Wednesday, August 29, 2012

No Traffic

I know I am always complaining about the traffic in Jakarta.  It really is that bad.  Well, there are a couple of weeks out of the year where traffic is actually non-existent to quite tolerable.  It’s during the week of Idul Fitri and the 2 or 3 weeks after that.  I love this time of year.  It doesn’t feel so claustrophobic.

Amazing!  No Traffic! And this is on one of the major roads!
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The last few weeks, it has taken me between 10 and 15 minutes max to visit my friends in Kemang and Pondok Indah.  Normally it takes me at least 30 minutes to an hour or more to get to the same places in the mornings.  Then it takes 45 minutes to over an hour to get back home again. I love this time of year when 7 million people exit Jakarta for “Mudik.”  I think it is the largest exodus in the world, or so I’ve heard.

This is how it looked today when coming back from the SOS clinic in Kuningan.  It’s still not that bad, and it is about 2 weeks after Idul Fitri.  Normally there would not be empty spaces between cars at this time of day (between 5 and 6 pm).
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I can’t say that I am excited about things slowly returning to their usual state.  These last few weeks have been great!  Below are some of the normal views I have from my car window…lots of traffic!
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