Other Side of Old Batavia. North Jakarta.

Information

1.⁠ ⁠All OSE bike tours start early, around 7:30AM - 8:00AM, due to Jakarta's tropical weather and traffic.

2.⁠ ⁠Certain OSE Tours are run where traffic changes drastically throughout the day. We therefore recommend early morning starting times.

3.⁠ ⁠We understand the nature of our Private Tours where customers expect flexibility. We'll communicate directly with customers who would like different starting times, including late afternoon tours.

Jakarta, the capital of Indonesia. Once commonly known as Batavia during the Dutch colonial period. From the old town of Batavia, the Dutch colonial empire gained its vast wealth due to the trade of various spices as well as various exotic goods. Having much emphasis on long distance sea trade, the Dutch began to develop much of their ports into a small trading city and eventually culminating into the capital city and major trading hub for the Dutch East India Company. The strength and durability of Dutch architecture speaks for itself as many of the buildings can still be seen and explored to this day.

Starting our tour from where it all began, Sunda Kelapa. This port served, and still serving, as one of the major fishing and trading hubs of Jakarta. Though not as packed as the old days, the port has been modernized and refurbished to suit more modern needs. Along the port of Sunda Kelapa, many phinisi schooners can still be seen, parked by the piers after many days out at sea. The fisherman aboard these vessels are always more than happy to invite people on board! During the colonial era, with the amount of ships that passed through and docked at Sunda Kelapa and Batavia was more than today to say the least. With all the exotic goods and spices which were being traded in the bulk, the Dutch colonial government needed an area where all of this could be monitored. Enter the Bahari Museum! This was once used as a fort and a storage complex for all the exotic goods being traded. Now the museum serves as the source of information of Indonesia’s nautical history, not only during the colonial era, but during the Majapahit era up until modern times.

The ‘town square’ also known as Fatahillah square, serves as the central gathering point of Batavia and is where the former colonial governor’s office resides. Not too far away from Fatahillah square, is Jakarta’s own Chinatown also known as Glodok. This area used to be the major hub for Chinese immigrants and merchants who would eventually form their own major community and slowly mingle with the local Javanese population. Through small and narrow market streets we can still find existing Chinese Temples which are still used to this day for worship. Not only did the old town of Batavia serve as a major office and hub for the East India company but as well as a hodgepodge of unique and different cultures learning and mingling with one another.

While passing each building you come across, you begin to imagine how the city was like during the colonial era. Where nowadays modes of transportation are dominated by motor vehicles, bicycles and horse carriages were the go-to transportation to use.