Jakarta Day 2 : Jakarta Pusat, Toko Sarinah, Monas Monument, Cengkareng Airport

Woke up and took our bath. We made our own breakfast (hot cup noodles with egg), as we didn’t include breakfast for two when we booked for this room (rasa rugi sebab tak tau makanan camne kan…). Again, it wasn’t delicious but enough to keep the hunger away. We dressed up and packed unused things so that we have enough time to go out and come back, and head to the airport later. From our hotel room, cars started to line up, bumper to bumper.

“Kita nak gi mana arini?” I asked hubby.

“Naik bajai patu suh dia bawak round-round Jakarta je la”.We actually wanted to go to Mangga Dua and WTC, the famous shopping complex in Jakarta Pusat but we were advised to stay around that area, Ibis Mangga Dua, easy to go around town. (Sudah salah Ibis la…no wonder this Ibis Kemayoran that we stayed, tak happening! Rupanya Ibis Mangga Dua yang tempatnyer happening! Cehhhh!).

So we stopped a bajai and kowtim with him on the charges to take us around town. We had asked the hotel staff on where to get fridge magnets (ni Skin nyer pasal la ni…aku pun dah addicted!) and they suggested us to go to Toko Sarinah (ha I remembered who she is, the princess of Kraton Palace in Jogja that open shopping outlets to help locals selling their kerjatangan). We noticed that Jakarta Pusat didn’t have cheap pasar or street market like what they have in Jogja. Or maybe we had come to the wrong area…maybe.

Along the way to Toko Sarinah,

“Mak aih! Jam gile!” we were so shocked looking at all types of transportations (cars, buses, cabs, lorries, motorcycles, bajai, you name it!) came from all directions! And there was a guy who shouted to all cars on the road, acted like a powerful police traffic who directed here and there. (Anyway, if he wasn’t the one who shouted and directed, the cars weren’t moving…).

Where’s the police traffic anyway?

We arrived at Toko Sarinah and shopped what we need. Travel habit, both of us must HAVE t-shirt and fridge magnet that stated the place name. Not only that, we managed to buy plaque and astray stated Bali and Jogjakarta. Yeay! Afraid of short of Rupiah, I used my credit card to pay all the goods (advisable to pay cash because when the credit card statement comes, you will see that Rupiah is being converted to RM and yet, you pay higher that it should be). This place actually sells variety of items and for those who have no time to shop around, this will be the best place to go. Anything. Everything. The price? Affordable.

“Where to?”

“Monas Monument la ek…tu je yang rasa dekat…” I looked at our special edition ‘A Tour Cookbook’, which mentioned that Monas was said to be the last erection of Suharto.

We stopped a bajai again and asked him to bring us to Monas Monument. He amazed us with his way of cilok/rempit in between cars! And both of us were smiled and laughed, inhaled CO2 from other cars around us, while looking at a 3-tyres vehicle that might threw you away on the road, if it’s unlocked. The traffic was SO bad but the bajai guy said it’s normal. It even worst than KL man! Macet deh! Macet! (Macet is traffic jamm). To actually go to Monas, we have to make a u-turn at one junction which was few hundred meters away, but due to macet, it felt like ages, just to reach there. LUCKY we took bajai and we managed to skip and squeeze in at any space available.

We later reached Monas…but from the back road. Haha! Anyway, we just snapped some pictures with Monas at the background. We also took pictures with bajai and then we made our move to putar-putar around town. There was an interesting road sign, where we can actually find it in Malaysia, but slightly bigger or a lot bigger than what you see here.

“Ayang, amik gambar tu ayang! Kahkahkahkah! Gemuk cam Bigfoot!” I laughed. It was a man-crossing-road sign…but it was portrayed as a FAT man.

Enough with CO2 for today, we headed back to hotel. We took our packed luggage and checked out from the hotel. We called the yesterday coupon taxi and waited for him at the lobby. We waited………..waited………….and waited…………but the taxi still didn’t arrive.

“Haiiiihhhh…lamanyeeeeee…kita naik blue cab je la”.

And so we took the risk to ride the blue cab a.k.a the argo cab a.k.a the meter cab. It was the time to try the argo now! Our heart and the meter were pumping as one. Every km counted…and the traffic was terribly bad. It started from the first toll to the second toll (the spot where the water park was on the right and Mangga Dua, WTC were on the left). The taxi driver told that there was a fire below the bridge last night (the highway to the airport is actually a long flyover and there were houses below it). They had to close the most left lane because the bottom part of the bridge was destroyed.

We can’t take off our eyes of the meter…as it kept on increasing and increasing. But we were quite lucky when we reached the Cengkareng Airport, for the charge was almost the same as the coupon taxi! Thank god! We paid and took off our luggage, and headed to the International Departure. (Sempat lagi amik gambar atas trolley…hahaha!) We walked around and checked our departure time.

