Taking a step back, and a few steps around the big durian

I feel I may have been too tough on Jakarta from what I've seen so far.  It is a South-east asian city and has some of the features of south-east asian cities that I like such as the chaotic roads, imposssibly shiny floors, narrow staircases and the faint smell of durian. So in our final day in Jakarta, known as "The Big Durian" I headed off to the old part of town, Kota, also known as Batavia (twas a Dutch colony), to see if this city could be redeemed by actually going and having a look at the more interesting things, rather than just the traffic, noise and pollution.

An old Dutch colonial building

The answer is somewhat.  Jakarta remains noisy dirty and polluted and even Kota was a dirty place. It had some character, but not loads compared to other comparable cities (Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh, Kota Kinabalu, Bandarseribagawan being my main reference points). The main square was nice-enough, the port interesting enough, but there was no real wow factor.  Jakarta may be a great place to shop and to go clubbing and to feel the pulse of real Indonesia, but its not really a city with sights, and things to go and do and see. The old town was falling apart, not just at the edges, bur right in the middle too.

Bikes with hats

An old drawbridge, above a really dirty, stinky, gas releasing canal

Boats in the harbour

Lined up

We visited the port that formed the northern end of Kota.  It was an interesting place with all these boats, quite large, being loaded up with either bags of rice or bags of cement, often by hand, often by little cranes built into each boat. It was good fun to watch.

Loading cement bags by hand

"Five-legged creatures" - What food carts are known as in Jakarta

Treating ourselves to some fancy drinks in the fancy joint in town. A colonial/art deco mix of  a building with dark wood, and photos of movie stars hanging on the walls.

Off on real fieldwork tomorrow (a few days ago when this gets published), who knows how good the internet connection will be and when I'll next be posting more of my Indonesian adventures!