one day in Jakarta (part 1)

on Wednesday 23rd 2008, i went on a trip with my friends. We had planned this even since before the summer holiday, we went crazy like 'ooh! aahh!! it'd be fun!'...it must be sucks if we failed on this plan again! so the basic plan is going around the capital city using trans-jakarta as our transportation. we planned to see heritage of Jakarta City. Jakarta seems like ordinary, typical big city, but like other typical big city there are still many interesting spots left here and we'd really love to visit any spot that still had the smell of the past...(and i heard it's a hell lot cheaper than randomly hanging out in the mall)

actually we didn't have any preparation on this trip. we didn't know where to go. this trip were almost failed by lacking of preparation...nah. but eventually we made it! I have to say, trans-jakarta is the best transportation system Indonesia had ever invented...wait, indonesia didn't invent it!whatever, it's fast, traffic jam-free, efficient, and fortunately trans-jakarta always stopped at the spot we want it to stop. errr. good luck. really .

First we started the trip from trans-jakarta station in front of Ratu Plaza. our first destination is National Museum of Jakarta in Medan Merdeka Barat Street. The day before I opened a year '93-'94 city map, and i knew it's near the Monumen Nasional. I also knew trans-jakarta had a station in front of Monumen Nasional but i had no idea how far it would be from National Museum of Jakarta... (it's really lack of planning!) It's my first experience to use trans-jakarta anyway. the first trans-jakarta we rode on was quite full, so we had to stand up holding on ... err...what's that, things that look like hangers? bad vocab. it was so fun...felt like surfing, especially when the bus driver suddenly hit brake pedal! we were swinging. wow. fantastic.

We get off at Monumen Nasional Station...and gotcha. National Museum of Jakarta was right before us. I thought the engineer who designed trans-Jakarta track really knew what we wanted. so easy. no need to get lost in Jakarta to reach places of interest. we only had to pay 750 rupiahs per person to enter the museum. this museum was really big, divided into two parts. The first building was built in colonial era; the ceiling was high, the doors were high, the windows were high...yes, everything were made high so dutch people who lived there long time ago could cope with Indonesian tropical climate. I love the architecture of this museum. it's so lovely and old-fashioned. the collections shown in this Museum are various. there are so many old rock statues from ancient kingdoms. i was thinking, were the people who made those statue ever expecting their artworks to be shown in gallery after one millennium? (because i expect people in the next millennium will collect my belongings . oh well. forget it.) some of those rock statues weren't in so-good conditions due to old age, erosion, and other natural factors. but they still show their glory. They were not some made-in-china things that recently imported and came in large number, nor leprechaun rock statues my mom put in our backyard. they're hand-made artwork, they're carved out of mountain rocks carefully, buried in a long period of time, and then we found them. Most of them represented Hindu gods and goddesses. Those history books didn't lie. Indonesia was dominated by Hindu culture in the ancient. and, oh my, there are so many of them so you would think they all were really produced in some suburban factories. d'oh! i didn't take the picture!

there were prototype of traditional houses in indonesia, made from woods. i bet the artists are really brilliant.

there was also a room that was decorated like 19th century room.

what a dreamy room. mmmm. okay, i know i'm not supposed to take picture, but i guess this is okay. I always want a room like this. Artistic. Old-fashioned. fine furnitures. high ceiling. and really tall windows! the next part of the museum was interesting too. it's a new building though. the first thing we saw are some pre-historical fellas.

nah, don't they look happy? this is a pre-historical society. how much do you think the society had changed? we once hit a really high civilization, do we degrade or rise to a higher stage? it's now so easy to see people in the street proudly walk with barely there clothes like their ancestors!

look at this fellow fossil. i don't know whether he or she is a he or she. we don't know his or her name. is he or she happy being there watched by museum visitors?
there are also technology from 18th-20th century. there are nautical technology, astronomical technology...

these looked like things captain jack sparrow used, ay! shiver me timber!

well i'm not a good photographer...the second pic is velocity control for ships...in chinese! cool... and this is old-fashioned, well-balanced trycycle from probably early 20th century.

after our visit to National Museum of Jakarta, we moved to the west. we got on trans-jakarta, heading to Jakarta kota. Jakarta kota was famous with its old chinatown, old colonial buildings, and once were a very busy trading area. well, now it's still a busy trading area. the bus stopped near Mandiri Bank Museum. I thought our economy teacher should recommend the students to go here. no retribution charged for visitor. This museum showed a large collections of old-fashioned telephone (that one, you spin the button to dial, and rrrrrriiiiingggggggggging like that before you pick it up and say 'yellow?'), old typewriter machines, old stamps...and other old office supplies! there was also a very HUGE book-keeping record: