We enjoyed two days in Jakarta and I also enjoyed a nice “chat” with Pope Francis!
(Not really, but I thought this photo might get your attention! It was taken at the Catholic Cathedral that I will talk about later in this post….)We found Jakarta to be a very interesting city. Here is what the Viking Daily says about this city:
“JAKARTA, JAVA, INDONESIA - A melting pot of Indonesian cultures, Jakarta is a bustling and colorful capital. The city has been important to trade since the 4th century; it was founded as Sunda Kelapa, a significant trading port for the Sunda Kingdom, the Hindu realm that once occupied this area. The Dutch arrived in 1619 to establish the Dutch East Indies, renaming the city Batavia and proclaiming it their capital. Nutmeg, cloves, cinnamon and more were exported from here. During the Japanese occupation of World War II, the Dutch were expelled and the city took its current name, which it retained after independence. Java's timeless traditions have endured, including the fine art of wayang kulit, traditional shadow puppetry.”
Speaking of “puppetry”, this is a good time to mention the book that I recently read for our ship’s Bookclub book for February - The Puppet Master of Java by Alexander Crane. This time I finished reading the book before our bookclub meeting! Reading it before visiting Jakarta was good since it let me visualize what Jakarta and the cities nearby would be like. I did not like the book, however, but it did give me interesting perspectives.
We were supposed to dock in Jakarta at noon, but the port was very busy and we were delayed by two hours. Once we docked, it was crazy with everyone trying to get off the ship at the same time to get to their excursions. Not only was the ship chaotic, but the port was too! It is not a traditional cruise ship port, but rather a cargo container shipping terminal and all the activity there was amazing! Workers on the dock were actually taking OUR picture while we were taking theirs!
As we came down the gangplank and reached the dock we were greeted by dancers and music. What a nice welcome!
After boarding our coach and heading to our afternoon excursion we realized that traffic and the congestion was crazy too! Lots of motorcycles were on the road but to me it seemed more tame than in Bali. Once in the city center, Jakarta felt like any other big capital city with lots of skyscrapers (over 500!), government buildings, museums, monuments, malls and parks.
On day one of our visit in Jakarta our tour was titled: “Jakarta & Its Chinatown”. This tour featured a Mosque and Cathedral that are across the street from each other, showing the religious diversity and tolerance of its citizens. We also were to take a walk through Chinatown, visiting a temple there, enjoying refreshments at a local restaurant and finishing up at a local mall. Since this tour started later than expected, it also ended later than expected, but for us that was a win because we were able to see Jakarta at night too!
First stop, Istiqlal Mosque and The Cathedral of Our Lady of the Assumption. Both were beautiful!
We toured the Istiqlal Mosque first. It is the largest mosque in Southeast Asia and the ninth largest mosque in the world in terms of worshipper capacity. We removed our shoes and had to have our knees and shoulders covered. I was okay but since Mark wore shorts he had to borrow a sarong to wear.
The mosque was huge and the architecture was over the top! The many windows provide a lot of sunlight which made the high ceiling and pillars glisten. The mosque was divided into two worship sides - one for men and a smaller one for women. The red carpet in the worship area symbolizes a sacred space.
The outside courtyard of the mosque also was a prayer space and bricks on the floor marked individual spaces for praying. There is a tunnel connecting the mosque to the cathedral across the street. In September 2024 Pope Francis visited the Mosque to celebrate unity and harmony.
The two top photos show the inside of the Mosque. Bottom left is the drum that formerly was used to call worshipers to prayer. It is no longer used because there is an updated sound system. Bottom right is the outside worship courtyard. Each square is for personal worship space.
Next up is the Cathedral across the street. We crossed the street and entered the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Assumption. This Catholic Church opened in 1901 and is the seat of the Roman Catholic archbishop of Jakarta. It is beautiful inside with many stained glass windows, several alters and stunning architecture. Joining the cathedral is an outdoor space used for overflow worship. That’s where the photo cut-out of Pope Francis was located.
The bottom right photo is a statue in the cathedral courtyard of Garuda Pancasila, the national symbol and emblem of Indonesia.
After our tours of the Mosque and Cathedral, we boarded our coach and headed to Chinatown. We had originally been scheduled to visit a temple in Chinatown but since our tour was late, we weren’t able to go there. Instead we just walked around Chinatown. It was a very run down area of Jakarta.
We did receive a nice “Welcome to Chinatown” as we got off the coach!
We finished our Chinatown tour with a visit to this restaurant. We sampled several Indonesian dishes along with hot tea and coffee. After our “snack” we boarded our bus and headed to the Senayan Mall, located in downtown Jakarta. It was a very nice shopping experience and we ended up buying some Kopi Lusaka Coffee, also called civet coffee. It is famous here in Indonesia and is supposedly the very best and most expensive coffee. Interesting history though. It’s a drink made from coffee beans that are excreted whole by an animal called a civet cat. In simpler words, it’s cat poop coffee! Seriously!
Back to the ship and to bed early for our day two adventures in Jakarta!
Comments
Post a Comment