This post was originally written February 10, 2025

Yesterday we left the crowded city of Jakarta, but before we did we visited a couple noteworthy sites. Our first stop was Sunda Kelapa Harbor. Sunda Kelapa is Jakarta’s old port that is currently used for cargo transport between the Indonesian islands. In it’s prime, this harbour was bustling with merchant vessels from Europe, China and India, carrying such things as spices, cermaics and other exotic products. It is not a major tourist attraction, however the brightly coloured Makassar schooners called pinisi make it a worthwhile stop for photos. These boats take you back to a different time and as we arrived we watched two locals betting on a cock fight. (Not my idea of fun, but I do appreciate the authenticity that this area brings).

Next we made our way to the ‘Old City’ of Dutch Batavia called Kota Tua. In Batavia Square (now known as Fatahillah Square), we could definitely see the remnants of Indonesia’s Dutch colonial past. Today many of the original buildings are still intact, and the square draws in tourists with cafes, museums and vendors.

From there we drove about 4 hours to the city of Bandung, which is the capital city of the West Java province and the third most populated city. It’s surrounded by volcanic peaks and rice plantations and definitely although it is still a big city, it has far more charm than what we saw from Jakarta. 

The locals take full advantage of traffic jams here by dressing up in old ragged mascots like Minnie Mouse and Pikachu, or my favorite, they play in full on rock bands at every corner. The bands would place their hat to collect money in the middle of the road where motor bikes would swerve to miss the bounty. 

Last night we went to Bandung’s famous Paskal Food Market in Paskal Hypersquare. Here, this open concept food market is packed with about about 100 different street food stalls. It truly is a foodie’s Mecca with so many local delicacies, it made your head spin. It’s a little more difficult being vegetarian to find dishes that don’t have meat in them, but I ended up with these cooked rice cakes filled with banana, brown sugar and coconut called Putu Pisang. Yum! I also had the most delicious lychee and strawberry juice. Speaking of fruit, I always get excited to try different tropical fruits when I travel and today I had a mangosteen. It looks like a hard purple thing the size of your fist but when you break it open there are juicy white sections (that look like garlic cloves). It is to die for!! 

Anyhoo, I’ll end this one here for now but stay tuned for the next installment 😉