千里之行 始于足下

Big Durian Excursion [12 - 14 Dec 2010]
Prologue
Pt I: Braving Lion Air
Pt II: It’s a Rich Man’s World
Pt III: Macet
Pt IV: Congkak & Pins
Pt V: Shitty Business
Pt VI: The Ride Home
Epilogue

JAKARTA

Likes: Friends, friendly people, great food

Dislikes: TRAFFIC JAMS, rich-poor gap, lack of pavements

Jakarta is not the usual travel destination.

Besides the malls, our Indonesian friends were perplexed about where to take us to.

Even the malls weren’t much different from Singapore’s (or anywhere else in the world).

However it was nice to reconnect with friends whom I haven’t seen for years and see an entire new perspective of Jakarta through their eyes.

While it isn’t what I’ll normally do, it’s still nice to look at huge mansions while riding in nice SUVs as well as  hanging out with the hip crowd at Social House.

I will really like to thank them for their hospitality.

Oh yeah the food is really good as well.

I hadn’t had a bad meal in Jakarta.

Not even on the streets.

Maybe with the exception of CFC.

However I do share one pet peeve about Jakarta like everyone else.

The traffic.

Someone please do something about it.

Seriously.

Or else no one’s going anywhere anymore.

While we didn’t have buffet at JW Marriott or visited Old Jakarta, it was still a good trip.

Perhaps there will be a next visit albeit a short stopover en-route to Bandung, Bali or wherever.

LION AIR

Being on the list of banned air carriers banned in the European Union doesn’t inspire our confidence in Lion Air.

The bumpy return flight made us wish that we weren’t flying them.

Other than that we couldn’t complain much since it got us from point A to B and back at such low prices.

In addition it threw in 20kg of checked baggage for free while most other LCCs make the customers pay for them.

Seat pitch was a little tight but thankfully the journey wasn’t too long.

Its buy-on-board products are reasonably-priced but choice seemed limited with only drinks and snacks.

Lion Air can do more to generate additional revenue through offering more buy-on-board choices (Hot food? Merchandise?).

The air crew were alright although they weren’t the friendliest Indonesians we’ve met.

The online booking process was also simple and easy enough.

Will I fly them again?

Doubt so.

Unless its price is much lower than the competitors’.

Or there are no other alternatives.

Though I may change my mind if they get off that EU list.

Big Durian Excursion [12 - 14 Dec 2010]
Prologue
Pt I: Braving Lion Air
Pt II: It’s a Rich Man’s World
Pt III: Macet
Pt IV: Congkak & Pins
Pt V: Shitty Business
Pt VI: The Ride Home
Epilogue

Our time in Jakarta was coming to an end and we had to head to the airport.

Being a good host, Jones insisted on walking us till the check in counters.

From the FIDS we knew that we needed to proceed to Area E.

As one would need an air ticket to access the check-in area, we thanked Jones and said goodbye before the security.

A short queue was already forming for our flight.

The departure tax of 150,000 IDR was collected at the counter as well.

Past the immigration we had some free time before boarding.

A girl came up and offered us the service of Keris Business Lounge.

While 55,000 IDR wasn’t expensive, we declined since we were too full for more all-you-can-eat buffet.

Instead we offloaded our remaining rupiahs on snacks and drinks at one of the duty-free shops and relaxed at a food court.

An EK bird was spotted from there.

I noticed that it was raining for the first time while we were in Jakarta.

After lingering a little more we headed to our gate.

We were held up at the security due to some bottled drinks.

The drinks would cause me to visit the washroom later.

By the time we reached the gate, our row was already being called for boarding.

Three of us were supposed to be seated in Row 32 but the air crew got us to swap with three other passengers in Row 31.

And the lucky Mr Sloppy got the emergency exit seat.

The cute air crew (her name’s Virgie) came over and told Mr Sloppy about requiring his assistance during an emergency.

Apparently the previous guy was too young to to fulfill the duty which came with the seat.

However I doubted that Mr Sloppy would make a difference since he didn’t even bother to read the safety information card as requested by Virgie.

