TOURIST INFORMATION AND WEATHER
The Jakarta Visitors Information Office is located at Jl. MH. Thamrin No 9 in the Jakarta Theater Building opposite the Sarinah Department Store, Tel. (021) 314 2067 / (021) 315 4094 / (021) 316 1293 The staff is reasonaly helpful and informative. There is also a tourist information desk at Sukarno-Hatta International Airport Terminal 2D, Tel. (021) 550 7088. Information on events, festivals, sights and other tourist-related information can be obtained here. The Jakarta City Government Tourism And Culture Office is located at Jalan Kuningan Barat No. 2, Jakarta 12710 Tel. (021) 520 5455 / (021) 520 5454 / (021) 520 1369 / (021) 520 9689; Fax: (021) 527 0917 / (021) 522 9136
Municipal Tourist Offices: 1) Central Jakarta Tourist Office At: Jalan Tanah Abang I No.1, Jakarta Tel. (021) 350 2475 2) West Jakarta Tourist Office At: Jalan Raya Kembangan No.2, 7th floor, Jakarta Tel. (021) 581 7592 3) North Jakarta Tourist Office At: Jalan Yos Sudarso No.27-29, Jakarta Tel. (021) 430 3036 / (021) 430 8870 Fax: (021) 430 8870 4) East Jakarta Tourist Office At: Jalan Dr.Sumarno, Kompleks Kantor Walikota Blok B, 3rd floor, Jakarta Tel. (021) 480 2066 / (021) 480 8336 5) South Jakarta Tourism Office At: Jalan Prapanca No.9, Jakarta Tel/Fax: (021) 7280 1474 There is also an information section at the Jakarta City Tourism and Culture Office, which is located in Central Jakarta.
Websites: Enjoy Jakarta (www.jakarta-tourism.go.id ) and Visit Jakarta (www.indonesia-tourism.com/jakarta) features information on sights and lists of hotels and restaurants. The Local expatriate community website is expat.or.id Jakarta has an English-speaking tourist police force. There duties are helping tourist and going after thieves and pickpockets that target tourists. Book: “Jakarta Inside Out” by Daniel Ziv is a collection of 6 essays on a variety of subjects on Jakarta city life, may of the related to the city;s seamy side.
Bring lightweight clothes unless you plan to stay indoor most of the time. Jakarta is quite hot. Also bring an umbrella or raincoat, in case of rain. Jakarta's average temperature ranges from 72°F to 87°F. It seldom varies more than a few degrees all year. The average humidity, 82 percent, rises to 83 percent or 84 percent during the wet season. It rains about 125 days a year for an average of 70 inches. Although heavy rains occur during the wet season (November through March), they do not compare to the heavy, monsoon downpours that characterize the rainy season in other tropical countries. Although monotonous and enervating, the heat will not oppress you as do the summers in Tokyo and Washington, D.C. [Source: Cities of the World, Gale Group Inc., 2002, adapted from a 2001 U.S. State Department report]
Orientation and Lay Out of Jakarta
Jakarta is a vast, sprawling city sort of like Los Angeles with several centers rather than a central focal point. Central Jakarta is centered around, Merdeka Square, a large gathering place with the gold-topped towering National Monument in its center. Old Jakarta (Kota), Glodok (Chinatown) the waterfront and the old harbor are north of Merdeka Square. The modern harbor, Tanjung Prio, is to the east of the square and newer parts of Jakarta are to the south. The Kemang district is where yuppies and young people hang out.
There are few landmarks. Jakarta consists of interconnected self-contained clusters of residential areas, recreation and shopping centers, so that it is most important to note in which area of the city one is located. Jalan Thamrin, the main boulevard in central Jakarta, runs north and south to the west of Merdeka Square. The city's major hotels, important banks and upscale stores are located on Jalan Thamrin. Most visitors spend their time in Menteng, the tourist area south of Monas and east of Jalan Thamrin. The new suburban area is called Kebayoran.
Sudirman-Thamrin Avenues lies at the heart of Jakarta. Here are headquartered Indonesia’s central bank, Bank Indonesia, and most major banks. Separating the Sudirman from the Thamrin is the central fountain that cools this roundabout, which is surrounded by the landmark buildings of Hotel Indonesia and Wisma Nusantara, the first high rise buildings in Jakarta. The Hotel Indonesia circle is today the preferred location for public demonstrations, exactly because of the continuous busy traffic circulating here. Along this main boulevard are also a number of Jakarta’s top hotels.
