MERDEKA? NOT YET!

To be completely honest, celebrating Independence Day this year felt like a total heartbreak. With a regime waving more red flags than a parade, most of us feel like raising a white flag and just giving up.

So why on earth did we spend 12 grueling hours out in the city?

My eldest daughter is moving to the UK next month for her studies, and she had one request on her pre-departure bucket list: an adventure around Jakarta relying entirely on public transport. So, despite the crowds, the heat, and the heavy political eye-rolls, we made it happen. And I'm glad we did!

Our entourage for the day consisted of 7 people: me, my husband, our two daughters, my mom-in-law, our former domestic helper who now works for my in-laws, and my eldest daughter’s best friend who had term break from his uni days in Japan.

To kick things off, my husband proudly presented us with an itinerary he generated using AI. It looked a little something like this:

ITINERARY 17 AGUSTUS 2026 🇮🇩
Chill & Full Public Transport

10.45 — KRL to Jakarta Kota.

12.00 — Kota Tua + Lunch.

14.30 — TransJakarta to Tosari.

15.20 — Sarinah & Agora Mall (promos, coffee, art exhibition).

17.30 — Walk to Monas via Bundaran HI for the parade and golden hour.

18.15 — Merdeka Night at Monas (free food, drone show, fireworks).

21.00 — KRL home before the fireworks crowd disperses!

When I shared this masterpiece with my sister, her immediate reaction was: "Yaolo, banyak benerrr!" (Oh my God, that's way too much!). I brushed it off, telling her, "We just put everything in so we have a menu of options."

Well, plot twist: We actually went to EVERY SINGLE PLACE on that list.

Sure, we messed around with the chronological order to adapt to the situation, but we checked off every location. We were out for a solid 12 hours!

But the real MVP of the day? My mom-in-law.

Before we left, she told us, "If I get tired, I'll just go home early" Spoiler alert: she did not go home early. She lasted the entire 12 hours! I kept asking her, "Mom, are you tired?" and she just casually replied, "No worries! I'm is strong when walking." Mind you, she has a history of heart issues and hypertension. Thank God everything went smoothly and safely!

So, how did our 12-hour ngebolang actually go down? Here is the reality vs. the AI itinerary:

🚆 Stop 1: KRL to Kota Tua

We took the commuter line all the way to Stasiun Kota. We walked around expecting some festive 17-an vibes, but... crickets. There were no Independence Day events happening there at all. Moving on!

🚌 Stop 2: TransJakarta to Monas

We hopped on a TransJakarta bus which was packed like a can of sardines. But that was nothing compared to getting out of the station. Astaganaga! It was an absolute literal sea of humans.

We made it inside Monas, only to find out the food bazaar wasn't even open yet. We took some quick obligatory photos and immediately bailed to find food elsewhere.

🚕 Stop 3: Agora Mall & TERASI Exhibition

We ended up taking a taxi to Agora to escape the heat and grab some food. While there, we entered TERASI, an Indonesian illustrators' exhibition. We paid the 15k entrance fee and got a bunch of freebies.

The funniest part? The youngsters in our group actually took a nap here, while the "older folks" (me, hubby, mom-in-law, and mbak transformer) aggressively hunted for stamps to complete the rally and won even more prizes! :)) Oh, we took cute photobox pics for free! I'm so lucky that I met a very kind guy who offered 2 photobox tickets for free because he doesn't want to use it while I only want to take photos but the booth didn't have option for that except buying their products and I didn't want to buy the products, lol.

🚶‍♀️ Stop 4: Chilling at Sarinah

From Agora, we walked to Sarinah. We claimed an outdoor cafe as our basecamp, bought some snacks, and watched the live stage performances. We even got to enjoy a beautiful Jakarta sunset (albeit slightly obstructed by our lovely air pollution). And, another highlight of the day: we watched another Project Pop performance, this time for free! Yay! Also, we watched drone show in the sky forming various kinds of forms such as garuda, and Indonesia's flag.

🚦 Stop 5: The Parade Drama

Around 7 PM, we moved to the front street to secure a spot for the parade. Cue the drama. We fell victim to some heavily misinformed police officers. We were standing comfortably in one spot, were told to cross the street, got chased away from that spot, and had to cross back again.

The parade finally arrived around 8 PM, and honestly... what a letdown.

When I was a kid, Independence Day parades were magical. They were filled with beautiful traditional clothes, cultural displays from the 27 provinces, and gorgeous floral floats. But this one? It was literally just a parade of Ministries and government officials.

Honestly, I was kinda sick watching it, but we were already trapped in the crowd and couldn't even turn around to leave! When a certain controversial persons (you know who I mean) passed by, the crowd actually started booing. "Huuuu!" Lol. The people have spoken.

It left a really weird taste in my mouth. We were out here "celebrating" our independence, but it honestly feels like we are being colonized by our own government right now, especially with how chaotic the current presidential is.

Anyway we finally made our way home using the MRT and then a taxi. We were all exhausted beyond belief by the time we hit our beds.

xoxo,
@nuniektirta

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