Jakarta
Trip Start
Sep 03, 1997
1
9
Trip End
Sep 25, 1997
Jakarta,
Indonesia
Wednesday, September 3, 1997
Istiqlal Mosque
most expensive one in Indonesia, the most polluted and the most congested. The traffic is a chaos and there are many sorts of transportation (normal buses, minibuses, bemo's, riksja's etc.). Everbody is asking you to give you a ride "mister,mister you want a ride". Bargaining is required for all these forms of transport. Crossing the street is very dangerous and the best way to do this is walking with the rest of the crowd. September 4th:The next day I walked to the National Monument (Monas) and took some pictures. this 132m high columm towering over Merdekka Square is both Jakarta's principal landmark and the most famous architectural
Sunda Kelapa I
ectravagangce of Soekarno. After that I took a train to Old Batavia (Kota) which is the oldest and finest remonder of the Dutch presence in Indonesia. The centre of Old Batavia is the cobblestone square known as Taman Fatahillah and I visited the Jakarta history museum which contains lots of heavy, carved furniture and other memorabilia from the Dutch period. Just a 10 minute walk north of Taman Fatahilla is the old port of Sunda Kelapa which has more sailing ships (called pinisi) than you ever though existed. This is one of the finest sights of Jakarta and the brightly painted ships are still an important means of transportation goods to and from the outer islands. On the way back to my hotel i visited the Istiqial Moscue which is the largest in South East Asia. 
