Old Batavia (Kota), Jakarta

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When you cross Kali Besar on the Diamond bridge, you have an overview of this kali (Channel) the banks of which is currently under renovation; look at the first picture, and remove the electric lights and the skyscrapers, add canoes on the waters. . . that was Batavia! No, this is not sarcasm, I like this area, and it is not the dirt (picture 2) which will make me change my mind! The canal has been covered by brigges, there are modern concrete buildings and in the middle, an old house (picture 3), and further south, you cannot go upstream just like that, and it is better to walk on hard ground rather than on channel banks, and walk in the old streets of Amsterdam (oops, I mean Batavia. . . no Jakarta!! But it is the orange shirts of the people in the street (picture 5) which made me think about Nederland, Dutch football team. . . and would Amsterdam not look nice with palm trees in the red light district?

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That is the name of this drawbridge if I translate from the Indonesian: Jembatan Kota Intan. Near the northern End of Kali Besar you can admire a beautiful remain of old Batavia (I am tempted to write Old Amsterdam!); this bridge is very well preserved and you almost can expect it will work, but there are not anymore boats navigating down the kali and the bridge is closed to traffic now.
This bridge which was first build in the beginning 17th century, linked the Dutch fort the English fort (when there was an English settlement in what would eventually become Batavia), and was named Engelse Brug—English Bridge— but it later changed name many times with the course of history (Centre Bridge, Chicken market bridge, . . . . ) and it was rebuilt as a drawbridge in 1938 and was named “Juliana-Bernhard” Bridge. Since Independence, it is called Jembatan Kota Intan.
This landmark of the old city has been well preserved and it is nice to walk on it and make a few photographs.

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I wrote this title here, well, I do not know. . . I just had some thought about, and at the end, there is probably nothing bad. . . Well, when you look at some pictures the café, in the corridor leading to the toilet, you find them funny and interesting (first picture), and arriving at the men’s toilet, it is well indicated (picture 2), and there are lots of photographs in the toilet, above the washstand (picture 3). And. . . it is a story for guys. . . for the pee, you stand. . . . in front of a big mirror! We all know guys look at themselves for this activity, but here there is a mirror (picture4), and you can see yourself in the mirror, and imagine you have neighbours doing the same. . . . you cannot avoid to see them. . . well! It is just funny! Funny only? Looking at some of the pictures or posters displayed in the toilet (picture 5) I suddenly felt. . . I need to watch my back. . . :)! How is it in the ladies toilet?

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I give a general description of Café Batavia in the restaurant section of this page, I just come back to the décor of this restaurant, and to the wonderful photographs display here. Photographs everywhere! A wall of photographs (picture 1) in front of you, when you walk up the stairs to the first floor. In the restaurant of the first floor, there are even photographs on the pillars (picture 2), with famous dancers or anonymous guitarists (picture 3). On the wall above the staircase are famous politicians (picture 4) and artistic photographs. . . lots and lots of photographs, fun to look at, and in the ground floor café (picture 5), photographs again and again! I find this decoration style very inice and interesting, and it is well done, as there is a sort of a unity, and each photograph has still its personality, and it is not lost in the “crowd”. It is worth to make a photograph tour in Café Batavia.

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Oh! Almost empty! Two cannons, few people sitting on stone spheres, a bajaj passing by (first picture). . . . It is a very rare sight in the usually very hectic Jakarta! This picture has been taken from the historical museum on the southern side of Taman Fatahillah; Taman Fatahillah is the main square of old Batavia, and it has recently been laid out as a pedestrian area, with only the eastern side open to traffic. It is nice to have a quiet place in North Jakarta, a place with the shade of trees, where you can have a rest (picture 2), or if the heat does not frighten you, you can rent a bike (picture 3) and tour in the area (I did not rent a bike here, preferred to walk that day).
I do not know what these stone spheres (picture 4) represent; you find them all around Taman Fatahillah, delimitating this square which in the middle has a small basin with a fountain; well, a nice place to have a rest between the visits to the museums which are located around this square (picture 5); enjoy it, places like this one are rare in Jakarta!
Ah! And Fatahillah! It is the name of the Sundanese prince who in the 16th century conquered back Jayakarta from the Portuguese, but could not do a lot when the Dutch conquered west Java.

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District "Kota", the old town, is located in the north of Jakarta. Stasiun Kota (trainstation) is a big trainstation in this district. At the Taman Fatahillah (square) are 3 Dutch kolonial buildings. This buildings are changed in museums. In the south is the Museum Sejarah Jakarta (Museum of Jakarta History), in the East is Balai Seni Rupa (Art Museum), and in the West is the Wayang Museum.

This cannon take from Malacca to Batavia by Dutch in 1641. This 3,5 ton weight and 3,85 m long cannon has latin inscription "Ex me ipsa renata sum" mean “I get reborn outside me”, cos of this scrip and also the shape of the thumb of the cannon, people believe that when woman pushed their tummy against the first, they will get pregnant, is that true??

To me it was Yogyakarta (see link) which raised my interests into Wayang puppets. So the Wayang Museum TAMAN FATAHILLAH is a must because of the best Wayang puppets collection at Java. See how careful some puppets are taken care of (with incense, flowers etc.) and do not forget the puppets out of India, China, Malaysia and Cambodia, too.

At one time you can see some memorials to Jan Pieterszoon Coen, founder of Batavia (ancient name of Jakarta) in the downstairs courtyard ...