Enjoy Jakarta!

;))

skip dulu cerita jalan jalan gw yak (buat yang ngikutin).Tinggal cerita di Wina, sekejap namun melegenda lah *ahay*. Kalo rajin, gw tulis cerita nonton U2 di Berlin.

Gw sering bilang ke teman-teman gw, Jakarta is both suck and sick! Jujur ajalah! yang penduduknya banyak yang kasar, ngga sabar, antri saja ngga bisa, debunya, polusinya, including polusi suara! When it comes to drive their private vehicles, blowing horn as hard as possible sepertinya solusi ruwetnya jalanan ibukota, yang mereka hadapi plus infrastrukturnya yang (in my opinion) terlambat 20 tahun.  Compare to other capital cities (SG, KL, BKK) 

well those kind of ramblings… to name a few. I don’t drive! i used public transportation on weekdays in Jakarta! So, gw kesal banget kalo trotoar suka dipakai lawan arah sama motor-motor! Polisi diam saja karena malas nilang mereka kayaknya. Di depan kantor misalnya, tidak ada tempat yang memadai untuk memberhentikan bus atau taxi! Hence explain the hard-blowing-horn dari pengemudi lain yang merasa perjalannya terganggu! Benar-benar tidak ramah kota ini.

Until it was on first day of November,

I had my Sunday  morning run in Car Free Day, Sudirman. Thing I barely did!  I have a friend flied from KL to attend her friend’s wedding and this is her FIRST visit to Jakarta. Her name is Ejah. She’s been to  Bromo,  Bandung dan Makassar, — thanks to Air Asia promos– , tho! Yet, it is her virgin trip to the capital city.

She’s a hard core trail runner who at that time was trying to conquer BTS 70K (and she did! in a very respective time) in the following week. She did 30K last year with me. That’s how we met for the first time. Previously, we were only befriended via Instagram as she is also Nisa and Farah’s friend, member of Gaited Community. Friends from KL who ran with me on my last trip to KL as a replacement of postponed SCKL 2013.

Our meeting point was in  Thamrin Residence, where she stayed using Air BnB service (eh sumpah gw baru tau di Jakarta ada, bahahhahaah) , I decided to take her to Gelora Bung Karno, via Jalan Sudirman of course.
Passing (tentunya) Panglima Sudirman Statue  — my ALL TIME FAVORITE COMMANDER IN CHIEF — who  was also an Aquarius #penting  and she took a pic of herself. I explained who Panglima Besar Jendral Sudirman was with his guerrilla tactic. Forgot to tell her, that on his last years, that greatest hero ever was carried around due to his lung diseases! Talking about integrity!

We passed by my office, jembatan Semanggi of course and let her now what is look like from the top, and getting to  Senayan Complex. I  tried to remember, who built the Stadium (it was Bung Karno) and why?? seingat gw Mega Proyeknya Bung Karno ya?
We took picture in the statue out side the GBK, …in which…i have no idea who he was! probably Arjuna? wasn’t it?

We even stopped at Pacific Place – SCBD area for a while coz Ejah, loves to see road bikers,  those speedy bikers. Trust me, she took lot of pictures.
Then we went back to  Thamrin Residence again to see Bundaran HI. I tried hard to remember why the statue facing  Kota? I think because visitors came from Tanjung Priok, wasn’t it? or Kemayoran Airport ?  For those who is born in 80’s  and younger, Jakarta  once, had an airport in KEMAYORAN! Tintin was there too! =)). When I moved to Jakarta in early 80’s, that is where I landed. =))
she has visited Monas (and Hard Rock Cafe) hahahah!  so we skipped monas.

All we saw in Senayan and CFD, from ketupat sayur sellers (she was  kind of surprised, we have ketupat sayur all year! not only during Hari Raya), penjual buah atap dengan botol bambu, until all the street musicians was interesting for Ejah! Even the Trans Jakarta line! I said jokingly

“semua ada di CFD, kecuali Jodoh”

But I warned her, tomorrow (monday) the CFD Sudirman would be whole lot different!

Meniru gaya Tugu Selamat Datang — kayak Gajah bener gw!!!

On the back of Plaza Indonesia, I saw Go Jek! I told her why we had (now very famous) Go Jek Services, Tag line D cost (rasa bintang lima, harga kali lima), and we ended up at TanaMera Coffee.   Actually I want to treat her in one of the ketupat sayur stall. Tapi ya boooo, gw takut dia kena bacteria secara cuci piring makanan kaki lima, kan yaa…gitu deh :)) kalau ngga biasa bisa keracunan bacteria. =)) Secara Ejah mau lari Ultra minggu depannya. 
I showed my best anything that are local and I’m pretty sure there’s no such thing like GoJek or ketupat Sayur street seller at the other capital cities in the world.

There, we met her friend, also from KL. Another one hour,  we said good bye, promise will visit each other again (hopefully) and I took train back to Bintaro.

Taken from her IG account #ngopiyuks

Then I took my words back, this city is actually nice. This is the city where I grew up since i move from Pekanbaru early 80’s until mid 2000’s =))
many to see…a lot to offer (let alone Tanah Abang yaa…she bought many hi jabs on previous day and planned to go back again before flying home) :D, I should have took her to Kota Tua  and rent a bike there!  Read Rinta’s posting here! Nice!

yet, this city,  unfortunately, poorly managed!

kayak malam ini, contohnya! Ketika hujan sudah turun dan genangan dimana-mana bahkan sampai banjir. galian belum siap, bahkan banyak yang baru dimulai.  Kemana saja ketika musim kemarau yang lalu?  😉 Baca status kawan kawan yang terjebak macet berjam-jam.  Dulu mendambakan hujan kini mulai memaki.

And, Dear Ejah, thank you for borrowing me your pictures! I’ll take you to the hilly Sentul next time you visit Jakarta! 😉 Hope you enjoy your trip!