Hi! I hope everyone is staying at home and safe. Since I have time to write a blog, let me share some of my recent Simple Sustainable Switch experience. Recently, an IG post about a… More
JAKARTA: 2-Day Itinerary
This blog was on hiatus since October last year. Now I am planning (hoping) to revive it. So, let me go ahead and post this super overdue blog from my last 2018 Indonesia travel.
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We had 4 days to spend in Jakarta. However, our first day was essentially spent finding our way to the hostel (first blog) and sleeping for 12 hours ☺ (Note:6PM to 6AM). As for our last day…to avoid traffic, we decided to go to the airport early (too early) and spend our remaining Jakarta hours inside the airport.
Nuff said, here’s a Two Day Itinerary that we are able to accomplish in the City.
DAY 1
TAMAN MINI ADVENTURE
We took advantage of the most convenient and affordable Grab to go reach Taman Mini. You can tell the driver to drop you off before entering the gate(photo below) to avoid extra RP15,000 entrance charge for the car.
We rented a bike for almost two hours and stop at some area with less people to take pictures.
My friend and I were able to explore the whole area by bike.
They have replicas of Traditional Indonesian Homes and other famous tourist attractions. The place was actually huge!
Taman Mini Indonesia Indah or Beautiful Mini Indonesia is park that offers an overview of the tourist spots of Indonesia, just in case you do not have time to travel around the whole country (Cause really we can’t ☺ ).
Note: Most of the tourist attractions have separate entrance fee (mura lang naman)
There is also a (bit shaky) cable car ride that offer’s a beautiful bird’s eye view of the whole park.
Just like the Manong Driver who gave us an umbrella in Taiwan, I was again a witness to another act of kindness from a stranger through this Kuya who booked us a Grab ride using his own phone and internet. He even went all the way by hailing the grab driver to where we are and making sure we reach our next destination. This kind of experience is indeed one of the best parts of travelling.
GRAND INDONESIA MALL
We went to visit and relax at the Grand Indonesia Mall. A little shopping at the grocery store and quick milk tea fix before we headed back to our hostel.
Expenses:
| Grab to Taman Mini | RP25,000 (RP50,000/2 person) |
| Entrance Fee | RP15,000 |
| Bike rental | RP15,000 per hour |
| Cable Car | RP50,000 |
| Grab to Grand Indonesia | RP37,500 (RP75,000/2 person) |
| Grab from Grand Indonesia to our Hostel | RP9,000 (RP18,00/2 person) |
| Total | RP151,500 |
DAY 2
Since we don’t have much plan for the day, we decided to book for the City Walking Tour provided by our hostel.
We joined a group of German and French Tourist
1st Stop: Jakarta’s Chinatown
On our way to Chinatown we passed by an array of street foods and odd fruits. While at the temple we witnessed a Chinese ritual of burning money, house, car etc. made out of paper to make the wishes of the person making the offerings come true or whatever.
2nd Stop: Wayang Museum
After having lunch with Jakarta’s Old Town restaurant, we visited the Wayang Museum. Wayang is the Indonesian name for traditional puppets; our tour guide gave us a brief history about Wayangs and their cultural importance.
3rd Stop: Jakarta Old Town
We took a quick photo op at the crowded square of Jakarta Old Town. There’s a lot of people because it’s the weekend, never the less we get to enjoy the place.
4th Stop: Istiqlal Mosque
Yes, this is known as the largest mosque in Southeast Asia. We were given robes to cover ourselves while inside the holy place. Jakarta is a Muslim country and most people were dressed in Jihab despite the hot weather.
5th Stop: National Monument
I guess this is the counterpart of our very own Luneta. Nothing much to do here than to take souvenir photos and stroll for while.Nonetheless, it is still one of Jakarta’s historic spot.
