The Braeburn Blog: Indonesia Day Two: Jakarta Part II

Despite my fatigue, I woke up several times throughout that first night due to the bodily confusion of suddenly reversing my circadian rhythm. Finally it was 6am, a time I deemed appropriate for getting up. I downed a free cup of watery (pre-brewed) instant coffee in the empty hostel lobby and then headed into the city in search of ice I could trust.

I have learned from my Googling that tube-shaped ice tends to be safe, an added factor of reassurance when I am doubting the efficacy of my verbal communication with baristas. I walked toward Chinatown and found a highly rated coffee stand that was open at 7am and had beautiful tubular ice in its drinks. Feeling adventurous, I ordered an iced panang latte: some kind of milky coffee drink with an herbaceous and sweet green syrup in the bottom.

It was early enough that vendors were still setting up for the day:

I sipped and sweated my way over to a nearby (also highly rated) restaurant with electric fans whirring. The air smelled vaguely fishy¬—not my favorite breakfast smell, but I persevered in ordering peanut-filled steamed buns with the help of my good friend Google Translate. The restaurant workers didn’t seem to mind that I’d brought in a drink from another establishment, so I enjoyed my Indo-Chinese latte and buns together while watching other the customers eating breakfast and the kitchen workers laboring over giant woks and steaming pots.

Wanting to FaceTime Brina and noticing that the temps were already in the 80s by 8am, I felt it was time for my two favorite luxuries: wifi and a/c. So I set out again, this time heading to a touristy tea shop halfway between our hostel and the square.

Photos from the walk:

At the tea shop I got a wonderfully refreshing iced ginger-turmeric situation, told Hayley where to find me, and caught up for a while with the gf.

Hayley joined me around 9am, at which point I had spent about USD$5 on all my little treats. After she had a chance to enjoy her own iced beverage, we walked back to Chinatown and shared a big plate of vegan food served by a very friendly Indo-Chinese man named Hendi whom we had met in the market the day before. His wife makes the food every morning in their home kitchen, so we thought we’d be safest eating it first thing in the morning. It was delicious and did not make us sick! Hendi told us his wife’s Instagram, assuring us that she’d share her recipes with us if we asked. He also enthusiastically gave us recommendations for vegan restaurants in all the cities we were about to visit, including an entirely raw one that we (sadly) knew we’d never risk.

Our new friend Hendi!

Next up was the Wayang Museum, featuring a traditional style of Indonesian puppetry. The puppets were intricate and fascinating. Some were funny, some freaky, and some enchanting.

Did you know that unicorns are a central part of American culture? :D

I loved the exhibits explaining how the puppets are made.

The rod giving the puppets structure is made from an ox horn (bottom of the photo)!! Then starting from top left, you can see the progression of how it's made.

Needing more caffeine, we returned to our favorite iced coffee establishment near the square.

Then we Grab-cabbed (Southeast Asia version of Ubering) to Merkeda Square, an iconic gathering place for political protests due to its location in front of the national palace. The square is marked with a national monument that (to my American eyes) looks like a cross between the Washington Monument and Lady Liberty, because it’s basically an obelisk with a golden flame on top.

We walked through the square, trying to get to the national history museum on its west side, but we were fenced in by construction. After some investigating online, we found out that the museum had burned in a Sept. 2023 fire and had not yet reopened. So we continued across the square to visit Masjid Istiqlal, the largest mosque in Southeast Asia. Culturally competent enough to know that we needed to cover our knees and shoulders, we still were redirected by guards several times who pointed us to the tourist entrance. We laughed asking each other how they could tell.

A big mix of people were wandering around on the plaza between the gate and the mosque. In a semi-chaotic way, security guards were picking out the tourists by sight and shepherding us together into tour groups. I saw a guy near us get profiled as a tourist before he told the guard, “I’m here to pray.” The guard apologetically uttered an Arabic greeting and waved the man on.

The mosque was peaceful. We ditched the soft-spoken tour leader and sat for awhile on some cool tile near a curtain of hanging plants. I chugged water, realizing my grumpiness on Merkeda Square was largely due to my brain melting from the heat and dehydration.

Thinking food would also help, I found a vegan* restaurant on Google and called a Grab to take us there. Turns out it was a booth in a mall food court—truly the best-case scenario since the mall was air-conditioned and Hayley had been told that hanging out at a mall was a very typical thing for people to do in Jakarta.

At the mall, I experienced my first squatty potty. Not my favorite style, but maybe I’ll get used to it. I think my biggest concern was the very wet floor…

Feeling much refreshed from our mall break, we then Grabbed over to the National Gallery of Art. Upon arrival, we found out that the permanent collection was closed for renovation and one of the two temporary exhibits was closed due to the Ascension Day holiday. However, one exhibit was open and entry was free.

I didn’t love the art, but I loved getting to meet the artist! Hayley happened to sit across from him while watching a video of him making the art. She noticed that he was eating and drinking, and wondered why he was allowed to do so inside the museum—until she matched his face to the artist in the video!

Our final activity of the day was a sunset drink in a high-rise hotel bar. We felt quite out of place but relished this luxurious way to end the long day.

but first, we had to pass this gauntlet of traffic. We initially thought we'd have to cross this road on foot and then (thankfully) spotted a pedestrian bridge.

Past museum visitors started a trend of leaving their entry-sticker on the posts of the pedestrian bridge :)

^^in which Hayley enlists the help of a hotel security guard to do some traffic control so that she can cross the street more safel. Pedestrians do NOT have right-of-way in Indonesiaa.