Jakarta, Indonesia

Bogor Train Station

It was a fun-filled training in Bogor, a town roughly an hour half from Jakarta and is between Jakarta and Bandung. But it had to end and I found myself with 4 days extra to spend in Jakarta, Indonesia. I stayed at a nice hotel in Bogor and the bus terminal was right next to it. I was told there was a train to Jakarta and I just had to give it a try. Now I can say in full confidence that if you ever find yourself in Bogor and want to get back to Jakarta, take the bus.

The train station is not that far from the hotel but it was short walk from the main bustling road. It’s ok if you’re traveling light but forget it if you have a few bags on you. I was told by friends that the express train has air conditioning and quite expensive compared to the economy train. My ticket cost me 11,000 Rupiah or an equivalent of $1 for an hour ride. The economy costs 2,000 Rupiah or 20 cents. The station was dirty, hot and surprisingly quite empty. It was a Saturday afternoon. Apparently, only the morning/evening trains are full with the express train the last resort as the locals find it costly. I think average poverty lines take a big dip in Indonesia.

Bogor Train Station

I arrived at the Jakartakota train terminal. I have a tip for those who’ll be visiting Jakarta; if you’re going to use a cab, always use BlueBird cabs! They’re the only ones that use the meter. With other cabs, you’ll need to negotiate a price first. The rates are resonable. I never had to pay more than $3 with BlueBird cabs. But always be nice and leave a tip. $1 is more than enough.

I stayed at Hotel Kchrysant. It’s close to Ciputra Mall and at 250,000 rupiah roughly $28, is quite resonable. It doesn’t have cable TV which made me having to resort to watching Mr.Bean and old re-runs on their local channels. Their restaurant isn’t that great but they do serve beer. Something which the hotel in Bogor doesn’t.

Goat Stuff

I didn’t have to do much running around. I had Leo, a college friend, take me around. I wanted to go to a few museums but we ended up just going around malls. Comparatively, Jakarta has more malls than KL but unlike KL, Jakarta malls are quite far from each other. Jakarta rivals Manila in the number of malls.

He did take me the National Monument. It’s situated right in the middle of Jakarta and I do recommend first time tourists to have a look. Entrance including the elevator to the top floor came up to about $3. We didn’t bother going up as the line was really long. Nearby the National Monument is a fantastic looking Cathedral. It was still going through renovation works but I was just amazed by its beauty. I’d like to come back and see it completed.

Biawak Satay

Snake Soup

During my stay, I told Leo that I wanted to eat local delicacies. He obliged by taking me to a road side stall that served goat stuff in a creamy soup. I had the brain, tongue and hoof. I wanted to try goat testicles but they were sold out when we were there.

The next day, we went to another shop that serves snakes, monkeys, crocodiles and monitor lizards (biawak). We had the monitor lizard satay and the snake soup. The monitor lizard doesn’t have a strong taste of its own which is why it is served in a heavy thick sweet sauce. For those who haven’t eaten snake before, I couldn’t tell you the species of snake I ate but it has a texture similiar to beef. The soup dish reminded me of pinoy dish, sinigang.

Jakarta was good but by the third day, I wished I had gone back the day before. I actually had 3 other options; fly to Bali, take a bus to Bandung or fly to Jogjakarta. Something tells me I should have opted for any of the other options.