Like Orchard Towers in Singapore, Jakarta’s Blok M with its famous group of girlie bars is probably the most popular place for western men in the city to meet women offering play for pay. As with Orchard Towers I’m not totally sure why that is since there are so many better options around. Alas the place gets mentioned quite a bit so I would be remiss if I did not report on it.
Blok M is easy to find with the help of a taxi driver. Since taxis are how most visitors get around that means its easy to find in general. Nearly every driver knows the place though they usually call it Jalan Palatehan since “Blok M” is a large area that holds a lot more than a street with a few bars.
The area that would concern most readers of this site is a portion of Palatehan Street that is home to a small row of bars that have quite frankly seen much better days. While this area used to be a little better I don’t ever remember it being anything spectacular. Nowadays it seems to be barely kicking along outside of a few choice spots.
Blok M Bars
Everest is a large bar at the top of the street with plenty of seats and pool tables open to play but not much in the way of customers or liveliness. A few freelancers may find their way in and out of this place but the main draw seems to be the female waitstaff which is rather large considering the kind of business the place gets. A few of the women are very good looking and they are all friendly. Service is good and drinks are reasonable at around 3 US dollars each but it is more of a slow paced watering hole than anything else at this point. It used to fill up with women most nights but it seems those days are gone.
Top Gun has been around for ages and has always been one of the most popular bars on the strip. It fills up with dozens of freelancers but like the bar itself many of them are starting to show serious signs of aging. Some are definitely approaching 50 years of age. A select few are much younger and more attractive. The atmosphere depends on the people inside. Most nights the bar draws a good crowd with lots of foreign customers. The service from the waitstaff is average at best but the drink prices are the lowest on the strip. An ever present odor combines with the presence of roaches to show that this isn’t the place to take your boss for a business dinner. The best thing about the bar is that the music is played at a reasonable level so that conversations can actually be had, at least until the live band takes the stage and does its best to rock out.
My Bar used to be lively at times but at this point it’s a wonder the place remains open at all. The last time I poked my head inside there was nothing but a single male bartender and a bunch of mosquitoes to greet me.
D’s Place is without a doubt the liveliest bar on the block. It’s longer than it may appear at first glance stretching well into the back space. Even with a large bar, plenty of seating on the floor and a row of booths on the right side, the place still manages to fill up fast and get crowded enough that just moving around can take some doing. There is a small stage with poles where a team of women in their 20’s take turns dancing all night long. They aren’t nearly as hot as the dancers at Malioboro and they don’t normally get nude either but they are definitely among the best looking women on Jalan Palatehan. The dancers do get into the dancing which is a nice change from the boring two step seen at a lot of Thai go go bars nowadays but once the women are off stage many quickly light up cigarettes and lose their smiles. Some freelancers roam around on the floor with a few being probably 60 years old or more. At least the oldest of the old only try to push shoulder massages though it’s still a little sad. A VIP room in back is available for guys willing to pay to have some of the dancers join them for a bit of fun. It’s also possible to take some gals away for a jaunt.
Other things
Most other bars on the street are no longer worth visiting for anything more than a regular drink, but even that can be had at an endless supply of nicer places in other parts of the city.
Freelancers in the bars of Blok M will ask for wildly different amounts of money depending on any number of factors. Only they could tell you how they come up with their quoted prices. I can’t even give an average rate for the area since it seems to vary so much. I’ve heard of anything from 300,000 ($26 US) to 1,200,000 ($103) Rupiah for an overnight session with the lowest prices requiring negotiation for anyone who isn’t a regular that the gals already know. The dancing gals at D’s ask for 1.5 million to head out and less to stay inside though room fees are extra.
The most interesting venue in the area these days is probably Maribaya massage on the 6th floor of the Hotel Melawai where a host of women wait for customers looking for full service fun. The rate is 600,000 Rupiah ($52 US). Two service providers for each punter is not considered out of the norm. It’s not the cleanest place in the world but it’s an easy to navigate set up and the women are on average as good or better looking than the freelancers in places like Top Gun. Maribaya opens at around noon while the bars don’t get hopping until at least 9 PM.