Meanwhile I could see a Garuda bird as well as an Etihad one from the window.

Route: CGK – SIN
Flight no.: JT 158
STD: 17:50
STA: 20:30
Time taken: 1h40m
Distance traveled: 551 miles / 891 km
Aircraft: Boeing 737-900ER
Cost: 31 SGD + 150,000 IDR dep tax

Our aircraft pushed back on time despite the rain.

There wasn’t a queue for taking off either.

The climb turned out to be one of the bumpiest that I ever had.

To distract ourselves from any bad thoughts, we played Monopoly Deal.

Somehow we managed to complete a game within the limited confines of our seats and by then the turbulence was over.

The bottled drinks were having effects on me and I had to excuse myself for the washroom.

Verdict: The air crew could do better with washroom’s maintenance.

I also got a photo of the cabin from the back.

I couldn’t recall whether the air crew did make a round of in-flight sales as we were all consumed with our next round of Monopoly Deal.

However we didn’t manage to complete round two before preparation for landing was announced by the Captain.

Soon the lights of Singapore appeared in our window.

The plane was slightly ahead of schedule when it landed at SIN.

Being quite far back on the plane meant that it took us some time to exit the plane.

And I took advantage of it to say goodbye to Virgie.

It is always a comfort to arrive in Changi Airport.

I discovered a new service between the airport and Johor Bahru.

JHB will slip further into oblivion now.

Quite a few flights were arriving at the same time which meant that our checked luggage took forever to arrive.

We split from there and our excursion to Big Durian came to a conclusion.

Big Durian Excursion [12 - 14 Dec 2010]
Prologue
Pt I: Braving Lion Air
Pt II: It’s a Rich Man’s World
Pt III: Macet
Pt IV: Congkak & Pins
Pt V: Shitty Business
Pt VI: The Ride Home
Epilogue

It happened not once but twice.

For the second night in a row the 24 hour convenience shop at our hotel was closed temporarily for shift changing when we visited.

Gave us the perfect excuse to roam Jalan Cikini Raya at midnight.

While not exactly bustling many people were still awake at that time of the day.

We passed by plenty of hawkers who were selling noodles and murtabak.

Most probably they all had other full time jobs in the day and were just hawking at night to earn some extra money.

Being adventurous we decided to ignore our Indonesian friends’ advice regarding street food and bought some murtabaks as supper.

While the guy was preparing our egg murtabaks (15,000 IDR each), we asked him about the upcoming AFF Suzuki Cup matches in Jakarta.

He and his friend told us that ticket prices ranged from 50,000 IDR to 500,000 IDR.

We also got a murtabak manis (10,000 IDR) from another stall.

Both were crispy and delicious when hot.

The next morning I remembered to bring out my camera when we set off to the market.

Some of the guys wanted to buy some local produce back to Singapore.

Old and new Jakarta co-exist side by side.

The trip wasn’t exactly fruitful as only one of us bought some banana chips.

Nevertheless we chalked up another fast food joint in Indonesia.

Some of us could no longer kept count of the number of fried chickens ate.

Jones had taken time off work and arranged for us to meet at Pluit before going to the airport.

And as usual we were stuck in macet again.

Luckily we had In-Jam Entertainment.

Lunch was at Sate Khas Senayan inside Emporium Pluit Mall.

Jones ordered a little too much but somehow we were able to finish them off.

The food was good like everything else we had in Jakarta (except for CFC).

But the Singaporeans somewhat agree that the food in Indonesia can be too sweet, salty or oily for our palate.

In contrast Jones pointed out that food in Singapore are often too bland for Indonesians.

Health Promotion Board has definitely done a good job in encouraging healthy eating in Singapore.

While the rest were doing some last minute shopping on local produce such as keropoks, Jones was telling me about Pluit’s demographics.

Many residents were ethnic Chinese from Medan and quite a few of them could still speak Mandarin or Hokkien or both.

