Tag: Jakarta Old Town

Jakarta Old Town Tour

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batavia-tour

An Old Proverb said “History can shape our future”. We are definitely agree with the relevance between past and future time. What you see on Jakarta in the old time play the biggest part of Jakarta today. Lucky for you, now we can show you an ‘evidence’ of glorious Jakarta in the old time, in a place called Jakarta Old Town.

Jakarta Old Town or Kota Tua is a place that surrounded by old building which built on Dutch colonial era around 16th century. The old building has wonderful structure, architecture, and you can see it blend with modern touch.

You can visit some of those building because it has function as a museum or restaurant, such as Bank of Indonesia Museum, Indonesia Puppet Museum (Wayang Museum Jakarta), Fine Arts and Ceramics Museum, The Red Store (Toko Merah Jakarta), Café Batavia, et cetera. The rest are other building which still privately owned and become office building, so they are unable to visit.

But, cannot visit does not mean you cannot see, right?

In Jakarta Old Town Tour, we will help you to reminisce the old vibe around Jakarta Old Town.

  • We will walk around big canal that had important role in the old time
  • We will visit some interesting museum that will help you know better about Indonesian and its spices history
  • We will stroll around Jakarta Old Town Square where you can taste local foods, traditional ice drink, popsicles, Jakarta street food, and everything!

On our city tour, all you need to prepare is a happy feet to explore and a big heart to understand real part of Jakarta. Do not worry about Jakarta’s sun heat, we will treat you FREE coconut milk popsicle!

 

 

Price              :  49  Euro per person
Duration          : 4 hours
Type of Tour      : Walking Tour with Jakarta Private Tour Guide
Meeting point    : Guest Pickup around Central Jakarta


Included :
1. Guest Pickup (around Central Jakarta)
2. All Public Transportation Round-trip Ticket
3. All Museum Entrance Tickets
4. Snacks and Mineral Water During The Tour (snack options depends on availability)
5. Jakarta Travel Guide Service

Not Included  : Meals, Personal Expenses, Private Transportation
Bonus           : Asemka Market Visit (Wholesale Souvenir Market)

Need more information about Jakarta Old Town Tour? Please send us email to : tahu@jakartawalkingtour.com or simply ask us on here : Contact Us

Wayang Museum Jakarta

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Indonesia‘s Shadow Puppet Theater is well known as a part of local tradition with very long history. Every tribe in different regions in Indonesia has their own kind of puppet, we call it ‘wayang’. As a traveler, you might need to go all over the place to know deeply about various kind of wayang in Indonesia. But, for a glimpse? You should visit Wayang Museum Jakarta, because they have it all.

Wayang Museum Jakarta

Wayang Museum Jakarta

The Wayang Museum Jakarta is located in Jakarta Old Town area (Kota Tua), West Jakarta. It opens from 9 am to 3 pm with IDR 5 k entrance ticket per person.  The Wayang Museum Jakarta open almost every day except for Monday and any of Indonesia’s national holidays,  because museum’s maintenance should be done once a week.

Shadow Puppet (Wayang) made from Cow Skin

Shadow Puppet (Wayang) made from Cow Skin. Beautiful, isn’t?

Gundala-Gundala. North Sumatra Puppet that will play when local people asking about rain to God

Gundala-Gundala. North Sumatra Puppet (3 metre tall) that will play when local people ask for the rain from God

For foreigner who want to hear wonderful story about Indonesia’s shadow puppets, Wayang Museum Jakarta can provide you a free tour guide who knows very well about  their wayang collections. I recommend you all to ask about that tour guide service in Wayang Museum Jakarta front desk, it is really worth it. The tour guide will explain to you about background stories of some play in wayang show, how to make wayang, and everything you need to know about wayang. Make sure you do not miss that free service in Wayang Museum Jakarta.

How to Draw Wayang Instruction on The Floor

How to Draw Wayang Instruction on The Floor

Beside various kind of local puppet shadows collection, Wayang Museum Jakarta also displays numerous dolls from countries like India, France, Cambodia, China, Germany, et cetera. It seems like puppet culture is a global culture that spread around the world.

Katakali Doll from Southern India

Katakali Doll from Southern India

Since 2007, Indonesian Wayang recognized as the world heritage of masterpiece creation by United Nation. So, I think Wayang Museum Jakarta should be a very interesting place to visit while you take a city tour Jakarta, right? 😀

Toko Merah Jakarta in Jakarta Old Town

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The Red Shop – well known as ‘Toko Merah’ – always become my very first place to start exploring around Jakarta Old Town (Kota Tua). Unfortunately, I found that not many local guide recommend Toko Merah Jakarta as an interesting place to visit when run a city tour Jakarta.

The fact is if I compare Toko Merah Jakarta with another tourist attraction place around Jakarta Old Town, Toko Merah might be put last on the list of visiting place choices. Less glamour, less attraction, no English speaking tour guide, and it is just a building, with no slide show, no history dioramas, no printed story, nothing.

