Jakarta, Indonesia
Fun Filled Kiddie Paradise and
Fun Filled Kiddie Paradise and
Traffic Choked Culinary Destination
(Jakarta, Indonesia Series 15)
I would break my blog’s general
rule of
Stay, Stray, Play and Feast
sequence in
reviewing our eight day stay in
Jakarta
by starting the other way around,
Feast.
It was our unforgettable dining
adventure
that really made our trip very
memorable as
their exquisite dishes exposed and introduced
us to the cultural diversity of Indonesia,
us to the cultural diversity of Indonesia,
…by the way of its equally diverse
and varied regional culinary delights.
So it would be
Feast, Stay, Stray & Play
for a while.
Feast, Feast, Feast
Food, Glorious Indonesian food.
Feasting for Indonesian food is something that
I have not planned when we
visited Jakarta.
Unlike, Vietnamese, Thai and Japanese dishes,
Indonesian cuisine is still a rarity
an almost unheard
of in the international culinary
map,
...but sumptuous feasting is one of the best and one of
the most unforgettable experiences
we had in the city.
We feasted on food every where, starting from
the hotels we stayed like Hotel Mecure in Ancol
which I would rate as triple AAA food both on
what they offer at room service.
…to their massive spread of
breakfast buffet
at Sunda Kalepa Restaurant that we look up
to every morning to energize us on or
exploration on Ancol’s various
theme parks.
It is also this restaurant that introduced us to
the delicious Indonesian food on
their extensive
dinner buffet of various
Indonesian specialties.
When we moved Manhattan Hotel in Central Jakarta,
we also savored their delicious
dishes in their all day
a’la carte dining at the Central Park Restaurant.
Manhattan Hotel’s Central Park Restaurant also
offers and decent spread of breakfast
buffet.
Our best dining experiences were
at the restaurants
found outside the hotels,
specially in the Glodong area
or the city’s extremely popular
Chinatown district.
He had a binge eating spree at
the Ikan Bakar Cianjur
that served a sumptous array of
Indonesian dishes.
The food was so delicious and it
was understandable
why every nook and cranny of this wonderful restaurant
was filled to the brim with diners from all over
the
world wanting to try what they
have to offer.
Caping Gunung Restaurant served as a refuge from
the rain while we were visiting Taman Mini Indonesia,
the rain while we were visiting Taman Mini Indonesia,
…where we dined on sumptuous
lunch
of delicious Indonesian dishes,
…and made our visit to the rain soaked
popular park worthwhile.
We also enjoyed the Chinese/Indonesian
…that served an all time favorite
Chinese dishes
which my family craves all the
time even back home.
Despite being a conservative city, we also got
to dine in our all time American
favorite
Stay
We started our Jakarta adventure in a really old
...where we stayed in a very
large 2 bedroom suite
that is ripe for renovation but surprisingly
we felt
right at home due to its homey
ambiance.
We got the room for a real bargain of Php 9,000/night
from Booking.com and the hotel is located
right at the
water park- like swimming pool complex'
… a spacious outdoor playground,
…an indoor play area,
… and entertainment center
that kids enjoyed very much.
We moved to Manhattan Hotel in
Central Jakarta after four days
and
it was our home for the next five
days.
It is a very modern hotel and the
Mars and Venus Suite that we stayed
was very spacious and
comfortable,
…with large panoramic windows that
offered a magnificent view of the
city.
It had a huge fabulous bathroom and the view
by the bathtub was even more
spectacular.
It had a scenic infinity pool,
Source: http://media-cdn.tripadvisor.com/media/photo-s/00/1c/47/18/manhattan-infinity-rooftop.jpg
…but the strong aromatic smell of the
air freshener that was irritatingly
potent,
… made an impression like we were a herbal
… made an impression like we were a herbal
apothecary office rather than in
a five star hotel.
Ritz Carlton Hotel is old but had
a well
maintained opulent and beautiful
lobby,
and I call this hotel a 5 star fortress
I did not get to stay in this
hotel as it was
fully booked being the venue of the
medical convention that I attended.
I blogged about this hotel in
this series
as getting into the hotel’s meeting rooms
on peak hours was very difficult,
because of their vary strict and tight security.
It had a steel barricaded gates,
where vehicles
are stopped, inspected, sniffed by trained
bomb sniffing dogs and passengers checked,
The lobby had an x- ray machine and all hand
carried items are screened while
guests and
delegates are searched with metal
detectors.
The car traffic at the entrance gates and the
queue at the lobby entrance gets
so
inconveniently long during peak
hours.
Taking photos in front of the
hotel was also not allowed.
Stray
Stray
A week in Jakarta is not enough to see
and explore this huge megalapolis.
We spent our first four days in Ancol Dreamland
and the kids extremely enjoyed the place.
I could compare the place to Singapore’s Sentosa,
although not as ostentatious but just as
fun.
Just like Sentosa, Ancol Dreamland is a
seaside
tourism complex with multiple
theme park attractions built close to each
other and located one park after another.
It is rather easy and convenient to stray
and go around Ancol Dreamland as there
is a free bus shuttle that would take
guests
around the complex and to the different
theme park attractions in the area.
There is also a cable car that
provides
the passengers and the tourists a scenic
bird’s eye view of this vast tourism
complex.
Central Jakarta
The city center is a shopping haven as it
has
numerous malls of all kinds from regular to
high end
in almost every nook and cranny of the city.
in almost every nook and cranny of the city.
We were able to visit two upscale malls,
the Pacific Place, which is connected to
the second Ritz Carlton Hotel in the city.
