dog friendly places in Jakarta

With it's conservative culture, Jakarta does not allow dog owners to bring their pets in public places much.

I own this really cute Samoyed and I love taking him around. He is well mannered, gentle, good with kids and do not bark.

In our adventure, I found a few places that have been so kind to me and my dog and actually let me take him there. Check out the list. I will keep adding more places as I come across them.

1. Cafe Jet Ski

neighborhood : pantai Mutiara

Feature : ocean-front

Food to try : grilled bandeng, tomato noodle

Located in front of the ocean in Pantai Mutiara neighborhood, this place is rather romantic. Food is good and the staff are friendly towards the dogs too. 

2. Seafood SF 

Neighborhood : pantai Mutiara

Feature : seafood

Food to try : sweet shrimps and other kinds of seafood

This restaurant specializing in seafood let me bring my dog in, however I had to sit by the exit since the staff were pretty much scared of dogs.

3. Ocean Cafe

Neighborhood : pantai Mutiara

Feature : ocean front

Food to try : Indonesian food

This restaurant has a lot of space and usually isn't very crowded. They were okay with dogs as long as the dogs are trained.

4. Bobba Bits

Neighborhood : Pantai indah kapuk

Feature : bubble tea

Food to try : Taiwanese pork rice, bubble tea

I would bring my dogs here while sipping their bubble tea at the outdoor area of the cafe. 

5. Mangrove forest hiking trail

neighborhood : pantai indah kapuk

feature : short trail, mangrove

With it's entrance pretty much hidden, you have to park your car at the shop area across the street (where liberty salon is located ) and then cross the street and enter the small gate which is the entrance. Please note that they are closed at 4pm.

you can bring dogs here for a short walk. The trail is not very crowded hence no complain for dogs.

6. Ecopark

neighborhood : ancol

feature : park

well known as a ground to host event and concerts, this park allows dogs and joggers to relax. Beware of loose goats as your dogs maybe tempted to chase after them. Also, entering can be expensive. It was idr 35,000 to enter ancol but the entrance to ecopark afterwards is complimentary .

7. Le Bridge

neighborhood : ancol

feature : oceanfront bridge

Walking on the bridge with my dog while looking at the serene ocean is one of my favorite pastime. In the afternoon, you will see a lot of couples sitting on the bridge. Some of them might be terrified to find dogs by them (my dog loves to taunt these couples)! The restaurant in the middle of the bridge does not allow dogs however. But mcdonald and the hawker food stalls around the bridge will let you and your dogs in.

8. Taman untung suropati

neighborhood : menteng

feature : park

a well known place for people tp jog during the daytime and for hanging out and rating street food at night. You will meet a lot of felllow dog lovers at this park ( and sometimes reptile lovers too!) They have free music lessons on sundays if im kot mistaken. 

9. Taman lembang

neighborhood : menteng 

a popular park to hang out for younger crowds and families. However, a lot of people will smoke while chilling so i would advise you to come here in the morning. There were some monkeys that were not leashed too, so watch out when these guys are around.

a poem, once in a blue moon

So once in a blue moon, the mellow artsy side of me surfaces up. Today, it tells me to write a poetry about home, Seattle. Here it is :

Miss You

It was once a here

Now that it is there

It was once in me

Now it is a reflection

In the mirror I cannot touch

How is it possible for me to forget you?

You

That brought me the joy of being simmered 

in the sunlight of the summer..

and tantalize me with the view of the sunset

You

With your forest so lush and green and high

Mosses hanging on the branches

wet with morning dew

With water and mountain in my view at the same time

Driving really fast

Sunlight in my eyes

Living in the moment

and only that moment

Spur of the moment

The smell of latte

and people chattering

and the anticipation that the rain might fall

just anytime

Cloudy perhaps, most of the days

I walked my path, step by step

Up the hill, then down the hill

through the market, the flowers, the statues

Unusual perhaps, some faces might seem

Some gestures might provoke

but they is they - no expectation

you is you

and here you can be you 

With your red stockings and fedora hat

Or your knitted shawl and your cozy mittens

With your leather boots and your sexy skirt

Or your vintage dress and your mini purse

madison, night, bell, capitol, belle

madrona, kirkland, park and the sun

trolls, space, plane, glass statues

I miss them all..

I miss them always

It was once my home

Now I am a visitor

Wayang Orang

Wayang Orang is an Indonesian Javanese live performance. The people are dressed up in the traditional costumes acting in various stories, mostly Javanese Hindi plot. For example, Ramayana. The one that me and my group hosted was titled "Babad Alas Wonokerto."

Wayang orang usually has music played in the background, music from a gamelan set. It also usually combines comedy and drama. The movements during the play resembles dancing if you can call it a dance.

