|  Destination
Jakarta
Attraction
Parks
Theater & Cultural Performance
For More Information
Jakarta, which will be 459 years old this year, looks more modern than ancient at a passing glance. And it is true enough that much of what newcomers see in their first days is this sprawling metropolis is brand new. A trip along the main thoroughfares of the city, such as Jl. Thamrin, Jl. Jend. Sudirman, Jl. Gatot Subroto, Jl. Tandean, and Jl. Rasuna Said, will yield a view of massive office blocks, luxurious hotels, and smattering of elegant apartment blocks. almost none of what you see existed 20 years ago.
Back in 1978, among the tallest of the buildings along Jl. Thamrin was the noe almost diminutive Hotel Indonesia, while the Arthaloka building on Jl. Sudirman stood head and shoulders above any of the other buildings on Jl. Gatot Sobroto was the one of the biggest structures on that street.
The mood of the city was different then too. Women clothed in the traditional kain and kebaya still walked the shady streets of Menteng and the narrow alleys of Harmoni, or the tended kiosks at the side of the road, while men on pedicabs (becak) competed for fares with the halicak (motorized pedicabs) and opelet (minibuses made out of gutted station wagons).
The women you see along the city's streets today are more likely to be wearing miniskirts than sarongs, and the pedicabs have since been banned, while the halicak are rare sights these days, and the opelet have one by one found their way to the scrap heap.
The Jakarta you see today was born out of the rush toward affluence started in the heady days of expensive oil in the late 1970s, and the bitter awakening as oil prices plunged in the middle of the 1980s to the fact that Indonesia's populace needed a steadier source of source of income than its rapidly diminishing oil fields. Thus the new impetus toward industrialization, the rapid growth of industrial estate, and the mush rooming of office buildings throughout what some expatriates dubbed the " Big Mango".
Along with the newfound wealth and more jobs created by the fledgling industrial and financial sectors, came the myriad shopping plazas and malls that dot the city today. These places sprang up to meet the need of people hoping to spend their newly acquired steady incomes on locally manufactured products and the much-prized imported items they had only dreamed of previously.
The Jakarta that greets newcomers today is a far cry from the ancient Sunda Kelapa, echoes of which can still be experienced in the harbor of the same name which still caters to the traditional sailing craft of the Indonesia archipelago, or the neatly set out Dutch colonial town called Batavia. It also no longer resembles the tense chaotic city of the revolutionary period, or the cauldron of political unrest it become in the 1950s and 1960s, shortly before the failed communist coup of 1965.
Jakarta is now a glitzy showcase to the burgeoning dreams emerging from the nation's six five-year development programs; a place both ancient and new, both daunting and inspiring.
Attraction
:
Museums
Jakarta's museums
All charge a minimal entrance fee.
Taking pictures
Can cost extra.
National Museum
Jl. Merdeka Barat
Open 8:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.
Except Mondays
Wayang Museum
Fatahillah Square
Open 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m
Expect Mondays
Jakarta History Museum
Fatahilla Square
Open 9:00 a.m to 2:00 p.m
Expet Mondays
Adam Malik Museum
29 Jl. Diponegoro
open 10:00 a.m to 1:00 p.m.
Wednesday to Sunday
Bahhari Museum
Jl. Pasar Ikan
Open 9:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m
Tuesday through Thursday
Fine Art and Ceramic Museum
Fatahillah Square
Open 9:00 a.m to 2:00 p.m.
Tuesday through Thursday
Textile Museum
l. K.S Tubun II
Open 9:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m
Expect Mondays
Parks
Ancol Dreamland
Open 24-hours
Dunia Fantasi
Ancol
Mon. to Sat 2:00-9:00 p.m.
Pasar Seni
Ancol
Sat. 2:00-9:00 p.m.
Sun. 10:00 a.m. 9:00 p.m.
Seaworld
Ancol
Daily 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.
Ragunan Zoo
Pasar Minggu
Daily 7:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.
Taman Mini
Indonesia Indah
Daily 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.
Theater
/ Cultural Performances
Gedung Kesenian Jakarta
Jl. Dr. Sutomo
Daily
Taman Ismail Marzuki
Jl. Cikini Raya
Daily until late
Taman Ria
Jl. Gatot Subroto
Daily until late
For
More Information
Jakarta City Administration Tourism Office
Jl. Kuningan Barat No. 2
Tel : 520 9691
Fax : 522 9136
Indonesia Tourism Promotion Board
Bank Pacific Building
Jl. Jend. Sudirman
Tel : 570 4879
Fax : 570 4855
Indonesia Heritage Society
(in National Museum)
Jl. Merdeka Barat
Tel : 360 551 Ext. 22
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