Car free Sundays
Ever since we came to Jakarta, people have recommended us to go to the city center for the car free Sunday. But because the car free Sunday only lasts between 6 am to 11 am, you have to wake up early for this wonderful experience. None of us are keen on waking up early on a Sunday morning, even Mark likes to sleep in.
The taxi driver dropped us of at a very busy parking lot that belonged to the city monument. The temperature was around 34 degrees, and we really didn’t want to leave the taxi. As soon as we got settled with the stroller and started to walk a bit, we experienced the mighty force of Marks fame here, people were flocking around us, taking pictures with Mark, and one elderly woman even took the liberty to kiss him. So we solved this problem by walking faster, which made us even hotter, sweatier and thirstier. Within 10 minutes of leaving the taxi, I felt my temperament was finding itself to new low levels I hadn’t experienced before.
We eventually found the monument, and yes it was beautiful, it was a white tall tower pointing right up in to the sky, with a golden statue of a fire on top of it. It was magnificent, it was just like wow!
The white tall tower pointing right up in to the sky, with a golden statue of a fire on top of it, was surrounded by a park, which was also new for us.
They had built little paths made of rocks pointing in the wrong direction. Because you know, if it is painful to walk on, it is probably good for you. Some people even slept on them.
Here are the park rules
The first rule in the upper left is crossed out, so we will never know what was forbidden when the sign was put up, and then suddenly okay again. But I was disappointed at the rule of not breaking park benches, that’s my favorite thing. I support the rule of not giving flowers to anyone, I never understood that anyway, killing a plant and giving it to someone, so barbaric. I am still trying to figure out the bottom right rule, is it no dancing by a tree?
So far because of the heat, I had forgotten about the car free Sunday, we hadn’t seen a car since the parking lot. But I keept hearing Olya saying, this is not the car free Sunday area, this is just a white tall tower pointing right up in to the sky, with a golden statue of a fire on top of it and a park. This place is supposed to be car free. Eventually I snapped out of the distress of the heat and got ourselves out of the area and let google maps direct us to the Grand Indonesian Mall, because the taxi driver had mentioned the mall earlier on our way there.
After a lot more walking we found a 1 km strip of five lane highway without any cars. This was it! Along the empty highway there were all the street food vendors with the delicious unhygienic food we see everywhere and always try to avoid. Other vendors were more fancy selling Louis Vuitton bags and Rolex watches. Mark had fallen asleep, so we put his hat on his face to cover him from the light. One vendor attacks us trying to lift the hat to look at Mark. At this point I am hot, dehydrated and the last thing I want is Mark waking up and crying, so I snapped at the vendor.
After a kilometer of the walk on the highway we found Grand Indonesia Mall. I haven’t been so happy in my life finding a place with air conditioner. We found a restaurant that served Nutella Martinis, so after a couple of those I was back to normal.
