I met someone online and became pretty good buddies with her. After a few Skype conversations and email exchanges, one thing led to another and bam, I was on my way to Indonesia for the first time to celebrate Christmas in my first "Muslim country." I did a little bit of research but not near enough. Needless to say, this was the trip that made me fall in love with travel and inspired me to take it to the next level and consider making a career of it. I have Jakarta, Rebecca, and Johnny Ward (www.onestep4ward.com) to thank for me wanting to become a professional traveler.
My first trip to Jakarta and Indonesia was what brought me my wanderlust.
I showed up on December 23th at the Jakarta Soekarno-Hatta International Airport. It was kind of late in the evening and I had no idea where to go to meet up with Rebecca, my newfound Indonesian friend. But everyone spoke English (at least a little bit) and through WeChat communication and airport staff assistance, I finally made my way outside to meet this beautiful Batak girl. She couldn't have looked better than what she did that night and she sure was a sight to see after a 6 hour flight from China. She was kind enough to wear the tight black latex leggings that she knows I'm a big fan of.
Me and Rebecca at the Jakarta Soekarno-Hatta International Airport
This was before I wised up with my currency exchange habits. Back then I still used currency exchange booths, which I do not use anymore because of their outrageous fees, exchange rates, and ripoff tactics. Now I simply use my UnionPay bank card from my Chinese bank. Now that UnionPay is becoming more global, almost everywhere in the world has UnionPay ATMs and everywhere in Asia does (at least at the airports). The currency in Indonesia is the Rupiah and their denominations are in the thousands. I gave the booth about 4,400 RMB (666 USD) and got back about 9,000,000 IDR.
Indonesian Rupiah
We took a taxi to my hotel, Fame, which had a rock 'n roll theme to it and was across the street from a Harley-Davidson dealership. It wasn't too far from her home. We were actually about an hour from Jakarta in an area called Gading Serpong, Legok, West Java. But we were going to see quite a bit of Jakarta in due time. I didn't do enough research on Jakarta and Indonesia, so I was learning as I went along. One of the first things I learned about was the outlaw biker culture that was prominent in Jakarta. The Harley dealership across the street sparked curiosity, so I did my research in the hotel room. Come to find out, there are a number of biker gangs in Jakarta. This fact was probably one of the coolest things about my trip.
Harley-Davidson Dealership, Jakarta
Jakarta Biker Gang
There were so many things to look forward to in the coming days. Christmas on the 25th, my birthday on the 27th, and of course New Year's Eve on the 31st. Wow, this was going to be a great trip with non-stop surprises. The first surprise that I had was the temperature of 91 degrees on Christmas Eve, the day after I arrived. This was both awesome and weird at the same time. I mean, Christmas is supposed to be cold, right?! This wasn't going to be a white Christmas for me, but that was okay. It would still be very merry.
Rebecca had some things to do with her family for Christmas Eve, but she was nice enough to invite me to a church service with her family before that. Her family is Christian. She informed me before I left China that it would require professional attire to attend the Christmas Eve and Christmas Day services. I don't think that I've ever dressed up for church, but then again, I never was much of a church-goer. However, I was a guest in HER country and I was going to play by HER rules. I was knowledgeable enough to know that the Christian minority doesn't quite get along with the Muslim majority in Jakarta. In fact, there had been reports of church bombings in the past and one that had occurred recently. So, there was absolutely NO pressure on me to dress up and stick out like a sore dick and attend a Christmas Eve and Christmas Day service in a developing "Muslim country."
Christmas Day Church Service in Jakarta
Needless to say, we had a wonderful time and even though not a word of the service was in English, I had my faithful translator right next to me keeping me up with what was going on. I pretty much got the gist of it anyway and nobody seemed to have a care in the world that I was there. It got dark and everyone lit candles, and that's when it got really interesting.
Christmas Eve Church Service Candlelight Vigil
Christmas Eve Church Service
Church Service Pamphlet
The next day, we attended a Christmas Day service. I thought that I was going to get into trouble when it was time for Communion because the wine was real wine and I don't drink. She explained to the pastor and he was cool with it. I was actually very surprised at how friendly and welcoming everyone was and it made me think about how much of an asshole I am for not being that way most of the time with people. I'm so glad that I was able to kick off my Indonesian adventure with a dose of Batak holiday hospitality.
After church on Christmas Day, we headed to her home which was off the beaten path and I was able to get more acquainted with her family. They had a nice place and her father had a large empty bottle collection of some of the finest bourbon, vodka, and scotch on Earth. We had lunch and got to know each other better. I have a habit of talking a lot and fast when I'm excited. I had to slow it down so that people could understand what I was saying.
Me and Rebecca at her home with her family, Christmas Day
After getting acquainted with the family, it was time for us to enjoy some time to ourselves. So we went out and about and she showed me around her neighborhood a little bit and then I headed back to the hotel and she went back home to spend the rest of the evening with her family. What a merry Christmas, and one that I will remember forever.
We decided the next day that we would hit up Jakarta, which was about an hour away via bus. I made sure that I charged up my camera and phone and was up bright and early to meet Rebecca in the lobby of the Fame hotel. The Fame has great dining buffets, by the way, so breakfast was a treat.
Bus Stop to Jakarta
On the bus heading toward Jakarta I was able to get some nice scenery of these big beautiful mosques, as well as a free ensemble by a nice man that seemed as though he was chanting a prayer or something.
Mosque on our bus ride to Jakarta
Bus Singing Muslim en route to Jakarta
When we arrived in Jakarta I was fascinated by all the cool things that I'd already seen, the mosques, restaurants, protests, people, and even a stock exchange. Jakarta is a big city with a lot of noise and pollution. I could never live there but it is a fabulous place to visit. We decided to take a tour of downtown and the old Dutch colonial area (Old Batavia). We booked a tour with a company called, "Jakarta Good Guy Tours." We all had to meet at the old railway station to begin our tour. I met a couple of fellow Americans from Michigan who were actually teaching in Mumbai, India.
