Day 27: Exploring the old city

Today was the day - after being off colour for so long I felt like I was finally going to be up to a bit of sight-seeing, so we decided last night that we'd head for the Old Town - a few remnants of Indonesia's Dutch colonial past. We'd heard good things about the fish market on the docks, an authentic working port and market where the fishermen dropped off their night's catch early in the morning to be sold during the day.

So we agreed on an early start, in a taxi by 7:15am after a hotel breakfast and shower. Despite the early hour there was still plenty of traffic around, and as usual it took longer than expected to arrive. We were dropped off in a fairly nondescript area, though obviously close to the port. We knew the street (it was called Jalan Ikan ie Fish Street), but when we followed it to where the fish market supposedly was, all we could find was piles of rubbish and garbage. It honestly looked like the aftermath of an earthquake or something. There were a few shacks still standing with people around, so we "asked" which isn't the easiest concept when you don't have a mutual language, but according to the guy we asked, this WAS the fish market! I think we misunderstood him and it had moved or something, but it definitely wasn't there. Alas.

We walked into the port itself where all the sail boats were tied up and had a look around. Apparently it's the largest sail-powered fishing fleet still operating anywhere in the world! Something to be proud of I guess. A few people offered tours of their boats but we declined as we could see pretty much everything from the outside anyway. After a decently long walk we headed over in the direction of the old Dutch settlement which still lives on in a few buildings.

First stop was a cafe Shandos had heard good things about, named for the Dutch East India Company, but much like its namesake it was closed and possibly out of business. We weren't that early, strange!! More walking southwards brought us to the last remaining Dutch drawbridge anywhere in the world. When the Dutch set up their trading port of Batavia in the 1630s, their master town plans required canals and so on, so that's what they did! The drawbridge had been knocked down a few times and I think the current iteration is actually from the 1930s, but the stanchions looked original enough. It's pretty short and not very tall, but impressive enough. One weird note - the gate to walk over was locked and everything looked very closed (no tourists etc), but a man appeared and relieved us of 20k rupiah ($2) and opened the gate. Go figure.

More walking and we arrived at the main area - a large square called Fatahillah in front of the old governor's mansion (huge!). Still a block or two worth of buildings still standing here, and much more in line with what I'd expected when I pictured an "old town". Since the earlier cafe had been closed, we headed for our intended lunch destination at 10:30 - Cafe Batavia, again in an old colonial building overlooking the square. Had a mocktail here which was very night but cost almost $7 each which is an outrageous price by Indonesian standards.

The square itself was packed with Indonesian tourists looking around, taking selfies and riding the hire bikes parked at each end of the square. A few street performers around too - a guy with puppets and a few guys with that "seat hidden inside their outfit" illusion where it looks like they're hovering. We hired a bike for 30 minutes and did a few laps of the square taking some photos, but the bikes were designed for either midgets or children and our knees would hit the handlebars with each revolution.

We explored a market down a side street and ducked briefly into an exhibition about the restoration of the old Dutch buildings, but there wasn't a whole lot to see. Shandos wanted lunch at this (11am) point, so ordered a plate of noodles with satay sauce and some cut up potato fritters from a lady at the side of the road. It was actually very tasty, though a little spicy.

From here we visited the museum that's been set up in the former's governor's palace, the giant building overlooking the square. Entry was the princely sum of $0.50 each! It was interesting enough to wander around and see the space (and read a few signs about the colonial era), but most of the really interesting stuff was long gone and the place was absolutely rammed with Indonesian tourists who moved through at a breakneck pace. Selfie in front of this wall, that wall, the other wall, next room. An odd way to sight-see in my eyes, but no judgements!

We were asked to be in a /lot/ of selfies here as well, at least 15 I think! Shandos more than me. I don't quite know why other than we're an oddity (there aren't many Westerners around though we saw maybe 5 total during the day). I assume there's nothing malicious about it because everyone's very smiley and friendly, though there's just so much giggling from the girls sometimes I'm not so sure. A couple of teenage guys also followed for a few rooms around the mansion and I was getting the shits with it and preparing to confront them, but eventually they asked for a photo and I think they were just mustering the courage to ask Shandos.

Out of the museum and into a (mercifully air-conditioned) cafe on a side-street nearby when I had a plate of nasi goreng for lunch. We chilled out here and had a couple of iced teas before wandering a little more around the streets of the old town. Not much more to see though, we'd exhausted the scenery a bit quicker than I was expecting. But no problem, it's just so hot, sweaty and grimy here that we were both ready to head for the hotel and have a swim by 2pm!

The main station was just nearby so we walked over and puzzled out the system for buying a smartcard (think Opal/Oyster/myki etc), buying our ticket etc and finding the platform where the train was already waiting. Although the station was a grand old crumbling relic from the 1920s, the train itself was sparkling new - apparently an import from Japan to encourage Jakartans into more public transport. The traffic problems aren't going to fix themselves of course!

The train left after about five minutes and we stood the whole four stations to our stop where we jumped out and walked the couple of blocks back to the hotel. Aside from the ticket queues at the station, I'd say the process was a lot quicker and cheaper than a taxi, so thumbs up for the new Jakarta metro from us. We had a swim in the pool though thunderstorms were brewing, before freshening up and heading downstairs to our favourite executive lounge haunt where I now type this! Current plan is to head across the road for a street food dinner before our last full day in Jakarta tomorrow. Nothing really on the cards, though I'd like to do some shopping. Let's see how that works out!Read more