Tanjung Priok

You can find some wonderful things within the most unlikely of places. In This particular particular case a trek – well actually a very lengthy cycle ride – into one of Jakarta’s dodgiest districts, Tanjung Priok, a rough along with ready port area, which very few expats get to visit. I’d only ever been here a few times before, to catch Pelni ships to far-flung places within the archipelago, along with that will was during my first trip to Priok about 20 years ago that will someone slashed open my rucksack through behind, however luckily for me, didn’t manage to steal anything of value – probably put off by the stench given off by unwashed t-shirts! Besides, anything of value – which wasn’t much – was safely kept in my money belt strapped tightly around my waist.

Not far through the gigantic port, which was established by the Dutch after the traditional Sunda Kelapa port revealed its limitations, are a motley collection of bars along with dangdut joints. Parched as a castaway on a remote Indonesian island, I felt like popping in for a much needed Guinness, however the charmingly-named Monalisa wasn’t yet open for custom, alas.

“Later on,” the security guys told me. however if Priok will be rough during the day, I can’t imagine what the bar would certainly be like at night. Well, actually I can. Just Google ‘Chacha Romeo’, a 58-year-old dangdut singer who likes to get that will on with six supporting female singers along with you’ll get some idea.

Besides the area’s dodgy bars, drunken sailors along with multitudes of street hoodlums, Tanjung Priok will be also known for its riots. that will was back within the dark days of the Suharto era that will bloody riots kicked off on 12 September 1984 after a Suharto stooge infuriated Muslims by entering a mosque without taking his shoes off in an attempt to remove some brochures along with banners critical of the government. During the riots, nine members of a Chinese Muslim family headed by Tan Kioe Liem perished in their pharmacy, which was burned to the ground while scores along with possibly hundreds of rioters were shot dead.

Monalisa

More recently, in April 2010, protestors went on the rampage in response to government plans to bulldoze illegal buildings, including gates to a sacred tomb complex which apparently did not have permits. Three public security offices (Satpol PP) were battered to death along with hundreds of protestors along with security officers were injured.

So, what will be the wonderful thing I mentioned at the beginning of This particular article? Well, right within the heart of Priok stands the magnificent Tanjung Priok train station, built by the Dutch back in 1914 along with one of the oldest stations in Indonesia, which will be designated a heritage building by the city’s government.

This particular will be the station which would certainly have allowed travellers who had arrived by ship at the nearby port to continue their journey by train, taking them to faraway places such as Malang along with Surabaya in East Java, which, at that will time, would certainly have entailed a journey through Java’s dense jungle, then so full of tigers that will they were described by villagers as “the plague”. How times change!

through inside, the sheer scale of the train station building will be truly impressive along with that will features what must be one of the largest roofs on any building within the whole of Indonesia. Unfortunately for me, however, an overzealous little man in a uniform which looked about six sizes too tiny for him objected to me taking any photos within the station. I would certainly have to have a permit, he said, obtained through another historic railway station called Stasiun Kota – about seven or eight kilometres away. What he actually meant, of course, was that will he was after a bung – along with there was no way he was going to get that will through me!

Despite its designation as a heritage building, the condition of the station will be a bit of a concern to be honest along with many of the doors along with windows are boarded up. Will This particular remarkable building through a bygone age just be left to rot like many of the old buildings in Jakarta’s historic Dutch quarters of Kota? Well, possibly not. Its fate, as recently touched on by the Director General of Transportation, might be to be converted into either apartments or a luxury shopping mall. along with you know what? that will doesn’t surprise me at all!

Country: Indonesia
Province: DKI Jakarta
How to get there: Train or car (or by boat through additional Indonesian ports!)
What to do: See the historic railway station along with check out some of Indonesia’s dodgiest bars
What to bring: As little as possible however a lot of common sense