Badminton Holiday in Indonesia - BCA Indonesia Open 2014 at Istora Senayan, Jakarta Indonesia

Just came back from Jakarta after watching the BCA Indonesia Open 2014 live in Istora Senayan Indoor Stadium.

Istora is a huge complex of sporting facilities, including the Bung Karno football stadium.

That day, there's a huge political rally in the stadium, here are the buses bringing the political party supporters to the stadium.

It is my first time in Jakarta, although I visited Indonesia before, particularly Bali.

Now, I can say that I have watch Indonesia Open at Jakarta.

There any many festivities outside the stadium, felt like a carnival.

This year, the Indonesia Open is sponsored by BCA or Bank Central Asia instead of Djarum.

The courts are blacked out, just like the All-England.
It was raining heavily on the 21st June 2014, a mini flood occurs at the main entrance.

Managed to stay a hotel very near Istora Senayan, which is within walking distance.

The crowd support is very partisan, bordering on nationalistic fervor.
The crowd support to the local players is much stronger than those of Malaysia or Singapore, places where I watched live badminton before.
The crowds began singing and chanting some Indonesian songs.
There were some famous Indonesian actresses in the stadium, and the cameramen kept zooming in on them.

Below a match between Wang Shixian vs Ratchanok Inthanon, with the crowd behind Inthanon.

Below is the match between Cheng Xu/Ma Jin vs Local favourites Tantowi Ahmad & Liliyana Natsir aka Butet. Unfortunately for the vocal crowd, Ahmad succumb to the pressure of expectations and lost to the Chinese pair.

After the game, I managed to sample some of the local Indonesian food.

Tried the Indonesian Nasi Goreng (Fried rice) from their kaki lima (hawker) stalls.

And the Indonesia Sate (BBQ skewered meat) with lontong in a restaurant near the FX mall, Senayan.

I didn't managed to buy a lot of stuff at the booth. Managed to get a Djarum shirt...

I didn't watch the finals live, but watched in the hotel Tv channel Trans 7.

Overall, it was an eye opening experience watching live in Indonesia.