a little hop down south to jakarta!

jakarta is a place (like bangkok and singapore) that is so close to KL that it's way easy to just go down. paired with super cheap airfare, it's crazy dumb to not go if you have the time. for me, i had two main reasons to go down that happened to be two people very dear to me! everyone told me before i went down that i wouldn't like it as much as KL. i can say that is absolutely true. KL is such an easy place to live. you can get a taxi almost anywhere, you can go out to eat cheaply and there's so much to choose from, and plenty to do to keep you occupied. maybe jakarta is the same, but i didn't see that. then again, i was there during ramadan and only for two days. still, i had plenty of fun.

we went to taman mini, a park which has lots of things to explore. part of it is an outdoor museum, with life-size replicas of each of indonesia's large cities. but the best part, the BEST part, was the reptile zoo. why? because there is a crazy 23-year-old komodo dragon named bima, who you can pet and sit next to and totally feel like you're going to die at any second if just a little bit of his saliva gets into your body. or maybe that's just me.



when we arrived at the komodo's area, he was fast asleep. i was amazed to see they could push him around to wake him up and he wasn't bothered by it at all. because. you know. this is a komodo in real life.



but then that wasn't all for the animals. there is also a large lizard section. and snakes. like this python. named jared. again. no problem. at all. not scared.



in the new guinea section, we got to meet a carving man. and he let us carve.



it was pretty crazy. but fun. i really enjoyed it. for the rest, i'll just continue to speak in pictures.


on the left, a silly little castle in taman mini. probably the only castle in indonesia. on the right, monas, or monumen nasional.


on the left, the view from my friend's hotel room. on the right, bargaining to buy a vehicle. for forever.


and then i was able to meet up with a friend from KL! so not only did i get to see two people i adore from the states, but another person i adore from malaysia. the world is crazy small you know. and then i ate delicious cake. really delicious.

and that was all of jakarta for me! there was some shopping (good shopping, too), but i do that everywhere. so. i maybe would go back to be able to explore more and experience it outside of ramadan, but this was a good time for now.

Categories: animals, indonesia, jakarta, touristy things