Sights and smells of the Big Durian. Review on Jakarta

Jakarta is probably not even on the list of places to visit for many Indians or others, but it is a place worth the visit. Been to Jakarta a dozen times over the past 2 years and I still can't enough of the city. This review might be more inclined towards the creatures of the night, but there a few things daylight seekers can read too.

Disclaimer: Jakarta is not for the conservative soul that expects something close to Saudi Arabia from the world's largest muslim state. On the other hand hardcore party animals, you wouldn't know what you have been missing until you party in Jakarta (other than phuket or Bangkok or Pattaya that is). Shopaholics would love the hundreds of malls that dot Jakarta.

How to get there:

There isn't any direct flights from India to Jakarta(CGK). The cheapest option is to get an Airasia flight to KUL and then to CGK. There are flights to CGK every 2 hours once from KUL. Indians do get a Visa Free Transit for upto 72 or 96 hours in KUL so you don't have to worry about the transit. If you are one of those money cows, you could take a Singapore Airlines to Singapore and onwards to Jakarta. But note that you will need a transit visa for Singapore before you step out of the plane. Probably they wouldn't let you board in India if you don't have a visa for Singapore. Travel time from KUL to CGK is 2 hours and from SIN to CGK is 1 hour. Yep it's that close.

A flight path less used would be through Colombo. You could fly to Colombo and get a SriLankan Airways to CGK.

Indonesia is one of those few countries where Indians are eligible for visa on arrival. So be prepared to part with USD 50 at the airport for a 30 day single entry non-extendible visa.

Where to Stay:

There are thousands of hotels on every budget in Jakarta and you could find one for your budget on agoda or something. I usually stay at the Shangri-La or Le Meridian. Both are 5 star but cheaper than most countries. The usual rooms start at USD 150 a night with breakfast and 24 hours concierge service (in case you are too drunk to come back, you can give them a call and ask them to pick you up). My personal favorite is Shagri-La because it has a very cool club right in the basement called BATS. I could start my evening with dinner and a couple of beers at BATS and move to more crazier places ;)

Going Around:

Taxis in Jakarta are just like in India ripoffs. But there are a few very legitimate metered taxi companies too. When in Jakarta I always use Blue bird (pusaka) when on a tight budget or silver bird when I can splurge. The blue bird taxis are the budget taxis which are usually Toyota Limo (vios in Indian market I think) and the silver bird is the executive version of blue bird. when I say executive I mean mercs, bmws, lexus and porsche. Now that's what I call an executive taxi baby ;) The executive taxi is not very expensive. They usually charge IDR 7,000 a kilometer. Isn't it worth it traveling in style?
I have been told buses and trains are quite dangerous for foreigners due to robberies. So I personally don't have much experience on those. On the other hand they have auto rickshaws just like in India. They call them Bajai which is pretty much bajaj.

Even if you are the splurge kind of traveler, you should definitely take a ride on the ojeks. Ojek is their motocycle taxi and boy are they fun. If you are into adrenalin rush and traveling at speeds excessive of 90km/hr in heavy traffic, look no further :). Ojek rides are extremely cheap. the usually going rates are I think less than IDR 2,000 per 2 kilometers.

Sites:

I have been on the traditional stereotypical tourist way of sightseeing and the places not to be missed are Ancol and Taman Mini. Ancol is basically a huge chunk of land dedicated to entertainment very close to the sea. There is an amusement park, Sea World (personally I don't like the fishes) and a golf range. There is a wonderful seafood restaurant called Bandar Djakarta. Personally one of the best seafood places I've been to (this is coming from a guy who doesn't like anything that swims). The variety of fish is simply amazing! you choose the fish and they cook the way you want it. You need a reservation though. This place is packed everyday till 3 AM. Your hotel can help you with it I guess. It is definitely a place worthy of a visit. Taman Mini is a park which is basically a miniature of the indonesian archipelago. For the cultural wisdom seeker, this a good place to start.

Shopping:

Two of the biggest malls in the world are in Jakarta CBD. They are Mal Artha Gading and Grand Indonesia. You probably need an entire day to see these two malls alone. My favorite is Pondok Indah Mall. It's relatively smaller but nothing in India is as big as this one either. Clothing seems to be relatively cheaper than India so ladies, you can do your thing :) .

Food:

Indonesian food is slightly similar to southern indian food. if you are not into rice and chillies, probably you are better off on subways, McDs and KFC. For the culinary enthusiast sate, bakso, soto ayam, lele pecil goreng are lovely starters. The indonesian ox tail soup is simply wonderful. If you can stomach swine, head towards jakarta barat (means west jakarta and nothing to do with india). They have one of the best BBQ swine.

Now for my favorite part.

Night Life:

It maybe a muslim country, that doesn't mean their people are denied the wonders of alcohol and crazy dancing. For the "get drunk and dance for 2 days" kinda people there is Stadium. This is one of the biggest clubs in Jakarta and probably one of the biggest in Asia. It has five levels of pure partying. It is quite common for this club to open on Friday evening and close it's doors on Monday morning. When I went there in Feb 2012, they had a DJ playoff for 9 straight hours! During Wednesdays, Fridays and the weekend they play originals not the cheap mainstream music. That itself is worth a visit! Beer is cheap in Indonesia. price ranges from IDR 30,000 to IDR 75,000 in clubs, bars and other haunts. Stadium is also one of seediest clubs in Jakarta. Allegedly it is part of a group of clubs run by the ex-army general hence drugs and women are on full flow. That shouldn't stop you from having a good time though. They actually understand if you say no and would never bother you again. Other wonderfully crazy clubs on the list are Malioboro (the seediest place in jakarta), Red square (one of those places where the odds of getting lucky is slightly lower than 100%) and the Blok M street. Malioboro is an excellent club run over by hookers and gogo (google for it if you are too innocent) girls. I like to go to this place once in a while with my girl friends. Their idea is that if everybody is for sale, no guy would come to them and flirt. I still don't get it how it works but it does. Blok M is a place to experience just like Thanon Bangala in Phuket. This street has everything from pick-up joints to sports bars and everything in between. Top Gun is the seediest on Blok M and sportsman bar is the nicest of them all.

The places I mentioned are the ones I personally thought were good and have very good memories. Other happening places include Drgaon fly, BATS (how did I miss that!), CJ's and Immigrant. There are many others but you can find them yourself if you can manage to survive the above few :) .

That's about it for now. Maybe later on I can write about food in Jakarta.