Jakarta, a city of traffic jam

Jakarta is the capital city of Indonesia. It's city where you can find just about anything in Indonesia. To many, especially the wealthy, it's a paradise. To the middle-class it's a city of opportunity. The remaining are marginalized (poor, behind) yet resilient. It's probably the last city I would ever want to live.

Everyone who live or visit the city have one thing in common, they all despice the traffic jam, perhaps one of the worst in the world. With constant heat, high humidity, air polution from vehicle and open sewer, it is almost unbearable to me. Catalytic converter is optional, another contributing factor to the air polution.

My mom took me for shopping and I had quite an adventure on April 20th. We hopped from one bus to another, most of them are mini (more like tiny) buses. We hopped into and out of moving buses, it reminded me of my childhood. It took 4 buses to get to the shopping area, called Glodok, one and an half hours each way. Inside those buses I was sweating like crazy, smelled body odor of very packed passengers (which made it even hotter) mixed with exhaust from vehicles. I don't know how much damage I had done to my lung. But when I looked at those passengers, presumably used those buses on daily basis, their faces were humble and without grudges. The next day I shared my experience with one of my highschool classmates who has been living in Jakarta since we graduated from highschool. He said that's what he and our other classmates went through while they were in college. It makes you think how much we should be content with what we have. How often we complain when we feel a little uncomfortable.

What is considered unthinkable in the United States you may be able to find it in Jakarta. It is similar to what I saw in a TV ads in US, people selling goods during rush hour. I couldn't help myself from shooting my video camera. With slow moving traffic many people are desperate to make a living by selling food, drink, newspaper, etc. They walk on a narrow shoulder (about 3-4 feet or 1m) and between lanes carrying a lot of stuff on their shoulders while inhaling vehicle exhaust smoke constantly, not to mention intense scorching heat and humidity. It was a hard for me to emphatize.

The traffic was not as bad on Sunday. Most businesses and schools open Monday to Saturday. We were cruising on a Pay-toll highway and something caught my eyes. Concrete blocks were placed on both sides of the road and the shoulder on each side was only about 3-4 feet (1 m) wide and yet I saw a car stopped on the left shoulder. Half of the car sticked out into the left lane and I thought it was dangerous especially with high speed vehicles passing by. I was even more stunt to see the driver was taking a pee on the concrete block. That was bizzare, he could be killed. It may sound funny to hear someone get killed taking a pee on a highway. What I saw was not unusual, highway exits are too far apart. Having said that, drivers in Indonesia are very alert and horn is frequently used to avoid accident.