It was a beautiful mall but we did not
get to explore it as we came there not
to shop but to visit Kidzania theme park
which the kids tremendously enjoyed.
Mega Kuningan Mall is located right beside
our hotel so we got to explore this mall
lot.
This gorgeous mall was meant to target the
high end market and had a lot of imported
European and American signature outlets,
…but being ordinary tourists traveling on the budget,
this mall was not meant for my impoverished
family.
We came to the mall as my daughter wanted
to buy sunglasses and we got one for her.
We also got to hunt for souvenirs at the Sarinah Mall,
as
it had a wide variety of native products coming
from the different provinces and regions of
Indonesia,
While other malls in the city are selling expensive
signature brands to upscale and rich
costumers.
…by selling products made from indigenous materials,
created and hand crafted by talented native
artisans.
These are the things that tourists like us would
want to bring home. It is a piece of Indonesia
that would remind us of our sojourn to this
We depended on a local tour operator to
visit
the historic and cultural attractions of
the city.
They provided a comfy tourist bus with a very
reliable driver who was able to navigate the
car congested streets of Jakarta that we still
arrived to our targeted destinations on
time.
It was a traffic choked, rain soaked city tour
and even flood plagued, that we
stayed
inside to tourist bus most of the time,
…still we got to enjoy everything and we
were
immersed by the Oriental flora and fauna of
this
busy and heavily populated huge metropolis.
We were able to see the National Monument
…the ancient port called Sunda Kelapa what
…and the original Dutch colony of Oud Batavia
or Old Batavia that locals calls the Kota,
where the city of Jakarta was established.
The bus also got to cruise and the city’s famous
…where we mostly had the best gastronomic
experiences in the city during this trip.
We also booked a tour to Taman Mini Indonesia .
Had it not been for the heavy rain, this
would have
been the main cultural highlight of our
Jakarta tour.
The different provinces of Indonesia are represented
in the park in various pavilions showcasing
the
architecture, clothing, dances and other
cultural exhibits.
The rain stranded us inside the tourist bus so we toured
the
park in a bus, enjoying the sights from a distance.
Luckily, the rain stopped for a moment
and we were able to alight from the bus,
…and took advantage of the temporary good weather
to take some photos at the Sumatra exhibits.
We later retreated back to the bus
when the rain started pouring again.
Play
AncolDreamland could compete head on with Singapore
and South California as a kiddie paradise destination.
It is not as grandiose and modern as Sentosa
but the numerous theme parks that are located
so close to one another is just as impressive.
The theme parks in Ancol may not be as massive
and kitschy as those in Los Angeles, Anaheim
and San Diego, but they are just as exciting.
There were pristine beaches, ecopark
golf courses, sea side malls, water park,
…and one can even rent a boat and go island
hopping to the Thousand Islands nearby,
…but we didn’t have time to visit everything.
We transferred to Central Jakarta
on the next five days and there were
just too much to explore.
The kids also had a great time at Kidzania
and just for this theme park alone,
it is worth coming back to Jakarta again.
Jakarta is a huge megalapolis and five days
is not enough to explore the huge city,
…considering the frenzied traffic,
...and streets and highways that easily
Some would get turned off by the traffic
The jumbled frenetic traffic adds character
One thing I observed though, unlike in
Jakarta does have the smog and grime
Epilogue
When I was preparing for this trip to Jakarta,
Most of the reviews about Jakarta were disappointing
We have been to several ASEAN destinations
…and every time some of our friends
This year, when some of my colleagues learned
“Why Jakarta?”, majortiy of who learned of
Our personal experience, changed our views and perception
about the city. We tremendously enjoyed Jakarta and we had
one the the most enjoyable and must fun vacation of our lives.
…considering the frenzied traffic,
...and streets and highways that easily
getting flooded during a heavy downpour.
Some would get turned off by the traffic
in the city, but I find the topsy-turvy a
part
of the charm that is the chaos of Jakarta.
The jumbled frenetic traffic adds character
to this unique and onerous oriental city.
One thing I observed though, unlike in
Manila where the traffic is just as heavy,
Jakarta does have the smog and grime
that we see in some major cities in the
Philippines courtesy by our notorious
jeepneys and dilapidated diesel fed buses.
jeepneys and dilapidated diesel fed buses.
Epilogue
When I was preparing for this trip to Jakarta,
I have consulted the net for reviews, and I
have
always routinely read travel books like
the very popular and reliable Lonely
Planet,
…as I always do to other destinations
that we have visited in the past.
that we have visited in the past.
Most of the reviews about Jakarta were disappointing
and majority of travelers’ opinions describe
the city
as traffic choked, higgledy-piggledy disorganized city.
We have been to several ASEAN destinations
like
Kuala Lumpur, Ho Chi Minh City, Bangkok and
several times in Singapore, and we enjoyed
all of these wonderful Asian cities,
…and every time some of our friends
hear about these places, we would always
get positive endorsements and approvals
of these popular Asian destinations.
This year, when some of my colleagues learned
that the whole family would be traveling to Jakarta,
their
reactions were far from encouraging.
“Why Jakarta?”, majortiy of who learned of
our coming trip Indonesia would suggest
other places like Yogokarta, and Bali,
but never the capital city of Jakarta.
Our personal experience, changed our views and perception
about the city. We tremendously enjoyed Jakarta and we had
one the the most enjoyable and must fun vacation of our lives.
So
Why Jakarta?
Well, why not ? Why not Jakarta?
Jakarta Indonesia Series Blogs
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
Jakarta Indonesia Series Blogs
Jakarta, Indonesia Series 11
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
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