Books at the Post Office

In the spirit of exploration that Agung and I have been engulfed in lately, today we are visiting yet another historical place in Jakarta. The difference this time lies in two things: 1. This site has been magically transformed into a modern hangout spot, and 2. We went here on a special event that my dear friend Uli told me about. Without further ado, two weekends ago Agung and I visited Pos Bloc for the first time to check out Patjar Merah Kaget, a book-related event featuring a selection of indie-published as well as used books. The event was held from 4-12 June and we stopped by on the last day.

Opened in October 2021, Pos Bloc is a creative space made to house arts, culture and entertainment located in Pasar Baru, Central Jakarta. It is built and managed by the same company as M Bloc Space located in—you guessed it—the Blok M area. While M Bloc Space revitalised the old money printing factory, Pos Bloc chose a colonial-era post office as its location. The place was first turned into Gedung Filateli, a philatelic operational site in 1997, before it finally became what it is today. Now it houses a number of creative tenants and events that regularly attract young visitors.

In the spirit of exploration that Agung and I have been engulfed in lately, today we are visiting yet another historical place in Jakarta. The difference this time lies in two things: 1. This site has been magically transformed into a modern hangout spot, and 2. We went here on a special event that my dear friend Uli told me about. Without further ado, two weekends ago Agung and I visited Pos Bloc for the first time to check out Patjar Merah Kaget, a book-related event featuring a selection of indie-published as well as used books. The event was held from 4-12 June and we stopped by on the last day.

Opened in October 2021, Pos Bloc is a creative space made to house arts, culture and entertainment located in Pasar Baru, Central Jakarta. It is built and managed by the same company as M Bloc Space located in—you guessed it—the Blok M area. While M Bloc Space revitalised the old money printing factory, Pos Bloc chose a colonial-era post office as its location. The place was first turned into Gedung Filateli, a philatelic operational site in 1997, before it finally became what it is today. Now it houses a number of creative tenants and events that regularly attract young visitors.

Reliving History

Architecturally, nothing about the old building was changed. A lot of its original art-deco charm has been well preserved, such as the stained glass windows on the façade, the marble floor and the steel frame structures. At the time I didn’t realise it—since it was so crowded—but looking at the pictures now, this building reminds me a great deal of the Österreichische Postsparkasse in Vienna, Austria. Okay, maybe not too much, but the vibe is there—and their both post offices, so you see the resemblance. The façade itself is very similar to Jakarta Kota Railway Station in, well, Kota Tua right here in Jakarta.

Aside from taking gorgeous photos—which we didn’t really get to do enough of, due to the event—there are actually a lot of things you can do here at Pos Bloc. First off, you can learn about the history of the place. You can marvel at the architectural history held within its walls, like I just did, for instance. You can also explore the vault and P.O. boxes that are still kept intact here. Afterwards, there are a number of creative and antique tenants available here as well, including Damn! I Love Indonesia, Sovlo and Via Bata Via. Last but not least, the place comes with a photobox—they call it photomatic—equipped with vintage-looking filters to make your photos look like something out of the ’70s or something.

Books, Books and Books Galore

Reliving History

Architecturally, nothing about the old building was changed. A lot of its original art-deco charm has been well preserved, such as the stained glass windows on the façade, the marble floor and the steel frame structures. At the time I didn’t realise it—since it was so crowded—but looking at the pictures now, this building reminds me a great deal of the Österreichische Postsparkasse in Vienna, Austria. Okay, maybe not too much, but the vibe is there—and their both post offices, so you see the resemblance. The façade itself is very similar to Jakarta Kota Railway Station in, well, Kota Tua right here in Jakarta.

