Smooth arrival in Jakarta and planned one week at the same location to allow time to recover from the travel and adapting to a new country. My SIM card from France is working here with my international plan so no worries there. I am using Grab as uber for transport within the city and it is easy to find street food and Warung (local restaurant) so everything is looking good for a promising first trip in Indonesia, starting with the old Capital of Jakarta which is relocating to the new capital of Nusantara on the island of Borneo.
The packer Lodge - simple room for the week
Really good deal for around 12 USD a night with a private bathroom.
I found this deal on an app I discovered before going which is https://www.hostelworld.com/ this is an app to book either hostel bed or a in some location a private room much like the other booking.com which I am been using for years.
The added value of this app is a in app chat where you have the opportunity to talk with other travelers booked in the same place or the same city. It gives you the opportunity to meet other like minded travelers and share cab rides, dinner or events together. On top of that the hostels can organize city wide events and let customers know.
It was the first time booking on it and it worked without incident, the chat wasn't really useful for my trip as not many people were there at the same time, it is the end of the season in Jakarta so less tourists are visiting. I still got very lucky with the weather, mostly sunny with no rain during the day.
Day 1,2 - First day was Wednesday 16/10/24
Night 1 was mostly settling in, unpacking for the week and doing some recon work around the area in order to find a supermarket and some nice location for food.
Start of Day 2 after a rough night due to jet lag I woke up close to 10am and went to the café within the hostel(I learned later that it might not be related and they might rent the space to the business), it is physically connected, you can go from reception to the café.
Something I like about Asia(and at least the countries I have been too) is the culture of drinking coffee and especially nice Ice Coffee which is going to be part of my routine for the next few months.
I was around the Glodok area, close to the old chinatown and 25mins walk to the Kota Train station which is a pretty central place in old Jakarta where some of the museums are. It is easy to get food around, a bit less easy to walk around Jakarta but you can get by, the locals do.
Old bank in Jakarta turned into a museum, it is pretty cool you can visit the entire building and also another one next to it which does a vaults as well, good to be inside when the temperature gets a bit hot outside.
Day 3 - Planning a trip and national monument
I am planning an organized trip with a guide who works with the hostel for tomorrow which you will be able to see in my next post.
My main plan for the day was to try the to take the bus by myself in Jakarta and visit the area close to the National monument.
When I was here, a lot of military vehicles and personals were present, after enquiring I realized they were doing a drill to prepare for the change of president that was happening the next Sunday 20th of October.
Around you can find also a Cathedral and the Mosque which is huge and probably the biggest in Indonesia. I went close to it but didn't feel like it was my place to go inside. I did go across the street inside the cathedral instead and a local lady did help me to cross traffic as I wasn't use to it now, people just walk into traffic and making care stops. Even on a crosswalk you have to rely force, don't wait for cars to stop before crossing, it won't happen here.
After that I took a local blue Tuktuk to the National museum which got partly burned in an accident a few years ago, they manage to save a lot of art pieces but some were lost. They kept part of the burned building in the museum tour next to the newer exhibition.
Without realizing it I got lucky because it re open to the public a few days ago so I am part of the first few people to go there after opening.
Conclusion
I needed 2 full days to recover from jet lag, started to feel better on Day 4.
Tip of the day: Something to keep in mind in Jakarta is that most museum close at around 3pm and also I found one that also had an extra hour break for lunch, I thing you were ok if already inside but nobody was attending the ticket office during that time.
I am doing between 6 and 12 km a day which is good for my health, I have a bit of weight to lose which I hope to lose in Asia due to a better rice based diet and more exercise.