The Romance Of The Grand Tour

100 Years of Travel in Southeast Asia

Tales of Asia II – Batavia (Jakarta) HIGHLIGHTS

Posted on October 25, 2015 by Kennie Ting

Highlights from the second Tales of Asia talk on Old Jakarta, at the Toa Payoh Public Library, Singapore on 25 October 2015 are here. A link to entire talk to follow soon.

A link to the full talk is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oD81C_LExjo

[The Romance of the Grand Tour – 100 Years of Travel in Southeast Asia is available now at all major bookstores in Singapore, Southeast Asia, Hong Kong and London. Find it also at http://www.amazon.co.uk, http://www.amazon.com, http://www.waterstones.com and http://www.bookdepository.com.

Tales of Asia II – Batavia (Jakarta), 25 Oct, Sunday, 2 – 3 pm, Toa Payoh Public Libary

Posted on October 19, 2015 by Kennie Ting

The Amsterdam Gate, Old Batavia.

Part II of Tales of Asia features the canal city of Batavia, capital of the former Dutch East Indies, and better known today as the Indonesian capital of Jakarta.

Join me as we journey back in time to explore a Jakarta that you’ve never seen before. Together we will…

Trace the history and origins of the Dutch East India Company – the Vereenigde Oost-indische Compagnie, or V.O.C.
Explore the former walled city of Batavia and Batavia castle, and uncover how the Dutch built Batavia to resemble Amsterdam, complete with canals and bridges.
Visit major landmarks of Old Batavia and hunt down what remains of these landmarks in today’s Jakarta
Take a leisurely tour through Weltevreden – Batavia’s leafy suburbs and learn more about the mixed (“mestizo”) Indies architecture
Come face to face with the Indische – the Dutch-Eurasian peoples that lived in Batavia, spoke Malay and wore saroeng kebaya.

…amongst other things.