VISIT INDONESIA: Independence Day Specials!

August is popular with celebrating independence day. I don’t know why there are few countries that celebrate their independence day in August. Few examples are Singapore, South Korea, and Switzerland. Indonesia also celebrate their independence day on August. For some people who knows the struggle of being ruled by other party, Indonesia’s history can be a painful one. Getting our independence has shred blood, tears, and sweats (like BTS’s song) of our founders and heroes. That's why on this year’s Independence Day, I tried to make a special edition content. I visited historical places regarding the independence day in Jakarta. You can checked the footage of my friends and I visiting Proclamator Monument (Tugu Proklamasi) and National Monument (MONAS).

I had so much fun visiting those places. My OOTD that day was also matching with our country’s flag, red and white. I made “Kemerdekaan Fun Fact” o my video, hope it help the viewers to know a little bit of our history and how smart is our first President. On this blog post, I’m going to write more about the behind the scene of this travel diary. So, watch my video to know what I’m talking about.

Actually, my friends and I went to those places last year. I treated them a buffet lunch as my birthday celebration last year. Since, we are bored with our usual hanging out activities, I suggest them to visit those places. Even though they live in Jakarta, they never went to Monas. I’ve been to Monas for several time, but I’ve never been to Taman Proklamasi. This idea came from an article I saw from an inflight magazine when I went to Jogja last year.

Since we have lunch in Grand Indonesia Mall, going to those places are not far. After lunch, we went to Taman Proklamator first. The park is located on Jalan Proklamasi no.56. It used to be Jalan Pegangsaan Timur no.56, where Soekarno lived before. They demolished his house and made it into this park. Use Google Maps to find this place. I’m not good in giving direction with public transport in Indonesia.

 

Mr. Soekarno, Indonesia first President

Mr. Mohamad Hatta, Indonesia first Vice President

Waited for some time to get this group photo

This will happened if you don't have your monopod

There weren’t a lot of people coming here because this place is less popular than Monas. But, it’s nice since we can take lots of photos without any photo-bomb and look too touristy. The downside is, when we want to take a group photo, we took a long time to ask people passing by to take picture for us. The best time to visit this park is in the morning or around 4PM. We stayed for 40 minutes. There weren’t much to do there beside sightseeing or just to sat down for relaxation. Maybe, you should bring monopod to help you take a group photo if you came here.

#shotwithiphone

Then we drove for 15-20 minutes to Monas from Taman Proklmator. Monas is the icon of Indonesia, specifically Jakarta. Soekarno himself initiated the construction of this icon. This monument is located strategically, in the heart of Jakarta. You can see it from the south, east, west, and north side. Soekarno himself intentionally build Monas on that specific location, because it is near the Istana Merdeka (President’s palace) and other government offices. So, if you go to Monas, you can also visit other attractions such as, National Museum, Cathedral, Istiqlal Mosque, Pasar Baru, Lapangan Banteng, Radio Republik Indonesia (the first radio in Indonesia, also the one who spread the Independence news to the whole world!), Gambir Station, several shopping malls in Jakarta, and much more. You can search the surrounding of Monas on Google Maps.

Oh, there is also double-deck bus for sightseeing! AND IT IS FREE! More info about the route can be seen from here.

Since I’ve been to Monas few times, it isn’t a new thing for me. But it is for my friends. Monas was under renovation for few months before I came here last year. Because this year, there was an event for Countdown to Asian Games 2018 held on Monas on the 18th of August. That’s why they did some renovation. The one you saw on my video was so much better than before the renovation. Stalls and food court are placed nicely BEFORE entering the Monas area. The area is quite big, so if you want to go to the monument, you should take the shuttle train provided. Well, if you want, you can walk, but I’m not sure you will do that because it is quite far and hot. No matter what time you go there, it will be always HOT.

our kind of group photo, girls vs boys

If you want to go to the inside of the monument, where there is museum underground and you can go to the top of it, you need to pay IDR 27,500 (adults) and IDR 13,500 (kids). These price is a total price if you want to go up to the top. If not, you only need to pay 20,000 for adults or 10,000 for kids. The underground museum have air conditioner installed, so you will not feel too hot. But, on the second floor, where you can hear the proclamation speech of Soekarno, there doesn't have air conditioner. The area is also smaller than the underground museum.

Inside the museum, you can see around 51 dioramas (a 3D display). Each diorama tells a different story but all of it are connected. From the beginning of human evolution till Indonesia’s development. You can see how painful Indonesia’s struggle to get independence.

After strolling around the museum, we went upstairs to go to the “Ruang Kemerdekaan”. There, you can hear Soekarno’s voice recording when he read the proclamation speech. Fyi, the space does not have AC, so you won't stay long there. The recording plays every hour from 9am to 5pm. When I went there, it was around 7pm, so there is no recording. We just went through the room.

At the time we are waiting for the lift to the cone, it was almost raining. At the time we are at the top, it was raining heavily. We couldn’t enjoy the skyline of Jakarta, because it was too crowded and rainy. We went down after few minutes. We waited for an hour before we decided to go back. The rain doesn’t stop for few hours. Andddd my friend just bought his new shoes, so he doesn’t want it gets wet. We waited until the rain is less heavy. We waited for the train shuttle and then suddenly the heavy rain pour down again. Entering the train was also a struggle, we have to fight with other people who wants to ride the train ASAP. My friends and I were separated. Then after we arrived, we faced another problem. We couldn’t see the floor. It was flooding around an ankle-high. In the end, my friends have to remove their shoes. LOL. We ran to the food court to wash our hands, but the water was so dirty. So we ran to the car, use a lot of tissue and wet tissue to clean ourselves and our shoes. It was a roller coaster ending of our day trip. We finished our trip with a good McDonald meal to save our stomach.

Do bring monopod and have fun!

Nevertheless, it was one of the best day trip I’ve done, because I can share the insights of Independence Day with my friends. Also, we tried to get rid the habit of spending money to the mall or watching movie. Let’s try to appreciate the small little things that are big in value, like visiting historical places near you. Get to know your country history and feel proud about it. I hope you enjoyed my Travel Diary and behind the scene of it. Have a nice day, all!