Pokemon Go is not officially out in Indonesia yet, but we’re all playing it and we all want to be the very best – like no one ever was.
The truth is, you’re not going to be the best if you don’t venture outside of your housing complex in search of Pokemon. Even Professor Oak irresponsibly sent away two 10-year-olds to wander around the world to do his bidding and fill out his Pokedex in the original Game Boy games.
But before you take on the world, there are plenty of Pokemon you can catch right here in Jakarta. So we decided to hit up some of the most well known Pokemon GO hotspots in the capital, starting with the National Monument (Monas) in Central Jakarta.
We’ve heard via word of mouth that people have caught some pretty rare Pokemon in Monas. Governor Basuki “Ahok” Tjahaja Purnama even invited Pokemon GO players to explore Monas and various other touristy landmarks in the capital in search of pocket monsters (which will hopefully keep them off the streets and out of forbidden locations like military bases).
So at level 6 young, I went into Monas to see what all the fuss was about and hopefully catch something other than those blasted Pidgeys and Rattatas that are everywhere. Early signs got me hopeful, because this is what the map of Monas looks like:
I counted 38 Pokestops within the fenced in vicinity of Monas, and there were plenty more located in buildings surrounding the area, such as at City Hall and the National Museum. While the Pokestops in Monas are dispersed around the area, many of them are concentrated closer to the obelisk.
At the time of my adventure, 10 lure modules were installed at Pokestops, most of them at the ones closer to the obelisk. I started my journey at the Lenggang Jakarta food court at the south end of Monas, which, thanks to some generous bloke’s lure module, allowed me to catch a few Pokemon while having lunch. They were mostly ordinary bug/bird Pokemon, but one Jigglypuff with a decent CP did bobble along my way.
I then left the comfort of the lure module to walk towards the obelisk. My incense proved to be too tempting for some Pokemon that I had never seen or caught in GO before:
That said, I was less than thrilled to encounter so many Doduos during my walk. There were so many of the two-headed freak-birds that one can easily catch enough to evolve them into its three-headed form, Dodrio (after transferring most of them to the Doduos to the professor in exchange for candy).
In just one hour, I caught 29 Pokemon in Monas. They were:
– Caterpie (3)
– Spearow (1)
– Machop (1)
– Jigglypuff (1)
– Weedle (2)
– Polywag (2)
– Sandshrew (1)
– Doduo (9)
– Paras (1)
– Voltorb (1)
– Goldeen (1)
– Rhyhorn (1)
– Staryu (1)
– Pinsir (2)
– Tangela (1)
– Nidoran male (1)
None of them, however, would have been strong enough to take on the two gyms at Monas prior to power ups and evolution. The two gyms were at the time held by Team Mystic (though there seems to be an intense tussle between them and Team Valor at one point) and were guarded by these intimidating high CP Pokemon (except for the Clefable – it’s just too cute):
So there you have it kids. Who knows what more I could’ve accomplished had the game not drained my phone’s battery (which was fully charged at the beginning of the journey). Aside from catching a record number of Pokemon, by my standards, I also gained enough EXP to go up to level 7 and only narrowly missed levelling up to 8.
Here’s a handy tip: bring a power bank and/or a charger if you want to take on all of Monas as the area is huge. Even if you don’t catch rare Pokemon there, you’re guaranteed to catch enough Doduos to be able to power one up to insane levels.
DISCLAIMER: The writer is just a casual Pokemon GO player and may come off like a Poke-noob in some places in this article.
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