“Huh??? Delayed lagi ke???”

Nice to meet you, Pak DELAY Wijoyo.

Dinner was taken somewhere in the airport. Opened my purse, I had few thousands left and I had to spend it off! We walked into the souvenirs shop and try to look for any items that equivalent to what I had. I ended up with buying two non-framed printed paintings (one of it was being re-printed in different sizes due to its popularity).

To kill the time, hubby took some pictures of salt water aquarium and flat escalator (like what we have in KLIA). The announcer then called all the passengers to the waiting area coz its time to boarding.

Malaysia...we are backkkkkkkkkkkkkkk!

 

Bali Day 5 & Jakarta Day 1 : Ngurah Rai Airport, Cengkareng Airport, Jakarta Pusat, Mangga Dua, Ibis Kemayoran Hotel

Usual routine, we woke up and took our breakfast (owh goddddddddd! Still the same menu!!!) and went for swimming at the pool. I had few trials on synchronized swimming, hand stand, and dive, challenged hubby to do so but he was so funny in that action. He can’t even dive deeper and kept on floated again and again. Hehe! And so, he channeled his interest to the fountain that came out from a big black frog statue (believe me, that katak also wore black and white kain pelikat a.k.a sacred sarong.) And the hotel staff, as her everyday job, will carry a talam that full of offerings to be put all over the hotel areas.

Later, few Japanese guys jumped in and join us (it was only two of us who came to swim that morning and those Japanese guys REALLY jumped into the pool!). They played water polo among them and started to get more attentions, once three Japanese chicks came and JUMPED into the pool with two pieces bikini (ya allah memang diorang ni childish tul…cute gile). As seen on Jadorama, these kawaii Japanese chicks really had sweet faces with sweet voices…so cute! Nonetheless, the Japanese guys started to attract them and PURPOSELY threw the ball out of their group area, which later went into the Japanese chicks area (note that we were at the middle of these two groups and they in fact, give a ‘shhh’ sign to me for not hinted those Japanese chicks on what they were trying to do…comel sangat!).

Guess what? The trick did work! Two of the Japanese chicks started to giggle at them and threw back the ball. One of the Japanese guys started to make a move by introducing himself and had a quick chit chat with one of the Japanese chick. Which later, they had some refreshment at the water pool bar and sipped some fruit juices (mahal gile ok, selamba je minum kat situ..).

Two hoteliers started to occupy the pool benches with their ‘sleeping dictionary’. (You know what it is………………..right? D’uh…foreigners with Balinese……..for the purpose of getting around Bali without any problems…….? And…and…and entertainment? Bukannya cantik mana pun pompuan tu…). Many mat saleh did this to ease them in dealing with locals, for instance, buying thing or food, renting scooter or surfboard, including their leisure. We did see drunken foreigner dragged his ‘sleeping dictionary’ with his left hand hold a bottle (even other Ozzees at one of the street club saw this and waggled their head). She must get f**ked hardly that night. Oh god…but they didn’t bother, for they were not Muslim, and it is OK to do this for money (fast but not so easy money, I guess…at least this include breakfast, lunch and dinner though…).

Done with the swimming, we started to pack our things and by this day, we already had 1 extra luggage (t-shirts and non-fragile souvenirs) and 1 hand-paper bag (fragile souvenirs). Looking at the flight details, we should make our move to the airport. Hubby handed the room key and we waited for the hotel MPV at the lobby (sempat amik gambar…hehe). Along the Legian Road, we snapped our last pictures of surfing brands outlets. Going out from Kuta, hubby managed to snap the statue of kesatria fighting with another kesatria in his gladiator-horse-cart at the roundabout that we’ve tried so many times to capture it on the day before. Kudos to hubby!

We leisurely walk to the domestic departure and grabbed a trolley. Wandering around to have our lunch…I said,

“Hmmm…please, no more nasi padang!”

We saw a restaurant’s menu that served bakso tenis (soup with tennis-ball-size of meat balls) but doubted of the halal-ity of it, we passed (Bali, the island of mix-food…babi and ikan can be displayed side by side…haha!). At last, we choose KFC (with halal chop on it). It was not as what we expected, for the chickens (particularly drumstick) were quite small (does this mean our chickens in Malaysia terlebih makan or terlebih suntik?). Plus, they served it with rice…but we didn’t go for it lah. The price, of course, cheaper than Malaysia. It’s being said that locals who eat fast food, must be in average income and upwards, because most of them will home-cook. So, you hardly see locals (except for Jakarta peps) eat outside.

Again!

“Delayed lagi???!!!” hubby sighed.

“Sejam plak tu…bodoh tul…” I added.

