![\"jakarta.jpg\"](\"http:\/\/www.asianinny.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/02\/jakarta.jpg\")
<\/p>\nAt first glance, this hot, smoggy city, which sprawls for miles over a featureless plain, feels like nothing more than a waiting lounge for the millions queuing up to make their fortune. Jakarta\u2019s infamous macet chokes its freeways, town planning is anathema and all attempts to forge a central…<\/p>\n
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Whether you love it or hate it, there is no escaping Jakarta, Indonesia\u2019s overweight capital. This \u2018Big Durian\u2019 is filled with all the good and bad of Indonesian life.At first glance, this hot, smoggy city, which sprawls for miles over a featureless plain, feels like nothing more than a waiting lounge for the millions queuing up to make their fortune. Jakarta\u2019s infamous macet chokes its freeways, town planning is anathema and all attempts to forge a central focal point for the city have stuttered and ultimately failed. The first \u2013 or only \u2013 thought on most travelers\u2019 minds is how quickly the city and its polluted streets can be left behind.<\/p>\n
Beneath the veneer of glass fascias, concrete slabs and shabby slums, however, this is a city of surprises and a city of many faces. From the steamy, richly scented streets of Chinatown to the city\u2019s thumping, decadent nightlife, Jakarta is a Pandora\u2019s Box, filled with unexpected gems. Here it\u2019s possible to rub shoulders with Indonesia\u2019s future leaders, artists, thinkers, movers and shakers, and to see first hand the deep-seated desire so many Indonesians have to rise above the poverty they were born into. Populated by Bataks from Sumatra, Ambonese from Maluku, Balinese, Madurese and Timorese, Jakarta is also a vast cultural melting pot in which the larger Indones\u00acian identity is forged; it is Indonesia in a nutshell.<\/p>\n
Jakarta certainly isn\u2019t a primary tourist destination, but parts of the old city (Kota) offer an interesting insight into the capital\u2019s long history, and there are a handful of good museums scattered about. But if you want to get under the skin of Indonesia, a visit to this mammoth city is an absolute must.<\/p>\n
Geography
\nJakarta is located on the northwestern coast of Java Island, at the mouth of the Ciliwung River on Jakarta Bay, which is an inlet of the Java Sea. The northern part of Jakarta is constituted on a plain land, approximately eight meters above the sea level. This contributes to the frequent flooding. The southern parts of the city are hilly. There are about 13 rivers flowing through Jakarta, mostly flowing from the hilly southern parts of the city northwards towards the Java Sea. The most important river is the Ciliwung River, which divides the city into the western and eastern principality. The city border is the province of West Java on its east side and the province of Banten on its west side.<\/p>\n
The Thousand Islands, which is a part of the administrative region of Jakarta, is located in the Jakarta Bay. These 105 islands are located 45 kilometers (28 mi) on the north part of the city.
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\nClimate
\nJakarta has a hot and humid equatorial\/tropical climate (Af) according to the K\u00f6ppen climate classification system. Located in the western-part of Indonesia, Jakarta’s wet season rainfall peak is January with average monthly rainfall of 350 millimeters (14 in) and its dry season low point is August with a monthly average of 60 millimeters (2.4 in). The city is humid throughout the year with daily temperature range of 25\u00b0 to 38\u00b0C (77\u00b0-100\u00b0F).<\/p>\n
Money
\nJakarta is crawling with banks offering the best exchange rates nesia, although it usually pays to shop around. There are ATMs galore at the main post office near the National Monument and at Plaza Indo\u00acnesia.<\/p>\n
Dangers & annoyances
\nFor such a huge city with obvious social problems and an unhealthy reputation, Jakarta is surprisingly safe. It does, however, remain the most crime-prone city in Indonesia. Violent crime is not unknown, but tourists are rarely targeted. It\u2019s best to take the usual precautions though \u2013 avoid disreputable areas (Glodok and Kota can be unsafe in the early hours of the morning), don\u2019t walk the streets alone at night and move out of the way quickly if violence does break out. Attacks by taxi drivers have been known to take place, so always opt for reputable firms at night, such as the citywide Bluebird group.<\/p>\n
Jakarta\u2019s buses and trains tend to be hopelessly crowded, particularly during rush hours. Pickpockets are notoriously adept and many locals will warn you against such thieves.<\/p>\n
Following the Bali and Jakarta bombings, many foreign embassies have warned against travel to Indonesia and especially Jakarta. Attacks against foreign interests have occurred and protests, although often peaceful, may still become violent with little warning. Continued conflict in the Middle East, or developments in the case against those responsible for the bombings, may provoke further unrest. While such warnings are often manically overcautious, once you\u2019re in the country, it\u2019s always wise to check the current situation with your embassy.<\/p>\n
Getting there & away
\nJakarta is the main international gateway to Indonesia. Jakarta is also a major centre for domestic travel, with extensive bus, train, air and boat connections.
