It was our third day of staying in Jakarta. We have seen the national museum but there seemed to be one place missing from our historical travel, the Old City or locally known as Kota Tua Jakarta. This area gained its prominence during the Dutch settlement on 17th-19th century and served as the capital of Dutch East Indies which later known as VOC. The area is strategically located near the port which made it perfect for the Dutch to establish their spices trade.

Max and I went to Kota Tua with GO-Jek( Indonesian version of uber) as it was located nearby our place of staying. The weather was insanely hot which roughly was about 84-85F. Poor max, he wore thick cotton and loose jeans that made our trip somewhat uncomfortable. As we got down from the car, we were greeted by old buildings standing tall despite slowly deteriorates. There were also couple of souvenir sellers and street foods. Although I am a fan of street food, but based on my past experiences visiting the capital, it never did me good.

The first thing we noticed were people taking selfies and some locals renting bike for visitors circling the square in order to get the feel of old Batavia. But, both of us decided to see the museums around the square, the first one we visited was Jakarta History Museum which was the town hall of Oud Batavia (old batavia). We seen a plate written as " prison" and we straight away checking what was there. It was rather horror to see the thick bars and even some objects to hold the prisoner.

Then we moved on walking onto the stairs and to ticketing locket. The museum cost both of us 10000 for single entrance. Not only it's cheap, the information in this museum is well translated unlike other I have been to. I do think this is one of well maintained museum across Indonesia.

We entered the museum which filled with the history of Jakarta and its artifacts. There was an interactive show that plays the history of how locals and the European settlers trade. I stood a moment trying to recall how Indonesian's students were required to study all of these. Did I remember any of those? I probably did. Not only that, we were seeing differences between the Indonesian and the Dutch furnitures.

On the second floor, there will be a window that would help you get the feel of old Batavia. You could see people were moving around, well I can say this experience was like old time square. This is definitely worth a visit before moving on to another museum which @mariska.lubis recommended me to check.

If you want to read the previous story, check this out :

• How To Spend Your Day In Jakarta; Learning The History of Indonesia from Monumen Nasional
• Bahasa Indonesia Edisi Jalan-Jalan Jakarta : Serba-Serbi Backpacker dan Monumen Nasional
  
  

Images are mine.

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