Rawa Belong Creative Community, West Jakarta

The selling and buying activity in Rawa Belong

Still in Jakarta, yup! I don't have a chance to explore another city further except Jakarta. Couple months ago I visited this creative community. It is called Rawa Belong. It is located in West Jakarta.

Rawa Belong is very unique. You can see so many young people work in this community. They have their own workshop. They do selling and designing flowers for customer. And guess what... I asked a man who sells lotus, he charged about 30.000 rupiahs (3 US dollar) for 10 buds of lotuses!!!!! What a surprising price!

The creative people

So If you are in Jakarta and wanna buy flowers for someone, I definitely suggest you to visit this creative community. You definitely won't break your pocket!

I found my favorite flower, hydrangea

The Train-Tracks Slum, Senen, Jakarta

Look at the antennas above the houses! Could these antennas make them the happiest people in Jakarta???

Welcome to Jakarta! One of the most contrast and contradict city in the world. You can see a man drives 100 thousand bucks car on the street, but you sill can see a shirtless man in huger on the bus stop. You can find luxurious cafes, but you still can find removable cart food vendors. You can find high rise glass buildings, but you still can find bamboo craft houses.

Couple moths ago, I had a chance to help an urban researcher from ETH Zurich, Switzerland to do field survey about Jakarta's kampong (btw, kampong means village). Even tough I live in Jakarta's suburban in the whole time of my life, I have never visited this train tracks slum before.

A man and a boy searched for valuable things right beside the train tracks

Visiting the train tracks slum in Senen region was a very unforgettable experience. I don't know how to explain my feelings for the people, their living, and their daily activity. Actually, I want to describe this slum as a 'miserable' or 'unfortunate', but I looked at the people, they look so strong and sincerely accept their destiny, so I don't wanna use the 'miserable' or 'unfortunate' term as a description for this slum.

I feel really grateful after visited this train tracks slum. Now I understand that people have to do something to survive...

One of the strongest woman in this slum

I found some amazing creatures in this village, The pigeons and the slum cats millionaire!


The birdkeeper boy

Pupet dancing called ondel-ondel (the traditional jakarta's folk art show) marched on this village

Kertapati, Palembang, The Silent Train Station

Last February I had a chance to help my lecturer doing research about Indonesian train station. Thanks God, I was assisted to do it in Palembang, South Sumatra. I have never visited Palembang before. One thing I remember about Palembang is the food. Palembang's culinary tastes really good! Meraviglioso!

Okay, back to the train station! Kertapati is located in the hirlir of Palembang (hilir means south). The best direction for Kertapati is Muara Ogan River.

This train station is really unique. You can see the exact situation like the pictures below at 09 AM - 04PM.

The Waiting Room around 01 PM

The train tracks around 01 PM

The parking lot around 01 PM

Quite surprised huh? Look how silent this train station is!

For your information, Kertapati is only operated around 06-09 AM and 03-09 PM. So don't go to Kertapati in the afternoon!

Kertapati's life around 8 PM

Muara Angke Fishermen Village, North Jakarta

The worker are waiting to lift the fish from truck

Muara Angke Fishermen Village is located on North Jakarta, it is surrounded by Java Ocean and the housing complex of Pluit. I visited this village by accident by the way, because last February I did field survey about mini market distribution Pluit house of village. I was surprised! I have never seen such a big fish market.

Muara Angke is very popular among the Jakartans, every time I ask people about Muara Angke they always say "FISH MARKET". Muara Angke is the main resources of Jakarta's fisheries, yup! You can find cheap fishes and the other edible sea creatures here with the reasonable price (a lot of supermarket and seafood restaurant in Jakarta get fish supply from this market).

Selling activity

Squiiidddd

What makes Muara Angke more interesting is the fisherman village. The people who work here such as the seller, the fisherman, the boatman, the labor, etc live in this village. We can find not only fishing-selling activity in this village, but also the salting fish process here.

Unfortunately, I didn't have chance to explore this region further... But, in the next time I hope..

The view from Muara Angke's Shore (The most expensive apartment in Jakarta, Regata)