Alright, it’s Tuesday, we’ve been here for four days now, it’s time to venture out! As some of you already know, Indonesia was a Dutch colony for the longest time, so there have to be remnants. I do a little research and find out about Cafe Batavia, the same name my people gave Jakarta many, many years ago. Supposedly there is one of the only public squares there in the whole city, a place where Hollanders used to hang criminals. Fatahillah Square is also home to the old City Hall and many, many street vendors. I convince Dave we must go and Michael Paulo is game too, so we order a taxi. Boy, this is a crazy big city…..we pass malls, endless mopeds, weird fake Amsterdam-style tall narrow buildings with some kind of Dutch bakery inside.
When my phone tells me we’re close, we tell the driver to pull over and let us out. And there it is: the smell that hits us in the face like a wet towel soaked in excrement! OH MY GOD! This is unlike anything I’ve ever smelled before…..we’re right by a river and it’s truly just an open sewer. The most amazing thing is that people are hanging out right there, and even more bizarrely, preparing and selling food. I can’t even think of eating. Wow! We cross a bridge and get right to the square, and see the restaurant. Inside we find some fresh air thankfully and we proceed to have a great meal actually. Erwtensoep (split pea soup!) and Sate, Dave has an excellent Chinese style shrimp dish, nice little 20cl glass cokes! Really civilized and delicious and the tab for all three of us comes to $50 or so, expensive for Jakarta but totally worth it. When we go down, there’s actually a band playing in the bar. They sound good, playing stuff like “Mi Tierra” and other international hits. Well, it’s time to go outside again, and brave the odor…
On Fatahillah Square there are many people, most sitting on spread out blankets, selling trinkets or food, or just lounging. Michael wants to get a beer so I check Google Maps and we start walking. Before we know it, he’s on a mission, walking ahead of us, so all we can do is follow. Even when he starts leaving the touristy area, and I warn that the map shows nothing there, he keeps going and the next thing we know, he crosses this crazy street with no lanes and buses flying by. Now we’ve done it! There are more bodies of water, all smelling like death in their own special ways and the melange is getting scary. Still, food available everywhere, people working on their bikes, Tuk-Tuks everywhere, people coming up to us offering rides with a look of disbelief. We just keep walking. The smell gets worse and worse, to the point where Dave is really starting to freak out and honestly it feels like we’re touring some kind of bio-hazard. Finally, a regular cab pulls up and we get in. For the first 3 minutes, all we could do was laugh! Unbelievable how disgusting this was. When we get back to the hotel, each one of us has to take a shower. Damn!
