Jakarta the Big Durian - 2013

The city of Jakarta, officially known as the Special Capital Region of Jakarta headed by a Governor, is Indonesia's political, economical and cultural center.

Jakarta is located on the northwest coast of the island of Java, with a population of more than 10 million people, it is the most populous city in Indonesia and in South East Asia, with a land area of 661 Square Kilometers.

Together with the neighboring towns of Bogor, Depok, Tanggerang and Bekasi, Jakarta formed the metropolis of JABODETABEK (JAkarta BOgor DEpok TAnggerang, BEKasi) with a total population of around 28 million people living on a total land area of 6,392 Square Kilometers.

The city has a terrible traffic jam from early morning to late evening not just during work days, but some times during holidays too. Lack of mass rapid transportation has forced most citizens to use their own vehicles i.e. auto cars and/or motor cycles.
An effort has been made to set up a mass public transportation i.e the Transjakarta busway system however considering that it was operated on existing road and limited bus units therefore it failed, so people keep on using their personal vehicle and the roads are getting more and more crowded every day.
The Jakarta government and the central government have planned to develop a mass rapid transportation  (MRT), and a Monorail system.

Further, many parts of the city are heavily  inundated by floods during rainy season, because the level of many parts of the city's land area, especially the northern part, is lower than the sea level, decreasing water reservoir area and clogged waterways.  Although an anti-flood control canal has been built on the eastern part of the city, but it failed to reduce the area effected by the flood.
In every five years, the rain falls much heavier in Jakarta and surrounding area, therefore causing much more devastating floods. The last terrible flood happened in 2007.

Furthermore, the city has so many slum area where the low income citizens i.e. majority of citizens live. beggars/tramps at traffic lights, food hawkers scattered in so many parts of the city, trashes, etc.

Because of the above reasons Jakarta has been given the nick name The Big Durian i.e the name of tropical fruit (picture above) which is full of thorn on the outer skin but contain delicious fruit inside and has a very strong odor which is loved by most Indonesians but probably not by Westerners.

Jakarta can be described as quite similar to the Durian i.e. it does not look good/friendly on the outside but has lots of good things on the inside especially because Jakarta is a Melting Pot of the various people in the country. Most of its citizens come from other parts of Indonesia, they bring along their cultures, languages, foods, etc. to the city.

I have visited many places and I still think Jakarta as the best place for me.