An elderly man sitting on a Bajaj parked by the roadside laughed while scrunching up his face

I was walking away from Fatahillah Square and towards the north. There were hardly any people who looked like tourists walking around. To begin with, there weren't many people walking around. I walked silently through the old Batavia, the Kota district, without being accosted by anyone.

Going north from the square, there was a river flowing, heading further north along the river. As I was distracted by the stagnant river, I suddenly felt as if you have wandered into the south of Provence, France. Over the river is a drawbridge like the one depicted in Van Gogh's "Arles's Drawbridge". The Kota Intan Bridge was built in 1628 and converted to a drawbridge in 1938 so that ships could pass under it, making it the only remaining colonial suspension bridge in Indonesia. It may have historical value, but the river below is muddy and visually unkempt.

Go further north with a drawbridge in your sights. Then a Bajaj was parked under the railway viaduct. An elderly man sat in the driver's seat. When he looked at my camera, his face crinkled and he started to laugh.