Jakarta: Hot, Flat, and Crowded.

We arrived in Jakarta later that night. That night, meaning the night after the train ride from our last post. We rode through some gorgeous Javanese landscapes on that ride, and were able to see how large the island truly is. We knew that Southeast Asia's largest city, but we had no idea how massive it really was. Jakarta's traffic is also the stuff of legends, and we had heard about it well in advance. We had no idea that during our week stay here we would spend at least 2 hours a day stuck in traffic. Even with the "easy" maneuvering of a motorbike. Jakarta was our last stop in Indonesia. We spent the week at our friend Halden's house, which was a diamond in the rough: fully equipped with hot showers (something we hadn't had in a long time,) a pool, and a large kitchen to cook in and also for Kara to make her ear "Jamu" (see last post.) Many people had said that Jakarta did not have much to offer for the tourist, but we thought it was important to see the largest and capital city of a nation before leaving. Jakarta is a study in contrast, much like many large cities in developing nations. We found some of the nicest, newest, richest shops, restaurants, and apartments next to some of the most squalid living conditions that we have seen in the last 7 months. Here's Jakarta in a nutshell.

Sprawling metropolis. The city stretches to the horizon in every direction, as seen from the top of the Independence Monument in the center of Jakarta. We learned that approximately 250,000 people move here every year. Many of them, domestic immigrants looking for a better life in the big city, find their new living conditions cramped and dirty, sometimes little better than the rural areas from which they came.

Jakarta is also the political and economic center of all of Indonesia. Most national companies have their headquarters here, giving the skyline modern, abstract shapes from the drafting tables of international architectural firms. Many international companies have bases here as well. This gives Jakarta a sizeable ex-pat community and a more international feel than the rest of Indonesia. Halden, our friend who we stayed with, is one of these ex-pats. A cartographer from Canada, he works for a Canadian mapping company which is mapping the entire world in 3-d, one country at a time. Max was like, WHOA.

The next day was a Sunday, so Halden graciously spent his day off as our guide in our continuing quest to fix our broken Ipod. It might sound ridiculous to spend time doing this, however, if you were traveling for hours on end on horrible transportation, fixing your ipod would be a top priority. After several dead ends, three mega malls, and an hour of Jakarta traffic (all ughs,) we decided to go see a movie. Here is a prime example of the opulent wealth that can be found in this city. This particular mall was filled with Louis Vuitton, Hermes, and other shit that we hate. We shot off paper planes from the top of this 10-storied shopopolis. Halden, pictured at right.

Mall #2: DVD buying has become an addiction. Pirated copies of any DVD can be found in all malls. This is Halden's favorite stall. The ladies were nice to us and would tell us when we picked up a bad quality DVD. They also had Christian music karaoke playing in the background. Luckily no one was singing. Halden says this is the norm for this place.

Coolest movie theater idea ever: assigned seating! We went to go see "Slumdog Millionaire." We all enjoyed it very much. We bought the pirated DVD the next day. It comes complete with Malay, Chinese, English, and Thai subtitles. We found out later that all the subtitles are grossly inaccurate.

The next day, Halden went to work, and we went exploring. Tuk-tuks, a three wheeled motorized cart with a covered roof and a bench behind the driver, are still a means of transport in Jakarta, however they are not allowed on the main highways. They have the advantage of being able to outmaneuver cars but are still a step below having your own motorbike. We took this tuk-tuk to go rent a motorbike for the week. Fun fact: tuk-tuk engines are started with a hand crank, just to complete your mental picture. You usually have to yell to the person squished next to you if you want to communicate during your ride due to the loud engine.

Segway into dirty Jakarta... We went looking for Chinatown. Along the way we found a famous market underneath an overpass somewhere near Chinatown. Looking at this picture brings back smells we wish we could forget. We learned from Halden's roommate who works with the Asia Foundation, that Jakarta has a horrible sewage problem. Only 2%, yes TWO, of Jakarta's residents have proper sewage. About 10% have septic tanks, the rest use small canals that flow into these larger ones that penetrate the city. As Jakarta is situated on the water, this sewage water eventually hits the ocean. Max is having a hard time breathing while looking at this picture.

Max, seen hanging out for a chat with the local authorities at the market.

