Return to Jakarta

When I was in Indonesia the first time, I heard about a place called Borobudur. It's a Buddhist temple, and apparently it's also the largest Buddhist temple in Asia. I saw a photo and thought it was amazing. And I was mystified about why I had never heard of it before. I do think I actually saw a photo of it before, but didn't know where it was. I only knew it wasn't where I was going. In any case, after learning about it while I was in Indonesia the first time, I kept hearing about it again. I have seen at least two television programs about it, one was a whole travel show about the site. I have read about it in a couple of magazines. And a news story mentioned it, noting that Richard Gere was set to visit the site. It was as though Borobudur was calling me to come and visit.

So when I started looking at leaving Australia, it seemed as though it might be best to head back to Indonesia so that I could go and see it for myself. I also made a couple of friends here and thought I might be able to visit them again, too. So I made plans to return to Jakarta. Because I was never sure of the exact timing of my visit with Kelly, I didn't end up making a plane reservation until it was quite late, but had I made the reservation at the beginning of June, it would have been much cheaper than flying to Kuala Lumpur straight anyway, so I took that as another sign. As it is, I still got a fairly good price on things, but it's not as good as it would have been. I ended up going through Bali, although I only spent the night before heading back to Jakarta. I should have paid more attention to where things were in relation to Bali and Jakarta because Borobudur is actually situated between the two, and I should probably have flown from Bali to Jogyakarta, the access city for the temple, instead of Jakarta. But it will work out anyway.

It turned out that it will be difficult to work out meeting my friends here (one will be in Jakarta on the weekend, the others are doing exams and have lots of studying to do), so I am spending a few days here. There were a number of things that I didn't do here the first time around, so I will do them this time. One of those is a visit to the harbour/marina area, Ancol. (Note that the 'c' is pronounced as 'ch' in the Indonesian language.)

I headed out towards the Ancol area on the Busway system. I still think that idea is great for a city as big as Jakarta, and given that they apparently couldn't build or missed out on the opportunity to get the land for a subway system. Going the direction I wanted to go, though, was very busy, so I took the long way around. This still only took maybe an hour an a half. (And with the wait in the other direction, it might have taken me that long anyway.) I got to the end of the line, at Ancol, and got off the bus. Then I wanted to go in and look around the area. I thought the ticket booth had something to do with some sort of amusement or other attraction, so I couldn't understand why they wanted me to buy a ticket. Eventually I understood that the whole Ancol area is some kind of fee-accessed area. And I had to buy a ticket. It was only 11500 Rupiah, about $1.75. It just seemed odd to me. But when I got inside the area, I began to understand. There are indeed amusement parks, at least one traditional amusement park, and a waterpark. There is a Seaworld, which I assume is some kind of aquarium with local (and maybe not so local) marine life on display. There is a marina, a number of beach and swimming areas, and a couple of posh resorts. And that's just the developed part that I walked through. After these spots there is a whole area that is being re-developed. I think maybe the entry fee is put towards the re-development of the waterfront area. And it is a lot different from the rest of Jakarta. For one thing, it's much cleaner. There also aren't as many people, but that might change on a weekend.

Originally I went in order to figure out how to take a tourist cruise of some sort out to see the Thousand Islands area, the vacation and island fun area where the rich Indonesians go on weekends and vacations. So my the first place I went on in Ancol was out to the marina. There was a nice view out into the Bay of Jakarta, but I couldn't find any tourist sort of office for such tours.

I heard there are such things available, but maybe I will have to book it through the tourist information office. I did see a couple of booking offices for the resort islands out in the Thousand Islands area. I don't want to go out and stay there though, so I didn't bother going in. I imagine that might bring me back to thinking I was still in Australia, as well, and I don't need that. Also around the marina was where all the nice boats owned by all the rich Indonesians are parked. I wonder if the poor Indonesians know about this huge difference between them and the rich.

Then I noticed how certain tourists (those would be the ones who are far more adept at negotiation that I am) go out and get a look around the bay. Along the waterfront are parked all these boats. I was approached a number of times by the boat owners to see if I wanted to go out for a tour. As I am alone, I don't fancy bearing the whole cost of that by myself, so I turned them down. If I can arranged a tour with more people through a tour operator, that will be much better. If I can't, well, I can imagine what it would be like.

As I was walking along the waterfront, I noticed lots of indicators that they have plans for this area and that its re-development is to revitalize Ancol and bring in tourists. And their money. This set of benches is being set up (or maybe just refurbished), and it faces out to open water. I would imagine there must be some kind of water show that will someday bring crowds to sit and watch from these seats.

This is one of the beach areas where people can frolic in the water. There is also a gondola. I shudder at the thought of the carnival atmosphere that means they want to cultivate.

I wonder if the people who will live here will have to pay the entrance fee when they come home, or if it is somehow part of their ownership of the units. I also wondered how the Indonesians figured out a way to start a building from the bottom and the top and then meet in the middle.

This little critter was swimming just off one of the viewing piers along the waterfront. I wonder if it's one of the really poisonous ones.

You know, I suppose it's really useful to be able to locate the rest of the members of your tour if everyone is wearing the same kind of shirt, but I still think it looks ridiculous. The same with couple shirts.

They are really working hard on re-developing the waterfront with a nice boardwalk. In a year or so, I think this might be a very pleasant place to spend a day. Or a week with all the attractions in this area.

As I walked back to the Busway stop, I managed to get a good view of the sunset. And the trees covered the industrial chimneys in the distance.

There is some kind of memorial along the shore, in an inlet across from one of the posh resorts. It looked okay in the daylight, but it looked much better at night.