check out my Jakarta Staycation Round 1. :)
it was a sudden (well, kinda) plan to book a hotel for an overnight stay. the reason? my jakarta buddy and staycation partner is leaving me!!! [insert child wailing sound]
anyhow, we decided to push through with our staycation here in Jakarta and try to do all the things that Isa wasn't able to experience for her one year stay. I became her personal tour guide. hahaha!
So i guess this entry will also serve as a guide how to spend a weekend here in Jakarta...
Jakarta's personal tour guide. Charot.
we wanted to experience a local themed hotel so we booked an overnight stay at Hotel Borobudur via Booking.com for IDR 1,388,475/night.
So here are some of my thoughts about this hotel...
PROs
- friendly and accommodating hotel staff
- good security measures
- PORK BACON (enough said)
- bogor cafe's soto ayam. it was heaven!
- old room
- not so fluffy and marshmallow-y bed
- no smoking area at Bogor Cafe
- not very enticing hotel pool
the room
hotel lounge
pool and hotel garden area
we decided to just laze around the hotel premises and in our room upon our check in. We just left the hotel to have a quick early dinner with friends at Hacienda in Plaza Senayan.
After which we all went back to the hotel to prepare for our night out.
we all went to Skye in BCA Tower in Thamrin for some drinks. For a cocktail drink, prepare around IDR 100,000++ per drink. Ambience was nice. I've read that it's nice to catch the sunset here. So that's my plan next time.
so this is skyeeeeeeeee
around midnight we all went to X2 club in Plaza Senayan. Door charge was IDR 150,000 with 1 drink.
with X2 first timers. haha!
The following day, after we checked out and left our bags at the concierge, Isa and I went to Kota Tua for some tourist-y activities. We visited Wayang Museum (Puppet Museum) for an entrance of IDR 5,000 per person.
We likewise roamed around Kota Tua compound. We watched street performers and checked out random stuff around.
tourist peg. haha!
Kota Tua won't be complete without a visit to Cafe Batavia. A band was playing 90s music and it was fun singing along with them (in our seats of course. haha!).
After our Kota Tua adventure, we dropped by at the Cathedral. It was Isa's first time to visit the Cathedral so we had a quick visit and lighted some prayer candles before we left.
We went back to the hotel to eat at their Cafe as we had a hard time looking for a sop buntut restaurant around Jakarta. They say Bogor Cafe has one of the yummiest sop buntut dishes in Jakarta. Well, i ordered their soto ayam. OMG!!! one of the yummiest soto ayams i have ever tasted. Of course we dined at a high end restaurant,thus, prices were a bit steep but with that quality. it was worth it.
left - candles at Cathedral | Right: glamourized soto ayam
Final Thoughts about Jakarta
My future Jakarta adventures will be different now that Isa is leaving me. As of this writing, i am still in denial. hahaha!
melodrama aside, Jakarta always have its ways to surprise me even in small and weird ways. I guess what i am trying to say is that maybe, just maybe, you can always play as a tourist in your city (or country) of residence. Exploring shouldn't be only within the areas of familiarity but also to the places that makes you curious and itching to see and visit. I don't know if what i'm blabbering about makes sense. haha!
Anyhow, I am hoping and praying to the Universe to grant me more staycations before i leave this city for good. I feel like there are still some points of interests i have yet to discover in this busy yet crazy city i call my second home.
