Hi there, dusty blog. I've abandoned you for way too long, I know. I'm sorry, I wish you know how much I wanted to write here, but it seems that I only managed to write down on my journal and keep it to myself. Anyway, the other reason why I have barely written a thing here is because things got craaazy over here lately. Zillions of assignments, never ending meetings and events, and final exam week is here now. Tell me how do I do amoeba's binary fission and split myself into 20 parts in order to get everything done.

November had been exhausting. There were too many things happened, and I'm so happy that I survived the dreadful month. But the next thing I knew is that I needed an escape. Just me, and my wandering soul. Ask any of my friends about my impulsive habit of going places. #noonecanstopme.

So..., to Jakarta I went.

It was a very impromptu agenda. A one-day trip in which I became a tourist in my hometown. I booked my tickets and RSVP-ed to a local tour guide to take me on a walking tour around the Old Town, only a few days beforehand. I didn't even tell my mother--or father or sister--that I went to Jakarta. So, mom, if you're reading this, hello. Hehehe. For me, going places without telling the parents felt worrying, I couldn't even sleep that night. It's just that I'm so used to tell them where I'm about to go, yet that Saturday morning, even only a few of my friends knew where I was departing to.

The trip hadn't even started, and I hadn't hopped to the train just yet when I realized that I left my phone charger and the station's ATM machines are mostly not working. Cashless, and battery-less Ayas, then. I'm so glad that the man seated next to me kindly lent his phone charger along the way, and I decided to put my phone on airplane mode all day long. Arriving at 8 AM, Gambir Station was literally packed with those people going to the 212 commemoration in The National Monument. I. Was. Shocked. Because all of the roads around the station is closed due to the event, and I was welcomed with nothing but traffic jam. Go-Jek came to the rescue, and I safely arrived at the tour's meeting point on time.

I was the youngest solo member of this group, but along the way I managed to make new friends, Febrianti and Ayu, two 20-something female workers from Bogor and Jakarta. This tour was conducted by JakartaGoodGuide. The admission fee was Rp. 125.000 per person. It was quite pricey, knowing you'd be walking for approximately 5-6 kms under Jakarta's heat (featuring debu dan asap dan the smelly-welly Kali Ciliwung), but I went for it nevertheless, because I knew I'd be taken to see the places I never knew existed. It was weird that I've been in Jakarta for as long as I lived, yet there are many many things that I never knew before.

Starting off at the Fatahillah Square, the guide fluently became the story-teller. Everything he said was pretty much on the history book. The history of Batavia, The VOC, even Jan Pieterszoon Coen. It was a throwback to the days in elementary school where I learned about those names.

The next route was to the only 3/4 of Sunda Kelapa Warehouses that is left. The building is decayed, and is located in the slums area. So we had to walk under the highway (jalan tol dalam kota) into the slums and to the warehouse. I don't know, but nobody ever seem to take care of the building, and looks like it's only about time until it collapses and there will be nothing else left from the warehouses. The highlight of this part for me is actually the walking through the slums. You know, the inappropriate houses di kolong jembatan. I used to see them from the TV or in the papers, but that day I actually walked inside the crammed area, surrounded with many many children. They play around a parking-lot of huge container trucks and between dumps.

Not so far from the slum, there was this neigborhood called Kampung Tongkol, right next to Kali Ciliwung. Actually it is also a slum, but slightly less slummier than the one under the highway. I don't know how do I say this in English but it was one of those rumah di bantaran kali yang sampahnya segunung, mulai dari plastik, popok bayi, potongan kayu, sampai kasur dan sofa bekas. Then in 2015 it was renovated by the locals with the help of the governor, architecture community from Universitas Indonesia, local non-governmental organizations, even the UNHCR. The people living in Kampung Tongkol said they are fed-up being the ones to blame for every flood especially in North Jakarta. So they moved their houses 10-15 meters away from the river bank and stopped littering to the river as well. But the irony is, regardless the renovation, they're still not living with proper sanitation and their houses are still illegal according to the rules.

During the 15-minutes walk in Kampung Tongkol, I had so much feelings about the people's life, the environment, and the children who sadly don't have proper school. They rely on volunteer teachers whom actually most don't visit the place to teach regularly. By the time I'm writing this, I have no idea what to say anymore. I feel sorry for the kids, but heart-warmed at the same time because when many kids out there are busy tapping on their phone screens, most kids from Kampung Tongkol spend their time playing galasin and lempar-lemparan sandal. What an idea to live the life.

Moving on, the tourists were taken to the ever so famous Pelabuhan Sunda Kelapa. The last time I went there was probably 10 years ago. When the ships were still so many, and it looked magical. Well, it still looked magical, except now there are only few ships left at the port. The vibrant colors are still the same, and Jakarta's sky was so bright. I'd never seen the beauty of this town from that point of view--blue sky, busy port, and ships. It was 11.00 AM already, the sun hit like crazy, and we went for another walk to the places around Museum Bahari. Again, it' had been 10 years since my last visit. We were taken to see another old warehouse that is now flooded, and continued the walk to Galangan VOC building. The Galangan VOC building was massive, but it wasn't very attracting to me. The one to caught my eye was actually the Joglo house behind Galangan VOC building. It was gracefully standing over green, freshly cut grass.

Jakarta, cantik sekali kamu hari itu

The Joglo house inside Galangan VOC building

The flooded warehouse

The hardest part of this tour is actually to endure Jakarta's heat all the way from Museum Bahari back to the meeting point at 12.00 PM, because even umbrella couldn't help. But we all managed to survive the melt down. Right after this tour, we were given shopping vouchers to be spent on food/drinks and goods from Semasa Art Market. Semasa Art Market was actually the second highlight of my solo escape, but I think it's best to make a separate post for it. Sooo, this is the end of the tour my postcard from Jakarta. Again I'm truly sorry for taking too long to write, but trust me I will always always try to write even more.

X,

Sarita Ayas