Jam In Jakarta

We landed in Jakarta in an industrial port.  It did not look too cruise friendly.  I got off the ship with my friends Neely, an Israeli born woman and her husband Darryl an attorney from LA and Helena from Hungary.  After departing the ship we passed my friend Geoff and his wife Janet returning.  They told us there were no taxis and no one spoke English.  It would be absolutely useless finding anything to do.  We told them we were going to give it a try any way.

If you look closely you can see the gate we waited for the taxi

We then bumped into Geoff, the preacher from Australia and he said he found a guy who had a Taxi.  We walked up to the guy who looked incredibly shady.  The only way out of the port area was on a very old ramshackle bus.  We boarded the bus with some workers and crew members and in 5 mins or so we were at the gate of the port next to around 500 motorcycles. 

The taxi guy had a taxi for us but it had no air conditioning, so we declined.  He said there would be another one soon.  We waited amongst a bunch of guys hanging around the port gate trying to sell us watches.  We seemed to be pretty much in the middle of a not so nice area and it was around a million degrees.  Darryl flagged down another taxi.  Although it was old and small, it had air conditioning.  I hopped in the front and somehow, the three others fit in the back.

We drove through the worst traffic with motorcycles zigging in and out and cars making their own way, any way they could.  The agree we drove through there were slums on the left that looked like shanty towns.  The dwellings were made of corrugated rusted tin.  It seemed as if the car was going nowhere, but we eventually arrived at our destination, which was a ship yard, with hundreds of old wooden ships. 

The ships were in various states of repair and looked primarily used for cargo but maybe fishing as well.  They seemed to be from another time and place.

After the walking around the ship yards we went to an old colonial square.  The square had old buildings and a museum.  It was also obviously a gathering place for young people to hang out.  In this seemingly depressing city, it was a little Oasis.

A Day Out To Wear Hats and Ride Bikes

In itself, it was bit dismal but it was filled with colorful girls bicycles.  On each bicycles that you could rent, there was also a matching hat.  There were a number of girls just riding around this small girl on the bikes wearing hats and giggling. 

Bad Boys

Also at the same square were young punky looking guys.  They made a smoking gesture to me, obviously they were trying to sell me something.

Girls Getting Henna Tatoos

This seems so surreal that all this existed as the area seemed like such a tough place and here were these innocent young girls riding around on bikes with hats.  You would expect to see this in a beautiful green park or near a beach but here it was. 

Happy Teen Girls Not Unaware Of Style

I noticed this aboard the ship too.  The young Indonesian women have this amazing spirit and sense of happiness that I have never seen before.  They do not seem to live in the most optimal situation yet their spirits remain exceedingly high.

The following are other sites, vendors and life going on at the colonial square area.