Central Jakarta Photo Gallery

The 132m-high MONAS is made of Italian marble that consists of a museum and viewing deck at the top. The huge open space surrounding it is fenced off with only a few entry points. A huge police presence was around in light of recent political protests in the city. I always don't understand why plant grass when people won't get to enjoy the greenery with a picnic or a ball game? The square was a bit sanitized with Sunday families and friends enjoying the day. Near the entrance is a flea market that had an interesting local food section. With my limited language abilities, it appears a chicken noodle costs only 20k rupiah, or USD 1.5. The neo-Gothic Roman Catholic Cathedral still offers services today and stands across the street from Istiqlal Mosque, the city's largest. Istiqlal Mosque was built to celebrate Indonesian independence and was also busy on Sunday. Development scatters and there are many skyscraper clusters but not a really defined centre. I use the large malls as a guidance point to get around. Here are some views from near Grand Indonesia. There is a lot of construction happening around this area, which is anchored by a monument in a big roundabout. Jakarta isn't really built for the pedestrian. The malls exist in their own bubbles and access from the sidewalks is quite impossible. With taxis and buses being so cheap, make sure you travel around on wheels no matter how short the distance.
A 10-minute drive away in good traffic, SCBD is a mixed-use development centered around the Indonesia Stock Exchange and the huge Pacific Place mall. The mall has a huge selection of cuisine from across the region. I settled for a few Indonesian dishes.
For a more cultural afternoon, I visited the National Museum, which is half-closed due to renovations. The exhibits were not so interestingly laid out and had a shortage of detailed English descriptions. It might be worth a visit after the renovations finish in 2018.