Sunday Morning Walk: Setu Babakan

When we all could wake up early on Sunday morning, and mostly could because our baby daughter wakes up early everyday including Sunday T_T, I’d like to spend the morning by walking outside in some outdoor spaces. From the nearby place like Banjir Kanal Timur (BKT) and Taman Tebet, until further place like Ancol.

Last Sunday Morning we went to Setu Babakan in Jagakarsa, South Jakarta. Using JORR (Jakarta Outer Ring Road) toll, the place could be reached within 30minutes only from my house by car. If you want to use public transport, you could take the train until Lenteng Agung train station then take blue angkot no.58, or you could take kopaja no.616 from Blok M.

Setu (or Situ, means lake) Babakan is a big lake in the middle of Betawi Culture Village. The main gate 1 is called Bang Pitung, a famous Betawi hero who fought Dutch long time ago. The gate was named after him but actually he was not living in that area. From the main gate until the lake, except residential houses, we could find also Sanggar (workshop/studio) of traditional dance, clothes, etc, and a big building of Betawi Culture Center. At that time, the center was closed for private events so we could not park there and walk around the museum. Instead we parked our car outside the museum directly facing the lake. There was no entrance fee.

The paving block path along the lake was big, and should have been comfortable to walk if only it’s closed for vehicles. It’s very disappointed to see cars and motorcycles passing the path, and we pedestrians should move aside. Our daughter, who just started walking, could not walk freely there because of the vehicles passing by (some of them were even passing fast), and in the end we carried her all the time because afraid she would suddenly walk to the middle of the path.

However the area was really green and the air was really refreshing. Many people came here for jogging, walking, fishing, and eating. There were some water attractions like dragonboats (Rp.10,000/person) and duckboats (I do not know how much it is). And the most important thing is local foods! Along the lake, there were sellers of Kerak Telor, Laksa, Soto Mie, Mie Ayam, Bubur Ayam, Otak-Otak, Bakpao, Toge Goreng, and drinks. I walked for only 30minutes, but then eating Bakpao, Kerak Telor, Mie Ayam and Otak-Otak (oops!). All of them including drinks (coffee and milo) cost us around Rp50,000.

So, where should we go next Sunday Morning?