Once in a while, I feel really bored about going to the mall each weekend, eat in some sort of fancy restaurants, or cycle around around my house residence (like its been more than a thousand time). As you know, I am an outdoor person and I always wanted to stay active that I can’t sit on my desk more than 2 hours. Somehow, spending my whole Saturday on a mall will make my head extremely tired. Crazy but true!
Last September, I’ve been asked to join my sister and her friends to explore Petak 9, a small region in West Jakarta. Seeing through the past 20 years, it was one of Jakarta’s business central and also the place where the 1998-riot happened.
“Such an opportunity! It will be extremely fun”, I said.
When the D-day came, the excitement is within me. Oh! It was really fortunate that my parents did allow me to go because the week before this, I was hospitalized for food poisoning. So yeah, here I come Petak 9! My sister brought 3 of her friends and one of them live in Petak 9.
After an hour drive, we finally made it to Gedung Chandra, an old building located in Pancoran, Petak 9. That was our starting point. My sister’s friend, Dwika told me that this bulding is exactly the same since he was a little kid, approximately about 22 years ago. When we came in, it’s obvious that all of the tiles were really shabby. Also, I didn’t expect that they still have an active game arcade.
The game arcade situation.
Hmm that was quite unique right? Then, we continue our journey to the traditional market because we were really hungry. Guess what? We did some kind of a culinary stuff right here. My sister’s friend gave us some recommendation of the best restaurants on that market.
One of the famous noodle restaurant.
Foods I tried on the traditional market.
Afterwards, we went to Petak 9’s housing hall. Certainly all of the houses seemed aged because the design was old fashioned.
A trash cart on the corner of the housing
One of the house in Petak 9 housing resident.
Two of my sister’s friend.
Right after passing through the housing hall, we went to 2 viharas (Buddha’s place of prayer) and a church. At first, I went to Toasebio Vihara which located is in Kemenangan Street 3 no.48. I saw statues of gods and goddesses inside this place. The color theme of the place was red , from its lantern to its candles.
Next up, we went to Dewi Dharma Bakti Vihara. This place was burnt several months ago that most of its buildings were still under construction. Locals stated that this vihara is one of the biggest in Jakarta. As long I know, the fire was caused by an incense that fell on a cloth. Luckily, the precious Kwan Im Goddess statue survived the fire.
Candles inside Toasebio Vihara.
Lanterns inside “Dewi Dharma Bakti” Vihara.
I was really surprised that Petak 9 have this kind of places. Even though I’ve been here for more than 30 times with my mom (to go shopping), I will never know this place until my sister’s friend told me about it. In my opinion, Petak 9 is a place you should visit while in Jakarta because you can see the “the old Jakarta” in present times.
chromatic voyage 