So you already know the reason for me writing this blog. That is correct, aside from my grammar practice, I also have lots of free time. Take this short blog as my writing practice instead and enjoy my blog hehe.

What do we have here? Well, I pretty much have no idea. I already visited so many landmark buildings around Jakarta with an appendix that I might not explored those places fully nor I did not recap my experience in this blog, so I will give it a second chance.

Oh yeah, I quickly went off-topic. Anyway, this will be my short trip to a place that is beyond Jakarta, for a plate of smoked meat.

11:04

Getting ready

Because of the long distance, bottled water is a must-have. I filled my tumbler in case I could not find any stores for this short trip.

Now everything I need is in its place, I shut my apartment door, and go to the nearest BRT stop. On this trip, I need to make a stop at Pulogadung BRT stop because the next bus that will take me to my destination starts its journey at that stop.

You can follow this straightforward route, but note that this will be a long journey.

12:58

The place where minibuses and buses take a chill

So, here it is. The Pulo Gadung terminal. This is a place where private-owned minibuses, public-owned minibuses, and buses, meet with each other. It has a spacious parking lot full of buses waiting for a passenger to be transported.

Welcome to Pulogadung It is so clean and elegant

Now I am standing here waiting for my next bus. Note that I will take a non-BRT bus, so I need to walk out from the BRT stop. The waiting time is so long since it does not have reasonable demand.

It is adjacent to the previous BRT stop

After 20 minutes, a blue bus with a 2B sign comes nearby. After tapping my Flazz card, and waiting for all of the passengers, the bus taps its gas and moves along the busy collector road.

Let me just say... this route has its uniqueness. The first sign is the unused BRT stops. Left and right... there lies unused yet usable BRT stops. I researched about this while on the wheel. I cannot find any sufficient explanation from their official statement.

I might make another short blog regarding this one because this might be fun to research.

Ok... back to my trip, basically because this is a non-BRT transit, I cannot show you the complete stops they make, so I will display where I entered and exited the bus.

14:02

Harapan Indah... Uhh I have to scale down my expectations from now on

Harapan Indah complex. It is near the border between Jakarta and Bekasi

After tapping out from the bus, I look around for a while. Since this area doesn't have any other public transportation, I can only rely on my feet.

Not too much to expect. It is just a housing complex and commercial complex separated by an arterial road, Glass Monument

The primary reason I want to go here is just to try a great smoked BBQ that moved recently here. Well, I guess thank you Instagram for putting me in such a far place.

Well... after walking for like 7 minutes, I realized that the place was still getting prepared for operation. They will be in full service at 15:00.

Because there is no time skip feature in real life (sadly), I have to find a place where I can chill till it opens. Fortunately, I saw a Greamedia Bookstore while still inside the bus minutes ago. The distance from where I am standing is pretty lengthy, so I do what any logical person would do.

They are just chilling out. Moving on!

I am here after 10 minutes of dragging myself. The place looks oddly similar to the one I was visiting days ago in Matraman. After getting inside, I was right... except that the bookstore is much emptier than the former one.

Gramedia Harapan Indah

How empty? See for yourself

2nd floor

Well, I can do nothing much other than sightseeing racks of books, baskets of decorative papers, or packs of art stuff. I eventually bought a book that cost 50K IDR. It is a self-improvement book about how to get focused. I need to admit that I can get distracted quickly while doing almost EVERY serious work, so this book might be helpful for me. Wish me for the best :D

Owh after buying that book, I went to a convenience store nearby for bread and drinking water because I already exhausted my water supply. It was burning hot outside. Even an umbrella and a cap cannot suffice. One seconds late, I would be seriously dehydrated :(

This river is situated between the roads. For pedestrians like me, finding a zebra cross is a nightmare. Glass monument, clearer view

15:10

How does it feel to be the first and only customer in sight?

The smoked BBQ place finally went operational. After dragging myself under nature's oven, I can sit and lie down under a roof.

To order their signature, which is half or full kilo of smoked BBQ, you need a reservation hours before opening since they smoke their beef on demand. And being a lazy person who frequently did not do enough research, I was given two choices. Either wait for an hour or longer or just order their ordinary smoked beef for less waiting time.

Menu

Not wanting to put my long trip to waste, I repent and order their basic meal, which is smoked beef with french fries. It came out about 10 to 15 minutes.

Now for the part, I was excited about

The meat... I cannot say for sure what kind of criteria for smoked beef the Westerners out there can decide whether this smoked beef was perfect or just mid, so I will use my own set of criteria (if you have an authentic smoked beef outlet that can be used as my control measurement, let me know hehe).

The smoked meat is somehow underwhelming. It is ok seconds after going into my mouth. However, it quickly turns bland seconds later. Sure, the BBQ sauce can help (they give some of it), yet it is still underwhelming. Should smoked beef have a rich taste without any help from condiments? I thought so.

The French fries were crispy. Pretty standard considering they recently fried my fries. The salad was also okay.

And now for the plot twist, They give me a crushed chili sauce (Geprek sauce in local terms). I mean... sure it looks more Indonesian, but I never recall someone adding a Geprek sauce for smoked BBQ.

My food

16:10

Bing Chilling, then home

Remember that this is a short blog? Well, because this is just a short trip.

After eating and chilling myself inside, I paid the bill and decided to go home. The nearest bus stop is 10 minutes away. Considering that a 2B bus doesn't have much demand, I can say that it will take a considerable amount of time to wait if I miss a bus.

Luckily, I arrived at that place quickly. You can go north for 5-7 minutes until you see a sign near BCA bank's office nearby.

Look, another abandoned BRT stop

17:36

I said that I would go home after the Harapan Indah trip. Well, about that...

Well, I guess you cannot strictly comply with your trip plan.

My original plan was to stop at Juanda BRT station so I could continue going home. That plan changed quickly after seeing an eye-catching building passing by. Being curious, I stood up and walked out from the wheels.

Plaza Atrium

Well... welcome to Plaza Atrium hehe

As my tradition goes, I will not explain too much about shopping centers. This place is packed with people. It was almost Iftar, so it was pretty reasonable. I can only walk around this place till I get bored quickly, so here are some pics I took for you.

Inside Look... cute lion Main atrium. There was a performance before Iftar

After struggling to get out of this place, I continue my journey using BRT to my usual destination. Before I end this blog, I went to IKEA not too far from Tanjung Duren BRT station, and had a nice meal.

Well, I do not need to review their meatballs because they are tasty. But, for their cordon bleu (new menu), it is burnt a bit. It leaves a distasteful aftertaste, yet worthy enough for another chance assuming they would not burn it down again.

12 Meatballs Chicken Cordon Bleu

Fin

Anyway, there you go! Hope you enjoy my short trip. See you on later chance 😄