Jalan Palatehan isn’t nearly as bad as streets like P Burgos in Manila when it comes to scammers and street vendors selling fake Viagra. Nowadays a punter can roll back and forth between bars all night without seeing more than five or six beggars or sellers in total. On some nights they might not see any.
The only aspect of the “street scene” really worth mentioning are the local guys who put a tax on the taxis that pass through. Whether they are parked or slowly driving through they apparently have to hand over some money which in turn inspires them to ask for high set fares from punters rather than turning on the meter. Many people seem not to care about the extra charge but those who want to get around it can walk a few meters to the main road and flag down a cab of their own.
I’m currently in Jakarta (it’s my first time in the city) and I’ve been making repeated visits to Blok M, because my hotel happens to be only 10 minutes away by taxi (I had no idea when I booked, it’s a happy coincidence). So far I’ve been with 4 different girls (all young and fairly attractive, including a hot 20 year-old with a very tight body) and I never paid more than 600,000 rupiah for a session. Many of the girls seem content even with 500,000. Anything less than that, though, and your offer will likely be refused (on a couple occassions I offered 300,000 and the gals acted as if they were offended). Only one girl (one of the dancers at D’s) asked for an exorbitant 1,500,000 on which I didn’t agree, though in fairness she was very attractive. One night I even pulled one for free.
Thanks for the comment. The place does have its followers but I just don’t see the value when guys can have fun with an Indo lady for 325,000 at places like King Cross and Malioboro, and two ladies will go with a man for 525,000 at a place like Terminal. Those ladies are all of equal or superior looks than what one would find in Blok M bars in my experience. I’d imagine the popularity of these places among Westerners has to do with people looking for English ability, GFE, bars or some combination of all three. Cheers.
My Bar is still lively at times. It usually gets crowded after 2:00 AM, it’s the “afterparty” place where everybody goes after D’s and Everest close down. I saw some very good-looking girls in there.
D’s Place is my personal favorite. The action happens mostly on Wednesdays and weekends; the other days it’s more slow-paced, if not empty.
Top Gun is always full, but many of the women are old and the music is too loud for my liking.
It’s worth mentioning that a few girls can be found on the street itself, too, although they tend to have pimps (the true freelancers walk inside the bars). I had a positive experience with one such girl.
Cheers.
Thanks for the comment. I know of the limited action on the street. Cheers.
It’s me again, for a quick update. I have an entertaining anecdote to share. Yesterday I picked up a 5th girl from Blok M (in My Bar, to be precise) and had a terrible experience. Her pussy stinked, she had the worst hygiene of any girl I’ve ever been with. It was such a huge turn-off that I couldn’t even get a full erection. She didn’t have any condoms with her, luckily I had a spare one, that I insisted on putting on even though she was pressuring me for raw dog (!!!). To make things even worse she was drunk as f**k, as soon as we got to my place she blacked out and started snoring. I had to wait two sleepless and boring hours before she was feeling well enough to try and have sex, but like I said her foul pussy made it impossible. What a shame, she was only 20 y.o. and petite, but she absolutely didn’t know how to take care of herself. She threw out in my bathroom, then I told her to leave and called her a taxi. She demanded the money anyway and started throwing a tantrum, I was afraid she would wake up the neighbors with her screams so I paid her to leave and avoid making a scene.
I’m done with Blok M. Time to check out Malioboro.
I went to few bars around, each had a live band. Top gun was great selling a bintang for 50,000 and there were only a couple of hot girls when I was there. I think one tried to charge me 1 mil for a ST and 2 mil for a LT first and I haggled down to 700 and 1 mil right away but I felt too much and didn’t feel safe with freelancers so I decided not to and just enjoyed the band which was damn good. There were some older chicks in 30’s but I didn’t see anyone over 40 or 50 selling pussy and no one was aggressive like those in Thailand. A pretty relaxed ambiance that I liked the most!!
