Let's go shopping in adventurous markets of Jakarta
Evi Mariani, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Have the urge for some adventurous shopping? Prepare some cash, dash to the so-far-one-and-only busway corridor, get off at the Kota stop and take a bicycle ojek to Asemka Market or the Pasar Pagi Lama in West Jakarta.
Certainly not Bloomingdales but the shopaholic icon Becky Bloomwood might have trouble stopping herself from drooling at the sight of all those products heaped before her eyes.
Asemka Market, situated in Glodok, West Jakarta, was built in the 1980s to house wholesale shops mainly selling accessories, cosmetics, fragrances (both genuine international brands and counterfeit brands), bags and other items.
Plastic plates of middling quality sell for Rp 28,000 a dozen and quality school bags for girls are priced at Rp 60,000 a dozen.
A dozen colorful photo frames sell for Rp 42,000 and a dozen Disney stuffed animals of Tigger or Eeyore (with good features, not the ones that look like an animal in pain) cost Rp 180,000.
"We wanted to celebrate our daughter's first birthday a couple of months ago. But we did not want to throw a party because we thought she could not really enjoy a party at her age," Rita, 32, an employee at a financial consultancy, said recently.
"So my husband and I decided to buy a couple dozen school bags filled with stationery for the children in the neighborhood," she said.
Her friends told her to go to Asemka Market, where she found a very wide selection of products at reasonable prices.
She said she recently attended several birthday parties for her friends' children and went home with some cute souvenirs.
"I thought, 'Wow, these parties must be quite expensive.' But when I went to Asemka, I immediately saw how they did it. The prices are just amazingly affordable," she said.
Some of the shops in the market sell retail, at a slightly higher price than the wholesale shops.
Several meters from the building, Pasar Pagi Lama offers quite a different range of products.
Inexpensive and small Chinese-made products like toys and tools are sold in old-style shops lining both sides of the street and on tables along the sidewalks.
All of the hawkers in Jakarta and the surrounding areas purchase their supplies here.
"I have been shopping here for four years, once or twice a week," Hardi, a vendor from Serang, Banten, said.
Hardi sells accessories like fancy pins, hairbands and earrings to students in Serang.
"Every time I go back to Serang after shopping here in Jakarta, I bring new stuff to my customers. They love new stuff. The past few days these fancy pins have been selling well. I can sell a hundred a day," he said.
He said he normally purchased items that cost less than Rp 9,000 a dozen.
"I cannot sell anything over Rp 2,000 a piece. I usually sell stuff priced at Rp 1,000 a piece," Hardi, earns Rp 100,000 to Rp 150,000 a day, said.
Besides inexpensive Chinese-made products, Pasar Pagi Lama also has shops selling middle-quality products from China.
One shop, for example, sells 200-milliliter stainless steel thermoses for Rp 37,500.
Customers that want the thermoses for promotional purposes can purchase dozens at the wholesale price and have the names of their companies printed on the thermoses.
"We charge Rp 2,000 for printing names," the shop attendant said.
The area also has a number of wholesale sporting goods stores and other types of shops, like one selling incense, red lanterns and costumes for the Chinese lion and dragon dances.
The costumes might be a good idea for your next costume party. The shop also has masks of characters from the famous Monkey King tale.
At lunchtime during the week, the crowds at the markets are light enough so you can breathe and stroll in a relaxed manner (Carrefour stores during the weekend are far more crowded).
Nevertheless, there is no harm in watching out for pickpockets, especially since you have to carry cash because the shops do not accept credit cards.