Jakarta Journals (part II): Financial Jakarta

On the way to the Jakarta Convention Center, we drove into the financial district of the city and wow, i'm impressed. They got banks everywhere and these are banks with big buildings ala Sinagpore's Shenton Way area. There are alot of buildings and most are modern. This sight is a impressive contra view to slums and other areas of Jakarta. It seems that their financial market is much more matured than ours and very much dependent on foreign dollars ( from Sgpore & US) . But what you see is only part of the city which has a population of about half of Malaysia, the other parts of the city are not desireable and is very much advised to stay away from. I have seen that part of the city through a short-cut taxi ride which brought me through the squatters of Jakarta under its railway line. Its a real ghetto and the only thing that saved me from unwanted stares is that i am black/biege/colored. If i was a mat salleh, i would have been an easy target for robbery there. Here you can see the poor side of things and the huge income dispairity between the rich and the poor ( as with all metropolis e.g Bangkok, New York, Los Angeles). Seeing all that leaves very much food for thought as well making me hungry.

Next: A Cooks Tour + Thirsty Traveller