in the streets of Jakarta

Many people skip Java and the capital of Indonesia, Jakarta, which is situated in the mentioned island. And there are many reasons why! But the most common one is, obviously, just to spend the whole month that Indonesian emigration office allows to everyone for free in Bali. Half of the travellers, who start their Indonesian journeys in this gorgeous island, fall in love with the country and extend their visas for another month paying 30 USD in order to explore more.  Indonesia consists over 12000 islands, what makes two months in this country to be too little to travel and see most of it. But every island is unique in a way that will buy your heart and you will want to come back there, I am sure.

Skipping Jakarta is probably a good idea, since it is another crowded and polluted Asian city, but my road lead me to spending a couple of days in this capital. Staying in the complete living area, surrounded by singing mosques at 4.30am, slums, sewage in the streets, markets, street food stalls, the hotel’s rooftop provided us with a view of gorgeous skyscrapers and big city lights. 

There are two definitely worth visiting things in Jakarta that I highly recommend. Jakarta’s oldtown consists of a few massive museums that have beautiful architecture. Cars and bikes are forbidden in these streets, making you to enjoy this traffic-less peace. Restaurants and cafes are for Western tourists only – there is a chance to enjoy a tiny cup of coffee for couple of euros, but walking down ten meters away from oldtown streets you will end up in the local restaurants that provide cheap and extremely delicious food with drinks. The second prette place you need to visit while in Jakarta is a huge park, named Ancol. It is a massive area close to the seaside and port, what gave us views of colourful boats, thunderstorm sky, cafes with local foods and probably a billion activities (from bowling to amusement park).