-- From Jakarta to Bandung
Border crossing
I had bought a 60 day visa at the embassy of Indonesia in Kuala Lumpur which delivers it the same day by presenting a bank statement of my account at HSBC in date of the day before in absence of an air flight return ticket. The 26/06 at the unloading of the plane at the airport of Jakarta controls of Immigration and Customs did not present any difficulty. The first impression by unloading and seen from a Damri bus, Jakarta is a city with very dense traffic involving pollution by exhaust fumes. However toll expressways and avenues are wide with a fluid traffic.
Confer Lonely Planet guidebook Saturdays morning 27/06 around 09:00 I went to the Ministry for Tourism, Jln Merdeka Barat. Obviously the Administrations do not work on Saturdays. However I met someone to whom I explained my request. The people advised to me to come back on Monday starting from 09:00 am; there will be no difficulty in obtain the letter of approval required by the police to deliver a travel letter. Being beside Merdeka Square I spent the morning to visit Monas, the National Monument. At its base a museum exposes in 48 dioramas the main events which opposed Indonesians and Dutchmen. Unfortunately they are very badly enlightened and not very visible. Then I made a queue for nearly two hours to take a lift in the interior of this Italian marble phallus, a whole symbol, which reaches the higher terrace offering a splendid panorama on the smoggy capital.
Monas
Jakarta
27/06/2009
Diorama
Jakarta
27/06/2009
Bird's eye view
Jakarta
27/06/2009
Bird's eye view
Jakarta
27/06/2009
Kota, ex Batavia
When they unloaded in 1522 in the north of the Java Island, the Portuguese discovered the port of Sunda Kelapa on trade routes from India to China. They installed a maritime settlement but they were driven out by the Sultanate of Banten which named the city Jayakarta. In 1619, the Dutchmen, commanded by Jan Pieterszoon Coen, strengthened the site which became Batavia the seat of Dutch East Indies, Vereenigde Oost-Indische Compagnie (VOC). After independence, the city took again the name of Jakarta in 1950. By strolling in Kota, I remembered pages of “I acknowledge that I lived” the autobiography by Pablo Neruda. In vain, I looked for the Hotel “Der Nederlander” as well as the mongoose Kiria that he lost in the Thirties when he was a consul of Chile in Batavia. The district of Kota preserves few vestiges of the colonial era, only some buildings around Taman Fatahillah remain transformed into museums as well as on the old port of Sunda Kelapa.
Balai Seni Rupa, old Law Court, is a museum of modern painting and Chinese ceramics discovered in the islands showing the importance of trade routes before the arrival of Europeans. However, the exhibit does not have the splendour of Ayala Museum in Manila.
Balai Seni Rupa
Jakarta
28/06/2009
Chinese potteries
Jakarta
28/06/2009
Chinese pottery
Jakarta
28/06/2009
Chinese potteries
Jakarta
28/06/2009
The Museum Sejarah Jakarta is housed in the old Town Hall of Batavia. It gathers furniture of the Dutch time as well as photos of the city.
Museum Sejarah Jakarta
Jakarta
28/06/2009
Carved teak furniture
Jakarta
28/06/2009
Girls
Jakarta
28/06/2009
Museum Wayang was the museum of Batavia. In dusty cabinets it exhibits puppets coming from the South-East Asia and those of Guignol, puppets from Lyons.
Museum Wayang
Jakarta
28/06/2009
Puppets
Jakarta
28/06/2009
Lyon puppets, Guignol
Jakarta
28/06/2009
The old port of Sunda Kelapa preserves its Watchtower with a panorama on the channel Kali Besar as well as what the district of the businesses was.
Watchtower
Jakarta
28/06/2009
Bird's eye view
Jakarta
28/06/2009
Bird's eye view
Jakarta
28/06/2009
The Bahari Museum, in an old warehouse of the VOC, exhibits maritime objects and photos of the harbour activity of Sunda Kelapa and of the new port Tanjung Priok where my truck must arrive.
Museum Bahari
Jakarta
28/06/2009
Batavia
Jakarta
28/06/2009
Tanung Priok in 1935
Jakarta
28/06/2009
Tanjung Priok 2000
Jakarta
28/06/2009
Gereja Sion is the oldest church in Batavia built in 1695, the interior has a baroque style.