So Babat Alas Wonokerto tells the story about a royal family whose uncle betrayed them. Fearing the uncle's murderous intention, the family ran away and had to build a kingdom in a forest. The play was organized in January at the Jakarta Art Centre, an old Dutch building but well maintained.

What was awesome about this performance was that people like us, not professionals, can actually participate in it. Some of my friends were in it and 2 months of exhausting practice totally paid off. It went very well! Here are some pictures of the act

Jakarta -> Puncak, awesome weekday getaway :)

Some people think the trip going to Puncak from Jakarta is overrated. It kind of is... especially when you go during the weekend. You would have to deal with the traffic flood of people who come from Jakarta desperately needing a getaway for the weekend (pay attention to the cars' license plate! Most of the initials are "B" = Jakarta license plate). Not only that. During the weekend, the only road leading to Puncak Pass will be converted into a one-way, with alternate directions changing every 2 hours or so. That means, if you are heading to Puncak and you miss the cut, you'd have to wait for approximately 2 hours to be able to drive up. What a hassle, right? My first spontaneous attempt going to Puncak failed a few months ago because of this.

This time, I went there with my family on a weekday to avoid all of the above. Traffic was pretty good I should say. It was packed but nothing too overwhelming (Us in Jakarta would expect traffic everywhere at this point). We were intending to see a waterfall at a park in Cibodas, an area right after Puncak Pass. The waterfall i called Curug Ciismun (curug means waterfall in Sundanese by the way).

To get to the waterfall, you'd have to hike the road for an hour. The road is pretty well paved though, although it has a few inclinations here and there. The path is clean off trash, and you can see various types of plants on the way. There were predominantly fern trees in the area and they were really tall. The waterfall itself of decent size. Not too big, not too small, but hey, still a pretty good treat for people who are looking for mother nature's beauty

At the park , there were people selling lots and lots of mini decorative plants. I bought one to put in my room! So far it has been surviving :D

On the way back, I had the chance to indulge myself at a cafe (can't remember the name, but it's at a hotel located on Puncak Pass). WE had fluffy awesome poffertjes, crepes and banana fritters. They tasted really good served warm. <3

Absolutely Exceeding Expecation - the world of cocktails in Jakarta :)

Being spoiled in home sweet home Seattle, I have a pretty good standard for cocktails. Blame it on the bartenders serving drinks, especially on Capitol Hill! They always serve good strong drinks, with creative twist here and there! I always have good appetite for good sangria, AMF, (umm.. I am actually starting to forget the names of some cocktails. This is a bad sign...), white russian and amaretto sour.

Well, being being back in Jakarta, I tasted some of the drinks that they have here. And... voila, most of the places suck! Yuck, I guess most Indonesians genetically have a sweet preference for their taste buds. Hence, the drinks here are waaayyy too sweet. Not to mention the expensive price for alcohol in Indonesia, so most drinks have very little alcohol in it. I would complain to the bartenders for serving me mocktails.

Nonetheles... the first good cocktail that I had during my stay was at Ocha Bella. They had this drink called the Tiki Punch. They put dry ice in it, so it blew vapor when served. It tasted very much balanced too. It was more on the sweet side but not too overwhelming.

The next good drinks that I had was at the Birdcage. They made us this custom drink, using Indonesian lime fruit (which they usually put in dishes such as oxtail soup) in it. It was wonderful. Too bad I didn't take any pictures of it.

A friend of mine then took me to Loewy's and Union to try their cocktails too. The bar was loaded, and they even had Hendrick's (my favorite), Maker's Mark and Tanqueray which can barely found in Jakarta. The bartender served me a French 75 that they made into perfection. You can also tell the bartenders what you'd like in your cocktail and what kind of flavor that you are looking for and they actually do a VERY good job in entertaining your taste bud. They also served this very cute cocktail. Can't remember what it's called, but they put some cotton candy in your cosmo glass. When they serve it to you, they would pour the liquor over the cotton candy, thus melting the cotton candy. I had an opportunity to talk with the creator of this amazing cocktail, Mr Kiki who works at Union. He said that he came up with the idea as he was taking care of his pregnant wife who had craving for cotton candy. Cute! Also, on the bar they have this jar of absinthe (not my stuff, but entertaining to watch).

Another good cocktail that I had was at Bibliotheque. The drink is called Sexual Eruption. I prefer to call it SE. The maker, Mr George, won an award for bar-tending with this cocktail. You can taste the lemongrass blending very well with the fruity taste in it. Gotta be my favorite drink! It is refreshing and sweet at the same time.

I am very glad that some people take bar-tending very seriously in Jakarta. I admit that only a few places can serve you good drinks here, but those few are very creative and consistently exceed your expectations! You'll be surprised :)

Being thankful

Today, I woke up, as usual, feeling blue and discontent about my life in Indonesia umm.. that's why I wrote this blog even in the first place, right  - to help me count  my blessings in Jakarta since I hate the ugly mall lifestyle, ugly traffic, and so on and so on. The author of the blog JakartAss knows better ;) . Also, I usually like to write my blog according to the timeline, when each event happens. I already have 3 posts due to be written, but this one is an exception!... What I felt, or rather, learned today was beyond expectation.