We waited at the waiting area and stepped into souvenirs shop in between times. Nothing much to buy, as all items were pricey, twice or triple expensive than what we can get back on the street. Once we started boarding, we felt so sad but yet happy (mix felling lah kiranya…).

“Bye-bye Bali…” we waved the bandara.

A good thing that I found in Lion Air aircraft (compared to Air Asia), they take an account of customer’s belief. A pamphlet of doa-doa perjalanan (invocation card) was placed in front of your pocket seat; regardless you are Islam, Buddhist, Protestant, Catholic or Hindu…(agama lain, cari sendri…hahahaha). Started to recite our doa, the flight also simultaneously started to take off. I managed to snap few pictures of Ngurah Rai Airport, there was one soldier statue came into view. I tried to zoom in but I admitted, the result wasn’t so good. Hik! Same goes to seaside that I took from above. But the sunset, darn beautiful! It shadowed in between of thick clouds…masyaAllah…cantik sangat.

Jakarta Pusat (Jakarta Central) was lively from the top. Packed and lively, full of road lights (but again, my shaking hand and short-sighted eyes didn’t project great pictures…sorry). We landed at Cengkareng Airport around 9pm and looked for taxi. There was a counter that sell taxi coupon and listed out the places for you to choose. The good part, you won’t be fooled by the taxi driver as the price was fixed. The bad part, you can actually get a cheaper taxi out there, at your own risk.

“Nak naik apa ni?” I asked hubby.

“Tengok harga coupon tu, ok kot ni…kang kena tipu lak kat luar nanti…like this one, dah fixed” hubby spoke based on what he had read from the travel blog where some bloggers got ripped off by cab driver.

Suddenly few locals came to us and offered their taxi.

“Yang argo mas, mbak, ngak pa pa…bla bla blab bla… ” he confided us.

(Argo? What the hell is that?) I faced hubby. They must have mistaken us again as local…fineeee, I answered with clueless,

“Ngak mau, makasih ya”.

Gosh! Jakarta people’s jargon was harder to understand compared to Jogjian and Balinese. And they spoke fast! We later decided to go with the coupon system and were required to pay for toll fee on our way (twice). We passed by a water theme park, Mangga Dua (the famous shopping complex) and few noted buildings. The taxi driver informed us few tips on cabbies in Jakarta. They will try to charge this and that even though they were using argo.

“Yah argo itu apa yam as?” I enter-prem la kata orang.

“Itu yang meter itu…naik ajja udah Rp5000. Nanti di pusing sana di pusing sini, nah, diminta lagi ongkosnya untuk tol” he replied.

Got it! Argo is meter! Like what we have in Malaysia ar...naik-naik je dah RM2.00. Now I wonder whether we should take the meter cab who offered us earlier, or this, coupon taxi…because based on the distance, it was not really far la. Never mind, we will try to use argo cab tomorrow.

We later reached our hotel, Ibis Kemayoran, and it was a modern typed hotel (I would prefer themed hotel like Bali typed, Japanese typed, or kampung typed…with garden…). We checked in and ‘inspected’ the room. I personally liked the Kenzo flower printed toiletries. Cute! We unpacked few things and went out for dinner. We walked out from the hotel and headed to the right; saw few street stalls, but not selling foods. And guess what, no food stalls or restaurant nearby! We were told that there was a shopping complex at the end of the road, and thinking of the ‘good’ food, we decided to head off to the said complex.

“Naik tut-tut tu nak? Eh bajai…” hubby suggested. (Even the spelling is bajaj, they pronounce it as bajai).

We stopped a bajai and negotiated the price to go to the complex. When we arrived, both of us stood in front of the gate.

“Laaaaaaaaaaa…Giant keeeeeeeeeee” we shouted and laughed.

What a waste! We came so far from Malaysia to Indonesia, plus it was Jakarta, the capital city, and yet ended up at GIANT! (Baik gi Giant Kinrara…lagi best). And so we went in and looked for food court. Sure halal lah! We browsed thru the menu and,

“Bakso…Nasi padang…ayang nak makan apa?”

“Nasi ayam ke…tengok apa ada…” Hubby replied.

“Tu dia! Ada babi la!” I shouted.

It’s true! Non-halal food was served together with halal food! Camne nak makan? So, NEVER EVER think that all food courts in Indonesia are serving halal food! Malaysia is way better than this.

So we went to the supermarket area and bought 4 hot cup noodles with 2 fresh eggs (two for each of us) and headed back to the hotel with bajai. We poured in hot water in the hot cup noodles and added in egg. We waited for more than 15 minutes but the egg has not got cooked! But the noodles dah kembang…hahaha! (Kira half boiled egg la…). We later ate our dinner and watched tv. Can’t wait for tomorrow!