Jakarta

[This entry isn't real-time. Recollected from the archive of my writings when i was offline.]

Alhamdulillah I have just safely got back from a 4-day trip to Jakarta, Indonesia with my family and my sister’s fiancé’s family. I was not planning to join in for the trip initially but I however changed my mind at the very last second, which therefore rendered me being the only person boarding Airasia aircraft when the rest boarded Malaysia Airlines, to Soekarno Hatta International Airport, Jakarta.

The trip to Jakarta was very different as compared to the retreats that I had prior in the sense that we didn’t spare time to visit those memorial and historical places, I mean at all, but rather this time around the entire days were basically spent on shopping, a thing which students obviously can’t afford to do when they go traveling. The sole purpose of the trip was to look for my sister’s and her fiancé’s wedding stuff, hoping for a bigger variety of selections in a cheaper price of course.

As this entry is meant to be a travelogue, I would like to share with you readers the places that we went to and what they had in them so that if you want to go over and shop your wedding stuff too that’ll be easier for you I hope.

Pasar Senen

This went off track a bit from our aim actually. Pasar Senen was all about food and cakes. Loads and loads of both cakes and people that you couldn’t help from wanting to try everything for the former, and making physical contacts with people when you try to squeeze your body as you walk through the throng from one point to another, for the latter. They had numerous types of kuih or cake displayed on their decent tables but I noticed that after all most of the kuihs were the same ones, I mean the same variety of kuihs being sold by a lot of people. So the challenge was, where would we get the best deal? As well, heavily decorated iced cakes (this time literally ‘cakes’) were put on show there. I was wondering how could the sellers not be worried if those colourful wedding (I suppose) cakes happen to be knocked down to the floor by clumsy people passing by in such a congested area, which I actually deemed had a high probability. Or possibly some nasty fingers might not be able to resist their strong temptations to have a quick taste of those attractive cakes which if so would certainly ruin the cakes’ value altogether. Having described about Pasar Senen as above, I just want to make you aware that the above portrayal was what I saw at 11pm, our first destination when we first arrived in Jakarta. Imagine that lively hour- in like, a cake market?

Mangga Dua

Mangga Dua translates “Two Mangoes”. There was actually a number of things with the name Mangga Dua there. Shopping complexes, buses as such but now I’m talking about a market which is called Mangga Dua. Too early we went that the place wasn’t yet completely ready to serve its avid customers at 8.15 am. One or two shops had opened though. Mangga Dua is a good place to shop hantaran (exchange gifts) boxes, wedding cards and door gifts. If you are that perfectionist kind of person with plenty of time to squander you could of course have a tour round Mangga Dua before making your mind on buying things. However this might as well prove unrealistic given the size of the place and the fact that you sometimes can’t be sure enough if you’ve passed one particular area so you get confused far before you confuse yourself about what design of your wedding card you want to pick! My advise would be yes, have a flash look at those ‘potential’ shops about what you are looking for but avoid being too fussy about choosing. Make it quick as people are getting hungry tired, both the seller and those who accompany you.

Tanah Abang

A heaven to shop for Muslimah clothes. Make sure you’re familiar with the terms used there as Malaysian Malay language is similar but isn’t totally the same as Indonesian Malay language. Some vocabularies that might be helpful are; “Harga Pas” is final price and “Gratis” means free. I think you (if you happen to be a female) could spend one full day exploring the place without getting exhausted or food-deprived. Not sure if they have a place to perform the prayer there though, I mean if you really were to spend your whole day and night there. Tanah Abang market has an abundant sorts of garments to grab for at very reasonable prices such as the blouses, kebayas, baju kurung, jubah, headscarves, telekung and many more whatever colour and style you want, from plain to heavily embroidered.

Garuda

This is a restaurant serving Indonesian and Malaysian staple food namely the rice. The door attendants at the restaurant were very friendly welcoming us with smiles and warm greetings. As soon as we took a seat at a table, that immediate moment the foods started to be delivered continuously onto our table which stunned me in amazement about their efficiency. In a split second our table was laden with a huge variety of well-cooked vegetables, eggs, seafood, beefs, chickens (you name it) in the bowls stacked up which probably totalled up to 24 bowls altogether, not taking into account the rice bowls, desserts and a selection of fruits (served later), and our plates! I was like, “Will we get to finish all these?”. And then my mum whispered to my ears saying that we only pay for the bowls that we touch. So my mum’s strategy was to eat the same things among us, rather than champing here and there trying to gobble everything down our gullet. I found the food really scrumptious and flavoursome, just like a perfect Malaysian cooking I’d say. One thing that I liked most about the restaurant was that it had a place allocated for the customers to perform their prayers upstairs. Very handy isn’t it? The same thing applied to another restaurant that we went to, the name given was Sederhana. I was imagining wouldn’t it be brilliant if in Malaysia all restaurants also provide a prayer room for their customers, so that there’d be no excuses to not performing our obligations?

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Talking about weddings and marriages I would like to congratulate my beloved friends who have or are about to end their single lives soon insyaAllah. I received a lot of wedding invitations one after another this summer mainly from the peeps of the same age which made me realise we were actually all grown-ups who are little girls/boys no more. I wish ye husband- and wife-to-bes the baraqah from Almighty Allah and everlasting bliss in your marriage. May this be a means for ye to synergistically enhance your verve in reintroducing and spreading the beauty of Islam to the world and may you be bestowed with beautiful kids who are the prospective mujahid and mujahidah your qurratun a’yun.

Ameen Ya Rabb!