If Jakarta was a jam flavour it'd be TRAFFIC. (Traffic-jam, get it?)
Pardon my terrible pun. It is true though - Jakarta was a chaos in terms of traffic, even in SEAsian measures I believe. It was also constant smog and being ripped off by taxi drivers. And if not that, choosing to walk and getting lost because you're not really supposed to walk in this city. Another thing that disturbs me is that 99% of the people out on the streets are men.
If it weren't for our premiere couchsurfing at the house share of lovely Maysa, I'm unsure I'd have much nice to say about this city at all.
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| Jakarta in its prime/hijab fashion catalogues |
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Meal of deep fried tofu, green chilies, noodles and salted duck eggs. |
Maysa lived outside of the city, about an hour on the bus, in a rather calm neighbourhood. A great contrast to the chaos of the city. The first evening her and her room mate created the most delicious meal. If one thing, I love the indonesian cuisine - how it is such a perfect combination of flavours that compliments each other: a mixture of sweet, spicy and salty.
´ Top things with couchsurfing: 1) Interacting with girls from a completely different cultural background and yet sit and giggle over the same things, have the same worries. One particularly funny conversation is when Emily talks about the book Norweigan Wood: "It's about this girl who can't get wet" whereas Heidi, in ashtonishment, says "Not even if it's raining?" 2) Being guided through the local food market by an actual local. Maysa had us try so many different bits and treats that we were soon walking around with belly aches - but we didn't wanna say no to these delicacies.
An amusing bit of cultural collision is when Maysa one morning pulls her umbrella out. I ask, what I assume is a given yes, whether it is forecasted to rain. "No, this is just for the sun".
That's quite funny, how us westerners use of sun lotions and how the south east asians use their whitening creams. Silly world.