Gereja Sion
Jakarta
28/06/2009
Gereja Sion
Jakarta
28/06/2009
Looking for a Travelling Permit
Monday 29/06 as of 8:30 am I left in hunting to obtain a Travelling Permit. The whole of the procedure, times walking included, ended around 12:30 am.
Searching PT Puninar Jaya
Port of Tanjung Priok
Tuesday 30/06 I took again a bus of “Corridor I, Blok M-Kota” then a motodriver to look for Pt Puninar Jaya in the port of Tanjung Priok. Indeed neither Mr. Simon Ng nor I had been able to join them. The forwarding agent had changed its address and its website had not been updated. The motodriver after grind information found the new localization in the port to which organization is closer to that of the Port of Chennaï, India, to which of that in Port-Klang, Malaysia, or in Singapore. I took to regret the excessive cleanliness and safety in Singapore. I met Mr. Willi and Mrs. Vivi Noviana who dealt with customs clearance and delivery of my truck; the vessel “Malacca Highway” arrived the 01/07 at noon.
Back to Kota around 1 pm I visited the National Museum which is one of the finest in South-East Asia. The exhibited collections are remarkable as well as Chinese ceramics and statues of the Hindu time as the archaeology of the Indonesian islands.
Museum Nasional
Jakarta
30/06/2009
Chinese ceramics
Jakarta
30/06/2009
Terracotta
Jakarta
30/06/2009
Amazing statues of various ethnic groups offer an exceptional overview of the indigenous art of which some have spiritual power.
Ancestor statue
Jakarta
30/06/2009
Ancestor statue
Jakarta
30/06/2009
The two Treasury rooms exhibit golden and silver objects of which daggers, Keris.
Keris
Jakarta
30/06/2009
PT Puninar Jaya
The 01/07 I took again the motodriver with who I had taken an appointment the day before
to go again to Pt Puninar Jaya. As agreed I arrived about 9:00 am. I learned
that the vessel did not arrive at noon but the next morning. Moreover I could
not take my truck the same day but the July 03 or 04!
I negotiated the price of Puninar, the cost of the Port of Tanjung Priok remained with the
discretion of the Port. At the end of the morning I accompanied Mr. Willi to
the Customs to make the carnet de passage en douane of my truck filled.
Waiting started around 1:00 pm, one hour later tired of waiting we went to the
main office of the Customs where after several offices we met an officer who
told us to come back the following day. It was 3:30 pm.
I agreed with Mr. Willi that he informed me of the follow-up of the business. I returned
downtown to take again a room at the Hotel Ibis.
Continuation of Jakarta's visit
The 02/07 was a waiting day for landing of the boat carrying my truck. Initially I presented myself at the embassy of France where I was cordially accommodated. By strolling I passed in front of the Welcome monument.
Salamat Datang Monumen
Welcome Monument
Jakarta
02/07/2009
Welcome Monument
Jakarta
02/07/2009
Then I took again the visit of Jakarta always looking for the past which bulldozers would have saved. In the North-East of Merdeka Square in the Lapangan Banteng district some vestiges of colonial architecture are. Gedung Pancasila, built in 1830, was the Dutch army commander’s residence. In 1945 Soekarno made there his speech on the Independence of Indonesia.
Gedung Pancasila
Jakarta
02/07/2009
The cathedral built in 1901 is remarkable by these two towers.
Catholic cathedral
Jakarta
02/07/2009
Catholic cathedral
Jakarta
02/07/2009
Catholic cathedral
Jakarta
02/07/2009
Opposite is the most important mosque of Jakarta, Mesjid Istiqlal, built by Soekarno; it would be the largest of all the Southeast Asia. I visited it at time of the midday prayer accompanied by a guide.
Mesjid Istiqlal
Minaret
Jakarta
02/07/2009
Mesjid Istiqlal
Jakarta
02/07/2009
Mesjid Istiqlal
Jakarta
02/07/2009
Mesjid Istiqlal
Islam, submission
Jakarta
02/07/2009
In the North-West of Merdeka Square Kebon Jahe cemetery is where some celebrities of the colonial era were buried.
