Adventures in the Capital City

Photo 1: Monas
Photo 2: Bogor Botanical Gardens

Less than a week after getting back from Lombok, Annie and I headed off to Jakarta and Bogor for three days. We caught the overnight train, which ended up being quite comfortable, although not particularly conducive for a good nights rest. We arrived at 6am, and after finding a hotel and having breakfast, we walked up to the national monument (Monas), otherwise known as Suharto’s last great/ final erection. I found this area of Jakarta quite surprising – it was clean, had some tree lined streets and didn’t feel completely dissimilar to Singapore (albeit busier and more polluted) Monas itself is in the middle of a large, leafy, well tended park. Because we arrived so early we had the place to ourselves. The lookout at the top of the monument revealed what I had expected of Jakarta – thick, view obscuring smog. After exploring the (very selective) history museum under Monas, we walked across the road to the more reputable national history museum. Among many things, the museum had a huge selection of ancient inscriptions/statues/relics, including some I had been studying.
That afternoon our plans to explore the old colonial district were sabotaged by a tropical downpour, so we retreat to the regulated climes of one of Jakarta’s many malls. It was quite overwhelming – huge and chock-a-bloc full of luxury brands. We killed several hours just walking and looking in the windows! Particularly exciting for both Annie and I was the ‘International Foods’ section of the basement supermarket – it was (seriously) all we could do to stop screaming with excitement at the vegemite,
Aussie dried fruit, cereals, pasta sauces, chocolate… We both stocked up big on things you just cant get in Yogya.
On Thursday we went caught the train to Bogor (about 1¼ hours) to visit the botanical gardens. They were a breath of fresh air, in all senses of the word. It was amazing to see so much green in one place! Again, we spent hours just walking around and feeling very in love with nature. We even lay down under a tree on some grass! (There is no grass in Yogya).
Yesterday we managed to get down to the colonial district. It was only a shadow of what it must have once been – many of the remaining buildings are looking quite worse for wear. We then walked down to Sunda Kelapa, a fishing port. In the process I saw yet another side to Jakarta – pollution, dust, TRAFFIC, slums, stagnant water… And then in the afternoon we again retreated to the favourite pastime of the middle classes and went to some more luxurious malls.