Along the Sudirman is located the Senayan Sports Center, the sports complex built by Indonesia’s first President, Sukarno, in 1962 to hold the Ganefo (Games of the New Emerging Forces) and the reason for the construction of the Sudirman-Thamrin roads. Here is also the Jakarta Convention Center, venue for prime international conventions and exhibitions.
The Sudirman-Thamrin avenue leads to the Merdeka Square, where in its center stands the National Monument Surrounding the Monument is now a park with a musical fountain, enjoyed by the Jakarta public on Sundays for sports and recreation. Deer roam among the shady trees in the park.
Merdeka Square is the center of most important government buildings. During Dutch colonial days here was the center of government, known as Koningsplein or the King’s Square. The north side is dominated by the Merdeka Palace once the home of the Dutch Governor Generals, which now also houses the office of the President and the Cabinet. To the South is the office of Indonesia’s Vice President, Jakarta’s Governor and provincial parliament building, as also the American Embassy, while to the West is the National Museum, the Constitutional Court, the Ministry for Culture and Tourism and the Indosat building, Indonesia’s first international telecommunications company.
Beyond Merdeka Square lie principal Dutch colonial buildings constructed in neoclassical style during the 19th century, that include buildings surrounding Lapangan Banteng, or Banteng Square, namely the present day Department of Finance, the neo-gothic Catholic Cathedral and adjoining Sancta Ursula girls school, and further down the Foreign Office and the Imanuel protestant church, facing Jakarta’s main Gambir station.
Across the road to the Cathedral stands now Jakarta’s largest mosque, the Istiqlal mosque. Nearby is the Concert Hall and colonial style shopping street called Pasar Baru, once the preferred haunt of the wealthy Dutch elite. In the 18th century Dutch Batavia was famed as the “Queen of the East”.
Behind the President’s Palace is the canal which runs north pass the old Archive building to the Old Batavia, once the seat of the Dutch East Indies Company, VOC, built by Governor-General Jan Peterszoon Coen in the 17th century. Here renovations continue to preserve this historic area of the city which is dominated by the Stadhuis, or municipal building, which now houses the Jakarta History museum. In front of it is a central paved plaza, now named the Fatahillah Square, after Sultan Fatahillah, founder of this port, who before the arrival of the Dutch razed the old harbour to the ground on 22 June 1527 and renamed it Jayakarta, City of Victory. The square is surrounded by once important Dutch government buildings that have now become museums, among which the Fine Arts Museum and the Wayang Museum.
Further down is the old harbor called Sunda Kelapa, in its heyday it was the thriving entrepot for the Far East trade in cloves, nutmeg and pepper, sandalwood, silks and more. Here one can still admire majestic Bugis phinisi schooners at anchor where men still carry on their backs loads of merchandise for the archipelago. Nearby are the old warehouses where now stands the Maritime Museum.
Today, the former location of Batavia town proper is Jakarta’s predominantly Chinese business district, but a large part of this is now modernized with full air-conditioned shopping centers and hotels. Other important areas in Central Jakarta are the Jalan Gatot Subroto, where stands Indonesia’s Parliament building, and Jalan Rasuna Said, location of most foreign Embassies.
Municipalities and Districts of Jakarta
The Province of Greater Jakarta is comprised of six municipalities: 1) Central Jakarta which includes the Merdeka Square and the elite residential area of Menteng; 2) South Jakarta, which includes the districts of Kebayoran and Bintaro; 3) West Jakarta, where some of Jakarta’s tallest buildings and major hotels have recently been constructed; 4) East Jakarta, site of the Indonesia in Miniature Park as well as many industrial estates; 5) North Jakarta, the city’s prime trading area and site of Jakarta’s beach recreation Ancol Dreamland; and 6) the Thousand Islands, some 76 idyllic islands lying in the Bay of Jakarta.
Districts of Jakarta: 1) Golden Triangle is the nickname of Jakarta's new, glittering downtown area. 2) Gkodok (Chinatown) is the old Chinese district. It was established as a ghetto for Chinese after the massacre of Chinese in 1740. It was the site of anti-Chinese violence in 1998. Many buildings were burned and left in ruins. Today the area is known for its gambling dens and decadent nightspots. Manggarai is a tough, working-class neighborhood know for its gangsters and thugs. 3) Pondok Indah (South Jakarta) is a neighborhood in sometimes described as Indonesia's Beverley Hills. It is features large walled compounds, American-style middle class homes, palm lined boulevards and shopping malls. 4) Menteng is a swank Jakarta suburb where Suharto and other live. He walked with a cane but otherwise looked very healthy.