Across the street was one KTV owned by a Korean biz with reasonable rates to rent the room, something like 500,000 an hour and it can be good for a group of friends. Many attractive girls were waiting outside but none of them tried to eye contact customers and smile. I think I will have to get used to this from Thailand. It is a little bit similar to the scenes in Laos in girls attitude. In Bali, many girls were smiling at me and tried to eye contact me but Jakarta is a different story and I didn’t feel like doing anything with someone who wasn’t happy doing the thing.
Thanks for the report. Cheers.
Currently visiting the city and sussing what’s available. Anyone happy for me to tag along?
Top Gun closed permanently last November. With the largest bar gone, the strip now feels like a ghost town. There are fewer girls than ever around. Even the taxi mafia seem to have given up, they hardly bother people anymore.
D’s Place still draws customers, but it’s become more tame compared to a couple years ago. Their infamous “Vip” room doesn’t seem to get much use these days, in two visits I didn’t see anybody get in or out of it. I just read somewhere else that you now need a keycard to get in, and it costs 250k Rp (with the girl to be paid separately). It’s a shame, because the room used to be free and available to anyone. The seediness of the place is gone for the most part, it almost feels like a regular bar now. There’s nothing too over the top going on, just a bunch of people sitting around and looking bored. Hard to believe that D’s Place started out as a place with nude dancing and BJs in the toilets! There are 6 or 7 dancers at the moment, they are kinda hot, but they seem to ignore customers for the most part. It takes some serious effort to get any attention from them. Freelancers walk in from the street, as was always the case, but there are fewer of them and they are old/unattractive for the most part.
My Bar is still the same, but with fewer women, and it doesn’t get going until past midnight. There’s a new-ish place called Octagon at the start of the street; apparently it’s an expensive KTV catering to the Japanese. I couldn’t be bothered to check it out, but they seem to have some fairly young and attractive girls there.
Thanks for the updated and detailed report. I haven’t been able to research the area in some time. Cheers.
Maribaya Massage is no more. Permanently closed. There goes another one of my favorite spots in South Jakarta.
Thanks for the report. There have been a lot of changes in Jakarta recently. Cheers.
Even 7-Eleven has disappeared. They have closed every single one of their stores in Jakarta. You couldn’t make this stuff up.
Yes they packed up about a year ago. They couldn’t make it in Southeast Asia’s largest economy apparently. I doubt the ban on alcohol sales helped much. Cheers.
I went to Missouri (massage) next to Aquarius on a sunday night after dinner (around 7pm).
The place is upstairs to a ramen shop.
You can choose the girls from a tablet… the boys there will ask if you like slim or big, the place was too dark and i didnt wear my glasses to get an accurate assessment, but most of the girls were 7 at best.
I chose a slim one, she was okay and friendly. BJ was with condom and so-so.
575k full service, i gave her 100k tip without pressure.
Will try aquarius next.
Thanks for the detailed report! I haven’t heard anything from this neck of the woods in some time. Cheers!
I have some great memories from Blok M / Jalan Falatehan going back to the 2000s. The bars were lively and contained a mix of expats, freelancers and even some regular Indonesians out drinking. I revisited this street a few weeks ago (January 2024), and sadly it has continued to decline. There are only 2 bars open now – My Bar and An’s Place. My Bar was completely empty of customers and girls at 10:30pm on a Saturday night. An’s Place on the other hand had some life. The bar has sexy dancers who are easy on the eye, and willing to entertain customers for reasonably priced drink purchases. The services provided to me were similar to those found in a place like Windmill in Pattaya. I didn’t inquire about taking girls back to the room or other services, because I was recharging from a session with a masseuse from my nearby hotel.
Block M was certainly something 3 decades ago. Then again that could be said of many places and things around the world. Your report is interesting and intriguing. I honestly expected that there would be no more bars of any kind in Blok M these days. I am glad to find out some are still going.