Jazz in Jakarta (by Mirah)

I have always been wanting to go to Jakarta, Indonesia since I was a kid. My father was previously a photographer for a local newspaper. When I was a child, my father always told me great stories about Jakarta, about the great food, interesting places to visit, and the culture of the people there, as he went there for a couple of times for his assignments. Even though I wanted to go there badly to experience all that for myself, I never really got the chance to realise my dream due to many reasons.

However, last January, an opportunity to finally visit Jakarta came knocking at my door. I have a jazz band comprises of members not only from Malaysia, but also some of us are Indonesians too. Deo, the guitarist of my band, told us that his sister was to get married later that month, and his parents were so eager to pay for all of the band's expenses in order to have us to perform at his sister's wedding. The wedding was in Jakarta. Upon hearing the news, we jumped at the opportunity and immediately agreed to his invitation. And that's when our Jakarta adventure started.

We left for Jakarta on the 21st of January. We gathered at KL Sentral very early in the morning (around 5am) as our flight was scheduled to depart at 7.45am. Then, we took the KLIA transit straight to Kuala Lumpur International Airport. All seven us (myself and my bandmates; Deo, Jeff, Imran, Bob, David, Zaim) were very excited to finally go to Jakarta, not only to perform but also to go for a vacation as a band.

We arrived there at almost 9am (Indonesia time). Once we reached there, Deo's driver picked us up and sent us to Anchol, the place which was meant for us to stay throughout the five-days trip, which was supposedly 15minutes away from Soekarno-Hatta International Airport. HOWEVER, the trip to our hotel took us almost 2hours!! As it was my first time in Jakarta, I was extremely shocked to know that the traffic there was a thousand times worst than in Malaysia! The cars all lined up on the road, bumper to bumper, and I must say that I was very impressed with the Indonesians' driving 'skills' and their patience when facing such terrible traffic jams. I was informed by Deo that very bad traffic jams are normal in Indonesia, especially in Jakarta because of the fact that Jakarta is overpopulated by people from all over Indonesia who came there to make a living. I was also surprised to the see the 'gap' between the people of Indonesia; there, there is no such thing as middle class, its either you are very rich, or very poor. Those who are poor, will live by the roads, and knock on the windows of your cars to sell things or food, and even ask for money, whenever the the traffic light turns red.  After the 'long' drive, we reached Ancol and were mesmerized by the beautiful scenery as the place was actually quite near to the beach. We were also excited to see lots of bicycles meant for the visitors of the hotel as it is common for the people there to just grab a bicycle and ride it if they wanted to go somewhere or just take a ride around the place.

The next day, we spent the rest of the day visiting interesting places in Jakarta. Our first stop was the Indonesian Museum. There were a lot of interesting artefacts and many more that can be found. Among the things we saw were the great big map of Indonesia, carved statues flown from all over of Indonesia, mummified corpses of supposedly believed to be the first humans found in Indonesia, historical objects, costumes and facts of the many different tribes of the people all over the country. We took lots of pictures together, and of all the interesting things we saw. What made the trip interesting was we were also joined by a group of people from the organisation of the disabled, whose members are all blind. Before we left for our destination, we also did an impromptu performance for another group the disabled, who were wheelcair-bound, at the nearest bus stop (with the permission of the officers on duty, of course) :D

On Saturday, which was the third day we got there, was the day of the wedding. It was a very new and wonderful experience for me because the wedding was totally different the ones in Malaysia. The wedding itself was so grand, as it was held at night, outdoor and with such a grand modern concept. Unlike the weddings in Malaysia, there were no 'pelamin' (for the celebrated couple), no traditional kompang, kebabs etc. The bridesmaids all wore matching modern pink dresses with funky headgears and accessories, and the stage set up for the performances was like a stage meant for concerts! Our band was not the only one which performed on that night, there were also other instrumental, jazz bands, and also a band which impersonated The Beatles, that shared the stage with us. We were also joined by the talented and veteran jazz singer from Malaysia as well, Salamiah Hassan. The wedding was out-of-this-world as it was more like a concert and ended with a set performed by a talented female DJ (the night really went wild with her appearance, as there were also laser lights around the stage).

 The very next day, we decided to bond as a band by going to the malls in the city (to do some shopping! :D), we bought lots of souvenirs for friends and family. And funny thing was, I even found a pair of pink wedges branded as Charles & Keyte (supposedly an imitation of the famous brand Charles & Keith). Those shopping trips really burnt a hole in my pockets, but definitely was worth it! We even went to a mall in Senayan City (known to be the city of those who are super rich), and was shocked to find out that before going into the mall, we had to get through a scanner to ensure that no hazardous materials and weapons like bombs etc are brought along with us, as there were reported cases of bomb threats before in Indonesian malls. At night, local jazz clubs to enjoy mind blowing performances by Indonesian's talented musicians. We were really inspired by their showmanship and their talents.

The evening before we left Jakarta, we decided to try out all the famous food in Jakarta. We tried sate padang, nasi goreng kambing, nasi minang and many more. We  even tried their famous teh botol. All these can be found at very cheap price, just by the roads. Many of the hawkers with their small stalls sell their food at the roadsides. We can surely say that on that night, we probably gained 2kilos just by stuffing ourselves with all the wonderful and super tasty food!