We made it to Chinatown. We found a vegetarian restaurant there, which was really exciting. We were pleased to have already eaten before venturing out to the rest of the area. The alleyways lining the main street are filled with produce stalls, Chinese medicinal shops, and pretty much the standard Chinatown product selection.

Then there were frogs. Going back deeper into the alleyways, we discovered the live and not so live animal market. Just to be clear, here are some skinned frogs lying in the foreground on a banana leaf. We did not have the pleasure of watching them skin the frogs. Apparently this happens in one swift motion, in order to leave the skins intact. It was difficult for Kara to take these pictures.

It was even more difficult for her to take this picture. Here are some turtles, supposedly lucky and auspicious beings in Chinese culture. It is surprising, then, that they are also eaten.

Produce/trash collection in Chinatown at the end of the day.

Other waste gets thrown into the canals. This water was bubbling. We are not sure why. Seriously, we are getting nauseous looking at this picture. We wish you could smell this to know why.

On a lighter note, we were following Hillary through Indonesia. Here she is with SBY, the president of Indonesia. Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono is his full name. You can understand why everyone, not just foreigners, call him SBY.

Another day in Jakarta. Kara wears super protective helmet and is loving it even though it made her even more sweaty than usual. She took this picture of herself while Maximilian deftly navigated through the bowels of Jakarta's deepest traffic. "Oh man," Max says.

The Independence Monument. It's really huge, we're not exactly sure how tall it is, wait, Max is googling to get the figures....ok, its 137 meters tall. On the bottom level is a very well put together exhibit, consisting over over 40 dioramas that chronicle the nation's history. However they skip Suharto's dictatorship. Max wanted to write presidency. He says, Suharto was the president of Indonesia. He doesn't know what Kara has against that. Suharto was a dictator, she says. We can't live in fear, she says, of not saying what he was. He was a dictator. Technically, he was the president. They also don't cover the succession of East Timor.

You can take an elevator up to the top of the Independence Monument, which has a 360 degree observation deck just below the monument's gold flame.

Back on the ground, Max drives through the traffic along with tuk-tuks, buses, SUVS, motorbikes, semi-trucks, and taxis.

While looking for the historic port of Jakarta, we couldn't help but stumble onto the MASSIVE area of slums near the waterfront. We had read that there was heavy flooding in the weeks before we came and we imagined that the pools of water like this one were leftover from that. Here children play in the water, their backyards. We were about to try and navigate this giant puddle when some friendly residents of this area motioned for us to go "that way," down an alley that led to an awkward 30-minute tour of the shanty town on motorbike. There are no pictures of this because Kara felt that it was weird enough that we were driving through these people's living rooms. To have taken pictures, she felt, would have been supremely disrepectful. Everyone was really nice to us, and could clearly tell we were trying to get out. It didn't help that the motorbike that we had rented was extremely EXTREMELY loud, sputting a long line of exhaust into the faces of all we passed. Oh man. We'll tell you the full story when we get back. Oh man.

Like we said, Jakarta, a city of extreme contrast. Not a 20 minute drive from the area above. SUVs, modern skyscrapers, shiny fountains.

The malls in Jakarta take the strategy of a Las Vegas casino, trying to confuse the shopper as much as possible so they wander, lost, amongst the buying opportunities. Here, Max is seen, slightly frustrated with the nonsensical floor plan. Why are there three ground floors? What the hell is 3a? Where did floor 7 go? Floor 6-9, What does that mean??? We came to this mall to find one of the vegetarian restaurants we had researched. It took over a half hour to find it. Its address was something to the effect of "6A, 32-10."

We found the veggie restaurant. It was good. Max was less unhappy with the system after eating.

The last day in Jakarta, we decided to watch the sunset from the romantic spot of "overpass near Mangga Dua Shopping Center." We had a video to show the madness of the traffic, but it won't load. There are food and beverage vendors who walk through the gridlock, selling everything from bottled water to inflatable football helmets.

We are sad to say we didn't take the boat to our next destination, Malaysia. We chose the healthier, cleaner, faster option. Here Kara can be seen clearly as a foreigner.

Our adventure as foreigners continue in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Thank you Indonesia. We loved every minute of you. All three months. We hope to be back sooner than later, thats for damn sure.

K and M