Jakarta: weekend-walk @ Thamrin: Nov.12-13, 2016 (off off Tokyo)

I visited Jakarta for the second time in the past 12 months. The city is energetic and messy as it was a year ago.

The construction works of subway (MRT= Mass Rapid Transportation) was still under way. The traffic jam was heavy.

I walked around the crossing of Bundaran HI monument at Thamrin, central Jakarta. Modern shopping malls such as Plaza Indonesia and Grand Indonesia are in the area. There also top-level hotels.

There are Christian Dior, Gucci and many other brand-name stores in the malls. The places are spacious. People need to have security checks when they enter the mall.

The visitors looked neat and rich for me. There were many foreign people.

People also enjoyed their dinners in the weekend evening.

I found the prices at the restaurants were as expensive as those in Japan. The situation is similar with many other goods sold here.

There are many open-air stalls outside of the modern shopping malls. The contrast was impressive. (See also the 2nd photo from the top).

The water drainage is bad as it was a year ago. The road was covered with water when they had a rain.

I also visited The Thamrin City mall, which locates a bloc from Plaza Indonesia and Grand Indonesia. 

The mall attracted average local people. I did not have any security check when I entered.

There are many small stalls in the floors. They were crowded with people. I saw few foreign visitors. The prices were generally cheap.

There are hundreds of cloth shops in the huge six-floor commercial complex. Some of them sell Islamic fashions. (see the top photo)

They also have grocery shops and mobile phone shops.