Have you ever notice that in every train station in this city there is at least a traditional market nearby ? the Dutch Indies Government had built jakarta’s railway with also built a market nearby for each station to maintain a good trading distribution in this city. Most people use commuterline everyday to go to work. But for certain people, they use commuterline regularly to go to the traditional market or a shopping center nearby.

One of the biggest market in jakarta is Pasar Tanah Abang or Tanah Abang Shopping Center, located nearby the Tanah Abang train station, and also the Dutch cemetery or now known as Museum of Incription Park and Textile Museum. Tanah Abang is a shopping heaven, you can find thousands of local vendors in here selling various kinds of items, from textile, woman fashion, bags, shoes, and many more, most people prefer shopping to Tanah Abang since it offers various kind of items with cheapest price. Tanah abang has been well-known as a major tourist attraction from many countries.

Since 2003, Tanah Abang had been rebuilt, and now Tanah Abang’s Blok A and Blok B are the biggest place and main location for trading and shopping, but the parking lot at both of this places are very limited, and it would be wiser to go to Tanah Abang using public transportation such as Bus or Commuterline.

So here a few tips to go shopping to Tanah Abang using Commuterline;

• Arrive early, “early birds always get the worms”, check Commuterline’s schedule for morning train, go to Tanah Abang early in the morning, because if you arrive late in the afternoon, the market is already crowded and it would be very hectic and chaos during peak hour.
• Don’t bring too much cash in your bag, there are many ATMs located at Tanah Abang, and some of the vendors accept credit card or debit card for payment, so for safety no need to bring too many cash at the train.
• Wear comfortable suit and shoes, don’t wear too many accessories or jewelries
• If you buy too many items and couldn’t carry them by yourself, you can pay for porter’s service to carry all of your items, and some vendors or retailer are happy to help you with shipment using cargo or expedition, so you don’t have to bring all your stuffs to train.
• Don’t bring kids along with you, the market could be really crowded and hectic, and kids would not enjoy this.

So if you looking for a different way to spend your weekend, rather than going to malls again, try go to local markets such as this famous Tanah Abang with using commuterline. Happy weekend !

How to get here (see the route map):

From Juanda / Gondangdia / Cikini go to platform 2 and take the Red Line/Blue Line heading to Bekasi/Depok/Bogor and stop at Manggarai. Go to platform 2/5 and take the Yellow Line heading to Angke/Jatinegara and stop at Tanah Abang. Take a 11 minutes walks to the southwest

From Sudirman go to platform 1 and take the Yellow Line heading to Angke/Jatinegara and stop at Tanah Abang. Take a 11 minutes walks to the southwest

see the link map or the map below