Aside from taking gorgeous photos—which we didn’t really get to do enough of, due to the event—there are actually a lot of things you can do here at Pos Bloc. First off, you can learn about the history of the place. You can marvel at the architectural history held within its walls, like I just did, for instance. You can also explore the vault and P.O. boxes that are still kept intact here. Afterwards, there are a number of creative and antique tenants available here as well, including Damn! I Love Indonesia, Sovlo and Via Bata Via. Last but not least, the place comes with a photobox—they call it photomatic—equipped with vintage-looking filters to make your photos look like something out of the ’70s or something.

Books, Books and Books Galore

But today we didn’t come for the architecture, history or even tenants; today we came for the books. If it wasn’t for my dear friend Uli, I wouldn’t have known about this event. Like a lot of places I’ve explored as of late, Pos Bloc used to feel like universes away from me. Now, with the existence of the MRT, it has felt a lot more accessible—which is a good thing because, as it turns out, they tend to hold cool events like this pretty regularly.

As I’ve already mentioned, today’s event is called Patjar Merah Kaget—a pun on the term ‘pasar kaget’ which technically means popup markets. Patjar Merah itself is an initiative that often holds book festivals and popup markets in various places, collaborating with a number of indie publishers to put their titles out there and curating preloved international books in a diverse set of genres. There’s bound to be something for everyone.

But today we didn’t come for the architecture, history or even tenants; today we came for the books. If it wasn’t for my dear friend Uli, I wouldn’t have known about this event. Like a lot of places I’ve explored as of late, Pos Bloc used to feel like universes away from me. Now, with the existence of the MRT, it has felt a lot more accessible—which is a good thing because, as it turns out, they tend to hold cool events like this pretty regularly.

As I’ve already mentioned, today’s event is called Patjar Merah Kaget—a pun on the term ‘pasar kaget’ which technically means popup markets. Patjar Merah itself is an initiative that often holds book festivals and popup markets in various places, collaborating with a number of indie publishers to put their titles out there and curating preloved international books in a diverse set of genres. There’s bound to be something for everyone.

What I love about this event is how unique the books displayed seem to be. There are only very few titles that I recognised, while the rest instantly piqued my interest. There are a wide selection of genres to choose from: fiction & poetry, social & politics, self-help and art & culture. In all honesty, all these genres intrigue me and I did go around the area grabbing books left and right. Alas, in the end, I’d have to narrow down my choice to just two books—should’ve been one, actually, but I just couldn’t resist. The two (lucky) titles are Cerita-Cerita Jakarta (fiction) and Bermula dari Cerita Abah (culture). I might talk about them in more details in upcoming posts.

Aside from their book market, Patjar Merah Kaget also has an array of speakers appearing every weekend. They invited book influencers, authors, translators and illustrators to speak about their relationships with books, their experience publishing their books and what the readers can expect from them in the future. The day I happened to visit was when Puty Puar was scheduled to speak—in fact, she was literally right there as I made my rounds! She is the figure behind my favourite online book club, so it was surreal to see her in the flesh.

Hand-me-down dress + shirt // Sejauh Mata Memandang scarf // Mount Island mask // Nappa Milano loafers // old socks // vintage purse // photos by Agung

On Another Page

What I love about this event is how unique the books displayed seem to be. There are only very few titles that I recognised, while the rest instantly piqued my interest. There are a wide selection of genres to choose from: fiction & poetry, social & politics, self-help and art & culture. In all honesty, all these genres intrigue me and I did go around the area grabbing books left and right. Alas, in the end, I’d have to narrow down my choice to just two books—should’ve been one, actually, but I just couldn’t resist. The two (lucky) titles are Cerita-Cerita Jakarta (fiction) and Bermula dari Cerita Abah (culture). I might talk about them in more details in upcoming posts.

Aside from their book market, Patjar Merah Kaget also has an array of speakers appearing every weekend. They invited book influencers, authors, translators and illustrators to speak about their relationships with books, their experience publishing their books and what the readers can expect from them in the future. The day I happened to visit was when Puty Puar was scheduled to speak—in fact, she was literally right there as I made my rounds! She is the figure behind my favourite online book club, so it was surreal to see her in the flesh.

