Jakarta Woes

I hopped off a plane yesterday afternoon (from a Penang weekend holiday) and hopped back onto another plane this morning. Now in Jakarta on a 4-day work trip, which I’m sad to say, is about as exciting as going to the dentist (which is to say, shit). Even though I am technically a Jakarta-ite, I honestly never really quite got a hang of the city. The roads are a convoluted mess, the public transport virtually non-existent, the notorious traffic jam is literally ass-numbing, and considering how many horror stories I have heard with regards to the safety, holing up in my hotel room seems to be really not such a bad idea.

Over here, travelling an hour & a half to get from point A to B seems to be the benchmark for normal. On a typical day of my business trip, I spend more hours in the car than actually having a real meeting. I tell you, if you take all the hours that an average Jakarta-ite spends in the car, multiply that by the city’s population (take the most conservative estimate) , multiply that further by 365 days, I’m convinced that the grand total of hours that has gone into the great black hole of wasted productivity would be enough to build & power a small city, complete with an operating train system (not one that started construction in 2004 and has yet to see the light of day, if you get what I mean).

I’m sure that there are many little gems in this city, waiting to be found. Cosy little nook & crannies hidden underneath its smog-covered facade. But at the rate that my car is going, unfortunately I don’t think I’ll ever get to them!

Image from here