I went to visit Pondok Si Boncel in Depok with fellow Lion's Club Monas Green members today. It's a place where they take care and raise neglected or abandoned kids, infants through elementary school age. I came in with a very low expectation of the place. If you read my very first blog about a similar activity, I was pretty uncomfortable and unhappy about the previous facility. However, Pondok Si Boncel is very different. The place is big, clean and organized. Most of the kids were surrendered by their parents due to poverty and unplanned pregnancy.



The first section that we went to was the section for infants - we were not allowed to enter the nursing room. I was also expecting poorly looking infants... but no! They were all pretty chubby, and they were very happy looking. They were able to play with their toys and they looked content all by themselves. One of the infants waved his hand to us too while smiling :) Very cute.


We then went to a section for the toddlers. The toddlers just kind of swarmed around us and they could say their names faintly. Kind of shy to us adults, which is common for kids of that age... But they were happy, gorgeous and very active! They were playing with their balloons, gifts from a person who had just celebrated their birthday there. One of them was really cute ugh, I really should stop playing favorites... His name is Adit. After he shook hands with me, he took my hand and cuddled it on his cheek. He also gave me his sandals for some reason... And I thanked him but gave them back *duh. :)
The kids were soon called to the dining room because dinner was served.








As I watched them running to the dining room cheerfully, tears started rolling down my eyes. I woke up with 1000 complaints about my life and yet, if compared to these kids , I consider myself lucky. These kids were neglected by their parents; they do not have a family, do not have a home and yet... they live the day with a smile and excitement. I was deeply embarassed and I felt guilty that I was not being thankful enough about my current life. And at times, it is very hard for me to count my blessings, like I actually have to make an effort to do it and most of the time I fail. But at that moment, I felt an instant gratification, as if a hole in my psyche or whatever you call it if  you have never taken phenomenological psychology class has just been filled.

We then moved to the playground where older kids were playing. One kid asked me to open up a candy wrapper for him. Other kids then came to ask for the candy, and I just watched them share. Funny how simple things like that can make my heart felt warm and fuzzy. As I was going to put the wrapper in the garbage, a kid came up to me and offered to do it for me! WOW... What a manner! He is so going to grow up as a gentleman :D

I highly recommend those who have never done any visits or volunteering for non profit organizations to go. In particular, this Pondok Si Boncel. It is VERY rewarding. At the end of the visit, I was the one who felt healed :) For more information you guys can go to their website : http://www.itpponline.biz/pondok_si_boncel.htm

The beauty of goodbye...

One Art (Elizabeth Bishop) The art of losing isn't hard to master; so many things seem filled with the intent to be lost that their loss is no disaster, Lose something every day. Accept the fluster of lost door keys, the hour badly spent. The art of losing isn't hard to master. Then practice losing farther, losing faster: places, and names, and where it was you meant to travel. None of these will bring disaster. I lost my mother's watch. And look! my last, or next-to-last, of three beloved houses went. The art of losing isn't hard to master. I lost two cities, lovely ones. And, vaster, some realms I owned, two rivers, a continent. I miss them, but it wasn't a disaster. -- Even losing you (the joking voice, a gesture I love) I shan't have lied. It's evident the art of losing's not too hard to master though it may look like (Write it!) a disaster As some of you might know, my maternal grandmother just passed away a few weeks ago. After months of having had to lay on the hospital bed, weary, she is finally now gone. This loss was my third major bid of farewell within the past two months - the first farewell was in August; I had to kiss goodbye Seattle, my home, and its people, who were very much dear to me. Within this peculiar window of time, I am learning the beauty of goodbye. When we perceive something as eternal, whether it is our home, friendship, family bond, et cetera,... us humans start taking these things for granted. Day by day just passed without meaning. We might stay in a particular city but have never lived it. We might see a particular person everyday, but we do not know who s/he is. We might have a relationship with that special someone, but as time passes by the romance is gone, and that special person turns into a person of convenience and nothing more. Our family at home, whom we know will always stand by us, we never really spend quality time with.  Funny, right? The truth is... things will go away in a blink of an eye, the world might not even give you  the time to be surprised. I never want to look back with regrets, having not had spent enough quality time with people that I care for. I think the best relationships are the kinds that you realize will end. Thus you savor and enjoy each moment you have. People are usually saddened by death, and it is tearing them apart for a very unknown reason. I coped with my grandmother's death thinking and reflecting back on what she had done for us, the great person she had been. She had a good race and she was done. And yes, during her comatose period, I whispered my thank you to her for her cooking,.. her presence during my childhood... and I am sure she heard me saying goodbye.