Category Archives: been there

indonesia chronicles: the tower and cathedral

Posted by rob on

after my visit to the museum, i walked for a few minutes going to the national monument of indonesia, monumen nasional. it is an obelisk-type monument that stands 433 feet and sits in the center of merdeka square, an area in central jakarta surrounded by government buidings.

the monument is the symbol of the country’s fight for independence. at the top of the structure represents a flame, weighing 14.5 ton called as the flame of independence, which is covered by 50 kilogram of real gold foil.

there is an underground passageway that leads up to the base of the monument, where you have to pay an entrance fee. inside is the national history museum.

The towering monument encapsulates the philosophy of Lingga and Yoni. Lingga resembles an alu rice pestle and Yoni resembles a lesung rice mortar, two important traditional Indonesian tools. Lingga and Yoni also symbolize eternal life with the lingga phallic symbol, representing masculinity, positive elements, and daytime and the Yoni the female organs symbol, representing femininity, negative elements, and night. The monument consists of a 117.7m obelisk on a 45m square platform at a height of 17m, the goblet yard. ~ from wikipedia

there is an observation deck in the tower where you have to pay another entrance fee. unfortunately the ticket counter was already closed at 3:00 pm and i was not able to get access.

the monument is open to the public everyday, from 8:00 am to 3:00 pm.

the next morning, i attended mass at jakarta cathedral ( gereja katedral jakarta).

the cathedral is buit in neo-gothic style and was consecrated in 1901. there are three main spires where the two tallest ones measured 60 metres tall and are located in front on each side of the portal.

the buildings material consist of thick red bricks covered with plaster, roofs made of teak wood and the spires made of iron.

the large round stained glass called as rozeta rosa mystica, is the symbol of mother mary.

only 3% of indonesia’s population are catholics.

there is a statue of mother mary in the main entrance and a sentence written in latin: “beatam me dicentes omnes generationes” which means “all generations shall call me blessed”.

after the mass was finished, i bought some wooden rosaries in the cathedral’s bookstore to bring back home for my ma.  i took a picture of the cathedral from istiqlal mosque at the opposite road then took a taxi to surabaya street.

indonesia chronicles: museum nasional

Posted by rob on

the hotel i stayed in at jakarta was a few minutes away from some interesting places to visit within the city.  spending a minimum fare of idr15 by taxi, i went to check museum nasional, jakarta’s national museum.

it is also known as the elephant house due to the bronze elephant statue that is found infront of the main building which was donated by a king from thailand,  chulalongkorn in late 1800’s.

it is also called as the house of statues because of the number of statues exhibited inside the museum.

the lobby, central and atrium hall has a collection of hindu-buddhist art of ancient indonesia. these sculptures, relics and inscriptions was collected from dfferent parts of the country.

i spent some time in fascination of the intricate details of most of these statues.  i ‘ve always had this interest on archaeology.

a hindu royalty and his wife.

there were a lot of stones like these with inscriptions.

this is one of the levels which is part of the museum’s new wing.

inscriptions, footprints, drawing of insects carved on a rock.

a collection of some stone age artifacts such as fossilized skull and skeleton of homo species are found in the prehistoric collection

bracelets can be this difficult to make.

i noticed the asmat canoe which is a long carved narrow boat used as transportation by the asmat people, an ethnic group in papua province in indonesia.  the body is made of either mangrove or coconut wood carved by hollowing out the mid-section of the log lengthwise.

here’s a desperate attempt to take a picture of myself, lol.

there was a group of elementary students who just arrived when i was to leave the building for their educational field trip.

entrance fee is idr 10.00 for foreign nationals and the museum is open from 8.30 am to 2.30 pm  on tuesday, wednesday, thursday and sunday; from 8.30  am to 11.30 am on friday; and from 8.30 am to 1.30 pm  on saturday. closed on mondays.

indonesia chronicles: fave hotel

Posted by rob on

i returned to jakarta through an air asia flight after my four-day visit to bali.  from terminal 3 i took a “golden bird” taxi which was pre-arranged to my pre-booked hotel which is located in jakarta’s central business district, fave hotel wahid hasyim.

i have reserved a room for a three night stay at fave through their website.  the hotel is almost new, for it was still less than a year old.

i was given a room at the fifth floor.  though it was opposite the elevator, the noise did not bother me at all.  i can see the traffic in wahid hasyim road from my window specially during rush hours.

the room has a soft feminine touch, adding the flower wall paper.  the double bed and the pillows are comfortable and the room generally clean.

a 26 inch lcd television and a small writing desk is found in the room.

universal power socket is also available.

complimentary wi-fi access was efficient.  during my travel in indonesia i only have with me my phone for internet use.  unlike before in my past travels, i cannot seem to leave back home my laptop, now obviously i realized the convenience of not carrying one.

a phone is available for local and international calls.  i did used this and was separately charged a small fee.

there is no clothes cabinet in the room but there is a space to hang clothing and a room safe.

toilet and shower with basic toiletries which were replenished daily.

a thing to know when you check-in in a hotel room is the fire exit.

i paid like $55.00 / night with breakfast in this hotel.

on the ground floor of the hotel is tomodachi café.  a french-oriental fusion restaurant.

they serve buffet breakfast and ala carte food.

though the buffet during breakfast has limited choices, it was quite okay for me.

i was satisfied with my stay at fave hotel and recommend it if you will be staying in jakarta on a mid-range budget.  it has a very accessible site and it is near shopping malls, museums and the national monument.