Glodok, Jakarta's Chinatown

Glodok has been the Chinese quarter of Jakarta since the eighteenth century and remains a working district rather than a themed street. The main artery is a covered lane of food stalls where the cooking is Chinese-Indonesian: pork and rice, thick noodle soups, siomay dumplings, fried kwetiau and a sweet ginger soup with rice balls. Around it sit herbal medicine shops with drawers stacked to the ceiling, funeral goods, bakeries selling pineapple cake, and at the centre a temple where smoke from coiled incense hangs under the roof. Petak Sembilan is the busiest of the lanes. The whole area is best covered slowly and on foot.

What you actually see

• Petak Sembilan lane - the densest run of food stalls and produce sellers.
• Herbal shops - dried medicine drawers stacked from floor to ceiling.
• The old temple - hanging incense coils and red candles in a smoky hall.
• Bakeries - pineapple cake and other Chinese-Indonesian pastry made on the premises.

When to go

Mornings, before ten, when the produce is fresh and the lanes are cool enough to walk. Food stalls run from breakfast into the afternoon and some reopen at night. Chinese New Year, in January or February, brings lion dances and packed temples, and is the one time the district is genuinely crowded with visitors.

Honest expectations

Glodok is not tidied up for visitors: the lanes are cramped, wet underfoot and shared with motorbikes, and parts smell strongly of the wet market. Live animals are sold in some sections, which people find upsetting. Pork is common here and clearly marked, unlike most of Jakarta. Very little English is spoken and few stalls have written menus.

Nearby

Kota Tua and the old harbour warehouses are within walking distance to the north.