Jakarta offers many good places for souvenir hunters

Sudibyo M. Wiradji, Contributor, Jakarta

As in other tourist destinations all around the world, most airports or star-rated hotels in culturally rich Indonesia provide a special counter displaying typical handicrafts as souvenirs for visitors.

However, it is common to find that a visit to special shops selling handicrafts is preferable for visitors because in addition to allowing them to view a wider selection of handicrafts, they will also have a shopping experience in a country which is, in many ways, different from their own.

A question that arises for most tourists is where to find good places to buy handicrafts as souvenirs before leaving the capital city of Jakarta. For foreign tourists whose visits to Indonesia are arranged by a travel agent and include shopping in their agenda, finding the shops might not be a problem because the guide will accompany them to the shops. But for adventurous tourists who prefer the romance of traveling alone without the assistance of a guide, finding the right place might need a little more effort.

With the Internet now beginning to gain ground, access to Indonesia's arts and crafts is getting much easier. You can get adequate info on the items on the Internet from anywhere in the world before you even set foot in Indonesia. The largest online marketplace for arts, crafts and antiques is RajaCraft.com. The homepage allows visitors not only to view finely selected Indonesian home accent products, furniture, jewelry, fine arts, textiles, and genuine antiques, and ask for more information on the items they're interested in, but also to buy the items that are featured.

Among the good places to buy traditional handicrafts in town are Pasaraya in Blok M, South Jakarta, Sarinah Department Store on Jl. MH Thamrin, Keris Gallery on Jl. H.O.S. Cokroaminoto in Central Jakarta, Plaza Atrium on Jl. Senen Raya, the numerous shops along Jl. Kemang Timur Raya in South Jakarta and Pasar Seni Ancol.

In these shops, you can find a wide variety of Indonesia's ethnic handicrafts, all with their own unique features. In Pasaraya, for instance, as many as 80,000 items from the different provinces of Indonesia are on display, ranging from the simplest ones like keyrings, pens decorated with a leather puppets or ashtrays to the delicately carved characters of Javanese leather puppets, and Balinese masks and statues.

You can also find wooden puppets from West Java, carved boxes from Jepara, Central Java, batik cloth, silver products, sapphires and amber, plaited items from Tasikmalaya and Lombok, ceramics, assorted home decor items, accessories and lots more.

For those who have developed a love for ethnic textile, you can find double weave Ikat from the islands of Nusa Tenggara, silk Bugis sarongs from South Sulawesi, gold-painted Balinese prada fabrics; shimmering Kain Songket from Palembang, which features silver and gold threads weft in woven cotton, or silk Ikat and Tapis weavings from Lampung.

With the traditional nature of the items Pasaraya is selling, the spacious, air-conditioned third floor of the building is full of ethnic ambience. A visit to either Pasaraya or Sarinah Jaya in Jakarta is a good introduction to Indonesian handicrafts. From here you will know better what you should look for on your travels through the archipelago.

The art shops in the department stores have fixed prices. For only Rp 10,000 or Rp 15,000 (almost US$2), you can purchase a uniquely decorated keyring or a pen decorated with wayang figures. More complex carved items cost more, depending on the size and the material used. The shops also have good stocks for those wanting to buy on a large scale, with the packing being supplied free of charge.

However, if you want a bargain, you can visit the Ancol art market in Ancol Dreamland. This extensive art market has a lively, carnivalesque atmosphere and a huge variety of arts and crafts on display. You can also see many of them being made by the craftsmen and women, as well as live dance and drama performances from all over the archipelago.

For those who fancy the traditional style of antiques/furniture and want to buy these as souvenirs, you may not find what you are looking for in the art shops in the department stores. One of the popular places to find these items is in the Kemang or Ciputat areas. There are oodles of antique/furniture shops in Kemang. SIP Gallery, for instance, is known for its huge stone carvings from Muntilan, Central Java. Other shops also display stone statues depicting characters from ancient Indonesian myths and epics. The statues come from Yogyakarta and Bali.

You can also find antiques in the Jalan Surabaya art shops, in the Menteng area, close to Ismail Marzuki Square. The 500-meter open-air market here offers the most extensive collection of antiques in the city -- great for a browse and a bit of bargaining! The street is brim full of bronzeware, old coins, 'Chinese' porcelains (actually from Central and West Java), east Indonesian textiles, terracotta, ceramics, leather puppets and all sorts of paraphernalia that defies classification.

If you don't get the time to visit Jl. Surabaya, purchasing handicrafts in a shop at the airport or the hotel where you're staying would be better than arriving home feeling regret at not having bought any souvenirs during your visit to Indonesia.