Have Perut Will Travel...: CGK Day 3 │ JAKARTA Jaunt: Thamrin City • Monas • Plaza Indonesia • Kopi Luwak

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Friday, 11 October 2024

CGK Day 3 │ JAKARTA Jaunt: Thamrin City • Monas • Plaza Indonesia • Kopi Luwak

Out of Our Comfort Zone

I woke up at 6:45am and spent the next couple of hours working on our videos. I woke Cat at 8:30am, and after getting ready, we left the Airbnb at 9:30am and walked to Thamrin City. Apart from having breakfast, we also needed to return a shirt to Habibi Batik — we had mistakenly received two XXL shirts instead of an L and XXL.

Breakfast & The Shirt Hunt

We surveyed the eateries at Thamrin City before settling on Tomoro Coffee. We were only in the mood for drinks and ordered:

Santos Maritaca Brazil Latte
Cold Cheese Cloud Chocolate

Our light breakfast came to IDR56,000 (≈ MYR17/USD4/EUR3).

We then entered the mall and began the arduous task of locating the correct Habibi Batik outlet. After a few anxious minutes navigating the maze of shops, we found one — but it wasn’t the right branch. The gentleman there kindly pointed us to two other outlets. Both were also incorrect.

Finally, at the third outlet, they agreed to handle the exchange, and we received the correct L sized shirt. While we were there, we also bought another set of matching blouse + long sleeved shirts for IDR450,000 (≈ MYR132/USD28/EUR26).

Souvenirs & One Last Blouse

We continued walking in search of a souvenir for a friend and eventually settled on a Muslim prayer dress for IDR540,000 (≈ MYR158/USD33/EUR31). On the way out, a batik blouse at Zain Collection caught Cat’s eye, so we picked up two pairs for IDR280,000 (≈ MYR80/USD17/EUR16.

With our errands done, we exited Thamrin City and hailed a Bluebird taxi to our next destination: Monas.

Be sure to catch our upcoming video of this iconic landmark.

The Jakarta Explorer

We picked you up again as we left Monas and caught the free Jakarta Explorer bus back toward the Sudirman district, close to our Airbnb. The bus arrived at 12:40pm and departed ten minutes later. Its first stop was Sarinah, but we got off at the next stop: Plaza Indonesia.

We crossed the bustling Jalan Thamrin and entered the mall. It was lunchtime, and we followed the crowd down to the lower ground floor — where we found something I had been looking forward to since arriving in Jakarta: Kopi Luwak.

Be sure to catch our upcoming video of this legendary coffee.

Crossing Malls on Foot

After lunch, we explored Plaza Indonesia for a bit before asking the concierge for directions to Grand Indonesia. Directions received, we exited at Starbucks and crossed Jalan H. M. Saleh Ishak into the East Mall of Grand Indonesia.

From there, we crossed Jalan Teluk Betung into the West Mall, exited via the Kempinski Grand Ballroom, then crossed Jalan Teluk Betung 1 and continued south before turning right — eventually making our way back toward familiar territory.

What’s Next

Stay tuned for our next video as we visit the National Monument, Monas.