Traffic jams,Museums and Monuments.

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Geo: -6.18, 106.83

The lovely people at the RDC organised a guide and driver today to take me to the main sights in Jakarta.Linho the guide and Tomas, the driver picked me up at 9am and we headed out into Jakarta morning traffic. This is a phenomenon in itself. Much like Egypt and some other Asian cities I have visited, the traffic seems a jumble of buses, cars and motor bikes all looking for the quickest way through. They push in, change lanes at a moment's notice but it all seems to work and apart from constant beeping of horns there a few, if any, accidents!
Our first stop was the National Museum. Housed in a Neo-Classical Building, a wide variety of exhibits are on show. There is an ethnography section showing the many different ethnicities within the 700,00 or more islands that make up Indonesia. I had to bite my tongue a bit when Linho happily showed me the Papua exhibition. I did say I did not agree with Indonesia's presence there then we moved on.
There were many Hindu and Buddhist statues from before European occupation and some great exhibits of textiles and puppetry. Upstairs were the two treasure rooms with wonderful pieces in beaten gold including jewellery, sword hilts and crowns..There was a group of young school children , typically rushing around with their answer sheets who were keen to practice their "Good Morning" on me.
From here we drove around the main part of the civic section with the President's palace and other beautiful government buildings being pointed out. We saw, form the car, the Largest Mosque in SEAsia and the Catholic Cathedral. Indonesians are very tolerant people in regards to religion.
We then drove on ( at snail's pace) towards the Old City. Our first stop was at the old harbour which was established in the 16th Century. This is now where local boats ply their trade between islands. Most are wooden and certainly need a coat of paint but they have satellite dishes and TV antennae, so a real mixture of old and new.

We then returned though Chinatown, more like most Asian cities with street stalls plying all sorts of goods and street artists with their copies of stars like Marilyn Monroe and Pierce Brosnan, Linho happily pointed out a likeness of Daniel Radcliffe with the cry, "Harry Potter!" We came to the heart of the Dutch colonial city of Batavia. An impressive square with Dutch style buildings surrounding it was a feature. We entered what was once the Governor's mansion and is now a museum. The first thing seen was a model of a Hanging which I was told was common and occurred in the square with the Governor watching from the balcony. The rooms were high-ceilinged and airy with heavy wooden furniture of 18th Century origin throughout.
The courtyard at the back of this building was quiet and peaceful with many inscriptions from the time and a cannon which had a fist as its end feature. Of course, to prove that Greek influence is everywhere there was a statue of Hermes. Brought there by the Portuguese I was told.
We had lunch at the Cafe Batavia on the opposite side of the square. This was upstairs in another colonial building and had great atmosphere. Hundreds of framed photographs of famous people and posters adorned the walls and the toilet was dimly lit with '50s style fittings and more photos. The fish and chips were good too.

Our last stop for the day was back in the centre at the National Monument. This is called Merdakar or Freedom and celebrates liberation from the Japanese at the end of WW2. It is a huge obelisk with a golden flame at the top, literally 20 tons of gold used in making it.We were taken from the car park to the entrance in a little train and then entered through an underground tunnel to emerge on the other side of the road. The entrance was at the base and in a large marble covered room there were dioramas along the walls depicting the history from Paeolithic times to the present. Disappointingly the lift to the top had already been closed so we could only climb to the first level. Surrounding the monument are beautiful gardens and walls carved with symbols of history and statemanship.I was informed that there are 26 steps leading up to the first level to represent the 26 provinces and 1,945 iron stakes in the fence surroundin it to represent the year of liberation, 1945. Quite impressive.I was then quite glad to return to the hotel. An interesting but tiring day.

At night we were taken for dinner to the Hotel Mulari. At a place they modestly call The Cafe there was the most amazing "smorgasbord" you could ever find. At six different stations scattered around an enormous dining room was a variety of cusines. Seafood, Chinese, Korean, Indian and Western and of course, the dessert station, an amazing choice. We tried some of each and they were all very fresh, often cooked in front of you and all extremely tasty. Washed down with some Australian Chardonnay, a wonderful way to finish an excellent day.

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