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Post by anshjain97 on Jun 30, 2014 12:25:25 GMT
I did a short 5-day course in the National University of Singapore in Singapore and we decided to visit Bali after that (where I am currently). But I love cities, and wanted to visit Jakarta, so we decided to squish in 2 nights in Jakarta, the capital of Indonesia. Jakarta is a big city of around 7 million people, occupying around (an educated guess) 800-ish sq km, with all the characteristics of a big capital in a developing nation. On one hand, it is home to people from throughout the country, hoping to make a living. On another, it is a sprawling city with slums and traffic. We had 2 nights here, from last Friday to Sunday. Just arrived in the Soekarno-Hatta Airport (named after 2 presidents, Soekarno and Hatta) on Friday evening: It was very dark on the way to the hotel so can't show anything much, but here is a bit: As we got off the expressway, the first impressions of the city weren't too memorable: bumpy roads, shacks built under flyovers and kids begging. All this very close to this, one of Jakarta's 170-ish malls and shopping centers. The income disparity was just too apparent. Didn't do anything that night. Now, the view next morning: My hotel wasn't in the cosmopolitan heart of Jakarta, it was closer to the geographic center. The business district and newer urban areas lie more south. A closer view: Now on the streets: Our first stop was in the heart of the city, and the area was very green: Our first stop was Merdeka (Freedom) Sq, a massive 1 sq km green space in the city with the National Monument in the centre of it. The area began with a lot of shops and street food carts:
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Post by anshjain97 on Jun 30, 2014 12:50:23 GMT
A signboard of what not to do in the area: First view of the National Monument, called Monas. The monument is a commemoration of the independence struggle of Indonesia, whose construction started in 1961 under President Soekarno (Sukarno) and is ingloriously known as "Sukarno's final erection". It is topped by a 30-something kg gold leaf and has a viewing platform on top. A look of the area around. Being a Saturday morning, it was filled with local families. That translated into a 3 hr wait to go to the top viewing platform, so we decided to just go to a much lower level, for which there was no queue. On the way: The views. Below is a mosque in the area whose name I can't recall. It is the biggest mosque in South East Asia. As you can see, the place is very popular with families. Moreover the case, as that day was the last before the Islamic fasting month of Ramadan (where people fast from sunrise to sunset). Back to the roads: a very well landscaped area: Decided to take a break in the coffeeshop of the iconic Hotel Borobudur, very close to Merdeka Sq. More later.
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Post by Deleted on Jun 30, 2014 13:52:25 GMT
Ah, the Hotel Borobudur is as lovely as ever. It was such a wonderful oasis when Jakarta was a hellhole. Jakarta has clearly made great progress in keeping the main avenues and boulevards clean and in good repair, but some of the grassy areas could use a little extra protection.
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Post by anshjain97 on Jun 30, 2014 23:07:57 GMT
Next stop was the Jakarta Cathedral (Gereja Katedral). It is Jakarta's Gothic cathedral and is located right opposite the mosque. In fact I went into the mosque compound to take the photo. Here is the interior: The mosque itself wasn't as free to visit so decided to leave it and move on now. A typical bus lane in Jakarta - they are located on many major arterial roads and are generally respected by other drivers. Now, entering Jakarta's true old town: the district of Kota. Colonial architecture began to appear. Below is a signboard of the famous Jakarta History Museum. The museum is located in the main square o Kota, called Taman Fatahillah. Below is the iconic Cafe Batavia. Will continue more later.
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Post by questa on Jun 30, 2014 23:33:55 GMT
More, more, Ansh. It is amazing to see how the current leader of Jakarta has cleaned the place up. I had heard how successful he had been getting the food carts of the roads and into set areas, sorted the traffic and slum areas.
The last memories I have of seeing pictures of Merdeka Square it was filled (and I mean choked) with students and others demanding Suharto resign. When he did I wept with joy.
