Makam Pangeran Jayakarta

Makam Pangeran Jayakarta (Prince Jayakarta Tomb) is located at Jl. Jatinegara Kaum, East Jakarta. I passed the street almost everyday for more than fifteen years to drop my three kids at LabSchool Rawamangun, and still frequently pass the street these days to go to Kelapa Gading, without knowing the name, until last week. I had no slightest idea either that there's a tomb there that has close correlation with Jakarta's history, and it took me more than 23 years to be enlightened, ever since living in Jakarta. I believe that you have ever had or will ever have such an experience.

It was Fatahillah who changed the name of Sunda Kelapa to be Jayakarta on June 22, 1572, after taking over the busy port city from Pajajaran Kingdom and defeated Portuguese colonial troops. Fatahillah then appointed his son-in-law, Tubagus Angke who came from a royal family in Banten, to govern Jayakarta. His son, Pangeran Jayakarta, inherited the position after he passed away. Pangeran Jayakarta kicked Jan Pieterszoon Coen and his VOC troops out from Jayakarta in a conflict started in 1610, but then Coen brought troops from Ambon and defeated Pangeran Jayakarta in 1619. Coen then changed the name of Jayakarta to Batavia. It was the Japanese occupation forces that change the name to Jakarta.

The tomb is located just a few meters from the street in a small rectangular structure below a huge lush tree. There's a parking space for motorcycles, but car has to be parked at the side of the street.


The size of the tree is really huge and it's really amazing that it could still survive in an environment like Jakarta.


A visitor was seen solemnly praying in front of the tomb. There are several graves inside the structure, and a porcelain jug was placed on each of the grave.


Here's the grave of Pangeran Jayakarta, which had been hidden for more than three hundred years fearing of destruction by the Dutch rulers, on a request by Pangeran Jayakarta himself.


Long live the tree!!


A view inside of a 389 years old As-Salafiyah mosque, also known as Masjid Pangeran Jayakarta, located just adjacent to the tomb. The mosque was established in 1620.


A typical mosque Bedug, which is struck five times a day to mark prayer times. The same type of drum, normally with much smaller size, can also be found at some of Chinese temples that I have ever visited.
There are many alternatives routes to get to the place. From Jl. Pemuda, go towards Pulo Gadung; go straight at Arion Plaza traffic lights; turn to the right at Tugas traffick lights towards Klender until you find another traffic lights, turn to the right to Jl. Jatinegara Kaum. The mosque and the tomb are located on your right.




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Curug Cigamea

Curug Cigamea is located a little deeper into Taman Nasional Halimun-Salak, Bogor, just a few minutes drive from the road's branch to Curug Seribu. Curug is a word found in West Java and some parts of Central Java that means waterfall. Curug Cigamea was visited right after leaving Curug Seribu, and hence I was actually tired already, but wanted to optimize the visit in the National Park, I asked Pak Dayat to drive me to Curug Cigamea anyway. The parking lot was a lot more spacious than that of Curug Seribu, and conveniently located at the side of the main road. Having been informed by a guard at entrance gate that the distance to the curug was short and easy, I didn't ask Pak Dayat to accompany me.

Unlike the ones at Curug Seribu, the steps all the way down towards Curug Cigamea had been upgraded, covered and smoothened by cement blocks. A friend, however, said that because of the upgrade it has lost its natural touch, just like the feeling she has with the artificial steps towards Bromo's crater. I think it's a matter of design and the selection of materials that maybe it should be as close as possible to nature.


After about 20 minutes or so, the waterfall was already visible. The above photo was one of the two waterfalls in the area, where a couple of persons were seen taking bath below the rocks, enjoying the fresh mountain water.


The second waterfall is seen above. Unlike the first one, the water at the above waterfall went down through brownish clay wall, that made the water was not as clear as the first one, and hence no one was seen taking a bath at the pool.


