Fly me to Jakarta (14th February 2014)

---

Friday, 14th February 2014

For my trip to Jakarta, I took a 90 minutes flight from Singapore to the Soekarno-Hatta International Airport located some 25km outside the CBD. Once at the airport, I decided to hail a Blue Bird Taxi outside the arrivals for my hour long commute to Hotel Ibis Arcadia in central Jakarta. The Blue Bird Group is by far regarded as one of the most reliable taxi companies in the city.

I was pleasantly surprised to find my hotel located next to Bersih Sehat - a local massage chain providing good value treatment in a no-nonsense setting. As its Indonesian name suggests - "clean" and "sanitary". It's no wonder that Bersih Sehat is very popular among the local people. There was also a fantastic Warung Ngalam serving up authentic East Java cuisine during lunch and dinner. Service was prompt and English was never an issue among the friendly staffs.

Moving around the city proved challenging even though walking from point A to B was safe. However, for the most part, I relied on the easy-to-use Transjakarta Buses to bring me across the city. For a mere 3,500 rupiah, I could travel as many stops along its extensive network as long as I did not exit from the ticket barrier.

For my first day, I hopped on to the BlokM-Kota Route to the Senayan District where I shopped at the Lotte Mart, a Korean establishment. The buses arrived quite frequently even though they were really crowded during peak periods.

After getting the local transportation needs sorted out, I figured that I would have no major issues over my next couple of days in the city.

---