ULTIMATE FRISBEE
This sport, which employs the throwing and catching of a Frisbee, is named Ultimate because those who play it regard it as the greatest sport on earth. Note: It shares very little with the games played with one’s dog on the beach. A cross between football, rugby, American football and basketball, Ultimate is played by two teams of seven on a field roughly the size of a hockey field. The basic premise is that players must pass the Frisbee from teammate to teammate until one of them catches it in the end zone.
Competitors will find themselves leaping in the air, sprinting the length of the field, throwing forehands, knocking poorly thrown discs from flight and sweating like they’ve never sweated before. Fast-paced, since there are no referees to slow things down, and safe, because it’s non-contact, the only way to determine if it truly is the Ultimate sport is to go and try it. The main idea of the sport is ‘the spirit of the game,’ which means players call their own fouls and everyone is there to have fun.
WHERE TO GO Pick-up games are held every Sunday from 4pm to 6pm on the field hockey pitch at the north end of the Gelora Bung Karno Sports Complex off Jl. Gerbang Pemuda.
CHECK OUT www.ultimateindonesia.com
Chapter 2
North Jakarta
North Jakarta has a grittier, working-man’s neighborhood feel. With its mix of Chinese culture, Dutch architecture, shipping ports, fishing industry and seaside tourism, it is a fascinating area to explore. North Jakarta is a mishmash of economic brackets and ethnicities. It contains areas of absolute poverty where people forage for a daily pittance, while other areas, right next door, consist of megalomaniac mansions with armies of servants catering to the lavishly wealthy occupants.
Industrially and commercially speaking, north Jakarta is crucial to the city’s economic pulse. There are factories and industrial parks, and hundreds of tiny fishing boats launch from the coastline every day in search of the seafood to feed the city. Larger boats come in and out hauling goods to Indonesia’s other islands, while massive barges and freighters work out of the Tanjung Priok industrial port, disgorging and receiving goods.
Industrial growth in the area has been hard on the environment. Waterways have become polluted, mangrove forests have been paved over and most estuaries have been reduced to sludge. Happily, it’s not all bad news: reclamation efforts are underway and the area is also home to a couple of good nature spots.
For entertainment, north Jakarta is worth dozens of visits. There are historical sites, museums, outdoor cultural performances, temples, markets, places to shop and a solid spread of dining options. That being said, there is also a high concentration of the seedier side of late night entertainment: brothels, massage parlors, gambling dens and darker nightclubs.
For those with kids, or who are kids at heart, Ancol is a sprawling seaside fun park. There are roller coasters in the Dufan theme park, sharks in SeaWorld, and succulent seafood at Segarra. There is the Atlantis water park, an art market with artists at their easels, and sailing boats available for hire. Don’t forget your shorts: Ancol is bicycle-friendly with dedicated lanes and an excellent spot for walking. The Ancol Marina is located here for those wanting to launch off to the Thousand Islands for a weekend getaway.
Two coastal areas, the Suaka Margasatwa Muara Angke (Muara Angke Wildlife Reserve) and the Angke Kapuk Mangrove Forest Tourism Park, have been protected and restored so the man-groves can do their job in hosting marine, terrestrial and aviary life, slow the rate of erosion of Jakarta’s northernmost border and serve as educational corridors for Jakarta’s youth. Look out for the three troops of monkeys consisting of around 100 individuals while enjoying an early morn-9ing bird watching session with Indonesia’s nature group, Go Wild! Indonesia.
Tourists in Fatahillah Square, the original old town square in the center of Jakarta.
Young boys diving from a bamboo pole jetty in the Java Sea.
Want to go for a stroll through maritime history? Step back in time at the Pelabuhan Sunda Kelapa (Sunda Coconut Harbor) and gain an insight into what Jakarta looked like when it went by the name Batavia and was one of the most important seaports in the world. From Sunda Kelapa, take a small fishing boat over to Pasar Ikan, a fish market hundreds of years old. Climb the worn stairs of the old Dutch Watchtower and stop at the Maritime Museum where the treasures of the East Indies were once stored before being shipped off to Europe.
Taman Fatahillah (Fatahillah Square) is ground zero for a look at historical Jakarta and the days of Dutch rule. Café Batavia serves good food in a century-old restaurant overlooking the square, which once held nearly daily executions.
Go into the old City Hall where the gavel used to sound the verdicts of law, prisoners were shackled in the basement, the sick were nursed to health, and behind which thousands of Chinese were slaughtered in 1740.
Regular events and festivities are held in Fatahillah Square at the weekends, to which the historical buildings make a dramatic backdrop. There are musical festivals, art shows, outdoor theater and performances of the traditional Kuda Lumping dance with its trance-induced performers eating light-bulbs and cracking whips.
Don’t miss Chinatown and all its secrets. From the wet markets to the incense-scented temples to the 24-hour pulse of Stadium, Jakarta’s most historic club, Glodok is a neighborhood no adventurer should miss. Much of the magic lies in the narrow lanes threading through the neighborhood: wending past traditional medicine shops, tasty pork noodle eateries, cobra sellers and creaking-wheeled pedicabs laden with goods from the market.
For culinary adventures, Jl. Mangga Besar cooks up something dramatically different. Snake meat is the specialty, but turtle, dog, monitor lizard and bat can be eaten along this road. Interspersed with the exotic dining spots are jamu kiosks selling traditional health drinks to cure all ailments.
One trip to north Jakarta is not enough. It’s a big area with innumerable back streets to explore and activities to sample. It can be challenging to get around and overwhelmingly crowded and pungent at times, but it’s where the original soul of the city and its commerce is found and the souls of the city’s founders are buried.
Walking Tour 1
MUARA ANGKE AND ANGKE KAPUK
Mangrove Forests and a Fishermen’s Market: An Exploration of North Jakarta’s Varied Coastline
1 Muara Angke Fish Market
2 Fish Snack Center
3 Fish Drying Racks I
4 Fish Drying Racks II
5 Muara Angke Wildlife Reserve
6 Waterbom Jakarta
7 Angke Kapuk Mangrove Forest Tourism Park
The two main neighborhoods west of Pluit are the yin and the yang of Jakarta, and they demonstrate the incredible way two very different human habitations can lie at one another’s doorsteps. To the east,
