Jakarta's Contrasts

On Monday, while on our Idul Fitri break, a few of us went to Old Jakarta,  taking advantage of the lighter traffic.   We were able to get there by taxi in about 30 minutes,

usually it would take much longer with the regular traffic.  I was

excited to go because it is right on the harbour, where the Dutch

people first settled ( I'm picturing Lynden Washington) and I thought

it might be a good place to show any visitors that I'm hoping to have in the future. We arrived at a large

square in an area called Batavia.  It was disappointing and

dilapidated but full of people looking around, buying food from stalls

and renting 2 and 3 seater bikes (the bikes come with sunhats instead

of helmets!).  

We spent a few minutes looking around there and then

thought we would walk to the harbour and take a look at the boats.

Again, I was picturing something quaint and lovely, maybe like

Steveston or English Bay. ( note to self, I can't compare to Canada)   We were sidetracked on our way by a little lane.  We thought it might be a place to get a cold drink as it was

very hot.  It turned out to be an area where people live and it

took us about 45 minutes to walk through and find our way out again.

I found it quite depressing as these people are living in such

appalling conditions, again by our standards.  The lane was about 6 feet wide and the little

hovels open right on to it, so as you walk you are glancing right into

their living areas. There was a very dirty, polluted canal on one side,

then the path, then the houses all joined together, that's all.  We

could see that many people had TV's and there were lots of the

motorized scooters that everyone has here and lots of

cooking going on, laundry hung out to dry, people sitting

out and kids running around.  The people seemed happy enough and were friendly, but it was

very hard to see them living like that, especially with the dirty canal which I'm sure is their water source.  However, even here, it was evident that many people take pride in their home.  Some of them had beautiful wooden doors and others had nice tile work at their front step and around their door. 

One of the little homes in the lane.

Kathy and Annie on the lookout for cold drinks!

We eventually made it back to the main road (without the cold drink!) and continued on to

the harbour.  There were lots of huge fishing boats, Herman might appreciate

them but they didn't look very sea worthy to this sailor.   A man in a long

wooden canoe shaped boat waved us down and motioned to us with sign

language that he would take us in his boat out to the end of the

harbour. As it looked like a long way still and did I mention how hot

it was (?) we decided to go for it.  We all clambered in and he had to

paddle this boat in the small spaces  between the huge fishing boats.

We finally made it out to a more open area and he was able to start

his motor and take us out to the end of the harbour and back again.

It took about an hour and he charged us 10,000 Rph each, about $1.

 By this time, I was sure I was coming down with sunstroke as I was in a

sleeveless top and no hat but luckily, I had put on sunscreen.  We walked

back to the Batavia area and had lunch in the Batavia Hotel, which is

probably the one attractive building in the whole area.  Thank goodness it

was air conditioned and I felt much better after food and water!  That

was enough sun to last me for a while. I won't make the mistake again

of going out for the day without a hat and more protection from the sun.  

Our water taxi

Maneuvering through the fishing boats

The next day, Annie and I went in the opposite direction to Kemang, which is an area in South Jakarta.  We went on a walk about and saw how the other half lives.  There were nice, tree lined streets, big, fancy houses and beautifully landscaped gardens. The contrast between our two "field trips" was pretty amazing and more than a little uncomfortable.