I found out in the gents that Jones wasn’t bluffing me when I overheard this:

Man 1 (outside cubicle): Nee zai lai been zou si mi? [What are you doing inside?]
Man 2 (inside cubicle): Pang sai lah! [Shitting what else!]
Man 1: Wa! Ah nei ku? [What? For so long?]
Man 2: Chi bai! Buay sai ah? [F**k! What's your problem?]

The above Hokkien conversation tickled me and it took me great pain to hide my chuckles from them.

Big Durian Excursion [12 - 14 Dec 2010]
Prologue
Pt I: Braving Lion Air
Pt II: It’s a Rich Man’s World
Pt III: Macet
Pt IV: Congkak & Pins
Pt V: Shitty Business
Pt VI: The Ride Home
Epilogue

The ride from TMII cost 100,000 IDR and took us eternity to arrive at Mangga Dua in the Blue Bird cab.

The cab driver dropped us at the first shopping mall that we saw since he couldn’t bear to be stuck in macet anymore.

My observation of Indonesian roads confirmed my hypothesis that only one rule applies in the traffic here.

SIZE DOES MATTER.

The pedestrians yield to the motorcycles which yield to the bajajs which yield to the cars which yield to the buses which yield to the trucks…. you get the idea.

Explains Indonesians’ infatuation with SUVs perfectly as well.

There weren’t a lot of interesting shops opened in WTC.

Most probably there were better shopping malls around Mangga Dua but WTC was fine since it has this:

Absence makes the heart fonder.

Singaporeans can’t resist missing A&W whenever we see an outlet overseas.

Over chickens, waffles and root beers, we remarked about how polite and friendly the Indonesians in Jakarta (especially the service staff) were.

A subsequent incident confirmed about the friendliness of the locals.

Some salesgirls who were whiling their slow day at work by playing congkak invited curious onlookers (us) to try.

Despite the fact that we purchased nothing from them, they were still friendly and willing to teach us about the rules of the game.

After fumbling with the seeds and taken enough of their time, we bid them farewell and proceed to find a cab to meet Jones again for dinner.

Chaos was an understatement for rush hour in Jakarta.

But the traffic still had to yield to trains.

After some difficulty we managed to grab a cab on the opposite side of the road.

Due to some miscommunication we were dropped off at the wrong mall (Grand Indonesia? Plaza Indonesia?) which in turn caused us to wait at the wrong Starbucks.

When we finally located the correct Starbucks, Jones decided to reward us by bringing us to a new place in town: By the Beach.

Of course Jones also happens to know one of the partners of the restaurant.

And we were underdressed yet again.

The menu has some creative dishes which we got to try out (squid stuffed with chicken and prawn wrapped in spring roll rice paper).

In all the food was quite good but the service was less than prompt despite having only two tables occupied.

After dinner we thought that it was a good idea to do some exercise considering how much we had eaten the whole day.

Table hockey was first and some personal rivalries were played out there.

Then we went to pot some balls at the pool table.

I discovered some interesting quotes.

My favorite was definitely George Bernard Shaw’s.

I grappled with some tough decisions too.

Since the pool table couldn’t accommodate all of us at the same time so we moved on to the lanes.

The bowling lanes.

We decided to have a 3 v 3 competition.

Which of course were accompanied with all the trash-talks and boasting.

In fact it got so competitive that we forgot to take photographs.

It turned out to be a classic Hare & Tortoise where the eventual winners came from behind to win by two pins.

The losers were obviously indignant and promised to be back stronger.

The winners weren’t gracious either and issued a come-get-me challenge.

Till next time then.

Big Durian Excursion [12 - 14 Dec 2010]
Prologue
Pt I: Braving Lion Air
Pt II: It’s a Rich Man’s World
Pt III: Macet
Pt IV: Congkak & Pins
Pt V: Shitty Business
Pt VI: The Ride Home
Epilogue

Despite the following day being a working day, Jones and Jony still dropped us off at our hotel.

We were staying at Formule1 Cikini, an Accor property located in Menteng.

The area’s most famous son happens to be Barack Obama who lived here between 1967 and 1971.

Our abode was evidently more humble compared to the areas that we had visited earlier.

A 24 hour convenience shop, a restaurant and a Black Canyon Coffee House were attached to the hotel.

