from Kuala Lumpur to Jakarta.....on March 15 - 16, 2010

Jakarta from the air

Day 1.

March 15, 2010

Our destination for this time still Indonesia.We decided to visit Indonesia for our second company's trip because of many reasons. First, because of the currency, secondly, halal food, thirdly, language, and last but not least, shoppingggg. There were ten of us..and all gurlz..And it was my first time in Jakarta.. Many say about how bad the traffic in Jakarta is. We departed from LCCT at 9.50am (Malaysia time) and reached in Soekarno Hatta Jakarta Airport at 11.10am (Indonesia time).

With Hendi our driver to hotel

Our 'supirs' were already waited for us. We took 2 vans to the hotel. It cost us Rph 250,000 per van. Our journey was great because Hendi, our 'supir' explained about Jakarta's traffic and his life. The journey from airport to the hotel went smoothly because still not busy yet..We just went straight to the Ibis Tamarin Hotel to checked in. The hotel was booked thru internet. We decided not to go to the rooms yet because we wanted to save our time for sight seeing and shopping at Tanah Abang.

Ibis Tamarin Hotel, Jalan Kh Wahid Hasyim

http://www.ibishotel.com/gb/hotel-1867-ibis-jakarta-tamarin/index.shtml

Furthermore, everybody was so hungry since we just had light breakfast at the LCCT airport. Got some infos from the reception table, we headed to Jalan Sabang and hunt for our lunch. After about 10 minutes walking we reached at Warong Desa. Why we went to this place because it was an air conditioning. It was so hot, busy, noisy outside....Yeahh!! we wanted to enjoy our food, that was why we needed good place to eat..And Warung Desa was the place..

Varieties and tempting name of drinks

Warung Desa opens 24/7, located at Jln H Agus Salim or Jalan Sabang, Jakarta Pusat..

The interior was great, and we hope the food as well. We ordered varieties of food and the drinks name were also so interesting. And...apa lagii....Ngappp. ALHAMDULLILAH..the food was great and we was entertained by friendly and helpful staffs.

After really heavy and 'happening' lunch, we went to Tanah Abang by walking. It just to save the budget on cab. Some say it is a must place to go..We decided to take a walk to go there. While walking, we saw how bad the traffic was. Some of the drivers, simply could make the u turn in a middle of the road..It was so ridiculous.. Kept horning..Goshhh..i thought the traffic in Kuala Lumpur is bad, but this was really worst. I have to admit that, i m not dare enough to drive here.

Ojek is the cheapest transportation

Half way, my feet felt soo bad due to my knee problem, then we (4 of us) decided to take a cab. The rest of us just continued walking to Tanah Abang. It just cost us Rph 10 000. I think it was really cheap. The traffic was so heavy .

We just spent about 30 minutes here. It was so noisy and croweded with people . Many activities of business here.

This situation really made me headache. Then we took a cab to go to other places.

Before going to Jakarta, i had made some researches about places to go while in Jakarta. I would like to go to Monas and Istiqlal Mosque. So, i have to make sure my dreams would come true.


While the cab was moving, we still had not decided where to go yet..mosque or Monas. Then we ended up at Istiqlal Mosque.

It is the largest mosque in Southeast Asia which could accommodate up to 250,000 people in one time. It is situated at Jalan Taman Wijaya Kusuma, Central Jakarta , next to Monas. It was started under President Soekarno's reign and finished during Suharto era. Once entered to the mimbar, i felt so happy. One of my dream came true, on that day. ALHAMDULLILAH....We spent about 45 minutes here and did our 'jamak' prayer. Then we took a cab to the hotel to take shower and had a rest before going to Grand Indonesia at nite. I had a small meet up with my travbuddies,Yanti, Ari, Nabil, Vina, Aswin and Eliz. Unfortunately Ari , Aswin, and Eliz could not make it.

We went to Grand Indonesia to have our dinner. It was a high end shopping mall. After asking to the security, we headed to the third level, the food court.Wow!! the interior was so great.

Very big.I could not explore the place because i had a meet up with Yanti, Vina, and Nabil. We decided to have our dinner there. I brought cupcakes for them (as i promised Yanti). We took a chance taking picture before saying goodbye. Thanksful to Yanti who gave a novel to me 'Laskar Pelangi'. At 10.30pm we went back to the hotel and had to sleep early because we have to get up early due to our early journey by train. Good nite everyone. We had a long day to go tomorrow..