Jakarta, was our next stop and first time in Indonesia. Jakarta is Indonesia’s largest city, it is a bustling metropolis with a population exceeding 10 million. It serves as the nation’s financial, commercial, and entertainment hub, anchoring the largest economy in Southeast Asia. Below is the Flag of Indonesia.
Jakarta is a very busy city the traffic jams are ridiculous. They have so many people and cars that on some of their freeways you have turns using it. Odd license plates one day, and even the next day. There are cameras that monitor this, and if you are caught using the freeways on the wrong day you are fined.
The best part of Jakarta is the The Old Town of Jakarta it was founded in the 17th century by the Dutch East India Company or the Vereenigde Oost-Indische Compagnie (the VOC). Then called Batavia, the town had the largest volume of trade in Asia. It is an excellent example of Dutch colonial city town planning and architecture, with a beautiful town square, now named Fatahillah Square. Several Dutch buildings remain around the square, notably the Jakarta History Museum and also a Dutch vintage restaurant called the Cafe Batavia The café dates back to the early 19th century and has become an iconic landmark. The Cafe is full of old worldly charm with afternoon teas and cocktails the bar staff are all dressed in the tradition clothing of that era. The cafe looks out onto the square, there were lot of school children around on bikes and wearing colorful attire. We enjoyed the museum of fine art and ceramics, the building itself was beautiful and the 2 circular stair cases are a piece of art in themselves.
Our final stop was to the The National Monument it is a 132m obelisk in the center of Merdeka Square It is the national monument of the Republic of Indonesia, built to commemorate the struggle for Indonesian independence.
On a final note Jakarta is sinking, this is why Indonesia is moving its capital from Jakarta to Nusantara. Engineers and geoscientists have identified at least four factors as the cause of the sinking of Jakarta —excessive extraction of groundwater; the increasing weight of buildings; compaction of the young sediment alluvial soils on which the city is built; and tectonic activities. It will be interesting to see the New Capital when it is ready.
I loved these art illustrations in Jakarta Airport, they make the boring fire hoses look so much more interesting, they also brings your attention to them, so you will never forget where they are. So clever
Our next stop was Bali we had never been to Bali and to be honest we really just wanted a nice relaxing week lying by the pool, with a few drinks in hand. Bali is a popular Indonesian island destination famed for its stunning natural beauty, vibrant culture, and spiritual traditions, featuring iconic rice paddies, ancient temples, and a thriving tourist scene, a lot of these tourist come from Australia as it is only a 3 and half hour flight from Perth. What Spain is to Ireland, Bali is to Australia in regards to a tourist destination.
We loved our week here, We stayed at the Nusa Dua Bali it was very nice, what I noticed most of all about Bali was the people, they are just so lovely each and everyone of them. They could not do enough for us. Even though we had a a bit of rain it did not matter. We stayed around the Nusa Dua area for most of the week as it was nice and quite, but they do have a lot of good restaurants, one of the restaurants we really liked was called Moist, it has only been opened for 3 weeks now, the food and service was very good. We just had one day in Seminyak, they had some nice coffee and clothes shops but it was a lot busier spot than Nus Dua.
Overall we had a lovely time in Indonesia