Expenses:
| Walking City Tour (entrance fee and transportation fee are included) | RP150,000 |
SUMMARY
Itinerary
| DAY 1 | DAY 2 | |
| MORNING | TAMAN MINI | CHINA TOWN |
| WAYANG MUSEUM | ||
| AFTERNOON | GRAND INDONESIA MALL (or ANCOL LAND) | JAKARTA OLD TOWN |
| ISTIQLAL MOSQUE | ||
| NATIONAL MONUMENT | ||
| EVENING | SUNDA KELAPA PORT(We are unable to visit this place) | EXPERIENCE JAKARTA’S NIGHTLIFE (Sky Bar, Potato Head etc.) |
Expenses
| DAY 1 | RP151,000 |
| DAY 2 | RP150,000 |
| Other expenses | RP150,000 (Food etc.) |
| Total | PR451,000(x0.0045)/PHP2,029.5 |
All in all, Jakarta is worth the visit. I believe that there are still a lot to explore in this side of Indonesia, like their street foods, the local market and the night life too. Though the transportation is not yet tourist friendly they have affordable & reliable Grab car service. So for now, let’s just say I am satisfied with the milk tea and the memorable day tour with this people.
Taman Sarih Jakarta ✨✨✨
JAKARTA: TRANSPORTATION AND ACCOMMODATION
It’s been a while!
Nothing much have happened over the past 2 months that I was not able to publish a new blog.
Until today, all thanks to my trip to Jakarta last month.
I know Jakarta, Indonesia is not the most popular tourist destination these days, mostly because it looks and feels like Philippines. However, we booked a flight there anyway because:
- Because of the P3,500 (Only!!) roundtrip ticket we got from AirAsia.
- Because I wanted the city (less traveled) to surprise me, plus Bali is so mainstream nowadays. hahaha
- It’s going to be a tipid and chill out of the country trip!
TRANSPORTATION
After the 3hrs 50min flight to Jakarta, the moment we landed we don’t have any Idea what do! With the hotel instructions on our hand, we tried to seek for help.
There are 3 ways to get to the Main City from the Airport.
- Bus – most affordable but time consuming (due to possible traffic encounter)
- Train – not so affordable but it’s fastest way to get to the City
- Taxi – costly but the most convenient way
We decided to brave the commute via train.
OUR WAY
FROM AIRPORT TO MAIN CITY VIA TRAIN
DIRECTIONS
- Head to the Sky Train Terminal inside the Airport then alight at the Airport Railway Station.
- From the Airport Railway Station look for the SHIA Station and book a ticket going to Sudirman Baru Station.
- Alight at Sudirman Baru Station and walk straight to another train station which is the Sudirman Station. (This is quite a long walk and make sure to ask around for proper directions).
- From Sudirman Station you need to stop at Manggrai Station and another train going to Cikini Station. (Just in case you are going to Cikini like us if not you can just google how you can reach the nearest station to your hotel ☺).
COST
| ROUTE | COST | TRAVEL TIME |
| AIRPORT SKY TRAIN TO AIRPORT RAILWAY STATION | FREE | About 5 minutes |
| AIRPORT RAILWAY STATION TO SUDIRMAN BARU (MAIN STATION) | RP70,000 (NO CASH: You can only use master/visa debit or credit card) | 45 min. – 1 hour |
| SUDIRMAN BARU TO OUR DESTINATION | RP13,000 | 10-15 minutes |
| TOTAL | RP83,000 each | 1 hour – 1.5 hours |
*it took us longer because we didn’t know the way
CHEAPEST WAY
DIRECTIONS
If you decided to take a bus, then here’s what you need to do.
- Look for the Airport Bus called Damri and take bus going to Gambir Station.
- Once you arrive at the Gambir Station, go out and head to the small bus stop in front of “Galeri Nasional” and wait for TRANSJAKARTA BUS. (You need wave at the bus when you see it coming)
(You can check the Transjakarta route online)
COST
| ROUTE | COST |
| AIRPORT TO GAMBIR STATION | RP40,000 |
| GAMBIR STATION VIA TRANSJAKARTA TO YOUR DESTINATION | RP3,500 |
| TOTAL | RP43,000 each |
BEST WAY
If we only knew that we can book grab from the Airport to the hotel at a very affordable price we could have done it.
