Jakarta Travel 01: A 5,000-Rupiah Twist, Istiqlal Mosque and Kota Tua

"I'll give you 5,000 rupiah if you let me in."

That's what I said to a guide at the entrance of Istiqlal Mosque in Jakarta. What came back was a belly laugh. But after that laugh, things went somewhere I never expected.

This is the story of nine days in Indonesia in December 2024: a business trip in Jakarta, then remote work in Bali. I meant to write it up as soon as I got home, and put it off for almost two years. I'm writing it now.

This first part covers two days. Day one is getting from Incheon to Jakarta; day two is a rainy Jakarta itinerary, from Istiqlal Mosque past Jakarta Cathedral and Monas, ending with satay in Kota Tua.

The route in this post

Date	Where	In a line
Dec 14	Incheon Airport → Soekarno-Hatta Airport → Alam Sutera	Currency, gukbap, gomoku
Dec 15	Istiqlal Mosque → Jakarta Cathedral → Monas	90 minutes in the rain, 5,000 rupiah
Dec 15, evening	Kota Tua (the old town)	Bajaj, museums, satay

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Day 1: From Incheon Airport to Jakarta

The trip started at the airport bus stop in my neighborhood. With business-trip luggage plus my gear for working in Bali, changing subway lines was out of the question.

At the airport, the first thing I did was pick up my currency. I had ordered it online and collected it at the KB Kookmin Bank counter. The rupiah had so many zeros on it that I had no feel at all for how much it was worth. I didn't work it out. That becomes a problem the next day.

I can't give up the pleasure of eating when I travel, so I don't skip meals even at the airport. Before departure, a bowl of milky gukbap, the Korean soup of rice and long-simmered broth. My last Korean meal for a while.

The in-flight meal, and gomoku

The in-flight meal was penne with meat and broccoli. During the flight I played gomoku on the seatback screen (five-in-a-row, the board game Koreans call omok). I played the computer until the scoreboard hit double digits.

Final score: 10 to 8, my win.

Jakarta by night, the first place to stay

By the time I landed at Soekarno-Hatta Airport, it was already night. A skytrain runs between the terminals.

My first stay was a high-rise in Alam Sutera, on the west side of Jakarta. In the pool, the lights of the buildings on either side spread across the water. Day one was all travel.

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Day 2: Ninety minutes in a downpour, already too late for Istiqlal Mosque

December is rainy season in Jakarta. It rained hard that day. The taxi into the city took almost an hour and a half. Traffic was jammed, and I was already past the time I was supposed to get into Istiqlal Mosque.

A visitor tour schedule was posted at the entrance. I was late, so I couldn't get in.

But after ninety minutes on the road, turning straight back felt like a waste. So I struck up a conversation with a local guide. That's the line at the top of this post.

5,000 rupiah, then 50,000 rupiah

What I got back was a belly laugh. 5,000 rupiah is a few hundred won, a few cents.

I asked again whether that wouldn't work. He said, "Take a tuk-tuk with that," and waved me toward the exit. That came from not doing the rupiah math at the airport the day before.

So I added a zero. "How about 50,000 rupiah?"

With that, the guide showed me around himself, taking me down paths ordinary tourists don't usually go. Ten times the offer, and it became a VIP tour.

The 50,000 rupiah wasn't an official entrance fee. It was money I handed the guide on the spot, after showing up late for the tour.

Looking down into the main hall from the upper gallery, the first thing that hits you is the scale. The people sitting on the red carpet below the railing looked as small as dots, and silver pillars held up a green dome.

The dome is 45 meters across, for 1945, the year Indonesia declared independence, and there are 12 pillars.

The guide even put a cap on my head and took my picture. Raincoat, bare feet, a cap and a V sign.

Cross the road for Jakarta Cathedral, walk a little more for Monas

Leave the mosque, cross the road, and you're right at Jakarta Cathedral. Right after the green dome, two pointed spires and a rose window. Indonesia's largest mosque and a Catholic cathedral stand facing each other across one street. And Friedrich Silaban, the architect who designed Istiqlal Mosque, was a Christian.

Walk a bit further and you reach rain-soaked Monas square (Monas is Jakarta's National Monument). Out front were carriage horses draped in plastic and vendors under umbrellas. The locals were genuinely kind, and English got me reasonably far.

Next stop: Kota Tua, in the "tuk-tuk" the guide had told me to take.

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Day 2, evening: To Kota Tua by Bajaj

My ride to Kota Tua was a Bajaj, a three-wheeled taxi with a roof. Through the rain on the windshield, the traffic lights blurred.

The first thing I saw was the Bank Indonesia Museum. I arrived late in the afternoon, so I only saw the outside that day. The museum closes early in the afternoon, so come during the day if you want to go in.

The alley next to it is lined with street stalls: stall lights on the wet ground, and drink and snack stalls in a long row.

Come out of the alley into the square at the end and there's the Jakarta History Museum (Fatahillah Museum), a white two-story building. The square carries the marks of the Dutch colonial era. On a rainy night it wasn't crowded, so I could take it in calmly, and in front of one wall stood a street performer painted gold from head to toe.

