Jakarta.... Its just crazy there.

Just got home from one of Asia's maddest city, Jakarta, Indonesia. After spending 5 days in Jakarta, I don't think I'll ever complain about life in Kuala Lumpur. The saying "there is no place like home" rings so true. With a population of 240 million and 14 million in Jakarta alone, its a wonder why the Island of Java hasn't sank yet. Just hours before I landed, there was a tremor or 'mild' earthquake that shook the city. In fact, just one day before, off the southern coast of Java, there was a quake that started a Tsunami that killed 700 people! My friend Anderson, whom I stayed with, failed to mention any of these events. Indonesia is one of those countries that has a currency that goes into the millions much like the Italian Lira once did. Changing a 1000 Ringgit gave you 2.5 million Rupiah. You could literally roll around in money and imagine it was U.S dollars, just for kicks. It took some getting use to, buying a can of Coke for 5000 Rupiahs and not freaking out. Fun.

Then of course there is the traffic. A two hour drive from Jakarta East to Jakarta West is not uncommon. Imagine 2 lanes with 6 cars trying to squeeze through. Heards of Wilderbeasts come to mind. Its a game of death. Drivers seem to set the car in the general direction they want to go, close their eyes and floor it. Honk the horn all the way and try to avoid the motorcyclists. The level of skill involved is immense. Yoda would be proud as you use 'The Force'. You need to know your way around as road signs are not high on the govenments to-do-list. Just a side note, in five days, I saw 3 accidents, involving motorbikes hitting cars or vice versa, all fatal. Again, with that high a population, Indonesia can afford to lose a few. Boo.

This is truly a bizarre place. The city is littered with statues and fountains commemorating who knows what. Speaking of litter, its not the cleanest of cities. I guess you can't blame them, I mean, with 14 million people, that is a lot of shit that gets flushed down toilets. I notice that the color of water in the sewage and river canals were black. I mean Black as in so damn dirty that its reached the end of the color spectrum. Yummy. Imagine falling into that, I think if you don't die of god-knows-what-disease, you'd die of the shear shock of being in such filth.

Then there's the safety issue. Everywhere you look, you were constantly reminded of the riots and bombings that occurred. Many residential areas have high fences with security guards posted at the entrances. Heck, I even had to go through a metal detector at McDonalds. Them Big Macs ain't that good! No quarter pounders by the way. Everyone seems to order the Chicken meal with rice. Rice, you want rice go stay in the paddy fields.

Jakarta has its very own Disneyland right smack in the city called Dufan. Its quite interesting to see how they copy Disneyland and come close to breaking copyright laws. You can clearly see that the mascot is based on one of the dwarves from Snow White but with a bigger nose and a cap. Whoopee! The song 'Its a small world after all' had just enough changes in the notes to be annoyingly different. The water ride looked curiously similar to the Log ride at Disney. Get this, at the souvenir shop, you can buy hideous Halloween masks like the mask from Scream and Night of the Living Dead. What the hell? Yup... Hell.

Overall, I did enjoy my stay there. The shopping was good. The local female talent was decent. The people when not angry with the Chinese, were friendly, hospitable and helpful. My visit to the Flower Gardens at Puncak (Peak Mountain) was very relaxing. I love the fact that you can bribe a policeman to move street vendors so that you can park your car. Well done Prince Ando! Jakarta as a city, is shit. Too many people. Too big a gap between rich and poor. Too damn dirty. But Indonesia as a country, has so much to offer. Bali for instance is prime example. Bali incidentally is where Australians go when they 'Go overseas'. And of course Indonesian workers. They'll do anything for so little money, but it is far more money than what they would get in their own country. Is no wonder they flock overseas for work when the alternative is a card board box under the bridge. They are in fact, the back bone of the labor force in Malaysia, without the Indons, we'd be screwed. Who's gonna wash the dishes and tap our rubber trees? We certainly won't.

I recommend a visit. Jakarta...... so crazy, you love it.