Entertainment in Jakarta
Jakarta has hundreds of discos, bars and karaoke lounges. Most discos, bars and nightclubs are found in the large hotels or along Jalan Tharmin. The Kemang district is home to a number of trendy bars and cafes. Kota features number of nightclubs and dance halls that stay open all night. The city boats a Hard Rock Café, Planet Hollywood, Molly Malone’s Irish Bar and Fabrice's World Music Bar. The annual Java Jazz Festival is a major international event for jazz and pop music enthusiasts. Indonesia’s most popular bands and singer are generally based in Jakarta.
As a melting pot of all the diverse ethnic groups that make up Indonesia, Jakarta is also where one finds the best in modern Indonesian artistic expressions. Here are painting and art galleries showing the works of Indonesia’ maestros, classical concerts held by Jakarta’s own Symphonic Orchestra, popular music gigs and regular fashion shows, while malls and exhibitions offer the rich artistic products from throughout the country. Foreign embassies, including the Netherlands, Japan, and France have their own cultural centers, offering concerts, plays, speakers, and films from their different countries. Among the artists that have performed in Jakarta are Deep Purple, Mick Jagger, Linkin Park, Big Incubus, Maroon 5, N.E.R.D. Ne-Yo, Deftones, Bring Me The Horizon, Bruno Mars, Helloween, SUM41, Megadeth, and Avril Lavigne. The city has also hosted the Wave Festival and the Jakarta International Java Soulnation Festival.
T.I.M. (Taman Ismail Marzuki) Art Center is the focal point of cultural events in Jakarta. It has an enclosed theater, an open-air theater, a cinema, exhibition rooms for art shows, and a planetarium. A monthly program of events is available at hotel counters and events include Javanese and Balinese dance performers, gamelon concerts, plays, music and folk art and theater. Gamelan and shadow performances may be held at the Indonesian National Museum. Dance classes are offered there on Saturdays. Javanese and Balinese dance performers, gamelon concerts and other cultural events are sometimes held at the Jakarta Theater and at some of the major hotels. Ketoprak and wayang orang shows are held regularly at the Bharata Theater.
Many of Jakarta most lively cheap restaurants and entertainment spots are located in Chinatown and Kota. Jakarta also has multiplex cinemas belonging to the Studio 21 chain, including one near Planet Hollywood. A calendar of events may be obtained from tourist offices or major hotels. Also check out local entertainment magazines, newspapers such as the Jakarta Post and Jakarta Globe and the Lonely Planet Books and posters put up around town.
According to “Cities of the World”: “Expatriates frequent several Jakarta cinemas; they are air-conditioned, clean, and wide screened. American films are shown in their original English language version with Indonesian subtitles. Admission is usually about $2.50. American movies shown here tend to be several months old and are subject to government censorship. Local artists frequently hold exhibits throughout the city. Several amateur theater groups present English language plays and musicals. There are classical music evenings and an occasional ballet. Stage plays are rare, but the number of rock concerts is increasing. [Source: Cities of the World, Gale Group Inc., 2002, adapted from a 2001 U.S. State Department report]
“There are no real public libraries here, and although popular English-language books are available in several bookstores, prices can be double what they are in the U.S. The British Council, ICAC, and AWA operate small lending libraries, and parents of JIS students can use the high school library. The AERA Club operates small, informal used book exchanges.
The cultural activities found in Jakarta that reflect the diverse dynamic activities of Indonesia, and is a magnet drawing different peoples, industries, and cultures in a massive interaction through exhibitions, cultural shows, fashion and music. Over the years the city has hosted numerous important national and international exhibitions. The city has also become the venue for some of the world’s greatest arts and musical performances and continues to attract more and more international celebrities to meet their never ending enthusiastic fans in Indonesia.
Restaurants in Jakarta
From street vendors to classy hotel elegant restaurants, Jakarta has everything. If seafood is your thing, Muara Karang is an ideal choice. Want to combine shopping and dining experience. Try the malls and all shopping centers in Jakarta. They have their own food courts and restaurants. Food courts tend to be noisy and crowded, so if you prefer privacy, choose restaurants/cafes, instead. Many cafes and restaurants are in the Kemang. Pecenongan is known for “warungs,” local street stall restaurants. One of the most famous Jakarta dishes is Kerak Telor, made of rice mixed with eggs and other ingredients.
