Today we venture a little farther to the north in Jakarta, to Fatahillah Square. The taxi driver takes the same creative left turn through the mall drop-off zones then drives along very busy roads for 20 minutes. He stops in front of the bank museum and points us to go straight ahead. We politely argue a bit and he continues to point ahead. This is not where we want to be, but we know that we are just a couple blocks from Fatahillah Square, so no big problem. We start walking and realize why the driver stopped where he did - we need to walk through a pedestrian only street.
Our first stop along the square is the Jakarta History Museum. It’s small and only takes 30 minutes to walk through, which is good because the building was completed in 1710 is not air conditioned.
The Art Gallery & Pottery Museum is on the eastern side of the Square, and it’s our next stop. This museum is air conditioned (somewhat). We stroll through the museum, which is small but has some interesting pieces.
Kafe Batavia is in an old building on the north side of Fatahillah Square. It is a Jakarta landmark. Built in 1837, it’s most recent refurbishment was in the early 1990’s. We aren’t terribly hungry, but a cold beverage and an appetizer sounds good. We’re escorted up a wide teakwood staircase to the air-conditioned grand salon. We order a beer and iced tea. We share a Ceasers Salad along with an octopus appetizer and a plate of satays. The food is surprisingly good and the ambiance is something out of the 1930’s.
It takes 10 minutes to flag down a taxi, much longer than we are used to, but we are ultimately successful. There’s a significant amount of traffic on the ride back and we crawl along or sit still all with the meter ticking away. Normally we would be worried about the impact on the wallet, but this is Jakarta. The 45 minute, 8 kilometer (5 mile) trip costs 56,300 Indonesian Rupiah, less than $4 USD!
It takes 10 minutes to flag down a taxi, much longer than we are used to, but we are ultimately successful. There’s a significant amount of traffic on the ride back and we crawl along or sit still all with the meter ticking away. Normally we would be worried about the impact on the wallet, but this is Jakarta. The 45 minute, 8 kilometer (5 mile) trip costs 56,300 Indonesian Rupiah, less than $4 USD!
This morning we met an expat in the elevator. He mentioned that this complex is named Thamrin City / Cosmo Park due to the construction of the two-story townhomes ten stories up on top of the mall. We see the townhouses along the pool area, but never realized that there is a whole community behind them. This evening we walk over the pool bridge and between the poolside townhomes to find asphalt streets and ~ 80 townhomes. Parked in the carports are premium automobile brands such as Jaguar and Lexus as well as a few junkers.....well, they can’t be too bad, because they must circle up ten stories of parking ramp to get up and down. There are also small bikes indicating some of the owners have young children. It is almost like a small suburb - but 10 stories up and in the middle of the city.
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