\nLand<\/p>\n
Bus<\/p>\n
Jakarta\u2019s four major bus terminals \u2013 Kalideres, Kampung Rambutan, Pulo Gadung and Lebak Bulus \u2013 are all a long way from the city centre. In some cases it can take longer getting to the bus terminal than the bus journey itself, making the trains a better alternative for arriving in or leaving Jakarta.<\/p>\n
Tickets (some including travel to the terminals) for the better buses can be bought from agencies.<\/p>\n
Train<\/p>\n
Jakarta\u2019s four main train stations are quite central, making trains the easiest way out of the city into Java. The most convenient and important is Gambir station, on the eastern side of Merdeka Sq, a 15-minute walk from Jl Jaksa. Gambir handles express trains to Bogor, Bandung, Yogyakarta, Solo, Semarang and Surabaya. Some Gambir trains also stop at Kota, the train station in the old city area in the north. The Pasar Senen train station is to the east and mostly has economy-class trains. Tanah Abang train station has economy trains to the west.
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\nFor express trains, tickets can be bought in advance at the booking offices at the northern end of Gambir train station, while the ticket windows at the southern end are for tickets bought on the day of departure. You can call for schedules and departure times (3842777, 3523790) or consult the helpful staff at the station\u2019s information office (6929194; 24hr).<\/p>\n
To get to Jl Jaksa, avoid the taxi booking desk inside Gambir station and head outside to the long line of taxis, or make your way to the main road and hail a bajaj (motorized three-wheeler taxi); the fare will be around 20,000Rp or 10,000Rp respectively.<\/p>\n
If you need a hotel, there is an Indohotel (345080) desk inside the station.<\/p>\n
Boat
\nThe Pelni ticketing office (4212893; www.pelni.com; Jl Angkasa 18) is northeast of the city centre in Kemayoran. Tickets plus commission can also be bought from designated Pelni agents: Menara Buana Surya (3142464; Jl Menteng Raya 29), in the Tedja Buana building, 500m east of Jl Jaksa; or Kerta Jaya (3451518; Jl Veteran 1 27), opposite Mesjid Istiqlal.<\/p>\n
Direct Pelni destinations from Jakarta include Padang, Tanjung Pandan (Pulau Belitung), Surabaya, Semarang, Muntok (Pulau Bangka), Belawan, Kijang (Pulau Bintan) and Batam. Services on the Lambelu to Padang and the Kelud to Batam (near Singapore) are of most interest to travelers. To Kalimantan, the Lawit goes via Tanjung Pandan to Pontianak. A number of Pelni boats go to Makassar (Sulawesi) via Semarang or Surabaya, but there are no direct services.<\/p>\n
Pelni ships all arrive at and depart from Pelabuhan Satu (Dock No 1) at Tanjung Priok, 13km northeast of the city centre. Take bus 1 from Jl Thamrin, opposite Sarinah department store; allow at least an hour. The bus terminal is at the old Tanjung Priok train station, from where it is a 1km walk to the dock or 5000Rp by ojek (motorcycle that takes passengers). A taxi to Jl Jaksa will cost around 35,000Rp. The information centre (4367487) at the front of the Dock No 1 arrival hall can be helpful, or try the nearby Pelni Information Office (4301260; Jl Palmas 2), though you can\u2019t buy tickets here!<\/p>\n
Other passenger ships also go from Dock No 1 to Pulau Bintan and Pulau Batam, from where it is just a short ferry ride to Singapore. The Samudera Jaya is a small but reasonably comfortable air-con hydro\u00acfoil that seats up to 300 passengers. It leaves Tanjung Priok on Saturday at noon and sails to Tanjung Pandan (150,000Rp, 12 hours) on Pulau Belitung, before continuing on to Tanjung Pinang (200,000Rp) and Batam (200,000Rp). Count on a 24-hour trip to Batam. In the reverse direction it leaves Thursday.<\/p>\n
Air
\nInternational and domestic flights operate from the modern, efficient Soekarno-Hatta international airport; only domestic flights are handled out of the little-used Halim airport.<\/p>\n
History
\nThe old name of Jakarta was Sunda Kelapa. The earliest record mentioning this area as a capital city can be traced to the Indianized kingdom of Tarumanagara as early as the fourth century. In AD 39, King Purnawarman established Sunda Pura as a new capital city for the kingdom, located at the northern coast of Java. Purnawarman left seven memorial stones with inscriptions bearing his name spread across the area, including the present-day Banten and West Java provinces. The Tugu Inscription is considered the oldest of all of them.