The native people of Jakarta are called Betawi, and their simple yet tasty dishes have become the favorite of many Indonesians and foreigners. Try Soto Betawi (some kind of soup), it's sold almost anywhere from the warung — café — to fancy restaurants. If you think Jakarta's weather too hot, try es campur — mixed ice with certain fruits, syrup and milk, refreshing!
Most food can be purchased in Jakarta. There is a good variety of fresh fruits and vegetables (locally-produced and imported), beef, pork, chicken and fish available in local markets and grocery stores. An increasing amount of western convenience foods and snack items are available in local stores, albeit at prices higher than in the U.S. [Source: Cities of the World, Gale Group Inc., 2002, adapted from a 2001 U.S. State Department report]
The best restaurants are generally located in the large hotels such as the Shangri-La, Ritz Carlton Jakarta Pacific Place, Sultan Hotel, Hotel Pullman Jakarta Central Park, Grand Sahid Jaya Hotel, Grand Hyatt, Gran Hotel Melia, JW Marriott Hotel, and Bidakara Hotel. Jakarta’s top hotels also serve grand buffets for lunch. Many of the cities most popular restaurants and a number of cheap restaurant are located on Jalan H A Salim and in Jalan Jaksa, the cheap hotel area. Indonesian food, Chinese food, Italian food, Japanese food, Indian food, other international cuisines and fast food from McDonalds, Kentucky Fried Chicken and pizza places are all available in Jakarta. There are places where you can get fresh sushi, Brazilian rice and beans, barbecue ribs and Cajun gumbo.
Food carts are everywhere. They sell fried rice, fried tofu, fried bananas, meat ball stew and other goodies There numerous food stalls inside the huge Puja Sera 4 on Jalan Kebon near Jalan Tharmin. Food stalls are also set up in the central area, Kota and the Sarinah Department Store parking lot on Jalan Tharmin. There are many good Chinese restaurants in Golok (Chinatown). Near the Jakarta Stock exchange cheap local dishes can be purchased at "tent cafés" in Tend Semanggi.
Malls have become major food centers. Often entire floors are dedicated to upscale restaurants, but there are also smaller bistros, cafes and fast food to cater to the thousands of busy professionals from the surrounding office towers, aJakarta: Dining Experience in Metropolitan Citynd shoppers and cinema buffs filling the attached cineplex. The Kemang area in South Jakarta is a small world all its own where are some top international restaurants, among which the Turkish Anatolia restaurant, but also others serving first class Italian, Indian, Chinese, Indonesian, or Dutch cuisine.
Restaurant guides in English are sometimes given out free at the major hotels and tourist offices. They may be sold at newsstands and bookstores in areas frequented by tourists. Also check lists of restaurants in local newspapers and magazines, the Lonely Planet books and other guidebooks. At restaurants, check your bill before you leave, to avoid any mistakes. Tipping is not common if you buy food from street vendors or most fastfood restaurants. It is polite to leave a tip in classy restaurants, though.
Indonesia’s favourite food are satay and Gado-gado or Ketoprak, Sate, sometime spelled satay is Indonesia’s kebab. These are thick slices of chicken, beef or mutton skewered and deliciously barbequed then poured over with hot peanut sauce or soya sauce. While Gado-gado is Indonesia’s salad consisting of boiled spinach, watercress, beansprouts, boiled potatoes and boiled egg, poured over with ground peanut sauce sometimes eaten with lontong, which is rolled rice boiled in leaves. Another variety is the Ketoprak which consists of beansprouts, tofu and rice noodles served with fresh peanut sauce mixed with spices.
Street Food in Jakarta
Indonesians like eat out, but the majority do not go to restaurants. The local food scene revolves around street food. Indonesians savour the delicious meals offered by ubiquitous street vendors day and night for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Street food is a quick meal sold by a vendor with a push cart, basket, at a stall, or possibly at a store where customers can see the preparation of food clearly. It provides a close connection between the customer and the street food, unlike having a plate of food in a restaurant.
