Tour of China Town

Jakarta is a business city -- a place people at every end of the economic chain find themselves in because they are there to make money. My understanding of the history of the city (which is weak) is that the Dutch built it up as a port to -- make money.

The older part of the city (which I heard referred to as Kuta, China Town, and the old city) is being redone as a tourist area but that is only the dream of some planner right now (and her imagination must be tremendous). You can hire a guide to drive you around (I suppose walk too but that option didn't occur to anyone) and point out things.

We went into two buildings -- a bank built by the dutch and a watch tower -- built by the Dutch. You could get a feeling for the early construction and the fort patterns used by the colonists but all was a confused jumble of shacks, trucks, and trash. One of the museums had come down in the rain. At the end of the town, on the ocean, is a working port and the combination of a (small) working port and the aspiration to be a tourist place has not worked well. Still, there is potential. One square had been nicely redone and given time it might turn into a nice area with some historical worth to both visitors and residents.