ER
THE world’s largest travel guide Lonely Planet might well have made a correct statement on Jakarta’s nightlife.
It is the capital city of a Muslim-majority country but it is home to more than 500 bars and pubs where a large number of establishments are mainly spotted in the districts of Central Jakarta, West Jakarta, and South Jakarta.
The contradiction may raise the eyebrows of some people, but according to some historical facts, the city’s drinking establishments had existed back to the past before the Colonial Dutch invasion to the country. In other words, nightlife was always a part of Jakarta’s charms and lives.
Today, South Jakarta, the capital city’s edgiest district where its bar culture was shaped by its young people or South-side Youth (anak Jaksel), has stood out among other regions to create “far-from-mainstream” drinking establishments in the city.
While most places in West and Central Jakarta districts remain serving regular drinks and entertainments, a handful number of bars and pubs in South Jakarta offer a new wave of nightlife experience for anyone who are down there for a complete chilled out atmosphere, specialty drinks, and a more relaxed ambience to calm tensions after workloads of deadlines.
Unlike other bars where places are spacious, most “new wave” drinking establishments in Jakarta’s southern district are only in a size of one to two bedrooms apartments. Apart from the small size, the bars also adapted a sort-of-speakeasy style which reflected in their vague bright LED signboards, perfectly-sealed doors, stairs, and half-hidden location. [antaranews/photo traveltext]