Here's a view of both waterfalls, taken with a wide angle lens. It was late afternoon when I was there, and hence only a few people were seen enjoying the scene, and some of them were about leaving the place. After taking a few shots, I started creeping up, back towards the parking lot with the same zombie-like of walk such as I did at Curug Seribu, only that it didn't help a lot this time, mainly because I had lost most of my spare energy already.




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Curug Seribu

Curug Seribu is the biggest natural waterfall that I have ever visited inside Taman Nasional Halimun-Salak, Bogor regency. The access to get there was, however, the toughest and the roughest one, and I would rather not recommend you to go there unless you enjoy physical exercise and really love pure nature. The branch from the main road that headed towards the parking lot was already quite rough that Pak Dayat, the driver, needed to drive very carefully. It was, nonetheless, one of the best experience that I had when exploring corners of the country.

Pak Dayat parked the car in front of a warung, about 500 meters from what supposed to be the parking lot, due to the road's condition. A middle-aged woman, owner of the warung, said convincingly that Curug Seribu was not that far, just about half an hour walk. Experience says, however, not to trust villagers about time and distance, as they tend to discount them a lot.


The above picture shows part the height of the valley towards the base of the waterfall. The view was awesome. The first several minutes of walk through a descending stoned path was still mild. It was a good decision that I asked pak Dayat to accompany me, not only to bring a rather heavy camera bag and a long umbrella to anticipate rain, but also as a companion during a rather long quiet journey.


A collapsed tree was blocking the path and we needed to duck below the wood to pass it. During the first fifteen minutes of walk we met two teenagers who were panting heavily while taking rest and looked very exhausted. Instead of half an hour, it took them one and half hours to get to the waterfall, and the path was so difficult. Even though a bit hesitated, I decided to continue walking.


The more we walked, the tougher the path was, ups and downs and rather slippery. Stones along the path were sharper and were no longer arranged neatly. The steps down became deeper and more slippery with irregular shapes of stones scattered along the path that could hurt our feet. We met another two teenagers with the same exhausted look, and told the same story of the distance and the tough terrain, but I told to myself that I was there already and I must see the waterfall.


After about 50 minutes of tough walk, we arrived at two small waterfalls. The faint sound of waterfall could be heard already. The above picture was taken on the way back where two youngsters were taking rests at the small waterfalls and the girl refused to go farther, even though I told them it's quite close already.


After about another 15 minutes or so of walk, we finally arrived at a cliff overlooking the waterfalls. There were several small waterfalls at the location such as the ones at the above photo, plus the big one which produced roaring sound that could be heard from far away.


Here's the biggest one which also produced misty water that could make people wet within a radius of 50 meters from the waterfall in just a few minutes. It's pure nature, without any man-made stuffs or facilities at the location.


The pool at the base of the waterfall is shown above. It was during at the end of dry season when I was there, and hence the volume of the water could double or triple during the peak of rainy seasons, and it will be very dangerous to be at the river during those heavy rainy days.

Here's a high definition video that I took using Canon 500D camera. The noisy voice is the sound of the waterfall.



The above photo is the intended parking area, but the road to get there was steep and slippery. There were a couple of warung that offered drinks and snacks at the location, and they provided free seats for visitors to take rest before and after the journey.

The return journey was definitely much tougher. Fortunately, I had a thought of using what I later called a zombie-like of walk, i.e to walk with a short pace using minimum energy, no excessive forced-efforts when climbing steep steps, move forward slowly and steadily without taking rest, and use umbrella as a supporting stick. With that trick, I could arrive at the warung where we parked the car without losing too much of a breath. Instead of complaint, I thanked the woman for 'lying' about the distance, since otherwise I wouldn't dare to go there.




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Museum POLRI

Museum POLRI is probably the newest museum in Jakarta, officially inaugurated by President SBY on July 1, 2009, at the same day with POLRI's anniversary. POLRI is the National Police of the Republic of Indonesia, a name that was adopted after being separated from the army in 2000. Museum POLRI is located at Jl. Trunojoyo No.3, Kebayoran Baru, Jakarta Selatan, just before the police checkpoint at POLRI's headquarter at the same location.

