I Want to See The World ! : Last day in Jakarta.... hikz... :(

Coconut vendor, you could request fresh grated coconut or get them
to make fresh coconut milk

Pasar (fresh market) near my dad's house is small, but bigger than
Saskatoon's farmers market :D

January 30.... Last day in Jakarta and it was raining... My plan today was to go to Sarinah and Kelapa Gading mall to get some stuff for my co-workers in Saskatoon.... No blog entry yesterday because I basically spent all day after arriving to Jakarta trying to update my oh so late blog entries :D. I started the day going to the pasar (fresh market) near my house to get some salam leaves. For Indonesians, 8 o'clock in the morning is considered late to be going to pasar... most Indonesians woke up early to do chores, the go to pasar around 6 or 7 o'clock in the morning. I went at around 8 .... Salam leaf is one of those frequently used ingredients for Indonesian food that you just can't get it in Saskatoon. Could be replaced with bay leaf, but it just does not have the same fragrance and taste. For example, when I made turmeric chicken with bay leaves, it does not have the same taste when I made it with salam leaves. Coconut rice also requires salam leaves and does not taste the same with bay leaves. I bought some fresh bay leaves at the market, cost me 5000 rupiah (enough for whole year supply...) which was less than $1. Very cheap... can't imagine how much it would cost in Canada.... I couldn't hesitate to buy emping, which is made with melinjo seeds, flattened, and deef fried as crackers. Necessary for nasi goreng (fried rice), gado-gado (Indonesian vegetable dish with peanut sauce) or eaten just like that. I always love pasar. I used to go to pasar with my dad often, I thought it was fun to get little snacks and breakfast, also just fun to see the crowds of people trying to get groceries for the day. In Indonesia, since fresh market is on every morning, people tend to only get groceries for the day. Therefore, vegetables and meat are always fresh.

Tempeh, fermented soybean, very high in protein and my favorite!

Tape (fermented cassava) can be eaten
as is, mix with desert, or made into a cake

After I lazy around for a bit and trying to post at least one more blog, I was finally ready to leave. I got on Bajaj to get to the Cempaka Mas busway station, and go to Sarinah from there. Busway was probably the most brilliant development ever thought of in Jakarta. Basically, it's a express bus system that has its own lane on the street, similar to having MRT or subway system. It cost 3500 rupiah (around 40 cents) despite of distance. Brilliant idea considering the increased congestion of Jakarta's traffic, and as for tourism, it's beneficial especially the Blok M route, where it pass through Sarinah (first department store built during Sukarno's regime) which is close to the tourist center of \Jaksa street, Monas (Indonesia's national monument), and other Jakarta's famous landmarks and shopping centers. However, Indonesia is famous for building something without thinking of maintenance. The only route that's somewhat well maintained for busway is the Blok M route because it goes through tourist areas. Otherwise, for example the one I took from Cempaka Mas, was the Pulo Gadung route and DEFINITELY not suggesting tourist to go there, was run down, the bus stop was very dirty and the bus's air conditioner looks like hasn't been working for few years, and the security door to enter the bus when it arrive... well, doesn't exist anymore :D.

So during rush hour it's a little dangerous, just hope no one accidently push you off the platform when the bus is passing .... (0_o)! Another thing I think they forgot to take into consideration, some streets in Jakarta is long and there are U-turns to allow people to go to the other side.... well, doesn't work that well when you have busway line there eh? And of course, because it's Jakarta, people don't wait till busway had pass.... they'll go despite, so sometimes busway couldn't pass because everyone making a U turn. Nevertheless, it was still a good way to hit high traffic places such as Sarinah, China town, and Blok M, without getting stuck in traffic.

Breakfast anyone? (^^)

The trip to Sarinah was uneventful, before transferring at Harmony bus stop, the bus was... ummm... remember my picture of Yamanote line subway train in Tokyo? Everybody looks like sardines in a can... well, this time from Cempaka Mas station, we're literally sardines in a hot sardine can... at least Yamanote line train was a air conditioned sardine can :D. But it was all good, and when I transferred to the bus that's heading to Blok M, it was quiet and air conditioned :D. I went around Sarinah for a bit, I was going to walk around to Jaksa street, but decided I better go to Kelapa Gading mall straight away since it's far (opposite direction of Sarinah, close to my dad's place but definitely far from Sarinah. When I got to the bus stop to go to Kelapa Gading mall, I had to continue on a small transport vehicle there (called angkot or mikrolet). I couldn't remember how much it cost to get to Kelapa Gading (no fix fee on any of Indonesians public transport (except for busway) because it's all based on distance and even then.... no fix price :D, sometimes the kenek (fee collector) on the bus will ask you for more. I ask local girl how much it would cost to go to the mall from the intersection where the small transport vehicle often park and tried to fill up the car, she said it was 2000 rupiah.... cheap! maybe around 25 cents or less :) I got to the mall and shop :D Mostly the main purpose was to get some abon or shredded dried meat, could be chicken, pork or beef, however, of course... I gotta get some stuff for myself too right? (^^) ...

Fresh fruit in this corner....

From Kelapa Gading mall, it was such a pain in the ass to find public phone to call my dad and let him know that I'm still safe and sound, so I ended up having to text him from my Canadian phone .... he's at the other mall nearby and I told him I will see him there. I took another small transport vehicle, but the one that will take me there the quickest was empty and I choose the one that will go the long way but full of people. When getting on a public transport in Jakarta, that's one of the thing especially girls has to remember is that never get on an empty public transport vehicle. Vehicles tend to stop at one place for a long time to collect more passenger, and there had been few rape cases involving girls getting on empty vehicle on her own. Although that time wasn't late and still many people around, safety always first. Although I was familiar with the place before, however many things changed over 15 years in Jakarta and many places I did not recognize anymore. I would not suggest any tourist to board any public transport other than busway. A lot of pick pockets, and unless you speak Indonesian, no kenek or driver could speak English. Kenek will yell out the next stop, but you have to keep a very close ear of what he said. The angkot driver I had was nice, and I made it to Arta Gading mall to see my dad. My favorite store, Daiso was there but I figure that I shouldn't be shopping anymore.... :D

Fresh fruit in every corner :D

We went home, I was starving cuz I didn't eat all day, then started to pack all my stuff..... slowly, because I didn't want to leave this side of the world and back to the frozen lala land of Saskatoon. There is one thing that I realized from living in Canada, I really really appreciate my home and my roots. Living in such cold place, I never appreciate heat as much as I am now. Living in such quiet, inconvenient, not very good food and 'not much to do' place, made me appreciate the hustle and bustle of Jakarta, the convenience of Japan and Singapore, and the deliciousness of all the cuisine from all over Asia.... food tasted like food! I felt like I had more appreciation of things when I went travelling because those are the things that I used to not appreciate but now I just can't have it anymore living in Saskatoon. So maybe that's one thing good that comes out of this.... living in Saskatoon made me have more appreciation of things.... The nothingness of Saskatoon made me excited of exploring new things in the world. I wouldn't love Indonesia this much if it wasn't because of living in Saskatoon, realizing how beautiful the country is .... Until next time in the near future!