A new walking tour of Jakarta offers visitors a glimpse of China's influence in Indonesia dating back to the 15th century. The tour covers everything from historical buildings and ancient temples to traditional Chinese food. Our correspondent Silkina Ahluwalia takes us around Indonesia's capital city on this Chinatown walking tour.  

This is the real Chinatown of Jakarta, a place that's still unknown to many tourists visiting the city. But a new walking tour is now offering a glimpse into Jakarta's Chinese past. Jakarta Good Guide takes tourists around the city, exploring small alleyways and forgotten areas of the city. Their most popular tour is of Chinatown, an area where there are traditional Chinese-styled houses standing next to modern buildings.

CINDY TAN TOUR GUIDE "This is Chinatown, when people think about it they think it's just a place or a market but this place keeps a very important and long history of Jakarta, which as a Chinese we've been here for ages but nobody realize that."

The history of Chinatown dates back to the 15th century, just like this old temple called Dharma Bhakti. The temple burned to the ground in 2015, but it was immediately rebuilt following the incident. Many places inside the temple are still under construction but its magnificent history still draws hundreds of visitors every day. It's considered one of the biggest and oldest Chinese temples in Jakarta.

CINDY TAN TOUR GUIDE "That's the first building that was built here and it has been here for ages. It shows the history of my grandfather's grandfather coming here and I can relate to that. That's why I like Chinatown so much. When you're here, you feel like you're in China out of China and to me that feels like home."

The tour ends at one of Jakarta's popular alleys to enjoy Chinese cuisine, known as Gloria Alley. Everything from traditional Chinese pastries to the very popular iced coffee in this shop that has been around for more than eight decades. Tourists can truly get a real taste of China.

AKIB TOURIST "I really liked the tour and I really enjoyed it because I went to places I've never been before. We went to places that are not exposed in tourism media. So it's really nice and I learned a lot more about Chinese community in Indonesia. It's fun and I learned so much than I expected I would."

SILKINA AHLUWALIA JAKARTA, INDONESIA "That was quite an experience. We walked through the wet markets, saw a couple of old temples, tried some very delicious Chinese food. It was very interesting to learn about the locally adapted Chinese culture in Indonesia. It just proves that Chinese influence has been around for so long but it still remains strong here."

Chinese-Indonesians make up a significant proportion of the country's population and it will continue to grow for generations. This tour allows visitors to understand that China has played an important role in Indonesia's development for centuries. Silkina Ahluwalia, CGTN, Jakarta.