One of our first stops on the tour was "Museum Mandiri," an old bank that had been converted into a museum. This place was really neat.
Bank Museum Indonesia w/Tour Guide (Gallery)
We then went to Fisherman's Wharf with all the commercial boats. The air was really dirty because of all the engine exhaust. I had to put my shirt over my face. But the scenery was pretty cool. We took a short boat ride around the bay and took some good pictures. It was nice to get off our feet for a bit.
Fisherman's Wharf (Gallery)
The final lap of our tour was wrapped up with a lovely round of Old Batavia, the old Dutch colony in downtown Jakarta. We hit up a famous coffee store and witnessed some amazing artifacts and architecture from the Dutch era.
Jembatan Kota Intan Drawbridge
Old Batavia (Gallery)
After the tour we took pictures and parted ways and me and Rebecca decided to have lunch at "Cafe Batavia," a famous restaurant in Old Batavia. The food was expensive but it was also very good. There were a lot of other foreigners in there from all over the world.
While traveling through Jakarta, we also came across these protesters who were protesting the current government leaders. They were pretty hardcore about it, too. I wasn't sure if there was going to be violence or what. We just kept on moving in our vehicle and I was fine with that.
Protesters in Downtown Jakarta (Gallery)
Happy Jakarta Birthday to ME
My birthday is two days after Christmas and I believe that this birthday was my best one yet. Rebecca surprised me with a birthday cake at the Fame Hotel, candles and all, and made this day a very special one for me.
The next few days we spent time exploring different areas around Jakarta. Rebecca took me to this theme park on Christmas Eve that had museums, rides, cable cars, paddle boats, restaurants, and all sorts of cool things to see and do. I even saw a ripoff of KFC and Disney's Sleeping Beauty's Castle.
California Fried Chicken (KFC Ripoff)
Wannabe Replica of Disney's Sleeping Beauty's Castle
Taman Mini Indonesia Indah Theme Park (Gallery)
Probably the best part of my trip, other than the Christmas church services, was the visit to MONAS, the national monument of Indonesia. I guess you could say it's their answer to our Washington Memorial in D.C. Man, was it awesome. there is a museum on the ground level that goes all around the perimeter of the interior with pictures, figures, sound and decor that really give it a special historic appeal.
I learned more about Indonesia by checking out this gallery in the MONAS than I did from all the other research that I had done. There are three levels to MONAS, a ground floor, a mid-level balcony area that you can go out on, and the very top of the tower where you can see a panoramic view of the entire city of Jakarta.
This was truly the climax of my trip. While being at the very top of the MONAS, a monument that commemorated the very heritage of Indonesia, while looking out at the Jakarta skyline I realized how blessed I was for being where I was and it also further confirmed my "calling" in life as a traveler. It also helped to have a great tour guide right along side me.
MONAS (National Monument)
Top of MONAS at Night
MONAS (Gallery)
One interesting aspect of my trip was my experience at the Fame hotel when I needed to book for two additional nights. They were going to charge me a certain rate and I able to negotiate and haggle them down significantly with the price. I mean, I would never be able to pull what I did in the States. One great thing about living and traveling in Asia is the fact that almost everything is negotiable, and I love that. It's already cheap to live and travel in Asia and the fact that you can talk people down in price even more makes it sweeter.
We wrapped up our time together with a tour of a local shopping mall and a fireworks show at midnight. The shopping mall was packed and the traffic, stagnant. Everyone was there to see the fireworks show. We were actually stuck in a taxi trying to go somewhere else to watch the fireworks, but we couldn't move. Rebecca just laid her head down on me and we waited in the taxi for midnight to roll around and when it did, we had a nice fireworks show to celebrate incoming 2017. It was bittersweet, really, because I knew that I had to fly back to China on January 2nd and I just didn't want this trip to end. The good news is that we actually saw each other again in just 4 months when we met in Singapore, which I have written a separate article about.
INDONESIA FACTS
Indonesia has about 261 million people.
Indonesia is the world's 4th most populous country.
More than 87% of Indonesians are Muslim.
About 10% of Indonesians are Christian.
Jakarta is the capital and largest city with 9.6 million people.
Java is the world's most populous island and contains more than half of Indonesia's population.
"Indonesian" is the national language, but English is widely spoken along with about 700 other languages.
Oil, natural gas, tin, copper, & gold are abundant natural resources.
Rice, palm oil, tea, coffee, cacao, medicinal plants, spices and rubber are core agricultural goods.
The Dutch ruled Indonesia for about 350 years.
Indonesia became an independent nation after World War II.
The Javanese are the largest and most politically dominant ethnic group in Indonesia and make up about 40% of the population.
For more information about Indonesia tourism:
Recommended Books
Click on link above to purchase book
Click on link above to purchase book
Click on link above to purchase book
I can't write a Christmas piece without including one of my favorite Christmas songs. Love Christmas was released in 2014 by Korean K-Pop group, Chrome Family, which is a group made up of several K-Pop artists that are all a part of the Chrome Entertainment label, based out Seoul, South Korea. Now, it's not your typical, traditional Bing Crosby-type of Christmas tune, but I feel that you may still enjoy it as much as I do. The song is performed in half Korean and half English, which helps make it a one-of-a-kind Christmas melody. Enjoy.
Love Christmas performed by Chrome Family
Click on link below to purchase song
All items purchased via my website, www.outcastvagabond.com, are purchased through my affiliate, www.amazon.com, and I will receive a small commission for them. I appreciate your support of my travel brand and of my career as a professional traveler.