Hand-me-down dress + shirt // Sejauh Mata Memandang scarf // Mount Island mask // Nappa Milano loafers // old socks // vintage purse // photos by Agung

On Another Page

Afterwards, Agung treated me to traditional popsicles—the only flavour available was durian, so he didn’t get any for himself. The sky was getting dark, so we made our way to the train station to meet up with my old friend Zahra. After two years, she was finally back in Indonesia—making a short stop to Jakarta before continuing on to Cirebon, her hometown.

Zahra has met Agung before, so they kind of know each other by now. She introduced me to her boyfriend—who doesn’t speak Indonesian—so we ended up speaking German for half of our time together. It felt both good and weird to be speaking this tongue I haven’t really done in so long. Agung didn’t get it, but picked things up by context.

While the event was great and we enjoyed looking through the books, it wasn’t the only thing that we were up to that day. First off, we didn’t have lunch at Pos Bloc. We went across the street to Pasar Baru to try Bakmi A Boen. In case you didn’t know, Bakmi A Boen is a pretty legendary noodle parlour that has been around since 1960. You might have seen it in a photo here before, but we haven’t actually gone in then. Located in a narrow alleyway, this gem is definitely hidden.

We both ordered their chicken noodles—extra wonton for me—paired with Liang Teh and lemon tea. They do have a distinct taste designated only for noodles of that era, although I wouldn’t say they were the best. I would even say they were pretty overpriced too.

Afterwards, Agung treated me to traditional popsicles—the only flavour available was durian, so he didn’t get any for himself. The sky was getting dark, so we made our way to the train station to meet up with my old friend Zahra. After two years, she was finally back in Indonesia—making a short stop to Jakarta before continuing on to Cirebon, her hometown.

Zahra has met Agung before, so they kind of know each other by now. She introduced me to her boyfriend—who doesn’t speak Indonesian—so we ended up speaking German for half of our time together. It felt both good and weird to be speaking this tongue I haven’t really done in so long. Agung didn’t get it, but picked things up by context.

While the event was great and we enjoyed looking through the books, it wasn’t the only thing that we were up to that day. First off, we didn’t have lunch at Pos Bloc. We went across the street to Pasar Baru to try Bakmi A Boen. In case you didn’t know, Bakmi A Boen is a pretty legendary noodle parlour that has been around since 1960. You might have seen it in a photo here before, but we haven’t actually gone in then. Located in a narrow alleyway, this gem is definitely hidden.

We both ordered their chicken noodles—extra wonton for me—paired with Liang Teh and lemon tea. They do have a distinct taste designated only for noodles of that era, although I wouldn’t say they were the best. I would even say they were pretty overpriced too.

All in all, I really enjoyed visiting Pos Bloc. It’s definitely a lovely site with its art-deco charm still pretty much intact. I’m such a sucker for art nouveau and art deco buildings. When I went there, my eyes were on the prize— those gorgeous books—so I didn’t really find out more about the place. It turns out, there are so many great locations for photos at Pos Bloc, but I didn’t really wander about to find them. Plus, behind the tribune is currently under construction for phase two of Pos Bloc, so a lot of the area might be inaccessible. Now that I know it’s not as far away as I thought, I might want to come back when there’s nothing going on just because. Maybe.

thanks for reading

All in all, I really enjoyed visiting Pos Bloc. It’s definitely a lovely site with its art-deco charm still pretty much intact. I’m such a sucker for art nouveau and art deco buildings. When I went there, my eyes were on the prize— those gorgeous books—so I didn’t really find out more about the place. It turns out, there are so many great locations for photos at Pos Bloc, but I didn’t really wander about to find them. Plus, behind the tribune is currently under construction for phase two of Pos Bloc, so a lot of the area might be inaccessible. Now that I know it’s not as far away as I thought, I might want to come back when there’s nothing going on just because. Maybe.

thanks for reading