Trip to Jakarta.

Last week I went to Jakarta with my cousin and friend for Guns N' Roses concert. Here is the story of our trip to Jakarta.

14 Dec 2012 In the car on the way to LCCT for our flight to Jakarta. Start from the left is me (Wind), Ickyy (middle) and Salleh (my cousin).

14 Dec 2012. We've arrived safely from Malaysia at Terminal 3 Soekarno-Hatta Airport where we befriended Ewan Gunawan in the plane before landing. He gave us direction and teaches us on how to get to where we wanted to go by using the local bus called Damri heading to Block M.

15 Dec 2012. This is be the hotel where we stayed in Jakarta called Pita Giri in Palmerah Jakarta. We had a lot of trouble finding a place to stay. At first we wanted to stay in Tulip Hotel which is a budget hotel near Lapangan D Senayan. We found out that it was full and started hunting for hotels near to Lapangan D Senayan and ended up here. We loved the hotel and the service was superb. We made a new friend who is working here as a guard by the name of Romy and he offered to show us around town and guide us on where to purchase the ticket for the concert. 

 15 Dec 2012. This was our first stop on our second day of the trip in search for the ticket for Guns N' Roses concert. This place is call "The Garage" by some of the locals. Romy suggested that we stop by here since most of the event or concert is held here most of the time, but unfortunately the ticket was sold out. This is also the place where Mr. Big perform in Jakarta in 2011. Sorry no picture of the building itself since I only found out about Mr. Big performance there after we left the place.

 15 Dec 2012. Our second stop is Lapangan D Senayan or also known as Gelora Bung Karno Stadium where the concert is going to be held today at 7pm. There is a ticket counter here but it was not open yet since we arrived at the stadium around 8.30am. I'm sure you know which one is Romy by now.

 15 Dec 2012.  Our third stop is a mall call Senayan Plaza. Since the ticket counter was not open yet in Lapangan D Senayan we decided to stop by Senayan Plaza to check the CD shop since we heard that they might sell the tickets for the concert there too. We checked out the CD shop but they told us that they don't sell the tickets but pointed us to check the travel guide call Panorama Tours which usually sell concert tickets. Again we were not in luck since the ticket was sold out there too.

 15 Dec 2012. Around 10.30 AM we walked back to Lapangan D Senayan to check out the ticket counter there if to see if there is still ticket available and we manage to get our tickets there. After getting the tickets we walked around and bought some merchandise that is sold there such as t-shirt, singlets, bandanna, bracelets and lots of other merchandise. Again sorry there is no pictures of the vendor since we were busy choosing on what to buy. :þ 

 15 Dec 2012. After getting our tickets we went back to the hotel to get some rest before the concert. We got ready around 4 pm to leave the hotel and go to Lapangan D Senayan for the concert.

15 Dec 2012. While we were in the taxi on our way to the concert we heard the new on the radio that the concert was postpone to 16 Dec 2012. The venue of the concert was also change from Lapangan D Senayan to Meis Ancol which where Sting is performing his concert on the same day that Guns N' Roses was suppose to perform which is 15 Dec 2012 at 7 pm. We met a few frustrated and disappointed fans who came from all over the world to watch the concert that include us also. There was few news station that is filming and covering the situation near the ticket booth recording or showing live broadcast of the people swarming at the ticket counter to refund and complaint to the organizer on what was happening since the announcement to postpone the concert was made just a few hours before the concert. We met a really cute news anchor by the name of Fanni (in red shirt, from TVOne Station), her friend Tyara (sorry no picture since I didn't manage to get a picture of her) and few other who work in the same station as them which I forgot to ask for their name since we were discussing on the issue at hand.

After all that has happened, me, Salleh, and Ickky started to discuss either to stay for the concert on 16 Dec 2012 at 1 pm in Meis Ancol or to go home according to our flight schedule which is departing from Soekarno-Hatta Airport at 6.25 AM the following morning. We started walking from Lapangan D Senayan to Plaza Senayan to check if we could change our flight time from 6.25 AM to a different time or date. Sadly the place called Panorama Tours doesn't deal with Air Asia flights.  So we went to a place across the road from Plaza Senayan call Senayan City where Fanni actually mention another travel agency by the name of Smiling Tours. Sadly its the same since they don't deal with Air Asia flights, but both the girls who work there did help us a lot by checking all the available flights and teach us on how to save money to travel here and there by using the local bus. I still remember the name of the girls working there, Mulyani and Nay. I'm still in contact with Mulyani.

As the banner says " Mohon Maaf" means "We would like to apologize" since the concert was postpone and we ran out of money for the trip we didn't get to extend our stay for the concert. Looks like lady luck was not on our side. All in all I'm still happy because I get to meet lots of new friends who were  willing to help me and my friends even if they just met us. The first person we met was Ewan Gunawan who was sitting behind us in the flight from Malaysia, he guided us since we landed till we got on our bus to go to where we need to.  I will remember Romy who just got of work at 7am and woke us up to take us around town to get our tickets and T-shirts and other merchandise till around 1pm before going back to take a rest and start work again at 11pm that night and he also share the love of Guns N' Roses just like us. I will remember Tyara and Fanni, Tyara is the one who asked me if she and her news station could get an interview with me to discuss regarding the issue of the concert being postpone at the last minute and Fanni who interviewed me. She helped me relax a lot since I was really nervous to be interviewed for the first time in my life, I keep telling her that I might run away, thanks Fanni. There was also the vendor near the the ticket booth who we had a chance to talk to and offered us to stay at their place and offer us a ride to the new concert location which is in Meis Ancol. Their name is Loqman and Wahyu Indra. Not to forget Mulyani and Nay from Smiling Tours who help us check for the cheapest flight so that we could see the concert, listen to us rambling about the concert being postpone much like me rambling in this blog post. In the end we decided to miss the concert and take our flight which is scheduled at 6.25 am on 16 Dec 2012. We woke up at 3 am to take a taxi to Soekarno-Hatta Airport.

Thank you for your patience with me and the long post that I'm writing. Sorry for my lack of writing skills since I rarely write a long post. I hope that you enjoy reading about my trip to Jakarta. In the end I left Jakarta with an unused Guns N' Roses concert ticket and lots of memories with new found friends. If anyone asked me if I ever regretted not staying longer for the concert I would answer them "No, I've made lots of happy memories with my new friends who I still keep in touch with. That will never change." Again thank you for reading and I hope that you enjoy the post.