Travel Guide Jakarta

The capital of the fourth nation of the world by its population, Jakarta alone has more than 10.6 million inhabitants, 30 million in the case of jabotabek (its large suburb). There is not much to see but a great deal to do. The Indonesians call it the «big durian», referring to this fruit king in Asia, but alien to the palace, and the nostrils of the West.Jakarta - one of the world's most polluted mega-cities, noisy, exhausting, poor, dirty, suffocating - has nothing to attract tourists. There is no architectural wonder such as the Grand Palais in Bangkok, fascinating urban culture as in Singapore, strong historic brands like Beijing. Jakarta is just a huge city in a developing country. You will certainly arrive in Jakarta by plane at Sukarno-Hatta Airport. In the taxi that takes you to Jakarta, you will pass through a toll highway, and then you will stop in the multiple traffic jams created by a crazy traffic (the subway is planned for 2019-2020), you will sneak into kampungs (neighborhoods) and you will see the great avenues of the gigantic city illuminating. by millions of lights, because the night falls very early. As you descend from the air-conditioned cab, you will experience intense warmth and aromas of spices and garbage…The extreme richness parallels poverty, the modernity of skyscrapers is the handy handlers who break up in the harbor of Sunda Kelapa, and the insolent luxury of the major hotels accommodates the dirt of sewers and unsanitary corrugated metal neighborhoods. With fabulous residential areas, Jakarta fascinates its contrasts. Many children are sleeping on the street and who, even small ones, beggar a few pennies. A few steps away, malls, shopping malls, filled with luxury and fashion boutiques, have grown like mushrooms.With the monetary crisis that emerged towards the end of 1997, which led to the fall of the currency, Jakarta became the laboratory of lost causes and anxieties to come; it contains all the charms and all the malfices of a huge powder keg. Moreover, it is impossible to know the number of inhabitants of the megalopolis; officially, there would be 10.6 million, which could rise to up to 14 million or 15 million in the day, where all arms are being searched. Because Jakarta is a magnet for millions of Indonesians without work, often without qualification, who hope in the big city the promise of a better tomorrow… If the city stretches over more than 20 km from north to south, the business district, embassies and major hotels are confined in a very limited perimeter, that of the triangle of the triangle of the triangle. gold delimited by Jalan Thamrin, Jalan Rasulah Said and Jalan Gatot Subroto. It is above all in the capital that work is found, where future modes are decided, where people are in power. Jakarta is a superlative in everything: the richest, the most polluted, the most populated, the most expensive, the poorest. All ethnic groups are represented, and while it is rare to cross a Papou on the Jalan Thamrin, the brewing of cultures around the world (American, European and Asian) forms a continuous ballet.