Exploring Jakarta

 Jakarta is a spread out city (comparable to Los Angeles but around 300 miles large instead of 500) with a population of over 9.5 million, during Hari Raya (end of Ramadan) everybody is back in their villages for a long weekend celebrating. We were very fortunate to only really experience some traffic in Malaysia (Ramadan breaking fast traffic-mostly around 7pm right before the sun was going to set) and very little in Jakarta. If you have read Betsy’s post, you can see what a blessing this truly was. We were told that usually there are over 70,000 cabs in the city but during Hari Raya, only 15,000 were servicing the city. But Tuk tuks were in infinite supply!

Naif breaking fast with water in a taxi during Ramadan traffic in KL

Taking a Tuk Tuk to the National Museum of Indonesia

The view from the Tuk Tuk

Lack of traffic in Jakarta during Hari Raya

While in Jakarta we were able to attend Taman Mini as a class. In what other academic setting are you able to attend a theme park with your classmates?!? And the best part is that this made perfect sense. Taman Mini is a miniature cultural based amusement park that allows you to visit all parts of Indonesia without leaving Jakarta. I was able to see Sumatra and Bali and West Java all in one location. While being able to explore the whole country is more ideal, Taman Mini allowed our class an opportunity to witness the cultural and architectural differences of each part of Indonesia while we were learning about them during the program. 

Overhead view of Taman Mini

Museum Indonesia

Building Dedication was signed by President Soeharto in April 1986

Papua

Our mode of transportation for an aerial view

Replica of Indonesia and all the Islands (there are over 17,000)

The Dakota RI 001 Seulawah airplane was donated by Aceh (northern end of Sumatra), proving their participation in the battle of the Indonesian people in defending their independence.

Bali