Saigon and Jakarta Cathedrals

Whenever I travel overseas and got a chance to visit a church, I always included it in my itinerary and took pictures of  the facade and sometimes of the interiors. Two of the cities I have visited have a very interesting Cathedrals though similar concept of design but totally two different kind of architecture.

In Saigon, the Notre Dame Basilica is one famous landmark you will hardly missed as a tourist. It is located at the Paris Square in downtown area. A magnificent twin-towered neo-romanesque cathedral built in the 1880s by the French during their colonial occupation of Saigon. It has two bell towers reaching a height of over 58 meters with  bronze bells. The construction materials including the red bricks used for the exterior walls were all brought in from France. The facade has three arches that gives an indication of the cathedral's internal structure.The interior decoration is relatively simple yet tranquil.

Fatahillah Square Jakarta

One of the places I have visited when I went to Jakarta is the Fatahillah Square in Old Batavia, formerly the center of trade and business activities during the Dutch colonial era. The Kota district as known today has significant number of grand colonial buildings, many are abandoned or dilapidated but still standing.

Monas of Jakarta

My Jakarta trip last November includes the visit to the national monument, Monas to local. It is a Jakarta landmark and a national pride which stand 129m tall in the middle of open square. This concrete candle like structure has a 35 kg gold plated flame on top of it and a viewing level where the entire Jakarta can be viewed from here.

I came here on my second day of my holiday to this city. I read beforehand that this place can be crowded on weekend and queue to the view deck is long, so since I did visit the place on a weekend, I made up my mind not to go up the view deck and instead just explore the vicinity. But that day I found that the queue was tolerable so I decided to go up instead.

Arriving Jakarta

This is my late post on my holiday to Jakarta Indonesia for the first time.

I managed to arrive at Changi terminal quite early as planned since I only took the mrt on the way there. Since it was my first time to take the train as I always took a cab to the airport. Arriving at the airport

My trip to Jakarta Indonesia

I went out of Singapore last weekend for a 4-day sightseeing trip to Jakarta. Friday was national holiday and Monday was my off-day so it was a four days of free time not to waste. I took the mid-afternoon flight and as I want to arrive in the capital before night time. Just like Vietnam, Indonesia timing is 1 hour behind Singapore. I stayed at Sparks Hotel in Mangga Besar Dua road, it is not an ideal location but the hotel itself is nice, clean and cozy, a value for money for a 51 dollars a night. I booked the room in advance thru agoda.

To sum up my four days trip, I was able to explore the old town, climbed up the national monument, visited the museum, shopping centers, and yes tried the night life too. And also I found out that the city has a Cathedral that dates back 1901 and has a distinctive spires and built in neo-gothic style architecture.