Don't you just love it when...

...someone manages to carry more things on a motorbike than most people carry in their car!

Back to normality...

Remember I took that photo of empty roads...during the end of the Islamic month of fasting? Guess what? Those days are over and the city has returned to a state of normality. Normality being insane traffic. You know that time...usually around 5 - 5.30pm when you have finished work and you really want to be on your way home quickly. Not here. Not in Jakarta. 5 - 5.30pm is the time when you absolutely DON'T want to be anywhere near the road. Do something else...stop for coffee, grab a drink, devour a cake, do anything but be on the road. Do I listen to my own advice? Obviously not! Photo below taken today at 5.30pm. An unending snake of motorbikes and cars stretched before me. When will I ever learn?

The back end of a Bajaj...

Could there possible be anything worse in this city than the vile and belching bajaj? A horrendous three-wheeled attempt at public transportation that just sputters out toxic fumes wherever it goes. Needless to say, pulling up behind one on a motorbike at the traffic light is guaranteed to shorten your life span by a couple of years...would someone please pass a law here that prevents these environment destroying tin cans from ever setting wheels on the road again!

When the streets have no traffic...

Cruisin' down the freeway in the hot, hot sun. How bizarre? Yes it is. Normally Jakarta traffic is insane and roads are jammed bumper to bumper at all different times of the day. However, with it being the end of Ramadan, the Islamic month of fasting, many of Jakarta's population have returned to their villages to celebrate this important date in the Islamic calendar. Good news for all of us who decided to remain here for the holiday and not hand out double the amount for airfares. Roads are clear, traffic flows along smoothly and the air feels a little easier to breathe...