Clearly it wasn’t Ritz but at least we had a pool view.

Although I never get to figure out how to access it during the stay here.

Our triple room was unique as there was an additional bunk bed on top of the usual double.

The en-suite bathroom was small but adequate.

During the booking process the Accor website kept showing that no triples were available.

An e-mail directly to the hotel resolved the problem and a quote was generated.

Triple costs 420,000 IDR nett per night while double is 365,000 IDR.

Since breakfast weren’t included, we decided to make do with what was being offered on Jln. Cikini Raya the next morning.

Bakso (7,000 IDR per bowl), begedil (3,500 IDR each) and Indomie with chicken and lots of MSG (7,000 IDR per bowl) were our introduction to Jakarta’s street food.

Of course they weren’t gourmet stuff but were filling enough to sustain us until the next meal.

The reception helped to get us a Tiara Express cab to ferry the five of us to Taman Mini Indonesia Indah (TMII, entrance 9,000 IDR per pax).

The 30 minute ride was in a comfortable Toyota Alphard and cost almost 150,000 IDR.

Not knowing where to go we accidentally trespassed Museum Indonesia without paying.

It has a distinctive Balinese architecture.

Despite being one of the more popular attractions in Jakarta, it was rather deserted.

Apparently the locals know something that we don’t until we found out from the cute receptionist at the information counter that some of the pavilions are closed on Mondays.

It was definitely easier to travel with someone who speak the local lingo.

Then we decided to check out the timings at Keong Emas IMAX Theater and found out that we were too early for the next one.

Thus we decided to have our second breakfast (or first lunch) at KFC’s pirated cousin CFC.

The chicken was dry, miserably small and definitely not value-for-rupiah.

The only positive was finding out that fast food chains in Indonesia substitute chips/fries with rice.

A return to the IMAX Theater revealed that the films were in Indonesian.

So instead of spending 40 minutes pretending to understand Indonesian we invested the 30,000 IDR on bumping one another (bumper car: 10,000 IDR for 5 min) and riding the dodgy-looking cable-car (20,000 IDR per pax).

One could only appreciate the size of the park from the top.

There is a lake within the park and in the middle of the lake a replica of Indonesian islands are re-created.

Most of the buildings were visible from the cable car as well.

At the end of the cable car ride we decided that we had enough of TMII and chose to head back to town.

Little did we know that we would be stuck in Jakarta’s notorious macet (traffic jam).

Big Durian Excursion [12 - 14 Dec 2010]
Prologue
Pt I: Braving Lion Air
Pt II: It’s a Rich Man’s World
Pt III: Macet
Pt IV: Congkak & Pins
Pt V: Shitty Business
Pt VI: The Ride Home
Epilogue

Jones sat beside me in class for most of the time during my upper secondary school days.

He went to Canada after ‘O’ levels (good move) and only returned to Indonesia recently after gallivanting finishing his studies there.

Despite the distance and years we still kept in touch and would meet up whenever he was back in town.

Despite our apparent chummy-ness, it must be still a surprise for him when I texted about the trip less than a week prior to the arrival.

Well being a good friend he rescheduled his some of his (less important) appointments to accommodate us.

In return he e-mailed me for a really small favor from Singapore.

“I know this is pretty embarrassing haha… Well, I’m planning to buy a x’mas gift for my friend (ok… I gotta admit haha… it’s for a female friend that I’m going after haha)… I’m thinking of getting her a set of make up brushes.”

Which was followed by more detailed instructions and descriptions.

How could I reject Casanova?

Cost-wise, I can only say that there are many Indonesians who survive monthly on less than what he paid for those brushes.

Jones also brought along another old schoolmate Jony (whom I hadn’t met for a long time) just in case his small Fortuner couldn’t fit us all.

A scan through CGK’s carpark revealed that Indonesians aren’t exactly tree huggers with all the SUVs there.

I thought that I grasped my first rule of the Indonesian social hierarchy: anyone’s who’s anybody in Jakarta drives an SUV.

