2 weeks in Jakarta

2 weeks in Jakarta later, we felt that it is not our place of choice to travel. It’s too busy and polluted. Yet, is very authentic and way cheaper than Bali, if I have to compare. Because Anisa is Indonesian, I wonder if she could see it a bit easier than I do, but her answer was:

“In the past, I loved Jakarta because of its challenges: facing the crazy traffic and the pollution. Deal with so many people and chaos. But since I moved to Bali, I can’t really connect with Jakarta anymore.”

Anisa Subekti

Places we went:

• Portugal Embassy (to collect Anisa’s visa),
• Candra Naya and Chinatown
• Kota Tua
• Muara Baru Fish Market
• Failing attempts because they close on Mondays: National Museum and National Monument
• Cathedral
• Pasar Baru
• Bus City tour
• We went (a lot) to malls to meet friends.

The food we tried:

• Soto betawi
• pempek palembang,
• es teler garut,
• coto makasar,
• ayam kampung bakar (my favorite roasted chicken!),
• kue lumpur (they almost look like the Portuguese / pastel de natal – egg tarts),
• siwalan
• …and, since we don’t like rice in the morning, many Indomart breads for breakfast!

Do we recommend Jakarta for a visit?

Honestly, if you are coming for a short trip to Indonesia and you don’t have any friends in town, definitely don’t bother it. On a country with more than 1000 beautiful islands, and hundreds of tribes (more than 700) and unique places, hand’s down that, you will just loose your time in Jakarta. It’s a crowded huge city with more than 10 million habitants (more than the whole population in Portugal), and you will be stuck in traffic if you want to go around.

PS: We came to Jakarta to exclusively do the Schengen Visa for Anisa, otherwise, we would stay in Bali until today ;P