Things to See in Jakarta

Glodok was the old Chinatown of Batavia, allocated to the Chinese by the Dutch in 1741. Today, it has a steamy, slightly sordid atmosphere, and a stroll through the spitting street kitchens will provide plenty of colour for the day's diary entry.

The museum's the place to go if you're into heavy, carved furniture and other memorabilia from the Dutch period. Among the more interesting exhibits is a series of gloomy portraits of all the Dutch governors-general and early drawings and etchings of Batavia.

Lapangan Banteng was laid out by the Dutch in the 19th century, and the area has some of Jakarta's best colonial architecture. The 1901 cathedral and one of the largest mosques in southeast Asia, the Istiqlal Mesjid, can both be found here.