Sakai is a local idiom to describe a person who is a country bumpkin or someone who has never seen common things. It is a somewhat derogatory term for the indigenous tribe it was named after.
After receiving two bookings for hotels in Kuningan, Jakarta, I was curious. The first is Ascott Kuningan Jakarta and the second being the Aston at Kuningan Suites Hotel.
Confusingly, there is also a regency and city named Kuningan, east of Jakarta, near Cirebon. To complicate things, Kuningan City Mall turns up in search results.
I asked my Jakarta friend and Jakarta resident Veronica Sitorus (@ve_nat on IG) and she confirmed Kuningan is one of three business districts in Jakarta. When I went to Jakarta, I stayed at the Gran Mahakam Jakarta which was a fine hotel but I hated the metal detectors and explosive sniffing dogs checking my camera bags.
Jahabar Sadiq, who was then working there, visited me at the hotel. before taking me on a Jakarta pub crawl. Coming from KL I have seen the undercarriage of cars inspected with mirrors before entering the car park of the KL Hilton in KL Sentral. I suspect the Grand Mahkam hotel had some American connection. This was after the Jakarta Marriott bombing.
Just my luck that I stayed later at the Renaissance New World Makati Hotel in Manila, also managed by Marriot I think,.The Philippines capital suffered a wave of bombings by militants at that time. I went through the same hassle with my camera bags at hotel and at mall entrances. Was a bit unnerving seeing. for the first time, a guard with firearms inside a McDonald’s.
Anyway, Jakarta is great for street photography on foot. Although there seems to be growing inter faith intolerance now. It was nice to see multi-religious symbols placed together at a roadside art shop. I went to the Jakarta Cathedral or the Roman Catholic Church of Our Lady of Assumption earlier and saw many male guests attending a wedding dressed in batik and wearing songkoks. The women were in beautiful kebayas. I felt like an ignorant, sheltered sakai from Malaysia. All hotels cited can be booked at MyCen Hotels www.mycen.my
#kuningan #jakarta #indonesia #streetphotography #manila
