Jakarta the capital of Indonesia

Jakarta is the capital of Indonesia. The city locates on the main island of Java. The entire state of Indonesia consists of around seventeen thousand islands. However, Java is the most populated and industrialised island and the home of Jakarta. With ten million inhabitants and thirty million in the surrounding areas, Jakarta is the biggest city in south-east Asia.

The city is famous for its never-ending traffic jams.  Sometimes it takes more than three hours in a traffic jam just to drive 10 km by car. Motorcycles are everywhere on the roads. Nobody takes care of traffic rules. Because of a missing public transportation system the city has a chronic traffic problem.

The name of the city changed several times. During the colonalisation the name of the city was Batavia. Since independence, the city’s name is Jakarta.

The only interesting historical part of the city is the old town. In Indonesia called “Kota Tua”. That’s actually the old town square. Additionally, an assembly of a couple of houses from Dutch colonial time surrounded the town square. Here, locates also the widely known and nice furnished Café Batavia. The water channels and the bridges remind me a little about Amsterdam because of the same style.

However, Jakarta has a modern part as well. Skyscrapers shooting like mushrooms everywhere. Shopping centres offer international brands like allover over the world. But like in all modern styled cities, all is only glass and concrete.

Besides the main roads, the traditional way of life is still present. Small shops provide services of all kinds. During lunch and especially in the evening street kitchens open on each corner. To try the traditional local food, that’s the right place indeed. Even more and like everywhere in Asia here the real and lively Asian life takes place.