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\nAfter the power of Tarumanagara declined, all of its many territories, including Sunda Pura, became part of the Kingdom of Sunda. The harbour area were renamed Sunda Kelapa as written in a Hindu monk’s lontar manuscripts, which are now located at the Bodleian Library of Oxford University in England, and travel records by Prince Bujangga Manik. By the 14th century, Sunda Kelapa became a major trading port for the kingdom. The first European fleet, four Portuguese ships from Malacca, arrived in 1513 when the Portuguese were looking for a route for spices, especially black pepper.<\/p>\n
The Kingdom of Sunda made a peace agreement with Portugal by allowing the Portuguese to build a port in 1522 in order to defend against the rising power of the Sultanate of Demak from central Java. In 1527, Fatahillah, a Sumatran Malay warrior from Demak attacked Kingdom of Sunda and succeeded in conquering the harbour on June 22, 1527, after which Sunda Kelapa was renamed Jayakarta.<\/p>\n
Through the relationship with Prince Jayawikarta from the Sultanate of Banten, Dutch ships arrived in Jayakarta in 1596. In 1602, the British East India Company’s first voyage, commanded by Sir James Lancaster, arrived in Aceh and sailed on to Banten where they were allowed to build a trading post. This site became the center of British trade in Indonesia until 1682.<\/p>\n
Apparently, Jayawikarta also made a trading connection with the English merchants, rivals of the Dutch, by allowing them to build houses directly across from the Dutch buildings in 1615. When relations between Prince Jayawikarta and the Dutch later deteriorated, Jayawikarta’s soldiers attacked the Dutch fortress. But even with the help of fifteen British ships, Prince Jayakarta’s army wasn’t able to defeat the Dutch, in part owing to the timely arrival of Jan Pieterszoon Coen (J.P. Coen). The Dutch burned the English fort, and forced the English retreat on their ships. With this victory, Dutch power in the area was consolidated. In 1619 they renamed the city “Batavia.”<\/p>\n
Within Batavia’s walls, wealthy Dutch built tall houses and pestilential canals. Commercial opportunities attracted Indonesian and especially Chinese immigrants, the increasing numbers creating burdens on the city. Tensions grew as the colonial government tried to restrict Chinese migration through deportations. On 9 October 1740, 5,000 Chinese were massacred and the following year, Chinese inhabitants were moved to Glodok outside the city walls. The city began to move further south as epidemics in 1835 and 1870 encouraged more people to move far south of the port. The Koningsplein, now Merdeka Square, was completed in 1818, and Kebayoran Baru was the last Dutch-built residential area.<\/p>\n
The city was renamed “Jakarta” by the Japanese during their World War II occupation of Indonesia. Following World War II, Indonesian Republicans withdrew from allied-occupied Jakarta during their fight for Indonesian independence and established their capital in Yogyakarta. In 1950, once independence was secured, Jakarta was once again made the national capital. Indonesia’s founding president, Sukarno, envisaged Jakarta as a great international city. He instigated large government-funded projects undertaken with openly nationalistic and modernist architecture. Projects in Jakarta included a clover-leaf highway, a major boulevard (Jalan Sudirman), monuments such as The National Monument, major hotels, and a new parliament building.<\/p>\n
In October 1965, Jakarta was the site of an abortive coup attempt which saw 6 top generals killed, and ultimately resulted in the downfall of Sukarno and the start of Suharto’s “New Order. A propaganda monument stands at the place where the general’s bodies were dumped. In 1966, Jakarta was declared a “special capital city district” (daerah khusus ibukota), thus gaining a status approximately equivalent to that of a state or province. Lieutenant General Ali Sadikin served as Governor from the mid-60’s commencement of the “New Order” through to 1977; he rehabilitated roads and bridges, encouraged the arts, built several hospitals, and a large number of new schools. He also cleared out slum dwellers for new development projects\u2014some for the benefit of the Suharto family\u2014and tried to eliminate rickshaws and ban street vendors. He began control of migration to the city in order to stem the overcrowding and poverty. Land redistribution, structural adjustment, and foreign investment contributed to a real estate boom which changed the face of the city. The boom ended with the 1997\/98 East Asian Economic crisis putting Jakarta at the center of violence, protest, and political maneuvering. Long-time president, Suharto, began to lose his grip on power. Tensions reached a peak in the Jakarta riots of May 1998, when four students were shot dead at Trisakti University by security forces; four days of riots and violence ensued resulting in the loss of an estimated 1,200 lives and 6,000 buildings damaged or destroyed. Suharto resigned as president, and Jakarta has remained the focal point of democratic change in Indonesia. A number of Jemaah Islamiah-connected bombings have occurred in the city since 2000.<\/p>\n
Source: www.lonelyplanet.com\/indonesia\/jakarta<\/a> , At first glance, this hot, smoggy city, which sprawls for miles over a featureless plain, feels like nothing more than a waiting lounge for the millions queuing up to make their fortune. Jakarta\u2019s infamous macet chokes its freeways, town planning is anathema and all attempts to forge a central…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2266","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-plan-your-vacation-to-asia-with-our-traveling-information"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.asianinny.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2266","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.asianinny.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.asianinny.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.asianinny.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.asianinny.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2266"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.asianinny.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2266\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.asianinny.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2266"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.asianinny.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2266"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.asianinny.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2266"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nen.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Jakarta<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"