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Post by anshjain97 on Jul 1, 2014 0:58:47 GMT
The square was full of activity, such as lots of street food carts. Jakarta doesn't have a metro or anything else in terms of a modern public transport network. However the suburban train network forms the main public transport here, apart from buses. Here is the Kota station. Random streetview: Traffic built up as the day progressed. Our next stop was a mall in the modern area of the center. This area really doesn't look out of place in say Singapore. The mall was quite generic on the face of it so I won't bore you with any mall pictures. Back outside: Back to the hotel now. Some pictures from on the way: Indonesia's presidential elections are less than 2 weeks away now. Some advertising: Stepped out in the evening to visit parents' friends who live here, in a southern suburb. Traffic was much higher in the evening. We crossed one of the most cosmopolitan areas of the city called Sudirman, filled with apartments, hotels, malls and offices. Couldn't get good pictures though. More later.
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Post by questa on Jul 1, 2014 1:16:33 GMT
If it is Ramadan, people rest during the day and go visiting after breaking their fast, or to do so with friends. Elections are on the 19th July...I hope the Mayor of Jakarta gets to be President, his main opponent is a known but conveniently forgotten war criminal.
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Post by questa on Jul 1, 2014 1:22:15 GMT
Going back to your 6th pic from the beginning 'now on the streets'. You have captured my favourite traffic sign (twice)I think it means 'full alert, you are about to be crashed into'
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Post by Deleted on Jul 1, 2014 4:21:34 GMT
I see that Café Batavia has retrieved its original name. During one of my trips there, it had become illegal for any business sign to use any foreign words or alphabets. The main victim of this was Chinatown, where all of the Chinese signs had to be taken down or covered over. But even the Café Batavia had changed the "C" to a "K" during that period. i450.photobucket.com/albums/qq228/kerouac2/Asie/JKT11.jpgReally excellent pictures, ansh. Even the food carts look nicer and cleaner than I remember.
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Post by htmb on Jul 1, 2014 13:17:29 GMT
Enjoying this, Ansh!
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Post by anshjain97 on Jul 3, 2014 12:48:03 GMT
It was Sunday, we were flying out in the evening. The friends we visited on Saturday night told us of a great place for cheap shopping, so that was our plan for Sunday. On the way, in south Jakarta, passing by the main residential and commercial areas. The 3-wheel contraptions you see in the below picture are usually not allowed on the main roads - something India should follow. The stuff at the shops were genuinely well-priced. Bought quite a lot here. The shopping mall next door was also nice but things were at normal prices, so much more expensive. Handicrafts and the like were great there though. Back to the hotel now. Being a Sunday traffic was lighter. Being an oil producer, fuel prices are very low here. Govt subsidies are quite high as well. 1 USD is around 11,000 rupiah (local currency) A little bit more later.
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Post by bixaorellana on Jul 3, 2014 15:31:59 GMT
So interesting, Ansh. What surprised me the most was how relatively uncrowded everything looks, even in the pictures where you indicate that many people were out & about. Ditto the traffic. Would you say that's an accurate observation, compared to other cities of equal size & importance you've visited?
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Post by questa on Jul 3, 2014 22:29:42 GMT
I have heard the Governor who has done a lot of cleaning up of the city (he is modelling on Singapore) has got the traffic to flow more easily.
Apparently the traffic lights are synchronised, the "No parking" areas are enforced, the food sellers no longer use up a traffic lane and big trucks have to use ring roads rather than crawl through the CBD. The chaos that once choked the rush hour is less now that people are learning to follow the road rules.
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Post by anshjain97 on Jul 4, 2014 0:30:01 GMT
Actually traffic is still a massive problem in Jakarta, according to what our hotel and friends said. Weekends are much better, weekdays are supposedly hell.
On the Saturday we had, crowds were actually very high at Monas- there was a 3 hr wait to get to the top (it was the last day before Ramadan) and crowds elsewhere were reasonably high. I would say, yes, similar to places like Bangalore and Bangkok, which have similar populations.
On Sunday monring, we left fairly early, but crowds did build at the mall and discount market- my pictures have tried to avoid the crowds.
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Post by anshjain97 on Jul 4, 2014 1:50:35 GMT
Darn, can't upload any more photos from my Imageshack account! Which other sites can I use? Already have used Imageshack and Flickr.
thanks
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Post by questa on Jul 4, 2014 3:29:51 GMT
Can you re-join either one with a new ID ? I have no hassles with Photobucket. I want to see more of your pictures...please
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Post by anshjain97 on Jul 4, 2014 3:40:10 GMT
I joined with a new ID, but that's exhausted as well! Thanks for the suggestion, will try Photobucket.
