Do you like history? Do you like traveling? Well, this article is for you, then! Traveling while getting a new insight about history, who can resist? It takes place in the heart of Jakarta. Can you guess where it is?
Yep! Kota Tua it is! Since I’m writing in English, let me translate it. Kota Tua is Old City. It used to be Oud Batavia or Batavia Lama. Then, Demak Sultanate sent Commander Fatahillah to lead the conquest of Sunda Kelapa in 1527. When the mission succeeded, the Commander changed its name into Jayakarta.
It didn’t stop there. The name kept changing afterward. In 1619, VOC – Dutch Trading Company – led by Jan Pieterszoon Coen, attacked Jayakarta. A year later, VOC built a new city on the ruins which was named Batavia. The name was meant to respect the Dutch ancestors, Batavieren.
The name Batavia was used from 1621 to 1942. But after Japan colonized Indonesia in 1942, Batavia changed into Jakarta and the new name has been used since then until now. As we all know that Jakarta is the capital city of Indonesia (which soon will be replaced with Nusantara in East Kalimantan), and Kota Tua is located within North and West Jakarta. In my opinion, because of its long history, Kota Tua gained its name. It’s like the beginning of the whole Jakarta.
Talking about history is very exciting but I’m sure you all want to know the core of this article. I just want to tell you about the tour agency that has a program to take you around Kota Tua and while traveling around, you’ll get the benefit of knowing how the area was in the past in depth.
Let me introduce you to Jakarta Good Guide.
It’s not an ordinary travel agency. It’s a pay-as-you-wish tour in Jakarta. Yes, you pay whatever amount of money you have to join the tour. The route is not only to Kota Tua. There are a lot of routes that you can choose. But since I chose the one to Kota Tua, this time I’m going to tell you about my experience.
It’s very easy to book the tour. All I needed was to visit the Instagram and click the link on the bio. It directed me to a page. On the page, I chose the tour to Kota Tua. I only signed my email up by providing my name and my phone number and that’s it. I got an email as the reply stating that I was on the list already. One email is for one participant. I joined the tour with Aldi, my husband, and he needed to sign up by himself. For English speakers, there’s English tour option, so don’t worry!
On the tour day, I went to Jakarta Kota Station to meet the guide. The email I got before gave the details of how to meet the guide. I waited for several minutes for the other participants.
When everyone was already there, we left the station and began the tour. The guide started to explain things about Kota Tua.
The first spot was the open space right in front of the station. It had been a long time since I visited Kota Tua, I was quite amazed by how different it was. It’s cleaner and tidier than before. I was even more surprised to find the fact that the former governor of Jakarta, Anies Baswedan, blocked several areas from vehicles. So only pedestrians and bicycles can enter the areas now.
The second spot was at the front of Fatahillah Museum. Unfortunately, because I chose the evening tour, it was already dark and every museum was already closed while fortunately I didn’t have to deal with the heat and humidity of Jakarta. Can’t imagine if I joined the day tour. I would drown in my own sweat.
Anyway, the guide kept explaining things about how the area was in the past. While explaining, he showed pictures to show the condition. Kota Tua was great under VOC. There were trams, beautiful water fountains that were drinkable, and many more. Every detail brought me back to the past!
Joining the tour made me notice that there were several remains at the front of Fatahillah Museum such as Meriam Si Jagur and Monumen Jalur Trem. They had been there for a while but I never noticed their existence. Too bad 2 pictures were missing on the Monumen Jalur Trem. I believe thugs stole it or it could be the government who didn’t provide the pictures. What an unfortunate. It was already a good monument, especially if seen by the international tourists. I hope it can be complete again.
The next spot was Kali Besar area, the one across Toko Merah. There was a surprising fact that was told by the guide: Jakarta is sinking. It was proved by an obelisk that stood in the middle of the wooden-floor space. It functions as a marker for the subsidence of Jakarta’s land.
The highest point of the obelisk used to be the ground level of North Jakarta. You can see how tall it was. I see the reason why Indonesian government wants to move Indonesia’s capital (aside from the other conspiracy issues). Well, I don’t want to discuss more about it because it gives me a heartache.
As I told you that we were across the Toko Merah or in English, it’s the Red Shop. I didn’t know that it’s quite famous in Jakarta. Aldi said that some bicycle communities often stop by to have a rest. Toko Merah is a historical site that was converted to a cafe. The cafe’s name itself is Rode Winkel. Maybe someday I will visit it to see what’s inside because that time I wanted to go to Cafe Batavia after the tour.
Do you want to know about Cafe Batavia? Kindly wait for the next article, alright?!
Next, after telling us the scary fact that Jakarta is sinking and a little bit about Toko Merah, the guide took us back to the station. Before finishing the tour, he made a trivia quiz. He gave us 3 questions that we needed to answer. The answers to the questions were in the explanations that the guide had been telling us. Someone who answered correctly got a prize.
I think I’m bad at that kind of game. It needs a quick thinking, and my reflex tends to be slow when I need it the most. So, yea, I didn’t get anything. Luckily, Aldi guessed one correctly, and we got a postcard as the prize.
The quiz was the epilogue of the tour. In the end, the guide provided us with a Qris barcode for us to pay. Since it’s a pay-as-you-wish tour, Aldi and I paid based on our satisfaction level. I’m not going to spill how much I transferred the guide but I can tell you that at least Rp150.000/person is worth it. I’m going to take the tour again for sure someday. Next time, it’ll be a different route.
I knew Jakarta Good Guide from my friend, she has taken the tour for several times. When I asked her why did you like it so much, she said it’s exciting. And yes, she is totally right!
