Saturday, April 19, 2008

Jakarta 2007 - 2nd Day

There's this character of me which I realized since very young, that I like to hold off doing things until last minute. And those things will snowball into many things not done and will disturb a normal life pattern that I have.

One case in point is a write up on my Jakarta trip in May 2007. I like to write about it as a goodwill to those who have helped me directly and others who have written their travel experience which I have benefited from. One thing is that due to these online information, I do not yet need to buy a Lonely Plant guide.

About this trip, I wrote about the planning, 1st day, & some photos already.

So the 2nd day started quite alright. We had breakfast at a warung nearby our Le Margot hotel. I had planned so that it would be a cultural day for us by going to Museum Gajah, Istiqlal & Monas with a bit of shopping in the afternoon at Tanah Abang.

But I called Riza and found out he's already at Monas. So I thought why not join him first and go to other places later. Boy oh boy, that was not good at all.

Monument Nasional or Monas is a huge area by my walking standard. That's Fateh in front of Monas & Cikli at the base. Monas is like a really tall concrete structure with a base that people could relax and at the basement, a 3D model of Indonesia's history (a 'diorama' they call it).














You also could go up to the tower viewing area; which we paid for and did not go. All because the walking we had to do earlier zaps our energy to enjoy the scenery. Plus, the que was really long. You could see from the photo I was really tired; but the locals are just enjoying their time there.

After Monas, we just returned to our room. So, if there's one lesson here, it's that Monas is such a huge place and not much to see there except for the diorama. It's like a park with a structure in the middle. In fact, we saw some local organization/companies hold events there in the morning.




If you don't have much time, I suggest skip Monas from your itinerary.

Clip at Monas' base.


Clip at Monas' basement.