Yuk Jalan-Jalan Ke Jakarta!

Hellllooooooooooo apa khabar semuanya? Harap semuanya senang-senang saja yaaa ... Maafin ya lambat diupdatenya blog ini. Waduh, banyak sekali mau ditulis dong ... How's my Bahasa Indonesia? Ok ngak?

Anyway, I went for a breakaway to Jakarta on 28 January to 1 February. I booked the ticket since October 2009 but to be honest, I langsung takde buat research atau persiapan nak melancong ke Jakarta nie. Busy bangat sih ... When I told people that I am going to Jakarta, most of them will gave me that "look" or said "why not Bandung?" Anyway, I am so lucky to have a dear friend like Ibu Syuhana that made sure our trip there ... gerenti ngetop! Though tak sempatlah nak round some of tourist attractions in Jakarta tapi I really, really enjoy my time there.


Betul juga kata orang - travel pun kadang-kadang kena ada perspectives dan objectives. And as an amateur photographer and professional food lover, Jakarta has so much to offer!

THE PEOPLE

Actually the people of Jakarta are very friendly and speak softly. Especially nya ... orang-orang Minang ya hehehe. I was quite afraid that they will find us Malaysian snobbish and rude so I tried to pick up their language and slang. Sampainya gue dikenali dengan nama "Raden Mulan Jamila" hehehe. Some can also converse in accented English - a bit like Filipino. In fact I was quite suprise that our guide, Pak Armin and Pak Henri picked up a lot of English words. Maybe sebab selalu deal dengan tourists kot.

Tapi semangat nasionalisme mereka pun kuat jugak, boleh dikatakan hampir setiap minggu demonstrasi... even kami tiba di Jakarta disambut dengan penuh demonstrasi sempena 100 hari pentadbiran Pak SBY. Getting the shot on my camera ... priceless!

Unfortunately I takde lah terserempak dengan Ariel Peter Pan, Once atau Ari Lasso tapi hampirlah dapat jumpa Pasha Ungu di Tanah Abang tapi apakan daya tarikan nak shopping lebih kuat dari tarikan nak tgk Ungu LIVE.


TRAVEL IN JAKARTA

Hmm, based on my short stay in Jakarta, I can say travel planning and arrangement must be based on few factors. Shopping? Eating? Photo taking? Relaxation? To me, I have to agree with Ibu Syuhana, make sure at least tukarlah RM 1500- RM 2000. Kalau tak shopping sure habis kat makan atau spa treatments hehehe. Even I yang takde plan nak shopping pun "tershopping" jugak when found out garment material yang mahal-mahal dan berkualiti like lace, silk, chiffon and satin plus upah menjahit sangatlah murah. In a week, nampak sangat Rupiah is getting stronger compared to RM.

Mula-mula tukar RM tu Rupiah, mata sampai juling tgk too many 000 ... first time pegang duit juta-juta. Tapi after 2 days, I mula understand the value mcm how cheap is cheap in Rupiah. And honestly, if not because of the exchange rate, I can say harga barang in Jakarta is not cheap. For example, bakso with drink in Pondok Betung will cost u around Rp 8,000. But in shopping complex, bakso saja between Rp 10,000 to 18,000. According to Pak Armin, makan sederhana consist of rice and accompaniment cost between Rp 20,000 to Rp 30,000. My most expensive meal was Nasi Padang at Restoran Garuda which cost me Rp 80,000. Manakala yang paling "puas hati" was Bubur Ayam near rumah Mbak Nur which cost me Rp 4,500.

Kalau tak sure where to go in Jakarta, I cadangkan carilah hotel-hotel di kawasan Jakarta Pusat. I stayed in Hotel Ibis Arcadia at Jalan K.H Wahid Hasyim. The hotel is strategically located in the city centre, close to the Jakarta central business district, banks, embassies, large shopping centres, cinemas, entertainment and other attractions making it ideal for both business and leisure travellers. There is also another hotel under Ibis brand about 50 metres away, Hotel Ibis Tamarin.

At first, lambat jugak kenalpasti landmarks atau directions from hotel. After 3 days baru I faham apa tempat menarik to the south, north, east and west of the hotel. Contoh keluar pintu hotel, arah kanan ... kalau naik Bajjai jalan terus sampailah Tanah Abang atau Spa Taman Sari milik Mustika Ratu, or kalau first traffic light turn left ... sampai ke business district along Jalan Sudirman, or first traffic light turn right ... the famous Pusat Kuliner Jalan Sabang.

Kalau keluar pintu hotel, arah kiri ... the road will lead to airport or area Jakarta Selatan like Pasar Mayestik and Spa Sari Ayu milik Martha Tilaar (pesaing Mustika Ratu and within walking distant). Opsss ... ini bukan iklan untuk Hotal Ibis ya!

Huhuhu ... kalau nak story my whole journey kat Jakarta rasanya tak cukup ruang blog nie so tgk lah sendiri gambar2 travel I on this Facebook link.


MOST MEMORABLE MEMORY

Me and my friends were really looking forward to pamper ourselves at Spa Sari Ayu setelah berbulan-bulan mendengar kehebatan spa session kat situ dari Ibu Sohana. But unfortunately myself and Syu tak sempat nak booking appointments ... ada-ada jer kerja kat opis so we decided to make reservation once we reached there. So while explaining our itinerary to Pak Henri, Pak Henri told us "Oh saya tau tempat itu bu." and offer to make the reservation for us.

So a day before pulang ke KL, kitaorang jalan lenggang kangkung to Spa Sari Ayu, tak sabar untuk memanjakan tubuh yang letih bershopping dan berjalan. Once we got there, kitaorang heran why the kedai macam nak tutup and confused when the therapist macam tak kenal kitaorang. Paling kitaorang tak puas hati, therapist tu cakap, they cannot accept walk-in clients after 5pm. Apakah ....

So Syu called the number given by Pak Henri and baru kami sedar Pak Henri booked our session at Spa Taman Sari a BIG rival to Spa Sari Ayu (Taman Sari->Mustika Ratu, Sari Ayu -> Martha Tilaar). Hehehe ... nasib baik the Spa centre tak jauh dari situ and much much better!

And my photographic eyes turut dijamu dengan shot-shot yang sangat menarik! Klik here.