Day 4: Wheels

As I shuttled back and forth to work today, I attempted to snap a picture or quick video of the two-wheeled traffic swarming our van... in vain! It is difficult to find the right perspective to capture everything that is happening. I couldn't get the right angles (but I'll keep trying).  Traffic in Jakarta is epic, and everyone knows it can easily take hours to cover a short distance if there is a jam or flooding. My two mile commute has taken a range of 15-50 minutes so far, a remarkably short amount of time by local standards.

Photo from a Washington Post article about traffic in developing countries

I am sure that I will feel differently after I have spent more time stuck in traffic jams, but today I thought the movement on the road was kind of beautiful. Drivers are not particularly aggressive, and it feels as though there is a kind of symbiotic relationship between cars, motorcycles, mopeds, and other forms of transit. Mopeds are everywhere and it feels as though they are swarming the car from all sides, what could be a frightening prospect for a driver used to the straightforward rules of the road in the U.S. or Europe. However, the traffic here is not fast moving, does not involve much horn honking or road rage. Where one vehicle leaves a space, 20-30 motorcycles fill in and around. It is quite something to watch and makes the commute more entertaining and bearable.