PEKAN RAYA JAKARTA (PRJ) 2017
Friday, June 30, 2017
So last night I went to one of Jakarta's biggest annual event: PEKAN RAYA JAKARTA (PRJ) 2017, I have missed the event for two years and I think it's good to be check out what's in store this year, especially it's their 50th anniversary this year! To be honest I kinda expected something different, but not really sure what it is either, ok sorry I am getting so unclear but I hope you know what I mean.
Ok, first things first, we gotta talk about getting here, in case I have first timers reading this blog post. Pekan Raya Jakarta or PRJ or Jakarta Fair is an annual event (and Indonesia's largest fair event) that's run and owned by Central Cipta Murdaya (which is owned by one of Indonesia's richest: Siti Murdaya) and has been running for decades since 1967. PRJ is located in JIExpo Kemayoran complex but my mom told me that the event was used to be held in Monumen Nasional (Monas). JIExpo is normally functioned as an exhibition spot or simply for wedding receptions, getting here's very easy actually you can drive or take taxi, but if you plan to go alone and meet your friends here, I seriously recommend taking Gojek (motor taxi) like I did last night, it's just that the queue for your cars to get in can be very crazy, but I still appreciate the management's idea to provide parking space for 10.000 cars and 20.000 motorcycles, but still if you take Gojek you can arrive right in front of the building complex and straight to the ticket queue.
FYI the entrance fee varies from IDR 20.000 on Mondays, IDR 25.000 on Tuesdays-Fridays and IDR 35.000 on National holidays. Make sure that you keep the ticket and flyer with you because you can trade them with welcome drinks and snacks. Find these booth belows with "TUKARKAN TIKET MASUK ANDA", they're all over the complex!
Since most Jakartans are still on the holiday season, as expected, last night was SUPER PACKED that I literally felt like I was about to faint at the beginning, so I went to find the HALL areas where they're equipped with air conditioning to make me feel better (and keep me sane) but it was seriously humid.
So what's so special about PRJ? Of course EVERYTHING, especially if you're a passionate shopper who never want to miss good deal as almost everything in PRJ is sold far cheaper than the normal price. Retail drinks, snacks, furnitures, cars, motorcycles, gadgets, beauty stuff whatever you name it. Literally almost everything that you're looking for is in PRJ. If you follow me on Instagram and watch my Instagram Stories you know I am quite a shopaholic (and I admit it), so I honestly didn't really go here to shop even though when I look at certain gadget prices, skin care and shit everything was crazy cheaper than normal retail prices but I didn't feel like I need something and not to mention I couldn't stand the cashier queue, I went here with my best friends just to check out stuff, but I went home with one powerbank (buy one get one deal), one iPhone lighting cable for stock (because it's fuckin expensive at their official store and I am tired of spending money to buy them!!!) and one travel charger.
If you're more into the beauty, furniture and gadget stuff then go straight to the HALL A-D because that's where they are!
Ok without further ado, please enjoy the pictures that I took.
I made the entrance from HALL 2B and not too far from it was this Gambir Expo gate.
As what I mentioned above, almost all participating brands here offer TERRIFIC DEALS that they almost never do normally. I notice that Teh Pucuk Harum is one of the biggest sponsors this year and they're selling their drink pack (of six) for only IDR 15k (normally it's around 24k) an when it comes to drinks and snacks, you don't actually need to come straight to their booths because they're selling them freely all over the expo and usually in sets/packs.
Somehow I kinda recommend you guys to go at night time because all the lights and stuff are seriously making the ambiance more vibey and alive.
Afung spotted! When it comes to meatball soup they're freaking legendary and if you're a tourist here, they're certainly not to miss.
The "YXG Kuy" (Yakali gak yuk) and "TAKIS" tho!
The entrance to the Pasar Malam Piknik Kuliner where along the way you can take photos at this humble town diorama and 'nyeleneh' road sign. Talk about Indonesian humour lol!
FOR FOOD RELATED STUFF IN PRJ KEEP ON SCROLLING TOWARDS THE END BUT I RECOMMEND YOU GUYS TO KEEP ON GOING WITH THE FLOW
Mini theme park is also installed here for fun sake!
Flying fox
Mini Ferris wheel
WHAT TO EAT HERE?
Of course I wouldn't skip the food topic as that's what I do best (for myself LOL!), ok so to be honest I didn't really explore the food scene but I am still giving you some recommendations of the little snacks, foodcourt or basically what to sample here, but do note that I don't exactly know where they're precisely located because when it comes to PRJ it's wherever your feet take you.
I mentioned earlier that you should keep your flyer that comes with the tickets because then you can trade it with the little light bites with a little top up.
Very typical PRJ and very easy to find. Kerak Telor is one of this city's as well as Betawi's signature dishes. Normally duck egg cooked with rice then topped with coconut ebi and fried shallots. MUST TRY!
SAMYANG CAFE
Samyang is an instant noodle brand made viral and their challenge videos are all over the internet and the brand certainly didn't want to miss the business opportunity and actually open a Samyang Cafe here. The Samyang cafe is located around the Chatime and Pizza Goreng area, more below.
CHATIME
PIZZA GORENG by INDOSAJI
That cheesepull tho!
TAUGE GORENG
Not too far from the Gambir Expo entrance you can find Texas Fried Chicken too. In case you need the info LOL!
PASAR MALAM PIKNIK KULINER
One of the largest food court/food complex here where you can find various snacks/light bites/trending food and dessert. Here you can also find a Tarot reading booth and Rumah Hantu (ghost house). FYI you're required to convert your money to coins for payment here.
hashtag #kesel!
Their ghost house is pretty legendary and has always been there forever! The queue to Rumah Hantu was (as expected) looooooong!
My friend, Aldi, who's getting his Tarot read. I also got mine read and I got terrific news from that! Hopefully it's REALLY happening!
I also notice some brands actually open their own pop-up cafe like this Torabika cafe where you can casually sit around the pop-up cafe and sip on special creations using the Torabika coffee, there are more inside all you need to do is explore!
The difference between the KULINER 50 and PIKNIK KULINER has got to be the kind of food. Somehow KULINER 50 is more to the classic timeless food or short to say, it's more serious. I did have gudeg here for dinner and it was good, but same as PIKNIK KULINER, you're required to convert your money to coins for payment here.
Gudeg Nasi with Sambal Krecek, Egg and Tempe (IDR 35k). This was honestly GOOD.
To be completely frank with myself, I don't think my review did the judgement of the whole PRJ because the complex is so big and filled with so many interesting stuff it could take me three whole days to take pictures of everything and review them all, but seriously when it comes to PRJ I think it's all about exploring everything.
Thank you guys for reading!!!
