Gem Market

Today I went with some friends to Pasar Rawanening, more commonly known as the gem market.  There was so much there it was rather overwhelming. It also smelled heavily of smoke despite the no smoking signs everywhere.  I’m not really a jewelry kind of girl so I just went along to see what it was all about.  They had all sorts of things…pearls, fossils, semi-precious stones,etc.  You can buy both polished and raw stones.  There were lots and lots of vendors crammed together.  You can get vastly different price quotes from different vendors.  I had one guy quote me 200,000 IDR for a fossil pendant that I got at another shop for 35,000 IDR.  My friend and I were saying we wish we knew how to say in Bahasa that we are not as dumb or gullible as we might look…lol.
At another vendor, a different friend asked about the price of a beautiful smoky topaz pendant.  The first quote was 795,000 IDR.  She probably could have gotten it for around 500,000 IDR.  She didn’t want to bargain since she wasn’t sure she was ready to buy.    The take home message is definitely ask around and don’t be afraid to bargain. 
I got a hole drilled in my fossil pendant for 10,000 IDR. There is an area for polishing and drilling holes.  I am not sure what kind of clasp I want for my pendant, but at least I have the hole.  The gem market was definitely worth a look. I don’t know that I would need or want to go back.  The traffic getting there and back was pretty bad.  We probably spent 1.5 hours at the market and 3-4 hours getting to and from the market.  It was a fun adventure though. 
  

Wet Market

We have lived in Jakarta for almost 3 years and I have never been to a wet market.  Some of my friends were going this morning so I tagged along. One of my friends said the wet market at Mayestik is probably one of the cleanest ones around.  The market was on the bottom floor of the big white building.  There is a little shop inside that sells pork but no one was there today. There has been a lot of rain lately and many areas around the city are flooded.  It has been difficult for some people to get to work. Anyways, I bought some fish, shrimp, and beef. The prices were much cheaper than at the grocery stores and the quality looked good.  I think I will likely go back at some point.