The types of food offered vary from a simple fried tofu to a much more complicated dish like gudeg (raw jackfruit cooked in a Javanese traditional way that originated from Yogyakarta). In big cities like Jakarta, Surabaya, Bandung, Semarang and Medan, the street vendors offer many a traditional food from various regions in the archipelago. But in smaller cities, they are usually of the local cuisine.The most commonly found street food is bakso or meatballs that are usually served in a bowl, like soup, with noodles, bean curds (tofu), eggs, and/or fried meat.
Another popular soup-like street food is soto. It is mainly comprised of broth and vegetables. The meats most commonly used are beef and chicken, but there are also sotos with mutton and pork. It is usually accompanied by rice or compressed rice. Sotos are differentiated by the ingredients in them, such as soto ayam (chicken) and soto kambing (mutton).
There are many sotos in Indonesia, as different regions and ethnicities have their own ways of preparing the cuisine, such as soto Madura (from East Java), soto Betawi (from Jakarta), soto Padang (from West Sumatra), so to Bandung (from West Java), soto Banjar (from South Kalimantan), and coto Makassar (from South Sulawesi).
The other popular delicacy often sold by street vendors is satay. It is a dish consisting of chunks or slices of dice-sized meat (chicken, goat, lamb, beef, pork, or fish) on bamboo skewers, which are grilled over a wood or charcoal fire, then served with various spicy seasonings, mostly made of ground nuts. Satay may have originated in Java or Sumatra, but is very popular outside Indonesia too. Similar to soto bakso and soto, there are many types of satay from sate Madura to Padang, sate Iilit, sate susu, kulit, sate Ponorogo and many more.
Nasi goreng (steamed rice stir-fried with eggs, meatballs, chicken/beef/shrimp, assorted vegetables and often with sweet soy sauce seasoning) is also very popular along with nasi rawon (rice served with dark beef soup) originally from East Java. The dark color comes from the meaty seeds of kluwak nuts. Usually served with uncooked mung bean sprouts and salty duck eggs, pecel (a mixture of vegetables and traditional crackers with spicy peanut paste). Madiun and Blitar in East Java are popular for their pecel and gado-gado (a mixture of vegetables, crackers and rice with peanut flavoured sauce). The taste is sweet in Eastern Java and salty in Western Java.
Shopping in Jakarta
Jakarta is a great place for shopping, and is able to compete in choice and price with many favourite shopping cities around the world like Singapore and Hong Kong. The Plaza Indonesia, Plaza Senayan, Pondok Indah Mall and Pacific Place are just a few of the upscale shopping centers found across this huge city. Bargain hunters head to Tanah Abang wholesale center, Mangga Dua and Kelapa Gading. The annual Jakarta Great Sale offers huge discounts and attracts thousands of shoppers from all over Indonesia and Southeast Asia.
Most shops in the major shopping centres are open from 10:00 am to 8:00 pm, seven days a week.
Keep a tight grip on your purse or camera, never leave any bags (whether valuable or not) to avoid crimes. Some shopping malls are provided with one or two floors that filled with lots of Indonesia's handicrafts. You can take them home with you as a souvenir. But, the price itself a little bit higher and fixed price.
Most upscale shops and the Sarinah Department Store are located on Jalan Tharmin. Many hotels provide free transportation to Pasaraya department store, which has two entire floors of Indonesian handicrafts. Sogo is a popular department store chain.
Jakarta boasts a dozen or so air-conditioned malls, including Mangga Dua, Plaza Seneyan on Jalan Asia Afrika and Blok M Plaza in southern Jakarta. Adjacent to Grand Hyatt Jakarta hotel is marble-draped shopping mall, the Plaza Indonesia, which boasts 170 stores including Gucci and Bulgari, and was owned Suharto's second son Bambang Trihatmojdo.
Jalan Kebon Sirih Timur Dalam is lined with antique, curio and craft shops. Jalan Surabaya has an antique market and many interesting furniture stores. Keman and and Ciputat also have many furniture stores, featuring teak and Javanese-style pieces. Jalan Pramuka has a bird market.
Blok M is a shopping area known for its good values on batik and other stuff. A good place to shop for souvenirs and handicrafts is at the shopping malls, stores and stall in Golok (chinatown). Bin House in central Jakarta have perhaps the best selection of Batik items in Indonesia. Iwan Tirta in central Jakarta and Tenun Baron in Keman and Carmanita in the south are famous for their designer batik.
