Good Location End of August 2010, we were in Jakarta and stayed at the Atlet Century Park Hotel, Central Jakarta, as it was near where my husband was conducting a workshop. It is fairly well located within the business and shopping areas. It is called Atlet for athlete as the Senayan stadium(sports events, concerts) and Senayan athletic fields are a five minute walk across the street. As is a shopping mall, the Plaza Senayan.
Cost-Cutting Mindset Once up in the room, we found the fridge locked! And I think this was after we found that we had been given a room with separate beds. The swarthy bell boy was not the most servile of beings and sort of huffed about when we were going to make up our minds. The Jakarta mind-set is much like ours in India-cost cutting can be seen all around.
Hearty Breakfast On the second day I began a routine of pigging out at the free breakfast. The smoking breakfast area had a breathtaking view of the city being on the 16th floor. There was also food for thought as newspapers in Jakarta are as exciting as they used to be in India and as slim. So perching the Jakarta Globe over my sofa arm at some spicy page, I would proceed to demolish two large wholemeal toasts with butter and marmalade or honey or strawberry jam in between bITES_Company of melons, pineapples and paaishwaryasingh23as, washed down with orange, guava or apple juice. To freshen the jaded palate, I would nibble at a selection of strong cheeses and crown this dissipation with some hot coffee with real milk and a cigarette.
Workout@Atlet Lest any frown on this obviously unhealthy turn of events, I hasten to add that I visited the gym half an hour later on most days. This was an exercise in itself as it was situated at one end of the hotel from the outside.
Having forgotten to pack my swimming costume(as also my cell phone charger) I never got to enjoy a swim in the pool, reputed online to be a culture medium of sorts but did try out the less than half of the gym equipment which functioned. An added incentive was the Indian TV channel(Really Indian from India! Ads and all!) perched high on one gym wall, except for the day a grumpy middle aged man from Korea switched to a Korean news channel.
Considerate Hosts The hotel arranged a tour for me-I had thought it was for a group! But it was very nice to be shown around Jakarta in a small bus with a young girl as guide. The reception people always took care to get you a good taxi to go anywhere you wanted.
The VerdictI don’t know if I would go there again had I more choice but I can’t say I didn’t enjoy my time there. I see that the Price range is Rs. 4, 073 -Rs. 6, 046 on Trip Advisor. For that price, it should, perhaps, have been better but the room was quite comfortable and luxurious and the bathroom too. I do not remember major grumbles on my part and I can be very fussy.