Hello Jakarrrrrrta!

Jakarta is the Indonesian Big Apple. Except it’s REALLY big.
The city is 22 Sq miles and has 11 million residents. Smaller than Los Angeles.
The greater Jakartan metropolitan area has 34 million people. (NYC Metro area has 20 million and Charlotte Metro area 3 million)
The port we are docked in, Tanjung Priok, is Indonesias busiest.
We docked at the end of a narrow port finger behind commercial ships. It kinda feels like being in a video game. So much activity all around us moving containers here and there.
We arrived on Wednesday at noon and took the shuttle to the mall to get me some meds I forgot to pack. Then we went on a Jakarta Night Walk excursion. It was great. A group of 9 of us walked about a mile of a city street filled with food trucks. Well not trucks, more like carts. It was very interesting. Crowded, noisy, lots of moving parts. The smells were, well, interesting. I’ll explain in the photo captions. After the street walk, we boarded the bus to go to the center of downtown to what is essentially Jakarta’s Time Square. We had a buffet available and drinks while enjoying the open air lounge with music and dancing on the 49th floor.
Jakarta is a great city. Very different from other Indonesian stops. Very clean, modern, obviously economically successful. They are currently constructing a subway which, in a city below sea level, poses challenges and roads are a mess. The drivers here are all very patient and understand each other. Not a lot of traffic lights, mostly just gentle merges and compromise.Read more