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Post by bixaorellana on Jul 4, 2014 4:08:00 GMT
You used up a whole terabyte in Flickr?! Ansh, if you post any of your pictures on facebook, you can get the urls from them to use here.
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Post by anshjain97 on Jul 5, 2014 10:40:43 GMT
Now, on the way to the airport: OK, that's all I have. I was surprised how little English is used in Jakarta- no English signboard ar Monas, taxi drivers speak very, very little English. Despite this, it wasn't too difficult to get by- one reason is that Indonesian is in the same script as English so at least one could write down things like names. I wouldn't mind revisiting some years from now. There are many other parts of Java, the island Jakarta is on, I would like to see.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 5, 2014 11:50:29 GMT
It's true about the lack of English. At least the Dutch tourists can usually get by in Dutch by seeking out old people, the same way the French do in Indochina.
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Post by anshjain97 on Jul 5, 2014 12:56:58 GMT
Kerouac, do you, or anybody else here, know if Indonesian is similar to any European language (such as Dutch) in any way? How come it is in Roman script?
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Post by anshjain97 on Jul 5, 2014 13:06:08 GMT
Oh, Bixa, sorry, didnt notice your reply. There's some problem with my flickr account and am using Photobucket which is a real pain... hopefully get a solution as I would also like to post reports on Singapore and Bali.
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Post by questa on Jul 5, 2014 13:28:01 GMT
Bahasa Indonesia is related to the Malaysian language in that it is a manufactured one. There are 365 different languages used as 1st language in the country. First thing newly independent Indo did was create a standard language to unite the people. Much of the vocab came from Malay, with a great deal of Sanskrit and Arabic thrown in. More English words are used in Indonesian spelling and form...TELEVISI IMIGRASI DEMOKRASI nowadays
The alphabet is the same as English except letter C is always said CH and vowel sounds are slightly different. words are spelt phonetically...TAKSI taxi and FUTBAL...football. Grammar is very simple for everyday use but extremely refined for books etc.
Plurals are made by doubling the word ANAK =child, ANAK-ANAK=children MOBIL- motor car, MOBIL-MOBIL=motor cars. I am still studying Bahasa Indonesia and it is a logical language with set "rules" and few exceptions.
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Post by questa on Jul 5, 2014 13:46:58 GMT
Of course there are many Indonesian versions of Dutch words...Kantor = office. One trap for beginners is the habit of using the last syllables of words together to form an abbreviation...keluarGA miskKIN becomes gakin = poor family. or first syllables RESiko TInggi becomes resti=high risk. You wont find these in any dictionary, and working with the midwives in Lombok had my head spinning as they used many of these. Even the landmark you photographed, MONAS means Monument Nasional
Because of its regularity it is an easy language to learn to conversational level.
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Post by anshjain97 on Jul 5, 2014 15:14:07 GMT
Thanks Questa, very helpful and informative.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 5, 2014 16:36:19 GMT
From a sort of ethnocentric point of view, some of the countries with non roman alphabets who were "encouraged" by their colonizer or who adopted the roman alphabet of their own volition, found themselves to have a huge advantage when the computer age arrived. So countries like Vietnam, Malaysia, Indonesia, Turkey made a considerable leap forward at no extra expense when many of their neighbouring countries were left behind.
Of course, information technology has made huge progress since then, so just about every alphabet and language in the world is now supported, even if the various keyboards can be rather complicated, but of course now touch screens have totally solved even that problem.
I think just about all of the former colonies adopted quite a few words from the language of the coloniser. It just made things easier.
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Post by anshjain97 on Jul 6, 2014 1:00:04 GMT
Thanks Kerouac, good to know.
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Post by bixaorellana on Jul 6, 2014 22:25:53 GMT
Really nice report, Ansh. Re: Flicker ~~ I'm sure the problem with it is that Yahoo put its sticky incompentent fingers all over it. Every time I see "bad panda" I want to smack that little girl.
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