Since there is a free Wi-Fi at the Airport just book a grab car going to your hotel, check the rate plus the toll fee (divided by the number of passenger) and you are good to go.
COST
| PARTICULARS | COST |
| Grab Car | RP120,00-150,000 |
| Toll Fee | RP16,000 |
| TOTAL | RP136,000-166,000 (2-4 persons) |
Getting Around
Based on what you have read above we can conclude that the best way to get around Jakarta is via Grab. You can take advantage of the convenience and affordable grab service specially if there are 2 or more persons travelling. Just make sure you have internet or Wi-Fi connection.
ACCOMMODATION
CAPSULE HOTEL BRATAVIA
We were unable to use Airbnb/Agoda/Booking.com/etc for this travel but instead my friend Nenet (on the pictures above) was able to reserve a room directly to the owner of the hostel who was kind enough to hold the room for us until we arrived and pay there ♥.
COST: RP130,000 x 3(days) = RP390,000
There was a free simple breakfast of Toast and watermelon plus free mud coffee 24/7 🙂
An authentic Indonesian food near our place!
Too bad I was not able to take a picture of our room. But here’s how our hotel looks like:
**All photo are from google
You can always check Airbnb and other hotel reservation app to find a more affordable accommodation and better location.
Other Hotel that you can consider are Wonderloft Hostel and Six Degrees Backpackers Host.
Thank you!♣
Back to Basic: How I eliminated more than Half of my closet
One day I suddenly realized I don’t need all the clothes I owned so I decided to keep what I only need 🤚🏼 (Okay it was not a one day decision, it took me over a year to finally switch to sustainable fashion)
After many years of organizing my closet, dealing with mountain of laundry and having so much clothes (because I love Thrifting 😅) but still find it hard decide what to wear…etc etc etc….
There I was sitting in front of my small closet cramped with clothes, just to realize that I only wear 50% of it, the rest? Clutter.
Sometimes we find it hard to let go of things even when we don’t need them because:
- The Sentimental Value
- We might need it in the future
- Sayang Factor
Sayang…that is the greatest culprit for me.
When I decided to let go of my beloved clothes, I made sure it wont be “Sayang” but “Sulit”
I did that by doing Two things lang ✌🏼!
Sell and Donate
1.SELL on Carousell
I’ve been selling items on Facebook groups, Instagram and Carousell for quite sometime now and so far most or all of my successful sale are from the latter.
This app is convenient to use because it is plainly made to buy and sell items. Most of the buyer are sellers too 😊 and it helps a lot that there is a review for every seller/buyer so you can have an idea of what kind of buyer/seller you are dealing with!
I went all out by selling the items at a VERY low price since my goal was to declutter and making money out of it was just a second priority 😅
I was able to sell most of what I have posted and talked to lovely buyers who liked what they bought! (You can also declutter your accessories by adding them as freebies)
💕Earning from your fashion finds and sharing positive reviews with buyers can be very satisfying💕
2.DONATE at H&M
First thing I did was to ask Google where I can donate clothes within my area. I found out about H&M Conscious movement and more on this article Click here.
Just visit any branch of H&M and bring your bag of clothes. There is a garment collection bin near the counter and just let the cashier know you are about to drop the clothes for donation.
Each bag should contain at least 5 garments. (ANY type of garments will do even damaged clothes ♻️)
⭐️PLUS! You are entitled to a 15% discount voucher for every bag of clothes you donate.
⚠️Please note that donation is limited to 2 bags per person per day.
What a convenient and fulfilling way to get rid of your clothes right?Plus you get a discount voucher pa!YEY!✨
#lessofMemoreofHim
ECC 5:11
