Island Resort
Alam Kotok give you a chance to get back nature just 90 minutes from Jakarta. This peaceful tropical atoll has been kept in its original pristine state, the flora and the fauna undisturbed by cozy cottages tucked amongst the foliage, looking out to the sea. Here the only sounds are the wind in the trees, the singing of the birds, and the gentle waves lapping the shore
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