Asian countries have probably the richest culture of all, and that’s the reason why I decided to go roaming around Jakarta in search of invaluable spots to explore. I had a business meeting there but I decided to stay longer than necessary to get to know the city.
A few of the travel destinations at the top of my list were: National Monument of Jakarta, Wayang Museum and all the other famous ones, the largest mosque in Southeast Asia and other mosques too, and a lot of other places which won’t fit into this blog.
I wanted to visit the National Monument of Jakarta when I read about what it means to the people there. It is a symbol of independence and a reminder to all, that freedom doesn’t come for free. Indonesians had to struggle for their independence. I went before 4pm to get a view from the top of this 100m building. The cons were that there was lack of cleanliness with garbage in the surrounding area and the queue was quite long.
Wayang Museum is an amazingly educational experience for art and history lovers. It holds incredible pieces of art and it has good lighting so it becomes easy to get good photographs. I loved it there and would recommend it strongly. The drawback was that the corridors are narrow so it can become stuffy in there. And, oh, the upper rooms aren’t that great but other than that it’s one of the best places in the city.
The word beautiful falls short of describing this amazing building like the Istiqal mosque. It’s an amazing place to have salat and is gigantic, and when I say gigantic I mean all the synonyms of enormous bunched together. It’s the largest mosque in Southeast Asia; I had nothing to compare it with but it was pretty evident. The con is that there are beggars and trash outside so it gives an appearance of an untidy place, but actually it is clean inside.
Taman Mini Indonesia Indah is Indonesian for “Beautiful Indonesian Miniature Park”. As the name suggests, because of the language and the name of the country, it is a recreational area which is based on the culture. It obviously was beautiful but I really think the people should clean it more often than they do because tourists litter a lot.
There are many museums there which were all pretty good and the entrance fee isn’t even much compared to what they have on display. The city was beautiful and gave me the feeling of real Indonesian culture. Sure, being a metropolitan city it has plenty of modern buildings, but the people haven’t forgotten the importance of their culture which is evident from the many pieces of history and art there. If I ever had the chance to visit the city again I wouldn’t hesitate.