Weekend Exploration #1

One of the ex-pat teachers from the Philippines agreed to take us out last weekend to explore the city a bit. The executive principal at our school offered us a school car and driver to take us around for the day. We (Me, Angelique, Ruby, Chris, and Harry (a native Indonesian teacher)) started the day out by meeting at 9:00 to head to Monas. Mo stands for Monument and nas for national, therefore Monas is the national monument of Indonesia, representing their independence. After walking around for about 15 minutes we were finally able to find the entrance, and Harry purchased our tickets for us to get in. Sweating to an intense amount we waited for about an hour in line to get into the lift and head to the top of the monument. There we were able to look out over the city and the smog, as Harry pointed out various buildings in the distance. After a 15 minute exploration we took the elevator down and walked out to find our car. On the way we paused to look at a monkey riding a bike around. Sadly the monkey fell off the bike and was being treated very rudely by his owners. I almost wanted to cry.

Monas

At the top of the monument

Our next stop was Masjid Istiqlal, the third biggest mosque in the world, and the biggest mosque in southeast asia. Upon entering we were shown where to place our shoes and were handed some robes to wear to cover more of our skin. The man showed us the biggest area of the mosque and pointed out the line dividing the males and females. Throughout this experience Harry told us a lot about the history of the religion especially in the case of Indonesia. He also took us around the outside to show us where they have students study the Quran, and he let us touch the drum they bang prior to the call to prayer.

Masjid Istaqlal

Exploring the mosque

By this time it was 1:00 so we headed to old town Jakarta to visit a famous cafe and walk through the puppet museum. The cafe was covered with pictures of famous people and apparently they have jazz night every Tuesday. It might be something to look into, although, it was full of white "boleh" which I wasn't a fan of. I want to see the culture, with people who know the culture! I have to get working on this soon.

After the cafe we headed to the puppet museum, Museum Wayang. The majority of the puppets were made from buffalo skin, and Harry (my wonderful Indonesian friend) informed me that Indonesia is the one country Islam wasn't brought to via war. It was actually spread with puppets, which I find to be very interesting. The puppets were both gorgeous, and ugly, and the detail was so intricate that I could have stared at many of them for hours and not seen all the beauty.

creepy puppets. Sadly I noticed we weren't supposed to take pictures after I took this.

Our last stop with Chris was at Plaza Indonesia. We were taken there to shop, however none of the stores were to our liking, since they consisted of brand names, and semi pricy off-brand items. After walking through all the floors we decided to stop for some ice cream. Some wine ice cream. Chocolate merlot wine ice cream, which was tasty and satisfying. After this we headed home, getting stuck in traffic (the norm) on the way home. As soon as we entered our door Morgan texted us that he was in need of some company so we headed out to join him for a drink at Liquid Exchange before heading to Kemung for the evening.

We were told that Kemung is a popular ex-pat hang out and that we would be able to show off our shoulders and knees. This made me sad that I didn't bring many "going out" clothing, however I was able to wear my spaghetti strap dress without worrying about covering my shoulders with a jacket.

Morgan took us to a bar called Cowboys, for some drinks and some dinner. Upon walking in I immediately noticed they were playing the band and got far too excited about it. I jinxed it. What came next was Rihanna and a lot of popular music :( We sang, we danced, and we laughed, and when cowboys closed we headed to another bar to finish off the evening with me and Ruby playing an hour long game of pool, and drinking some "gemison" as they call it in Ireland. We fell out of the taxi as we arrived in front of our apartment building, and were followed by the guard until we reached the lift. It was a successful exploration day to say the least.