Even though three police officers were guarding at the gate post, I just went straight to the museum entrance door without being asked to report to the guards. Upon entering the museum, a friendly female police officer greeted me from behind receptionist desk, and with a smile she asked me to fill in the guest-book later before leaving the place. There's no admission fee.


A view of part of the first floor is shown above. A collection of police vehicles are displayed, started from bicycle, motorcycle, and tandem police patrol motorcycle that were commonly used during Dutch occupation and during Indonesia's independence revolution era in the late 40s.


A collection of various police weapons and tools are also displayed at the first floor, such as Heavy Machine Gun model HMG/ SG 43 made in Soviet Union in 1946 (left picture ) used by Regimen II Mobile Brigade West Java during Papu war in 1963. The weapon on the right is Rocket SPG 82 made in Soviet Union in 1946.


Another collection of ex-police weapons from various models and manufacturers, such as Garand M1 made in USA year 1917,Lee Enfield Rifle made in England year 1917, and Mauser rifle made in Germany between 1920-1938. Collection of revolvers and shot-guns are also displayed.
Several police tools for communication and investigations are displayed in the first floor.


At the second floor, several themes related with police organization and past activities are displayed, such as heroic acts by police units and documentation of police works in combating terrorisms. A sculpture seen at the left side in the above picture is miniature of Gorom Monument, as a memorial for Police roles during Trikora campaign in 1962, launched from Gorom Island. A police education play ground for kids is available in the second floor. The museum has three floors, where in the third floor there are couple of discussion rooms, possibly for group visitors.


A mock-up of restaurant and shops that were almost completely destroyed by terrorist act in the first Bali bombing.


Hall of Fame is located at the first floor, containing selected quotes and photos of the ex-nalional police chiefs. The current National Police Chief, Gen. Bambang Hendarso Danuri, is the initiator of the establishment of the Museum POLRI.


Museum POLRI's collections are well arranged and nicely classified by themes that make it easier for visitors to digest. The environment is quite comfortable with toilet in each floor and all rooms are fully air-conditioned. In each floor, there are LCD Monitors, playing different documentary movies related with police activities. Museum POLRI opens Tuesday - Sunday, from 10.00 - 17.00.




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Curug Cihurang

Curug Cihurang is by far the nearest Curug (waterfall) around Gunung Bunder area that I have ever visited, measured by length of the walking distance from the parking lot. It is so close and the path is so smooth that almost no effort is needed to get there. Curug Cihurang is located inside Taman Nasional Gunung Halimun Salak, approximately 1 km from the entrance gate of the national park, before the location of Curug Ngumpet.


Welcome message to Halimun Salak National Park is shown above, with ticket box at the background.


A view of light trees within the vast national park area was seen on the left side of the road before arriving at Curug Cihurang.


Welcome message and a brief information about Curug Cihurang was seen at the gate. Entrance fee was IDR.2,000 and a camping ground inside the compound is also available for IDR.3,500 per person per night.


A group of youngsters were chatting on the area of camping ground. The air is fresh and cool, and the water is clear, that makes it perfect for camping, especially at the end of rainy seasons. A proper outfit is needed since it can be very cold in the evening.


There are two adjacent waterfalls at Curug Cihurang, both are small in sizes, with small pools are seen at the base of the falls. There were a couple of simple huts near the area for people to take rest and enjoy the fresh air.


Curug Cihurang can be a warming-up exercise before visiting the other bigger and farther waterfalls with more challenging paths and terrains within the national park compound.

Traffic towards the area of Halimun-Salak National Park will be a bit challenging during weekends and holidays, as some of the roads are somewhat narrow, and notorious motorcyclists make it even worse. Having mentioned that, once you are in the park, you will forget all those traffic things, and soon you will enjoy the cool fresh air, the scenery of light green forests and hilly mountains, the fresh and cool water from the waterfalls, all of the unique experience of being in a huge natural park.




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