Liburan Day 1 - Grand Plaza Indonesia / Monumen Nasional, Jakarta

Assalamualaikum.

Entry kepam namanya ni. 

Last Aug; few weeks after the Eid I went to Jakarta & Bandung, Indonesia with my friends from high school. Ms P brought her SIL; Ms C. And Ms L brought her 2 cousins. So there were 6 of us altogether. I bought the ticket a month before the trip & yes, it was a rather impromptu purchased. 

Considering there is a direct flight, I decided to just fly in Jakarta via Kota Kinabalu. Rather than having to transit in Kuala Lumpur like I have to for my previous trips. It's cheaper & less time consuming. The flight to Jakarta is only available on Tues, Thurs & Sat. 2 flights on each respective day. The other ladies arrived & will depart Indonesia a day earlier than moi. And yes, I flew solo to Jakarta. It's been a while since I last traveled solo. Poyo! Walhal this time it was only a 3 hours flight kan. 

23 Aug 2014

Jakarta, Indonesia

#1 Welcome to Jakarta, Indonesia
This was my maiden trip to Jakarta! Familiar language. But I kinda hoping to bumped into any signboard in Hangul. *puke*

I departed at around 530pm in the evening & landed at ~730pm. For your information, Jakarta is 1 hour behind Malaysia time. 

Once I exited the entrance, I walked to the left side of the airport & took the Bluebird taxi. Masa tu memang ramai lah Pak² Teksi yang offer tapi ku pandang sepi. Bluebird tetap pilihan utama, sekian. 

# 2 Macet a.k.a traffic jammed 
Something I couldn't run away from. This was my first time in Jakarta but already I heard tons of 'stories' about the horrible road congestion from family & friends who've been to Jakarta.  

Surprise u asked? Not really. Because I have anticipated this. I wasn't in a hurry hence I didn't stress out having stuck in the jammed. Welcome to Jakarta the taxi driver greeted me; whilst both his hands pointing to the many cars in front of us. Everytime he heard the honk sounds, he will shake his head. 

Supposedly it took less than an hour from the airport to my hotel in Jalan Juanda but due to the bad traffic; the journey became a bit long. Hence alang² lambat, I asked the driver to bring me to the Monumen Selamat Datang roundabout. I would like to see the monument lighted at night. We just passed by the monument because I didn't intend to go down pun. Tengok dari celah jendela, cukup. Lagipun the traffic was pretty bad near the roundabout. It's Saturday night, semua pun mau keluar berlibur.

# 3 Monumen Selamat Datang a.k.a Monumen Buderan HI
"The statue depicts two bronze statues of a man and a woman, waving in a welcoming gesture symbolizes the openness of the Indonesian nation to welcome the visitors of the Asian Games IV" -wiki-

I arrived the hotel after nearly two hours on the road. Embrace the macet, Bie so I 'chanted'. Reunited with the ladies, finally. The day before diorang sudah round sampai Bogor. I haven't had any plan to visit Bogor so perasaan jealous adalah tiada. Lepas letak beg & berkasih sayang, we made our move to Grand Indonesia Mall. Ada misi menerjah Magnum Cafe. Sebab kami ramai, we decided to hire the supir available in front of the hotel. 

#4 One of the famous coffee shop in Jakarta
Ikut hati mau singgah lepak ngeteh kejap...

Sampai Lantai (Level) 6, West Mall...area tu gelap! Sudah! Peruma kegigihan kami berlari keluar dari kereta & jalan super laju just to reached the cafe before it closes. But obviously we're late. Way too late because staff semua sudah keluar masa kami sampai tu. Untuk mengubat hati sebal, kami ronda² mall walau sudah banyak kedai yang tutup. 

#5 Mini naik Level 5
Mampu?

#6 Ms P
Suddenly dinding bata Warung Tinggi jadi background kami malam tu.

#7 Waiting for teksi
Sebab plan mau ngeteh di Magnum Cafe punah, mall pun bakalan tutup so we decided to go somewhere else. Malam masih muda, rugi lah kalau balik hotel awal.

It was easy to get a taxi. But we took nearly an hour to get to our next destination. Jammed gila area Grand Indonesia ni. Luckily Pak Teksi tau cari short cuts.

#8 Warkop a.k.a Warung Kopi

#9 Ahli rombongan
Was super hungry because I haven't feed the tummy since evening. Mari singgah makan.

#10 Gigih

Don't know how much they earn daily. Memang respect kegigihan diorang ni cari rezeki. Although my dinner (fried rice) was a bit pricey & the taste was so-so, aku redha. Bukan rezeki aku dapat makanan sedap di hari pertama. Cukuplah buat alas perut; janji dapat avoid gastric from attacking.

#11 Pasar malam at Merdeka Square
This was our second destination. Woot! Wish list to visit Monas; ticked. Didn't get to visit the museum located beneath the monument though. Kali ni tiada ayat 'next time' sebab belum ada plan to repeat Jakarta in the near future. Ngeks.

#12 Local snack
Was about to buy this tauhu (sebab masih lapar) but Ms P stopped me. "Banyak giler kat bilik" she said. Borong gejrot kah minah ni semua.

#13 Monumen Nasional a.k.a MONAS
It was said President Sukarno ask to construct a national monument comparable to Eiffel Tower; in front of the Presidential Palace following the recognition of Dutch to Indonesian Independence. Iin commemoration of ndonesia government returned to Jakarta from Yogjakarta.  

#14 Cuci mata

#15 Mobile toilet
I dare NOT to enter this regardless how desperate I might be. 

#16 My kesayangan Ms C
Susah payah ambil angle ni, dalam pekat malam sebab langsung tiada lampu area belakang Monas ni. Walhal boleh jak suruh sorang Pakcik ni ambilkan, tapi kena bayar 50k Rupiah lah. Hence explained kegigihan kami ketik banyak kali just to get this pic. Stingy enough!

#17 My first bajai ride
Sebab ndak larat untuk jalan kaki from Merdeka Square to our hotel in Jalan Juanda, maka nego lah sama Pakcik Bajai. Ms L did the tawar-menawar part, aku bab ni memang failed total. 

#18 Istiqlal Mosque
View from our hotel room. Senyum lebar nampak gambar Ms C ambil the day before. Insha Allah tercapai impian to set foot upon this largest mosque in Southeast Asia the day after. 

Didn't have any idea about the hotel Ms L booked for us in Jakarta. Turned out it is located just a stone away from this mosque. Alhamdulillah, boleh lah cancel my initial plan to go to this mosque on my last day. Itinerary in Jakarta was managed by Ms L. While I was given the task to be in charged of the itinerary in Bandung.

Lepas mandi jak, terus lupa kejadian untuk supper tauhu gejrot. Malam tu tidur dengan super lena, kunun penat sangatlah kan. 

Can't wait for the next day. Lepas masjid, Bandung revisited. Yay!

eryantierdabdulkarim