Toko Merah (The Red Shop)

Toko Merah Jakarta (The Red Shop)

However, nothingness is not bad at all.

I realize that Toko Merah Jakarta offers us the silence, so we can absorb old vibe better than any place around.

Toko Merah's Main Lobby

Toko Merah’s Main Lobby

The building keeper told me that Toko Merah Jakarta was built in 1730 as the residence of the Governor-General of the Dutch East Indies Gustaaf Willem baron van Imhoff. Afterwards, the ownership of this building changed several times, and the building function is changed as followed.  Hotel, Bank, Hospital, Warehouse, and when Toko Merah Jakarta owned by a Kapitein der Chinezen of Batavia, Oey Liauw Kong in 1851, it became a shop and private residence.

It was cashier counter when Toko Merah had a bank function

It was cashier counter when Toko Merah Jakarta had a bank function

The Chinese Kapitein decorated the building, painted brick walls with red color, so it was known as Toko Merah. When he had decorated with his personal taste, he did not change the original building structure . Toko Merah Jakarta had kept Dutch building structure, with huge windows, double tall doors, high ceilings, hanging lamps, et cetera. So, the Chinese decoration blend with Dutch architecture until now. Quite interesting, right?

Lobby's Door

Toko Merah Lobby’s Door

Huge Window at 2nd floor

Huge Window at 2nd floor

Hanging Lamp

Hanging Lamp

So, when you do a city tour Jakarta in Jakarta Old Town area, make sure you put Toko Merah Jakarta on your visit list. You need to pay IDR 10 k for one person as an entrance ticket. Small money for a better understanding of Old Jakarta (Batavia) sounds remarkable, isn’t it?

Toko Merah is two building merged by its owner

Toko Merah : two building merged by its owner

 

One Day City Tour Jakarta

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A combination of bad traffic and limited time might not help you with one day chance to visit whole Jakarta. So, I give you 4 place which can put on your one day city tour Jakarta itinerary :

1. One Day City Tour Jakarta : Visit  Jakarta Old Town (Batavia)

Located on North Jakarta, Jakarta Old Town area is a place where you can find a lot of old building with Dutch architecture and museums.

Dutch Architecture Main Gate on The Red Shop Museum

The Red Shop’s Main Gate with Dutch Architecture

You also can found some museum in Jakarta Old Town area :
– Bank Indonesia Museum
– The Red Shop — currently closed for renovation
– Arts and Crafts Museum
– Wayang Museum Jakarta
– Fatahillah Museum
– Indonesia Post Office Museum

I suggest you to spend at least half day to stroll around Jakarta Old Town. If you do not have many time left, visiting Bank Indonesia Museum (Museum Bank Indonesia) and Wayang Museum Jakarta is a must, do not skip those two museums. Trust me.

2. One Day City Tour Jakarta : Visit Jakarta Chinatown (Glodok, Petak Sembilan)

From Jakarta Old Town area, you just need to walk around 15 minutes to Jakarta Chinatown. You can take a glimpse of traditional market, local Chinese mall, or eat in Chinese food restaurant. And you can also find Viharas, Chinese Church around that area. But, to walk around Jakarta Chinatown is a little bit tricky, because there has a lot of small alleys, you do not want to get lost and wasting your precious time, don’t you?

A Glimpse of Vihara

A Glimpse of Vihara

3. One Day City Tour Jakarta : Visit Monas at night

Next, you can put Monas on your Jakarta Day Trips. National Monument or Monas Jakarta located in the heart of Jakarta. It stands 132 meter from the ground and it has 35 kilograms pure gold at the top of it. Actually, you can go up there to see Jakarta from the top of Monas Jakarta, but the queue is unbelievably too long, you better go to a higher building if you really want to see Jakarta from the top.

Image Courtesy : Media Indonesia

Image Courtesy : Media Indonesia

So, the second option (a better option, I think) is to visit Monas public garden at night. In 82 hectare area, you can see Monas Jakarta spread splendidly with colorful lights. Everyone can come to Monas Garden until midnight to do sport, recreation, etc.

4. Eat and Mingle at Sabang Street at night

Sabang Street is also known as Haji Agus Salim Street located on Central Jakarta, near Sarinah Mall and has various kind of restaurants, food trucks, or Jakarta street food. You can find Western, Eastern, Indonesian, and even Fast Food on Sabang Street. When sun goes down, Sabang Street get more visitors, people seems to never sleep!

Food Truck on Sabang Street (image courtesy : news portal okezone[dot]com]

Food Truck on Sabang Street (image courtesy : news portal okezone[dot]com]

For one day city tour Jakarta, we also recommend you to visit National Museum in Central Jakarta in the morning. They will tell you more about Indonesia’s culture and heritage in one place. At least you need 2 hours to see all their famous collections, a lot of interesting stuffs and stories. So, are you ready to explore Jakarta in one day? To get some help about arranging tour, go check our city tour offer here