Exploring Jakarta - Pasar Pagi Lama

Feeling like I hadn't experienced much of "local" Jakarta, I decided to try exploring one of the traditional markets - Pasar Pagi Lama (the old morning market), also known as Pasar Asemka.

In North Jakarta, near the old town, Pasar Pagi Lama is a collection of buildings and stalls built under a  flyover. For directions I had the name and a text message "from where you'll get dropped off, walk a couple of hundred meters and there's heaps of stores in the centre - I go through those and to the stores on the other side of the street", rather vague fare, but with trusty driver at the wheel, we were soon in the thick of a maze of stalls and small shops selling a mass of bags, lunch boxes, stickers, pens, soft toys and anything else you might think to stick an angry birds or Ben 10 logo on. The eclectic mix also includes vendors selling balloons, decorations, fake Christmas trees, buckles and clips, light bulbs, cheap kids toys, stationary, wall decor, badminton rackets and other sporting goods (they string the rackets while waiting for customers) and fireworks.

A colourful, crowded and chaotic place, the market is best arrived at early, sans kids, as it gets hot quickly and becomes somewhat un-navigable by car by midday. We arrived around 9:30am and delved straight into the mix, coming up for air a couple of hours later when the crowds started to really slow progress. Surprisingly it was less intimidating than I expected, even as the only white person in sight, although I did keep one hand on my wallet, just in case. Suited to the impulse buyer, something I am, regrettably, not, I relished the sights more than the shopping, enjoying the craziness of being able to buy a disney backpack, umbrella, Christmas decorations and new tennis racket all within 10m and for probably less than $20! It is definitely a good place for buying more than you ever needed of stuff you'll likely never use. Being a wholesale market, purchases are best made in bulk - the price per unit for six or a dozen items often being significantly cheaper than for a single, in some cases ridiculously so, as in my purchase of some wall decor stickers - 1 sheet for Rp 10,000 (roughly AUD $1) or 6 sheets for Rp 18,000 (AUD $1.80)*. I'm still sure there's something seriously wrong with that sort of maths!
*Note: I saw the same stickers today in the Mall across from the hotel for Rp 34,000, still cheap by Australian standards!

Although it took longer to get there and back than we spent actually in the market, and I came home feeling in need of a shower and a cold drink to wash away the dirt, Pasar Pagi Lama is definitely a place I'll return to soon, if only for the fun of wandering around knowing you could buy more than you can carry with the $30 in your pocket!