surabaya street is a well-known flea market in central jakarta.  after hearing mass at the cathedral, i took a cab and told the driver to drop me off at jalan surabaya.  the indonesian driver was a cheerful local who speak english started a small conversation asking where i was from:

me: well, guess where i’m from.

driver: singapore? (maybe a lot of tourists in jakarta are singaporeans?!)

me: nope.  guess once more.

driver: taiwan? (is he serious?!)

me: wrong.  i’m from the philippines.

driver: ohhh…  christian bautista! (lmao! was he that famous in indonesia?!)

we reached surabaya then i handed him idr 15,000 (was idr 11,000 in the taxi meter) for the fare and thanked him.  a few tourists were also looking for bargains as i walked beside the shops where the locals are seated at the curb either polishing brass or fixing items that they are selling.

there were a lot of items being sold like these antique-looking brass items.  my ma actually have a small collection of small brass vases but hers came from india.

i am not sure if the stuff they sell are authentic, anyway i was only there to look and take pictures.  one caucasian woman actually bought one of these supposedly world war II diving helmet made of copper and brass material.

then i passed by these wooden stick puppets which caught my attention.

i was hooked.  though i never had any plan to buy anything, these puppets are too artistically crafted that i wanted to bring one back home.

for idr 300,000 (about $30.00) i got these wooden stick puppets of rama and sita.  i think it was worth it having one for myself.