jakarta

a city of 'macet'(jammed), congested & high living cost. I made mistakes by coming back after trip to Bandung.. Better plan should be staying in Jakarta first, then move to Bandung & go home via Bandung.. higher airport tax (150 000 Rupiah/person), carrying heavier luggage (add on in Bandung) & extra cost for supir ( 5hours from Bandung because macet).. No time to go to Puncak since the alterations of my jeans takes time & this means my original tentative goes down the drain. Jakarta can be divided into 5 districts- Jakarta Utara, Jakarta Pusat, Jakarta Barat, Jakarta Timur & 1 more( forgot -maybe Jakarta Selatan?).. Each region was quite far away (consider the traffic congestion!), so it would have been better to allocate 1 full day for places of interest in different region. My initial itinerary included 1)Rumah Mini/Taman Mini Indonesia Indah(Jakarta Timur) , 2) Museum Fatahillah/Cafe Batavia/its surroundings(Jakarta Barat), 3) Ancol Seafood passing by Ancol Dreamland(Jakarta Utara) and 4) the remarkable MONAS & Masjid Istiqlal(Jakarta Pusat).. Shopping complex - Tanah Abang & Mangga Dua.. For more shopping, perhaps Sarinah Mall & Thamrin City should be added to the list.. However, as for me, i spent 1 extra day in Bandung & 5 hours journey to Jakarta (arrive around 12midnight at Jakarta) & 2 subsequent days at Tanah Abang, plus public holiday on Thursday, so most shops & places of attractions were closed). Not much experience in Jakarta . For Mangga Dua, there were lots of Mangga Dua , namely WTC Mangga Dua,ITC Mangga Dua and Mangga Dua Square.. We just went to ITC Mangga Dua but few section closed due to public holiday.. The same goes to Pasar Baru in Jakarta, some shops were closed.. As for the big building of Tanah Abang, i cant remember how many sections were there. i only know Pusat Grosir Blok A, Pusat Grosir Blok B (grosir = borong) & Metro Tanah Abang. Limited choice for kain sulam (or maybe i dont know the exact location?). Need to know exactly what you want because it seemed as mission impossible to explore the whole Tanah Abang building, unless you are energetic & full of stamina. Some locals may not helpful, so that call for better planning.. it's a waste of time to wander around , not knowing where to go & not to mention, walking around was tirung.. By the way, iTanah Abang was very busy, both with vehicles or locals doing their activities - selling at stalls, packing goods & so on & it was more crowded than chow kit.. if the supir wasnt there, i wouldnt dare to cross road! (parking inside Tanah Abang may consume time (one way road, no other exit. I dont dare to waste time on last day because i need to take heavily congested traffi into consideration... perhaps if i'm not rushing, it was okay to park inside the building.. Talking about pusat grosir, the prices were cheap when buy in bulk. Depending on your haggling skills,the price may go down sometimes. But going together with supir on last day, there were difference up to 50 Rupiah between the price of grosir & buy in small quantity ( or perhaps because i dont have haggling skills, i need to pay more & not much discount. when talking about wedding stuff, jakarta had lots to offer, especially lace & wedding gifts.. As for souvenir, MONAS offered wide array of t-shirts; fridge magnet, keychain, pen & other souvenirs at cheaper price compared to mall/ shopping complex