on Friday March 3rd my trip to Southeast Asia finally started. My first destination was Jakarta on Java, Indonesia. Here are some interesting facts as well as my experiences and opinions on this huge metropolis.

About Jakarta

Jakarta is Indonesia's Capital. With over 33 million people living in the metropolitan area, Jakarta is not only the biggest city in Indonesia, but also the second largest city in the world (after Tokyo). It is the economic, cultural and political center of Indonesia. The largest city in Southeast Asia also serves as the diplomatic capital of ASEAN.

Jakarta is not only a city, but also one of the 38 provinces of Indonesia. It is located on the northwest coast of Java.

Jakarta is known as the capital that is sinking, as by 2050 it is expected that parts of the city will be under water. This is because rising sea levels due to climate change, as well as the fact that the ground itself is slowly descending, because the ground water is being pumped up to the surface, causing the ground to drift lower.

My experiences in Jakarta

After traveling for about 23 hours, I finally left the airport in Jakarta. The second I walked outside, I was hit with the hot and moist tropical air. That was quite the contrast to back home. I started my journey in Munich, where temperatures where just slightly above the freezing point at the time of my departure.

After taking in all the impressions and looking around the airport a bit, I took a taxi to my hostel. The taxi driver drove as reckless as I have never seen before. The drive was quite fun though. After about half an hour of speeding through traffic, I was dropped off at the National Monument (Monas). I knew that my hostel was quite near, but since I did not have any mobile data, I could not look up where exactly it was. So I had to rely on what I had remembered from google maps.

After about 2 hours of walking around and searching, I finally found the hostel. I was greeted by a very nice receptionist, who showed me around and gave me the keys. I stayed at the "Stay Inn Hostel". I can definitely recommend it. Everything was very clean, the beds were comfortable and it had everything I needed. I had booked 3 nights there. After organizing all of my things I went straight to bed, because I was really tired.

12 hours of sleep later, I got up and didn't really know what to do, so I just went out the door and started walking in a random direction. I knew quite a bit of my area already since I walked around there the night before trying to find my hostel. I enjoyed the warm (but not too warm) weather and looked for something to eat. I found some street food stands and had my first street food experience in Indonesia. It kind of sucked. I didn't really like the taste and there were huge parts of eggshell in my scrambled egg.

I also went to a local supermarket and was pleased to find instant noodles and algae snacks in amounts and prices, that I could only dream of in Germany. I walked around a bit more and suddenly it was already evening. I went to a nice little market, I had seen earlier and sat down at one of the street food stands. I ordered some spicy noodles with vegetables and rice. This time I was really pleased with my food. It was really tasty. The tea I got with it also tasted just as I had hoped. I payed about 4€ for everything. Full and Happy, I walked to the hostel.

The next day, I already knew a bit about my surroundings, so I felt comfortable to walk a bit further from my hostel this time. I went towards east Jakarta and visited the Mosque, Church and a few parks. I also tried some more street food there. After I had seen enough, I walked back to the National Monument and took a Tuktuk to the old town. This is a must see for every visitor. The buildings from the colonial time are super pretty and the whole area has a very cool vibe. I was there when the sun was setting, so maybe that made it even more impressive.

It was also here, that I met a really nice local, who was just on a walk. He approached me and started some small talk. He told me a bit about himself and invited me for tea. I accepted the offer and we had some really nice tea together at a local cafe. Even though he didn't really talk english very well we talked about a whole lot of stuff for about 2 hours. After we were done drinking tea, he also tried to help me buy a SIM card for my phone and rode the bus home with me. He would have also visited the Monas with me if it had not be closed already (it was 9pm). We took a selfie together and then parted ways. This encounter was one of the highlights on my trip so far.

The next morning, I got up at 9 am and packed my things to head to the train station. On my way I had some more street food and a nice Tea at a cafe. My train departed from the train station "Stasiun Gambir", which is honestly the nicest looking train station, that I have ever seen. It's very clean and they even have a little garden with some water flowing through it inside of the building! After waiting there for a bit, my train finally arrived. It was a decent looking train, however it was not a high speed long distance train, more like something you would find as a regional train in Germany. I got in and thus left Jakarta behind me, which concludes the first part of my trip.

Things to do and see in Jakarta

My favorite things in Jakarta were

• The old town
• The street food markets
• The Monas
• The Istiqlal Mosque
• The people

Conclusion

I've heard different opinions on Jakarta. Some say you definitely need to go, others say they hated it. Personally I have to say that I quite enjoyed Jakarta. For me the city has a really pleasant atmosphere and gives a nice insight to the local culture. There are loads of interesting people and many cool things to do. However I am glad that I did not spend more time here. The city does have a lot to offer, but there is so much more to see in Southeast Asia, that you really should not spend to much time here. It is definitely worth visiting though.