“I like it more than taxi!”

It was my friend from Austria, Bernd, told me about what he felt when he had a ‘bajaj’ ride in Jakarta, (bajaj is a vehicle with three wheels and using gas as its fuel). He was happy when the wind coming through bajaj’s open window and had a ‘pleasant’ moment when the driver showed his driving skill, always make a quick takeovers, in every possible way, lol. Bernd is Martin’s friend. They are working together in Austria, and got a chance to come to Jakarta. I must say thanks to Martin for recommending me as a guide in Jakarta. Without him, I could not show how fun bajaj ride is, and Bernd would not know that most of the driver in Jakarta has a fabulous driving skill. 😀

Natural Air Con on Bajaj

Although the main street that we should pass was closed due the Jakarta Marathon event (I was not happy with this by the way –red), but I tried to take another way to go. Grabbed a taxi, and start to tell the story about Jakarta inside it, while enjoying the traffic jam. At least, I could smile when Bernd got excited when he saw one motor bike with three passengers on it, hahaa..

Our walking tour was not only about visiting some touristic places or museums, but more about sharing the story. I let him walked around local markets, taste local snacks, and discussed everything which is not the same with what usually exist in his home town. There are so many differences. That’s why I can tell him so many stories. Everything that we saw during walking tour had its own story, why and how, what and who, unlimited possibility for type of questions that can arise.

I might not have every answer, but in each question that I can’t answer, it has something to be learned about. In the end of the day, it was not Bernd who learn something about Jakarta, but it’s me who got a lesson. Thank you for sharing the stories, and someday I want to say “you bring holiday in the dark tunnel” in the right place!

“Dadakan” is we are. One of the Indonesian – English slang that reminds me of two friends, Caroline and Carmen from Sarawak, Malaysia. “Dadakan” means something that comes up so suddenly in an unexpected situation. Because they were contacting me one day before the tour, and we promised to meet on McDonalds in the next morning, without me, as a guide, knowing their faces or what they really look like. So, yeah it was an unexpected tour that brings a lot of surprise in a day.

I wasn’t planning to go to Sunda Kelapa Harbour, but when Carmen asked “Can we go there?”, my answer was “why not, yes we can go to the harbor!” We take a bajaj (a vehicle with three wheels) ride and climbed to the highest point of Syahbandar Tower. Up there, we saw how the Batavia (Old Jakarta –red) looks like, and learnt the reason why the tower had an important role in the past time. We also went to Maritime Museum and take a shot inside the beautiful architecture.

The funny thing is when we were going upstairs, one security personnel followed us and said, “Do you want to have a photo-shoot up here?” Oh my… he thinks that I – who bring a camera along the way – am a photographer, and Caroline and Carmen will became my photo models. I think they are just too gorgeous, so people around us feel ridiculous, why such beautiful ladies come to the northern part of Jakarta, hahaa..

Another ‘ridiculous’ moment was when I took them to Chinese market. It seems like, they just followed me eating along the way. I did like Chinese food, so did them, but the thing was I eat more, like I will never go there anymore, lol.

After all, thank you for coming to Jakarta, I would like to meet and eat Chinese noodle with you all next time. See you around!