Garuda Indonesia Colours Magazine October 2013 | Page 114

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Travel | Jakarta

Travel | Jakarta

© Bitenzorger/ Flickr

5 Senses – Sight
TAMAN MINI INDONESIA INDAH

© David Metcalf

Colourful Kota Square on a
sunny Sunday morning.
A fire eater entertaining the
crowd in Kota Square.
Jakartans at play, trying to
avoid the hazards in Kota Square.

Taman Mini is a sprawling
outdoor museum complex
where you can wander from
Sumatra to Papua exploring
the different traditional houses,
soak in the unique cultures
from 33 different provinces,
take in a dance or music
performance, and see an
overview of Indonesia all in
one day. Take the sky train to
see the complex from above and
then decide which museum you
want to explore. I recommend
watching the 35-minute-long
video on Indonesia at the IMAX
Theatre and my other favourite
is the Komodo Museum for its
exhibits and information on
these unique creatures. You
can even hold a real Komodo
dragon, if you dare. This park
is huge and also includes a
beautiful butterfly park and
a dedicated bird park. Plan
a whole day here.
www.tamanmini.com

Taman Mini adalah
komplek museum di mana
Anda dapat berjalan kaki dari
Sumatera hingga Papua,
menjelajahi rumah-rumah
tradisional dari 33 provinsi,
menonton pertunjukan tarian
dan musik serta melihat
keseluruhan Indonesia hanya
dalam waktu satu hari. Anda
pun dapat menumpang kereta
gantung untuk melihat
komplek museum ini dari
udara dan menentukan
museum mana yang akan
Anda datangi. Rekomendasi
saya, video sepanjang 35 menit
yang bisa ditonton di I-MAX
theatre atau Museum Komodo
untuk mendapatkan beragam
informasi mengenai hewan
unik ini. Di sana, Anda bisa
menyentuh komodo hidup,
jika berani. Area ini dilengkapi
pula dengan taman kupu-kupu
serta taman burung.

Navigating Jakarta
You cannot drive around the
streets of Jakarta (some would
say I should insert a full stop
there, but I’ll carry on) without
seeing or smelling the bright
orange bajajs which ferry their
passengers between lanes of cars,
trucks and motorbikes. The bajaj
is an icon of Jakarta and has
survived, even as the city
continues its hectic pace of
change and modernisation.
There was a move to ban these
small polluting vehicles a few
years ago and many of them
disappeared, but somehow
the city would not be quite
the same without them.
I met Amanurohim early one
morning as I was running late
for a meeting and a bajaj was the
only option to get me through
the traffic. The story of this bajaj
driver is very typical of people
who work on the streets of
Jakarta. Aman moved to Jakarta
from his village near Semarang
32 years ago in search of work.
This diaspora of people
moving from other parts of
Java and streaming into Jakarta
for better prospects continues
unabated today.
Aman works long days in the
heat and smog to put food on
the table for his wife and pay
for his children to receive an
education, earning around
US$150 a month. He certainly
was not complaining and seemed
to be very happy with his life and
greeted me with a warm, genuine
smile and was typically honest
– not trying to take advantage

© Anastasiia Kucherenko / Shutterstock

© Paul Kennedy / Getty Images

© Ian Trower / Getty Images

performing disappearing acts
with children, and men (in
ceremonial fashion) belting each
other with whips to the sounds
of gamelan music! In the
background, children were riding
around the square on tricycles,
squealing with delight as they
managed to somehow avoid
the many hazards in their path.
Temporary stalls positioned
at the edges of the square were
bursting at the seams, selling
everything from cheap imported
pocketknives to batik, wayang
puppets, piles of colo