Taman Prasasti
Kebon Jahe cemetery
Jakarta
02/07/2009
The city of Jakarta preserves only few monuments of Dutch colonization, the Kota districts north of the city towards the old port of Sunda Kelapa are gradually abandoned to be renovated. Resolutely Jakarta wants to be a modern metropolis with broad avenues. Alas great progress will have to be made as regards pollution by removing the noising and polluting tuk tuks, a worthy antiquity.
Recovery of my truck
The 03/07 for the third time I went to Pt Puninar Paya by hoping to recover my truck.
At Kota Station I was lucky to find again the motodriver already used. The 18
kilometres were covered in about thirty minutes. By arriving I paid invoices
by discovering expenditure which had not been announced to me, the
total cost
was of 11150000 IDR is approximately 800 euros for services whose reality was
unverifiable. Except the cost of the Pt Puninar Jaya, the other services were
not stated at the Port of Singapore.
We went to the Port for the inspection of
my truck by the customs. Then it was a long waiting day mainly in a poor
restaurant where I had lunch, one of the collaborators of Mr. Willi was at the
customs to receive my documents, carnet de passage en douane of my truck and
travelling permit as well as other documents. Around 13:30 we returned to
the Port where I put my truck in order of road. Then it was again waiting
until 17:00 and then I received the required document to leave the Port.
I entered Indonesia eight days ago.
PT Puninar Paya
Jakarta
03/07/2009
Mr. Willi
Jakarta
03/07/2009
After having the tanks of diesel filled I took the highway towards Bogor and I stopped on a rest area to bivouac.
The road tracklog
from Jakarta to Bandung
from 03/07 to 05/07/2009
Bogor & Kebun Raya
The main and single sight of Bogor is Kebun Raya or Botanical Garden which was inaugurated by the Dutch in 1817. It was the work of the great botanist Reinwardt who converted the garden of the Presidential Palace, Istanan Bogor. The memorial of Olivia Raffles, wife of Lieutenant Governor, was set up to commemorate its death of malaria in 1814.
Main gate
Bogor
04/07/2009
Olivia Raffles Memorial
Bogor
04/07/2009
Taman Teisjmann, garden ordered with European, was conceived in the honour of Teisjmann in 1884.
Taman Teisjmann
Bogor
04/07/2009
Istana Bogor was occupied by the Dutch General Governor from 1870 to 1940. It exhibits collections visible in group and on appointment.
Istana Bogor
Bogor
04/07/2009
The Dutch cemetery as that in Jakarta has tombs of some colonial celebrities.
Dutch cemetery
Bogor
04/07/2009
A small lake has various varieties of Flowers of Lotus.
Lotus flower
Bogor
04/07/2009
The house of the orchids exposes very beautiful specimens.
Orchid
Bogor
04/07/2009
I strolled lengthily in this splendid garden isolated from the noisy city which I left in the early afternoon to head towards Bandung by crossing over the passr of Puncak, 1492 meters of altitude. The vehicle’s queue was impressive in this sunny Saturday. I stopped in Cimacan to bivouac on the carpark of a restaurant.
Bandung
The 05/07 I left the heights of Cimacan to head down towards Bandung at approximately 720 meters high given by GPS. The temperature was still bearable. This city which would have being the capital of the Dutch colony does not have many sights. Of course its mosque is the focal point with its two minarets. At the prayer time it was not the multitude of Friday and the lying position was required to meditate.
Mesjid Raya
Bandung
05/07/2009
Mesjid Raya
Meditation position
Bandung
05/07/2009
The Museum Geologic sheltered in the headquarters of the Dutch service of geology exhibits a copy of skull of the Java Man as well as an excellent teachware of the evolution of the man. A room is reserved for the volcanic activity of the Indonesian islands without forgetting the Tsunami.
Museum Geologic
Bandung
05/07/2009
Skull of the Java Man
Bandung
05/07/2009
Having found the unique cybercafé in the city I decided to bivouac in the street to prepare the weekly update of my website.
