• Pramuka Bird Market

• Menteng Walking Tour

• Surabaya Antique Market

• Metropol Cinema

• Proclamation Monument

Lunch : Lara Djonggrang Restaurant

Pramuka Bird Market

 

Established in 1967, the Pramuka Bird Market quickly became the go-to place for Jakartans in search of exotic birds.  Today, the Market is crammed with seemingly more bird life than the whole of Borneo.

 

But animal lovers be warned : this market is not for the faint-of-heart.  Many sellers see their birds strictly as a commodity and not as living creatures to be handled with care.  Most cages are overcrowded and dirty, and the air can be thick and pungent at times. 

 

If the market seems a bit overwhelming, ask your guide to take you to the small road around the back, where you can watch the action from a distance.  It is a good vantage point for viewing the haggling and trading, and also offers good photo ops of the motorbikes as they go zipping off with cages strapped to their seats. 

 

If you are interested, your guide can also take you to few houses in the surrounding neighborhood, where private vendors specialise in the sale of more-exotic birds!  (There are even venders with "albino" birds on offer, and these unusual birds fetch the highest prices of all.)  One cannot help but notice that the vendors selling from their homes seem to take more care than vendors at the market, likely because their exceptionally exotic birds sell for millions of rupiah and are better off healthy and alive.

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Menteng Walking Tour

 

From the Pramuka Bird Market, you will stroll the streets of Menteng,  Jakarta's most prestigious neighbourhood, passing by lovely Taman Suropati (Suropati Park) and the residences of some of Indonesia's most notable diplomats and politicians.  After stopping for lunch at the exquisite Lara Djonggrang Restaurant, you will saunter down Sutan Syahrir Street - an immaculate tree-lined boulevard with a canal running down the middle - making your way to Surabaya Street.

 

Surabaya Antique Market

 

Traditionally, Jakartan antique traders carried their collectibles on their backs and traversed the City in search of buyers.  But some years back, these traders began to organise and started setting up permanent shops along Surabaya Street.  Eventually, in 1974, Ali Sadikin, then Governor of Jakarta, inaugurated the antique row as 'Pasar Antik Jalan Surabaya' (the Antique Market on Surabaya Street).

 

Today, one side of Surabaya Street in lined with a seemingly endless row of small, narrow antique stalls selling every conceivable type of antique collectible.  Most items are from the island of Java, but there are a considerable number of shops selling items from other Indonesian islands including Sulewesi, Borneo and Sumatra.

 

There are large and small antique wooden items for every budget : traditional Indonesian masks, ancient walking sticks, small mantle pieces,  life-size statues retrieved from palaces, and a large selection of relief carvings depicting historic Indonesian scenes.  There is a vast array of antique brass items, including chandeliers, lamps and vases, dishes and cutlery, locks and ornamental hinges, fixtures and hardware.  There are Indonesian textiles, and Indonesian pottery and ceramics from Indonesia and China.  There are antique telephones, cameras and transistor radios, Indonesian puppets (wayang), old books and records, and an amazingly diverse collection of miscellaneous items, such as old diving stuffs, compasses, telescopes, gas pumps, ship rudders, even retired Javanese cannons!

 

You name it and you will probably find it on Surabaya Street.  Whether you are looking for a "real antique" or just an interesting ornamental knick-knack to take home as a souvenir,  the Antique Market on Surabaya Street has something for everyone.

 

Metropol Cinema and Proclamation Monument

 

A couple of blocks from Surabaya Street are the Metropol Cinema and the Proclamation Monument.  To end your tour, you will take a quick jaunt over to these significant Jakarta landmarks. 

 

Built in 1932, the Metropol Cinema was Jakarta's first movie theatre, and still stands intact in all of its art deco glory. Nearby is the Proclamation Monument, marking the spot where Indonesia's first President (Soekarno) read Indonesia's Proclamation of Independence in 1945.

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Lara Djonggrang Restaurant

 

Once upon a time in the days of  Hinduism in Java, there lived a princess, Lara Djonggrang, renowned for her stunning beauty.  After more than a thousand years, the timeless, mystical legend of Lara Djonggrang is documented in one of the most unique restaurants in Jakarta.

 

At Lara Djonggrang Restaurant, diners are transported back to the  kingdom days of ninth-century Java, to enjoy royal Indonesian food in a shockingly atmospheric environment.  The restaurant is decorated with a priceless collection of Javanese artifacts dating from the Hindu-Buddhist dynasty period, creating an ambience of the mystical Java of days gone by.  

 

Housed in a former home of President Soekarno (Indonesia's first President), there a those who would 'have you charged with wrongdoing' if you were to visit Jakarta and not eat at Lara Djonggrang. The setting is exquisite ; the food is “imperial Indonesian”; and both are fit for a king.