The Fortuner and Jony’s CR-V was more than enough and the five of us were split up en route to our first destination: Pantai Indah Kapuk (PIK).

According to my Indonesian friend, the name means “pretty cotton beach” and we were driven into a gated community mainly populated by well-to-do ethnic Chinese.

The development has a Mediterranean theme and its location by the sea means that the house owners can always park a yacht or two.

And there was this unfinished building which could potentially rival the White House when it is completed.

To be honest I was pretty awestruck by what we were witnessing around the neighborhood.

Our Indonesian friends brought us to Warung Tekko, an Indonesian restaurant which is famous for iga (beef ribs) and has a branch in the neighborhood.

The ribs were unbelievably tender and the side dishes weren’t too bad either.

I think that it’s worth trying if one ever visits Jakarta.

During the meal, I also found out the second rule of the Indonesian social hierarchy: anyone’s who’s anybody in Jakarta uses a Blackberry.

The locals decided that Sunday wasn’t a good day to visit Monas due to the crowds and suggested a car tour around the area instead.

En-route we would also pass by Jalan Sudirman (Big Durian’s very own Wall St), Istiqlal Mosque as well as Merdeka Palace.

Those of us in Jones’ car wouldn’t have a good understanding of Indonesian history since his knowledge was sketchy at best.

For instance we were told Istiqlal Mosque isn’t the largest mosque in Indonesia. (It is.)

But he still impressed us with his social network…

“Can you see that building? I know the owner…”

… as well as entertained us with his pragmatism.

“I don’t know why the government built those roundabouts. The fountains and statues aren’t even pretty and they only cause traffic jams.”

Our rendezvous place after the car tour was Social House located inside Grand Indonesia.

Third rule of Indonesia social hierarchy: anyone’s who’s anybody in Jakarta goes to Social House.

It’s a restaurant/bar/winepost where the rich locals and expats go to see and be seen.

Unfortunately most of us were underdressed and preferred to see rather than be seen.

Nevertheless we spent some good time there catching up.

To its credit, the place has a view of the statues and fountains which Jones was referring to earlier.

Jones had some important appointment which he couldn’t reschedule (read: attending church with girl) so Jony brought us to a popular place to get foot massages.

Since there were two of us who didn’t fancy massages, we decided to go for a walk.

Well Jakarta clearly wasn’t built for pedestrians and there was hardly any pavement.

Despite the broken sidewalk and bad traffic Jony was nice enough to accompany us for our walk.

We chatted while we walked and it was fascinating to learn about his job as an analyst in Boston Consulting Group and his views on the thriving industries in Indonesia.

The sun was setting by the time the rest were done with their massages and we all were ready for dinner.

Jones was back from his session with girl God and got another old schoolmate Stanley to join us at Bandar Djakarta in Ancol.

Like any seafood restaurant worth its salt one could pick out what they will like for their next meal from the aquariums.

Bamboo clam is my favorite seafood at the moment.

Of course we were all happy diners.

Bandar Djakarta is a popular place with families and many people were having birthday celebrations there.

After the dinner we were off to find some place to chill and catch up.

Jones impressed us yet again with his knowledge of where to find ‘car-shaking’ actions.

We ended up at Le Bridge, a restaurant in the middle of a bay where we spent the rest of the evening reminiscing about the good old times.

Big Durian Excursion [12 - 14 Dec 2010]
Prologue
Pt I: Braving Lion Air
Pt II: It’s a Rich Man’s World
Pt III: Macet
Pt IV: Congkak & Pins
Pt V: Shitty Business
Pt VI: The Ride Home
Epilogue

United States has its Big Apple.

Indonesia has its Big Durian.

Since I can’t afford New York, I can only make do with Jakarta.

Despite Lion Air’s less than stellar safety record, the price of 107 SGD for the return air tickets was attractive enough to entice me (and four other brave/ignorant souls) to give it a chance.

While Barack Obama took almost four decades to return, only 15 years have elapsed since my last visit.

No high expectation at all except for JW Marriott’s buffet.

And hopefully the terrorists won’t be visiting it at the same time as me.