प्रकाशित भइल बा: 01.09.2018
We arrived in Jakarta late in the evening and went to the hotel accompanied by our tour guide, who gave us some tips for activities in Jakarta. We also got a first impression of the traffic in Indonesia - sometimes it was advisable to focus on the tour guide and not to look out the windshield to avoid getting scared.
The next morning, we wanted to explore the area around our hotel on foot, which was located in the center near the National Monument.
First, we needed some money and wanted to go to the ATM. It was located on the opposite side of the street diagonally across from our hotel. And so withdrawing cash presented us with the first challenge in Indonesia: we had to cross the street. We had to pass cars and especially mopeds driving wildly and honking. If you want to wait for a gap, you unfortunately have to wait a long time, so you sometimes have to venture onto the street and hope that the other road users will slow down or at least swerve.
We continued past the Liberation Monument, which depicts a person breaking free from chains, towards the National Monument on Freedom Square.
The huge flame on a marble obelisk was built in 1961 by Sukarno, who wanted to create a monument himself to commemorate the liberation from Dutch colonial rule.
Some claim that he built an oversized phallic symbol that would suit his fondness for the female sex...
We spent the rest of the day relaxing at the hotel because the next morning we were heading to Tanjung Puting National Park.