To Jakartans, shopping and spending the whole day in malls is entertainment. Malls are places to hang out and spend happy weekends with family and friends. Jakarta malls offer everything from large department stores, luxury boutiques, supermarket, gym, upmarket restaurants, food centers, cafes, bookshops, kids playground, beauty salons, to cinemas, all under one roof and in total air-conditioned comfort. And this, in often hot Jakarta, is one of the main reasons why people spend long hours in malls. Some have become household names, and are known by their initials, like PIM (Pondok Indah Mall), CITOS (Cilandak Town Square), GANCIT (Gandaria City), SENCY (Senayan City) and more.
If you are looking for international top designer boutiques, head to Jalan Thamrin-Sudirman, where are Grand Indonesia, Plaza Indonesia,and FX, Further South are Senayan Plaza and Senayan City and in the Kebayoran area are malls catering to the upmarket clientele, such as Gandaria City, Dharmawangsa Square, Pasaraya Grande, Pondok Indah Mall and Kemang. Then there is Pacific Place at Kuningan, another favourite haunt. But each of Jakarta’s many districts has one or more, so that finding things to buy and eat are all within easy reach.
But if you are looking for something in particular to buy, then here are some tips. Batik today is very trendy in Indonesia. Outlets selling exclusive collections are many, but famous names are Danar Hadi, Batik Keris and Batik Semar that can be found also in malls. Indonesian Designers also have their own boutiques, mostly found around the Kemang area. But for wholesale and reasonably priced batik, head to Thamrin Plaza,for batik clothes, materials and accessories.
For textiles and dresses both produced domestically or imported, you will find these at Blok A Tanah Abang or head to Mangga Dua in North Jakarta. Pasar Baru is a traditional shopping area where you will find rows of textile shops. Indonesia is also a large producer of handbags and shoes, these can be found here and in the larger malls.
For Indonesian handicrafts, best places are Batik Keris, Pasaraya Grande, Sarinah, or Grand Indonesia Plaza. Here you will find a complete collection of batiks, ikats, silverware, wood carving and more. UKM Gallery (Small and Medium scalre enterprises Gallery) at Gatot Subroto is another handicraft center.
If you are interested in gems, both precious or semi-precious, then the Rawa Bening Market in Jatinegara is the place, where you can find rubies, agates, emeralds, amethysts by the basketful.
Other specialty markets include the Bird market at Jalan Pramuka. The Perkutut singing bird is particularly precious as these are bred for competitions. For antiques amd second hand suitcases, head to Jalan Surabaya flea market. Plants and orchids are sold around Senayan, or head to the Taman Mini orchid garden.
Interesting Markets in Jakarta
Pasar Pagi Manggu Dua is a traditional market with narrow streets filled with taxis, the aroma of clove cigarettes and vendors selling rice, spices, melons, oranges, and perfumed salak salad. In the wholesale market there many cheap deals on clothes and footwear.
Pasar Burung Bird Market sells exotic tropical birds as well as song birds like the "perkutut" which are the pride of Java. This market is located next to the Bird Park at Taman Mini.
Pramuka Market is one of Asia’s largest black markets for rare animals. Established in1967 as a bird market, it covers an area the size of a football field and offers all kinds of animals. Vendors, ignoring faded signs that threaten buyers and sellers of endangered animals with five years in prison, offer potential customers orangutans and siamang gibbons and tell them they can get them anything they want. Monkeys, parrots, dogs and other animals are sold as food, pets and medicines.
Tanah Abang Market was a textile market founded in 1735 by a Dutch merchant and contained thousands of kiosks. It was destroyed by a huge fire in 2003.
Sunda Kelapa Fish Market is located at the mouth of the Ciliwung River. The best time to go is early morning when you will see the day's catch of fish, octopuses and other creatures auctioned off. Around the market are interesting shops that sell things like shells, dehydrated turtles, lobsters and nets and fishing hooks.
Jalan Surabaya is a street in Menteng located in one of the city's better residential areas. It is known for its flea markets. Among the stuff on sale are woodcarvings, furniture, batik, knickknacks, jewelry, brassware.
Image Sources: Wikimedia Commons
Text Sources: Indonesia Tourism website ( indonesia.travel ), Indonesia government websites, UNESCO, Wikipedia, Lonely Planet guides, New York Times, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, National Geographic, The New Yorker, Bloomberg, Reuters, Associated Press, AFP, Japan News, Yomiuri Shimbun, Compton's Encyclopedia and various books and other publications.
Updated in August 2020