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Jalan Jaksa in central Jakarta is a historic street that housed students of the Jakarta Law Academy during Dutch times. In the late 1960s the street developed in quite another direction when it became famous among international backpackers and the first budget hotel in the country was established there. With the addition of several more hostels and cheap hotels it became the central point from which backpackers took off to other destinations in the country. In the mid 1990s a street festival was started to popularize the area further and to celebrate the culture of the Betawi people who are indigenous residents of Jakarta. The 400 meter road now has 27 budget hotels and hostels and hundreds of rooms rented by local residents, restaurants, money changers, pubs, laundries, bookstores and travel agencies and is home to several interesting long term residents.

The street festival takes place over three days from 4 in the afternoon to midnight on Friday and Saturday and from 10pm to midnight on Sunday. During the festival the street is closed to traffic .The festival is also a short in the arm for Betawi culture which is on the wane as Jakarta becomes more cosmopolitan. It is also an opportunity to introduce urban youth to dying traditions. Many visitors agree that the festival is the best place to sample Betawi food in the form of brightly coloured glutinous cakes, soups, stews and noodle dishes hawked by street vendors. A photographic exhibition of old Jakarta, Jalan Jaksa and Kebon Sirih area as they were in the 1930s give the festival an interesting perspective. Watching demonstrations on making traditional paper lanterns, batik and local crafts, cheering on participants of ‘Paland Pintu’ traditional martial arts performances, shopping for cheap souvenirs and watching tattoo artists at work are some of the things that festival goers could do. Parades of local beauties accompanied by traditional drummers, dancers, and life sized puppets or ‘ondel ondel’ and Tanjidor or Betawi orchestras are also a part of the action. Traditional plays are enacted on the three stages set up in the middle of the street and local bands take the stage to play Indonesians pop songs late into the night.

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