Jakarta

Jakarta is the capitol of Indonesia and it's great economic center.  It sits on the northern coast of Western Java.  Over 50% of the GDP of Indonesia is generated in greater Jakarta.  It's not a terribly charming city, though there are some interesting parts to it.  It's also a city of contrasts.  The downtown area is filled with high rises that wouldn't look out of place in Dallas or Denver.  The streets are filled with BMWs and Mercedes Benz.  The shopping malls are loaded with luxury goods from around the world.  Yet around the periphery are shanty towns that lack running water and electricity.

The climate is hot and humid for much of the time. Virtually every office building is heavily air conditioned leading visitors through a series of rapid temperature changes, where you're hot when you're outside and then get very cold as you move inside. It's easy to get colds and tough to get rid of them.  The air quality is poor.  After ten years in Los Angeles, I thought I had seen the worst of what man could do to his environment.  Not quite.  The air in Jakarta was much worse.  The cars are not required to have catalytic converters, so the level of pollutants is high, easily several times worse than that of LA. The view of Jakarta is often obscured by the smoggy haze that envelopes downtown.

There are several good museums in Jakarta.  These include the Indonesian National Museum, the Textile Museum, the Jakarta History Museum and the Maritime Museum. 

The Indonesian National Museum is over a hundred years old, contains dozens of examples of costumes, ceramics, woven tapestries, models of houses, weapons, paintings, statues and carvings from throughout Indonesia's history.  

In the center is an open atrium with a series of ancient statues arranged in a garden.  The museum is not terribly well lit, and some of the exhibits are not labeled in English. Still, it is not to be missed.  The picture at left was taken at the museum, and shows a style of houses common in Sulawesi.

The Textile Museum contains a large selection of cloth and textile looms and batik making tools from all over Indonesia.  The Jakarta Museum is located in the Old City, in the old Dutch town hall and has a large collection of carved furniture and inscribed stones.  The Maritime museum is also located in the old city, and consists largely of models of cargo vessels and warships of the 17th to 19th centuries.  Some of the exhibits are very nicely done.