Kota Tua food: satay and sambal, then nasi goreng

To get out of the rain I ducked into Kedai Seni Djakarte, a restaurant that keeps its old building just as it was. The walls tell the story of the place, and lights hang down over the staircase.

Here I had mie goreng and ayam (chicken) satay. Satay is grilled meat on skewers served with sauce, and sambal is an Indonesian condiment built on chili.

I've always loved grilled skewers, and the combo I rank number one from this whole trip is exactly this: satay and sambal. This trip was also when I first learned that sambal is different from region to region. After that, the first thing I looked at in every restaurant was the sambal.

One place didn't feel like enough, so I also stopped by Kedai Kota Toea nearby.

Here it was a plate of fried tofu, a deep-pink juice and nasi goreng. Nasi goreng was my favorite food of the entire trip.

When I came out after dinner, the whole street was soaked. An old building nearby had Christmas decorations up. Istiqlal, the cathedral, Monas, Kota Tua, and a day that ended on satay.

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Visiting info: four stops on a Jakarta itinerary, compared

My visit was in December 2024. The details below were looked up again in November 2026, and many of them differ from source to source. Where I'm not sure, I've marked it "check official info".

Place	Nearest station	Entry	Best time
Istiqlal Mosque	KRL Juanda	Listed as free to visit	Match the tour schedule
Jakarta Cathedral	KRL Juanda	Avoid Mass times	Pair it with the mosque
Monas	Between Juanda and Gambir	Check official info	Daytime (observation deck)
Kota Tua	KRL Jakarta Kota	Paid, per museum	Museums by day, dinner at night

Route: Istiqlal Mosque and Jakarta Cathedral are one street apart, and Monas is within walking distance. Kota Tua sits farther north, so I took a Bajaj. If you want to see the museums inside, flip the order: Kota Tua first (daytime), then the mosque and Monas.

📍 Istiqlal Mosque · Jl. Taman Wijaya Kusuma, Pasar Baru, Sawah Besar, Jakarta Pusat

• 🎟️ Entry: listed as free in many guides. Non-Muslim visitors register near the entrance and go around with a guide. You look down into the main hall from the upper gallery.
• ⏰ Times: a visitor tour schedule is posted at the entrance. Opening hours differ from source to source and change with prayer times and events. Check official info before visiting.
• 👟 Note: shoes come off at the door. Clothing that covers you is the norm. On rainy days, think ahead about where to put wet shoes.
• 🗺️ Map: Open in Google Maps

📍 Jakarta Cathedral · across from Istiqlal Mosque

• ⏰ Times: visiting hours for tourists differ from source to source. During Mass, the cathedral is a place of worship. Check official info before visiting.
• 🗺️ Map: Open in Google Maps

📍 Monas (National Monument) · Merdeka Square

• ⏰ Times: per 2025 news reports, the square opens at 6:00 and the tower at 8:00. Hours change on holidays and during events. For fees and closing days, check official info before visiting.
• 🗺️ Map: Open in Google Maps

📍 Kota Tua (Jakarta's old town) · Pinangsia, Taman Sari, Jakarta Barat

• 🏛️ Jakarta History Museum: per 2024–2025 sources, Tue–Sun 9:00–15:00, closed Mondays, 5,000 rupiah for adults. Check official info before visiting.
• 🏛️ Bank Indonesia Museum: Tue–Sun, closes early in the afternoon (15:00 or 15:30, depending on the source). Check official info before visiting.
• 🍢 Where I ate: Kedai Seni Djakarte (satay, mie goreng), Kedai Kota Toea (nasi goreng)
• 🗺️ Map: Open in Google Maps

How to get lost a little less

• 💱 Work out the rupiah exchange rate once before you leave. The numbers are so big that you really have no feel for them on the spot.
• 🌧️ December is rainy season in Jakarta. When it rains, traffic jams badly. It took me 90 minutes to get into the city.
• 🕐 At Istiqlal, check the schedule first. If you're late, it's hard to get in.
• 🍽️ Plan to stay in Kota Tua through dinner. Order satay, sambal, nasi goreng and mie goreng, one of each, and share.

Jayden's verdict

Skipping the exchange-rate math made me a VIP. Next time I'll do the math, show up on schedule, and eat satay again.

• Highlight: the dome and pillars of Istiqlal Mosque. The scale alone makes it worth going in.
• Kota Tua: museums by day, satay by night.
• Two days in one line: rain, laughter, and sambal.
• Tip: work out the rupiah exchange rate before you leave.

Next up is the Jakarta business trip. The offices I went to see never opened; what I came away with was a pepper crab picked from a tank and a run of local meals.

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Indonesia in 9 Days series

1. Jakarta's first two days: Istiqlal Mosque and Kota Tua (you are here)
2. Jakarta business trip: empty offices, pepper crab, two Airbnbs and local food
3. Ubud, Bali: rice terraces, remote work and a rice-field villa
4. Bali's last three days: Kintamani sunrise, Blue Lagoon and Canggu sunset