"Jakarta Oh Jakarta!" a Jakarta Travel Page by kenningst

A trip here to Jakarta has been a real eye opener as I have gotten myself into seeing how chaotic and polluted a place can be. Now that I have seen Jakarta, I am really glad that I actually stay in Kuala Lumpur.

Traffic jam seems to have already become a lifestyle for the local Jakartarians especially on the peak hours at the Kota area. The streets during the day are always filled with cars, busses, ojek and motorcycle. It is as if 6 million people if trying to and out of Jakarta city at one time, everytime!

I think pollution here is at the all time high. Let’s put it this way. I was there for 4 full days and have never seen the sun. Why? When you look up to the sky, you will see the shape of the sun but then there are no rays of light as it is covered by a layer of dust. It could just be my luck or it could be how it is. When it rains, the streets in Kota will be filled with mud. Also you will find it a little hard to breath when you are around here because of the amount of smoke produced by the automobiles here.

After mentioning the above, Jakarta does have something to offer. 2 things that hits the top of my head are the night scenes and the food.

My fondest memory here in Jakarta is the food. My favorite has been the Bakso, Tahu Semudang, Satay and the masakan padang. Gerobak is available almost on every corner of the street. Good food and very cheap. What else can I say?

My single greatest challenge in Jakarta has been trying to get cheap and decent accommodation. There is only a handful of backpackers place and they are all situated at Jalan Jaksa. Most of the travel guides are pretty gracious when writing about accomodation choices here as a lot of the backpackers places here are so badly maintained that you will not even consider to try to put up for a night. The second level pricing accommodation which is the mid range hotels are priced double the backpackers place.

If you opt for cheaper versus the mid range accommodations, you will have to find a good balance between security & comfort versus price. I was told that the security here in Jakarta is not very good. Thank goodness I found something worth paying for here…