Jakarta - A Break from Running

"Patung Selamat Datang" Welcome Statute. The landmark of Jakarta.

Jakarta is just a city with no real tourist attractions except with plenty of shopping malls. I actually got bored after the second day as we run out of places to visit other than shopping malls. I always wanted to visit as many Asia Pacific cities as I can to see the development in the whole Asia Pacific area. But the development in Jakarta is quite rapid looking at the big shopping mall like Grand Indonesia which is really grand. And the upmarket shopping malls are just full of branded goods. The landmark of city is "Patung Selamat Datang" (Welcome Statute). And this landmark is surrounded by 5 star hotels like Grand Hyatt, Mandarin Oriental, Plaza Indonesia and Grand Indonesia.

We manage to book MAS holidays which covers the flight plus accommodation. The hotel accommodation is good which is Le Meridien situated in the business district area and very near to the shopping area. The taxis by the Bluebird group is good. No bad experience with taxi drivers. They just run by the meters and no detour by taxi drivers. Our KL taxi drivers are a real shame as compared to them. I have been to so many Asia Pacific cities and taking taxi is unavoidable. KL taxi drivers are really the worst I have met. No wonder we are voted No. 1 for the worst service.

Grand Indonesia

Plaza Indonesia

The only thing that I feel uncomfortable at first is security checks at the hotel and the big shopping malls that are full of foreigners. It is like going through airport security. I actually saw a street demonstation against the USA during my trip. But generally the workers at the shopping malls offer better service than our shopping malls. The income disparity between the rich and poor must very great because once you travel away from the cities the living conditions are really bad. The places are actually very filthy.

Fitness Centre at Le Meridien, Jakarta. The treadmill is feeling like a dreadmill when you do your long run on it. 

Fortunately the hotel that I stay has a properly equipped fitness centre which I still manage to get my long runs on a treadmill. I have to cut my long run to just 10km just to maintain the endurance. Running too long a distance on a treadmill is starting to feel like a dread. I thought I was supposed to take a break from running? Looks like I can't break from the endorphins high ! But I did cut down the distance.

Chinese Food sold at Chinatown

Chinese Temple at Chinatown. The structure of this temple looks very similar to the Kuan Yin Temple in Penang

We also visited the Chinatown area in Glodok which there are many Hakka descendants staying in the area. We went into one of the Chinese medical shop and they started to speak Mandarin and Hakka to us. The Chinese culture are very deeply rooted into most Chinese. So which ever country you visit, once you go to Chinatown and you will be able to feel the Chinese culture.

Bajaj, one of the mode of transportation in Jakarta

This "Ayam Bakar" (BBQ chicken) is really tasty which is across the street from Blok M. But I end up falling sick after eating it.

The last two shopping malls that I visited on the last day were Plaza Senayan and Senayan City which is actually full of branded good and full of Chinese. I thought I was in one of those upmarket shopping mall in KL. And there are plenty of Chinese restaurant. But they served beef instead of pork. And all the waiter and waitresses are Indonesians. They played Chinese New Year songs at the mall since it was still the last day of Chinese New Year.

Probably for a tourist destination, Yogjakarta or Bali would definitely be a better choice to visit than Jakarta. Anyway, another city ticked from my list.