Historic Jakarta City Tour: Jakarta, Indonesia Series 9

Historic Jakarta City Tour
Traffic Choked, Rain Soaked Tour 
(Jakarta, Indonesia Series 9)

We booked for a Jakarta City Tour

at the Ritz Carlton Hotel where I was

attending a medical convention

to familiarize ourselves with the city.

We met up with a group of Filipino doctors

at the hotel lobby, where we were picked up

by the tourist bus to take us around the city.

It started raining when we left and

the city traffic was beginning to build up.

The rained turned to a drizzle when we

arrived at the National Monument,

…which the locals call Monas as a

shortcut for the Monumen Nasional.

Monas is a 132 m (433ft) tower in the centre

of Merdeka Square, Central Jakarta, and was built

to commemorate the Indonesian independence.

 

We posed for some photos at this

very important Indonesian landmark,

  …and we inItially intended to visit the museum

and go up the to top of the monument,

which would offer a sweeping view of the city,

…but the group decided to return

to the bus when it started to rain again.

The tour then took us to the different

important sites and land marks in the city,

 

…with our Indonesian Tour Guide, offering

descriptions and important information of the

cultural significance of each site.

It intermittently rained throughout our tour

and the traffic turned from  moderate to worse.

Our bus was virtually floating is a sea
of vehicles barely moving in the traffic.

It was still drizzling when we arrived at the old port

of Jakarta they call Sunda Kelapa  located at the

the mouth of Ciliwung River in Penjaringan,

a sub district in the Northern part of Jakarta,

Because of the intermittent rain we

decided to take photos inside the bus,

…and we were impressed with the sight of pinisi,

 a traditional two masted wooden sailing ship

serving inter-island  freight service in the country. 

Sunda Kelapa is now only a minor port and

accommodated only nothing but the pinisi boats but

it played a significant role in the city's past development.

The bus then cruised to the nearby

Kota Tua Jakarta the oldest district in city.

It is also known as Old Jakarta,

…and sometimes Old Batavia

from the Dutch word Oud Batavia,

the country’s past colonizer.

Kota is an Indonesian word for city,

it was here where this giant megalopolis

now known as Jakarta was established

 during colonial times in 16th century. 

We later passed by at the still traffic choked

 largely Chinese downtown  area of Glodok .

The Jakarta City tour was an introduction

to the city’s colorful flora and fauna,

…historical and cultural heritage,

…until we returned back to the hotel

with the tourist bus running to a mere

crawl because of the very heavy traffic.

The rain,

…the traffic,

…and even the flooded streets,

...did not dampen our interest and enthusiasm

in exploring this wonderful Oriental city.

Jakarta Indonesia Series Blogs

Mercure Hotel Ancol

Jakarta Indonesia Series 1

Sea World Jakarta and Ocean Dream Samudra

Jakarta Indonesia Series 2

Sunda Kelapa Restaurant

Amazing Indonesian Buffet

Jakarta, Indonesia Series 3

Dufan is Fun

Jakarta, Indonesia Series 4

Ancol Epic Cable Park

Jakarta’s Hip Wake Park

Jakarta, Indonesia Series 5

Ancol Dreamland Jakarta

Indonesia's Fun Capital

Jakarta, Indonesia Series 6

Hotel Manhattan Jakarta

Modern Hotel with a View

Jakarta, Indonesia Series 7

Kidzania and Wendy’s

Pacific Place, Jakarta

Jakarta, Indonesia Series 8

Historic Jakarta City Tour

Jakarta, Indonesia Series 9

Ikan Bakar Cianjur

Binge Eating on Indonesian Food

Jakarta, Indonesia Series 10

Taman Mini Indonesia and

Caping Gunung Restaurant

Binge Eating at Taman Mini

Jakarta, Indonesia Series 11

Ritz Carlton Mega Kuningan

Unwelcoming Fortress Hotel

Jakarta, Indonesia Series 12

Restaurant Haka

Chinese Food Galore

Jakarta, Indonesia Series 13

Sarinah Shopping Mall
Jakarta's One Stop Souvenir Mall 
Jakarta, Indonesia Series 14 

Jakarta a Fun Filled Kiddie Paradise
 and  Traffic Choked Culinary Adventure 
Jakarta, Indonesia Series 15